Chelsea
Why Chelsea Pulled Back from the Antoine Semenyo Chase
Chelsea withdrew from the Antoine Semenyo pursuit after sensing he preferred Manchester City. & more
Chelsea’s brief move for Antoine Semenyo ended not with a financial standoff but with a sense that the player had already chosen a different direction. The club submitted an “initial enquiry” about Semenyo this week, a contact that would likely have focused on personal terms given the known value of the release clause.
Reports since then say the Blues quickly stepped away. Sky Sports News argued the club took stock of their attacking options and judged they needn’t add Semenyo to a group that already includes Jamie Gittens, Alejandro Garnacho, Estêvão, Pedro Neto, João Pedro and Liam Delap. The same coverage offered another explanation: “they got the feeling” that “the player had just decided he wanted to go somewhere else.”
Semenyo’s list of suitors is long, with Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur all heavily linked. It has been claimed that Manchester City are Semenyo’s preference, a choice thought to be influenced by the likelihood of Pep Guardiola’s side collecting major trophies.
Even after withdrawing from that specific race, Chelsea have not closed the door on further attacking business. The club remains open to additional forward options and will continue “monitoring” potential recruits for 2026, according to The Athletic. Sporting CP’s Geovany Quenda is already set to arrive next year while Strasbourg captain Emmanuel Emegha will also make the move from France to west London.
That approach fits a familiar pattern. Much like a doomsday prepper, Chelsea are not afraid of stockpiling. The squad does boast two players for every position across the front three, but the overlap in style among some options reduces tactical variety. Garnacho and Gittens, for instance, both possess similar strengths and weaknesses, limiting the manager’s range of choices.
For now Chelsea have chosen to step back from the Semenyo pursuit and refocus on recruitment that complements the players already at the club.
Aston Villa
Premier League Gameweek 8 calls: Chelsea host Spurs as Liverpool face Brighton
Chelsea host Spurs as Liverpool meet Brighton in a weekend of tight Premier League predictions.
The Premier League returns after another midweek round of continental action involving nine English clubs, and Gameweek 8 arrives with little room for recovery. Several of the league’s biggest sides are back in action quickly, while a number of awkward fixtures could shape the standings before the weekend is over.
Friday’s opener at Portman Road looks finely balanced. Ipswich Town have collected nine points from seven matches and have taken two-thirds of that tally at home, with wins over Sunderland and Fulham lifting them to 10th. Nottingham Forest, however, arrive with their own issues, and goals have been difficult to come by for the Tricky Trees. A draw feels the likeliest outcome.
Aston Villa’s meeting with Man City is one of the standout fixtures on Saturday. Villa have won five of their last six, while City have maintained a perfect Premier League run, though their domestic record remains surrounded by uncertainty off the pitch. Even so, their form under Pep Guardiola has been efficient, and with Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden in encouraging touch, they are tipped to edge it.
Arsenal are expected to keep pace at the top with a home win over Everton. The Gunners remain defensively solid, even if their attack will be without Bukayo Saka, while Everton are likely to sit deep and counter through Thierno Barry, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jack Grealish.
Chelsea’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur closes Saturday and the home side look strong favourites. Spurs have won only once at Stamford Bridge in 25 years, while Chelsea have scored 17 goals in seven matches under Xabi Alonso. João Pedro, Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers have all been in form.
Elsewhere, Liverpool’s meeting with Brighton has the feel of a high-scoring draw, Man Utd are predicted to share the points with Bournemouth, and Sunderland’s test against Leeds United could be decided by fatigue after their trip to Poland.
Chelsea
Ashley Young warns Manchester United against Antonio Conte move
Ashley Young has cautioned against a Conte appointment, calling it a “disaster” for Manchester United.
Former Manchester United captain Ashley Young has urged caution over any attempt to bring in Antonio Conte as a replacement for Michael Carrick, branding such a move a “disaster.”
Conte is available after leaving Napoli by mutual consent in May, and his trophy record is as strong as any. The Italian won five Serie A championships as a player with Juventus, then added five more as a manager with Juventus, Inter Milan and Napoli, while also guiding Chelsea to the Premier League title.
