Chelsea will look to bounce back from their first Premier League defeat of the season when they travel to the Liberty Stadium to take on Swansea on Saturday.
Both teams enjoyed Capital One Cup victories in midweek, with Chelsea running out 5-4 winners over Mancheseter United, and Swansea recording a superb 3-1 victory over Liverpool at Anfield.
Swansea will be in confident mood, and will look to last seasons fixture for inspiration. The Swans were seconds away from recording a famous victory over the men from Stamford Bridge, until a last minute Neil Taylor own goal meant the game finished 1-1.
Michael Laudrup is sweating over the fitness of Chico Flores who picked up a dead leg in the win at Anfield.
Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Juan Mata are all set to be assessed having played the whole 120 minutes against Manchester United on Wednesday.
Fernando Torres and Branislav Ivanovic are available having both served a one match ban for the red cards they picked up in that controversial defeat last Sunday.
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Unai Emery would have known that his Arsenal career would not be easy, but he would have hoped to have an easier start to the season.
The Spaniard will kick off the 2018-19 Premier League campaign with arguably the toughest match-up of the opening weekend.
Emery will host his first top-flight game at the Emirates against the reigning champions Manchester City on August 11.
It will not get any easier after that as they travel to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea, so theoretically, Arsenal could be six points behind their rivals after the opening two weeks.
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Of course, there is no reason why they will not earn maximum points, but it is not the ideal way for Emery to ease into English football.
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Pressure will be heavy on the manager’s shoulders as he tries to eradicate two previous disappointing campaigns that ended in failure to qualify for the Champions League.
Once the fixtures were announced, the fans were automatically drawn to the opening two games.
Writing in his column for The Daily Record, Rangers legend Barry Ferguson has called on Graeme Murty’s side to put Celtic under serious pressure this weekend with a win against Hearts in the Scottish Premiership.
What’s the story?
The Gers host Hearts at Ibrox on Saturday ahead of Celtic’s massive trip to Pittodrie on Sunday and a win would see them move to within six points of the reigning champions.
Having suffered another heavy defeat in Europe and returning from a long, gruelling trip to Russia, the Hoops are arguably as vulnerable this Sunday as they have been all season.
A win for Graeme Murty’s men would only put more pressure on their Sunday match and a former title winner at Ibrox believes it’s their last chance to spark a title race.
As quoted by The Daily Record, Ferguson said:
Realistically, their game against Hearts tomorrow afternoon represents their last chance to lay down a marker to Celtic ahead of Brendan Rodgers taking his team to Aberdeen 24 hours later.
If Rangers win and Celtic slip up against the Dons, they could be just six points behind the reigning champions heading into the business end of the season.
Nine points may sound an insurmountable gap, but you’re talking to a guy who won a title in 2005, our famous Helicopter Sunday, when we were five points behind our biggest rivals in April with just four games left to play.
Can the Light Blues really move to within sight of Brendan Rodgers’ side this weekend?
What are their chances against Hearts?
Craig Levein’s side have proven to be tough to beat this season and Rangers know that fine well having already drawn with the Jam Tarts 0-0 at Ibrox earlier in the season.
The Edinburgh side come into this weekend’s match on a six-game unbeaten streak and have conceded less goals in the league this season than every team in the top-flight apart from Celtic.
They’ll be a tough nut to crack and given Rangers’ inability to find consistency at home this season, it’s fair to say three points against Levein’s eleven are not guaranteed.
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With the promise of putting pressure on Celtic though, perhaps the Light Blues can find it within themselves to produce a stellar performance.
It’s a natural human reaction to be averse to change. Change is difficult. Change takes effort. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, why would you want to change?
It’s for this reason that those who appear to like change are treated with suspicion. Those that change things when they’re going well. Those that seek unnecessary change. Those who seek change for change itself.
Brendan Rodgers would fall into this latter category. The manager is seemingly never entirely satisfied with his Liverpool team, even when they win. Characters of this ilk tend to be labelled as ‘tinkerers’.
They are the permanently dissatisfied, and the helpless. They are panned and patronised by all quarters. ‘Why can’t they just leave things be?’, we ask.
But the difference with Rodgers right now, is that when he makes changes, he tends to get them right.
Against Southampton last month, Rodgers opted to play a 4-4-2 diamond for the first time this season. The largely extinct formation meant that Liverpool could play with two strikers and allowed Philippe Coutinho to be deployed in his preferred No.10 position.
