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Southampton defender Maya Yoshida urges team-mates to stay positive
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Southampton players must stay positive and help each other to improve after a difficult spell in the Premier League, according to defender Maya Yoshida.
Southampton have collected 18 points from as many league games having won only one of their last nine matches to sit 12th in the table, but Yoshida believes unity rather than criticism will revive their campaign.
‘Don’t bring any negativity, stay positive and help each other before we start pointing at each other - that’s the way,’ the Japan international told The Daily Echo.
'It’s a difficult situation which we haven’t had in the last couple of years. It’s like life, life isn’t always a good time.
‘At this time we need to show our character and we have to stand up.’
Southampton have recorded two draws and as many narrow defeats in four of their last five league games and the 29-year-old said a little extra effort from each player could help the team to end their dismal run.
‘It’s all the small details but it costs a lot,’ Yoshida added. ‘If we put an extra 10 per cent on each other then I think we will get good results - that I believe.’
The Saints were thumped 4-1 by Leicester followed by a 1-0 loss at Chelsea last week and Yoshida has backed his team-mates to get a morale-boosting win in Saturday’s game against Huddersfield.
‘I think in this situation for us every single game is important and massive,’ Yoshida said.
'We have to get back on track as soon as possible and that means we have to get three points.
‘Especially, still, there’s huge disappointment after Leicester and we come back to home and we need to show a good spirit, as we did at Stamford Bridge.’
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Paul Merson’s predictions in 2017: Looking back at the good… and the bad
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Paul Merson’s predictions in 2017: Looking back at the good… and the bad
Another year of Paul Merson’s predictions has nearly come and gone, but how has he fared?
Each week, the Sky Sports pundit stirs up plenty of discussion with his tips, whether he’s predicting another Stoke home win, comparing a team to a bag of Revels or analysing a foreign import that has “settled quicker than snow”.
Let’s re-live some of his best and worst shouts of 2017…
MERSE SAID: “There will be goals as both teams are excellent going forward and the defences will not be able to live with the attacking quality both sides have. And I think Spurs, who are unbeaten in 13 home games in the league, will come out on top for a ninth straight win at White Hart Lane in the Premier League. They’ll win 3-2.”
Result: Harry Kane scored twice as Tottenham beat Everton 3-2 in an entertaining Premier League encounter. The correct score was a 33/1 shot.
MERSE SAID: “I just can’t make a case for Arsenal here. Chelsea are running away with the league and I think they’ll claim a comprehensive victory. I think 3-1. My key man? I’ll go Eden Hazard. He’s the one I think will make the difference because Arsenal won’t deal with him like they should, with lots of bodies around him.”
Result: Chelsea won 3-1, with Hazard scoring one of the goals of the season.
MERSE SAID: “I’m going to go for Palace in this one. They’re dangerous at set plays and will win 2-1.”
Result: Centre-back Mamadou Sakho was quickest to react in injury-time to give Crystal Palace a 2-1 win.
MERSE SAID: “I think there will be just one goal in this. I am going to go 1-0 Chelsea as I just think United are going to go for it and Chelsea will just make a chance or two before the end of the game.”
MERSE SAID: “With both teams needing all three points, I see this being a gung-ho encounter with plenty of goals. I’m going for 3-3.”
Result: The game offered little in terms of action and finished 0-0.
MERSE SAID: “If Arsene Wenger’s side don’t turn up, they won’t grind out a 1-0 win.”
Result: Arsenal struggled to create many chances but ground out a 1-0 win.
MERSE SAID: “Swansea are not going to stay up. Paul Clement is a good man and a good coach, but that appointment suggests to me that they are looking at the bigger picture. If they wanted to spend six months fighting to stay up, then go and get Harry Redknapp. I think Palace are a certainty.”
Result: Substitute Angel Rangel struck a late winner for Swansea as they won 2-1 at their relegation rivals. They also stayed up.
January 6: Who will win the Premier League?
MERSE SAID: “I still think Chelsea will win the league. I went for them at the start of the season and they’ve got the massive advantage of only playing once a week.”
