FA Cup
CHELSEA MAY LOSE SIX PLAYERS AFTER TODAY’S FA CUP FINAL
Speculations are rife that six players may be having their last dance with Chelsea after today’s FA Cup final match with Arsenal. The players are Willian, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Michy Batshuayi, Jorginho, Emerson Palmieri and N’Golo Kante.
Willian, a winger was one of Chelsea’s standout performers after the restart and ended the Premier League season with nine goals and seven assists to his name.
The Brazilian was involved in all but two of the Blues’ 38 top-flight contests this term, underlining his continued importance to the cause.
However, Willian will become a free agent after the FA Cup final, having failed to agree a contract extension with the club.
While the player is holding out for a three-year deal, Chelsea have only offered him two extra seasons.
Sky Sports report the two parties may have found a compromise, but as things stand a summer departure still looks possible.
Willian is likely to stay in the Premier League even if he bids Chelsea farewell, with Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur monitoring the situation closely.
Chelsea paid a world-record fee for a goalkeeper when they signed Kepa Arrizabalaga from Athletic Club for £71.5million.
But the club are already reportedly willing to cut their losses after two mediocre seasons from the Spanish shot-stopper.
Lampard appears to have lost confidence in Kepa, dropping him for last Sunday’s crucial clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers in favour of the veteran Willy Caballero.
Oblak and Henderson may prove out of reach for Chelsea, but it’s clear that Kepa is no longer guaranteed the No.1 jersey at Stamford Bridge.
However, the west Londoners have little chance of recouping anything close to the fee they paid for the Spaniard two summers ago.
The arrival of Werner has pushed Michy Batshuayi further down the centre-forward pecking order at Chelsea.
The Belgian barely got a look in this campaign, with Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud preferred by Lampard.
Batshuayi only made one Premier League start all season, and his 16 appearances totalled just 226 minutes.
Having previously been sent out for loan spells at Borussia Dortmund, Valencia and Crystal Palace, Batshuayi could move on permanently this summer.
Brighton & Hove Albion and West Ham United have been linked with the 26-year-old, who joined Chelsea from Marseille in 2016.
Jorginho was Maurizio Sarri’s first signing as Chelsea boss. The midfielder was expected to depart when the former manager left last summer.
Instead, the Brazil-born Italy international enjoyed a much-improved season under Lampard, turning in some fine performances and emerging as a leader.
Even so, there remains a suspicion that Jorginho isn’t ideally suited to what Lampard wants from a player in his role.
The former Napoli man is adept at setting the tempo and retaining possession, but he’s struggled to afford the backline the sort of protection that’s required of a holding midfielder.
As such, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Jorginho was also let go ahead of next season, with Sarri likely to be interested in another reunion at Juventus.
Emerson Palmieri looked like an astute addition in January 2018, and Chelsea fans thought he would replace Marcos Alonso at left wing-back.
But things haven’t gone to plan for the former Roma defender, whose prospects barely improved after Sarri restored a four-man defence at Stamford Bridge following Antonio Conte’s departure.
Another Brazil-born Italy international, Emerson has started only 23 Premier League games in two-and-a-half years on the Chelsea books.
Alonso has tended to be given the nod in his position, and Lampard has at times entrusted the left-back role to Cesar Azpilicueta ahead of him.
That suggests he doesn’t completely trust Emerson, who turns 26 on Monday and may want to kick-start his career elsewhere.
Kante has endured an injury-hit campaign, but his displays when fit weren’t quite of the level of previous years.
The former Leicester City man is a world-class ball-winner, but Lampard’s style of play is different to that of Claudio Ranieri and Conte, the two managers Kante has enjoyed his best seasons under.
Given their substantial outlay on Werner, Ziyech and, if a deal goes through, Havertz, Chelsea might be tempted to sell Kante if they receive a bid.
Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick as Manchester City crushed Liverpool 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday to cruise into the FA Cup semi-finals.
Champions Liverpool played well in the opening half-hour with Mohamed Salah wasting an early chance, but once Haaland had scored from the spot in the 37th minute after a foul on Nico O’Reilly, their resistance crumbled.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk conceded the penalty with a rash challenge, and there was little the Dutch defender could do as City played scintillating attacking football for the remainder of the game.
