Author Archives: Phillip Ekuwem

Four Reasons Why Chelsea Can win the Premier League this Season

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eden hazard chelsea

Chelsea are in red-hot form at the moment as evidenced by their most recent victory over a newly-promoted Cardiff side who have managed to garner just two points from their opening five games in the Premier League thus putting them in danger of relegation despite it being so early in the season.

Whilst many might dismiss Chelsea’s win over Cardiff as a routine victory considering the latter’s position on the league table, the dominant manner with which the Blues won the game is a testament to their Quality this season.

Without further ado here are 5 reasons why Chelsea can win the Premier League this season;

Eden Hazard’s Brilliance

In the past few years, Eden Hazard hasn’t had the best of luck regarding Chelsea’s managerial choices. From Jose Mourinho to Antonio Conte – two managers with defensive tactical advocacies back-to-back have prevented the Belgium international from showing the Premier League and and world what he’s truly capable of.

Whilst he’s always been Chelsea’s key man, the defensive responsibilities placed on him along with the lack of fluidity on the pitch continuously prevented him from playing to the best of his ability – not anymore, though, as he now plays in a system that let’s him focus on attacking thanks to the presence of Maurizio Sarri at the helm of Chelsea’s tactical affairs.

Hazard has scored five goals and registered two assists in 5 Premier League games, two of which saw him come in off the bench. His goal and assist contributions, though, don’t tell the full story of his brilliance for Chelsea this season considering how well he’s been bringing other players into play and drawing opposition defenders out of position to create space for his opponents. Hazard is currently playing at a level rivaled only by the likes of Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo – With Hazard in this kind of form, Chelsea are unstoppable going forward.

Strength in Depth

Since the start of the campaign Willian and Pedro, both of whom were rumoured to be on their way out of Stamford Bridge have been used interchangeably by Sarri to great effect with Pedro being Sarri’s preferred option at the start of games. The Italian tactician’s use of both players has kept Chelsea unpredictable going forward and also prevented either of them from tiring out ahead of upcoming Premier League encounters.

Sarri is also able to utilise either Olivier Giroud or Alvaro Morata up front, and whilst they’re not really as prolific as they should be, they’re capable of scoring goals.

In midfield Sarri is able to call upon Real Madrid loanee Mateo Kovavic, Ross Barkley, Jorginho, Kante and Danny Drinkwater, all of whom are capable of putting in great performances should they be deployed in any area of the midfield.

Even in defence, Chelsea’s strength in depth is telling, hence when the Europa League begins the Blues will be able to participate without neglecting their Premier League ambitions and vice versa.

Jorginho’s Midfield Masterclass

Italy international Jorginho has settled into Chelsea’s midfield quite nicely having contributed a great deal to the team’s increased fluidity, attacking prowess, and, of course, success.

Despite being yet to register an assist this season, due in large part to his deep-lying playmaker role, Jorginho has effectively dictated Chelsea’s play for five games in a row, often allowing his teammates to constantly move into different areas of the attacking third knowing fully well that the ball will be distributed to them at the right time, with the right pace and the right weight.

Jorginho appears to be one of Chelsea’s most influential players as he’s very integral to the success of Sarriball, especially against high pressing teams.

His presence in the side could see Chelsea go all the way and win the Premier League title come the end of the season.

Chelsea’s Support

Chelsea’s support has been tremendous since the start of the season. The club’s fans are ecstatic thanks to the team’s attacking mentality, and their success whilst utilising a more attacking system than the fans have been used to seeing over the past few years.

The club’s support have received Maurizio Sarri’s system with open arms and the joyous mood of the fans has helped to motivate Chelsea’s players to perform to the best of their abilities and grab maximum points each time they step onto the pitch.

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Jorginho’s growing influence at Chelsea

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Jorginho_Napoli For all the talent within Manchester City’s ranks Pep Guardiola felt the need to acquire new players during the recently concluded transfer window, one of whom was Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez who’s displays for Leicester City over the past few years warranted a move to a club of City’s calibre.

Another one of Guardiola’s prime targets was Napoli midfield maestro Jorginho, who’s sublime displays in Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli made him one of the most highly-rated midfielders on the European football scene and the subject of multiple bids from City.

“He always plays through the middle, with one-metre passes. It’s difficult to keep him back and intercept his play. He tires you out because he distributes the ball very quickly yet remains practically stationary. You must have a lot of energy to keep him behind the ball and defuse his intentions. He can be difficult to face” said Radja Naingollan, one of Europe’s best midfield enforcers, after naming Jorginho as his most difficult opponent on the pitch.

Luckily for Chelsea fans, Jorginho opted for a move to Stamford Bridge despite Guardiola’s keenness on making him part of his silky-smooth Manchester City side.

