Pep Guardiola apologises for Manchester City role in full-time Chelsea brawl

Pep Guardiola shakes hands with Cesc Fabregas of Chelsea after the double sending-

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ep Guardiola apologised on behalf of his Manchester Cityplayers after a brawl in injury-time of their 3-1 home defeat to Chelsea ended with red cards for Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho.

The City manager said that it was “a pity” that Fernandinho was dismissed for shoving Cesc Fabregas backwards over an advertising board, and then refused to leave the scene and had to be dragged off by club staff. Guardiola defended the challenge by Aguero on David Luiz that sparked the incident insisting that it was not “intentional”.

Fernandinho was dismissed for shoving Fabregas over the advertising hoardings  CREDIT:GETTY IMAGES

Speaking afterwards Guardiola said: “It is a pity it finished like this. It was the way the referee decided. It is a pity. I apologise.”

On the tackle by Aguero on Luiz he said that “both players were tough”. “He [Aguero] went down [to ground] and touched him [Luiz]. Aguero’s challenge was not intentional,” Guardiola said.

Asked to confirm that he did not think the challenge as intentional, he said: “I don’t think so. Maybe I have to understand many things here but referee says red card so red card. Like Nolito [sent off against Bournemouth].”

The City manager refused to blame referee Anthony Taylor for hisrefusal to send off Luiz in the first half for what looked like a denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity to Aguero outside the area. He also turned own a penalty appeal from Ilkay Gundogan in the first half.

Aguero is now likely to get a four-match ban which means he misses games against Leicester, Watford, Arsenal and Hull. “He [Aguero] was lost [ie suspended] before as well,” Guardiola said. “Three games off, so Aguero and Nolito - he didn’t make anything [do anything] and it was six games off [in total]. We accept that. It was a red card. Ok we are going to deal with that.”

David Luiz escaped a red for denying Aguero a goal-scoring chance CREDIT: REX

Guardiola said that Fernandinho behaved as he did because he was going to “defend” a team-mate. Despite this he said he would not criticise referee Taylor. “We didn’t win because we missed a lot of chances not because of the referee. Never in my life in seven years [have I criticised a referee] … or maybe a few times, but I respect them.

"It is just a game. I have to understand this is England. I didn’t come here to change absolutely anything. I know the way you live. I am just here to understand I need time to understand the decisions.”

Aguero (top) fouls Chelsea's David Luiz (right) CREDIT: PA WIRE

Antonio Conte, whose players have won eight straight games, said that he was pleased they did not get themselves sent off in the closing stages.

“Yes, I am happy because I always tell my players to be focused on the game on the pitch and always to keep calm. It is normal when you playbig games it is not easy to keep in every single moment your calm. I am pleased all my players tried to keep calm.”

He said the extent of Luiz’s injury was still unclear. There was praise for Diego Costa who scored one and made another for Willian Eden Hazard got the third while Gary Cahill scored City’s with an own goal. Conte said of Costa: “He is working very well and putting himself in the team and he is very good. He is very focussed on the game on the pitch … he has to continue with that commitment and work rate.”

Why Cesc Fabregas’ Chelsea career may be over

There is a variety of ways in which a footballer can lose his place in a team. His form may dip, for one. Otherwise, he may get injured and replaced by someone who plays well enough to retain his spot. He may also get into a tiff with the manager, causing a fallout.

In some rare occasions though, players lose their place in the side purely because they are victims of circumstance.

What’s happened with Cesc Fabregas at Chelsea this season is really difficult to explain. In the first few games, with Antonio Conte sticking with a 4-2-3-1 system, it was baffling to see why he wasn’t playing. With N’Golo Kante in the team to provide cover for the back 4, Chelsea were clearly missing that creative outlet from midfield with Nemanja Matic in the side. Fabregas earned his first and only start against his former club Arsenal by scoring twice against Leicester City in the EFL Cup 3rd round. A calamitous collapse at theEmirates though, forced Conte to rethink his tactics.

Fabregas was taken off early on in the second half, and Chelsea went 3 at the back. In the three games hence, they’ve stuck with that system. An injury has kept the Spaniard out of any sort of involvement, but it is hard to see him getting back into contention any time soon. The Blues have won all three of those games, and kept clean sheets in all of them as well.

Matic-Kante working a treat in central midfield

With Chelsea going with a 3-4-3 formation, it is important that the two central midfielders maintain their discipline and are always available to help out the defenders. Kante has been brilliant ever since joining in the summer. Matic’s form dipped extraordinarily last season, but has picked up this time around. Both the players earned a lot of praise for their performance in the 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United at the weekend.

Having two defensive minded players in the centre of the park though, hasn’t hampered Chelsea’s attacking threat. Eden Hazard has been giving more of a free role and can float in centrally whenever he wants. The two wing-backs, Marcos Alonso and Victor Mosesstep in to make that extra man in attack. Diego Costa has been superb, scoring 7 goals thus far in the Premier League. All in all, everything seems to be ticking along nicely.Fabregas has done literally nothing wrong. It’s just that his style of play doesn’t seem to suit Conte’s system. The Italian has always had a deep-lying playmaker in his sides, the likes of Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio. While Fabregas doesn’t lack in creativity, he is certainly not as robust as either of those players. 