Result: Chelsea clinched the Premier League title with two games to spare.
July 25: Who will win the Premier League?
MERSE SAID: “Man City will win the Premier League. Going forward they are very strong, and they have bought players at the back. Pep Guardiola has bought well, bought a lot of pace in the team at the back, including Kyle Walker.”
Result: At the time of writing, Manchester City are now 1/33 for the title after the best ever start to a Premier League season.
February 12: Who is going down?
MERSE SAID: “I said it a few weeks ago and I’ll say it again, Leicester are going to get relegated. The biggest story in football history is going to turn into the biggest embarrassment in football history.”
Result: Leicester survived with plenty to spare, finishing 10 points clear of relegation.
May 21: How will Burnley get on next season?
MERSE SAID: “Burnley have got to be careful next year. If they don’t have as good of a home record as they have done next season and they don’t sort out their away form, I think they could struggle.”
Result: At the time of writing, Burnley are challenging for the Champions League places, and are 500/1 to go down.
Watch Paul Merson and Max Rushden on the PL Predictions show every Friday and follow Merse’s week-by-week tips on skysports.com and the Sky Sports apps.
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What was your Premier League team’s worst day of 2017?
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What was your Premier League team’s worst day of 2017?
From cup embarrassments to shock departures, we look at your club’s worst day of 2017.
Chelsea claimed the title, Man City broke winning records, Claudio Ranieri was sacked just nine months after winning the title and the FA Cup provided several infamous shocks - 2017 has seen football fans treated to plenty of ups and downs.
Here, Gerard Brand, Ben Reynolds and Josue Ngandu take a look at each Premier League club’s worst football-related days of the year…
A topsy-turvy summer culminated in a turbulent week for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal as the futures of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez momentarily took a back seat at Anfield.
Liverpool ran riot over a poor Arsenal side, who were humiliated and picked apart by wave after wave of attack.
The post-mortem lasted a few days, before a dramatic Deadline Day saw Sanchez stay, but targets Thomas Lemar and Raheem Sterling stay put too. A week to forget for the club.
Bournemouth were slipping fast in late February, when West Brom came from behind to win 2-1 and inflict a fourth straight defeat on Eddie Howe’s men, leaving them with just 12 games to earn 14 points and reach that all-important 40-point mark.
Artur Boruc’s poor mistake allowed Gareth McAuley to score the winner, and Howe was in a defiant mood after the game: “Destiny is in our own hands and we’ve got to force it our way.”
Then came an action-packed draw at Old Trafford, before the dramatic 3-2 win over West Ham.
It seems strange to mark the final day of Brighton’s best season in recent memory as one of their worst, but that says more about the Seagulls’ progress in 2017.
Leading 1-0 at Aston Villa going into the final moments, Jack Grealish’s messy equaliser handed Newcastle the Championship title by a single point.
“Today is a negative day, it’s difficult, but there are far more pluses,” Chris Hughton reflected.
Not many spared Burnley a thought after non-league Lincoln earned one of the most famous FA Cup results in history thanks to Sean Raggett’s late winner at Turf Moor in the fifth round.
Lincoln became the first non-league side to reach the last eight in 103 years, while Burnley again failed to make the quarter-final for a 14th straight season.
Joey Barton’s on-field antics with Matt Rhead did nothing to reduce the embarrassment.
It has stumped many since. Just why did Chelsea allow Nemanja Matic to leave for a Premier League title rival?
So often Jose Mourinho’s star man at Chelsea during his second stint, the 29-year-old Serb was sold to United, prompting many to question Conte’s transfer policy.
It even shocked Mourinho himself: “I was surprised when his agent called me to say ‘do you want him?’ When he told me ‘you can have him if you want’, of course I want.”
The Blues signed Tiemoue Bakayoko from Monaco in his position to compete with N’Golo Kante, and though time will tell whether he succeeds, just a handful of performances in a United shirt by Matic proved that Chelsea had strengthened a rival.
Following a jump up the table, winning 24 points from 17 games in 2016/17, Crystal Palace were desperate to keep Sam Allardyce for the next campaign.
