The hosts struggled to hold their lead until telling interventions by Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford that bode well for their campaignAcross two breathtaking minutes Manchester United shot an electric bolt through Old Trafford.Until then Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side clung to a lead against a Chelsea side who surely wondered how they still trailed. Related: Manchester United make it a nightmare start for Frank Lampard’s Chelsea Related: Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 top scorers 2019-20 Continue reading...
Brazilian’s blunders have met with much mockery but he has been one of the Premier League’s most influential defendersEver since he first arrived at Chelsea, bursting on to the scene like a labrador puppy at a family gathering unsure of whose face to lick, whose leg to gnaw, which plate of sausage rolls to attack first, David Luiz has had a reputation in England for going walkabout.David Luiz makes the wrong move. David Luiz is in the wrong place. David Luiz appears to be fundamentally confused, head out, chest puffed, galloping off towards the wrong part of the world entirely. In this context it seems inevitable, a matter of destiny, that David Luiz should have found his way to the...
West Ham have the talent to cause Manchester City problems on opening weekend while David de Gea has a point to proveWhile there is plenty of excitement to be drawn from Liverpool’s much-lauded front three, a good argument could be made that the two most thrilling players in Jürgen Klopp’s side are defenders. Technically, anyway. In reality, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson spent last season making a mockery of their job descriptions, zooming forward with exuberant abandon and each laying on more goals than any of the side’s so-called attackers. Meanwhile, down in the Championship, a similar operation was in progress. Norwich’s full-back duo, Jamal Lewis and Max Aarons, are under strict instructions from Daniel Farke to play with the...
Gone are the days when it was enough for a new strip to look good. Designers are obsessed with spinning a complex yarnIn 1976 the groundbreaking choreographer Peter Darrell debuted Mary Queen of Scots, an attempt to tell the story of the doomed monarch entirely through the medium of dance. “Darrell’s ballet is historically pretty accurate,” James Kennedy wrote in his review for the Guardian. “The events, as here transmuted into classical dance, did (more or less) happen. Why did Darrell and his lively company do it? Well, you can have marvellous historical plays and poignant, if imperfect, historical operas, so why not a successful historical ballet?”Forty-three years have now passed since Darrell’s ballet opened to the public, a near-half-century...
Former midfielder returns as manager with the express aim of making the club more competitive in the leagueThe buzzword was realism, a theme maintained whether Frank Lampard was raising the new Chelsea shirt to the pop of the flashbulbs in a cluttered suite high in Stamford Bridge’s west stand, or had retired to the directors’ lounge for a marginally more intimate assessment of what awaits as the club’s head coach. And yet, even with the star player sold and a transfer ban blocking significant incoming business, it rapidly became clear the new man is not one to flee from expectation. Related: Frank Lampard admits Chelsea job is 'biggest challenge' of his career Related: Ander Herrera signs five-year deal with PSG...