EPL

Omari Hutchinson takes opportunity to earn Graham Potter’s trust

Published

4 months ago

December 12, 2022

Tom Gott

For Chelsea fans, the World Cup has been a tough watch.

Christian Pulisic was sensational for the United States on their push to the round of 16, contributing to three goals across four games – the same return he managed in 18 club appearances before the World Cup.

Kai Havertz scored twice in three games and has four in seven for his country this year, having also bagged just four goals in his 20 outings for Chelsea.

As for Hakim Ziyech, who has been a core part of Morocco’s miraculous run to the semi-final, he’s been flashing the sort of form that convinced Chelsea to sign him in the first place, and the sort of form that the Blues haven’t seen since.

You’d think the future is bright for Chelsea’s forward line, but in reality, it isn’t.

Pulisic and Ziyech are on the fringes of Graham Potter’s squad having failed to show any real quality over an extended period of time for months and months now, while persisting with Havertz earned Potter some criticism before the World Cup break began.

Fixing Chelsea’s forward line is one of Potter’s primary challenges heading into the return of club football, and with most of his senior players otherwise occupied, he may have found an answer among the crop of youngsters who made up the numbers during the team’s warm weather camp in Abu Dhabi.

Enter Omari Hutchinson.

The 19-year-old has been among England’s most intriguing talents for a good few years now and took the bold move of swapping Arsenal for Chelsea during the summer, with the Blues vowing to turn him into a star.

After a series of dazzling performances for the Under-21s, Hutchinson has featured on the bench for Potter’s side but fell victim to his age and the lack of faith instilled in youngsters when their senior teammates are failing to get the job done, and so didn’t make it off the bench.

Opportunity finally came knocking in Sunday’s friendly against Aston Villa, in which Hutchinson was undoubtedly the star of the show for a very young Chelsea side.

Now, while we mustn’t overreact to one performance in one friendly, we’re absolutely going to overreact to one performance in one friendly.

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What Hutchinson showed during his time on the pitch against Villa, whose squad included a number of Premier League players, was the sort of attacking flair that Blues fans haven’t seen since Eden Hazard’s time at the club.

The 19-year-old would receive the ball on the turn and start driving at defenders without hesitating, clearly relishing the challenge of skipping past as many opponents as possible and making something happen, rather than threatening to do so before turning and passing backwards.

Hutchinson didn’t score, but he did come as close as anyone in Chelsea blue, dancing past two defenders before firing a bending strike which crashed away off the post.

Potter was aware of Hutchinson’s talent before this friendly and will undoubtedly have been left impressed by what he saw against Villa, with the teenager clearly making the most of his rare opportunity to command the spotlight.

‘”He was really good, dangerous and asked a question all the time,” the boss said after the game. “Throughout the game he showed his quality but he wasn’t the only one. It was a spirited performance with a lot of young players so it was good.”

With Chelsea’s attack lacking any sort of spark heading into the break – they failed to score in their last two games and have netted just twice in their last five – players like Hutchinson are exactly what the Blues are crying out for.

With Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest on the cards before a tough test against Manchester City, Potter will never have a better chance to give Hutchinson a taste of senior football. The 19-year-old deserves it and, based on an ever-growing sample size, looks ready to try himself at the highest level.

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EPL

Europa League final 2023 tickets: Prices for Budapest decider & where to buy

Published

5 hours ago

March 29, 2023

James Cormack

The Europa League final may not be a bucket list event that, say, the Champions League or World Cup finals are, but UEFA’s secondary club competition will mean a whole lot to those supporters whose sides progress into the showpiece event.

Just eight teams remain in this season’s iteration of the competition with several European behemoths of yesteryear still going strong. Manchester United, Juventus, and AS Roma sit among the favourites to at least reach the final in Budapest.

While the final at the Puskas Arena is still some time away yet, tickets for the event are set to go on sale soon.

Here’s everything you need to know about purchasing tickets for the 2023 Europa League final

There’s little information to access regarding 2023 Europa League final tickets right now, with more details expected to be released later this month.

Thus, exact ticket prices for the final in Budapest are not yet known. These were the prices for last season’s final between Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville:

A release date has not yet been revealed for 2023 Europa League final tickets. In 2022, tickets went on general sale on 20 April.

Supporters will be able to purchase 2023 Europa League final tickets via UEFA’s ticket portal once they go on general sale.