And it worked. Liverpool took the lead in the opening quarter courtesy of Luis Suarez.
However, Southampton gradually came back into the game and appeared the more likely to get the second goal. So Rodgers responded. He brought on Raheem Sterling for Countinho, and switched back to their more familiar 4-3-3.
A minute later, Sterling scored. And Liverpool would eventual end the game comfortable 3-0 winners.
However, not every change that Rodgers has made has been as successful. The Liverpool manager’s early attempts to incorporate Suarez and Sturridge in the same team by playing three at the back were largely unsuccessful. And Rodgers admitted tactical folly was at fault following Liverpool’s 2-2 home draw with Aston Villa, when the team’s flat four in midfield were overrun.
But the important thing to note about both cases is that Rodgers changed things; and changed them for the better. Liverpool have found better ways of incorporating their two danger men by employing 4-3-3 and the 4-4-2 diamond. And in the game with Aston Villa, Rodgers removed Coutinho at half time and introduced Lucas Leiva to positive effect.
But Rodgers doesn’t just make changes for the sake of change. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The Liverpool manager’s total of 71 substitutions this season is fewer than any of his contemporaries in the Premier League.
This suggests that more often than not, Rodgers gets things right from the start. But it is also suggestive of a confidence. Brendan Rodgers apparently doesn’t feel the need to make the kind of redundant substitutions that other managers do in order to feel like they’re doing something:
‘A striker for a lesser striker’ – ‘A winger for another winger’.
When the Liverpool manager picks a team, it’s because it’s the one he believes to be the best for the job. And he retains this confidence in his convictions even if his team are losing.
When Brendan Rodgers makes changes, it’s because he actually thinks they’re going to make a difference. And more often than not, they do.
But if they don’t, the Northern Irishman doesn’t immediately disregarded them either. Rodger’s experiments with playing Steven Gerrard in defensive midfield were widely ridiculed following the team’s 2-2 draw with Aston Villa.
And while Rodgers recognised he’d erred tactically, he didn’t see things in quite the same way. Rather than ditch his captain, he merely tweaked the team around him.
And it’s worked.
While defensive midfield may not be Gerrard’s best position, his eagerness to pass the ball forward – and pass it long – means that the team can get their forward players onto the ball quickly.
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This allows Liverpool to put Suarez and co. into one-on-one situations with the opposition defence – exactly what other don’t want.
Gerrard is undeniably defensively weaker than Lucas and Joe Allen, but his greater passing range allows Liverpool to play to their strengths.
This kind of holistic approach is surprisingly rare in football management. Players are often picked on reputation and quality, rather than overall effectiveness in the team.
There are two conclusions that can be drawn from Brendan Rodgers management of Liverpool this season. The first is that he appears to think about football differently from most managers. The second, and more important deduction, is that a lot of what he thinks turns out to be right.
Rodgers may not have the Midas touch. But right now, he’s about as close as you get.
Whether it’s because of the array of outspoken managers, the passion and loyalty of the fans or simply the quality of football on display, the Premier League is quite simply the best in the world. However, while the elite clubs attract the very best players from every corner of the globe, the national team continues to suffer. With this mind, does the Premier League have to sacrifice its quest for global superiority in order for things to improve on the international stage?
England’s journey at the recent European Championships ended in the alarmingly familiar cliché of ‘so close, yet so far’. In the aftermath of yet another failure in a penalty shootout, triumphant Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon delivered a painfully truthful assessment of English football.
“Having a competitive league doesn’t necessarily mean having competitive players,’ he said. For a number of years now, the English league has had the best football and is the best league in terms of quality.
“The money that’s in the game means they can go and buy anyone from all over Europe or the world. This can happen in Spain and Italy as well as England but the league in England is no longer very faithful to what the national side needs.
“With this footballing globalisation, it’s very difficult. You struggle to have players from your own country playing in the top league.” (Daily Mail)
In a survey that was conducted during the first weekend of football after the transfer window had closed, it was revealed that the Premier League had just 31% of home-grown talent in starting line-ups. This startling figure was a far cry from the 64% that graced La Liga, which highlights one of the many reasons why there is a widening chasm in class between the two countries. How can we expect our national team to shine when we don’t cater our domestic league for their own benefit?
Two years ago FIFA president Sepp Blatter flirted with the concept of the ‘6+5 rule’, which proposed that clubs should have a minimum of six home-grown players in their starting line-ups. The idea was eventually dismissed as it contravened EU labour laws and instead gave way to the ruling that each 25-man squad within the Premier League, had to include a minimum of eight home-grown individuals.
