List of All Articles with Tag 's'

Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that Christopher Nkunku will not be fit to be involved in Chelsea’s visit to Newcastle on Saturday. There had been hopes that the £52million summer signing from RB Leipzig would have sufficiently recovered from the knee injury he sustained on the pre-season tout of the United States to play a part at St James’ Park. But, despite being fit enough to have taken part in training with the first team, the 26-year-old has not worked tactically with the squad and will not travel. Chelsea struggled without the France international in Pochettino’s first Premier League games in charge, with the goalscoring problems that he had been acquired to help solve carrying over from a tumultuous campaign last season during which the team scored fewer league goals than they had in almost a century. Those issues have become less urgent in recent weeks, with four goals scored on three separate occasions against Burnley, Tottenham and Manchester City. By contrast, the team had not previously scored four times in a game since April 2022. “(Nkunku) was doing things with the group last week,” said Pochettino. “But he’s not fully recovered to be part of the squad. “He’s a fantastic player, top scorer in the Bundesliga last season. He can play different positions, his quality is amazing. It’s really bad luck to lose him from the beginning of the season. “We’re going to find the best way for him to fit in the team. He’s going to find massive competition. His team-mates are ahead of him, they’ve had four months of competition. He needs to build his form and be at his best level. “We need to understand he’s coming back from injury, he will need time. We will be patient with him. “It’s not a competition (the Premier League) that he’s normally used to. He came from Europe, he needs to recover from injury but also to know the league. It’ll take time to perform at his best.” Pochettino confirmed that Romeo Lavia, signed in the last week of the transfer window from Southampton for £53m, is also nearing fitness but is slightly behind the progress made by Nkunku. Wesley Fofana has trained on grass at Cobham as he continues his rehabilitation from an ACL injury, though is unlikely to be available before the new year. Chelsea had come into form prior to the international break with five wins from eight in all competitions, a run which saw them score 19 times having previously netted only seven in their first seven under Pochettino. The manager is hopeful that the pause will not have disrupted his side’s rhythm ahead of their visit to face Eddie Howe’s side. “The break came at a bad time,” he said. “It came in a moment we were building a way to play, results were on our side. But I believe we can keep momentum even after two weeks with no competition.” I believe we can keep momentum even after two weeks with no competition Mauricio Pochettino Pochettino added that the squad has held group discussions about why performances and results have been better this season against the stronger teams – draws with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City and victory over Spurs – while there have been home losses to Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa. “It’s part of the process,” he said. “We’re a young team, we started to work four months ago. We need to be more mature, more patient. We cannot get frustrated so soon when things don’t work. “Expectation creates nervousness when you play a team with less quality than you. You take rushed decisions, get frustrated. You want to do the job of your team-mate.”

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 24, 2023--

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says he believes the club is not guilty of financial wrongdoing as it faces accusations of more than 100 breaches of Premier League rules

The UK’s budgetary largesse has bolstered the bear case for gilts, which are already under pressure from sticky

HANOI, Vietnam--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 24, 2023--

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that he will endorse a national strategy for the development of artificial intelligence

