Everton’s Remarkable Stats in Win Over Chelsea Highlight Duncan Ferguson’s Influence

​Duncan Ferguson looked like he enjoyed watching Everton beat Chelsea 3-1 at Goodison Park on Saturday.

A Dominic Calvert-Lewin double, plus one from Richarlison, got the Scotsman off to a flyer after he was appointed as interim manager following Marco Silva’s sacking on Thursday. Fair to say, Ferguson’s impact on the Toffees was clear for all to see.


Under Silva, they had lacked fight, but the same cannot be said of their performance on the weekend. ​Everton were transformed against Frank Lampard’s side, with ​Opta reporting they made a total of 37 tackles in the triumph.

That’s the most the Merseysiders have made in a single ​Premier League game since their 1-0 loss at ​Tottenham Hotspur in February 2014, and the most they’ve made at home since March 2007, when Andy Johnson gave them a narrow victory over ​Arsenal.

Ferguson’s effect on the side was remarkable, and proved enough to topple a team currently occupying a ​Champions League qualification spot, who had also never previously lost a Premier League match against a manager taking charge of his first fixture.

On top of that, Big Dunc guided Everton to their second successive top-flight win versus the ​Blues, something the Toffees haven’t done since November 1994. It gets worse for Chelsea.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin

The west London outfit have now been defeated in three of their last four league matches, and the gap between Lampard’s recruits and fifth could close to just three points by Monday evening.

Of course, things haven’t been amazing of late at Goodison, either, with Saturday’s victory only Everton’s third in 12 Premier League fixtures. That certainly highlights how desperate the situation was by the end of Silva’s reign.

The Toffees’ struggles has been in large part due to a lack of goals. Calvert-Lewin has hardly been prolific in the early stages of his career, but he hit a big milestone against Chelsea as the youngster collected his first top-flight brace in his 92nd appearance.

Richarlison, on the other hand, is a more potent attacker, and the Brazilian took his seasonal league tally to five as he scored for the third consecutive game. Intriguingly, all three of those have been assisted by right-back Djibril Sidibe.


Perhaps, it shouldn’t be too surprising that Everton put Chelsea to the sword in front of the Goodison crowd. 

The Blues failed to register an away Premier League clean sheet for the 16th time in their 17 first division matches away from Stamford Bridge in 2019, with no other side in the competition having a worse defensive record on their travels this year.

At least there was one positive for Chelsea – Mateo Kovacic ended a 35-month drought after grabbed his first goal in his last 82 appearances in Europe’s big five leagues, with his most recent goal coming in January 2017 for ​Real Madrid.


For more from Ed Alexander, follow him on Twitter

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WSL Week 9 Preview: Chelsea & Man City Clash at the Top While Man Utd Host Everton

​There’s an assortment of Women’s Super League fixtures to look forward to this weekend in the penultimate round of games before the Christmas break.

The pick of the bunch is at Kingsmeadow, where two title chasers go head to head as Chelsea host Manchester City. Elsewhere, Manchester United are in action against Everton while Liverpool take on West Ham as they look to kick start their season.

With every side in action over the course of Sunday afternoon, there’s a full programme of fixtures to feast our eyes upon – so here’s 90min to spin you through what you have coming up in detail….


Chelsea vs Manchester City


The WSL title race could take yet more twists and turns this weekend, as unbeaten ​Chelsea host second place Man City. Just two points separate the two sides in this fascinatingly poised battle at the league summit. 

Chelsea have already beaten Arsenal on home turf this season, and in Beth England they have one of the WSL’s form players. The England striker has four goals and two assists in the league this season.

However, England will face the WSL’s meanest defence on Sunday, with City only conceding one goal all season. That was in an away defeat to Arsenal in October, which saw Nick Cushing’s side surrender their lead at the top of the table.

Check out 90min’s full preview of the game ​here. 


Manchester United vs Everton


One of the most intriguing fixtures of the weekend sees the two surprise packages of the season go head to head at Leigh Sports Village, as fourth play fifth.

Newly promoted ​Manchester United have made an impressive start to life in the top flight, winning plaudits for their exciting style of football. They host fourth place ​Everton, who have already recorded more league wins this campaign than they managed during the entirety of last season.

United comfortably came out on top when these two met in the Continental Cup, running out 3-0 winners. However, Casey Stoney’s side suffered their first major upset of the season last weekend, as they lost 3-2 to a West Ham side who had been hit for five at Manchester City two weeks previously.

Sunday’s clash is a battle of the wide players, with United’s Leah Galton so impressive this season, while Everton’s Chloe Kelly is the WSL’s joint second top scorer with four goals.


