Cesc Fabregas has jumped to second in the all-time Premier League assist table after racking up his 102nd against Southampton.
The Spaniard was once again pulling the strings as Chelsea landed their 25th victory of the season against the Saints thanks to a 4-2 win at Stamford Bridge.
Fabregas picked out fellow Spain international Diego Costa in the 53rd minute with a pin-point cross to put the Blues 3-1 in front as they continued their march towards the title.
The assist was number 103 of the 29-year-old’s career in England, taking him one clear of Chelsea icon Frank Lampard in the all-time list.
It was also his eighth of the season so far, but he has a way to go to match his best tally in a Premier League season, having notched up 18 when the Blues last lifted the title in 2015.
The ex-Arsenal star took to Instagram after the match to post a picture of the table, showing him to be behind only Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs, and Fabregas had a cheeky message for the Old Trafford favourite.
He wrote alongside his post: ‘‘Wow. Really proud day to become the second best assist maker of all time in this incredible league. Thanks for all your support. PS: Ryan, I am coming for you’.
As confident as Fabregas sounds, he still has some way to go to chase down the Welsh wizard and take top spot for himself.
During 24 years at United, Giggs created 162 goals, a whopping 59 more than the Spaniard can currently boast.
In his race to the summit however, the Chelsea maestro has already overhauled some of the biggest names to grace the Premier League.
Fabregas is only one of four players to reach treble figures, with Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney on 101, and one of only two other current top-flight stars in the top 10, with Liverpool’s James Milner sneaking in with 75 assists.
There is an abundance of usual suspects in the top 10, with Steven Gerrard being kept out of the top five by Arsenal’s Dennis Bergkamp, the pair on 92 and 94 respectively.
David Beckham may have spent the majority of his career outside of the Premier League, but that still didn’t stop him from notching an impressive 80 assists in his 265 league appearances.
Teddy Sheringham and Thierry Henry make up the top 10, while a glance a little further down the list throws up a few blasts from the past.
Darren Anderton’s talents often go under the radar, but his place on the list is a reminder of the quality the former Tottenham and England star produced with his deliveries, creating 68 goals.
Matthew Le Tissier made his name as a scorer of great goals, but he also had an eye for a pass too, laying on 64 goals at Southampton.
And while Alan Shearer is the league’s all-time top scorer, this list proves he was also more than capable of turning provider, the former Newcastle United striker also accumulating 64 assists.
Further down the list, the Peruvian trumpet-playing winger Nolberto Solano often found the right note with his deliveries, laying on 62 strikes during his spells at Newcastle and Aston Villa.
Current Manchester United winger Ashley Young and Middlesbrough’s Stewart Downing still have time to climb the list – although time may be running out for the latter given the Teessiders’ current predicament.
Sir Ben Ainslie has vowed to “put right” Great Britain’s agonising 166-year wait for America’s Cup glory and add to the country’s list of international sporting honours.
The most successful sailor in Olympic history is team principal and skipper of newcomers Land Rover BAR, based in Hampshire, and will be bidding to bring the cup home in Bermuda this June.
The America’s Cup was first staged in 1851 off the Isle of Wight but has never returned to British waters - the longest drought in international sport.
During that time England have won the football World Cup in 1966, the rugby union World Cup in 2003 and claimed 32 Ashes series victories.
Bradley Wiggins’ triumph in the 2012 Tour de France - a first for a British cyclist - halted a lean spell of 99 years, but it also brought into focus the anguish suffered by the country’s sailors for over a century.
Four-time Olympic champion Ainslie is no stranger to success yet his next quest, to win the 35th America’s Cup, is about much more than personal achievement.
“The fact that Britain has never won the cup is a huge driver for us,” said Lymington resident Ainslie.
"What we’re trying to showcase through the team is this best of British in design, technology and sailing.
“The history of the cup, it’s the last big sporting trophy that Britain has never won. We have a very proud sporting heritage and maritime heritage so it means a lot to us. That is a huge motivation to put that right.”
Land Rover BAR - launched in 2012 - is the brain child of Ainslie and has been backed by sponsorship and investment to the tune of £90million, with a permanent base in Portsmouth.
The 40-year-old won the last America’s Cup in 2013 as a tactician aboard Oracle Team USA, who remarkably turned an 8-1 deficit into a 9-8 win in San Francisco.
Ainslie, a solo sailor for much of his career, enjoys the change in tack to a team dynamic and admits he is not afraid to show his nasty side.
He said: "The key is to have good people on the team, to delegate and give them responsibility in their roles.
"As a leader that’s fine, but it’s when things aren’t going well that you have to stand up and say something and try and sort issues out - if there are issues.
“There’s been a couple of times where I’ve had to raise my voice I guess, but the less you do that the better. Normally a quiet boat means a happy boat and a fast boat.”
