After stalling in the first half, Chelsea managed to turn up the heat and win 3-0 over Malmö FF (5-1 on aggregate) to move on in the UEFA Europa League.
Five yellow cards were handed out before the first goal was scored, four of them being given to Malmö players.
Both Chelsea and Manchester United had a point to prove this evening. Chelsea's been struggling for goals and results lately, and manager Maurizio Sarri has been under pressure from fans and the board. Chelsea has slid from fourth to sixth position in the Premier League, and the Blues needed a result today to steady the ship before the Carabao Cup final on Feb. 24.
On the other hand, Manchester United had been on a great run of form until finally hitting a PSG roadblock in the Champions league.
Ashley Cole has completed another first in his 20-year career: his first FA Cup goal.
The 38-year-old recently signed for Frank Lampard’s Derby County from MLS and made his debut in it’s fifth-round FA Cup tie with Brighton & Hove Albion.
After going down 2-0 to the host, Derby County pressed for a response in the second half. After a ball over the top caused a scramble in the box, a poor clearance by Daniel Burn fell kindly to Cole’s head.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was his calm and collected self in his most recent press conference, especially since he revealed that Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial will be injured for some important games.
Martial has a groin injury while Lingard has a hamstring issue.
Coming off yet another obliterating defeat on the road, Chelsea is facing a potentially horrendous end to the Premier League season.
The club has been shutout in three straight away games while being outscored 12-0.
Manchester City, Bournemouth and Arsenal have all had their way with the Chelsea defense, turning the heater on Maurizio Sarri’s seat up to 11.
Manchester City went top of the Premier League table on goal difference today, and what a sensational difference to the goals they made. And they did it against David Luiz’s Chelsea, no less.
6-0. +54 GD. That’s City.
I read something interesting from Quartz (I have no idea) about the differences between the words fuck-up, SNAFU, FUBAR, shitshow and clusterfuck. I figured it was clickbait, but it really was a sensational read.
Serie A doesn’t get the same attention that it used to anymore, especially when big clubs like Inter, AC Milan and Roma have been losing the Serie A title to Juventus year after year. On top of that Juventus is the only Italian club regularly advancing to the later stages of the Champions League every year.
As a result, TV coverage of Serie A has shifted to other countries. Because of the TV deals with the Premier League, LaLiga and Bundesliga, a lot of interesting information can slip through the cracks.
Gonzalo Higuain received his first Chelsea start on Wednesday, a bystander as the Blues were stomped by mid-table Bournemouth. Given another chance against Huddersfield Town on Saturday, the Argentine showed he may actually be the man Maurizio Sarri needs to turn Chelsea’s season around.
If you’ve paid any attention to Chelsea’s current Premier League season in comparison to last season, or the season before that, things seem odd. At this point in time last season, Chelsea was fourth in the Premier League table. Now, after Chelsea’s most recent loss to Bournemouth, the Blues have dropped to fifth.