Vesper

Victor Froholdt

Cole Palmer is ‘available’ for Chelsea vs Arsenal after 13 games out, Enzo Maresca says https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6844907/2025/11/28/cole-palmer-injury-news-Chelsea-maresca/ Enzo Maresca has admitted everyone at Chelsea is excited at the prospect of Cole Palmer’s return after confirming he is ready to start against Arsenal on Sunday. Palmer has not played for Chelsea since limping off against Manchester United in September, mainly due to a groin injury, but his comeback was also delayed by fracturing a toe in his left foot last week. The England international has missed 13 games in all and head coach Maresca mentioned last Friday that he would not be ready to face Arsenal. But today, however, he confirmed: “He’s available. Everyone is happy. The team-mates are happy. We are all happy and the most important thing is that Cole is happy because at the end, a football player, they want to play games and make sessions every day. “What kind of contribution do I expect? A lot, a lot. He is probably our best player. We are happy that he is back. Now we need to give him time to be 100 per cent fit. He has done fantastic in the past and no doubt he is going to do very well for this club in the future.” What You Should Read Next Chelsea dealt stadium blow as council approves alternate Earls Court development plan The empty land at Earls Court has long been mooted as a potential site for a new stadium for Chelsea. Estevao Willian has begun to star in Palmer’s absence with his fine goal in the 3-0 win against Barcelona making him just the third player to score in his first three Champions League games. Asked about the prospect of opposition defenders worrying about the prospect of the duo soon being able to combine their talents together, Maresca replied: “They can play together. It depends on which team, it depends a little bit on the game plan, but for sure they are excited. “The fans are excited to watch both together. We are also excited, thinking that at the end we need always a balance between the two phases.” Chelsea go into the match against Arsenal with the chance to close the gap to the league leaders to three points with a victory. Maresca ruled out Chelsea’s chances of competing for the title 12 months ago when they had also climbed to second in the table. But while he insists it is too early to say they can challenge for the crown this time around, he does believe they are better equipped to do so than last year. He added: “I think for sure it’s different compared to one year ago. It’s because we spent one more year together. We went through moments where we can learn from that moment. Then again, for me it’s very early. We are still at the end of November, December. So it’s very early and it’s important to be where we are now in March, April and then we’ll see.” Chelsea have also been handed a boost with the news that midfielder Dario Essugo has returned to training. He has been ruled out since early September after having surgery on a thigh injury.

Marc Cucurella is crucial for Chelsea – and enjoying the best spell of his career https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6844781/2025/11/29/marc-cucurella-chelse-analysis/ For Marc Cucurella, Chelsea’s clash with Barcelona was personal. Cucurella’s history with Barcelona, the club he supports and one where he started his career, lent extra weight to this match. The Catalonia-born defender came through the youth ranks at Barcelona but never had a real opportunity in the first team and left without making a senior league appearance. A source close to the player, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, says the Spaniard had a point to prove — and recognised an opportunity to draw attention from the Spanish media. Most of his Chelsea activity, though appreciated by fans of the club, does not cut through back in Spain in the same way as his performance in a match with Barcelona would. Well, if there is one way to catch the attention of Spanish football, it is to stop Lamine Yamal. That is what Cucurella achieved on Tuesday night. Much of the reaction to Chelsea’s 3-0 win has revolved around how Ballon d’Or runner-up and two-time Kopa Trophy winner Yamal was outshone by Chelsea’s Estevao, but it was Cucurella who snuffed out Yamal’s usual spark. The left-back limited his Spain team-mate, playing on the right wing, to three touches in Chelsea’s box and 0.07 xG. Cucurella was also characteristically active in attack, drilling in the low cross that Jules Kounde eventually turned into his own net for Chelsea’s opener, and panicking Ronald Araujo into the challenge that saw Barcelona reduced to 10 men. The 27-year-old was named UEFA’s player of the match. The source views this as the best moment in Cucurella’s career. Chelsea fans would not be surprised — they have seen his importance for a while now. Even that, though, is quite the turnaround from where he once stood at Stamford Bridge. During Cucurella’s debut season with Chelsea in 2022-23, he was booed by his own supporters at times and held up as an example of Chelsea’s giddiness in the transfer market. Now, every penny of that £63m deal to bring him in from Brighton & Hove Albion feels well spent. Cucurella has not only become popular; he has become irreplaceable. Cucurella has played the most minutes of any Chelsea defender in all competitions this season, and is second only to Enzo Fernandez overall. The central defence has been extensively rotated, and Reece James and Malo Gusto have shared the right-back spot, but Cucurella has appeared in all of Chelsea’s games except their 5-1 drubbing of 10-man Ajax. Considering Maresca’s determination to rotate, his consistent presence is an outlier. Part of that is due to a relative lack of cover. The only real left-back option behind Cucurella is Jorrel Hato, the 19-year-old who joined from Ajax for over €40m (£35m at current rates) this summer. Hato has plenty of senior experience in the Netherlands and is a bright prospect, but the drop-off when he replaces Cucurella in Chelsea’s defence is noticeable. That is less criticism of Hato than praise of Cucurella. Hato has the makings of an excellent full-back. The problem is that Cucurella is not simply an excellent full-back: he is a box threat, wing-back, even box-to-box midfielder, as important to Chelsea in possession as out of possession. The example below demonstrates his quality in attacking link-up and tight spaces. He pulls off a neat pass-and-move sequence at speed before driving into space in the left channel — panicking Araujo into what becomes his second bookable offence. The pace that makes him an attacking threat — which he also uses to make well-timed runs in behind, often latching onto long balls from Moises Caicedo — helps ensure he does not let his defensive duties slide. Here, after over-committing high up the pitch and being turned by Yamal, he reacts swiftly to close down Eric Garcia and force a pass, before a recovery sprint that ends in him winning a foul from Fermin Lopez. At 27, Cucurella is Chelsea’s third-oldest player (behind only Tosin Adarabioyo and Robert Sanchez). The fact that Chelsea value his experience is reflected in his heavy involvement on the pitch, but he is also valued off it. Sources with knowledge of the situation, who asked to be kept anonymous to protect relationships, told The Athletic he has been asked his thoughts on players the club are looking at signing. It is not unusual for the recruitment team to tap into players’ knowledge in this way. Cucurella is close with other core players like Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, and Pedro Neto. But sources close to the player add that also enjoys helping younger players to settle into the club and city and that he feels like a leader at Chelsea. Maresca spoke about how important Cucurella is on Friday. At his pre-Arsenal press conference he said: “He is one of the characters inside the building, the changing room. He has the capacity to switch from laughing or joking to being serious. “When you have players like Marc, the more you have, the better it is.” He might have caught the attention of Spanish football with his performance against Barcelona — but does not envisage a move back to a Spanish club. When asked in a press conference before the match whether he felt he had proven he could have played for Barcelona, Cucurella was not concerned with what might have been. “I don’t think about this because maybe if I had stayed in Barcelona and I didn’t move on, maybe I’d never have the opportunity to play Champions League, or play for Chelsea and win the trophies that I won,” Cucurella said. “I think everything happens for a reason, so I’m very happy with my career, and I’m very happy to play for Chelsea.” It might have been a rocky start at times — but now, Chelsea fans are equally happy to have him.

