Harry Kane was quietly brilliant and a reminder of Chelsea’s inability to get goals out of Olivier Giroud or Álvaro MorataThere is, of course, no such thing as a sure thing. No guarantees, no certainties. Except, now and then, when there is. Related: Tottenham’s Harry Kane makes most of VAR to put Chelsea on back foot Related: Police arrest youth over alleged racist incident before Spurs v Chelsea Continue reading...
Nketiah shows rich promise, Chelsea may rue Fàbregas’s exit, things about to hot up for Solskjær and what next for Carroll? Related: FA Cup third round serves up shocks as Barnet, Oldham and Newport shine Related: The Dozen: the weekend’s best FA Cup photos Continue reading...
Jürgen Locadia proves his worth, Hart loses out to Heaton, Palace need reinforcements and Arsenal need a defenceAfter Ole Gunnar Solskjær rained praise down on Marcus Rashford, calling him the “catalyst” for Manchester United’s pressing game, Romelu Lukaku might wonder when he will next be given a start. Rashford scored and created Paul Pogba’s opener in the 4-1 win. Asked about Lukaku, who was a late, scoring replacement, Solskjær said: “At times he’s a good target man but if you tell him to be a target man he’ll never face the goal, today he was side on and he’s got the attributes of a top, top striker. We need to work on his fitness but I’m delighted even though he...
Southampton have had an instant new-manager bounce while Huddersfield and Fulham look as if they must spendMaurizio Sarri fell short of accusing his players of complacency, but admitted something strange keeps happening when his Chelsea team appear to be in complete control of matches. At Wolves recently their early lead was overhauled and they were beaten. They had more leeway at Brighton with a two-goal cushion established but still ended a contest, in which they had been utterly dominant, heaving to repel Albion’s late flurry of attacks. Every long ball suddenly seemed a threat, every set piece a route to parity. It ensured what had been an impressive display felt rather undermined at the death. “We are a danger to...
Raheem Sterling kickstarted a welcome debate on racism this week and while the game should not shoulder all the blame perhaps everyone in football has learned somethingTo be fair to the more risque element of Chelsea’s matchday support, they have been very thorough this week in representing the full political spectrum. On the one hand an ad hoc hostile environment for Anglo-Jamaican British citizens. On the other a little throwaway antisemitism on Thursday night in Hungary. This is exemplary political balance and frankly the BBC for one could learn a great deal from it.All that remains to complete the circle is for Sterling’s alleged Stamford Bridge abuser to resign from the East Stand and then turn up six months later...