Mauricio Pochettino’s first match as Chelsea manager ended in a breathless, hard-fought home draw with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Both sides attempted to kick off the new season with a bang after disappointing campaigns, with the Blues particularly bruised having finished 12th at the end of a humiliating season.
Former Tottenham favourite Pochettino has been tasked with turning Chelsea around and oversaw a promising performance in their Premier League opener, with debutant Axel Disasi cancelling out Luis Diaz’s effort in a 1-1 draw.
The sides also saw one goal apiece ruled out for offside in a helter-skelter encounter that showed how much both would benefit from a midfielder like Moises Caicedo or Romeo Lavia.
Chelsea and Liverpool will renew their transfer battle for a number six after Sunday’s action-packed clash in the Stamford Bridge sunshine.
Mohamed Salah saw an early effort rattle the crossbar before expertly slipping in Diaz to score a goal that the Egypt star then coolly added to, only for it to be ruled out on VAR review.
Chelsea made the most of that let-off. Disasi levelled from a looping header by Ben Chilwell, who soon rounded Alisson to score only for the VAR to rule him offside as well.
The teams played out an entertaining second half without a winner and Salah looked irked to have been taken off as Liverpool hunted a second.
Chelsea ended strongly but made an uneasy start to Sunday’s game. Carney Chukwuemeka was booked in the fourth minute for a high foot and Diogo Jota mishit poorly after good work by debutant Dominik Szoboszlai.
Liverpool played with more edge than the new-look hosts, with Salah recovering a poor Cody Gakpo pass, turning and continuing to curl a 20-yard right-footed effort off the crossbar.
The former Chelsea player started the afternoon with the bit between his teeth and produced a moment of magic in the 18th minute.
Salah collected the ball on the right, ran at homegrown debutant Levi Colwill and fizzed an exquisite left-footed pass through for Diaz to slide home.
Liverpool’s travelling hordes – who had been subject of unsavoury chants from some Chelsea fans – celebrated wildly.
The west Londoners pushed for a leveller, but their defence continued to look susceptible.
Thiago Silva produced a key block to deny Salah and soon afterwards Trent Alexander-Arnold’s brilliant pass put the forward through to coolly dink over new Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
It looked like a potentially decisive goal, only for the VAR’s intervention to give Chelsea renewed hope. Salah had strayed marginally offside and Pochettino’s Blues quickly capitalised.
Alexander-Arnold sent a threatening Raheem Sterling cross aimed for Nicolas Jackson behind his own goal and Liverpool failed to deal with the resulting corner.
Chilwell kept his cool as Chelsea kept the pressure on, looping a header over for Disasi to stretch and turn past Alisson, sparking 37th-minute celebrations.
Within two minutes the volume went up several more notches. Enzo Fernandez‘s nudged pass put Chilwell through to round Alisson and turn home what Chelsea thought was their second, only for the VAR to step in for offside once again.
Salah and Jackson had further shots as a frantic first half ended 1-1, with play continuing in similar fashion when play resumed.
There was an audible gasp when new Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk whistled just wide from the edge of the box, before Diaz’s weak headed attempt hit Jackson’s hand and went behind. He survived a VAR check for a penalty.
Chelsea had chances at the other end. Chilwell forced Sanchez into a save, skipper Reece James sent a speculative free-kick over and Jackson raced through to get a shot on Alisson’s goal.
Jurgen Klopp rang the changes in search of a winner and Salah looked unhappy to be withdrawn, ripping the strapping off his wrist as he angrily walked off the pitch.
Debutant Sanchez nearly gifted Liverpool a late winner, with his poor pass cut out by Alexis Mac Allister, but Darwin Nunez was unable to capitalise.
The substitute striker saw a curling effort from distance defect narrowly wide in stoppage time, with Chelsea then going close on the counter.
Mykhailo Mudryk went around Alisson following Jackson’s lung-busting run, but Ian Maatsen got crowded out from the cutback.
