It’s a bit strange, but for the likes of Real Madrid, PSG, Atlético and Napoli, there’s not much to play for with two months remaining in the season. Maybe a Coupe de France here and a triggering of an Arsenal crisis there, but it’s really silly season time for the aforementioned giants of the European game.
Chelsea’s youngest star, Callum Hudson-Odoi, has officially received the call to join England’s national team. The 18-year-old will be the youngest player on England’s squad for a pair of Euro 2020 qualifiers, joining the stacked attack of Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling.
Hudson-Odoi has quickly become a fan favorite in London, and supporters are hoping he’ll be a big part of a potential Chelsea transformation next year.
The 2018-19 English Premier League season is entering its final stretch of the season and for the first time in five years, it may come down to the last game to crown a champion.
How poetic that it is a race between the same two teams.
In 2014, Manchester City sealed the Premier League title with a win over West Ham. Liverpool did its part with a win over Newcastle, but needed City to lose for to hoist the trophy.
Liverpool suffered a huge home loss to Chelsea in the third-to-final game of the season, sending the EPL title in a gift basket to City.
Wolves nearly stole a win against struggling Chelsea, but a late stoppage time goal from Eden Hazard saved the Blues on Sunday at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea dominated the ball, possessing it for an incredible 76 percent of the match, but the Wolves defense held strong despite facing 22 shots (six on goal). Wolves managed 47 clearances and 38 tackles, smothering most attacks.
As the away side, Wolves only took two shots, but their counter attack in the 56th minute almost proved too much for Chelsea.
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri elected to bench starting goalkeeper Kepa for Chelsea’s hosting of Tottenham.
The benching ended in favor of Sarri as the Spurs failed to get a shot on goal against veteran keeper Willy Caballero in a 2-0 victory on Wednesday. The Argentine was not tested in the net as the few shots Tottenham managed to get off were wide.
On the Blues’ side, Pedro played phenomenal after nutmegging Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris.
In prospect, it was a great plan: Get up early, start with Manchester United versus Liverpool in a momentous, top four Premier League clash, and then seamlessly move on to the League Cup final between defending champions Manchester City and crisis-hit Chelsea.
There goes five hours of our day, and we didn’t get a goal to show for it.
After stalling in the first half, Chelsea managed to turn up the heat and win 3-0 over Malmö FF (5-1 on aggregate) to move on in the UEFA Europa League.
Five yellow cards were handed out before the first goal was scored, four of them being given to Malmö players.
Both Chelsea and Manchester United had a point to prove this evening. Chelsea's been struggling for goals and results lately, and manager Maurizio Sarri has been under pressure from fans and the board. Chelsea has slid from fourth to sixth position in the Premier League, and the Blues needed a result today to steady the ship before the Carabao Cup final on Feb. 24.
On the other hand, Manchester United had been on a great run of form until finally hitting a PSG roadblock in the Champions league.
Ashley Cole has completed another first in his 20-year career: his first FA Cup goal.
The 38-year-old recently signed for Frank Lampard’s Derby County from MLS and made his debut in it’s fifth-round FA Cup tie with Brighton & Hove Albion.
After going down 2-0 to the host, Derby County pressed for a response in the second half. After a ball over the top caused a scramble in the box, a poor clearance by Daniel Burn fell kindly to Cole’s head.