Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba has said it was a ‘special game’ after playing out a 1-1 draw against his former club Chelsea in the last-16 of the Champions League last night.
This was the Ivorian’s first game against Chelsea after leaving them in 2012, with his last contribution helping the Blues beat Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League final.
The Blues coped well with his attacking threat during the tie, but still came close when his header was volleyed against the post by Selcuk Inan.
And Drogba is looking forward to the second leg back at Stamford Bridge, where he believes his side can still make it into the quarter-finals after an impressive second half display.
“It was a special game, to play against my old team-mates,” he told Sky Sports.
“I didn’t get a lot of chances but the header was perfect – well, not perfect because I didn’t score, but it was a great cross, I wish I could have scored this one but there is another game.
“It was a great game and I think it is a good result.
“Chelsea are the better team on paper but second half we showed we can create them some problems. Now we have to go out and do it at Stamford Bridge.”
“They played on the counter-attack and we were a bit naive two or three times. We know they are dangerous, we have to work on that and solve these problems.
“If we manage to score a goal there, it’s a different game. One-one is a good result.”
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Torres scored early in the first half to give Chelsea an important away goal, but Aurelien Chedjou equalized in the second period to even out the tie.
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Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey has stated that he is only now getting back to his best form after overcoming lengthy injury rehabilitation.
The Wales international suffered a broken leg after a horror challenge from Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross in February 2010, and the Emirates Stadium man feels he is only now getting back to top form three years later.
“I had a really bad injury and it takes a while to get back to your best,” Ramsey told Mirror Football.
“But I’m feeling good, confident again and it’s like I’m getting back to my old self and the form which got me here in the first place.
“It’s always difficult to overcome things like that in life, a lot happened last year for me, there was loads of things going on off the pitch for me as well but I’m feeling happier now and hopefully that’s showing now in my performances.
“I think I grew up a lot as a person while I was going through it. It does make you stronger and it’s just getting over the mental side of it.
“As soon as you get back into it, the confidence thing comes into it, but once you get over that and start playing again it’s a thing of the past then.
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“I spoke to a number of people who had similar injuries and they reassured me through it all. They had nothing but good advice and I was patient, didn’t want to rush back and wanted to make sure everything was right,” he concluded.
According to Calciomercato, Newcastle United are interested in signing Juventus midfielder Stefano Sturaro during this summer’s transfer window.
Indeed, it is being reported that the Magpies have already approached Juventus to enquire whether the four-time international would be available this summer.
Sturaro, who has also previously been linked with Genoa and Valencia, made 19 appearances for his Italian club in all competitions during the 2017-18 campaign.
The 25-year-old has actually been with Juventus since 2014 – winning four Serie A titles and four Coppa Italia crowns with the Italian giants.
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The midfielder has largely struggled to hold down a regular position in Turin, however, and it is thought that he could leave the club in this summer’s transfer window.
Newcastle are the latest side to be linked with the Italian, and the English team’s supporters have been reacting to the transfer speculation.
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There are fans in favour of the deal occurring, but many are finding it difficult to believe.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
Manchester City come into every game now with a spring in their step.
Unbeaten in the league, there’s still a chance of an Invincible season, and as we’ve seen since the end of August, even a managing a draw against the league leaders gets people excited these days.
That said, there’s a reason only Arsenal have gone an entire season unbeaten in the Premier League, and even then only once: it’s tough. Indeed, these days, with five other rivals who are head and shoulders above the rest of the league, it’s probably harder than ever. Indeed, given this side are fighting on four fronts, a defeat will surely be on the cards at some point. And when the next game is big six rival away from home, that probability rise even further.
The last time these two clubs met, Manchester City wiped the floor with a Liverpool side who simply gave up in the second half. But there’s a caveat. As good as City were on the day, Liverpool will point to a controversial red card given to Sadio Mane in the first half as a mitigating factor.
Pep Guardiola’s side were already a goal up when the Reds’ attacker was sent off and so it’s still likely the home side would have triumphed, but it’s certainly the case that City’s defence were panicked on occasion by Liverpool’s threatening attack, but that all changed after Mane’s dismissal.
