FOOTBALL UPDATE

Chelsea want to sign Edin Dzeko and are willing to spend £44million to land the former Manchester City man and his Roma teammate Emerson Palmieri. That is according to Calciomercato,who say Antonio Conte is mulling over a sensational double swoop for the pair. Dzeko spent four and a half years at the Etihad winning two Premier League titles and scoring 72 goals in 189 appearances for the club. He has since netted 61 times in 116 games for Roma including 39 goals during the 2016-17 campaign.

PSG   latest projects is to 'Frenchify' its staff and squad as much as possible. Along with signing world-class players, such as Neymar, there must be a quota of French footballers, the best of the best, like Kylian Mbappe. In other words, Unai Emery's side want to be the backbone of 'Les Bleus' and to achieve this, they must sign the best.  There is no midfielder better than Chelsea's N'Golo Kante. According to reports in 'L'Equipe', the French leaders will go with all their firepower to secure his signature next summer. An ambitious plan, but nothing new, with PSG having been linked with a move for the diminutive midfielder in the past. Kante emerged as one of the best midfielders in English football after winning a shock Premier League crown with Leceister City in 2016, before firmly cementing his place among the best by securing a second winner's medal, this time with his current employers, last year.  The French player h...

Today Chelsea Football Club announces the appointment of Guy Laurence as our new Chief Executive. Guy will start his position with the reigning Premier League .  He will report directly to the club’s Board of Directors and take overall responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the club, including the continuing development of our commercial activities in the UK and around the world, focusing on increasing club revenues. Chairman Bruce Buck said: ‘ We look forward to Guy joining the club during an exciting period for Chelsea on and off the field. He will be working with the owner and the Board to increase our commercial revenues and maximise digital opportunities, identifying new ways to best serve our supporters here in the UK and further grow our international fan base.’ Guy has excellent pedigree in senior roles, most recently as President and CEO of Rogers Communications, one of Canada’s largest communications and media businesses. He has also previously ...

We take a look ahead today Carabao Cup semi-final first leg match between Chelsea and Arsenal from Stamford Bridge. Chelsea: Eden Hazard should be fit for the game after overcoming a calf injury, but new signing Ross Barkley will miss out as he continues his comeback from hamstring surgery. David Luis is avail once again after making his comeback in the FA Cup draw with Norwich at the weekend. Arsenal:  Arsene Wenger will once again watch from the stands as his touchline ban continues and the Frenchman will be without Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, Sead Kolasinac, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud, who are all sidelined through injury. Ozil's absence means that Alexis Sanchez is expected to start, despite Manchester City having tabled a fresh bid for the Chilean. New signing Konstantinos Mavropanos could feature on the bench due to Arsenal's minor injury crisis at the back. Cup goalkeeper David Ospina will start ahead of Petr Cech, but other than t...

Real Madrid is one that goes back to the time the Belgian joined Chelsea. He has been repeatedly linked with a move to the Bernabeu and neither the player nor Zidane have done much to extinguish said rumours.  Madrid are undergoing their own crisis midway through the season and arguably their top target for the transfer window has turned down two new deals at Stamford Bridge. As revealed by 'Radio Montecarlo', in this critical situation the team is currently in, Real have turned to Hazard and have already begun negotiations with those that surround the 27-year-old. The French outlet also claimed that Chelsea have offered Hazard an extension to his current contract, which ends in 2020, and twice the Belgian has refused to sign. Not even a hike in his current wages to make him the highest earner in the Premier League could convince Hazard, who would earn €17.6 million euros to surpass the salary of Paul Pogba (€17 million). Chelsea had hoped to ...

Borussia Dortmund have agreed a £63.5m deal to sell Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande.  The Dortmund forward has been long linked with a move to the Premier League with the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United all showing reported interest in the player. The Chinese club have now entered advanced negotiations with the 28-year-old. China’s next big name Should Aubameyang make the switch, he would be following in the footsteps of the likes of Carlos Tevez, Hulk and Oscar in moving to the Chinese Super League. Evergrande won the Chinese league title in 2017 and are now looking to assert their dominance by moving for the Dortmund player. They are currently managed by World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro, who took over from former Brazil boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, returning for a second spell in charge. Chinese clubs are limited to four foreign players, at this moment in time, Evergrande have just...

