Football transfer news

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has urged the club’s owners to recruit more experienced players this summer to compliment his current crop of youngsters.

Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital have heavily favoured the signing of young players with high potential since their arrival at Stamford Bridge, spending huge sums of money in the hope of creating a squad capable of dominating for the next decade.

The short-term results, however, have fallen well short of expectations, and Pochettino believes his young core need more experienced heads around them to keep them on track.

“We can keep going in the same way with the policy [to sign young players],” Pochettino said. “But in the squad, we have Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Bettinelli. Maybe Marcus isn’t playing but he does a fantastic job helping the young guys.

“We have experienced players in the squad. It is not going against the project to have some players who are helping the young guys to perform, to be professional, and to understand what it means to be in the Premier League and to be at Chelsea.

“We need to talk and decide the strategy for next season.”

90min understands the plan has always been for Chelsea’s owners to meet with Pochettino this summer for what sources describe as a two-way evaluation, with both sides to be given the chance to give feedback on the current campaign.

Pochettino is expected to raise his desire for more experienced signings alongside questions about Chelsea’s ongoing battle with injuries, which the boss believes has hampered the team’s progress this season.

“There are too many circumstances that make it difficult for the team to evolve,” he continued. “And that is part of the process. Of course, this season is going to help us make the right decisions for next season. That was the question before.

“We need to bring more young players and some experienced players. That is all about talking with the club, analysing, and deciding the strategy for next season. That is really important.

“We need to assess all the boys. Why were players injured, will they suffer injuries in the future, and what is the history of their injuries?

“It’s so important because we need to manage the situation. Now, we have the reality because we are inside and have the information. And now it is about talking to the club and deciding the best strategy again to be competitive next season and to fight for big things.”

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Arsenal spurned the chance to go top of the Premier League on Sunday, losing 2-0 to Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium.

Mikel Arteta’s side had gone into the game buoyed by the prospect of taking a lead in the title race heading into the final six weeks of the 2023/24 campaign after Liverpool’s defeat to Crystal Palace, however a rather abysmal second half ensured that it would be Man City – not Arsenal – who’d be sitting pretty in first place after the weekend’s games.

Goals from Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins ultimately secured the win for Villa on the day, with both coming late in the second half.

Here’s Arsenal’s best and worst players in the defeat, according to 90min’s esteemed player ratings.

Martin Odegaard: 7/10

One of the first questions Mikel Arteta was asked in his post-match interview was ‘why did you take off Martin Odegaard?’

That tells you all you need to know about Odegaard’s performance.

In the first half, the Arsenal captain was undoubtedly the best player on the pitch. Odegaard was at the heart of basically everything positive the Gunners did during a pretty positive first 45 at the Emirates – winning 100% of his tackles, five duels and creating two decent chances for his teammates.

Arsenal fans will be worried about the fact that Arteta confirmed theri club captain suffered a knock which led to him being subbed off on Sunday.

Oleksandr Zinchenko: 4/10

Honestly, there were quite a few options for the ‘Arsenal’s worst player vs Aston Villa’ section of this article.

Gabriel was all over the place, Gabriel Jesus struggled, Bukayo Saka wasn’t himself, but the worst of the bunch was Oleksandr Zinchenko.

The left-back position has been a notable problem for Arteta in recent months, and judging by Zinchenko’s performance on Sunday it’s very easy to see why. During the second half of the game in particular, the ex-Man City man was thoroughly disappointing.

If you’ve been on X since the full-time whistle, you’ll likely have seen at least one post highlighting Zinchenko either losing the ball deep in his own half, miss-controlling a simple pass, or – most criminally – standing five yards deeper than his defensive teammates for absolutely no reason.

It was a bad outing for Zinchenko – to say the least.

Dishonourable mention

Gabriel Jesus: 4/10

Darwin Nunez and Gabriel Jesus are two hard-working forwards who get involved in the game as much as they possibly can, but the fact that Liverpool and Arsenal have them starting up front while Manchester City have the hyper-clinical Erling Haaland is the main reason why neither the Gunners nor the Reds will win the Premier League this season.

Frustratingly for Arsenal fans, Sunday’s game was business as usual for Jesus in an Arsenal. The Brazilian was lively, but ultimately lacked any semblance of quality on the ball in the opposition penalty area.

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Liverpool’s aspirations for the Premier League title took a significant hit as they succumbed to a narrow defeat against Crystal Palace.

Jurgen Klopp’s men failed to seize the opportunity to regain top spot on Sunday, as Eberechi Eze’s early goal secured a hard-fought – well deserved – victory for Oliver Glasner’s side.

Here are the best and worst players from Sunday’s clash at Anfield, according to 90min’s player ratings.

Andy Robertson – 7/10

Arguably Liverpool’s most influential player in a frustrating first half, and the only one on the left side to remain on the pitch until the final whistle blew.

The Scotland international spared Virgil van Dijk’s blushes, demonstrating good awareness and timing to hook Jean-Philippe Mateta’s attempt off the line.

Roberston had 118 touches of the ball, making four key passes during the game.

Honourable mention

Alisson Becker – 6/10

Back in the fold after injury, Alisson was Liverpool’s second best player – although that’s perhaps not saying too much if we’re being honest.

