Vesper

Chelsea to be without seven first-team players for Bournemouth game — Graham Potter https://theathletic.com/4031218/2022/12/23/Chelsea-team-news-bournemouth/ Chelsea head coach Graham Potter expects to be without at least seven first-team players as the club attempt to kickstart a Premier League revival when the top flight resumes next week. Potter confirmed neither Mateo Kovacic nor Hakim Ziyech will be available for Tuesday’s visit of Bournemouth to Stamford Bridge with the pair having featured heavily for Croatia and Morocco through to last weekend’s third-place play-off in Qatar. Chelsea have lost Armando Broja for the remainder of the season after he ruptured an ACL in a friendly against Aston Villa, while Wesley Fofana hobbled off in a behind-closed doors fixture against Brentford B earlier this week after suffering a slight issue in his recovery from his own knee problems. “Wesley had a little set-back which can sometimes happen at the very last stage of rehab, so (he’ll be out for) a couple of weeks,” said Potter. “Armando is a big loss in terms of the time he’s out… We’re still waiting on Hakim and Mateo. “They went the distance in terms of the third/fourth place at the World Cup and played the games as well, so there’s been a big demand on those two. They won’t be available next week and it’s important to give them time.” While Reece James should return from his own knee ligament injury, Chelsea will have none of their long-term absentees back for the foreseeable future. “Reece is back,” added Potter, who confirmed Edouard Mendy has only just returned to training. “He’s been training with us and completed 65 minutes in the week. But we’re still without Ruben (Loftus-Cheek) and Ben Chilwell. “N’Golo Kante, obviously. He’ll be a while – the end of February or the start of March. He had surgery (on a hamstring injury in late October) so it’s a minimum period of four months, pretty much. “My focus is to get him back fit as soon as possible. Everyone knows the quality he has. It’s about getting him fit and on the pitch, doing it the right way and getting him on there because we haven’t seen him.” Kepa Arrizabalaga is also a doubt after struggling with his calf during the World Cup break. Chelsea lost their last three Premier League games before the break for the World Cup. They have not lost four top-flight games in succession since 1998.

he said he wants to equal Maldini and play topflight Euro football until he is 40, which would mean 2 more seasons, as he would turn 40 a couple months into the 2024/25 season. atm I see no reason why he could not do that Maldini's last match was on May 31, 2009, 4 weeks before he turned 41 (Beckham started in it too, lol) and for total symmetry, the CB who replaced him the next season, in 2009/10, after 25 years at AC Milan, was............................. Thiago Silva

Barcelona wanted to sign Bundesliga prodigy in January, but were denied by La Liga https://barcauniversal.com/barcelona-wanted-to-sign-teenage-striker-in-january-2023-but-were-denied-by-la-liga/ According to the latest reports from Gerard Romero, Barcelona were very keen on signing Borussia Dortmund striker Youssoufa Moukoko in the upcoming January transfer window. However, the Catalans were denied the move by La Liga due to the lack of Fair Play margin. Moukoko has been in splendid form in the ongoing campaign, having managed a return of six goals and four assists from just 14 Bundesliga matches prior to the World Cup break. On the back of his performances, the 18-year-old also earned a call-up to the German national team for the Qatar World Cup. With his contract with the Black and Yellows expiring at the end of the ongoing season, the striker has become a man-in-demand in the transfer market. Barcelona have been gunning to sign Moukoko, although it was reported that the club would only consider signing him on a Bosman deal in the summer. At the same time, there has been interest from the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United. Now, though, Romero is reporting that Barça were intent on pushing through Moukoko’s transfer in the winter window itself. To that end, they even approached La Liga to assess whether they can carry out the move because of their Fair Play issues. However, the journalist reports that the Blaugrana were given a firm ‘NO’ by the Spanish top flight. As reported by Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona are currently exceeding the Fair Play margin by around €30 million. It means that the club are no longer in a position to operate on the 1:1 rule in the market either. So, signing Moukoko would be difficult in the winter as they would not only have to pay a transfer fee but also accommodate his wages. However, a summer move for the 18-year-old striker is not off the table, with Barcelona still in the hunt in what is described as a very open race for the Borussia Dortmund forward.

I think a lot of those youngsters have a great shot at being super players Carney Chukwuemeka (18) 🇺🇸 Gabriel Slonina (18) 🇮🇹 Cesare Casadei (18) 🇯🇲 Omari Hutchinson (19) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮Zak Sturge (18) super size for a LB, and pacey as hell 🔜 🇨🇮 David Datro Fofana (19) 🔜 🇧🇷 Andrey Santos (18) 🔜 🇩🇪 Youssoufa Moukoko (18) 🔜 🇷🇺 Arsen Zakharyan (19) plus toss in (hopefully, as I do not think we can pull Bellingham or Enzo) Romeo Lavia (DMF) and/or Moises Caicedo ..........screw dumping £120m or so on Rice Manu Kone (hybrid DMF) HOPEFULLY Gvardiol (so tough) or if not, one of the 3 left footers (Evan Ndicka or Piero Hincapié or Gonçalo Inácio) and perhaps Mohamed Simakan (who can play RB too)

