Leicester City’s title win was every bit the fairy story, as was Wales’ run at Euro 2016, but England displayed their unerring ability to ruin the moodThe year 2016 was a terrific one for the Premier League and a terrible 12 months for English football. Leicester City’s title success was every bit the fairytale, the perfect antidote to long-held and justifiable fears that ordinary clubs could no longer dream of glory as the bigger institutions and the Champions League elite had effectively ringfenced all the prizes worth winning. Related: A 2016 football moment to remember: Dejan Lovren sets the Kop on fire | Paul Doyle Arsenal and Tottenham are particularly guilty of dithering instead of cashing in on managerial changes elsewhereI've...
Leicester hope to party like it’s 1963, Liverpool must find a way to stop Joe Allen scoring and it is eight years since Phil Brown’s infamous Hull City team talkEvery year for more than half a century folks have been hoping for a repeat of the Boxing Day fun of 1963, when the 10 top-flight fixtures produced a record tally of 66 goals. We can’t get an exact repeat of that this year because half of the teams who were in the First Division back then are now in the lower leagues (although, as it happens, Ipswich and Fulham are meeting in the Championship this Boxing Day so Mick McCarthy could point to progress if his team do better than...
The Italian striker symbolised Chelsea’s transformation in the 1990s, and his stunning solo goal in his sixth match for the club served notice of his talent to an English game still emerging from its earlier parochialismFor students of foreign football, the names in Chelsea’s team for their game against West Ham United on 21 December 1996 rolled off the tongue. Dan Petrescu at right-back, Ruud Gullit and Roberto di Matteo in midfield, Gianfranco Zola up front, Frode Grodas in goal. Michael Duberry and Steve Clarke in central defence. Craig Burley and Eddie Newton in the middle of the park. Neil Clement at left-back.No doubt you will have spotted how that intro veered off course. You’re probably also wondering why you...
Claude Puel’s rotation proves a winner, opportunity finally knocks for Michy Batshuayi, and Mesut Özil’s invisibility at City should worry Arsène Wenger Related: The Dozen: the weekend's best Premier League photos Related: Premier League 2015-16 fans’ verdicts part one: Arsenal to Manchester United Related: Premier League fans’ half-time verdict part 2: Manchester United to West Ham Continue reading...
The Italian’s changes that have diffused tension from last season were highlighted as the 1-0 win at Crystal Palace secured a club record 11th straight league winRewind, briefly, to the tipping point. Antonio Conte’s initial reaction to that heavy defeat at Arsenal back in September had been one of fury. He was livid, humiliated, crushed and, in the emotional heart-to-heart he conducted with his coaching staff, he questioned himself and the task he had taken on at Chelsea. It took a while for those emotions to simmer down and rational thought to return but then, as he surveyed the scene in the away dressing room, he recognised broken players still haunted by the trauma of underachievement last season, and realised...