Palace fans started believing they could push on and finish in the top half of the Premier League for the first time, but Allardyce announced a shock departure from the club only five months into his two-and-a-half-year contract.
Allardyce said he would be open to an international manager position, but not another club job, which would leave a bitter taste in Palace fans’ mouths after he signed an 18-month contract for Everton in late November.
Managerless Everton conceded four or more for the third time this season and nine goals in four days as Southampton capitalised on a side severely lacking in belief.
Southampton hadn’t scored four or more goals in a Premier League game since May 2016, but Everton’s shambolic defending allowed the hosts, not beaming with confidence themselves, to run riot.
Caretaker manager David Unsworth said after the game: ‘‘I can’t stand here and defend the players today. It was a totally unacceptable performance, especially in the second half, and the Everton fans are quite rightly going to be furious with that but so am I. It’s not good enough or our football club.’’
Two months before promotion, Huddersfield still had dreams of reaching the automatic spots, sitting six points behind second-place Brighton with a game in hand.
But they ended the evening nine behind as Burton stole a last-minute 1-0 victory at the John Smith’s Stadium, their fourth defeat in six games.
In a year full of highs, this was most certainly a low. They continued their indifferent form for the next six weeks, but made the play-offs, and the rest was history…
The harshest sacking in Premier League history? Claudio Ranieri was dismissed as Leicester City just nine months after winning the Premier League title.
Despite their poor league form, some Leicester fans were outraged, as were the neutrals. Niall Quinn said ‘‘Leicester lost their soul’’, while Alan Smith labelled it ''the worst football decision in 10 years".
Jamie Redknapp slammed Leicester players, specifically singling out Riyad Mahrez, PFA player of the year in 2016, calling him ‘‘gutless’’.
Ranieri defended his players after his dismissal saying ''I refused to believe my players killed me, no, no, no," but Leicester were suddenly the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons.
January 28 - Out of the Cup
Liverpool were knocked out of their second cup competition in four days, beaten 2-1 by Championship side Wolves at Anfield.
Having just been beaten by Southampton in the EFL Cup semi-finals, Liverpool suffered a third consecutive home loss in all competitions for the first time since October 2012.
The result confirmed Liverpool would not go on to win any silverware in Jurgen Klopp’s second season in charge, having lost in two cup finals in the 2015/16 campaign.
Klopp went on to say: ‘‘I could look for excuses but I don’t want to, maybe we should use this time to be disappointed, to be frustrated, to be angry at ourselves. All I can say is sorry.’’
For City, 2017 will end far brighter than it started.
Everton produced a brilliant performance to stun City, whose Premier League title hopes were at that point over, according to manager Pep Guardiola.
Goals from Romelu Lukaku, Kevin Mirallas, Tom Davies and Ademola Lookman gave Everton a 4-0 victory, having happily soaked up 71 per cent of City’s possession.
It left City 10 points off leaders Chelsea, and asked after the game if the gap was too great, Guardiola replied: “Yes. Ten is a lot of points.”
United haven’t endured too many nightmare days in 2017, having won two cup competitions, but December 10 marked a chance to reduce Man City’s lead at the top of the Premier League to five points.
In a title-chase six-pointer, United posted a 35 per cent possession figure, their lowest at Old Trafford in the Premier League since 2003/04 (when Opta started collecting this data), losing 2-1 to their bitter rivals.
It ended with drama off the pitch, but on it, United simply failed to stop the City juggernaut and fell 11 points behind.
Before we had even reached September, there were major signs of discontent at Newcastle.
Rafa Benitez had spoken several times in the media about a lack of funding in the summer, with his desire to push Newcastle into a top-half side after bouncing straight back to the Premier League.
Deadline Day saw Newcastle linked with Matt Targett, Lucas Perez and Kenedy, but they ended up with nothing.
Benitez had given an exclusive interview to Sky Sports’ Patrick Davison just weeks before, not hiding his dissatisfaction at the lack of transfer activity, and Toon fans were feeling concerned come the evening of August 31 that the Spaniard would abandon the club.
