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Manchester City will be looking to seal their place in this season’s FA Cup final as they take on Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea side in the semi-final at Wembley on Saturday evening.

Pep Guardiola’s side can keep their quadruple hopes alive with a win against the Blues, who have dramatically improved since the German manager’s appointment in January. Both sides progressed to the Champions League semi-finals in midweek, with City beating Borussia Dortmund 4-2 on aggregate, whilst the west London side scraped past Porto 2-1.

Rotation always seems likely when Guardiola is involved but the Spanish manager will surely go with something close to his strongest XI given the importance of Saturday’s fixture.

Here’s how Football FanCast expects Guardiola to line up against Chelsea, with three changes from the side which started against Dortmund on Wednesday…

Despite Zack Steffen featuring earlier in the competition, it seems likely that Guardiola will keep his faith in Ederson to start this fixture.

There’s one change in defence as Joao Cancelo comes in at left-back for Oleksandr Zinchenko after the Portuguese defender was left out in midweek.

In midfield, Kevin De Bruyne takes the place of Bernardo Silva, with the Belgian dropping further back despite impressing up front in the win in Germany.

This allows for two changes in attack as Gabriel Jesus returns up front in the hope that he can stretch Chelsea’s ageing defence with runs in behind, with Riyad Mahrez supporting him on the right flank.

Phil Foden is also unfortunate to miss out after a starring display in midweek, but the “exceptional” Raheem Sterling – in the words of England boss Gareth Southgate – has barely featured of late and his pace could prove to be a game-changer for Guardiola. That is especially the case as Reece James will likely push up on the right-hand side, which could leave a lot of space in behind to be exploited by Sterling, so he gets the nod ahead of Foden.

In other news… Man City handed boost in transfer race for £31.5m-rated beast amid Romano claim 

Celtic missed out on a 40-50 goal forward in Ivan Toney, according to Peterborough’s Director of Football Barry Fry, who was speaking exclusively to Football Fan Cast.

According to the Scottish Daily Mail’s chief football writer Stephen McGowan, the 25-year-old went as far as travelling to Glasgow for talks over a move last summer.

This was off the back of an outstanding season at Peterborough which saw him net 26 goals in 39 appearances and win the League One Player of the Year award.

Toney punishes Celtic with Brentford heroics

Ultimately, Celtic could not strike the deal, and Brentford moved in to sign the striker for an undisclosed fee. He has since been sensational in the Championship, with 28 goals and nine assists under his belt already this season.

He is six clear at the top of the scoring charts in the division and is powering Brentford’s promotion bid, and Fry reckons that the Hoops will surely be looking on enviously, saying:

“Toney would have got 40/50 goals playing in Scotland, no disrespect to Scottish football.

“He would have been a sensation because he doesn’t only score goals, he makes goals. He’ll go to the very top, Ivan Toney, that’s for sure.

“I’m sure they [Celtic] do [regret not signing Toney] already. I’m sure they regret it, not breaking the bank for him.”

Transfer Tavern verdict

It’s difficult to dispute Fry’s 40-50 goal claim given Toney’s devastating record of late.

With Odsonne Edouard linked with the likes of Leicester, Arsenal and Liverpool, the 25-year-old Brentford predator would have been a ready-made replacement at centre-forward before potentially moving on himself for a very healthy profit.

Indeed, as Fry says, it seems that Toney is destined to follow in the footsteps of Ollie Watkins and make a big-money step-up to the Premier League, with Celtic left wondering what might have been as they look on from afar while he prospers.

In other news, Celtic will look to sell this player in the upcoming transfer window.

Carlo Ancelotti should strive to recall James Rodriguez at home to Burnley on Saturday in a vast shake-up to his Everton midfield.

The Colombian has missed his side’s last three Premier League fixtures with a minor injury sustained following last month’s Merseyside derby win away to Liverpool.

Rodriguez had helped to open the scoring at Anfield, with his perfectly weighted through ball finding Richarlison in the Reds’ box for an eighth assist in all competitions this season.