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Premier League - Oct, 23/2016 | Chelsea vs Man United, Man City vs Southampton | Post Match Analysis

Chelsea set to make BIGGEST signing of 2015: £8.5m-a-year deal AGREED

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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is set to sign a new long-term deal with the west London giants.

The London Evening Standard state that the former Real Madrid boss has agreed personal terms on a four-year contract with the Blues, and an announcement is expected from the club before their bid to retain the Premier League title kicks off at Stamford Bridge on August 8.

His salary will remain untouched at £8.5m per-year.

The British newspaper claim that Roman Abramovich has been keen to tie the Portuguese manager down to a long-term deal after Chelsea claimed the double last season – in winning the Capital One Cup and the EPL trophy for the first time in five years.

Mourinho’s assistants, Rui Faria and Silvinho Louro, have also been handed contract extensions.

The 52-year-old looks eager to remain in England’s top flight for the foreseeable future, and really could be set to remain in the Stamford Bridge dug-out for the next 10 years, as he expressed his desire to earlier in April.

“We are building a team for a long time, for the next 10 years. That is the objective. More important than my team is Chelsea’s future,” as quoted by the Express

Who should we sign this transfer window?

With the signing of Falcao complete, I am going to have a look at who Chelsea should and could buy to help strengthen the team to help the blues retain the title and match and or improve the success of the previous season.

Throughout this article I will be looking at all the various positions that I believe we will need to improve and I will be giving varied options and my own opinions on what I believe Chelsea will need to do.

With interest in Oscar and Ramires high, it is very likely that at least one of them is going to leave during this window, this means that Chelsea are going to be light on midfielders, in particular defensive midfielders and i believe there are two options.

The first option is to buy another high quality player who has already got a wealth of experience at both club and international level and there is one person who fits this bill and is on the watch list of all the biggest clubs around Europe and that’s Paul Pogba, with most of the interest for Oscar coming from Juventus, I believe we are in the strongest position to capture the young Frenchman, but if he was to leave Juventus, he will have to leave for a hefty fee which would probably end any transfer window activity due to financial fair play.

With Mourinho’s obsession with bringing the wealth of youth talent through to the first team the second option I propose is probably more preferable with the Chelsea boss and that is to bring through Ruben Loftus-Cheek and make him a more permanent fixture in the Chelsea line-up, with promising performances in all the appearances he made towards the back end of last season he showed that he is more than capable of performing in the premier league, this option would cost Chelsea nothing and allow us some more maneuverability in the market.

Both of these options would allow Fabregas to play higher as an attacking midfielder behind either Costa or Falcoa where he played some of his best games last season and open up a variety of options for Mourinho.

With the best defence in the league last season most people would think not to change it but, the average age of the starting back four used by Mouinho last season was 30, with an aging defence, Mourinho needs to get an injection of youth into the team and utilize the time he has whilst the aging defence is still at the top of their game to get some young replacements in, we already have one in the shape of Kurt Zouma who looked very promising in the games he played last season, but that’s not enough.

One young defender heavily linked to Chelsea is Zouma’s fellow Frenchman, Raphael Varane, the 22 year old made 46 appearances for Real Madrid last season and is certainly well on the way to reaching his maximum potential and is Chelsea were able to buy him from Real, the defence will only go from strength to strength.

Another young defender linked to a number of clubs is Marquinhos, the 21 year old PSG defender made a total of 32 appearances for the French giants including the victory over Chelsea in the Champions League, with the young Brazilian playing most of his season at right back but also more than comfortable at centre back, he looks like the full package and could be a perfect replacement for Ivanovic.

Either one of these options would be a great capture for Chelsea this season, with the possibility of both leaving their clubs, they could both be in the blue of Chelsea next season.

With a long time left in the transfer window all of the signings mentioned could be a possibility, it is set to be a very exciting transfer window for Chelsea.

THREE CHELSEA PLAYERS UNDER THREAT IF MAN UTD TARGET ARDA TURAN JOINS THE BLUES

Arda Turan has confirmed that he will be leaving Atletico Madrid over the next few days and Chelsea have become a front runner in the race to sign the bearded winger.

With the most famous boot slinger in Turkish football reportedly close to a move to the banks of the river Thames we had a look at three Chelsea players whose place could be under threat next season if the Turkish international joins

Chelsea BEATEN in race for £15m scoring MACHINE

Charlie Austin could be sticking around in the Premier League even as his former team drops into Championship League. Where will Austin play this year?

A winner in the race for QPR striker Charlie Austin has been declared and unfortunately for Blues fans, it wasn’t Jose Mourinho.

According to the Daily Star, newly-hired Newcastle United manager Steve McClaren is all set to secure the deal for the QPR scoring threat, with club owner Mike Ashley reportedly willing to pony up the entire £15 million asking price for the 18-goal superstar. The move comes just hours after QPR turned down a £12 million bid from Leicester City for the 25-year-old striker.

Chelsea were named as possible suitors for Austin’s services, but had recently been overshadowed by the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Southampton, Bournemouth and of course Newcastle United.

Austin has recorded double-digit scoring seasons in nine of his 10 senior seasons since he was a teenage wonderkid with Kintbury Rangers back in 2006. After recording a hat-trick in a win over West Bromwich back in December, Austin was named Premier League Player of the Month.

The QPR scoring machine recorded 18 goals for the club last season, but his offensive output couldn’t match their defensive failures and QPR was relegated after just one year in the Premier League.