Declan Rice, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez are proof that £100m transfers can work https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6842793/2025/11/29/rice-caicedo-fernandez-value-arsenal-Chelsea/ In an era where football fans implore their club to spend big money on new players, it’s notable that very few of the most expensive footballers in history have been an unqualified success at their new club. Eleven players have been transferred for £100million or more, and there are more flops than clear positives. Antoine Griezmann’s 2017 move from Atletico Madrid to Barcelona (£105.9m) fell flat, and the experience of his direct replacement Joao Felix (£112.9m), arriving at Atletico from Benfica, was entirely underwhelming too. Philippe Coutinho’s £142m move from Liverpool to Barcelona was a clear failure — they ended up loaning him to Aston Villa, where he was a belated replacement for Jack Grealish, whose £100m move to Manchester City produced trophies, but far from Grealish’s best football. Elsewhere, Neymar (£200m) and Kylian Mbappe (£165.7m) remain first and second on the list respectively and while their goalscoring numbers and Ligue 1 title count both look impressive, ultimately Paris Saint-Germain only achieved their long-awaited Champions League success after they departed. Their triumph last season was billed, perhaps a little reductively, as an anti-superstar win. Two Liverpool summer signings, Alexander Isak (£125m, third all-time) and Florian Wirtz (£116m), are also on the list. It’s too early to make any definitive judgements but, at this moment in time, neither are part of Liverpool’s best XI, and Arne Slot is having problems integrating them into the team without compromising his side’s structure and balance. What You Should Read Next There are 125 million reasons why Alexander Isak is becoming a big problem for Liverpool British football's record signing could not have made a worse start to his career at his new club And therefore it’s arguable that, amongst the aforementioned 11, the three positive cases will be in the same midfield zone at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. And their positioning is relevant. The other eight were all attackers or playmakers. Enzo Fernandez (£106m), Declan Rice (£105m) and Moises Caicedo (up to £115m) are all-round midfielders — and they aren’t necessarily playing the roles we expected. Rice and Caceido in action at Stamford Bridge in November 2024Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images Fernandez burst onto the world scene at World Cup 2022, brought in to stabilise an Argentina side which had suffered a shock defeat by Saudi Arabia. He offered passing ability, but destructive qualities too — no one at the tournament made more tackles in their own third of the pitch. Chelsea, a club with a history of solid, reliable holding midfielders, seemed a perfect fit. And while that was where Fernandez was initially deployed, he’s impressed in more advanced zones. In his four seasons at Chelsea, he’s gone from zero goals per game, to 0.1, to 0.2, to 0.4. He’s gone from 0.2 shots on target per game, to 0.5, to 0.6, to 1.0. He’s gone from shooting from an average of 26 yards, to 21 yards, to 18 yards, to 17 yards. His recent goal against Burnley, converting a cut-back from point-blank range, was very different from what we expected when he joined, but typical of his game these days. He’s playing something closer to the Frank Lampard role than the Claude Makelele role. “Enzo can play in different positions for us, he can play as a No 6 or as an attacking midfielder,” his manager Enzo Maresca said in September. “We have used him in 90 per cent of our games as an attacking midfielder, and I think he is very good in this position. But it depends a little bit on the game plan.” That game plan has also determined the precise role played by his midfield partner, Caicedo. In his Brighton & Hove Albion days, Caicedo was billed as true all-rounder, a midfield ball-winner who could also surge into attack and make positive forward passes. What wasn’t yet evident, although perhaps obvious in hindsight, was that Caicedo was well-suited to the unusual ‘half-back’ role that involves acting as a right-back without possession, but a central midfielder when Chelsea had the ball. Caicedo has shown positional flexibility since joining ChelseaJustin Setterfield/Getty Images “I see Moi as a No 6 in the way he is playing since we started,” he said last season. “He’s played some matches as a full-back off the ball, and then on the ball he is a No 6, a holding midfielder.” Maresca used this approach on a number of occasions last season, and reprised the system in the 5-1 thrashing of Ajax last month, when Chelsea scored five times by the 48th-minute mark — one of them from Caicedo — and then switched off, having put the game to bed. Caicedo dictated the play from deep in midfield, then made recovery runs towards the right-back zone. Meanwhile, when Rice was coming through at West Ham United, there was a question about whether his long-term future was as a centre-back or a holding midfielder. When he was linked with a return to Chelsea, who released him as a teenager, it seemed Chelsea believed he was more of a defender. And even upon his arrival at Arsenal, it seemed unlikely Rice would play such a roving role. “The signing of Kai Havertz from Chelsea — who will likely fill the left-sided No 8 role for Arteta — would see Rice slot in as a No 6,” wrote The Athletic’s Art de Roche when Rice signed, although significantly, he added: “He is a player whose attributes lend themselves to more than one role.” Rice has offered plenty of attacking threat since joining ArsenalJustin Setterfield/Getty Images Rice has barely played in that holding midfield role, despite Arsenal not having that position sorted — Thomas Partey and Jorginho were replaced with Martin Zubimendi and Christian Norgaard this summer. There was never a thought for Rice to play that static No 6 role, because he’s become such a specialist at his left-sided No 8 role. Still, his performance in Arsenal’s thumping 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur last weekend was interesting — at times he was receiving the ball between his centre-backs, the next he was bursting in behind the opposition for a good chance. And all these players have benefited from the sense that central midfielders are being given more freedom than a couple of seasons ago — there is less clear demarcation of defensive midfielders and attacking midfielders, and instead a resurgence of popularity in players who could broadly be considered box-to-box midfielders, who do a bit of everything. It’s fair to add that, at these prices, Fernandez, Caicedo and Rice need more longevity, and more honours, before we officially classify them as good-value-for-money signings. But thus far, signs are good. Attackers signed for £100m+ are automatically considered worth building a side around — sometimes worth ripping up successful systems for. But history suggests the best way to spend £100m is actually on an emerging all-round midfielder, who is young enough to be shaped into what the club needs, and versatile enough to play different roles.