After reaching their first final in 41 years, Southampton suffered defeat in harsh fashion after a battling performance against Manchester United at Wembley.
Manolo Gabbiadini’s goal was wrongly disallowed for offside while the game was poised at 0-0, and goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jesse Lingard soon had United 2-0 up.
After miraculously forcing their way back into the game with a Gabbiadini double, Southampton’s hard work was undone by Ibrahimovic’s 87th-minute winner. A bitter pill to swallow for the Saints.
Stoke fought and fought to keep their man, rejecting two bids before a transfer request was handed in, and manager Mark Hughes admitted the situation had become “irredeemable” as Marko Arnautovic moved on to West Ham.
Despite the potential £25m transfer fee, Stoke have missed Arnautovic’s influence, and their summer transfer activity mainly centred around improving their defence.
Stoke were eyeing up Schalke’s Yevhen Konoplyanka and Salzburg’s Valon Berisha, but neither deal came off.
It didn’t exactly end amicably, either, with Arnautovic’s brother Daniel saying: “Why Marko left Stoke I won’t tell you. I can only say that Mr Coates [Peter Coates, Stoke chairman] should clean up his own garbage within the club walls before pointing finger at anyone outside of it.”
It was on the cards for a while, but Gylfi Sigurdsson’s departure from Swansea in mid-August marked the end of a superbly fruitful stint in south Wales.
His move to Everton brought a cool £45m, but Swansea will struggle to reinvest that cash to replace someone of Sigurdsson’s quality.
The Icelandic midfielder routinely saved the Swans with his goals and creativity, something so obviously lacking this season, as Paul Clement’s side look to battle against the drop.
May 5 - Title slips away again
Spurs were always outsiders to catch Chelsea, who had opened up a sizeable lead at the top of the Premier League on the back of 13 straight wins in November and December.
But Mauricio Pochettino’s team arrived at the London Stadium having themselves won nine in a row and knew that only a 10th would be enough to continue applying the pressure on Antonio Conte’s side.
But it was not to be, with Harry Kane twice denied in the first half before Manuel Lanzini lashed home from five yards out on 65 minutes to score the only goal of a frantic game in east London.
Having conceded the title to Leicester the season before at Chelsea, to do so again at another London rival was tough to take and not only did defeat end Spurs’ title hopes, the win meant West Ham were mathematically safe from relegation, giving cause for double celebration for delirious Hammers fans.
In bizarre circumstances, Walter Mazzarri was sacked by Watford before the final game of the season against Man City, but still took charge of the clash.
Mazzarri was humiliated at his ‘passing-out parade’, with Watford fans singing: “Walter Mazzarri, get out of our club,” and chairman Scott Duxbury not even acknowledging his sacking in the matchday programme.
“This club doesn’t have the same ambitions, the same mentality as the previous clubs I’ve been at.”
In hindsight, his sacking was the correct decision, but at the time, the managerial merry-go-round and less-than-amicable departure marked another chapter in Watford’s chequered recent history behind the scenes.
Having scored just nine goals in their opening 11 Premier League matches, the trip to Huddersfield threatened to be make-or-break for Tony Pulis’ West Brom.
His tactics under severe scrutiny, Pulis persevered with a 5-3-2, including three holding midfielders. A 1-0 defeat, playing over half an hour against 10 men, was the final straw for most Albion fans, who vented their anger at the Welshman throughout.
It was a dark day for West Brom, who seemed to be sleep-walking towards the relegation zone, and the owners gave Pulis just one more game before answering fans’ calls to sack him.
The thought that David Moyes’ arrival could spark a West Ham revival had all but disappeared.
After defeat at Watford and a draw at home to Leicester, the trip to Everton had the makings of an early six-pointer, and it all went wrong for Moyes at his former club Everton.
The Toffees raced into a 2-0 lead through Wayne Rooney, before Lanzini missed a chance to halve the deficit from a penalty, and Rooney went on to complete his hat-trick in a thumping 4-0 victory.
“West Ham, wow,” said Sky Sports’ Paul Merson after the game. That just about summed up the task Moyes had on his hands.
