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Tag: Chelsea

  • EPL: Sarri wants a new striker after draw with Southampton

    EPL: Sarri wants a new striker after draw with Southampton

    Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri hinted at the need for a new striker after his side failed to break down a resolute Southampton team at Stamford Bridge.

    The hosts had 72% of possession but could not find their way through a well-organised and disciplined Saints side as it ended goalless.

    “I think we played a very good match for 80 metres of the pitch, then we were in trouble in the last 20 metres,” said Sarri, who has Alvaro Morata as his only recognised striker with Olivier Giroud out with an ankle injury.

    “We have to try to solve the problem of the last 15, 20 metres. The club knows very well my opinion. I think we need something different for characteristics.

    “I’m not in charge of the market. I have to try to improve my players, my team, my offensive phase, or better my offensive phase in the last 20 metres.

    “The club knows my position, my opinion. It’s up to the board.”

  • Transfer news: Chelsea sign Christain Pulisic for £58m

    Transfer news: Chelsea sign Christain Pulisic for £58m

    Chelsea have signed Borussia Dortmund forward Christian Pulisic for 64m euros (£58m), but will loan him back to the German club until the end of the season.

    The 20-year-old United States international, who was linked with Liverpool and Arsenal, joined Dortmund as a youth player in 2015.

    Pulisic has scored nine goals in 23 games for the US.

    “It’s a privilege to have signed for such a legendary club,” he said.

    It is the highest transfer fee for an American player, beating the 20m euros Wolfsburg paid for John Brooks in 2017.

    Dortmund director Michael Zorc said: “It was always Christian’s dream to play in the Premier League.

    “That certainly has to do with his American background, and as a result we were unable to extend his contract.

    “Against this background, we have decided to accept an extremely lucrative bid by Chelsea, given the low contract maturity.”

    Pulisic’s contract at Dortmund was due to expire in June 2020.

  • EPL: Chelsea maintain top four in narrow win over Palace

    EPL: Chelsea maintain top four in narrow win over Palace

    N’Golo Kante gives Chelsea a 1-0 narrow win over Crystal Palace in a game of few chances at Selhurst Park.

    Kante scored the only goal of the game in the 51st minute when he broke forward from midfield to convert David Luiz’s throughball.

    Chelsea’s Willian came close to scoring with a free-kick that struck the post, and Ross Barkley also hit the woodwork with a hooked effort.

    The result sees Chelsea move to within a point of Man City in third and two behind second-placed Spurs.

    More crucially, they have opened up a five point gap between themselves in fourth and Arsenal in fifth.

  • EPL: It is time to decide Hazard’s future – Sarri

    It is “time to decide” the future of Chelsea forward Eden Hazard, says manager Maurizio Sarri.

    The 27-year-old Belgium international, who passed 100 goals for the club in Wednesday’s 2-1 Premier League win over Watford, said he wanted to become a Chelsea ‘legend”.

    Hazard, whose contract expires in June 2020, has been linked with a summer move to Real Madrid.

    Sarri said Chelsea “have to solve this problem”.

    Asked whether he expects Hazard to remain a Chelsea player in the long term, he said: “I don’t know but I think that it’s time to decide.”

    Hazard said in October it was his “dream” to join Spanish side Madrid, although two days later he ruled out a move to the Bernabeu in the January transfer window.

    After scoring twice at Vicarage Road, Hazard said: “I want to score more for this club and then try to be a legend like Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and John Terry.”

    Italian Sarri said: “I have not the power to do this. I am the coach. I am not the president. I am not in charge of the market.

    “I want to speak to him only about the position on the pitch.

    BBC

  • 100th Chelsea goal: Moses celebrates Hazard’s spectacular performances

    100th Chelsea goal: Moses celebrates Hazard’s spectacular performances

    Chelsea winger, Victor Moses has joined in raining encomium on his club-mate, Eden Hazard, following the Belgium star’s century of goals for The Blues, footballlive.ng reports.

    Moses is all glee for Hazard, after the dashing winger-cum-midfielder hit his 100th and 101st goals from 322 Cheslea appearances in a 2-1 win at Watford on Boxing Day.

    Hazard is the 10th Chelsea player to register 100 goals and joins Blues legends Roy Bentley, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Tambling, Peter Osgood, Kerry Dixon, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard in the elite class.

    In celebrating his colleague’s feat, Moses, who joined Chelsea on August 24, 2012, 54 days after the London-based side acquired Hazard from Lille Metropole of France, joined some of his colleagues in recalling the star’s best goal of their choice for the squad.

    In his verdict, Moses picked Hazard’s winner away to Liverpool in the third round of the League Cup on September 26, 2018 as his favourite.

    Moses beamed with nostalgia: “It was unbelievable – I thought it was going to go to extra-time and then he took on three players and they thought he was going to cross the ball, and then he just let it go!”

     

  • EPL: I want to be a Chelsea legend – Hazard

    Eden Hazard says he wants to become a “Chelsea legend” after his two goals secured victory at Watford – and took him past 100 goals for the Blues.

    Hazard, 27, became only the 10th player to reach that landmark when he collected Mateo Kovacic’s pass, took the ball around goalkeeper Ben Foster to a fine finish.

    But Hazard grabbed his second of the match – his 101st Chelsea goal in 322 appearances – in the second half when he converted a penalty after Foster had bundled him over.

