A summit between Newcastle and City… and Chelsea to get out of its crises at the expense of Brighton
Attention will be focused on the match between Newcastle (runner-up) and Manchester City, the league and European champions (Wednesday), in the third round of the English League Cup, which will witness another summit between the reeling Chelsea against its brilliant guest, Brighton, third in the Premier League.
Newcastle enters the confrontation ecstatic about its landslide victory in its last league match over host Sheffield United with 8 clean goals, but its task will not be easy against Manchester City, which stands alone at the top of the league with a full score after 6 stages.
Almiron is one of Newcastle’s winning cards in the attack (dpa)
The two teams met last August 19 in the second stage of the league and City won 1-0 with difficulty.
Newcastle United suffered a blow with the injury of its player, Harvey Barnes, 12 minutes after the start of the match against Sheffield United, and it is expected that he will be absent from the field for a long period of time. Newcastle coach Eddie Howe said before facing Manchester City: “I think it is an injury below the toe. “I think it is a severe injury. We conducted some tests, and are waiting for the specialists’ opinion on what we will do, and whether he needs surgery.”
The 45-year-old coach added: “I don’t think he was obstructed.” “It was just a push while running, which is a very unusual injury.”
Anthony Gordon replaced Barnes against Sheffield, and was among 8 different players to score in the match, and the 22-year-old young player received praise from Howe.
“He’s had a great start to the season,” Howe said. What pleased me most was his level of physical fitness. He clearly demonstrated his artistic potential. He contributed to the goals, was influential, provided an assist and scored a goal…which is fantastic.”
Gordon joined Newcastle from Everton in January, but he struggled to play regularly last season, and entered the starting lineup only 4 times, before starting 5 times during the current season.
“Sometimes there is a break,” Howe explained. “Some players need more time than others.”
He continued: “We had no doubt about Anthony’s competence, but I think the preparation period made him really good, as did the six months he spent with us before the summer.”
Regarding facing City in the competition, which lost the final of the last edition to Manchester United, Howe said: “It is an important competition for us. We will give it all the attention. “We will try to advance as much as possible because we are trying to compete for all titles.”
For his part, Spanish coach Pep Guardiola, Manchester City’s coach, will take advantage of the League Cup competition to advance his players who do not have continuous opportunities to play in the league. With City about to play big matches, in addition to the Champions League, Guardiola is preparing to make several changes against Newcastle and commented: “The match is important, but (facing) Wolverhampton, Leipzig and Arsenal is more important.” Guardiola will bring on Kalvin Phillips for the first time since the start this season against Newcastle. The England midfielder joined City last year, but did not leave any mark, suffering from a shoulder injury, and Guardiola criticized him after returning overweight from the World Cup. The 27-year-old player participated from the bench in the 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest after Rodri was sent off on Saturday, and Guardiola wants to follow a rotation policy in his squad to overcome the crowded match schedule, and commented, saying: “Yes. (Phillips) will play from the beginning. The second half (against Forest) was a little more defensive… and he made three or four amazing choices that helped us win.” Mateo Kovacic and Jack Grealish are also expected to participate after recovering from injury.
Kovacic missed City’s last three matches due to injury, while Grealish participated towards the end of Saturday’s match after returning from a hamstring injury.
The coach said: “Jack has improved a lot and Matteo as well.” “I don’t know how many minutes from the beginning or the second half, but they will play.”
The summit highlights Chelsea’s declining performance and results in the league against its brilliant guest, Brighton, third in the Premier League.
The men of Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino are in 14th place with one win, two draws and 3 defeats, the last of which was at home against Aston Villa 0-1, noting that they did not achieve a win in the last three matches in their worst start since 1978.
Chelsea coach Pochettino under pressure from poor results (Reuters)
The Argentine coach’s team, which cost the London club huge sums of money in player contracts, did not score any goals in the last 3 matches. Pochettino said: “We need to mature, when most players are young, they need to learn, experience and make mistakes… We are disappointed, but we want support from the fans and officials to overcome the bad start.”
The defeat against Aston Villa brought back the question of whether Pochettino is the right coach for Chelsea… and he is the one on whom the management has bet to change the course of the club after spending about one billion pounds on strengthening the team since May 2022.
As the losses continued, the comparison between Pochettino and other Chelsea coaches returned. The Argentine failed to correct the negative process that began under the leadership of former coach Graham Potter, and continued under interim coach Frank Lampard.
As for German coach Thomas Tuchel, under whose leadership Chelsea won three titles, he scored 14 points in his first six Premier League matches, and with the goal barrenness that currently haunts Chelsea, Pochettino (51 years old) hopes to solve this dilemma as soon as possible.
Pochettino found some support from the club’s American owners, especially CEO Todd Buhli and his partner Behdad Eghbali, who visited the team before facing Brighton.
Last season, Buhli was criticized for entering the locker room after a loss suffered by Chelsea, but this time Pochettino welcomed the presence of the owners with the team and said: “I like it when the owner comes (to the locker room). I think it’s good to have him among us, it’s a good way to show his support to the players. “I think they will be very welcome… I don’t see things in a bad way.” He added: “For me, it is always good for them (the technical staff) to participate with us and then they can say hello to the players. The difference is that if they came to give a speech or do different things, it might be different. “They own the club and they can do whatever they want.”
Pochettino called on his team to improve the mood at Stamford Bridge with a strong display in the League Cup, adding: “It (the League Cup title) is one of our goals this season. We need to think that this is an opportunity we have to win a title. It is a different competition and we need to change the atmosphere on the field, and we will be ready for that against Brighton.”
The Clearlake Capital group, affiliated with Bohle, spent more than 450 million pounds on signing new players during the last summer transfer period, with Chelsea breaking the record in the British transfer market twice since last January. After hosting Brighton in the English League Cup and facing the West London derby against its host Fulham, Chelsea is going through a difficult journey during which it will meet Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle during its next eight matches in the league.
Liverpool, City’s direct competitor in the league, is facing a relatively easy test against Leicester City, which has been relegated to the first division (actually the second division) this season, seeking its seventh successive victory in various competitions.
The match will be an opportunity for Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold to return to the lineup after recovering from a hamstring injury during the 3-0 win over Aston Villa at the beginning of this month.
Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp’s German assistant, Pep Lijnders, said: “Trent trained with us, and we will test whether he is fit for the match against Leicester. We know that we will be playing against a team that has been relegated to the second level, but it still has great quality.”
Lijnders praised Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah, who, with his goal during Liverpool’s 3-1 victory over West Ham on Sunday, became the fifth player to score or send an assist in every match in his team’s first 6 matches in the English Premier League this season, and explained: “He is breaking records.” One record after another, we have a very special player on our hands and a teacher as well. “He is a leader.”
Arsenal will visit its neighbor Brentford with a task at hand, given the disappointing results of the hosts, who have not tasted victories in their last four matches.
Arsenal hopes to exploit the faltering state of its neighbor Brentford (AFP)
Spanish coach Mikel Arteta’s men will try to restore balance after the disappointing draw against the other London neighbor, Tottenham, 2-2 in the league, after they had advanced twice.
Aston Villa meets Everton in a confrontation that is not without importance. Bournemouth also plays with Stoke City (second level), Fulham with Norwich City (second level), West Ham United will visit Lincoln City (third level), and Blackburn Rovers (second) – Cardiff City (second).
2023-09-27 07:32:37
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