Maurizzio Sarri’s move to the London outfit certainly played a role in the Italy international’s decision to ignore Manchester City’s attempts to sign him considering the fact that Chelsea are absent from this season’s Champions League competition, and participation in Europe’s elite cup competition is usually a big factor for top players looking to switch clubs.

Since joining Chelsea, Jorginho has effectively performed the role he was acquired for as evidenced by his side’s points tally. He’s deployed as a deep-lying playmaker but evidently has a license to move further up the pitch should certain plays demand it. He starts attacks off from deep, often searching for the right option in midfield in a bid for Chelsea to find a good route into their opponent’s half of the pitch.

Jorginho also looks to pick out players further up the pitch when such an opportunity presents itself, making the ball segue with relative ease. He has been instrumental in Chelsea’s perfect start to the 2017/18 season, making key passes, intercepting the ball and dictating the tempo of games.

He managed to bag a goal on his Premier League debut against Huddersfield, albeit from the penalty spot – but the confidence and fearlessness to strike the ball so cleanly is testament of the composure and calmness he brings to Chelsea’s midfield.

Such is his equanimity that he doesn’t dive into tackles often, he much rather prefers to asses the situation and set himself up for an interception He is yet to register an assist for the Blue, due in large part to his role on the pitch – he often finds himself at the start of attacking moves, hence; someone else is almost always going to be the one to play the final pass which ultimately counts as the assist.

Four games into the season and Jorginho already tops the individual chart for the most successful passes in the Premier League with a tally of 417 successful passes in a list dominated by defenders who are often able to pass the ball sideways to an open player deep within their own half without having to deal with constant pressure all the time. He currently averages 104.25 passes per game with a 92.1% pass success rate.

His presence in the middle of the park allows Chelsea to execute Maurizio Sarri’s tactical advocacy excellently, with the ball being distributed from midfield non-stop with the right speed, right weight and superb accuracy making it difficult for opposing team’s to half Chelsea’s fluidity with the ball.

From his first few games of the season, Jorginho has shown the Premier League why he’s widely regarded as the heir to Andrea Pirlo’s throne. His style of play is markedly similar to the Italian football legend and his effectiveness in utilising that style in a regista role on the pitch is on par with the Juventus icon.

Jorginho has quickly established himself as an indispensable member of Chelsea’s first team set-up as a result of his exquisite performances and from the looks of it his influence is likely to grow once the Blue’s Europa League campaign fully commences. Maurizio Sarri is certainly happy he was able to bring the 26-year-old to Stamford Bridge with him after a great run in Naples – it remains to be seen, though, if Jorginho’s brilliance will be enough to keep Chelsea firing on all cylinders until the end of the season.

Do you have what it takes to challenge the best Premier League Fantasy Managers? If you’re up to challenging the best then play www.fantasy-premier.com now!

Why Aubameyang cannot thrive in Arsenal’s current system

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After last season’s woes, Arsenal were set to be reborn in Unai Emery’s image with club legend Arsene Wenger leaving the side he led for 22 years after much furor from the team’s fans amid poor performances throughout the course of the campaign.

The former PSG tactician was heralded as Arsenal’s saviour with fans and pundits alike backing him to return the Gunners to the Champions League this term either through winning the Europa League or clinching a top four spot, but at the moment things aren’t looking good for Arsenal regarding the latter as they’ve failed to truly impress three games into the 2018/19 season.

Defensively, Arsenal have been below par with their back four seemingly incapable of maintaining a solid shape whilst trying to withstand a high press, the team’s attack has also been one-dimensional with the Gunners almost always opting to attack from the flanks and throw in a cross, or a cut back.

Their dependence on flank-attacks to find the back of the net this season has, and could continue to limit Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goalscoring opportunities given he’s shown no signs of thriving under Emery’s current set-up.

Whilst it’s easy to dismiss Arsenal’s poor start as ‘unlucky’ due to the fact that they faced Manchester City and Chelsea respectively in their first two games of the season, they lacked real invention against both sides which was symptomatic of their lack of variety in their attacking patterns.

More often than not, Hector Bellerin would run down the right flank to cut the ball back or whip in a cross, on the left flank, you’d often find Nacho Monreal doing the same thing. Arsenal’s reliance on that sort of play doesn’t give Aubameyang an opportunity to utilise his speed and get in behind with the 29-year-old having to position him self for a tap-in or a lay-off like any other Arsenal player waiting in the box.

Unai Emery’s men managed to get their first three points of the season last time out against West Ham in a game where, yet again, Aubameyang failed to get his name on the scoresheet due in large part to the teams modus oprandi going forward.