His blond hair swinging behind him in a ponytail, Haaland netted his second two minutes into first-half stoppage time with a well-placed header from an excellent Antoine Semenyo cross.
Semenyo got on the scoresheet himself five minutes after the break, latching on to a ball in behind from Rayan Cherki and chipping it beautifully past Giorgi Mamardashvili, and Haaland completed his treble with a shot off the underside of the crossbar in the 57th minute.
Liverpool’s woes continued when Mohamed Salah, who is set to leave the club at the end of the season, capped off a poor performance by having his penalty saved by James Trafford, snuffing out any faint hopes Liverpool might have had of a comeback
As the game turned into a victory parade, many Liverpool fans started heading for the exits, and City manager Pep Guardiola rang the changes, replacing Haaland with Omar Marmoush, the Norwegian striker receiving a standing ovation as he left the field.
In the other quarter-finals, Chelsea take on Port Vale and Southampton host Arsenal later on Saturday, with Leeds United travelling to West Ham United on Sunday.
The semi-finals will take place at Wembley, and Haaland is relishing a return to the stadium.
“First half, we struggled a bit, but then we after around 30 minutes we kept going and in the end it’s an amazing game. Another Wembley trip for us is amazing and important,” he told broadcaster TNT.
“I think (my form this season) has been a bit too much up and down, which is not good enough. I cannot keep on thinking about what I could have done differently or what didn’t happen, or what happened. I have to think about the next game.”
-Reuters
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Arsenal will be without injured England attacker Noni Madueke when they face Southampton in Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final, but Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber may return from injury, manager Mikel Arteta said.
Madueke was among the 11 Arsenal players who withdrew from international duty last month over injuries and fitness management, as the club eye their first Premier League title since 2004.
“When you have to communicate the state of every player, we are always honest and a medical decision had to be made. That was clear what the conclusion was,” Arteta told reporters on Friday.
“It makes us so proud that we had that many players in the national team. Players are desperate to play for their nation. I know how important it is to them. We are fully supportive of that and when we can do it, we do it.”
Madueke picked up a knee injury during England’s friendly with Uruguay, missing the game against Japan. But Arteta said his condition was not as bad as a knee injury that kept him out for six weeks.
Martin Zubimendi, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Timber, Leandro Trossard, Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice were unavailable for their countries.
Arteta did not disclose how many of them will be available for Saturday’s game, as Arsenal look to shake off last month’s League Cup final loss to Manchester City with a return to Wembley in the FA Cup semi-finals.
“We’re in a position right now where we need to make the strongest line-up we possibly can to win every competition,” he said. ” We are two or three games away from the FA Cup and we know how important that competition is for us.”
-Reuters
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Manchester City will look to secure a historic eighth straight semi-final appearance in the FA Cup when they face Liverpool on Saturday, manager Pep Guardiola said.
City beat Arsenal to win the League Cup before the international break, and Guardiola is hoping his team maintain the momentum as they fight to add the FA Cup and Premier League to this season’s trophy haul.
“Once you finish one, it is the next one,” Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
“Tomorrow we have the chance to reach an incredible milestone, to make eight semi-finals in a row. It’s never happened… it is a prestigious competition, and one of the toughest, special opponents for all of us, Liverpool.”
City have dominated English football with six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and five League Cups since Guardiola joined in 2016, but Liverpool have been a constant thorn in his side throughout his coaching career.
As a coach, Guardiola has only nine victories and seven draws in 26 matches against Liverpool, his worst win rate against a Premier League club.
City have beaten Liverpool twice in the Premier League this season, but had to dig deep for a late comeback when they won 2-1 at Anfield in February.
“So many times they have been the rival, the biggest, biggest one… top contender, top class players, all of them. Hopefully we have to perform in the level we did against Arsenal to reach the next step,” Guardiola said.
The manager also praised Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah, who has announced his departure in the summer.
“Absolutely. One of the greatest. The numbers, the consistency. What a player… absolute legend, of course for Liverpool, but (also) for the Premier League,” Guardiola said.
Guardiola, however, avoided commenting on his own midfielder Rodri, who said he was open to a move to Real Madrid when his contract with City runs out at the end of this season.
“No clue, no opinion… because I know the intention of the club, I know the intention, I think, of him, but I don’t know,” Guardiola said.’
-Reuters
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