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Pundits’ team of the season so far: Manchester City players lead the way
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Pundits’ team of the season so far: Manchester City players lead the way
The Sky Sports pundits were tasked with selecting their teams of the season so far, with Manchester City providing a lot of the players.
Burnley defenders James Tarkowski and Ben Mee both get the nod from two of our pundits, a sign of the quality they have shown in helping Sean Dyche’s men enjoy an impressive start to the season.
Neither featured in your team of the season so far, as voted for by you, where the centre-backs were Nicolas Otamendi and Cesar Azpilicueta.
As in your team, David De Gea heads the list for the pundits - a different goalkeeper has been selected by Charlie Nicholas - but he is the only Manchester United player to feature.
When a team is so far ahead it is difficult to leave any of their players out but David De Gea has to be in there as the best goalkeeper in the league, although Ederson has been impressive.
I’d have Nicolas Otamendi in there because he’s chipping in with goals while being pretty good defensively, while I’d like to have Tarkowski in there as Burnley need a representative.
Kyle Walker just nudges out Antonio Valencia, who needs to stop trying to cross through people, and then picking a left-back is the toughest one. Ryan Bertrand has been decent over the last couple of weeks but started the season poorly, so I’d have to go for Marcos Alonso as he chips in with plenty of goals.
I was going for Fernandinho and De Bruyne, but that meant I can’t get David Silva in, which is ridiculous.
Leroy Sane, Mohamed Salah and Raheem Sterling are my attacking midfielders, which means there’s no room for Eden Hazard or Wilfried Zaha.
Finally, Sergio Aguero gets the nod just ahead of Harry Kane thanks to scoring 10 goals from just 12 starts.
Finding a left-back who has been really outstanding is difficult so I’ve gone with Ryan Bertrand, who is probably just ahead of Danny Rose in terms of the pecking order for England right now.
Philippe Coutinho is also in there and his form clearly hasn’t been hampered by the transfer speculation. You can’t knock his attitude and application and I don’t think he will be going anywhere this January.
Mohamed Salah has been absolutely incredible but Kevin De Bruyne has probably been the best player the Premier League so far this season.
I think De Gea has been head and shoulders above the rest in goal, while I’ve gone for Alonso, who has still been consistently good, and Walker, who has carried his price-tag, as my full-backs.
As a defensive pair I think Tarkowski and Mee have been the best centre-backs about as it is unbelievable how many clean sheets they’ve racked up. Otamendi should probably be in there but what that pair have done deserves the credit.
Fernandinho is my holding player and Man City would miss him immensely if he was out, then the rest of the midfield picks itself with De Bruyne and Silva. What can you say about those two that hasn’t been said?
My wide players are obvious choices again in Sane and Sterling. When you look at how much Sterling has improved under Guardiola it is incredible, especially when you compare to how little Theo Walcott has developed at Arsenal from a similar young talent.
My striker is Harry Kane. He’s been consistent, scores big goals in big games and, even though he barely got a kick against City, he still forced Ederson into a world-class save from 25 yards.
I’ve gone for Ederson by a whisker. De Gea is the best goalkeeper in the world and I’m happy for people to challenge me, but the reason I’m going for Ederson is because how quickly he’s adapted to the challenge. He took a slash in the face and came back no worries, his distribution is phenomenal, and what he’s added to Man City deserves recognition.
I’m finding the centre-backs incredibly difficult because there’s a lack of real quality. Alderweireld goes in there and we can see how much Spurs are missing him. Ben Mee goes next to him. Tarkowski has been unbelievable but has been a bit clumsy, whereas Mee just goes about his job with no fuss. The amount of clean sheets they are putting together is incredible.
Walker was overpriced at £50m but you look at what he contributes to Pep’s system with his power and pace. It’s tougher at left-back and I actually think Bertrand deserves to be in there because he’s Southampton’s best player when he gets the chance to get forward.
Then it gets more straight-forward. Fernandinho, who just allows the others to get on with their jobs, is behind Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva. That trident is the real heartbeat of City’s side.