John Terry rips into Tottenham after absurd Jamie O’Hara claim https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/news/john-terrys-brutal-response-to-claim-that-tottenham-is-a-bigger-club-than-Chelsea/ It all started when O’Hara was previewing the latest round of Premier League action. The London derby between Spurs and Chelsea is the big-ticket fixture, and the flames of rivalry didn’t need stoking. But stoke them he would. Appearing on talkSPORT, O’Hara bullishly claimed: “Spurs globally are bigger than Chelsea, they are. We’ve got a rich history. Arsenal, for me, and I hate to say it, but Arsenal are probably the biggest club in London. Internationally, Arsenal, with the history they’ve got, with the Premier League era. “Chelsea, they’re big because of Roman Abramovich. They’re big because they brought big players in and they’ve become a big club. Tottenham, globally, are a bigger club than Chelsea.” Yeah, that’s ridiculous. A comment that merits a cutting response. Luckily, Terry caught wind of the claim. Sending a voice message into the studio, he said: “What on earth is he on about this morning, O’Hara? “Even using those two words together, Spurs and globally, should never be in the same sentence ever, ever again. Mate, they’re still doing their pre-season tours around North London. Absolutely ridiculous.” Correct. But Terry didn’t stop there. He continues: “I’ve been invited to the game by Tottenham at the weekend. So it’s a 5.30 kick-off. They’ve asked me to get there at 5.29 and they said they’ll take me round the trophy cabinet and they’ll have me in my seat by kick-off. That’s how miles off it they are, mate.” Ruthless.

only Wolves have a worst EPL home record than Spuds this season

earliest Spuds have ever been down nil 2 at home in EPL history

nil 2 Fulham up on Spuds

TEAM PTS (GD) ADVANCE% TITLE% 1. Arsenal 15 (+13) 100.0% 24.2% 2. PSG 12 (+11) 100.0% 20.2% 3. Bayern Munich 12 (+9) 100.0% 17.0% 4. Inter Milan 12 (+9) 100.0% 8.6% 5. Real Madrid 12 (+7) 100.0% 12.1% 6. Borussia Dortmund 10 (+6) 100.0% 7.1% 7. Chelsea 10 (+6) 100.0% 13.6% 8. Sporting CP 10 (+6) 99.9% 0.6% 9. Manchester City 10 (+5) 100.0% 8.9% 10. Atalanta 10 (+1) 99.7% 0.1% 11. Newcastle United 9 (+7) 99.3% 2.2% 12. Atletico Madrid 9 (+2) 99.6% 5.2% 13. Liverpool 9 (+2) 99.6% 3.9% 14. Galatasaray 9 (+1) 95.0% 0.3% 15. PSV Eindhoven 8 (+5) 90.6% 0.7% 16. Tottenham Hotspur 8 (+3) 97.5% 0.7% 17. Bayer Leverkusen 8 (-2) 96.3% 1.9% 18. Barcelona 7 (+2) 98.5% 4.5% 19. Qarabag 7 (-1) 75.3% 0.0% 20. Napoli 7 (-3) 83.0% 0.9% 21. Marseille 6 (+2) 62.1% 0.3% 22. Juventus 6 (0) 85.4% 0.4% 23. Monaco 6 (-2) 59.0% 0.1% 24. Pafos 6 (-3) 42.3% 0.0% 25. Union Saint-Gilloise 6 (-7) 60.0% 0.4% 26. Club Brugge 4 (-5) 65.0% 0.1% 27. Athletic Club 4 (-5) 22.6% 0.0% 28. Copenhagen 4 (-7) 7.5% 0.0% 29. Eintracht Frankfurt 4 (-7) 39.1% 0.0% 30. Benfica 3 (-4) 31.8% 0.0% 31. Slavia Prague 3 (-6) 11.1% 0.0% 32. Bodo/Glimt 2 (-4) 1.2% 0.0% 33. Olympiacos 2 (-8) 19.7% 0.0% 34. Villarreal 1 (-8) 14.1% 0.0% 35. Kairat 1 (-10) 0.1% 0.0% 36. Ajax 0 (-15) 0.3% 0.0%

