João Félix is settling at Chelsea, Eddie Howe is staying positive despite the draws and James Maddison is Leicester’s leading manAs if more than 100 charges weren’t enough, Manchester City were given one more reason to come out fighting on Sunday. They had just been pushed down to third in the league by their not very noisy neighbours, United, in Sunday’s earlier match. City responded as only they can, by taking the lead while their opponents were still trying to figure out their formation. Was it a 3-2-2-3? Whatever it was, it was 3-0 by half-time. Villa had been overrun, Bernardo Silva was the new João Cancelo and City were second again. By Wednesday night, if they play like the...
Turning a group of stars into a cohesive team is like gluing the Millennium Falcon together while hurtling through hyperspaceNew toys! Never mind the score. Never mind the brittleness in a Chelsea performance that was fun and frisky, but which felt at times like devouring a series of starter plates; and never mind that West Ham might easily have won this game but for the intervention of VAR in the dying moments.Just check out the names. And what a Chelsea starting XI this was at the London Stadium. Here they come, the project boys, the Todd Academy, seven players under 24, five new signings, and a side that carried its own sense of gameshow conveyor belt excitement. A World Cup...
Arsenal reap the rewards of an old-school striker, Thiago Silva turns back the clock and Ten Hag’s tactics hit a snagFast-paced, tactically intricate and dramatic to the last, Arsenal v Manchester United was a heavyweight clash that lived up to its billing. It also showcased two models of centre-forward that were meant to be extinct: the old-fashioned target man and the old-fashioned poacher. Spearheading United’s attack, Wout Weghorst pressed with zeal and offered a focal point for United’s free-roaming wide men. It was his peeling run, drawing Gabriel to his left, that afforded Marcus Rashford the angle to blast home the opener. Nketiah pressed with similar intelligence but dropped deep when required to link with his midfield. Both his goals...
Mykhaylo Mudryk could make his Chelsea debut at Anfield, while Newcastle and Manchester United will miss their BraziliansShoots of recovery or a false dawn? Both Jürgen Klopp and Graham Potter will be desperately hoping their respective 1-0 wins last time out demonstrated the former. Liverpool versus Chelsea may lack its usual consequence with the teams occupying ninth and 10th place in the table and a 10 point chasm between themselves and fourth place, but their managers would beg to differ. Klopp admitted there would have been genuine doubt around Anfield on Saturday had Liverpool repeated their tame efforts at Brighton in the FA Cup replay at Wolves. An improved display from a much-changed team at Molineux, particularly in terms of...
Defender was said to be too short to be a world class centre-half but showed against West Ham he has the quality to succeedFirst Gianluca Scamacca shot from 10 yards and Lisandro Martínez’s body was in the way, then the two darted for the looping ball, the Italian with a raised right boot and the centre-back head first. The Argentinian won the race to end the attack. His reward was a boot in the race, not that he cared, having completed his job of stopping a goal. A clean sheet is the most important thing, regardless of the personal cost.The final moments of Manchester United’s 1-0 win against West Ham were a scrap, a concept in which the hosts have...