All posts by h79snht.top

According to The Telegraph, Chelsea could use Nemanja Matic as a make-weight in order to land Juventus defender Alex Sandro.

What’s the Story?

With Juventus seemingly becoming more and more reluctant to part with their left-back Alex Sandro, Chelsea are reportedly preparing to offer Nemanja Matic to the Turin-based club as a makeweight in the deal.

With Leonardo Bonucci leaving for AC Milan, Juve are apparently keen to hold onto what is remaining of their impressive back line. However, Antonio Conte will offer the wantaway Serbian to the Italian Champions, to ensure he lands his man.

How good was Alex Sandro last season?

2016/17 could be described as a breakout season for Brazilian Alex Sandro. The 26-year-old who is valued at £29.75million by Transfermarkt, featured 43 times during a phenomenal season for Juventus and proved to many why he is one of the best talents in world football.

Sandro was part of a dominating Juventus defence that conceded just 27 times all season in the league. However, the Brazilian impressed mostly in attacking areas, where he was a constant threat with his deliveries and sheer speed and power.

Would Sandro be a good signing for Chelsea?

Despite the fact that Marcus Alonso surprised everybody with his performances for Chelsea last season, signing Alex Sandro would be a significant upgrade. There is perhaps no better full-back in the world that suits Antonio Conte’s 3-52 system than Sandro, who the Italian manager himself signed from Porto during his time at Juventus. Chelsea should consider this an essential purchase.

With 25 years of Premier League action behind us there have been many records and landmarks set.  Here’s a look at the records you can expect to be broken and landmarks you can expect to be set during the 2017-18 season…

Record Premier League Attendance

More than a decade ago Manchester United set the Premier League record attendance at Old Trafford in a game versus Blackburn Rovers. 76,069 turned out to see the Red Devils thrash Blackburn 4-1 on 31 March 2007.

Tottenham Hotspur will be playing at Wembley Stadium this season which has a capacity of 90,000.  They start their home campaign against rivals Chelsea on Sunday 20 August – you can expect that capacity to break the record. If that doesn’t sell out you can certainly expect the north London derby to break the Premier League attendance record in mid-February.

10,000th Game

The Premier League started in August 1992 with 22 clubs for the first three seasons.  At the end of last season there had been 9,746 games played, meaning that game number 10,000 will take place in 2017-18.

This match is currently scheduled to take place in gameweek 26 at the beginning of February and be a Saturday 3pm kickoff. But FA Cup matches and replays could shake up the fixture list so there’s still a possibility it will be a televised game for Sky Sports to hype up.

Appearances

Heading into the new season Ryan Giggs holds the Premier League record for most appearances with 632.  Only four behind him is Everton midfielder Gareth Barry, whose move to West Brom will likely get him over the line at some point this season.

Yellow Cards

One chart that Gareth Barry already tops is the yellow card list. The Everton midfielder has collected 119 in all – that’s 20 more than Lee Bowyer and Kevin Davies, who are next on the list. The second highest active player is Wayne Rooney with 97.

As Barry has collected his fair share of yellow cards each season you can expect him to increase his Premier League record over the duration of the campaign.

200 Goals

Alan Shearer (260) is the only player in Premier League history to score a double century of goals. However, Wayne Rooney can be expected to break into the 200s this season after scoring his 199th on the opening day in a 1-0 win over Stoke City.

The next highest active player on the goalscoring list is Jermain Defoe who has scored 158 in his Premier League career.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic may not have featured at all this season, but he remains one of the biggest characters at Manchester United.The former Sweden international recently signed a new contract at Old Trafford after his initial deal was scrapped.The 35-year-old suffered a serious knee injury in the closing stages of last season, which made the Red Devils decide to opt against triggering an extension to his one-year deal.However, after making great strides in his recovery, United were keen to bring him back with the intention of the striker playing a role in the second half of the season.As a result of summer signing Romelu Lukaku taking the number nine shirt at Old Trafford, Ibrahimovic was forced to switch.When the former Paris Saint-Germain star does return to the field, he will be donning the number 10 jersey.On Twitter, the forward posted a picture of 10 United shirts with his name emblazoned on the back, and he added a caption that was very typical to his character.

The Premier League returns this weekend, and for Newcastle United they face a trip to Wales to take on Swansea City.

Rafael Benitez’s side had a difficult start to life back in the top flight when they suffered back-to-back defeats.