Back when he played for Dortmund, Aubameyang was the joyful recipient of a variety of through balls through the middle which enabled him to utilise his blistering pace – a range of crosses; both early and late, which allowed him to make tremendous use of his height – he was also able receive the ball with his back to goal and utilise his superb dribbling skills to turn away from his markers and get a shot on goal – a stark contrast to his time at Arsenal thus far.

As things stand Aubameyang is not a great option to have as a striker in your fantasy team simply because he cannot get a decent amount of clear cut chances per game in Arsenal’s current system.

Arsenal would need to consistently play through all areas of the pitch for Aubameyang to start firing on all cylinders.

Unai Emery may make use a different approach in Arsenal’s upcoming tie against Cardiff in a bid to find their way past what is sure to be a sturdy defensive set-up. Neil Warnock’s men are likely to sit deep and hit Arsenal on the counter should they get an opportunity to do so, hence, a victory against them will require Arsenal to be creative in the final third.

There’s a lot of pressure on Arsenal to get their second win of the season due to the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City already widening the gap between them and the rest of the league, but should Aubameyang start bagging goals on a consistent basis, the Gunners will be able to climb up the table.

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Lucas Moura can be key for Tottenham Amid Son’s Absence

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Lucas Moura

What was largely expected to be a routine victory for Tottenham on a fine Saturday afternoon at Wembley turned out to be a real battle for Mauricio Pochettino’s men against a newly-promoted Fulham side that had put up a relatively poor showing against Crystal Palace in their opening fixture of the Premier League season.

It was a hard-fought win for Spurs but a win nonetheless. The game could’ve had an entirely different outcome, though, if former PSG winger, Lucas Moura hadn’t come up with something special for Tottenham right before half-time to take some pressure off his side going into the half time-break.

Ever since Spurs signed Moura back in January, he’s become somewhat of a forgotten figure. Once heralded as Brazil’s next big star but pushed out of PSG to accommodate Brazil’s current ace, Neymar, the 26-year-old’s acquisition was viewed as a great one, but mostly for the increased depth he offers Pochettino’s side than anything else.

With Heung-Ming Son away on international duty for South Korea at the Asian games, Moura is effectively doing what he was signed for – providing depth and filling in for an unavailable starter whilst undoubtedly looking to usurp Son’s position in the first-team, or at least give Pochettino something to think about before the South-Korean international’s return.

As we all know, as long as a player gets a good run of games, and puts up stellar performances in those games, he can go from the fringes of a team, to being an important first team player pretty quickly and that’s what Moura looks poised to achieve in Son’s absence; to reignite his career and introduce a new dynamic to Spurs’ attack as a ‘new signing’ considering he is, after all, somewhat new to the team and hasn’t really been given opportunities to show the Premier League what he’s capable of.

Moura possesses blistering pace and superb dribbling skills which allows him to pose a massive threat when he steps on the pitch. His creativity and penchant for spectacular tricks and goals serves to make him unpredictable as evidenced by his sublime curler against Fulham which seemingly came out of no where.

Before moving to Spurs for $25million back in January, Lucas Moura had started exactly zero games in the Ligue 1.

His playing time didn’t improve immediately upon his arrival at Spurs having made just 6 league appearances, four of which saw him come off the bench. Moura, though, surely wouldn’t have been expecting to be a first-team player right off the bat considering the quality Pochettino’s attacking options which inadvertently ensured the Brazilian winger remained a fresh face to Premier League sides.

Given he’s got a massive chance to start games now, Moura will definitely be looking to replicate his performance against Fulham in Spurs’ subsequent games due to having an opportunity to make strides towards becoming a regular first team player as well as to gain popularity amongst the club’s fans.

Tottenham’s forays into the transfer market were nonexistent, something they may very well come to rue at some point this season despite Moura’s presence within the squad. Although, having been able to retain the services of the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Cristian Eriksen thus far means Spurs still boast of a strong squad that is capable of challenging for a top four spot and getting to the latter stages of the FA Cup and maybe even the Champions League.

But despite holding on to their best players, Spurs’ season looks likely to be one of ‘almosts’ as has been the case with their recent campaigns due to the lack of the overwhelming quality required to go all the way and win a piece of silverware.

Lucas Moura, to a large extent appears to be capable of supplementing Tottenham’s lack of signings up front, but he still faces competition for a starting berth from Erik Lamela who has been in the shadows of Spurs’ perpetual progression over the past few seasons due to injuries but looks keen on becoming a key player once again.

Lamela made a case for himself after coming off the bench to produce a great assist for Harry Kane which helped the England international to dismiss talk of an August goalscoring Hoodoo.

At the moment, Moura’s only competition for a starting spot is Lamela, but should he manage to build on his latest performance he will be able to cement his place in Tottenham’s starting XI, at least until Son returns from international duty.

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