The Spanish No9’s instant integration into Chelsea’s forward line only adds to the sense that Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal are a club locked in perpetual transitionIn football, there are perhaps two types of crisis. There is the Arsenal type that festers for years until after a decade of stagnation and low-level grumbling you suddenly find all your best players are out of contract and you are battling Everton for sixth place. And there is the Chelsea type that bubbles up from nowhere, threatens to derail everything, and then blows itself out just as suddenly as it arrived.Whatever was going on at Stamford Bridge in August essentially ceased to affect performances on the pitch as soon as Antonio Conte put on a...
Brighton provide perfect response, Everton are embarrassed, Liverpool have concerns beyond defence and Rafael Benítez sees progress from afarEddie Howe has worked wonders in overseeing Bournemouth’s exhilarating rise but his present task looks rather less attractive. They have yet to win a point and, while a defeat at the Emirates Stadium is not cause for concern on its own, the warning signs are stacking up. On Saturday they lacked initiative, invention, power and presence; it was a non-event of a display and it clearly bothered Howe, whose team have looked flat in all bar the late reverse against Manchester City. “I’m worried by the performance,” he said. “The four performances we’ve had, I’d accept one of them. I won’t accept...
José Mourinho’s side are well placed to challenge the cream of the continent but on recent form it’s hard to justify England’s Champions League prominenceEuropean football returns this week, and though the individual highlight may well be the look of distaste on Alexis Sánchez’s face as he comes to terms with Europa League football on Thursday, before that England’s new big five get the chance to establish their credentials in the Champions League. Related: Champions League squads: Chelsea’s Costa left out but United include Ibrahimovic Related: Champions League 2017-18: how will your club do this season? Continue reading...
The transfer window has shut, the first international break is over and the real business is about to begin. Can any of Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham or Manchester United be content with the state of their squads?August never seems an entirely satisfactory month. The closing of the transfer window and the scramble for last-minute deals always seems to deflect from the matches themselves – although these days, perhaps, it is the other way round – and then just as everything is about to get going for real, just as throats have been cleared and vocal cords are warmed up, everybody dashes off to play a series of internationals that, in the year before the World Cup, contrive to be...
Coach wanted more players added to his squad while doubts persist over whether the new signings were first-choice targetsIt may take a while for a proper sense of perspective to set in but, once the spreadsheet was filled and the columns totalled up, only Manchester City had spent more money than Chelsea in the Premier League this summer. The champions’ outlay stretched beyond the £180m mark, albeit with a hefty chunk recouped through sales and with Diego Costa potentially still to be jettisoned to Atlético Madrid. Antonio Conte had wanted a wave of reinforcement across his squad, a policy that was always going to require heavy expenditure. He made that clear even before the title was claimed in the spring....