Their opening fixture against Tottenham Hotspur ended in a 2-0 loss, while a visit to Huddersfield did not go to plan, as the team were beaten 1-0.

As well as some poor results, doubts were bubbling beneath the surface regarding Benitez’s future at St James’ Park.

The Spaniard made it publicly clear that he was not impressed with the club’s transfer activity in the summer window, but at this moment, he remains committed to the cause.

Prior to the international break, Newcastle celebrated their first league win of the season with a 3-0 triumph over West Ham United at St James’ Park.

In order to continue that run, Quinn, who played for the Magpies between 1989 and 1992, believes that Benitez should keep faith in Mikel Merino and Isaac Hayden for the trip to Wales.

The retired football wrote in the Chronicle:

“We have the players to hit them on the counter, so let’s have a go. We have the pace; Ayoze Perez or Christian Atsu. I think you have to stick with Merino and Isaac Hayden after the West Ham game; there were lots of positives and it was important we won that game. Three goals, a clean sheet and confidence.”

After a weekend of Premier League action, attention now turns to Europe for England’s elite clubs.

Chelsea, whose sole focus was domestic football last season, are one of the clubs that will get their Champions League campaign underway this week.

Antonio Conte and his men will face Qarabag FK at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night to kick off the group stage of the tournament.

The Blues have very competitive opponents in Group C, with matches against Atletico Madrid and Roma to come.

No disrespect to Qarabag, but they are arguably the easiest team for Chelsea to take on in their opening encounter.

Conte proved in his first season that he is capable of guiding the team to domestic glory, but this will be his first taste of European football with the Blues.

The Italian has experience winning the Champions League as a player when he was at Juventus, but he has never before lifted the trophy as manager.

Ahead of tomorrow’s fixture, Chelsea fans are feeling confident that their team will deliver.

Chelsea and Manchester City’s meet in Saturday’s late kickoff represents the biggest clash in the Premier League weekend, and one that could have a huge bearing on the final standings come the end of May.

Indeed, last season’s champions and arguably the biggest threat to their title defence have both started the new campaign in predictably fine form, dropping just seven points between them and netting a combined 33 goals. Chelsea boast home advantage and will feel confident in achieving a result having already held firm against Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton and Atletico Madrid this term.

But boasting one of the most talented attacks in Europe, one mistake could cost Chelsea dearly not only over the ninety minutes but also throughout the course of 2017/18. With that in mind, here are three crucial questions Antonio Conte must find the right answers to before 5.30pm on Saturday…

3-4-3 or 3-5-2

Chelsea became almost synonymous with 3-4-3 last season as the switch in systems, inspired by a heavy defeat to Arsenal, suddenly instigated a run of 13 wins that saw the Blues build up an unassailable lead at the Premier League’s summit.

It’s unsurprisingly been Conte’s preferred setup for the vast majority of this term, but the Chelsea boss has made tweaks for away visits to heavyweight opponents and both times it’s worked a treat – a 3-6-1 leading to a 2-1 win over Tottenham and 3-5-2 used in the huge victory over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.

Although Chelsea will be at home on Saturday, Manchester City’s desire to keep the ball and unlock teams in attacking areas puts the latter formation in contention, especially after Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata proved so effective as an attacking duo against Atletico – easily the most defensively-organised team in European football over the last four or five years.

Having enough bodies to frustrate City in the middle of the park before hitting them on the counter could be what leads to their first Premier League defeat of the campaign, but Conte may fear changing the dynamics too much and stick with his trusted 3-4-3.

How can Chelsea expose Man City’s defensive weaknesses?

It seems strange to question a side’s defensive qualities when they’ve conceded just two Premier League goals all season but Manchester City have enjoyed so much of the ball their backline has rarely been called into producing a top quality performance and in spite of that, they’ve still looked unconvincing at times.

There’s certainly scope for Chelsea to expose City’s defensive weaknesses at home, especially if captain Vincent Kompany and their only recognised left-back Benjamin Mendy are both absent through injury, which remains a strong possibility going into the weekend.

The obvious answer is targeting Nicolas Otamendi. Although the Argentine is clearly a talented defender and has the quality on the ball Pep Guardiola wants from his centre-backs, he’s still prone to rash decisions – rather tellingly, he’s been booked twice already this season including in the 5-0 win over Liverpool – and can look rather ordinary when dragged out wide to defend one-on-one. As soon as he’s on a yellow card, the South American becomes somewhat of a liability, so taking advantage of that could require fielding Hazard on his less associated right-hand side to tempt Otamendi into challenges with his dribbling ability, although speedy Brazilian Willian is capable of doing a similar job.

