CHELSEA FOOTBALL FANS – Page 2 – Chelsea Football Fans Blog

BALLON D’OR: RUDIGER QUESTIONS MENDY OMISSION

Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has questioned the list of 30 players released for the BallonD’or Award this year following the omission of teammate Edouard Mendy. German international Rudiger used his official Twitter account to question why Senegalese international Mendy was left out of the list of the best players in the world.

Rudiger took to his Twitter account to ask the question after Mendy made a lot of outstanding saves to keep a clean sheet and help Chelsea to a hard fought West London Derby win over hosts Brentford. Chelsea were far from their best and they had their goalkeeper to thank for the three points.

ENGLAND MAINTAIN PERFECT START IN QUALIFIERS

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England have shown that their appearance at the Euro 2020 final is no fluke with their flawless perfomance in the qualifiers ahead of next year’s FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar. The 1966 World Cup winners came close to winning Euro 2020 earlier this summer before they were stopped by Italy. The Italians triumphed on penalties after a 1-1 draw in both regulation time and extra time.

England showed that their current form is here to stay after recording two emphatic victories in Group I of the European qualifiers for Qatar 2022 thereby taking their record to five wins in a row from the start of the qualifying campaign in March.

LUKAKU: UNITED COULD NET £5M

European champions Chelsea have made Inter Milan striker RomeluLukaku their number one target in this summer’s transfer window in their bid to sign a quality striker after failing to lure ErlingHaaland from German Bundesliga team Borussia Dortmund to the club. The Telegraph revealed that Belgian international Lukaku could return to Stamford Bridge in a £100m deal this summer and that Manchester United could bag around £5m from the deal in a bittersweet situation.

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Lukaku joined Chelsea from Anderlecht as a teenager and he was unable to establish himself at the club. While Lukaku was a Chelsea player, he spent time on loan at West Brom, Stoke City and Everton before signing for the Toffees permanently in a £28m deal in 2014. Chelsea tried to re-sign Lukaku three years later only to miss out on him to Manchester United and they had to settle down for Spanish international Alvaro Morata. However, the two transfers didn’t work out as planned for the two clubs.

HAVERTZ ON TARGET AGAIN

Kai Havertz had a poor start to his career at Chelsea following his transfer from German Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen last summer but he was able to recover from the bad start to show his quality in the final months of last season including his contribution for the Blues in the Champions League final. The German international scored the only goal of the match as Chelsea beat Premier League champions Manchester City in the final to win the Champions League title for the second time in their history. Havertz has continued where he left off last season for Chelsea with the German national team at the Euro 2020 tournament.

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Chelsea attacker Havertzdidn’t have much impact on proceedings in the Euro 2020 tournament opener for the Germans against world champions France but he has since recorded two goals in two games. Havertzand his German teammates failed to score in the 1-0 defeat to the French team thanks to the first half own goal from Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels.

CHELSEA BOOST UCL HOPES AT CITY

West London giants Chelsea were able to boost their hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League (UCL) at Manchester City following the 2-1 comeback win over the league leaders.

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The league encounter between the two teams served as a dress rehearsal ahead of the Champions League finallater this month. Manchester City and Chelsea will contest the Champions League final for this season after they saw off French Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint Germain (PSG) and Spanish La Liga champions Real Madrid in the semis respectively.

CHELSEA BACKED FOR LONDON DERBY WIN

Chelsea have been backed to come out victorious at the end of their London Derby clash with hosts West Ham United in the Premier League this weekend. West Ham United and Chelsea are in the thick of the race for Champions League football and the two teams meet at the London Stadium in a crucial game that could decide the destination of Champions League football next season.

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As things stand, Manchester City, Manchester United and Leicester City are almost certain of picking the first three slots thus leaving the likes of Chelsea, West Ham United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur to fight for the fourth and final Champions League spot up for grabs in the Premier League.

LAMPARD HAD TWO-MAN SHORTLIST BEFORE DISMISSAL

Chelsea legend Frank Lampard reportedly had a two-man transfer shortlist at the club before his dismissal as the Blues boss. Sky Sports Italia reporter Angelo Mangiantesaid that the ex-Blues boss wanted to sign two players to boost his team before the Chelsea hierarchy decided to relieve him of his job on the back of some poor results in the Premier League. Frank Lampard was sacked at the start of the year and replaced by Thomas Tuchel, who has managed clubs like. Paris Saint Germain (PSG), Mainz 05 and Borussia Dortmund. Angelo Mangiante revealed that Frank Lampard wanted to sign West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice and Borussia Dortmund goalscoring machine ErlingHaalandto bolster his squad in the summer but he won’t be able to achieve his target as the managerial reign at Chelsea now belongs to Thomas Tuchel. The German tactician will have the transfer plans of his own ahead of the summer.

WERNER FIT FOR NEWCASTLE UNITED CLASH

Timo Werner is in contention for the Newcastle United game in the Premier League this weekend after returning to training. The petite German had missed the slim win over English Championship club Barnsley in the FA Cup fifth round on Thursday night because of a dead leg but has recovered in time for the visit of Newcastle United in the league. Without Timo Werner, Chelsea booked their place in the FA Cup quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory over their lower league opponents.

England international Tammy Abraham scored in the second half to take the Blues into the last eight, where they will face Sheffield United for the right to seal a place in the semis of the FA Cup this season. Chelsea are hoping to go one more step in the competition than last season when they were beaten finalists. Arsenal beat 10-man Chelsea 2-1 in the final of the competition at the Wembley Stadium last season to win the FA Cup for a record 14^th time.

ATLETICO MADRID WANT TO SIGN CHELSEA’S MARCOS ALONSO

Spanish giants Atletico Madrid have set their sights on Chelsea left-back Marcos Alonso and they want to take the defender away from Stamford Bridge in a deal that would see him become a new La Liga player by the end of January. This is according to El Chiringuito, a Spanish TV show.

Alonso has further fallen down the pecking order at Stanford Bridge following the arrival of Ben Chilwell last summer from Leicester City. He is now behind both the English left-back and Brazilian defender Emerson Palmieri for that position and wants to seek a move away from the club to get more game time.

CHELSEA GET TOUGH CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW

Chelsea have been handed a tough draw in the Champions League round of 16 after it was revealed that they would face Atletico Madrid for a place in the quarterfinals of the competition. It is the one of the top two picks of the round of 16 after the drawtook place on Monday. Chelsea have a history with Atletico Madrid whom they faced in the Champions League semi-finals in 2014 and in the group stage during the 2016/17 season. Atletico Madrid eliminated Chelsea in the last four to seal a final place. They went on to lose that final to city rivals Real Madrid who won 4-1 at the end of extra time.

Blues boss Frank Lampard has made instant reaction to the Champions League draw during his pre-match press conference ahead of the Wolves game in the Premier League. Wolves play hosts to Chelsea in the first match of week 13 games at the Molineux on Tuesday.