This was Chelsea in a nutshell. Chaos-ball unleashed. Mauricio Pochettino lives to fight another day, the Europa League is still within sight. Just how any of this is possible is beyond words or explanation. For large portions of the game, Chelsea were at their worst. Set-pieces were a serious concern at both ends with Nottingham Forest’s best chances coming from corners not of their own, but ones that had been attacking opportunities for the Blues......READ THE FULL STORY>>.....READ THE FULL STORY>>
An academy graduate was able to show up two more expensive replacements in Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke as Callum Hudson-Odoi curled in a brilliant goal for the home side. With financial pressures on the club, the £5million that will be banked from his sale is almost ironic.
But somehow Pochettino’s men found a level they had failed to be at for 75 minutes prior as quick-fire goals from Raheem Sterling (30% of his Premier League goals for Chelsea have come against this opposition) and Nicolas Jackson got them across the line. After Newcastle dropped points to Brighton earlier in the day it kept alive hopes of not only finishing in the Conference League but also the Europa League too.
Reece James returned to the field for the first time in five months to provide an assist. Jackson had ‘one of those games’ in front of goal before coming up with perhaps the most important header of his career to date. Marc Cucurella was inverting in and out of midfield to no real effect, and Conor Gallagher didn’t last 90 minutes.
Pick the bones out of it. This was Chelsea far from their best but also at their most Chelsea. The cohesion lacked the bite and unity of performances at home against Tottenham and West Ham in the past 10 days, but it was spirited at a time that mattered most for Pochettino.
keep up hopes of matching even the lowest of Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital’s expectations.
Having given an ultimately powerful but also concerning and strangely timed press conference the day before the match, claiming that he could walk away from the club instead of being sacked, this was the result he needed to keep up hopes of matching even the lowest of Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital’s expectations.
It’s not in their hands to finish sixth but Chelsea can keep on ploughing through. The final week of the season is nigh, and here, football.london has the final
Brighton (A) – Wednesday, May 15
Roberto De Zerbi’s men did Chelsea a huge favour by taking points of Newcastle but will be in no mood to roll over on the south coast. They won this fixture 4-1 last season but managed a fighting 3-2 victory when the two sides met at Stamford Bridge before Christmas.
Pochettino has also gotten the better of the Seagulls another time this year, dumping them out of the Carabao Cup in September. This looks to be the toughest of the two games left and Chelsea have a poor record at the Amex Stadium, but there’s certainly more for them to play for.
Bournemouth (H) – Sunday, May 19
Andoni Iraola’s side have been one of the most ‘breath of fresh air’ additions to the league in a while. However, their outside challenge for a European place has drifted thanks to just two wins in their last seven games, with four defeats in that time.
The Cherries were beaten by Brentford on Saturday and didn’t give Arsenal too much to worry about in north London last week either. Chelsea will be hopeful that with raised stakes they can get themselves up for a final day at Stamford Bridge. If for nothing else, it will be Thiago Silva’s farewell.
Manchester United final Premier League games
Arsenal (H) – Sunday, May 12
Newcastle (H) – Wednesday, May 15
Brighton (A) – Sunday, May 19
Newcastle United final Premier League games
Manchester United (A) – Wednesday, May 15
Brentford (A) – Sunday, May 19
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