Who starts at the back?

With David Luiz suspended and Antonio Rudiger surprisingly dislodging Gary Cahill from the starting XI in recent weeks, Conte has some huge decisions to make at the back – made all-the-more significant by the undoubted attacking prowess of Saturday’s visitors. Last season, Conte adopted a policy of having one specific understudy for each centre-back position and that appears to be his mantra this time around, with Andreas Christensen thus far only used in the central role and Rudiger only featuring on the left-hand side.

But amid the absence of arguably Chelsea’s most experienced defender due to his sending off against Arsenal, it remains to be seen if Conte will stick with that policy or make an allowance that ensures Cahill, still the first-team captain, and Rudiger both get onto the pitch rather than placing faith in Christensen, who is still getting to grips with life in the Premier League.

It certainly seems the more logical solution considering the quality City will bring to Stamford Bridge and the consequential need for experience, but the Danish youngster arguably remains the best candidate for the central role due to his quality on the ball. It’s a big call for Conte, and one that could have a massive impact on the scoreline.

Jan Vertonghen has never quite replicated the buccaneering, goal-grabbing performances of his first season at Tottenham Hotspur and sometimes, it feels as if that skews our judgement of an experienced, ever-reliable defender who – at 31 years of age – is arguably the best left-footed centre-back in the world.

High praise indeed but the competition includes an ageing Giorgio Chiellini and a raft of young players yet to truly prove themselves at elite level – Barcelona’s inconsistent addition Samuel Umtiti, the widely-revered Aymeric Laporte, Atletico’s emerging prospect Lucas Hernandez and 22-year-old Alessio Romagnoli of AC Milan.

While some of that rabble can rightly stake a rival claim, Vertonghen has been the most common member of the best defence in the Premier League during the last two seasons in terms of goals conceded.

That’s as much a consequence of the arrival of Toby Alderwerield, but that in turn highlights exactly what Vertonghen is – the ideal centre-back partner alongside a more domineering and physical accomplice. He naturally suits the lesser fancied left-sided role and for what he lacks in strength and power, he more than makes up for in intelligence and natural footballing ability.

Certainly, Vertonghen is a fantastic footballer in the purest terms, with a fantastic footballing brain in the typical Ajax mould. While that perhaps goes unnoticed too often at centre-back, especially when Alderweireld is alongside him, it stands out more on occasions like yesterday evening when the Belgium international filled in at left wing-back against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Although it must be said few Real Madrid players truly tested Vertonghen despite him being fielded in a secondary role as a consequence of Zinedine Zidane’s diamond, excepting exciting right-back Achraf Hakimi, the 97-cap defender’s statistical returns speak for themselves.

Marshalling the left flank on his own, Vertonghen weighed in with eight tackles, two interceptions and four clearances, while completing 85% of his passes and creating one scoring chance for a team-mate. But it was the experience and balance he showed down the left that truly stood out, especially for a 31-year-old not playing in his best position.

The performance served as a reminder of how talented a player really Vertonghen is, and how he probably doesn’t get as many mentions as he deserves.

There is a time of change at Everton following Ronald Koeman’s sacking on Monday.

Plenty of names have emerged in the media about who could be appointed as the Dutchman’s successor.

At the moment, though, Under-23s coach David Unsworth is in charge on a temporary basis.

The 44-year-old, who came through the club’s academy as a player and spent two senior stints on Merseyside, oversaw his first game in the hotseat on Wednesday night.

It was a big test for Unsworth given that the opponents were reigning Premier League champions Chelsea, but the pressure was perhaps not as heavy due to the meeting being in the Carabao Cup.

Both teams rested players and in the end the West London outfit came out on top 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.

Despite the defeat, there was an overwhelming sense of positivity from the fans with regards to how the team performed.

As a result, plenty of Everton supporters are keen for Unsworth to be given the job full-time.

Dele Alli is without a doubt one of shining stars of the Premier League – last season’s return of 18 goals in 37 top flight appearances provided enough evidence of that.

But the 22-cap England international has struggled to deliver throughout 2017/18. He hasn’t found the net in the Premier League since August and has looked almost disinterested upon facing modest opposition – especially at Wembley.