Up front, Kane has just had a dip, so I’m going for an interchanging three of Sterling, Salah and Sane, who can all play anywhere and would be impossible to pick up. The two Manchester City boys have been blowing teams away with their movement and Salah is complete in his attacking play.
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Paul Merson’s predictions in 2017: Looking back at the good… and the bad
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Paul Merson’s predictions in 2017: Looking back at the good… and the bad
Another year of Paul Merson’s predictions has nearly come and gone, but how has he fared?
Each week, the Sky Sports pundit stirs up plenty of discussion with his tips, whether he’s predicting another Stoke home win, comparing a team to a bag of Revels or analysing a foreign import that has “settled quicker than snow”.
Let’s re-live some of his best and worst shouts of 2017…
MERSE SAID: “There will be goals as both teams are excellent going forward and the defences will not be able to live with the attacking quality both sides have. And I think Spurs, who are unbeaten in 13 home games in the league, will come out on top for a ninth straight win at White Hart Lane in the Premier League. They’ll win 3-2.”
Result: Harry Kane scored twice as Tottenham beat Everton 3-2 in an entertaining Premier League encounter. The correct score was a 33/1 shot.
MERSE SAID: “I just can’t make a case for Arsenal here. Chelsea are running away with the league and I think they’ll claim a comprehensive victory. I think 3-1. My key man? I’ll go Eden Hazard. He’s the one I think will make the difference because Arsenal won’t deal with him like they should, with lots of bodies around him.”
Result: Chelsea won 3-1, with Hazard scoring one of the goals of the season.
MERSE SAID: “I’m going to go for Palace in this one. They’re dangerous at set plays and will win 2-1.”
Result: Centre-back Mamadou Sakho was quickest to react in injury-time to give Crystal Palace a 2-1 win.
MERSE SAID: “I think there will be just one goal in this. I am going to go 1-0 Chelsea as I just think United are going to go for it and Chelsea will just make a chance or two before the end of the game.”
MERSE SAID: “With both teams needing all three points, I see this being a gung-ho encounter with plenty of goals. I’m going for 3-3.”
Result: The game offered little in terms of action and finished 0-0.
MERSE SAID: “If Arsene Wenger’s side don’t turn up, they won’t grind out a 1-0 win.”
Result: Arsenal struggled to create many chances but ground out a 1-0 win.
MERSE SAID: “Swansea are not going to stay up. Paul Clement is a good man and a good coach, but that appointment suggests to me that they are looking at the bigger picture. If they wanted to spend six months fighting to stay up, then go and get Harry Redknapp. I think Palace are a certainty.”
Result: Substitute Angel Rangel struck a late winner for Swansea as they won 2-1 at their relegation rivals. They also stayed up.
January 6: Who will win the Premier League?
MERSE SAID: “I still think Chelsea will win the league. I went for them at the start of the season and they’ve got the massive advantage of only playing once a week.”
Result: Chelsea clinched the Premier League title with two games to spare.
July 25: Who will win the Premier League?
MERSE SAID: “Man City will win the Premier League. Going forward they are very strong, and they have bought players at the back. Pep Guardiola has bought well, bought a lot of pace in the team at the back, including Kyle Walker.”
Result: At the time of writing, Manchester City are now 1/33 for the title after the best ever start to a Premier League season.
February 12: Who is going down?
MERSE SAID: “I said it a few weeks ago and I’ll say it again, Leicester are going to get relegated. The biggest story in football history is going to turn into the biggest embarrassment in football history.”
Result: Leicester survived with plenty to spare, finishing 10 points clear of relegation.
May 21: How will Burnley get on next season?
MERSE SAID: “Burnley have got to be careful next year. If they don’t have as good of a home record as they have done next season and they don’t sort out their away form, I think they could struggle.”
Result: At the time of writing, Burnley are challenging for the Champions League places, and are 500/1 to go down.
Watch Paul Merson and Max Rushden on the PL Predictions show every Friday and follow Merse’s week-by-week tips on skysports.com and the Sky Sports apps.