Everton have scored just twice in the top-flight affairs that Rodriguez has missed so far in March, with the Blues beating Southampton and West Bromwich Albion 1-0 before falling to a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea on Monday night.

Ancelotti’s side struggled to break down the Saints, Baggies and Blues’ backlines in each match played without summer signing Rodriguez pulling the strings, with Everton scoring from their only shot on target against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s St. Mary’s natives.

The Toffees struck home away to Sam Allardyce’s Hawthorns outfit from one of three shots on target, while failing to find the back of the net at Stamford Bridge last time out, with Andre Gomes’ 25-yard strike in first-half stoppage-time being their sole on-target effort.

With Everton also having lost each Premier League tie with relegation-threatened Newcastle this season, as well as dropping points to Fulham, Leeds and West Ham – who often sat back to absorb the pressure – former Blues defender Michael Ball is concerned by how Ancelotti’s men will unlock a route to goal against Burnley this weekend.

“The big question for me heading into this run of games is who is going to be the player to change the game? Who is going to be the one to unlock the opposition’s defence? And who ultimately is going to win us the game?” Ball wrote in his column for the Liverpool Echo.

“We have seen this season that we are really good at defending deep and then hitting sides on the counter-attack. But when asked to take the game to sides, we have really struggled to. However, starting this weekend, I would really like to see us take the game to Burnley and play on the front foot a bit more.”

Ancelotti can look to grant Ball his wish of seeing Everton play on the front foot against Sean Dyche’s Burnley by recalling Rodriguez to the starting line-up, should the Colombian be passed fit in time.

Rodriguez has been one of the Toffees’ most-creative players in the Premier League since moving to Goodison Park from Real Madrid in the off-season, with only Lucas Digne (6) providing more assists than the ex-Galactico (4), albeit having played 339 more minutes.

The midfield maestro also offers the highest volume of chances created per game with 1.7 key passes to Digne’s 1.4 and Gylfi Sigurdsson’s 1.1, who also boasts four assists, per WhoScored.

Lining Rodriguez up centrally beside Sigurdsson and with Digne to their left and Richarlison on the right, rather than in the centre-forward role the Brazilian has recently occupied, could be Ancelotti’s best route to unlocking the maxiumum potential of his options, given he will be without Abdoulaye Doucoure.

Digne has featured on the wing six times this season in all competitions, and returned half of his six assists in the role with two chances created helping to beat Fulham 3-2, as well as playing in Alex Iwobi to open the scoring during a 2-1 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Having his most creative weapons playing further up the field together may also help Dominic Calvert-Lewin return to form, having cut an isolated and often invisible presence during Monday’s loss to Chelsea.

Much will naturally depend on Rodriguez’s fitness, but Ancelotti should not leave the £31.5m-rated playmaker out against Burnley if the 29-year-old is ready to pull the strings again.

AND in other news, Everton will listen to offers for a £16m-rated ace who has failed to live up to his price tag…

When Daniel Levy secured Matt Doherty for what seemed like a £15m bargain in the summer, he probably thought he was onto a winner. Heck, even we did at one stage earlier this season, as you can read here.

The Tottenham Hotspur star is now facing a fight for his future if reports are to be believed, so he’s been anything but that and is now on the verge of becoming one of the chairman’s biggest failures.

An exit after just one season would certainly put him among the likes of Noe Pamarot, Calum Davenport and Grzegorz Rasiak, three truly forgettable signings in N17.

At least former duds such as Vincent Janssen and Roberto Soldado fulfilled their purpose – that being a back-up role to Harry Kane.

According to ESPN reporter James Olley last month, Jose Mourinho could be willing to put the 29-year-old up for sale this summer unless his form drastically improves in the coming months.

Football Insider believe that Wolves would be open to re-signing the Ireland international, but only at a cut-price.

Things have gone from bad to worse for Doherty in recent weeks, too. After being berated by Mourinho throughout their defeat to Liverpool, the Spurs boss finally had enough at the weekend, as he axed him from his Premier League matchday squad entirely for the trip to Aston Villa.