[ad_pod id=’leo-vegas’]

Tottenham face Liverpool in the Premier League this weekend in a clash that could go a long way to defining both of their seasons, with the Lilywhites and the Reds both hoping to qualify for the Champions League as a minimum requirement this term.

Accordingly, we asked Tottenham fans earlier this week whether Mauricio Pochettino should take the bold step of dropping Alli for such an important game.

And although the majority of those who voted in our poll still think he should start, a rather significant 48% of Tottenham fans think he shouldn’t. How would you line up Tottenham this weekend? Let us know by commenting below…

When Southampton sacked Claude Puel, appointed Mauricio Pellegrino as his successor and kept hold of all of their in demand players during the summer, Saints fans perhaps would have been hoping to see a masked improvement from their team after a disappointing end to the previous campaign.

Even though they secured an eighth-place finish, the south coast outfit only won one of their last eight Premier League games last term and scored just four goals during that run.

With Jay Rodrigruez the only real high-profile exit over the summer and with the additions of Mario Lemina and Wesley Hoedt, Southampton have a stronger squad than last season but it certainly hasn’t shown on the pitch.

More than a quarter of the way into the season and Saints have only faced one of the current top six sides – Manchester United at St Mary’s in September – while they have faced all three of the newly-promoted club as well as Swansea City, West Ham United, Watford and West Bromwich Albion at home, as well as Stoke City and Crystal Palace on the road.

Yet, they have only taken 13 points from those fixtures and rather than just the results being slightly underwhelming, the performances on the pitch haven’t been deemed to be good enough either.

Considering Pellegrino’s men needed a last-gasp equaliser from Charlie Austin to beat 10-man West Ham and a late wonder goal from Sofiane Boufal against West Brom, it is no surprise that there are already more than a few murmurings of discontent from the St Mary’s faithful.

It would be hard to say that any of Southampton’s players have been at the top of their games so far this season – with perhaps Lemina, Maya Yoshida and Manolo Gabbiadini being the only possible exceptions – and the likes of Fraser Forster, Ryan Bertrand and Dusan Tadic haven’t been performing at anywhere near the level they have shown in previous seasons.

So is this down to the individuals, or the way that Pellegrino is setting up his team?

It’s probably a bit of both to be honest.

Confidence comes from results and Southampton haven’t really had a consistently great sequence of those since the end of the 2015/16 campaign, in which they finished in sixth position in the Premier League.

That nervousness in front of the home crowd because of the lack of wins they have picked up and goals they have scored on their own patch over the course of the last 15 months or so will be affecting them, and they will be more wary of taking a risk now than they perhaps would have been previously.

[ad_pod ]

Any team would struggle when five, six or seven of their players aren’t at the top of their respective games, and that is the situation that Saints find themselves in right now.

However, there was perhaps a telling comment from last season’s player of the year Oriol Romeu in the Daily Echo following the 1-1 draw against Brighton at the Amex Stadium last Sunday, which suggests that Pellegrino could be partly to blame for the side’s shortcomings.

Speaking about his manager, Romeu said: “He’s always telling me when we’re attacking we need to be closer to their strikers because if we lose the ball and they’re free it’s easier for them to be free and run and get that counterattack.

“While we’re attacking we have to defend and allow our attacking players to create problems but we defensively have to be ready for the counter.”

It was something that was clear to see when they took an early lead against the Seagulls on Sunday, as they instantly dropped deeper and were more compact following Steven Davis’ goal.

Bearing in mind they were playing against a newly-promoted club Southampton should really have kept attacking to get that crucial second goal, but Romeu’s comments suggest that the players were instructed to try and hold on to the 1-0 lead.

With goalkeeper Forster clearly not in the best form right now – he should have done better to keep out Glenn Murray’s header – it didn’t seem to be the right tactic and even though they did take a point, Davis’ goal proved to be their only shot on target during the 90 minutes.

Those statistics allude to the fact that Pellegrino is getting it wrong at the moment and being far too cautious.

Considering he has attacking players like Gabbiadini, Boufal, Tadic, Shane Long and Nathan Redmond at his disposal, as well as a strong backline that includes international stars Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Bertrand and Cedric Soares – who are protected by Romeu and Lemina – it seems crazy that the team doesn’t seem to have been handed much, if any, attacking freedom by their Argentine boss.

It seems as every week goes on Pellegrino isn’t learning from the mistakes he is making, and his tactical naivety and general cautiousness certainly won’t bring the supporters on his side, and could ultimately jeopardise his long-term future at St Mary’s.