Young, who spent just shy of nine years at Old Trafford before 18 months working under Conte at Inter, believes the fit would be wrong for Manchester United at this point. His view comes as pressure continues to build around Carrick, even if the hierarchy are still thought to support him.
Wednesday night’s defeat to Como was another heavy blow. It was Manchester United’s second-worst loss in the Champions League era and extended a winless run to seven matches, a sequence that sits awkwardly alongside the strong finish Carrick produced in his interim spell last season. On that run, the team collected more points from their final 17 games than champions Arsenal.
After the final whistle in northern Italy, Carrick walked straight to the corner of the stadium where the travelling supporters were gathered and apologised for what had taken place. He then turned his attention to the players and did not spare them, saying: “If you don’t run and you don’t run forward and you don’t run back, you ain’t going to win.”
Young’s doubts about Conte are rooted in the demands of his methods. Speaking on The Overlap Daily show, he said: “He is crazy,” and then described the intensity that often comes with the Italian’s approach.
“[Conte] is a bit like Diego Simeone on the sidelines. You hear him non-stop,” Young said. “Training is intense, there’s a lot of running. There was a lot that he did. The training sessions were a lot of 11 vs. 11, at times a little bit boring.
“Meetings were long. If we lost a game, we could go into a meeting and stop literally everything [else]. You could be in there three or four hours. I think that’s one of the reasons why he doesn’t last long at places because, not just the players, the board he tries to test mentally. I think people get annoyed at him and they’re like, no it’s time for you to go.”
Chelsea
The strongest Premier League season openers and the seasons that followed
Premier League fast starts can be dazzling, but history shows the season rarely ends as it begins.
It is the kind of start every manager hopes for after a summer of preparation: momentum, control and a perfect record to open a Premier League season. Since the competition began in 1992, several sides have produced dream runs that hinted at title glory, only for history to remind everyone that August and September do not decide championships.
One of the most recent examples came from Manchester City in 2023-24. Rodri’s late goal at newly promoted Sheffield United kept their start on track after opening with two wins, and Pep Guardiola’s team then beat Burnley and Newcastle United without conceding before overcoming Fulham and West Ham United. Their run ended at Wolverhampton Wanderers in Gameweek 7, with Arsenal defeating them the following week as well. Even so, City then went on a remarkable 23-match unbeaten stretch, including 11 straight victories to close the season and claim a fourth successive title.
Liverpool’s 2018-19 start under Jürgen Klopp carried similar promise. With Alisson and Fabinho arriving in the summer, the Reds won their first six league matches, including victories over West Ham United, Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion without conceding. A statement win at Tottenham Hotspur followed before Chelsea ended the perfect start at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool would not lose again until Jan. 3, yet a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium proved decisive, and they finished on 97 points without the title.
Guardiola’s first Manchester City campaign also featured six straight wins, although doubts soon surfaced. Their record included just one clean sheet, and a 2-0 defeat at Spurs pointed to problems that later showed up regularly. City dropped as low as fifth in January before recovering to third and securing Champions League qualification, setting the stage for the ‘Centurions.’
Chelsea’s early run under Carlo Ancelotti was built on a similar pattern of fast starts and later pressure. Didier Drogba’s strike helped them beat Hull City on opening weekend, and they followed with six straight victories, capped by a familiar win over Spurs at the Bridge. After two defeats in their next three matches and a draw with Blackburn Rovers in March, seven wins from the next eight, including a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford, carried them to the title by a single point.
Newcastle United’s 1994-95 season under Kevin Keegan was explosive from the outset. They scored 22 times across their first six wins and remained unbeaten until Gameweek 12, with the ‘Entertainers’ capturing the imagination even if the finish fell away. A miserable winter followed, and Newcastle ended the campaign in sixth.
This season, another perfect start has arrived at Manchester City. With seven wins from seven, including victories at Man Utd and Liverpool and high-scoring wins over Sunderland and Ipswich Town, they have again set the early pace, even with off-field scrutiny hanging over them.