Despite being unable to prevent the opening goal, the Brazilian pulled off a fantastic save from Mateta’s powerful strike later in the game, exemplifying his brilliance in between the sticks.

Wataru Endo – 3/10

Hooked at the break, and deservedly so following a first half to forget.

The holding midfielder simply could not get near Palace’s star man Eze throughout the opening 45 minutes, regularly allowing the talented England international to ghost into dangerous areas in the final third.

Endo wasn’t much better on the ball either, completing just 79% of his passes on the day.

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Premier League Gameweek 33 concludes on Monday night as Chelsea welcome relegation-threatened Everton to Stamford Bridge.

After securing a huge win over Burnley last weekend, the Toffees were docked two more points following another breach of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules.

Still, Sean Dyche’s side are currently 16th in the table and two points clear of the drop zone having played a couple of games fewer than those below them. Both Burnley and Nottingham Forest mustered draws at the weekend amid their respective fights for survival.

Stamford Bridge was once a vaunted destination for visiting teams, but Dyche will fancy his chances of upsetting the odds against a frail and woefully inconsistent Chelsea side. The Blues followed up their dramatic 4-3 victory over Manchester United with a 2-2 draw at bottom dwellers Sheffield United last weekend.

Chelsea are ninth in the table and have an outside shot of securing some form of European football for next season. They also have a FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City in the offing.

Here’s 90min’s preview of Monday night’s game at the Bridge.

Chelsea vs Everton H2H record (Last Five Games)

Current form (all competitions)

Chelsea have been hamstrung by injuries all season and their list of potential absentees has only grown ahead of Everton’s visit.

Pochettino admitted in his pre-match presser he could be without Axel Disasi and Enzo Fernandez on Monday night after the pair picked up knocks during last Sunday’s draw at Bramall Lane.

Ben Chilwell and Raheem Sterling are battling illnesses and doubtful to feature, while Reece James, Christopher Nkunku, Wesley Fofana, Lesley Ugochukwu, Romeo Lavia, Levi Colwill and Robert Sanchez are all out of action.

Chelsea predicted lineup vs Everton (4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Gusto, Silva, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Gallagher; Madueke, Palmer, Mudryk; Jackson.

Everton’s injury list isn’t anywhere near as extensive as Chelsea’s, but they do have a couple of notable concerns heading into Monday’s game.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has scored in Everton’s previous two games, is a doubt with a thigh injury, while Amadou Onana could miss out with a knock.

Arnaut Danjuma, Dele Alli and Lewis Dobbin are all unlikely to feature.

Everton predicted lineup vs Chelsea (4-4-1-1): Pickford; Patterson, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Young, Gueye, Garner, McNeil; Doucoure; Calvert-Lewin.

Chelsea could be further hamstrung by injuries on Monday but the potential absences of Calvert-Lewin and Onana should swing this contest in the hosts’ favour.

Another points deduction means Everton are in the mire once again, although their previous docking did spark an upsurge. They also bullied Chelsea in a 2-0 home win back in December.

There’s certainly an avenue for the visitors to get a result on Monday night, but the Blues are unbeaten in five across all competitions at home and Cole Palmer is never too far away from getting Pochettino’s side over the line.

Prediction: Chelsea 2-0 Everton

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Martin Odegaard says Arsenal are eager for retribution against Aston Villa on Sunday after a defeat to the same opposition last year left them with ‘painful memories’.

John McGinn’s seventh-minute finish condemned the Gunners to a 1-0 defeat at Villa Park in early December and served as an early warning sign of the threat Unai Emery’s squad would pose this season.

Both Arsenal and Villa have defined aspirations with a handful of games left to play. The former are vying for the Premier League title while the latter remain resolute in their pursuit of Champions League football, especially given Tottenham Hotspur’s significant defeat to Newcastle on Saturday.

In his matchday programme notes on Arsenal’s website, Odegaard said: “It’s a beautiful thing to be a part of right now, involved in all these big games at this important time of the season. Every game means so much, every game is crucial and it’s what everyone wants, being there and fighting for the big trophies. This is where we want to be, so we’re enjoying it and embracing it.

“We have painful memories of our game away to Aston Villa earlier this season, because we feel we deserved much more than we got. I think we played a pretty good game there, but without getting anything. We know we can definitely build on that to get the result today, and use that game as an extra motivation for us.”

Odegaard also shared his thoughts on Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich on Tuesday evening, emphasising the emotions experienced and underscoring the significance of gleaning lessons from errors made in the Champions League.

“There were mixed feelings for us after the game on Tuesday night. For the way we played for most of the game and given how much of it we were able to control, I think we should have got the win. You know in the Champions League, playing against the big teams, you get punished for every mistake you make. That’s what we saw in that game, so that’s the level we are competing at, and that’s the quality these teams all have.

“You cannot afford to make those mistakes in this competition, but despite that, we managed to get a result out of it, and it’s still all to play for when we go to Germany next week. We have a good feeling that we can win it there, we are confident, so overall it could have been better on Tuesday, but at the same time it could have been worse, so it’s not too bad.

“To be honest though, right now all our focus is on facing Aston Villa today. It’s so close in the league, but all we can do is look at the next game, concentrate 100 per cent on what we have to do, and go out there to get the points. We need three points every time we play because that’s what the league is demanding right now. It’s so tight, so tough at the top and every game is crucial.”

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