Young academy starlets Dane Scarlett and Alfie Devine made the bench, whilst Japhet Tanganga started over him at right-back. Not only did this add insult to injury but was surely a telling sign of what’s to come, given the aforementioned speculation.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-spurs-news-mourinho-levy-gossip” title=”Read this week’s latest Spurs news, rumours and more!”]

Currently valued at €30m (£26m) by CIES Football Observatory, Doherty has been limited to only 12 league starts and that includes some shocking performances – he was dropped after that Liverpool scolding, and that came just a few matches after an utterly needless red against Leeds United.

In those two games, the 6 foot 1 wing-back failed to record a WhoScored rating above 5.87.

That disappointing level of performance was repeated in the North London derby (6.56), where the “very poor” dynamo lost possession the second-most times in the Spurs XI, and that was seemingly enough for Mourinho to drop him entirely for their win on Sunday.

Alasdair Gold at football.london claimed Doherty “had a nightmare” as he got completely torn apart by Kieran Tierney, whilst The Athletic’s Tifo podcast pundit Seb Stafford-Bloor believes the defender has “got progressively worse” as the season has gone on.

On top of that £15m fee, it is thought that the 29-year-old is costing around £65k-per-week as per Spotrac, meaning in total, Doherty has cost £16.85m – and counting – straight out of Levy’s pocket.

The “weak link” is fast becoming one of the worst signings of the modern Levy era, especially if Mourinho moves him on ahead of next season. Only a vast turnaround in form will stop that from happening now.

AND in other news, Imagine him & Hojbjerg: Spurs could land the next Yaya Toure in £12.6m-rated prodigy…

وصلت بعثة منتخب المغرب اليوم الأحد إلى العاصمة الكاميرونية ياوندي استعدادًا للمشاركة في بطولة كأس أمم إفريقيا 2021.

وتبدأ منافسات كأس الأمم الإفريقية يوم 9 يناير وتنتهي 6 فبراير، بحضور 24 منتخبًا بينهم 7 فرق عربية.

وسافرت بعثة المغرب من مطار سلا بالرباط على متن طائرة خاصة في رحلة مدتها 6 ساعات، لكن تغيب عن الرحلة بعض اللاعبين المرتبطين بالمشاركة مع أنديتهم مثل ياسين بونو ويوسف النصيري وكذلك بدر بانون لإصابته بفيروس كورونا.

ومن المقرر أن يخوض منتخب المغرب غدًا الإثنين مرانه الأول في الكاميرون استعدادًا لانطلاق منافسات البطولة.

طالع أيضًا.. كأس أمم إفريقيا 2021 | كل ما تريد معرفته عن منتخب المغرب.. أحلام اللقب الثاني

وكان المنتخب المغربي قد بدأ استعداداته على مركب محمد الخامس في المغرب بخوض حصتين تدريبيتين يوميًا بهدف تعزيز القدرات البدية لدى اللاعبين.

ويتواجد منتخب المغرب في المجموعة الثالثة إلى جانب كل من غانا والجابون وجزر القمر.

يذكر أن المغرب ستخوض أولى مواجهاتها في دور المجموعات ضد منتخب غانا يوم 10 يناير المقبل.

Sheffield Wednesday returned to winning ways in the Championship on Tuesday evening, and the Owls’ versatile star Adam Reach stole the show on their way to a valuable three points.

The South Yorkshiremen moved out of the dropzone with a crucial victory over rock-bottom Wycombe Wanderers at Hillsborough Stadium, thanks to goals from Jordan Rhodes and the already mentioned Reach.

Sitting 25 yards out from goal, the ball fell to the 28-year-old’s feet before he fired home via a deflection to seal a 2-0 win, and aside from finding the net, the utility man put in an industrious display on all fronts.

YorkshireLive reporter Dom Howson handed out his Man of the Match award to fellow wide man Kadeem Harris, who provided the assist for their opener. He graded him a 9/10 and claimed that Reach was a “real livewire on the right.”

