Italian has good fortune Chelsea have started with two wins while Unai Emery must feel aggrieved Arsenal are stuck on zeroFor two managers new to English football, bringing their own ideas and cultures to these shores, it did not take long to experience the full chaos of the Premier League in all of its maddening, unpredictable, helter-skelter glory. At half-time, as Maurizio Sarri and Unai Emery went back to their dressing rooms to digest a splurge of goals, misses and some harrowing defending, it must have been a challenge to know where to start to try to make sense of it all. The lurching turbulence and shifting tension was relentless. Sarri did not mind admitting that during the most wayward...
Chelsea and Arsenal promise goals and flaws, Fulham must tighten up and will sparks fly between Benítez and Warnock?Friday football countdown: latest news and more – live!With two teams in flux, Chelsea’s derby with Arsenal is a meeting that promises goals. Both sides are vulnerable in defence and dangerous in attack. Although beaten comfortably in the end, Huddersfield exposed Chelsea’s weakness to attacks down the wings last week and Arsenal may aim to do likewise, while David Luiz, in particular, will likely struggle to keep up with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the middle. But Chelsea’s midfield thrusters – who could include Eden Hazard from the start as well as N’Golo Kanté in all-new Roving Mode – could wreak havoc at the...
Manchester United and Leicester under pressure to start well, Emery’s formidable opening task, heightened ambitions for Brighton and Wolves Related: Summer transfer window verdict: how every Premier League club fared Related: Transfer window 2018 – every summer deal from Europe's top five leagues Related: The big Premier League preview – Football Weekly Extra Continue reading...
After frustration and in some cases ridicule, players who have suffered from injury torment will be desperate to show what they have to offer as a new season gets under wayHarry Redknapp used to be tickled by the notion that top professionals would move clubs primarily for sentimental reasons. Many times he made the sort of quip that he delivered in 2012 when there were suggestions that Carlos Tevez might take a big pay cut to leave Manchester City for Redknapp’s Spurs. “He’s always wanted to play for Tottenham,” said Redknapp, deadpan as you like. “Ever since he was in Argentina he had a picture of Hoddle on the wall and Ricky [Villa] and Ossie [Ardiles]. I want to play...
Zinedine Zidane’s exit from Real Madrid on the same day Frank Lampard took over at Derby County underlines the insanity of the world the former Chelsea midfielder is enteringFrank Lampard was minutes into his new job as Derby County manager when the news came through that a vacancy had just cropped up at Real Madrid. “He certainly quit at a good time,” Lampard said, thinking on his feet. “I don’t know Zinedine Zidane’s plans but he will want a holiday, I’m guessing, before he does anything else. You can’t beat that for going out at the top, though. Maybe that’s a lesson to us all.” Related: Frank Lampard spoke to other clubs before becoming Derby County manager Related: Zidane is...