    The Belgium forward has been repeatedly linked with a move to Real Madrid and in October said it was his “dream” to join the Spanish side, although two days after that he ruled out a move to the Bernabeu in the January transfer window.

    “To score 101 goals with this amazing club is something I will never forget, but now the fans, staff and players want more,” said Hazard, who helped Chelsea win the Premier League title in 2015 and 2017.

    “I want to score more for this club and then try to be a legend like Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and John Terry.”

  • EPL: Chelsea suffered mental confusion in defeat to Leicester – Sarri

    EPL: Chelsea suffered mental confusion in defeat to Leicester – Sarri

    Maurizio Sarri has said “mental confusion” affected his Chelsea players as Leicester City inflicted a first home defeat of the season on the Blues.

    The result left Chelsea 11 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool and level with Arsenal in the race for Champions League qualification, but after the game Sarri was more concerned with his team’s reaction to going behind in the second half.

    “I think we played very well for 55 minutes,” Sarri said. “We played very good football.

    “After the goal, the reaction was, for me, a strange reaction. Not in the right direction. Not as a team, but as 11 different players. So it was really very strange.

    “I think we could have done better with the reaction. We had only to continue to play as in the first part of the match. There was time to score without a reaction like a team shocked, a team in mental confusion.”

    It is not the first time this season that Sarri has publicly questioned the mentality of his players following a defeat.

    “I don’t know,” he said when asked why the problem keeps happening. “If I knew, I’d solve the problem for this match. It’s difficult to understand because we have players with a lot of experience.”

    Sarri once again deployed Hazard as a false nine against Leicester, and he said that the strategy was working until Vardy scored.

    “I was really very happy at the end of the first half because, for me, we played very well,” he said. “We were dangerous and we conceded nothing to the opponents in the first half.

    “So I was really very happy with the team, with the solution with Hazard. Then, after the goal, the position of Hazard was not important.”

     

  • EPL: Vardy scores as Leicester shock Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

    EPL: Vardy scores as Leicester shock Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

    Jamie Vardy strike helped Leicester City defeat Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in a Premier League fixture on Saturday.

    Vardy’s second-half strike saw Maurizio Sarri’s side defeated at home for the first time this season.

    Chelsea were dominant before the break and struck the bar through Eden Hazard, the best of a host of chances, that came following a Harry Maguire error.

    But having gone behind it was Chelsea who became sloppy and Leicester only grew in strength.

    Indeed, the Foxes might have doubled their lead but for Cesar Azpilicueta’s sliding block to deny Vardy after Kepa Arrizabalaga had spilled a cross, before the keeper saved well from Marc Albrighton.

    Chasing a goal of their own, Chelsea could not break down Leicester’s resistance, despite creating two key late chances.

    In the 89th minute, Antonio Rudiger nodded just wide from a corner, before Marcos Alonso struck the post with only the keeper to beat.

    The Blues had not lost at home since 1 April, against Tottenham, and this defeat leaves them level on points with fifth-placed Arsenal, who beat Burnley 3-1 earlier on Saturday.

    Vardy has scored 13 goals in his last 15 Premier League appearances against the ‘big six’ sides.

     

  • Premier League will miss Mourinho – Sarri

    Premier League will miss Mourinho – Sarri

    Chelsea manager, Maurizio Sarri, said the English Premier League will miss sacked Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho and hopes that the Portuguese can return to management in England again.

    United dismissed Mourinho on Tuesday after suffering their worst start to a league season for 28 years and replaced him with former striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, until the end of the season.

    Asked ahead of Saturday’s home league clash with Leicester City if the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter Milan boss would be missed.

    Sarri said,“I think so. Mourinho won everything, won everywhere, so I like him very much as a coach and as a man,” he said.

    Mourinho said a day after his sacking that United had a future without him, just as he did without them, and he backed the 55-year-old to make a swift return to the dugout.

    “I think he is right when he said that United have a future without Mourinho, but he has a great future without them.

    “I will like to see him on the bench as soon as possible, maybe in England,” intoned Sarri.

    He said Solskjaer should expect a tough job as he attempts to steady the ship at United and get the team firing on all cylinders again.

    “I remember him as a player. He was a good player. But I don’t know him as a coach. Of course, the job will be difficult,” the Chelsea gaffer.

    Sarri, the former Napoli boss, has enjoyed an encouraging start to his first season as Chelsea manager in spite of enduring a few bumps along the way.

    Chelsea sits fourth in the table with 37 points from 17 games but he ruled them out as title contenders along with leaders Liverpool and second-placed Manchester City.

    “I’ve never seen Chelsea like a contender for the title. I always said that at the moment there are two teams a step ahead of us,” Sarri said.

  • Sarri receives first award for Chelsea’s performance against Man City

    Sarri receives first award for Chelsea’s performance against Man City

    Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has taken ownership of an award which has come his way for the first time.

    It was announced last week that the League Managers Association (LMA) had crowned Chelsea’s display against Manchester City, when we won 2-0, the Performance of the Week.

    The game, which had goals in either half from N’Golo Kante and David Luiz, brought City’s first Premier League defeat of the season and kept us in the top four.

    The weekly award is voted for by a five-man panel comprising LMA Chairman Howard Wilkinson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Joe Royle, Dave Bassett and Barry Fry.