However, Reach arguably outshone him to steal the show on the night.

The former England U20 international was at the heart of it all, recording more touches (75) than any other player on the pitch, either home or away. Usually, you’ll find Owls skipper Barry Bannan (59) taking this acclaim, but for once it was Reach on that left flank, which only shows how influential he was.

That’s even backed up by the fact that the £2.88m-rated wing-back lost possession 24 times, more than anyone in a home shirt.

Indeed, he also top-scored as per SofaScore ratings with an 8.4, nearly one point higher than Howson’s pick for the match.

Reach was a constant threat on the left side of the pitch as he left Chairboys duo Scott Kashket (6.8) and Jason McCarthy (6.1) in his wake, neither failed to win over 62.5% of their duels up against the Owls man.

Similarly, the 6 foot 1 dynamo put in an absolute defensive shift, displaying those versatile qualities to a tee – he made a match-high four tackles and was close behind for interceptions (three) and clearances (three), all via SofaScore.

In the absence of a clear left-sided option in defence, the £20k-per-week Reach stepped up to the plate again to run the show for his interim boss, Thompson.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Palmer drops Sheffield Wednesday manager claim…

MatériaMais Notícias

O Corinthians segue invicto em jogos oficiais na temporada. Mas, em processo de reestruturação, comete erros. E não são poucos. Prova disso é que a equipe comandada por Tite é a que mais desperdiça passes no Paulistão.

Segundo o Footstats, o Timão já errou 366 passes no Estadual, média de 52,3 por jogo. O problema já foi detectado pela comissão técnica e pelos atletas alvinegros, que encaram a situação com naturalidade. Além do óbvio desentrosamento dos jogadores que ainda estão se conhecendo, sobretudo os recém-contratados, os corintianos apontam um outro “culpado” pelo problema:

– Há um fator importante: nosso time propõe muito o jogo. Quem tem a bola nos pés e tenta atacar, erra mais consequentemente. Vamos melhorar, tem jogadores novos inteligentes e técnicos chegando, se conhecendo. Vamos evoluir aos poucos – disse Rodriguinho, ao LANCE!.

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A teoria do meia se comprova quando analisados os números do Brasileirão do ano passado. Embora desse a impressão de que não falhava, o Corinthians campeão brasileiro também errava muitos passes e foi o líder do quesito na competição. No entanto, a média era mais baixa que a atual: 44,3 por partida.

O Timão é segundo que mais toca a bola neste Estadual, perdendo apenas para o Osasco Audax.

Perfeccionista, o técnico Tite tenta corrigir essas falhas e também as de finalizações. Quase que diariamente o elenco corintiano treina troca de passes em campo reduzido e sob pressão. A ideia é chegar na reta final do Campeonato Paulista e na fase mata-mata da Copa Libertadores com o pé mais calibrado.

Contudo, o treinador encara os erros como algo normal e até inevitável. Mesmo assim, a meta é evoluir:

– Isso precisa ser treinador. Acertando todas as jogadas de criação, seremos o time da Lua, com um técnico extraterrestre. Isso é possível? A gente vai por etapas, construindo essa situação – comentou Tite.

– Erros em finalizações também incomodam:

Além do número de passes errados ser o maior entre todos os times do Campeonato Paulista, outra estatística negativa tem preocupado a comissão técnica neste momento de reestruturação do Corinthians. No Estadual, o Timão é o décimo time que mais erra finalizações, com 52 ao todo – o time mais pé torto é o Ituano, que errou 70 chutes em sete jogos.

Nos mesmos sete compromissos, o Timão tem uma média de 7,4 finalizações erradas por jogo, e os números apresentados nas últimas rodadas preocupam. Contra o São Bento foram 16 chutes e apenas dois em direção ao gol. Já diante do Oeste foram 17 finalizações e só quatro deram algum trabalho ao goleiro adversário. Por fim, na última quarta, pela Libertadores, três de 11 finalizações saíram corretas. No total, são 50 finalizações em três jogos, com apenas nove corretas e três gols feitos.