I only want us to win IF Citeh keep winning the league they will set a bar so high over a long period that they may well even pass up Manure I am not going to arsed over Arse winning a stray league title Spuds yes, Arse no where I want Arse to fail is the CL, same for Citeh but may well not get my wishes there due to Arse's insane form and lack of quality in re other sides PSG, Real, and a fully healthy Chels (ie Palmer and Colwill especially, but Colwill is a long shot) are the main teams that have the best shot maybe Bayern if they play a far better game AND get Musiala back

fuck Citeh cheating cunts amazing how many here are all up on their dicks

ffs 10 minutes added Citeh score in the 91st minute 3 2

Adam Wharton (21-289, Crystal Palace) was the Big Five League leader for both Passes into the Final Third (11) and Long Passes Completed (10, alongside Udinese’s Nicolò Bertola). He was also the non-Defender leader for Progressive Passing Distance across all leagues with 442 yards, alongside PSG’s Warren Zaïre-Emery. Here it is. You may be surprised to learn this was just the third game in his entire league career that Wharton has completed 10+ Passes into the Final Third. However, you need to remember that for Pathfinders like Wharton, it’s important to break down their passing output. The list of U-23 players to complete 10+ Passes into the Final Third in a Premier League this season consists of Declan Rice’s prospective midfield partners for England at the 2026 World Cup. Elliot Anderson hit double figures six times this season before Wharton joined the list at the weekend. However, when breaking down these single-game tallies, their differing styles become clear. Wharton ranks first for Percentage of Completed Passes into the Final Third, Distance per Pass Completed, Progressive Distance per Passes Completed, Long Passes Completed and Percentage of Passes as Long Passes. He ranks second for Percentage of Passes as Progressive Passes excluding Passes into the Penalty Area and Direct Ratio (Percentage of Distance as Progressive Distance). This is a reflection of his style of play, his Pathfinder profile: Wharton accelerates the tempo with forward-first, long-range passing. Anderson profiles more like a Platformer: he dictates and controls tempo through volume. My theory is that this table is a microcosm of their overall output this season. Looking at a player’s most effective games for a key metric and how they achieved it usually reflects their skillset in its purest form. Both approaches are informed and influenced by team environment, yes. Anderson may even move closer towards that Pathfinder style under Dyche. But it’s much more natural to Wharton and I think he’s a more effective exponent. You still shouldn’t read that as ‘Adam Wharton is better than Elliot Anderson’. You should read it as ‘Adam Wharton is different to Elliot Anderson’. So, with regards to England, all of this must be considered in conjunction with Declan Rice’s own tendencies when deciding which player to pick alongside him. For what it’s worth, I think both Anderson and Wharton should be in the World Cup squad. Whoever starts should then depend on the opponent and the problems to be solved. We’ll park this discussion for now.

Scouser tears!!!! https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRaUwjxjIAC/?igsh=MXY2c25yNXJrOWZ3ZA==

If Kobbie Mainoo were to depart in January, even if only on loan, then one of United’s proudest traditions would be placed in jeopardy. United have consistently included an academy graduate in their first-team matchday squad since 1937, over the course of more than 4,300 straight games. Mainoo has been the sole academy representative in United’s squad on several occasions already this season. When he missed the recent 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur with a knock, academy midfielder Jack Fletcher was called up as his replacement. Tom Heaton, United’s third-choice goalkeeper, and young defender Tyler Fredricson have also featured in squads this term, but like Fletcher, would not typically be considered part of Ruben Amorim’s first-choice 20-man squad. Amorim is fully aware of the record and has vowed to preserve it. “We want to maintain that; I don’t want to be the guy to break that record, or that idea,” he said in September.

Marc Guehi https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6838191/2025/11/28/transfer-radar-latest-january-summer-window/ A summer transfer to Liverpool collapsed on deadline day, but Marc Guehi is expected to depart Selhurst Park in 2026. Whether the Premier League champions will try again in January remains unclear but even if they or other suitors do, any proposal would need to satisfy Palace and Guehi — which is by no means guaranteed. That is because of an amicable understanding between the south London club and their captain that he will see out the final months of his terms, attempt to lift another trophy and leave as a free agent at the end of the season. Guehi can speak to foreign teams from January 1, while English sides must officially wait until the summer. Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Manchester City are among his many admirers, while Real Madrid’s position may depend on the movement of other targets. Any suggestion that switching to Anfield is a formality would be wide of the mark; the situation remains open, the competition fierce, and Guehi will listen to all interested parties before making his decision. Although the 25-year-old England centre-back will have numerous destinations to choose from — and some not currently high in the pecking order could emerge as such, depending on how their seasons unfold — it is anticipated he will end up joining one of those who are expected to challenge for the Champions League trophy. David Ornstein

As I predicted: Ibrahima Konate https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6838191/2025/11/28/transfer-radar-latest-january-summer-window/ Although he has been considered by Real Madrid, The Athletic can reveal the La Liga side have informed their Premier League counterparts directly and unequivocally that — despite such heavy speculation — they now have no interest in recruiting the France international. David Ornstein, Mario Cortegana and Guillermo Rai

Mamadou Sarr, not Malang Sarr Malang Sarr, now on Lens, was the horrid CB who we paid an insane salary to for 5 or so years

keepers who are remotely available Diogo Costa (very expensive fee-wise) Gregor Kobel (very expensive fee-wise) Mike Maignan Guillaume Restes (20yo, same as Penders, Bayern, Inter, NUFC, and Juve are after him, as is AC Milan when Maignan leaves) James Trafford (you KNOW the board is looking hard at him, as he is Citeh, lol) Zion Suzuki (not sold on him completely) 32yo and ups (Cuntois is going nowhere): Jan Oblak (doubt he will leave AM) Alisson (likely has crazy salary demands) Ederson (salary is crazy high) Emiliano Martínez (likely has crazy salary demands) Marc-André ter Stegen (not sold 100 per cent due to so many injuries) young keepers we are tracking: Noah Atubolu Kauã Santos Obed Nkambadio Rome Jayden Owusu-Oduro Matthieu Epolo