Ten Hag admits Man United missed out on Kane
Erik ten Hag has confirmed that Manchester United wanted to sign Harry Kane last year but were unable to bring him to the club.
The England captain joined Bayern Munich and has scored 43 goals so far in his maiden Bundesliga season.
United instead brought in Rasmus Hojlund from Atalanta, though the forward initially struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League, failing to score in his first 14 matches in the competition.
Overall, the forward has netted 14 times in all competitions, with eight of those coming in the top-flight, but Ten Hag admitted that the club did try to bring in a more high-profile striker.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "This club can only have outstanding players because the expectations are so high. Manchester United is the biggest, or maybe second or third, biggest club in the world, the highest fanbase, so expectations will always be there.
"Everyone has an opinion about Manchester United and it can only be outstanding players.
"That's players who have all the skill set, that is the physical and especially the mental skill set they need to perform and contribute because we have to win every game. There's an expectation around every game from us so you can only fulfil that expectation when you have those outstanding players.
"But in the last decade and in this period, we couldn't always get the players we wanted. But then you have to build, and you have to accept that you get talent in instead of players who already proved it in the past.
"We have had some choices made with talents like Rasmus Hojlund. I can see a striker who already proved it, who we want to sign, and we couldn't get him. And then we went to Rasmus because he's a talent."
When asked if the unnamed striker he was referring to was Kane, Ten Hag confirmed that the 30-year-old had been a target for them.
He continued: "Yes, and you know Harry Kane will get you 30 goals. I think Rasmus will get there, but he needs time. It's not fair to assess him the same as Harry Kane. I would never compare two players because they are very different.
"But with Hojlund, I think we had the biggest potential in the striker position last summer, and we are very happy with him. But he also needs time to adapt, and we are very pleased he showed his assets in scoring goals.
"He had a very good period where he scored many games after he showed it, but before and after, he had some physical issues, which is normal for a young player coming up. But it has a negative impact on the team result and that's what you have to accept."
Charlotte FC v Portland Timbers: Hosts target 90-minute display as Neville rues slow starts
Adilson Malanda says Charlotte FC are working to deliver a full 90-minute performance against the Portland Timbers on Saturday, having seen plenty of points slip away from them late on this year.
Dean Smith's team have slipped to 11th in the Eastern Conference by winning just one of their last five games, drawing one and losing three.
They conceded a 90th-minute winner in last week's 2-1 loss to New York City FC, and late concessions also cost them in a 1-1 draw with FC Cincinnati and a 1-0 defeat at Toronto FC in March.
Defender Malanda says they have focused on setting that right in training this week, explaining: "We know that's one of our problems right now, which we need to fix.
"We cannot keep giving up goals like that at the end of games. It can kill all the effort we make throughout the whole week. It's tough to accept, but it's part of the game and it happens.
"If you cannot win a game, you have to learn not to lose it, because that has now taken a lot of points away from us."
The Portland Timbers are suffering from almost the opposite problem, giving themselves a mountain to climb in too many games under Phil Neville.
Portland sit 11th in the West amid a seven-game winless streak, last week's 3-2 loss to Los Angeles FC seeing them enter half-time at least two goals down for the third time in five matches.
"We just can't keep giving teams 2-0 starts and expect to win games of football, that's unacceptable and it's on me," Neville said.
"We've got to fix it and we've got to fix it quick. We will do, because we're so close to being a very good team, and if we learn that bit, we'll be a better team."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Charlotte FC – Kerwin Vargas
Vargas opened the scoring for Charlotte in the third minute against New York last week, the 13th time Charlotte had scored in the opening 10 minutes of a regular-season match, tied for the most of any team since they joined the league in 2022 (with the Vancouver Whitecaps and Houston Dynamo).
The Colombian is one of only two Charlotte players with more than one MLS goal to his name this year alongside Patrick Agyemang, while he has also laid on 11 chances for team-mates.