Ross Barkley completed his first training session as a Chelsea player on Saturday. Barkley finalised his transfer from Everton on Friday afternoon, and with Antonio Conteand much of the squad in Norwich for our FA Cup fixture, it was a solo session for the midfielder on Saturday morning. A hamstring injury has so far prevented the 24-year-old from playing this season, but as he said in his interview with the official Chelsea website yesterday, he is now working hard to regain match fitness. Also at Cobham were those senior players who did not travel to Norwich – Thibaut Courtois, Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, N’Golo Kante, Cesc Fabregas, Victor Moses, Marcos Alonso and Eden Hazard. They were put through their paces with a series of speed tests and reaction challenges, and as you can see, there was plenty of fun, and competition, to be had. Andreas Christensen in particular was desperate to beat the clock in his time trial! Next up for the Blues is t...

Chelsea come from behind and yet fail to at Arsenal thanks to a late Hector Bellerin goal. A first-half of many chances saw Alvaro Morata and Alexis Sanchez denied by the respective goalkeepers, Thibaut Courtois magnificently tipping an effort from the Chilean onto the post before it ran along the line and tickled the opposite stick.And after Alexandre Lacazette was unable to finish one big chance aided by a kind deflection early in the second period, Jack Wilshere burst through to slam home on 63 minutes.Chelsea were level in double quick time, however, as Eden Hazard caused problems enough for Bellerin to kick out at a bouncing ball, connecting with the Belgian enough for another somewhat soft penalty to be awarded by the referee, this time Anthony Taylor earning the Gunners' retribution.  Despite being a flowing attacking game, it had begun to look as though the two goalkeepers would end it as the stars, both Thibaut Courtois and Petr Cech having made fine saves. Arsen...

Chelsea demonstrated the yawning chasm in squad depth that exists in the Premier League with a 5-0 canter past Stoke City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. While both sides rotated their squads after a hectic series of fixtures, Chelsea maintained their quality on the pitch in a scintillating opening half-hour, racing into a 3-0 lead and effectively winning the match through goals from Antonio Rudiger, Danny Drinkwater and Pedro. A late Willian penalty and a fine individual effort from Davide Zappacosta completed the scoring in a game that had long since ceased to be a contest. By contrast, Stoke's team selection suggested manager Mark Hughes was prioritising Monday's New Year's Day game at home to fellow strugglers Newcastle United. Teenage full-backs Tom Edwards and Josh Tymon both started while influential midfielders Joe Allen and Xherdan Shaqiri were named as substitutes. It took just two minutes and 35 seconds for Stoke's makeshift side to be exposed. Will...

We take a look ahead to today Premier League game between Chelsea and Stoke at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea:  'Blues' boss Antonio Conte has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the game, but may make changes to freshen up his squad ahead of the trip to Arsenal on Wednesday. Defender Andreas Christen could return to the starting lineup after missing the win over Brighton on Boxing Day due to illness. David Luiz and Charly Musona both remain unavailable with knee and gorin injuries respectively, but both are closing in on a return to action.   Stoke:  Mark Hughes is facing a defensive crisis ahead of the game, with Ryan Sawcross (calf), Bruno Martins Indi (groin) and Glen Johnson (knee) all injured, whilst Kurt Zouma is ineligible against his parent club. They could be boosted by the return of Erik Pieters, who has missed their last two games through injury.   Possible lineups: Chelsea:  Courtois, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Cahill, Zappacosta, Bakayoko,...

Antonio Conte has urged Chelsea to take a significant step towards a top four finish in the Premier League by beating Stoke on Saturday. Conte's side know their chances of retaining the Premier League title are slim given Manchester City's record-breaking run has left Chelsea 16 points adrift of the leaders. But they have won their last six Premier League matches at Stamford Bridge and are currently just a single point behind Manchester United in second place. Chelsea also boast a four-point advantage over Liverpool, the club directly below them, and Blues boss Conte is looking to maintain that advantage heading into 2018. "In this league there is great motivation for all to try to stay there and fight until the end," Conte said. "I don't know if we can do this for the title because it depends on Manchester City, who are doing something extraordinary. "To win every game and draw one means you are having a fantastic run. "But there is g...

Chelse will look forward to grabbing a big win against struggling Brighton. Will Brighton manage to gain back their form or their bad phase continues?   Recent Performance:  Chelsea vs Brighton Preview, Predictions: Following is a quick look at how these teams have performed in their recent encounters in the premier league and the EFL cup. Have a look:   Chelsea: In their last five games, Chelsea has won three games, lost one and rest one was a draw. Their last away-game with Everton was a 0-0 draw. Their home encounter against Bournemouth was a 2-1 win for Chelsea. Chelsea also defeated Southampton with 1-0 score at home. Their away clash against Huddersfield Town was a 1-3 victory for Chelsea. Chelsea’s away game against West Ham turned out as 1-0 defeat for the blues.  Brighton: Their recent run is pretty poor. In their last five games in the premier league, Brighton won only one game, lost three and rest one was a draw. They faced a trashing 1-5 ho...