Penders, even though Strasbourg beat Palace 2 1, was not good at all, huge mistakes that Palace choked on and did not score no way is he ready for the EPL IMHO we are fucking mad as ass if we do not buy Maignan, even if Sanchez tosses his toys from the pram and demands to be sold

Arsenal’s squad depth is a frightening prospect for their rivals https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6841516/2025/11/27/arsenal-squad-depth-bayern-champions-league/ When you have a winning team, everybody wants to be part of it. Arsenal have assembled one of the most formidable squads in Europe. On the evidence of Wednesday’s 3-1 win against Bayern Munich in the league phase of this season’s Champions League, it is striking an enviable balance, one where each player sees every start as a privilege, every minute on the pitch as an opportunity. It is that rarest, most fragile football phenomenon: healthy competition. Competition that invigorates. Mikel Arteta’s side are six points clear in the Premier League as we head into December and have won the first five of their eight games in this opening stage of the Champions League. Arsenal are in that perfect state of equilibrium. The players picked to start feel simultaneously supported by and under threat from those on the bench. The ones named as substitutes for a match see it not as demotion or chastisement, but as a chance to contribute later on in the game. That much was evident against Bayern yesterday. Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli both scored as substitutes, and the former’s goal was set up by another replacement in Riccardo Calafiori. “I look at the players, they are coming in and they can change the game,” Arteta told his post-match press conference. “That's what you require. At this level, we have improved that, not only with the quality but also with the mindset of the players coming in. And that's something that is making a huge difference.” In Arsenal’s past two Premier League games, Arteta has appeared reluctant to make changes. During the 2-2 draw away to Sunderland, he made a solitary substitution in the 88th minute, and though the 4-1 home win against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday brought four, three of those came beyond the 88th minute. But Arsenal are getting their injured players back. After weeks of waiting for the cavalry to come, they are arriving — not all at once, but in a steady procession. Madueke and Martinelli bring much-needed attacking depth. With more options at his disposal, Arteta’s hesitance to tweak the line-up disappears. Madueke and Martinelli both came off the bench to score on WednesdayRichard Heathcote/Getty Images That theme of the squad uniting for the cause has been apparent throughout the season — and was again in last night's game. Arsenal have been beset by injuries, not that you would necessarily know. When one soldier falls, another moves into the gap in the line. Arsenal are currently missing their primary attacking set-piece threat in centre-back Gabriel, but fellow defender Jurrien Timber leapt adroitly into the breach, rising to flick home the opener against Bayern. Without Gabriel and Martin Odegaard, Arsenal had been missing two of the squad’s most significant leadership figures. Others, such as Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice, have stepped up. Saka and Rice shared the armband across the 90 minutes on Wednesday, and were both instrumental in the victory. It was Saka’s corner that Timber met to head home, giving the England international his first assist of the season. Rice took over as captain when Saka was substituted on 68 minutes, and being skipper seemed to turbo-charge an already industrious performance (illustrated in his player dashboard below). Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Rice concurred that whoever plays, Arsenal maintain their level. “That's down to the manager,” he said. “That’s down to the way we work, every single day. The players all believe in him, exactly what he does. Every game requires something different. Chelsea on the weekend (Arsenal go to Stamford Bridge on Sunday) will be a completely different game to tonight, that’s going to require a different game tactically, but every player knows their role and what to do, and that's the main thing." That was much evident in how Cristhian Mosquera stepped seamlessly into the centre of defence with Gabriel sidelined. The 21-year-old handled Harry Kane better than many more experienced centre-halves have done this season. There was yet further encouragement for Arsenal with the sight of Odegaard stepping onto the pitch for the first time in seven weeks. The club captain’s return is especially welcome, given that Arsenal appeared to lose yet another player to injury, Leandro Trossard, before half-time. Martin Odegaard made his first appearance since October 4Richard Heathcote/Getty Images No matter: the Arsenal juggernaut rumbles on. Next time, Madueke might play from the start, or Martinelli, or perhaps Odegaard. Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus are closing in on comebacks, too. After another outstanding performance from midfielder Mikel Merino as a fill-in at centre-forward, the bar has been raised higher for those pushing to regain a place in the starting XI. “Obviously, we didn't predict to have that many important players out,” says Arteta. “But the good thing is the way the team reacts constantly and plays after that to different positions. For example, what Mikel Merino has done today is incredible. “So, a big compliment to all of them because they are so willing to play, so willing to bring joy to this club and to win football matches. That's all we have to carry on.” There is a long way to go, and Stamford Bridge at the weekend will provide Arsenal with another stern test. At present, they keep passing them.