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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 20/12/2017 12:52:03
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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 20/12/2017 13:52:04
| | FANTASYLEAGUE |
| John Terry sends warning to Virgil van Dijk about Chelsea transfer: He won’t make the teamSPORTREVIEWCOM |
|| Stay positive, dont point fingers: Maya Yoshida tells Southampton team-matesINDIATODAY |
| | Carragher makes a big claim about Southampton defender van Dijk | FutnSoccerFUTNSOCCER |
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Southampton sweating over Soares, Bertrand fitness
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(Reuters) - Southampton could be handed a double injury blow ahead of a packed festive schedule as full backs Cedric Soares and Ryan Bertrand sustained injuries during last weekend’s 1-0 defeat by Premier League champions Chelsea.
Soares, 26, missed draws against Bournemouth and Arsenal earlier this month due to a hamstring injury and returned in the defeat by Leicester City followed by the Chelsea game, but has ruled himself out of the Saints’ next few matches.
Bertrand, 28, is yet to miss a league match for Southampton this campaign but limped off in the final stages of the game at Stamford Bridge with the Saints yet to release details of either players’ injuries or recovery timelines.
“Unfortunately, in the game against Chelsea, I suffered an injury that will keep me away from the next few games. Thank you all for the messages and support,” Soares said on his official Instagram account.
The injuries leave Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino with limited options at the back as the club aim to end a poor run of three defeats and two draws in their last five league games.
Southampton are 12th in the league and host 11th-placed Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
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Sourced from Daily Echo article
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SAINTS are sweating on the fitness of full backs Cedric Soares and Ryan Bertrand ahead of their crunch game against Huddersfield Town on Saturday at St Mary’s in the Premier League.
Bertrand limped out late on in the 1-0 defeat at his former club Chelsea, having, unlike many of his team-mates, played all three games last week.
Cedric had been suffering with a hamstring problem which forced him out of the 1-1 draws at Bournemouth at home to Arsenal at the beginning of December.
He came back but looked off pace in the 4-1 Leicester defeat a week ago, before being injured at Stamford Bridge after crashing into an advertising hoarding.
After the Chelsea match, the Portugal international wrote on Instagram: “Unfortunately, in the game against Chelsea, I suffered an injury that will keep me away from the next few games. Thank you all for the messages and support.”
It will mean Mauricio Pellegrino will have to look at alternative options at right-back and possibly left-back, if Bertrand is not ready to return either.
Jeremy Pied was deployed on the right side at Bournemouth but was dropped against Arsenal for Jack Stephens, who performed well as a defensive-minded full-back.
Pied offers more of an attacking outlook in this position and, considering Saints badly need victory against the Terriers on Saturday, it seems logical to favour the Frenchman, who was signed by Claude Puel on a free from Nice last summer.
Stephens’ solidity on the right was a good asset against the Gunners, but Saints will need a player more suited to attacking the flanks.
At left-back, meanwhile, Saints have Matt Targett and Sam McQueen to choose from as alternatives to Bertrand.
The England international has been ever-present at left-back this term, playing all of Saints’ Premier League matches.
Pellegrino has rotated his team during this recent busy period but has kept the 28-year-old in the team throughout – he is the only outfield player to play in every Premier League match, with goalkeeper Fraser Forster the only other Saints man to be ever-present.
Former England Under-21 international Targett has not played a minute of top-flight football this term, having had a spell on the sidelines following an injury playing for the under-23s.
The 22-year-old spent seven months on the sidelines last season with a hamstring problem, which, after injuring himself in October 2016, he had an operation on in December.
It meant he played just eight games in 2016/17, with fellow academy graduate McQueen, who made his full debut at Inter Milan in October 2016, rising to the occasion in his stead.
The former Southend United loanee played 20 games in all competitions last season, having been converted to a left-back by Claude Puel.
The versatile McQueen has played 23 minutes of Premier League football this term, having being used as a late substitute to slot in various positions, including in attacking areas.
Targett was a hot prospect until his injuries and Pellegrino will have to pick carefully between those two if Bertrand is unable to play.
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Sourced from Southampton FC - Official Site article
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As the festive season gets under way, we bring you all the opening hours for Southampton’s Ticket Office, retail stores and the Club Southampton hospitality team…
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