2023-11-10 18:49:34
Manchester City is facing a difficult test at Chelsea
Manchester City fears facing the fate of Tottenham Hotspur when it visits Chelsea on Sunday in the twelfth round of the English Premier League football championship.
Manchester City, the defending champion for the last three seasons, will go into the match, sitting at the top of the championship standings with 27 points, 12 points ahead of Chelsea, in tenth place.
Chelsea, which has 6 titles in the prestigious tournament, the last of which was in the 2016-2017 season, brought a smile back to its frustrated fans, after achieving a major 4-1 victory over its host Tottenham Hotspur, last Monday, in the last stage of the competition, to deprive its London neighbor of recovering… The summit that he used to occupy, and which he officially awarded to the team of Spanish coach Pep Guardiola.
Chelsea suffered from disappointing results this season in the tournament, as it achieved only 4 victories during its first 11 matches, while drawing 3 matches, and suffering 4 defeats.
Chelsea hopes to build on its huge victory over Tottenham during its match against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge in the British capital, London, and to hold on to its slim hopes of competing for the top spot this season, or at least being among the top four places qualifying for the Champions League this season. Next.
Chelsea is looking to achieve its first victory over Manchester City since its 1-0 victory over the Sky Club in the Champions League final match in 2021 at the Dragao Stadium in the Portuguese city of Porto, to win its second title in the most important and strongest tournament at the club level in Europe.
Since that victory, the Blue Team has lost its last six meetings in the various competitions that brought it together with Manchester City, and was even unable to score any goal during them against its competitor.
For its part, Manchester City aspires to strengthen its position in the lead and overcome one of the important obstacles in its campaign to win its tenth title in the tournament, and the sixth in the last seven seasons, but its task will not be easy in front of its competitor, who is supported by the support of the ground staff and the public.
City is seeking to achieve its sixth consecutive victory in all tournaments, as it has known nothing but victory since its 0-1 loss to Arsenal in the English Premier League on the eighth of last month, in the eighth stage of the competition.
In its last five matches in all competitions, Manchester City scored 17 goals, and conceded only 3 goals, which reflects the ferocity that the team currently enjoys, especially in its last match in the English Premier League, during which it achieved a sweeping 6-1 victory over its guest, Bournemouth, last Saturday.
City is going into the match in high spirits, having secured a place in the Champions League knockout rounds, following its great 3-0 victory over its Swiss guest, Young Boys, last Tuesday in the fourth round of the continental competition, which the team is defending the title it achieved last season for the first time in its history.
Tottenham, which is in second place, one point behind Manchester City, aspires to return to the top, albeit temporarily, when it goes out to meet its host Wolverhampton, in the opening matches of the stage, on Saturday.
Tottenham also wants to recover quickly from its harsh defeat against Chelsea, which saw the expulsion of its defenders, Argentine Cristian Romero and Italian Destini Udogi, as this was the first loss that the white team received in the competition during the current season.
This defeat derailed the successful start of Australian coach Ange Postecoglou’s team, which achieved 8 wins and two draws in its first ten matches in the tournament this season.
In addition to Tottenham losing the services of Romero and Odogi from the match due to suspension, the London team is playing the match while suffering from a long list of absences due to injury as well, as it includes Yann Sessegnon, Manor Solomon and Ivan Perisic, in addition to the Brazilian Richarlison, who recently underwent hip surgery.
Tottenham fears surprises from Wolverhampton, who are in 14th place with 12 points, and who are looking for their first victory in the tournament at their home stadium (Molineux), which will host the match, since their 2-1 victory over Manchester City last September, in the seventh stage of the competition.
For its part, Liverpool, which is in third place with 24 points, is looking forward to regaining its balance again when it hosts Brentford, which is in ninth place with 16 points, on Sunday.
Liverpool wasted two valuable points by drawing with great difficulty in the last moments, 1-1, with its host, Luton Town, the newcomer to the competition, in the last stage of the tournament, before suffering a painful 2-3 loss against its French host, Toulouse, on Thursday, in the European League Championship.
The confrontation will not be easy for the companions of Egyptian international star Mohamed Salah, especially in light of the awakening that Brentford is currently experiencing, after winning their last three matches in the competition over Burnley, Chelsea, and West Ham United.
Haaland… Will he continue his scoring hobby by scoring against Chelsea (AFP)
On the other hand, Arsenal aims to return to the path of victories, which it missed in the last stage, when it hosts Burnley, which is in nineteenth place (penultimate) with 4 points, on Saturday.
Arsenal, seeking to regain the title that has been missing from its coffers since the 2003-2004 season, suffered its first defeat in the tournament this season, 0-1, against Newcastle United in the last stage.
Newcastle’s only goal, scored by Anthony Gordon against the team nicknamed “The Gunners”, sparked a lot of controversy, as it was examined for 5 minutes by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, before it was counted in the end.
Spanish coach Mikel Arteta’s team will enter the confrontation after its well-deserved 2-0 victory over its Spanish guest, Sevilla, in the Champions League, on Wednesday, to revive its hopes of advancing to the knockout rounds of the tournament.
Manchester United will be required to win in its match against its guest Luton Town, which is in seventeenth place (fourth from the bottom) with 6 points, on Saturday.
United suffered a painful 3-4 loss to its Danish host, Copenhagen, on Thursday, in the Champions League, which caused a decline in its chances of advancing to the round of 16 in the continental competition.
United’s start to this season was shocking to its fans at both the local and continental levels, under the leadership of its Dutch coach Erik Ten Hag, as it currently occupies eighth place in the English Premier League with 18 points from 6 wins and 5 defeats. It also had an early farewell to the League Cup (Carabao Cup). While it is at the bottom of the first group in the Champions League with 3 points from 4 matches.
Arteta tastes his first defeat in Newcastle (Archyde.com)
Despite these shaky results, Danish Rasmus Hoylund, the team’s star, stressed that Ten Hag still has the support of the team’s players, according to his statements to the British news agency (BA Media) on Thursday.
Hoylund (20 years old) spoke about Ten Hag, saying: “He is a really good coach. He pays attention to every detail, helps me a lot, gives me a lot of confidence and supports me.” The Danish player explained: “I think every player in the locker room supports him.” “I hope it’s just a matter of time (before we succeed).”
This stage witnesses a number of other important matches, as Crystal Palace meets its guest Everton, on Saturday, Bournemouth plays with Newcastle on the same day, Aston Villa faces its guest Fulham, on Sunday, while West Ham meets with Nottingham Forest, and Brighton with Sheffield United, on the same day. .
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