Premier League
Chelsea return to Champions League after win at Nottingham Forest
Chelsea’s Levi Colwill struck in the second half to send his team back to the Champions League for the first time in three seasons with a breathless 1-0 victory at Nottingham Forest on Sunday on a make-or-break final day of the Premier League.
Enzo Maresca’s men, the youngest side in league history, finished fourth in the table on 69 points in the crowded chase for European qualification, while Forest, who had Champions League dreams of their own in their best season in decades, had to settle for seventh on 65 points.
Colwill broke the deadlock of an intense game at the City Ground in the 50th minute when Forest defender Neco Williams struggled to head the ball clear and Pedro Neto was there to poke the ball across goal for Colwill to tap into the empty net, as the Chelsea fans behind Matz Sels’s goal erupted.
“Amazing, we’ve grinded it out all season and today for these fans, we hope they’re happy and get to see some Champions League next season,” Colwill said.
“We did it and we’re proud, as a club, we’re back where we should be.”
Chris Wood missed a chance to equalise at the death when Sels drilled a terrific ball into the box and Wood stretched to get his foot on it but chipped it over the bar from close range, prompting agonised groans from the Forest faithful.
While Chelsea’s goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Forest, their season will be deemed a success.
They were tipped for another relegation battle by many before a remarkable turnaround under Nuno Espirito Santo saw them parked among the top five for much of the season and dreaming of a return to Europe’s elite club competition for the first time in more than 40 years.
As it is they will return to European competition next season, for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign, in the Conference League.
“After a game like this and the things that happened on the pitches, we didn’t achieve the dream,” Espirito Santo said. “We knew one goal could change everything, and that’s what the perception does to you — what if?”
PLAYERS APPLAUD FANS
The game promised to be intense and it did not disappoint, with both teams roaring out of the gates and the City Ground crowd at their raucous best.
Neto missed the game’s first real scoring chance midway through the first half when he latched on to Cole Palmer’s cross but his left-footed shot from the centre of the box sailed high.
Forest had a huge chance just before the break as Ola Aina sent in a beautiful cross that Wood flicked just over.
Chelsea players remained on the pitch, some of them teary-eyed, to applaud their fans after a promising first season for Maresca. They also play Real Betis in the Conference League final on Wednesday.
“Very tough,” Maresca said. “(Manchester) City lost here. Arsenal drew here. Liverpool drew here, and Chelsea won. So it’s not easy.
“The doubt (about his team’s success) was from outside,” he added. “They were saying that we are too young. We are not good enough. And they were saying that we were not able to win on this pitch because we’re too young, not experienced. And unfortunately for them, they have been all wrong.”
Despite the defeat, Forest fans lingered long at the stadium to applaud a campaign that saw them become the first team in Premier League history to double their points tally from one season to the next.
Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi received a loud ovation when he stepped on the pitch to wave to fans two weeks after he had emergency surgery on an abdominal injury after colliding with a post during their 2-2 draw with Leicester City. Awoniyi was not in Sunday’s squad.
-Reuters
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Thomas Partey, who formerly played for English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, has been charged with rape and sexual assault, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.
Partey, a Ghana international, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, with the charges relating to three women and the offences reported to have taken place between 2021 and 2022, the statement said.
Partey’s management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Aug. 5.
Partey, 32, was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59 million) in October 2020 and became a key member of Arsenal’s first team.
He was first arrested in July 2022, though he was not named at the time and continued to play for Arsenal while investigations were ongoing.
-Reuters
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Five players including England forward Marcus Rashford and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho have informed Manchester United that they wish to explore a future away from the Premier League side, a club source said on Friday.
Brazilian midfielder Antony, Dutch defender Tyrell Malacia and England international Jadon Sancho are also looking to leave the club, the source added.
Rashford, who has made more than 400 senior appearances for United, has fallen out of favour with manager Ruben Amorim, played for Aston Villa on loan while United had their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 15th in the standings.
Amorim had called Rashford’s work rate into question, saying he would rather put a goalkeeper coach on the bench than a player not giving their all.
Rashford said he was feeling fitter and better since joining Villa, where he scored two goals in 10 league appearances.
United also failed to qualify for the Champions League as they lost the Europa League final 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. Garnacho, who was a late substitute in the final, voiced his displeasure on social media after the loss.
“Up until the final, I played every round helping the team, and today I play 20 minutes, I don’t know,” he wrote in a post . “The final will influence (my decision), but the whole season, the situation of the club.”
Sancho was on loan at Chelsea, where he made 31 league appearances last season. Antony, who joined United from Ajax Amsterdam in 2022 for a reported initial transfer fee of more than $100 million, scored five goals in 17 LaLiga appearances on loan at Real Betis.
Malacia joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven on loan in February.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned down the opportunity to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in order to keep playing “at the highest level”, he said on Tuesday.
The Portuguese midfielder admitted that he had considered the move, which media reports said was worth four times his current salary, after being contacted by Al-Hilal’s president.
“There was that possibility, the president of Al-Hilal called me a month ago to ask me about it,” Fernandes, who is preparing to face Germany with Portugal, told reporters on Tuesday.
“It was a big offer, very ambitious. There was a waiting period for me to think about the future.”
Fernandes ultimately decided to stay at United and said he was motivated by his desire to continue playing at the top level and encouraged by his family and the club’s coach Ruben Amorim.
“I would be willing to do it if Manchester United thought so,” Fernandes added. “I spoke to the coach Ruben Amorim who really tried to talk me out of it. The club said they would not be willing to sell me, only if I wanted to leave.
“I spoke to my wife and family, and she asked me what my personal goals were in my career.
“It would have been easy to move there but I want to keep myself at the highest level, playing in the big competitions and I feel capable of it. I am happy with my decision.”
The 30-year-old Fernandes scored 19 goals and provided 19 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions for United last season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time.
However, it was a season to forget for the team, as they finished 15th in the Premier League, their lowest league finish in half a century, and lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur.
-Reuters
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