Na última sexta-feira, Tite comandou cerca de meia hora de um treinamento focado em finalizações, e tem repetido esta atividade semanalmente no CT.

*Colaborou Alexandre Guariglia

MatériaMais Notícias

Após triunfar diante do Botafogo na reestreia do atacante Grafite, o Santa Cruz enfrenta o Mogi Mirim, novamente em casa, no estádio Arruda, nesta terça-feira, às 19hs, pela 18ª rodada da Série B do Campeonato Brasileiro. A equipe paulista, que não vence há três jogos (uma derrota e dois empates) e ocupa a penúltima colocação, ficou no empate com o ABC dentro de seus domínios no último sábado.

Apesar de os paulistas viverem uma situação desconfortável na tabela de classificação, o técnico do Santa Cruz, Marcelo Martelotte, encara o confronto como complicado e vê o adversário em crescimento depois da chegada de Sérgio Guedes.

– Temos mais um confronto difícil. Vamos continuar, jogo a jogo, tentando somar os pontos. O Mogi vem subindo e melhorando desde a chegada do técnico Sérgio Guedes – alertou o comandante do tricolor pernambucano.

Os grandes astros do confronto, o anfitrião Grafite e o pentacampeão do mundo Rivaldo, não vão se encontrar nesta terça-feira. O atacante da equipe pernambucana, autor do gol da vitória diante do ex-líder da competição, ainda não está confirmado. Ele foi substituido aos 26 minutos do segundo tempo no jogo contra o Botafogo e sua situação física preocupa. Rivaldo não viaja. Para representar a família, Rivaldinho, filho do ex-melhor do mundo, vai para o jogo.

Na oitava colocação com 25 pontos, o Santa Cruz pode sonhar com o G-4. Para isso, os pernambucanos precisam “secar” os adversários, manter o embalo diante do Mogi Mirim e conquistar outro resultado positivo na última partida do primeiro turno, diante do Vitória. Com apenas 15 pontos, o vice-lanterna Mogi Mirim vai continuar na zona de rebaixamento mesmo em caso de triunfo no Arruda. A primeira equipe fora do Z-4 é o Luverdense, que tem 20 pontos.

سجّل الدولي النرويجي، مارتن أوديجارد، صانع ألعاب فريق آرسنال، هدف تعادل فريقه في مرمى مانشستر يونايتد بالدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

آرسنال يواجه مانشستر يونايتد، خارج قواعده على ملعب “أولد ترافورد”، وذلك ضمن لقاءات الجولة الرابعة عشر من الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

هدف التعادل لـ آرسنال، جاء بعد 80 ثانية من الهدف الثاني لليونايتد، بالدقيقة 54، بعد عرضية من جابرييل مارتينلي على الجهة اليمنى، وأوديجارد الخالي من الرقابة الدفاعية داخل منطقة الجزاء سدد بالقدم في شباك الحارس دي خيا. شاهد هدف مارتن اوديجارد في مرمي مانشستر يونايتد

MatériaMais Notícias

O Bordeaux (FRA) confirmou neste domingo a contratação de Malcom, atacante que defendia o Corinthians. O jogador será apresentado pelo clube francês nesta segunda-feira.

Malcom viajou no sábado à França e finalizou os últimos detalhes de sua transferência. Como despedida, o jovem postou uma foto no Instagram agradecendo ao Corinthians.

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasCorinthiansATUAÇÕES: Romero marca e se destaca na vitória do CorinthiansCorinthians31/01/2016

“Queria agradecer a todos treinadores, comissão técnica e atletas com que tive a oportunidade de jogar, e a essa torcida que sempre me apoiou e acreditou no meu potencial”, diz trecho da postagem.

Malcom se tornou o sexto titular de 2015 a deixar o Corinthians. Antes dele, já haviam saído do clube o zagueiro Gil, o volante Ralf, os meias Renato Augusto e Jadson, além do atacante Vagner Love.