‘His legs have gone’: Unpicking the four words no footballer wants to hear https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6842190/2025/11/27/mohamed-salah-virgil-van-dijk-carragher/ This is an updated version of an article first published in February 2024. First it was Fabinho, then it was Casemiro, now it’s Mohamed Salah. Maybe Virgil van Dijk, too. “You’re watching Van Dijk now; not the same player,” said Jamie Carragher. “And Mo Salah looks like his legs have gone.” Carragher was speaking on CBS Sports after Liverpool’s latest chastening defeat, a humiliating 4-1 loss at home against PSV in the Champions League that exposed much more than fragile confidence and a loss of form. Reflecting on the performances of Van Dijk, 34, and Salah, 33, Carragher suggested that time has simply caught up with two of Liverpool’s greatest players. “I don’t like criticising them on the pitch because it’s absolutely legendary what they’ve done,” Carragher said. “Their legs have just gone, especially with Salah.” In the past, Carragher made similar comments about the former Liverpool midfielder Fabinho and Manchester United’s Casemiro. Fabinho moved on to Al Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League in the summer of 2023, but Casemiro has spent another two years in the Premier League since being told those four words that no footballer wants to hear. Carragher — who played for Liverpool until he retired at the age of 35 in 2013 — will not be a lone voice in the debate around Van Dijk and Salah, even if it can be hard to make sense of how quickly things can change in football. Last season, Van Dijk was imperious and Salah unquestionably the standout player (29 goals and 18 assists) in the Premier League. Carragher called it an “all-time season” for Salah. Can the switch really flick that quickly from elite player to over the hill? The mind goes back to an interview Salah gave a few months before his 30th birthday, when he was asked how he felt about reaching an age when footballers are typically considered to be past their peak. “I didn’t think about the fact I’m going to turn 30,” he told Four Four Two magazine. “I ask some players and they say it’s a different feeling when you turn 30, but I’m feeling fine. I’m enjoying life, I’m enjoying football — it doesn’t matter how old you are now.” Only Salah, who has always been devoted to being in the best physical condition possible, knows whether age is still nothing but a number for him or if he is starting to experience that “different feeling”. His game changed last season, with data from SkillCorner showing that he was making fewer off-ball runs than ever and accelerating less. Those numbers, however, were not representative of a sudden physical decline. Instead, they pointed to a tactical realignment under the management of Arne Slot that made Salah even more effective. Numbers can be deceptive in that respect. In reality, any footballer over the age of 30 who is struggling on the pitch leaves themselves open to being labelled in this way, but in particular if they are coming off second best in the sort of duels they used to win and playing in a way that makes it feel like the game is now a split-second too quick for them. Casemiro strayed into that territory a couple of seasons ago, when he started to become a danger to his own team after he was booked eight times in 11 matches for club and country, leading to him being withdrawn at half-time in a United game at Luton Town. “A serial offender who kept fouling time and time again”, was the way former England midfielder Jamie Redknapp, a pundit on UK broadcaster Sky Sports’ coverage of the match, summarised his display. Carragher had already gone further. “I think Casemiro’s legs have gone,” he told the Covering Liverpool podcast in October 2023. “I noticed it at Anfield (the season before), and I didn’t like what I saw. It took me back to watching Fabinho (in 2023) for Liverpool. I want to be the first to say it (about Casemiro). I don’t want to say it when everyone else is saying his legs have gone.” Carragher doubled down on that line when he said in May 2024, after Casemiro had been exposed in a 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace, that players need to “leave the football before the football leaves you” — and that in the midfielder’s case, “the football’s left him”. Few would have argued at the time or even at the start of the following season, when Casemiro was hauled off at half-time against Liverpool to a backdrop of brutal abuse on social media. Yet here we are 18 months later, and Casemiro is enjoying something of a renaissance, playing regularly at United under the management of Ruben Amorim and thriving in the Brazil team. Casemiro is back in the Brazil team — and impressingFranck Fife/AFP via Getty Images What is clear is that the spotlight can be unforgiving for older players when their form suffers and, at times, unfair. Gareth McAuley, who was still playing centre-back in the Premier League at the age of 37, viewed the “legs have gone” comment as an “easy shot” when it was directed at him at West Bromwich Albion, especially given how hard he was working to keep in shape and that it was not backed up by the data he was privy to at his club. “I was thinking, ‘I’m doing more than people who are 10 years younger’,” the 80-cap Northern Ireland international McAuley tells The Athletic. “You think, ‘Do you know what? Show some respect’. But it’s getting even younger now: boys at 28 and 29 are being described as ‘done’.” Not every player has reason to feel hard done by in this situation — in some cases, they are in denial. One former international midfielder, not long retired from playing, was viewed by his coach as ‘undroppable’ because of his status. But others at the club felt the player had become a liability as he could no longer track runners and move fast enough. Some are honest enough to hold their hands up and accept that it’s time to walk away – a reality that can creep up on players during a season or, in the case of Gary Neville, be revealed in one brutal moment. At West Brom on New Year’s Day in 2011, a 35-year-old Neville made his first start for Manchester United in two months. He describes in his autobiography how he made West Brom winger Jerome Thomas look like Cristiano Ronaldo during a deeply uncomfortable 71-minute performance in which he was lucky to avoid a red card. Neville recalled how Mike Phelan, United’s assistant manager at the time, wandered across for a word when the ball rolled out of play close to the dugouts. “You’re f***ed, aren’t you?” Phelan said. Neville nodded. Thomas, who made more than 150 appearances in the Premier League with four different clubs, remembers that game well, and also the comments Neville made later. “I guess that was how Gary rationalised it because he was on his way out and he didn’t feel he was at his best,” Thomas says. “I don’t want this to come across the wrong way, because Gary Neville is a legend, but what he doesn’t realise is that he wasn’t the only person I was doing that to. As a left-winger, I would go into every game with the goal to either get the right-back sent off or subbed.” Jerome Thomas made Gary Neville realise his career was overShaun Botterill/Getty Images Neville would have been dismissed on another day. Instead, he was subbed. The following morning, he told United manager Sir Alex Ferguson that he was retiring. He never played for them again. Sol Campbell, Neville’s former England team-mate, had a different experience before bringing the curtain down on his career. “My legs never went. It was just you needed the right rest period,” Campbell, whose last match was as a 36-year-old for Newcastle United in the 2010-11 Premier League, tells The Athletic. “Once I went back to Arsenal (for a second spell midway through 2009-10), I was 35 and my numbers weren’t there, but getting back to good training helped me compete with the guys. It’s difficult, though, as you get older with the recovery. It’s hard on the body. “If you play one game a week, it’s great, but sometimes it’s four games in 10 days, and that’s when you start to feel it. If you have a sympathetic manager who understands that you’re not 21 anymore, then it’s OK. So, for me, it’s not about ‘Legs gone’, it’s about recovery.” His legs have gone. “Sport, never mind football, is full of throwaway phrases like that,” says Chris Barnes, an experienced sports scientist who has worked for several professional clubs, starting with Middlesbrough in 1998. “Wearing the sports scientist’s hat, one of the big challenges we have in football is getting away from focusing on averages and norms and looking at players as individuals. The reality is that phrase is appropriate (for some players) and in others, maybe not so. “If you track a player’s journey from a physical perspective, it’s pretty widely accepted that they peak around about 26 to 28. What that means can be interpreted in a number of ways – peak is different for different players in terms of how fast they can run, their ability to do repeated high-intensity activities and so on.” What You Should Read Next What age do players in different positions peak? By studying minutes played data from the past 10 Premier League seasons, we can look at what age players in different positions 'peak' Although the data never lies, it is important not to get carried away with who runs the furthest, which is to take nothing away from the evergreen James Milner, who topped the charts at the age of 37 in the 2022-23 season. “Total distance is full of noise,” Barnes adds. “The Blackburn winger (Morten Gamst) Pedersen always had the highest total distance of any game, but you must look at what is effective work and what isn’t. “(Centre-back) Robert Huth, who was at Middlesbrough, would always come and look at how little work he’d done, because he felt his best games were performed when he made good decisions and was positionally correct and therefore the amount of work he needed to do was less. So it’s not really a ‘More is better’ situation. Football isn’t a maximal sport. It’s what typifies, if you like, the DNA, the characteristics, of a player’s game.” How players engage with their physical data is interesting. Some bury their head in the sand or — and this was witnessed first-hand with a Premier League centre-back during a fly-on-the-wall pre-season piece a few years back — even challenge the figures. Others go actively looking for their data, to use it as a yardstick to not just inform how hard they need to work in training, but also to ensure that the manager doesn’t have an excuse to leave them out. “The high-speed running and things like that, you get your data and they (the sports scientists) know exactly what you need to be hitting,” McAuley explains. “But in certain sessions as a defender, you won’t get what you need. So I could say, ‘OK, I need another 200 metres of high-speed running’, so I would go and run box-to-box to get that and keep me on the sports-science knife-edge between injury and peak condition. “I had (Craig) Dawson, 10 years younger than me, who was trying to take my place, so I had to make sure I was trying to be better, trying to stay quicker. In a way, that was driving me. Also, if you weren’t in the team and you’re knocking on the manager’s door, he can’t say that your data has dropped off in training and that your legs have gone.” SkillCorner works with around 150 clubs around the world and is at the forefront of physical data. It released some fascinating graphs on Twitter a couple of years ago: the first shows the top speed of players by age during the 2022-23 season. In the over-30s category, Manchester City’s Kyle Walker, 33 at the time, remained the fastest player, while both Jamie Vardy and Ashley Young, who are now 38 and 40 respectively, were way above the average for their age. That said, it is also worth remembering Barnes’ comment about the importance of analysing players as individuals and against their own benchmarks rather than comparing them to others. Every Premier League club will have access to this kind of data and, crucially, will be able to see how a player’s physical levels go up and down over time. This next SkillCorner chart gives a glimpse of what that looks like — in this instance, it shows Dani Carvajal, the now 33-year-old Spain and Real Madrid right-back. Carvajal’s high-intensity activities per 90 minutes are represented game-by-game, and there is also a season average, measuring what SkillCorner describes as “a player’s longitudinal physical performance”. Of course, there are other factors to take into consideration, especially when analysing an extended period. Managerial, tactical and positional changes can all impact the physical data gathered in matches. “In training, the sports scientists have a responsibility to be looking at appropriate data to give a mark on the condition of the players they’re working with, and that would involve things like recovery between bouts — heart-rate data is super-informative in things like that,” Barnes adds. “These high-intensity actions and efforts are the key and unlock a better understanding as to whether the qualities and characteristics of a player have changed. But you definitely have to take into account the tactical context: how the game is evolving and how coaches want it to be played. “It’s been widely documented how the physicality of Manchester City’s game has grown year on year with Pep Guardiola’s philosophy and Kyle Walker has been able to fit into that. If anything, it’s provided a platform for him to showcase the qualities he possesses even more.” “You play football with your head and your legs are there to help you.” – Johan Cruyff Peter Taylor was singing from that hymn sheet when he brought Roberto Mancini to Leicester City in 2001. Taylor, the club’s manager at the time, openly admitted he signed the 36-year-old Italian forward “for his football knowledge, not his legs”. Chelsea clearly felt the same way about Thiago Silva joining them at the age of 35 in 2020. Barnes talks about how “game intelligence continues to increase” and, at times, can compensate for the ageing process, but he also points to a 2015 study that he was involved in looking at “longitudinal match performance characteristics of UK and non-UK players in the English Premier League” and the hard evidence that football at the highest level had become “seriously more demanding from the point of view of the high-intensity requirements”. “SkillCorner has carried on that work and brought it up to date and that has shown that the demands of competing in the game have grown again,” Barnes adds. “Gary Neville, Kyle Walker and Dani Carvajal are interesting examples, because they’re all right full-backs, and I would argue that full-back and striker are where this evolution has been most dramatic in terms of requirements to play the game.” For a No 6 in the modern era, the skill set and the physical demands are huge. “In this position, you need a guy who wins challenges and protects everybody, but who plays football as well,” Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool’s former manager, said in 2023. “Fab (Fabinho) did that for us for plenty of years (and was) absolutely brilliant. At the moment, it’s not clicking. We have to go through that.” Fabinho’s form slumped in 2023 for LiverpoolGlyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images Outside the club, pundits were quick to judge what had gone wrong with Fabinho. “You know when you’re a midfielder and your legs just start to go and you can’t get around the pitch as much as you would like, that’s what it seems to be,” Micah Richards, the former Manchester City defender, told BBC Sport. Defensively, Fabinho’s output did drop. According to Opta, he was recovering the ball less, winning fewer duels and not making as many interceptions, which helps explain why Liverpool were happy to cash in on him at the end of the 2022-23 season. It was a similar story with Casemiro in the 2023-24 season. Of course, none of those statistics can be seen in isolation. Often, when an individual is singled out amid poor team results, it’s multiple players who are underperforming. Some might even say the whole team at Liverpool right now, and that arguably makes it unfair to write Salah off. Indeed, Carragher added in his analysis after the PSV game that Van Dijk and Salah had carried Liverpool on plenty of occasions in the past and that means that now, when both are struggling, others need to step up and take some responsibility. Whatever happens, it’s just a matter of time before the “legs have gone” baton is passed on to someone else in their thirties. McAuley smiles. “I think that (phrase) is kind of deep-rooted in pre-sports-science football,” he adds. “Do the legs go? Maybe. But what I would say is that it’s the desire to keep doing it — the mental side. You can tell yourself to do anything. And with the mind and the willpower to do it, you can.”