The only team to win the America’s Cup at the first attempt since its inception was Alinghi, the Swiss challengers in 2003, but Ainslie insists he is in it for the long haul.
“It is very hard to win the America’s Cup at the first attempt - it’s only happened once before for a challenger to do that,” he added.
"Our goal is to win this cup, but it’s also to set up a structure that we knew would continue on.
“It may take a couple of attempts to bring it back to British waters.”
Land Rover BAR are the first British team to challenge for the Auld Mug in 16 years but there is still a qualifying section to navigate.
The Louis Vuitton Cup qualifiers - contested by the five challengers and the defender, Oracle Team USA - takes place in Bermuda between May 26 and June 3.
The top four challengers will then advance to the semi-finals before a best-of-nine final - the winner of which will contest the America’s Cup between June 17 and 27.
“This cup is going to be really close looking at the way the teams are stacking up now as we come into the final phases,” added Ainslie.
“To win it, for all of us, I’m pretty certain would be the biggest achievement of our careers because of setting the team up and the history of the cup.”
The cover recognises the launch of the Saints Together campaign, with £1.50 from every issue sold being donated back to Saints Foundation.
Inside real-life stories recount the great work of the foundation, from keeping 93-year-old Molly Garside active to helping 21-year-old Jake Plummer get his life back on track.
There is also information on how to volunteer, donate and help support their work in the local community.
In addition, there is a feature-length interview with striker Rodriguez who discusses a recent visit to Southampton General Hospital, as well as the family feel around the club.
This edition includes a tribute to mark the tenth anniversary of Southampton player and manager Alan Ball’s passing, with comments from Matt Le Tissier and Lawrie McMenemy.
Franny Benali also pays tribute to the late World Cup winner in his exclusive column, as well as giving his view on all things Southampton.
There is the usual tactical analysis of both Claude Puel’s men and the opposition from Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe, as well as a shot of Saints nostalgia as we continue to celebrate 15 years of St Mary’s Stadium.
There are more outlets than ever from which to purchase this season’s matchday magazine, which retails at £4.
You can also pre-order, find all old editions and take out a subscription for the season by visiting saintsmagazines.co.uk.
Liverpool continue to be strongly linked to a move for Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk and, according to well-placed sources, Jurgen Klopp will not be put off by the South Coast club’s £50 million valuation of the former Celtic man.
The highly coveted Dutchman would be a clear upgrade on both Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip, but it’s going to take much more than one player to tighten up Liverpool’s leaky defence.
Van Dijk alone won’t stop the Reds conceding so many goals from set pieces (that’s a collective failing), and unless Klopp makes some adjustments to his side’s often self-destructive attacking approach, the defence will continue to find themselves vulnerable to well-coached opponents, particularly those blessed with pace up front.
Lovren is being heavily criticised following an especially poor performance against Crystal Palace at the weekend, but it’s not just about individuals – that’s a trap Liverpool have been falling into for far too long. If it isn’t Lovren being blamed, it will be Lucas Leiva or Ragnar Klavan. Before them it was Mamadou Sakho and Martin Skrtel. The names may change, but the same problems persist.
After his Palace side came from a goal down to win 2-1 on Sunday, Sam Allardyce summed up how opponents now look at the Reds.
“Liverpool at home play a superb attacking style, which means both full-backs will go right up the pitch,” Allardyce said. “It is very similar to Arsenal, which means Matip and Lovren are very exposed and because they are very exposed in that position, if you get the right runners in behind, then they are two big men that don’t like turning and going back to goal.”
In other words, playing centre-back for Liverpool is much more difficult than it is for most other clubs. Allardyce referenced Arsenal, but Manchester City are similar and it’s surely no coincidence that the likes of John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi have often been under media scrutiny throughout the season.
Sakho, meanwhile, has been earning rave reviews since joining Palace on loan, prompting many Liverpool supporters to bemoan Klopp’s decision to ostracise the popular Frenchman. Yet, don’t forget in Sakho’s three seasons at Anfield, a whopping 148 goals were conceded.
For a central defender, it’s much easier to look good in a team that has to defend a lot. Palace sit deeper than Liverpool and provide more protection for their centre-backs, making Sakho’s life much easier. A lot of teams will concede fewer goals than Liverpool, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they have better defenders. It’s all about style of play and mentality.
On that note, other reports this week suggest that Liverpool have now moved into pole position to sign Burnley’s Michael Keane. He has had a fine season and is attracting interest from a lot of clubs, but how on earth can anybody be sure he’d be a hit at Anfield when Burnley’s style of play is about as far removed from Liverpool’s as it is possible to be?
At Burnley, Keane is part of a deep defensive line, usually with both full-backs sitting in most of the time and with four diligent midfielders who offer great protection to their defence. He is rarely left in the kind of isolated situations, often in wide areas, that Liverpool’s defenders have to deal with.