wish he could work on that here in a couple years imagine him and Nkunku as a front two pair!!! Moukoko and Omari and Datro Fofana in rotation 4 3 1 2 Arsen Zakharyan hopefully eventually in the Number 10 hole behind them (Omari as rotation there as well, plus maybe Carney) Tchou at DMF and Bellingham (or Enzo) (remember this is fantasy, so those 3 are super unlikely in reality, so say Lavia and Manu Kone at DMF, or Moises Caicedo. fuck Rice, then and one of the next listed as one of the two more forward CMFs ) + Mount (or one of the youngsters (Casadei, Carney, Santos) we have purchased if Mounts bails over wages) as the 2 more forward CMFs (by then Kova will be past 30yo and winding down a bit) Reece and either Chilwell or CuCu as the fullbacks (Zak Sturge in rotation as well if he comes good), plus say, Vanderson or Livramento Skriniar and Gvardiol as the CBs, Trevoh Chalobah and a fully recovered (hopefully!) Wesley Fofana in rotation, plus hopefully Colwill Oblak (or if he as good as he could be, Slonina) as GK sigh

Christian Pulisic taken to hospital after scoring USA winner against Iran https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/nov/29/christian-pulisic-injury-usa-iran-netherlands-world-cup-qatar-soccer USMNT star sustained ‘pelvic contusion’ during winning goal Americans now face Netherlands for place in quarter-final

League Cup quarterfinal draw results

Chelsea 3-0 PSG: Lauren James bags brace as Blues seal top spot in Women’s Champions League group https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/Chelsea-womens-champions-league-psg-lauren-james-b1049067.html Lauren James scored twice as Chelsea clinched top spot in their Champions League group with a 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in front of 10,129 at Stamford Bridge. Emma Hayes' unbeaten side had already qualified for the knockout phase and simply needed to avoid defeat to their French opponents by two or more goals to lock up their position. Sam Kerr opened the scoring late in a close-fought first half, which saw the sides enjoy an even split of possession. But the momentum shifted in the hosts' favour after the restart when James, who had threatened throughout the opening period, netted two in seven minutes to hand her side the comfortable victory. The Blues' final group-stage match marked the first time since 2016 that Chelsea had taken on European competition at the Premier League venue. Sandy Baltimore fired PSG's first chance wide of the right post and Kadeisha Buchanan did well to prevent Kadidiatou Diani from converting an aggressive run down the left channel into any real opportunity. Moments later, Diani nearly handed the visitors the lead when she unleashed an effort from distance but caught the crossbar. Chelsea worked their way back up the pitch, Fran Kirby chasing the ball down down at the byline and sending a cross to the far post in the direction of James, who stuck out her right leg but could not get a foot on it to force in an opener. The Blues started to settle in and James deftly dodged several PSG shirts before bouncing a shot in the direction of a diving Sarah Bouhaddi at the near post. James tried again, winning a battle with her marker on the left of the area before charging in and rolling an attempt across the face of goal. A goalless first half looked increasingly likely until the ball skipped just past Sakina Karchaoui and PSG failed to clear. Kerr broke free, neatly transferring the ball from her right to left foot before unfurling an unstoppable effort into the top right corner. Both sides looked aggressive to start the second half but Bouhaddi bungled a pass to her team-mate, instead directing it into the path of James who was able to toe it to Fran Kirby. Another quick touch from Kerr perfectly set up James, who fired past the PSG keeper from the edge of the six-yard box for her first Champions League goal. It took her just seven minutes to bag her brace after a well-worked passing sequence ended in a perfectly-placed touch from Kirby at the left of the area to tee up James' composed second strike. Kirby nearly set up a late fourth for the Blues but substitute Beth England directed her effort just off target, eliciting a gasp but not a goal as the game drew to a close.

also, Laporte is so so slow, he was burnt for pace over and over and over

De Bruyne was insane this game with his passing and crossing smdh

Citeh starting another streak of winning this cup

2 more big Citeh misses they should be up 4 or 5 to 1

I would swap him for Sterling in a heartbeat

let's' finish this off 🔜? 🇩🇪 Youssoufa Moukoko (18) 🔜? 🇷🇺 Arsen Zakharyan (19)

1 1

pre massive injury at Leicester he looked like a star in the making

obviously many are rusty

another big miss by Palmer

big miss by Håland

I so hope you are correct

2022-23 English Carabao Cup, Fourth Round Manchester City Liverpool https://www.sportfacts.net/sports/2022/league-cup-manchester-city-vs-liverpool-s1/ https://www.vipleague.st/manchester-city-vs-liverpool-1-live-streaming

Simple rundown We overpaid by at least £25m for CuCu then bad (likely the players will not be successful, or at least look that way atm) expensive buys Fofana (likely a poor buy at the end of the day, let us all hope not, but I have major doubts) Sterling (super disappointing so far) KK meh Auba meh meh then Zakaria loan, I have no issue with, but ffs, play him more then the 2 good buys listed Carney Slonina

Pele in Stockholm, June 1958, for the World Cup

Pele's daughter, Kely Nascimento, says he'll spend Christmas in hospital. The Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein confirm Pele's cancer has progressed and "requires greater care related to renal and cardiac dysfunctions". Get well soon, @Pele

Piero Hincapié