Chelsea dealt stadium blow as council approves alternate Earls Court development plan https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6839584/2025/11/27/Chelsea-stadium-earls-court-stamford-bridge/ The possibility of Chelsea building a new stadium at Earl’s Court has hit a setback after an alternative plan for the land was approved by one of the councils involved. At a meeting on Wednesday night, Hammersmith and Fulham council approved proposals for a development on the site of the old Earls Court Exhibition Centre which will include a mix of new homes, retail and hospitality, and workplaces. The plans are led by the Earls Court Development Company (ECDC). ECDC confirmed the news in a statement on Thursday morning, stating that “the 44-acre, £10 billion masterplan will transform central London’s largest cleared development site, which spans both the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. “This first milestone paves the way for ECDC to work with partners across the public and private sectors to move forwards with plans to start on site as soon as possible.” ECDC said the development will create approximately 4,000 homes and 12,000 jobs. What You Should Read Next Chelsea risk falling inexorably behind while the future of Stamford Bridge remains unresolved Everton will bump Chelsea's home of 120 years down from ninth to 10th in the ranking of the division’s largest stadiums next season The land had also been mooted as a potential site for a new stadium for Chelsea, who are looking at future options to develop or move away from Stamford Bridge. The ECDC’s plans do not include a football stadium. The development still has multiple steps to go through before being green-lit. The site crosses borough boundaries into Kensington and Chelsea, which also has a say. It has not been confirmed when they will vote on the proposals, but the earliest potential date is December 9. Whatever decision the councils make will also be reviewed by the Mayor of London. What does this mean for Chelsea? Hammersmith and Fulham council’s decision does not guarantee the development at Earls’ Court will go ahead. Kensington and Chelsea council must still vote on the proposals and even if planning permission is given, plenty can still go wrong before ground is actually broken — as Chelsea know. Under Roman Abramovich, the club secured planning permission for a 60,000-seater ground on the Stamford Bridge site, but the build never took place after complications around Abramovich’s visa. However, this council decision is a significant step towards the ECDC project progressing, which would likely rule out the possibility of Chelsea having a new stadium on the site. The only mention of ‘football’ in the 460-page agenda document for Wednesday’s council meeting was to discuss overcrowding at local tube stations on matchdays; the ECDC is not factoring a new stadium into their plans. Chelsea’s stadium project is being led by president and chief operating officer Jason Gannon, who also had significant involvement in the development of Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium. The Athletic reported in March that the options on the table were demolishing Stamford Bridge and building a new stadium on the site, or building a new ground at Earl’s Court. If the ECDC project progresses, given the difficulty of finding another suitable site, the most likely path forward appears to be a redevelopment at Stamford Bridge. The club bought another 1.9 acres of land adjacent to the stadium in 2023, increasing the size of the plot available to them for redevelopment. As a stand-by-stand renovation is not seen as feasible, a redevelopment would mean demolishing the existing ground and playing home games elsewhere while work took place. Wembley Stadium hosted Tottenham Hotspur’s home games for the 2017-18 season and much of 2018-19 while their new stadium was being built.