Reading vs Arsenal


League leaders Arsenal travel to the late goal queens Reading in a game that has the potential to be a real high scoring affair. 

Sixth place ​Reading have conceded double the amount of goals of any other side in the top half of the table, but are not shy in front of goal themselves. They scored a 95th minute equaliser against Brighton last time out, a week after scoring in the 82nd minute to seal a remarkable 3-2 fightback win over West Ham. With former Arsenal midfielder Fara s on corners and free kicks, the Royals are real threat from set pieces.

They face an ​Arsenal side fresh from their record breaking 11-1 crushing of Bristol City last weekend. Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema continues to defy footballing logic, scoring six and assisting four during the demolition. She could quite easily run riot again on Sunday.


Liverpool vs West Ham


Fresh from their superb victory over Manchester United, West Ham will be looking to build some momentum when they take on bottom side Liverpool.

Having thrown away a two goal advantage a week earlier against Reading, the Hammers scored in the 83rd and 90th minute to come from 2-1 down to win 3-2 and end their run of three consecutive league defeats.

However, despite their league standing, leaving Liverpool with three points will be no mean feat. They are a stubborn side, having only lost by more than one goal once in the league all season.  Liverpool’s problem is putting the ball in the back of the net; the Reds are yet to score from open play in the WSL. 


Tottenham vs Brighton


Ninth play seventh in what promises to be a close encounter in north London.

Spurs have adjusted well to life in the top tier following their promotion last season, putting in impressive displays during narrow defeats to both Chelsea and Arsenal. However, they go into Sunday’s fixture without a win in three. 

Brighton recorded a credible draw with Reading last week, but will have been left frustrated by throwing away the three points at the death. Hope Powell’s side remain the only team to take points off Chelsea this season.


Bristol City vs Birmingham


A crucial clash at the wrong end of the WSL sees second from bottom Bristol City host third from bottom Birmingham.

Bristol will be looking to make a statement after their 11-1 mauling at the hands of Arsenal last weekend. Birmingham, meanwhile, have suffered a real fall from grace this season after losing multiple key players over the summer. Having finished fourth last season, they now find themselves in a relegation battle. However, the draw with Spurs on Wednesday was a step in the right direction. 

With just a point separating the two sides, Sundays fixture has the makings of a compelling affair.


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Tottenham & Chelsea Among Clubs Scouting Metz Sensation Habib Diallo

​In a piece of relatively surprising transfer news, both Tottenham and Chelsea are believed to be interested in FC Metz striker Habib Diallo.

Both ​Spurs and the Blues are among a number of clubs across Europe that are looking at the possibility of bringing in the Senegalese international in January.

French website ​Moselle Sport first reported the news that there are several French and English clubs that might make an offer for Diallo.

FBL-FRA-LIGUE1-METZ-TOULOUSE

Metz are currently in the bottom three of Ligue 1, but Diallo has been in fantastic form this season and clubs are beginning to take note. Having scored 26 times in the French second division last season, Diallo led Metz to promotion and has bagged nine in 16 so far in Ligue 1. 

Only Wissam Ben Yedder and Moussa Dembélé have scored more goals in France’s top flight this season. He is key to Metz’s team considering he has scored nine of their 13 goals overall this term.

With ​Chelsea’s transfer ban being lifted, they are now allowed to sign players and Diallo may be one of these targets. However, ​the Blues have Tammy Abraham, Michy Batshuayi and Olivier Giroud as striking options already so Diallo might not fit there.


Meanwhile, Spurs only really have one out-and-out striker with Harry Kane. This might be a more attractive move for a player who will want game time and can still develop at the age of 24. 

Yet, looking at Spurs’ recent history of back-up strikers (Vincent Janssen, Fernando Llorente etc.), it is debatable how much game time he would actually get. 

Spurs and Chelsea aren’t the only ​Premier League teams to be linked, with Leicester also said to be in the mix as they try to strengthen their title challenge.

FBL-FRA-LIGUE1-METZ-NANTES

Diallo was recently called up into the Senegal national team for the first time and scored in their 2-0 win against Congo. He could follow in the footsteps of fellow Senegalese international ​Sadio Mané, who started his professional career at Metz.

Whether or not he secures a move away from Metz remains to be seen, but with the January transfer window just around the corner, teams will be wanting the in-form striker.

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Chelsea Release Statement Condemning FIFA After Having Transfer Ban Lifted by CAS

​Chelsea have expressed their delight at having their transfer ban lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, before taking a swipe at FIFA for their handling of the situation.