Big performance
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That means City can’t rest on any laurels in this game. They’ll remember well that Liverpool posed numerous problems for their defence at the Etihad that day, and Guardiola will also remember his visit to Anfield last season, when Klopp’s side triumphed on New Year’s Day. A Georginio Wijnaldum header was the difference between the two sides that day, but City are a different proposition to the side they were in 2016.
Despite that, the big performance which will see City win this game may not come from the attack, but rather the defence.
If City are going to struggle anywhere for the rest of the season, it’ll be at the back, and if Liverpool are dangerous anywhere, it’s surely up front. With that in mind, Guardiola might need a big performance from John Stones in Liverpool on Sunday afternoon. The Englishman is back again from injury and has played alongside both Eliaquim Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi in the last two games.
The Argentine has thrived this season, becoming one of the best centre-backs in the league, but he and Stones will need to spark up the partnership that was blossoming before the former Everton defender’s injury, and they’ll have to do it quickly to deal with the threat of Mohamed Salah and co. His return to his best from injury will be key.
Likely formation
The back-three formation which Pep Guardiola used at the start of the season has been well and truly ditched in favour of a 4-3-3 which will surely be the system of choice against a Liverpool side who also favour the same setup this weekend.
That change of system from City has allowed Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane to thrive as wingers this season, rather than being stuck as either supporting strikers or wing-backs.
However, there was a logic to starting the early games against Everton and Brighton with a back-three: Guardiola spent last season wondering how his side could make themselves less vulnerable on the counter-attack. With a back-three, the side has an extra body to deal with breakaways, and against a team with the attacking pace of Liverpool that might be a bonus.
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Expect a back four as usual, but perhaps if Guardiola had more centre-back options, given the injuries they’ve suffered, and indeed better quality than Eliaquim Mangala, a back three may well have entered into the manager’s thoughts.
Most likely threat
Three goals against Watford, four against Burnley and then two in a difficult night against Bristol City in the first leg of an EFL Cup semi-final mean that City are still motoring along as an attacking threat.
They are the most elegant team in the league when on their day, but prior to the festive period, the Blues were finding goals harder to come by than usual, but four goals in three games from Sergio Aguero shows that if they create the chances for him, the Argentinian striker will take them as normal.
When Mick McCarthy joined Ipswich he made sure he took Terry Connor with him and I believe we are starting to fully understand why.
It is widely known that Connor specialises as a finishing coach and throughout this season you can tell his hard work with the players is paying off.
First of all, the statistics don’t lie and Ipswich have consistently been one of the top scorers in the division, right now they are only three other teams in the division that have scored more goals than Town. The Tractor Boys have scored 28 goals so far, eight more than QPR and two less than league leaders Leicester.
Secondly, you only have to ask any Ipswich player about Terry Connor to realise how highly regarded he is. David McGoldrick announced earlier in the season that Connor was one of the best he has ever worked with and has spoken about the effort that the assistant manager puts into his shooting drills.
McCarthy himself has also paid tribute to his second in command on a number of occasions and recognises that he owes at least some of his success to Connor.
Additionally, the Suffolk side are now impressing other managers with the amount of shots they are getting on target every game and it is a clear improvement on last season when they were the divisions lowest scoring team.
Whilst the Ipswich manager has made a lot of changes in personnel to improve the side, therefore naturally increasing their goal scoring potential, I still believe that the assistant manager has had an equal part to play in this improvement.
We have already established that the team are scoring more frequently as a unit, but if you also look at two of the clubs first team strikers then Connor’s impact becomes even more prominent.
Daryl Murphy has always somewhat struggled for goals throughout his whole career; before this season he had scored 17 goals in 90 league games for Ipswich.
Admittedly he did play some of those games as a wide man, but the fact that he already has five goals this season when he hasn’t played every game goes to show he has improved in front of goal.