If Lovren were playing for Burnley, he’d look great, too. After all, his performances for Southampton prompted Liverpool to pay £20m for him. With that in mind, some supporters are understandably wary at the idea of spending more than double that on another Southampton defender (Van Dijk) when Liverpool’s budget is not limitless and other areas of the side are also in glaring need of an upgrade.
Throwing money at the defence is not necessarily going to fix it. It’s easy to point the finger of blame at individuals and question their quality, but how many experienced international centre-backs do Liverpool have to go through before the penny drops that their style of play is the main reason they concede so many?
Some believed that Skrtel was the problem, but he’s not there anymore and still the goals-against column looks set to be pushing 50 again this season. Sakho also has been sent packing, so now it’s Lovren’s fault, apparently. They are not bad players, but they have occasionally been made to look so because of how exposed they have been, first when playing for Brendan Rodgers and now under Klopp.
Klopp’s style of football is brilliant when it works, but when opponents manage to stifle their free-flowing attack, it can be very tough for the defenders. Some tinkering is surely needed then, and Tottenham have proved that you can play attacking football with the full-backs pushing on while still keeping the back door locked.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side have had the best defensive record in the Premier League for the past two years, yet they are by no means a defensive team. Indeed, they’ve scored only two less than the Reds and on current form will soon overtake them. Most significantly, their style of play is not too dissimilar to Liverpool’s and yet they don’t continually ship goals to teams in the bottom half of the table.
Without taking anything away from Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld, Spurs have not conceded 20 goals fewer than Liverpool simply because those two are so superior to Liverpool’s centre-backs. There’s more to it than that and even if both clubs swapped centre-backs, the North Londoners would almost certainly still have a better defensive record than Liverpool.
Solving that problem is the biggest obstacle in Klopp’s way as he looks to turn Liverpool from the great entertainers into genuine challengers.
Dave Usher is one of ESPN’s Liverpool bloggers and the founder of LFC fanzine and website The Liverpool Way. Follow him on Twitter: @theliverpoolway.
Offering six matches over the remaining four Gameweeks, Southampton’s Manolo Gabbiadini (£6.4m) looks set for another boom in Fantasy Premier League transfers.
The Italian forward made an instant impact in FPL after signing for Saints in January, scoring four goals in his first three Gameweek starts to total 25 points.
In those three matches he averaged a shot every 15.3 minutes - more frequently than any other forward over the same spell.
That sparked an immediate flurry of transfers, with more than 340,000 FPL managers drafting him in across Gameweeks 26 and 27.
Gabbiadini also scored twice in the EFL Cup final defeat to Manchester United before picking up a groin injury in the Gameweek 29 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur which forced him to miss three matches.
He returned for the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City in Gameweek 33, before registering an assist in Tuesday’s 4-2 loss at Chelsea.
Completing 85 minutes at Stamford Bridge, Gabbiadini looked considerably sharper against the Blues. He produced three shots from within the penalty area and maintained a record of a goal or an assist in every appearance over 60 minutes for Southampton.
With Hull City up next at St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday, 13,000+ FPL managers have already turned to Gabbiadini as his ownership begins to climb towards its previous high of 439,000.
Over the last four Gameweeks, the Tigers have conceded eight goals and are ranked joint-third for both penalty-box shots against (39) and “big chances” allowed (nine).
Hull’s recent away record will also offer Saints and Gabbiadini encouragement. They have lost six of their last seven road trips under head coach Marco Silva, conceding 17 goals.
Beyond this weekend, Southampton offer a pair of Double Gameweeks, with matches away to Liverpool and at home to Arsenal in Gameweek 36.
Their Gameweek 37 schedule comprises a trip to Middlesbrough and a home meeting with Manchester United, before Stoke City visit the south coast on the final day of 2016/17.
Owned by only 3.5% of FPL managers, Gabbiadini looks set to be a pivotal figure over the remainder of the campaign.
Having already demonstrated his prolific talents, and with those extra fixtures in hand, few FPL forwards can match the potential offered by the Italian over the season run-in.
When it comes to bookings, some teams always feel more hard done by than others.
In Chelsea’s last two matches, Tottenham and Southampton fans have both felt the Blues got off lightly, with their players allowed to give away several free-kicks before being given yellow cards, if at all.
Against Spurs in their FA Cup semi-final, the Blues gave away 19 fouls, while only receiving two yellow cards – with Marcos Alonso’s being for unsportsmanlike conduct - which understandably irked their opponents at Wembley.
Meanwhile, against Southampton they made 13 fouls and received two cautions, compared to the Saints’ nine fouls and two cautions as they succumbed to defeat.
So, are Chelsea really given a more lenient ride by referees?
Here at talkSPORT we calculated how many fouls per booking each club had, and you might be surprised.
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