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.
The first weekend of semi-automated offside decisions in English soccer descended into confusion on Saturday as Bournemouth had a goal ruled out after a record eight-minute VAR check.
Bournemouth, who eventually beat Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers on penalties in the FA Cup fifth round after a 1-1 draw, thought they had doubled their lead when defender Milos Kerkez scored in the 35th-minute goal.
However, new technology could not be used because the six-yard area was too crowded and VAR officials had to revert to manually drawing lines before disallowing the goal.
Fellow defender Dean Huijsen was adjudged to have been in an offside position as Kerkez’s effort brushed his shoulder before going in to the net.
The VAR check was further complicated as VAR officials Timothy Wood and Darren England also had to also examine the possibility of hand balls prior to the tight offside call.
Both sets of fans voiced their disapproval at the interminable wait, chanting “it’s not football any more” and “this is embarrassing”.
Referee Sam Barrott, who eventually announced the decision to the crowd via a microphone, had to explain to the respective managers and players what was happening during the delay.
-Reuters
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FA Cup giant-killers Plymouth Argyle drew Premier League champions Manchester City on Monday as the second-tier side’s fifth-round reward for a shock defeat of Liverpool at the weekend.
Holders Manchester United will host Fulham at Old Trafford in one of at least three all-Premier League clashes, with League Cup finalists Newcastle United at home to top-tier rivals Brighton & Hove Albion.
Bournemouth will host Wolverhampton Wanderers in another all-top-flight encounter.
Struggling Plymouth caused one of the great upsets of the FA Cup on Sunday when they beat a second-string Liverpool 1-0, ending the Premier League leaders’ hopes of a quartet of trophies this season.
The Pilgrims are bottom of the Championship but City, who reached the fifth round with a 2-1 win at third-tier Leyton Orient on Saturday after going behind early on, have been misfiring this season.
There will be a fourth all-Premier League clash if Nottingham Forest avoid trouble at League One (third tier) Exeter City on Tuesday, with Ipswich Town awaiting the winners.
Aston Villa, who ended Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes on Sunday, host second tier Cardiff City.
The fifth round matches will be played on the weekend of March 1 and 2.
Last 16 draw:
- Preston North End v Burnley
- Aston Villa v Cardiff City
- Doncaster Rovers or Crystal Palace v Millwall
- Manchester United v Fulham
- Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion
- Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Manchester City v Plymouth Argyle
-Reuters
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A much-changed Liverpool were dumped out of the FA Cup by struggling second-tier side Plymouth Argyle, who pulled off a stunning 1-0 fourth-round win at Home Park on Sunday that put an end to the visitors’ hopes of a quadruple.
The hosts took the lead in the 53rd minute after they were awarded a penalty for a handball by midfielder Harvey Elliott and Ryan Hardie stepped up to send Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher the wrong way.
Premier League leaders Liverpool were bereft of ideas and had just one shot on target in the opening half, with Plymouth keeper Conor Hazard making a diving save in the 36th minute to keep out James McConnell’s long-range shot.
Ahead of the Merseyside derby against Everton on Wednesday, Liverpool made wholesale changes with Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Alexis Mac Allister among the big-names rested and left at home.
Liverpool, who were also forced into an early change when defender Joe Gomez went down injured, failed to create many chances in a scrappy encounter as Plymouth, who sit bottom of the second-tier Championship, gradually grew in confidence.
Arne Slot’s side switched gears after going down but Hazard proved to be the hero for Plymouth as the Northern Irishman brilliantly kept out Diogo Jota’s volley in added time, as well as a header from Darwin Nunez.
With Liverpool top of the Premier League, having strolled into the Champions League’s last 16 and reached the League Cup final, some fans and pundits had begun to speculate about a potential quadruple.
Plymouth’s remarkable victory, however, brought a shuddering halt to talk of clean sweep of silverware for Slot’s side, who had only lost three games all season, prior to Sunday.
Meanwhile, there was no surprise in the other FA Cup fourth-round tie with Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers beating second-tier Championship side Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at Ewood Park.
There was little to separate the two teams in the opening minutes before Wolves hit Blackburn with two rapid-fire goals through midfielder Joao Gomes in the 33rd minute and seconds later via forward Matheus Cunha.
Blackburn defender Dominic Hyam had the ball in the back of the net in the 19th minute, but his celebrations were cut short when the linesman’s flag went up for offside.
-Reuters
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