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Frank Nouble is another player who may well be starting to improve due to Connor’s hard work on the training field. Nouble has failed to make much of an impression in the early days of his Ipswich career. However, there are signs that he could be turning into more of a goal threat as he has now hit the back of the net twice in his last four appearances, three of which were as a substitute.
It also is great to see that the fans appreciate the importance of the current assistant manager too. It appears that Connor’s name is chanted just as much as McCarthy’s at Portman Road and deservedly so.
It is usually difficult to analyse the coaching staff’s influence on a team, but all of the above provides strong evidence that Terry Connor has been made a huge difference to the team since joining Ipswich.
Leeds have eliminated Everton from the Capital One Cup, with the Championship side beating their Premier League rivals 2-1 at Elland Road on Tuesday night.
Goals from Aidan White and Rudolph Austin put the hosts into a great position, before Sylvain Distin pulled one back for the Toffees close to the end.
David Moyes admitted his frustration after being knocked out of the competition, and berated a poor first 45 minutes after the loss.
“We were not very good in the first half, but we got better in the second, but not as good as we’ve been playing,” The Daily Mail quote the Scot as saying.
“We started terribly, gave them the initiative and lost the game in the opening 20 minutes due to the way we started.
“We gave away a really poor first goal and left ourselves trying to get back into the game.
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“These boys are in the squad and have to be able to show they can come in and play. If you don’t use them, what’s the point in having them? The players want to play and be involved,” he concluded.
It has been quite the breakthrough season for Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The 19-year-old will jet off to this summer’s World Cup with England after more than likely starting the Champions League final for Liverpool against Real Madrid, where he will be detailed with stopping Cristiano Ronaldo among others.
His progress has been staggering and he is well worth his Three Lions call-up but teenager has been exposed slightly intermittently throughout the season, notably against Marcus Rashford and Wilfried Zaha on the Reds’ trips to Manchester United and Crystal Palace respectively.
That’s why we asked you whether Jurgen Klopp should bring Nathaniel Clyne in from the cold for his added experience against the Spanish giants in Kiev, but the response has been resounding in support of Alexander-Arnold.
In this instance, going for the older man in Clyne would be the risk as 79 per cent of Reds supporters want to see the lad who is one of their own take to the field from the off as Liverpool go in pursuit of their sixth Champions League win.
Check out the full results of the poll below…
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Arsenal vs Liverpool rarely disappoints in terms of entertainment. Their 51 Premier League meetings to date have produced an impressive 141 goals, and we’ve seen just five scoreless draws during that time. With Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp at the respective helms too, their meeting at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night looks set to continue that tradition as both managers prioritise offensive flair over defensive organisation.
But if there’s one lingering concern, it’s how the match may not be decided by a moment of quality befitting of such an iconic fixture – rather, refereeing decisions. In some instances, that’s largely inevitable; the margins are so fine in the Premier League and the officials are often forced into making calls that inevitably have a significant impact on the scoreline. The real frustration comes though, when a referee is simply being too proactive in laying down the letter of the law.
Aged 46, Martin Atkinson is amongst the most experienced referees in the Premier League, now amid his 13th season in the top flight, and clearly knows when the whistle is needed and when he should allow the game to flow. Tellingly, he ranks lowly for both yellow cards and penalties per match so far this season – hinting he won’t make one huge decision that decides Friday’s contest.
But there’s one refereeing return from this term that particularly stands out – he’s issued the seventh-most fouls per match of the 18 referees to work in the English top flight throughout 2017/18. The statistics suggest that benefits Liverpool far more than it does Arsenal; despite their reputation of being a bit of a soft touch, the north Londoners have actually committed the joint-fifth most fouls of any Premier League side this season, whereas Klopp’s boys rank a lowly 15th and even average 0.4 fouls per match less away from home.
Accordingly, while Arsenal may find themselves suffering Atkinson’s whistle-happy wrath, Liverpool’s cleaner game could give them a distinct advantage. And the danger to Arsenal only becomes more obvious when considering the potency Liverpool boast from dead ball situations through Philippe Coutinho, unquestionably one of the best free kick takers in the business at the moment. If Arsenal give away too many fouls in dangerous areas, the Brazilian will eventually punish them.
