Chelsea talisman is anonymous playing in the middle and only carries real threat after moving wide left but his misses are made more glaring by Liverpool striker’s finishingThere is no doubt that Eden Hazard is one of the most exciting attacking players in the Premier League but this match made interesting viewing for all those Chelsea supporters pleased to see him used through the middle. His opportunities were extremely limited in that role whereas, when Chelsea went two goals down and sent on Gonzalo Higuaín as the main striker, Hazard was noticeably more effective when operating from wide left.Twice around the hour mark Hazard had clear chances to rescue something from the game. He failed on both occasions, though at...
Anfield’s last title challenge in 2014 was derailed by an infamous blunder from their talismanic captain against Sunday’s visitorsSteven Gerrard is probably looking away already, for while the fifth anniversary of his infamous slip against Chelsea is still a couple of weeks away, deja vu is inescapable when today’s fixtures offer an exact repeat of the situation when Liverpool last saw a title slide out of view.Their rivals then, as now, were Manchester City, away at Crystal Palace on 27 April 2014 as Liverpool prepared to meet second-placed Chelsea at Anfield. The difference is that five years ago Liverpool were in the driving seat, a 16-game unbeaten run that included thumping wins against Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham having taken...
Live updates from the 8pm BST kick-off at Stamford Bridge Sarri unhappy at Premier League’s lack of fixture flexibility The Fiver: Barry Glendenning previews the big game And why not email Jacob or tweet @JacobSteinberg 7.02pm BST Chelsea: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, David Luiz, Emerson; Jorginho, Kante, Loftus-Cheek; Hudson-Odoi, Higuain, Hazard. Subs: Caballero, Christensen, Kovacic, Barkley, Willian, Pedro, Giroud.West Ham: Fabianski; Fredericks, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Lanzini, Rice, Noble, Anderson; Hernandez, Arnautovic. Subs: Adrian, Diop, Masuaku, Obiang, Snodgrass, Perez, Nasri. 6.51pm BST Pre-match reading Related: Maurizio Sarri unhappy with lack of fixture flexibility from Premier League 3.28pm BST Hello. Funny old season Chelsea are having. Maurizio Sarri has seemed to be on the verge of the sack since the middle of January,...
The Champions League quarter-final is latest in a line of often spine-tingling English derbies in Europe’s top competitionA new chapter in the colourful history of English teams meeting each other in the Champions League is set to open on Tuesday, when the first European game at Tottenham’s shiny new stadium is bound to generate an atmosphere all of its own.In such circumstances anything can happen, and all-England European nights already have a reputation for taking on a life of their own, sharing a similarity to derbies in which form and league placing are temporarily set aside. Related: Quadruple is on for Manchester City as the impossible becomes a reality | Paul Wilson Related: Football’s final furlong: our writers predict how...
Sarri is nearing the end at Chelsea, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander Arnold shone for Liverpool while Leicester and Rodgers look like the perfect fitWith Ole Gunnar Solskjær suggesting afterwards that Paul Pogba may operate deeper at times and Luke Shaw playing like a left‑back-cum-libero against Watford, this first win as the permanent manager suggests his brave new world will continue to feature a brightness of approach. Solskjær wishes to harness Pogba’s all-round ability to give more control of the ball as United are primarily a counter-attack unit. This was how Shaw opened up Javi Gracia’s impressive team with a majestic Matthias Sammer-like pass that put Marcus Rashford in to open the scoring. Before then United were poor as they...