Chelsea’s manager, whose team host Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Monday, has got under his predecessor’s skin by winning games rather than by goadingIn Italy, they know it isn’t actually true that Antonio Conte – contrary to the impression he might have given during his first season at Chelsea – is immune to the kind of sniping that leaves the distinct impression he has already burrowed his way under José Mourinho’s skin.Those who remember Conte’s work at Juventus might certainly be surprised by his newly acquired restraint given he previously had a habit of taking great offence, with hair‑trigger sensibilities, when managers or pundits talked about his team, even sometimes if what they said might have seemed...
Millwall and Lincoln are in the mood for further upsets, José Mourinho has a tactical teaser at Chelsea and Rangers at risk of Old Firm derby embarrassmentThe FA Cup quarter-final at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday is a fitting way for Neil Harris to celebrate two years in charge of the club he loves. Regardless of the result, the club have been upwardly mobile under Harris, the club’s all-time record goalscorer. Harris initially took caretaker charge on 10 March 2015 before assuming the full-time position a month later. Their start to this season was tricky – at the end of September they had 12 points from 10 games – but now Harris’s side are only six points off the automatic promotion...
West Ham were outnumbered, ground down and eclipsed by a dynamic team that is leaving the rest of the Premier League far behindThis was the kind of result to drain any lingering optimism from the chasing pack. A victory to drum in the reality that, for all Antonio Conte’s protestations to the contrary, Chelsea’s pursuit of the title has taken on the feel of a procession. They weathered some turbulence at times here, their backline heaving to stay intact, but were pierced so deep into stoppage time that the concession hardly even registered with a dwindling home support. The lead over second place gapes at 10 points again. There is no stopping this side and no hope at all for...
Manchester City are moving in the right direction but Chelsea run counter to the assumption that Champions League arrivistes can’t quickly break into the cartelThey say history is written by the winners, but what they don’t always tell you is that records and statistics can also come to the rescue of the less successful.Both Arsène Wenger and Pep Guardiola have been on the defensive over the past few days, pointing out that their clubs are relative ingenues in Europe and not to be compared with the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United. “It is not like Arsenal won the European Cup five times before I arrived,” Wenger said, appealing for a measure of perspective after the disappointing 5-1 defeat at...
It was raining goals in Manchester on Tuesday but where does City’s 5-3 win over Monaco stand alongside other great Champions League nights?Dynamo Kyiv’s wonderful team of the late 1990s deserved a Champions League final – but on a pulsating night at a packed Olympiyskiy they threw away the best chance they would ever have. It was exquisite fare for much of the evening and, when Andriy Shevchenko squeezed in his second goal of the night two minutes before half-time, seemed to be going precisely as the old master Valeriy Lobanovskiy had designed. Moments later Michael Tarnat’s daisycutter of a free-kick restored some doubt but Vitaliy Kosovskiy’s 50th-minute goal – capitalising on some sloppy defending – suggested Dynamo would cut...