There are three different hospitality packages for the 2023 Europa League final, but all are sold out on UEFA’s website.

The most expensive of these packages – Private Suite Gold – costs €890 per person. UEFA’s Private Suite Silver package is €200 cheaper at €690, with the main difference between these two options being where the suites are located. Silver suites are behind the goal, while gold suites are in the main or opposite stand.

Customers in both suites will also receive a match ball.

The Club package also costs €690 per person which grants access to UEFA’s Sky Club lounge.

All packages include prolonged hospitality service before and after the match, world-class catering, a live TV feed, a parking pass, and, most importantly, a match programme.

The 2022/23 Europa League final is scheduled for 31 May and will be held at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary.

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EPL

Tottenham director Fabio Paratici banned from football worldwide by FIFA

Published

5 hours ago

March 29, 2023

Grey Whitebloom

Tottenham managing director of football Fabio Paratici has been banned from football worldwide after FIFA extended the punishment imposed in Italy following his involvement in Juventus’ penalised accounting practices.

In January, the Italian giants suffered a shock 15-point deduction after the club was deemed to have inflated player transfer values in swap deals among other financial offences.

Paratici joined the Juventus hierarchy in 2010 and was the club’s sporting director between November 2018 and the summer of 2021, before he took up a similar role at Tottenham. The investigation into Juve’s accounts scrutinised transactions between 2019 and 2021 – when Paratici was at the heart of the club’s dealings.

At the start of the year, Paratici was one of several former Juventus board members that were banned from football following the conclusion of the investigation by the Italian Football Federation. Initially, Paratici was handed a 30-month ban from just Italian football, although the threat of extending the scope of that punishment internationally always loomed.

On Wednesday, FIFA released a statement confirming that they had indeed taken up that option, extending the ban handed out to Paratici and the other Juventus board members – including former owner Andrea Agnelli – worldwide.

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EPL

Sir Alex Ferguson & Arsene Wenger inducted into Premier League Hall of Fame

Published

7 hours ago

March 29, 2023

Sean Walsh

Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have become the first managers to be inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame.

The duo won 16 Premier League titles between them across respective long-term spells with Manchester United and Arsenal.

With 13 of those championships, Ferguson is the most decorated manager in the history of the competition. He is the only coach to have won the Premier League three times in a row, doing so on two different occasions.

Ferguson said: “I’m truly delighted to be inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame. It’s an honour when you receive recognition like this. However, it’s not just about me as a person. It’s about the job at Manchester United and the bond we had over many years, so I’m also proud for the club, the staff and my players.

“My job was to send the fans home happy. United’s history and my own expectations were the things that drove me, and I then had to try and develop all my players with the same expectations and make sure we could go out and achieve them.

“I feel Arsene is a very worthy inductee as he transformed Arsenal Football Club fantastically. They became a tough team to compete with and we both wanted to win, which motivated us further. Through the years since retirement, we’d go for dinner together in a little restaurant he knows well in Switzerland. He is a really interesting man and I enjoy his company, but it is still my job to pick the wine!”

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Wenger arrived in England in 1996 as one of the Premier League’s first foreign coaches, and quickly proved sceptics wrong, transforming Arsenal into title winners and changing English football’s culture with his scouting and dietary expertise.

The Frenchman won three Premier League titles with Arsenal, including an unbeaten ‘Invincibles’ season in 2003/04.

Wenger said: “I am very grateful to have been selected for the Premier League Hall of Fame. We always wanted to give something special to the fans and when you have players capable of remarkable things, the most important thing for me is the obligation of perfection.

“I’d like to be known as someone who loved Arsenal, who respected the values of the club and left it in a position where it can grow and become even bigger.

“To share this with Sir Alex is a great honour for me. It’s like two boxers, you fight like mad and go the distance together. At the end of the day, you have respect and it will be a great opportunity to meet with him, share a good bottle of wine and memories of our old battles.”

In addition to Ferguson and Wenger, there are 16 other inductees in the Premier League Hall of Fame.

Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry were the first two people inducted when the Hall of Fame was created in 2021. They were followed later that year by Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Dennis Bergkamp, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham.

In 2022, Wayne Rooney, Patrick Vieira, Sergio Aguero, Didier Drogba, Vincent Kompany, Peter Schmeichel, Paul Scholes and Ian Wright were inducted.

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