The same problem solved by a different solution right? Wrong, the new changes have arguably further hampered development. Take Manchester City for example, a team that boasts a wealth of international stars, they have merely tweaked their transfer policy to ensure they meet the requirements. Does anyone truly believe Jack Rodwell or Scott Sinclair’s career will be enhanced thanks to their arrival at Eastlands, especially considering the recent frustrations highlighted by the outgoing Adam Johnson? Mancini decision to sign Richard Wright surprised everyone, but he was merely filling his quota without further jeopardising his indispensible foreign stars.
Speaking of the reigning Premier League champions, Manchester City recently announced plans for the imposing ‘Etihad Campus’, which will be the most advanced and expensive academy in England when it opens in 2014. However, while this should have been another milestone in ensuring the improvement of domestic talent, Sporting Director Brian Marwood indicated otherwise:
“Our priority is to produce players who will get into City’s first team. From a selfish point of view, that may mean to the detriment of the England team,’ said Marwood.
“And while it would be great (to help England) because I came through the system and it helped me, we also have to be realistic.
“If we are trying to produce real top quality to play for City, if they happen to come from another country and we’ve developed them, we shouldn’t be ashamed to embrace it.” (Daily Mail)
Is this a selfish and somewhat arrogant mentality of a club that is in an optimum position to develop future generations or merely the honest opinion that players from Europe possess a greater natural ability?
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The FA have just unveiled their own multi-million pound campus for the development of English football so perhaps City are fully justified in focusing on their own success. And yet we seem blinded by the misconception that if we possess the best facilities, we will naturally produce the best players. Wayne Rooney, perhaps the countries most gifted player to have emerged within the last decade, harnessed his skills on the streets of Merseyside and not on “330 acres of beautifully landscaped parkland”.
Perhaps it’s time for English football to be slightly more narcissistic as it looks towards the future. It would be crude for me to suggest that we cap the number of transfers from outside the British Isles but maybe there could be a significant financial reward for teams who develop and play home-grown players. This would cause a drastic change in the direction and philosophy of many teams while it could even help create a more healthy and competitive league.
English football is well aware of its previous mistakes, there’s an entire population and critical media that won’t let it forget. However, rather than simply trying to emulate the finished article of the likes of Spain, we should learn from their methods at grassroots level and work our way up.
According to The Chronicle, Newcastle United could be priced out a move for West Bromwich Albion centre-forward Salomon Rondon in this summer’s transfer window.
Rondon will leave West Brom this summer following their relegation to the Championship, and a number of clubs have been credited with an interest.
West Ham United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur are all believed to be sniffing around the experienced striker, with the view to launching a bid.
According to The Chronicle, Newcastle are also interested, but the Magpies might well be priced out a move.
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Rondon is believed to have a release clause in the region of £16.5m, but that does not include a sign-on fee or wages, which reportedly could make it difficult for Newcastle to pull off the deal.
The Newcastle fans have been reacting to the reports, and it would be fair to say that the bulk are frustrated with the situation.
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Indeed, they are finding it hard to believe that their club will find it difficult to sign a striker from a team that has been relegated to the second tier of English football.
A selection of the Twitter reaction from the club’s supporters can be seen below:
Having arrived in north London just a few days before last weekend’s clash with Liverpool, and obviously too late to be registered in Tottenham’s FA Cup clash with Newport County the weekend prior, also ruling him out of Wednesday’s replay, Lucas Moura is still awaiting his Spurs debut following a Deadline Day move from PSG.
But there’s little doubt the 36-cap international is an impressive signing for the Lilywhites, having netted 32 times during his final two full campaigns with the French giants and only lost his regular starting berth to Neymar and Kylian Mbappe – two of the most expensive signings in the history of football.
So with Spurs now preparing to face bitter rivals Arsenal on Saturday, is the coming North London Derby the ideal occasion to finally bring Moura into the first-team fold? He’d certainly give the Gunners a new kind of problem to think about, and his blistering pace could have a massive impact on the vast Wembley pitch.
Would you start the 25-year-old winger this weekend, Tottenham fans? Let us know by voting below…
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Luuk de Jong has issued a come and get me plea to Newcastle United, according to Chronicle Live.
Alan Pardew is a long term admirer of the Dutch forward, and has been linked with a January move.
