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.
Arsenal survived a genuine scare in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday as they edged past spirited third-tier Mansfield Town 2-1, with Eberechi Eze’s thunderbolt sending the Premier League leaders into the quarter-finals.
Noni Madueke gave Arsenal the lead going into halftime at Field Mill, but Will Evans equalised for Nigel Clough’s Mansfield before Eze scored in the 66th minute to ensure the top-flight side progressed to the last eight.
“Happy to score. I had the space and the opportunity to shoot. So I took it,” Eze told TNT Sports.
“It was a difficult environment to play in. But we did what we had to do and we are through to the next round, which is the important thing.”
Mikel Arteta named a much-changed side, starting teenagers Max Dowman and Marli Salmon, as Arsenal became the first Premier League side to start a competitive game with two players aged 16 or under in any competition.
However, Arteta’s changes nearly backfired as the hosts, feeding off a raucous home crowd, gave Arsenal a genuine fright with aggressive pressing and infectious energy that clearly unsettled the visitors.
“Before the game, the gaffer said, ‘Have a go. We were not expected to win the game, so have a go and enjoy it,” Mansfield forward Rhys Oates said.
“We created more chances than we thought we could, and we have given them a game.”
Dowman, Arsenal’s youngest-ever FA Cup player at 16, emerged as a lively attacking threat as the top-flight side gradually found their rhythm before Madueke broke the deadlock in the 41st minute.
Madueke, who had an initial shot saved, curled a powerful finish into the far corner to give Arsenal their 100th goal of the season in all competitions.
Clough brought on Evans for the second half, and the Welsh striker made an immediate impact, netting five minutes after coming on.
The 28-year-old wrong-footed a second-guessing Cristhian Mosquera before finishing past Kepa Arrizabalaga in Arsenal’s goal.
“It’s typical, isn’t it? For me to have a league goal drought and then come on for a half against Arsenal and have a goal against them,” Evans said.
Arsenal were rattled but recovered and found the winner when substitute Eze made space for himself and fired a powerful shot from the edge of the box to silence the crowd at Field Mill and keep Arsenal’s quadruple bid on track.
-Reuters
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Chelsea’s Alejandro Garnacho and Joao Pedro struck in extra time to secure a nervy 4–2 win over second‑tier Wrexham and reach the FA Cup quarter‑finals on Saturday as the Premier League giants escaped from the Racecourse Ground after a tough battle.
Garnacho volleyed home from close range in the 97th minute with such force that the ball ricocheted off the back stanchion to give Chelsea the lead for the first time on the night.
Wrexham — who lost George Dobson to a 93rd-minute red card — thought they had equalised deep into added time in the extra period when Lewis Brunt headed home, but he was offside. Pedro then sealed Chelsea’s win with a fine goal in the 125th minute.
Sam Smith had put the Championship side ahead in the 18th when he sprinted onto Callum Doyle’s long pass, took a touch and fired past Robert Sanchez. Chelsea equalised with a huge slice of luck when George Thomason’s attempt to clear Garnacho’s shot struck goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo and rolled in.
Wrexham went back in front after 78 minutes when Doyle diverted the ball past Sanchez after Ryan Longman fired it back into the area from a corner. But Josh Acheampong equalised soon after with a blistering shot into the roof of the net after Dobson slipped to send the game into extra time.
-Reuters
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Arsenal will visit League One Mansfield Town, while Manchester City travel to Newcastle United in a mouth-watering all-Premier League tie following the FA Cup fifth round draw on Monday.
Third-tier Mansfield stunned top-flight strugglers Burnley 2-1 at Turf Moor on Saturday and have been rewarded with a clash against 14-time winners and Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola’s City face Newcastle in a repeat of one of this season’s League Cup semi-finals, while Premier League bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers host Liverpool.
Brentford head to West Ham United after an own goal away to sixth-tier Macclesfield, who stunned holders Crystal Palace in the last round, giving them a 1-0 win on Monday.
Championship side Wrexham welcome eight-time winners Chelsea, while Fulham entertain Southampton and Leeds United host another second-tier side in Norwich City.
Sunderland face a second successive away trip after being drawn against Port Vale or Bristol City, whose fourth-round tie has been postponed until March 3 due to a waterlogged pitch.
FA Cup fifth round draw
- Fulham v Southampton
- Port Vale or Bristol City v Sunderland
- Newcastle United v Manchester City
- Leeds United v Norwich City
- Mansfield Town v Arsenal
- Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool
- Wrexham v Chelsea
- West Ham United v Brentford
Matches to be played over the weekend of March 7–8
-Reuters
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