Chelsea monitoring €60m-rated Brazilian who is “inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo” https://www.caughtoffside.com/2025/11/26/Chelsea-keen-sign-joao-bezerra/ Chelsea are reportedly keeping tabs on the highly rated Brazilian prospect Joao Bezerra. The 16-year-old is highly rated in South America, and a report from Lance claims that the Premier League side is tracking him closely. Chelsea to move for Joao Bezerra? The player has a €60 million release clause in his contract, and it will be interesting to see if Chelsea decides to make a move for him in future. They will need to wait until he turns 17 before making the move. Chelsea have done well to invest in talented young players in recent windows, and they have tapped into the South American market quite often. It will be interesting to see if they decide to move for the 16-year-old now. Bezerra could be a solid future investment for them. He has the qualities needed to develop into a key player for the London club with the right guidance. The opportunity to move to England will be exciting for him, and he will look to play for the biggest clubs in the world. Bezerra is a promising talent Chelsea have an exciting project, and they are looking to build for the future. It is no surprise that they are keen on the best young talents. Meanwhile, the player has previously claimed that he is inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo, and he is looking to develop into a complete forward like the Portuguese superstar. It will be interesting to see if Chelsea follows up on their scouting missions with an official proposal at the end of the season. They are unlikely to pay €60 million for the striker, and Internacional will have to be reasonable with their demands in order for the move to go through.