FIFA hit the Blues with a two-window transfer ban after finding them to be guilty of numerous breaches of regulations in relation to signing young players, but Chelsea always maintained their innocence and pleaded with CAS to lift the ban.

The ban was shortened to just one window, which ​Chelsea already served during the summer, meaning they are now free to sign players in January. Writing on their ​official website, the Blues took the opportunity to slate FIFA for their actions during the investigation.

Their statement began: “The approach taken by FIFA to this case has been deeply unsatisfactory, not least as FIFA chose to treat Chelsea entirely differently to ​Manchester City for reasons that make absolutely no sense to Chelsea.

“FIFA accused Chelsea of having breached Article 19 of the FIFA regulations in relation to 27 players, covering the period from 2009 onwards. Of those, 16 players were registered by Chelsea in exactly the same way as other ​Premier League clubs registered players at the time.

 

“Furthermore, Chelsea sought clarification from the Premier League in 2009 about whether it needed to apply for permission to register players in this category. The FA subsequently liaised with FIFA and it was confirmed to Chelsea that players in this category were entitled to register and that no special application was required (and in fact no special application process existed). 

“Accordingly, the fact that FIFA brought charges against Chelsea for this category of player was perverse. We are grateful that this appears to have been corrected by the CAS.”

The Blues also explained the controversy around the rest of the charges against them, adding that FIFA must address the inconsistencies in their punishments.


Six players qualified for one of the exceptions set out in the FIFA regulations,” they said. “As a consequence, to the extent there was any breach in relation to these players, the breaches were of a procedural nature only.

“With respect to the remaining five players, FIFA’s position was that it ‘deemed’ these players to have registered prior to any application for registration being made. Chelsea maintains, as was held by CAS in the ​Real Madrid case, that the FIFA regulations do not cover a concept of ‘deemed registrations’ and accordingly it is not open to FIFA to ‘deem’ that registrations were made before they were in fact made.

Mason Mount

“Chelsea respects the importance of the work undertaken by FIFA in relation to the protection of minors and has fully cooperated with FIFA throughout its investigation. 

“However, if FIFA continues to impose inconsistent and unequal sanctions on clubs then it will not only undermine the very purpose of the regulations, but it will also bring into doubt the game’s confidence in FIFA being able to appropriately regulate this important area.”


For more from Tom Gott, follow him on Twitter!

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Chelsea ‘Plan’ January Clear-Out After Transfer Ban Ruling as 4 Stars Face Axe

Christmas is officially un-cancelled for Chelsea, if you hadn’t heard. They are able once again to sign players from January, after CAS found some festive cheer from deep within their stocking and ruled in favour of the Blues’ appeal against their registration ban.

Frank Lampard gets to sign players, but what do we get? An absolute avalanche of utterly nonsensical ​Chelsea transfer stories, of course!

While every other report coming to the fore on Friday focuses on largely-baseless speculation on who the Blues could bring in, the ever-trustworthy ​Sun has changed the game, with a groundbreaking report that claims as many as four mostly-out-of-favour ageing players could be leaving the club to ‘make room’ for the likes of Jadon Sancho and Ben Chilwell.


In characteristically melodramatic fashion, the newspaper has run with a headline stating as fact that the Blues are planning a ‘mass January exodus’ with ​Olivier Giroud, Marcos Alonso, Pedro and Willian all ‘set to be scrapped’ by Frank Lampard. 

Of course, once we get into the actual content, there is a hilarious lack of substance or basis to anything they are claiming. The only factual information provided by the article is, in fact, the bold claim that Chelsea ‘could’ look to move the four players on, since none of them particularly look as if they have a long-term future at the club.

The article is also clearly contradicted by information which itself traces back to the Sun (which we’ve broken down ​here), claiming Giroud isn’t actually likely to leave in January due to a lack of suitors. Funny that. 

Angelo Ogbonna,Olivier Giroud

Joking aside, they are right about one thing; any of the four players feasibly could leave in January depending on who comes in. Alonso is out-of-favour as it is, and the arrival of the likes of Chilwell would surely serve as the final nail in his coffin. 

Giroud currently finds himself out of favour to Tammy Abraham and Michy Batshuayi and Pedro finds himself behind Christian Pulisic, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Willian in the pecking order.

The Brazilian, meanwhile, is out of contract at the end of the season, and with no new deal thought to be incoming, a January sale to avoid losing him for free hardly looks out of the realms of possibility. 

Willian

Let’s wait until we have some actual information suggesting these guys are really leaving before we state it as fact next time though, lads. 


For more from Robbie Copeland, follow him on Twitter!

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