On top of that, in another bad omen for Arsenal fans, 50% of the matches Atkinson has officiated this season have ended in away wins.
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One of the few saving graces for Arsenal in this absolute mess of a transfer window/preseason is that Olivier Giroud is scoring for fun, albeit against inferior opposition. The Frenchman looks sharp, lively and well past that “period of acclimatisation” to English football. It’s still early doors, but it is a somewhat uplifting fallback for the club and its supporters.
The problem is it would be very Arsenal to look to the short term and the tunnel vision of having a fit and firing striker in Giroud. Arsene Wenger has a knack for falling in love with his players all over again and neglecting the obvious need for strengthening. Giroud, as good as he has been and could be this season, is not the primary answer for the question of challenging for the Premier League title. Money still absolutely needs to be spent.
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Here’s an interesting statistic: Olivier Giroud arrived in England from France at the age of 25 and scored 17 in all competitions. Didier Drogba transferred from Marseille to Chelsea at the age of 26 and scored one less in his debut season. Now I’m not going to fully suggest that Giroud is on the path to replicating the form of Drogba in English football, but I also don’t want to dismiss the possibility. The size, potential power and scoring prowess is very similar between both players. Giroud, after all, is only 26 and can still do great things in the Premier League for Arsenal. His shooting accuracy came into question last season as he wasted many good opportunities over the course of the campaign. But let’s not forget that Luis Suarez also had a similarly frustrating time in front of goal two seasons ago.
But as I wrote earlier in the summer, I don’t believe Arsenal need to spend big on a striker, though a good player is still a must; the club need to do better than, say, Bafe Gomis. Let’s not totally put it past Wenger to pull something out of the hat. The Eduardo signing happened with absolutely no media coverage or sparks of obvious interest. The player clearly caught Wenger’s eye the prior season when Arsenal met Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League qualifier, and also impressed against England. Had it not been for that injury, the £7.5 million investment could have turned out to be a phenomenal piece of business. And as Wenger said last week, the club are looking for “quality,” and obviously that isn’t always represented accurately in the price of the transfer.
The hope among Arsenal supporters is that Giroud follows in the footsteps of his close friend Laurent Koscielny, making the switch from Ligue 1 to the Premier League and carving out a reputation as one of the league’s finest in his position. It’s not beyond the forward. He’s an international who has a league title under his belt; there is something impressive about lowly Montpellier forcing one final uprising against the spending power of France’s dominant forces.
For now though, the club simply can’t rest on what they have. Doesn’t competition force an upturn in performances as well as morale? There’s no doubt that Gonzalo Higuain could have been an incredible boon for the club, but efforts have to be focused elsewhere, especially with the latest reports of Suarez looking to remain at Liverpool “for now.”
Big money doesn’t have to be spent, and even though the club have backed themselves into a corner by suggesting that big fees and big wages can be spent this summer, a striker with a reputation and a history of scoring is of greater priority than the fee his club commands.
Will Giroud’s form this pre-season save Arsenal millions in the transfer market?
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Fulham have announced the signing of Giorgios Karagounis on a one-year deal.
The Greek veteran midfielder has spent most of his career with Panathinaikos, but has also played for Benfica and Inter Milan, whilst internationally he has represented his nation over 100 times.
Martin Jol is glad to have Karagounis in his contingent and feels the experienced man will add quality to his midfield.
“Giorgos Karagounis has a wealth of club and international experience and I’m happy that he’s joined us for this season,” he told the Cottagers’ official website.
“He’s been an influential player for his club sides and is a renowned player in world football as he’s about to become the most-capped player for Greece. He brings many certain qualities to our squad.”
Karagounis is excited by the chance to play in England and is looking forward to getting started with his new team.
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“I’m delighted to have signed for Fulham Football Club and I am excited by a new challenge in England and the Barclays Premier League,” he expressed.
“I’m looking forward to working under Martin Jol and playing alongside some fantastic players at this club.”