Portland Timbers – Felipe Mora
With four goals, Mora sits joint-top of Portland's scoring charts for this season, alongside Evander.
As doubts persist over the Brazilian's fitness, Mora – whose four strikes have come from seven shots worth 2.03 expected goals (xG) for a 57.14 per cent conversion rate – will carry the Timbers' hopes.
MATCH PREDICTION – CHARLOTTE FC WIN
Saturday's match will be the first ever between Charlotte and Portland, in what will be the Crown's 91st competitive game since joining MLS.
Charlotte saw their 14-game unbeaten home run halted by a 3-0 defeat to Minnesota United on April 21, but they have not lost back-to-back matches on their own turf since March 2023, when they went down to the New England Revolution and Atlanta United.
They will fancy their chances of getting back on track on front of their own fans, with the Timbers' current seven-match winless run their longest in a single season since 2014, when they went eight without victory between March and April.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Charlotte FC – 43.9%
Portland Timbers – 28.5%
Draw – 27.6%
Wolves make Doyle move permanent as midfielder leaves Man City
Wolves have taken up their option to sign Tommy Doyle from Manchester City on a permanent deal.
The 22-year-old midfielder has made 30 appearances in all competitions for Wolves after joining the club on loan this season.
Wolves have now exercised their option to make the move permanent, which will take effect on July 1, for a reported fee of just under £5 million.
Doyle has signed a four-year contract with Wolves, with an option for two further years, tying him to the Molineux club until at least 2028.
He previously spent loan spells with Hamburg and Cardiff City, before helping Sheffield United win promotion from the Championship last season.
The Man City academy product also made seven appearances for Pep Guardiola's side.
"We’ve never seen Tommy as a player on loan, and he hasn’t acted like one," said Wolves sporting director Matt Hobbs after the deal was confirmed on Friday.
"He’s gradually earned more minutes and become more important, which I think is an ideal first year. What he offers to our midfield is something different to the others, so there was a huge amount of inevitability to this.
"He buys into who we are as a club and what we’re trying to create culturally within the group. He’s a great player to have for what we’re trying to achieve off the pitch and he gives us so much on the pitch, so he’s the exact type of player I think Wolves should be signing."
Hobbs is confident that Doyle has a bright future in the game, adding: "If you look at the type of players we like to sign as a football club, they generally haven’t reached their ceiling yet and have loads more to come.
"Tommy is a fraction of the player he will become, with the more he gets used to the league and the greater his understanding gets.
"I’m really excited for now but also his future at Wolves."
Man City play Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday, but Doyle is ineligible to take part.
As well as expressing his excitement at joining Wolves, he reflected on his City exit, saying: "I’ve had many, many years as a City player, coming through the academy and eventually playing for the first-team, and I take great pride in what I’ve done for that club..
"It’s nice to close that chapter and open up the new one with Wolves and try to progress as much as I can and keep enjoying it.
"I wanted to have somewhere where I’m stable, essentially somewhere I enjoy, and I enjoy it here. It’ll be good to do it all again next season.
"It’s amazing. I’m really happy. I found out not too long ago what’s going to happen and it’s obviously very exciting for me, having enjoyed this season so far, and I’m looking forward to trying to better what we’ve done next season.
"I’ve known for a little while that there were talks, and the other day it was more official. I’ve enjoyed it here, everyone’s been really great with me, the manager, the staff and especially the lads. It’ll be good to battle in the league again with them next season."
Wolves are 11th in the Premier League with three games to play in Gary O'Neil's first season in charge.
"You can see the way we’ve played this season, some of our football’s been really good," added Doyle, who has played for England up to Under-21 level.
"We’ve been very unlucky with injuries, and it’s died out a bit the last couple of games which has been frustrating, but that’s something we’ll learn from.
"The club said they were happy with what I’ve done this season and, for me, I feel there’s a lot more I can give. We’re going in the right direction as a club, we’re progressing, so it’s exciting to be part of that journey."
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