Submerged beneath a manmade lake in China lies a forgotten city, dubbed by experts as “China’s Atlantis”. The underwater city, known as the Lion City or Shi Cheng, is hidden 40 metres beneath the surface of Qiandao Lake in eastern China. In 2001, officials discovered – or rediscovered – that the metropolis had been perfectly preserved after years underwater, and by 2017 had opened it up as a diving site for tourists. But what is the history of the Lion City, and how did it end up underwater? Shi Cheng is thought to have been built during the Eastern Han Dynasty between 25AD and 200AD. It was once a political and economic hub in the eastern province of Zhejiang, with a regional seat of power located in the city. The city walls, believed to date back to the 16th century, had five entrance gates, as opposed to the traditional four in old Chinese cities, and its wide streets contain 265 archways featuring stonework of dragons, phoenixes and (you guessed it) lions. However, in 1959, the Chinese government decided to build a hydroelectric power plant in the area and, somewhat shockingly, decided to flood the city to do it. This didn’t just amount to getting rid of a historical artefact. More than 300,000 people needed to be rehoused for the project, which ultimately birthed Qiandao Lake. A surprising side effect to this was that the city remains as a time capsule to the period when it was flooded. Since the water used to submerge it did not contain anything corrosive, and was not conducive to marine life, the remains are in perfect condition. And even though it was still functioning as a city until the mid-20th century, the Lion City has still not been completely mapped out. Now, divers are slowly working through each building, structure, archway, road and house to eventually put together a full picture of what it would have looked like. Until then, it will remain at least party shrouded in mystery, as China’s very own Atlantis. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes his side can reap additional benefit from having Alexis Mac Allister as a makeshift holding midfielder. The Reds boss was dismissive of the suggestion the Argentina international, who usually plays further forward, faces the biggest test of his adaptation into a new role at Manchester City on Saturday. Mac Allister, who joined for £35million from Brighton, has coped well so far filling a hole in a newly-formed midfield with fellow summer signing Wataru Endo, a genuine number six, only entrusted with two Premier League starts, but the prospect of facing Pep Guardiola’s side on their own turf is an entirely different prospect. The 24-year-old’s poorest performances in the role have come away from home – at Wolves, where he was replaced at half-time after returning from international duty in South America, Newcastle and his former club – but that is not a concern for Klopp at this moment in time. When asked whether this will Mac Allister’s biggest test, Klopp replied “No. “I understand that from the outside world it is always about how is a player in this position. but in the end it is all about how the whole team is set up. “Is Macca a natural-born six? No. Did football develop in the last years in directions we couldn’t imagine before? Yes. Does that mean that a player like Macca can play the six. Definitely. “It depends on how the whole team defends. Easy as that. If we do that properly then we have an incredible player in a central position who can find passes, a forward-thinking player. “Do you want a player there who is just knocking players down and when we are in possession he thinks ‘not my job, give me a break’? “I like him there a lot to be honest and we as a team can benefit a lot from it if we make sure we have a really compact formation and that’s what we especially need tomorrow.” The top-of-the-table clash is being billed as the biggest game of the season as Klopp’s side have emerged from a summer midfield rebuild to become City’s main challengers, sitting just a point behind the leaders despite their fifth-place finish in May. But the Liverpool manager insists it should not be used to gauge comparisons with the Premier League champions. “It is not a test how close can we get to City, it is just a super-exciting football game,” he added. “But for us it is not about being excited, we have to prepare it properly and we know we have to be at our best to get a chance. We have that then it is about us to take it. “A lot of things can happen: can we play bad, lose? Possible. Can we play bad and win? I would say it is unlikely, it’s pretty much not possible against City. We can play very good and don’t win, it’s possible. We play very good and win. “This team doesn’t have to pass a test now, the direction we are going – up – is really the right one, that is obvious. “Toulouse (a 4-3 Europa League defeat) we were not good there. I made a lot of changes so it goes on my responsibility, but still no good. Against Luton (a 1-1 draw), we were not good and if we had won the game, we were not good that night. “But in a lot of games this season we were good and deserved what we we got.” Read More Kevin Sinfield says time is of the essence as he prepares to run for MND again LTA urges British tennis fans to show ‘respect’ after Novak Djokovic row at Davis Cup Erik ten Hag prepared for Everton to be ‘mad’ and urges Man Utd to match them Alexis Mac Allister’s performance could be key against Man City – Jan Molby PA selective guide to sport on TV for w/c November 27 Nathan Heaney eyeing middleweight world title fight against Janibek Alimkhanuly

Cocoa farmers in Brazil are getting ready for a dramatic comeback. Once a prominent global supplier, the country

Erik ten Hag clarifies his stance on Raphael Varane's future at Man Utd.

Hamas released a group of hostages held in Gaza as part of a truce agreement with Israel. Israel’s

Paris Hilton had a Thanksgiving surprise to share in the form of a daughter named London