De Jong has admitted he is open to joining the Magpies, and has already “imagined” completing the deal this January.
Newcastle will be looking to bounce back from a controversial defeat at home to Manchester City by turning their attentions to the transfer market.
The club are reportedly still discussing a loan fee for the former FC Twente man with German club Borussia Monchengladbach, where De Jong has fallen out of favour.
When asked about Newcastle’s interest, De Jong said over the weekend: “I can imagine going.
“My coach will change things in the second half but not that much.”
De Jong was referring to the lack of first team football he has had with the Bundesliga club, having totalling just 85 minutes of action so far this season.
“I want to play longer than three to five minutes. It’s no fun,” he added.
“The coach does not give me the feeling that he continues he will build firmly around me.
“He does not talk much with me. It was a first half (of the season) to forget.”
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Newcastle have reportedly turned down a bid of £9million from an unnamed Qatar club for Papiss Cisse, with Pardew unwilling to let the Senegal forward leave until signing a replacement.
Manchester City defender Gael Clichy has hailed the importance of Carlos Tevez at the club.
The Argentina international had a controversial 2011-12 as he went AWOL after refusing to come off the bench in a Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.
However, with the South American forward restored to the Premier League champions’ squad, Clichy has stated that Tevez is a crucial player for Roberto Mancini’s men.
“He has been our best player so far this season,” the France international told The Sun.
“He’s scored goals, worked really hard. He’s just a great player.
“What happened in Munich, and after, is nothing to do with me. It was between him and the boss.
“It’s all sorted now. Carlos in top form would be a great player for any team. Let’s hope he can carry on scoring.
“The passion he has for the game, the way he presses defenders, lifts the team — we need a player like this so well done Carlos.
“We want players who bring something extra and he does that. He can make a big difference for us this season,” the full-back concluded.
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City take on German side Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
It wouldn’t be a typical West Ham United summer without the club being linked with a number of big-name players in the press, with fans often saying their owners, David Gold and David Sullivan, release the names to the media to increase season-ticket sales at this time of year.
The east London club have certainly pulled off a few coups in recent years when you look at the signings of the likes of Dimitri Payet and then Javier Hernandez last summer however, and perhaps this year is their best chance of improving upon that record now they have the experienced and well-known Manuel Pellegrini at the helm.
The owners looked to have pulled off a blinder by bringing the former Manchester City boss, who would be making a calamitous start to his reign if he signs reported 6ft 3in target, to the London Stadium, and now they are so close to making their best decisions in terms of player recruitment, too.
The Irons have already been linked with ambitious moves on paper for Paris Saint-Germain attacking midfielder Javier Pastore – who is demanding wages of £190,000-a-week according to Sky Sports – Lazio winger Felipe Anderson and Barcelona midfielder Rafinha, as they look to strengthen a squad that found themselves far too close to the relegation zone last season.
There are plenty of positions that need reinforcements, with Ryan Fredericks proving to be the first addition when he joined from Fulham on a free transfer last week.
The addition of the right-back for nothing should mean that even more money is available elsewhere, and now Gold and Sullivan have got the calibre of manager that they wanted in charge, they have to back him in terms of meeting transfer fees for his targets.
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Reliable Italian journalist Ginaluca Di Marzio has already confirmed on his website that West Ham have made a £17.6m bid for Anderson, although they may need to double it to succeed in bringing the Brazilian to the London Stadium.
While of course the club needs to negotiate and get the best deal possible, they shouldn’t be that far apart in terms of what they are offering and what Lazio want for the player, and perhaps they need to significantly up their bid in order to ensure they get a player that Pellegrini obviously feels would be a key player for them.
As well as Anderson and Pastore, West Ham are also reportedly keen on two of the standout players in Ligue 1 in Nice’s Jean Michael Seri and Marseille’s Florian Thauvin, according to reliable club insider @ExWHUemployee on his latest The West Ham Way blog.
The former in particular has been heavily linked with a move to Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal previously, and if the Irons really are serious about getting him then there won’t be too much room for negotiation when it comes to a transfer fee, with them likely having to pay the £35m that the French club reportedly want, as per the Daily Mail.
Gold and Sullivan have often left Irons fans frustrated in the past when the clubs has been linked with big-name players that they haven’t delivered, but they are so close to making their best decision since they took over if they invest in Pellegrini’s project.
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It is something that would help get the London Stadium faithful on side, and also ensure that the Chilean boss maintains his record of never finishing outside of the top seven during his managerial career in European football.
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