Thomas Tuchel was proud to have got the better of Pep Guardiola for the first time in his career after leading Chelsea to a 1-0 victory over Manchester City on Saturday.
Hakim Ziyech's goal sent Chelsea into the FA Cup final for the fourth time in five seasons and ended Premier League leaders City's hopes of winning a quadruple this season.
Guardiola was unbeaten in his five prior meetings with Tuchel, all of which came during the Catalan's time in charge of Bayern Munich between 2013 and 2016.
Since taking over Chelsea in January, Tuchel has also come out on top against Jurgen Klopp, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Diego Simeone.
He was pleased to have got the beating of a manager he considers to be the best in the world but urged his team to quickly put it behind them and focus on their push to finish in the top four of the Premier League.
"If you play against Pep, you know you play against the highest level in Europe because everywhere he was on the sideline he was the benchmark with his teams and he is again. You can see this in the Premier League," Tuchel told a post-match news conference.
"But it was our target to close the gap for the 90 minutes because it's possible in football if you arrive in good momentum you can make this happen.
"I'm happy and proud of the performances because we played with a lot of courage. We were brave with the ball and against the ball.
"We deserved the win, which is most important. We were very active and didn't get passive. We deserved the win against like I said maybe the best manager and clearly one of the best teams, so we are very happy with the performance.
"It'll be a huge boost for our confidence and for our progression and our development because we arrived with a young team. It's important to have these experiences together.
"Most important now is to enjoy it today and from tomorrow it's the past and we need to perform in a crucial week in the Premier League.
"Today the target was to close the gap to Man City for 90 minutes completely. It was a huge target and we were focused on that and delivered very well.
"Now the next big target is to forget this performance and success and enter with full awareness a crucial week in the Premier League."
Chelsea entertain Brighton and Hove Albion on Tuesday before taking on top-four rivals West Ham at London Stadium next Saturday.
Wolves v Arsenal: ‘What we still have to play for is beautiful’ – Arteta
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta set out to remind his team that they still have something “beautiful” to play for despite their Champions League exit.
The Gunners slipped out of UEFA’s flagship club competition in midweek when they went down 1-0 to Bayern Munich, losing 3-2 on aggregate.
That defeat followed on from a 2-0 loss to Aston Villa last Sunday – a reverse that significantly dented Arsenal’s title hopes, with the Gunners now two points behind Manchester City who, after this weekend, will have a game in hand.
Arsenal face Wolves on Saturday and, with City in FA Cup action, a win would see them move back to the top of the table, at least temporarily, so Arteta offered a reminder that all is not lost.
“I can guarantee you we are fully focused on Wolves and everybody's lifted,” he said following the loss in Munich.
“What we still have to play is beautiful and I said before, it's time to be next to our players and in this moment, not when you win 10 in a row and a draw, that's easy to prize our players and to be behind them and to say really nice things. The moment is now to be next to them.”
On Friday, in his pre-match press conference, Arteta added: “As an experience, [the Champions League was] the best one.
“I am now fully focused on the times ahead of us. We are now behind Manchester City and will give it a good go. The context is clear. If we win we are top of the league.”
Wolves sit 11th, though they could do with snapping a four-game winless streak in order to get their European hopes back on track.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Wolves – Matheus Cunha
Cunha has been involved in nine goals in his last nine Premier League games, scoring six and assisting three. His 11 goals overall this season is the fourth most by a Wolves player in a single Premier League campaign after Raul Jimenez (17 in 2019-20, 13 in 2018-19) and Steven Fletcher (12 in 2011-12).
Arsenal – Bukayo Saka
Saka has been involved in eight goals in his last seven Premier League away games, scoring seven and assisting one. His 13 away goal involvements overall this term (eight goals, five assists) is the most by an Arsenal player in a single Premier League campaign since Alexis Sanchez’s 20 in 2016-17.
MATCH PREDICTION: ARSENAL WIN
Arsenal lost a Premier League game for the first time in 2024 against Villa last time out. Since the start of last season, only twice have the Gunners suffered consecutive league defeats, doing so in May 2023 (v Brighton and Nottingham Forest) and December this season (v West Ham and Fulham).
Wolves are winless in their last four Premier League games (D2 L2), though they have won their last two at Molineux against sides starting the day in the top two of the table, beating Man City 2-1 in September and Spurs by the same score in November.
Arsenal have scored in their last 32 meetings with Wolves in all competitions.
Wolves have now lost each of their last five against the Gunners, failing to score in both home defeats in that run.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Wolves – 21.5%
Arsenal – 51.2%
Draw – 27.3%
Ending FA Cup replays another example of EFL being ‘marginalised’, says league
The decision to scrap FA Cup replays is further evidence of the EFL and its clubs being “marginalised”, the league has said.
The Football Association announced on Thursday it had reached an agreement with the Premier League on the future format and funding of the competition, which would include all replays from the first round being abolished.
A number of EFL clubs have criticised the changes and insisted they were not consulted, with the FA releasing a statement on Friday saying it understood those concerns and would share details with them about how any shortfall in lost replay revenue may be made up.
However, the EFL said this was just the most recent example of how the league and its clubs were being sidelined, with the Premier League clubs having also decided to halt discussions over a new financial settlement with the EFL.
“This latest agreement between the Premier League and the FA, in the absence of financial reform, is just a further example of how the EFL and its clubs are being marginalised in favour of others further up the pyramid and that only serves to threaten the future of the English game,” the EFL’s statement on Friday afternoon said.
“The EFL today calls on both the Premier League and the FA, as the governing body, to re-evaluate their approach to their footballing partnership with the EFL and engage more collaboratively on issues directly affecting our clubs.”
Erik ten Hag denies Man Utd squad is fractured after Alejandro Garnacho incident
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag confirmed Alejandro Garnacho has apologised for liking social media posts criticising his handling of the player and insisted the incident does not show the squad is fractured.
The Argentina winger, who was taken off at half-time of last weekend’s 2-2 draw at Bournemouth, liked two messages on X, formerly Twitter, which were negative about Ten Hag.
He quickly unliked both posts and has now apologised, leaving no issues around his involvement for this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Coventry at Wembley.
Asked whether it suggested the group was not together, Ten Hag replied: “I wouldn’t point to that.
“Alejandro is a young player, has to learn a lot. He apologised for it and after that we move on.”
Experienced midfielder Casemiro has received criticism for his recent performances, with Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp suggesting his display against Bournemouth last week was like he was playing in Soccer Aid.
But Ten Hag has backed the Brazilian and insisted he will bring United success.
“I think we needed the six when I arrived here and last season Casemiro was fantastic,” he said.
“I don’t think he ever scored so many goals as well but as a six, a holding midfielder, as a strategist, he was so important for the team.
“This season he struggled with a bad injury he never had in his career, but he is such a winner. See his career, always in his career he has won, everywhere he was there will be success.
“I trust he will give us success and I know he will need games and he will be better and I’m very confident about him.
“He is a fighter, why he also won big trophies, he’s a personality and he’s a very important player and he will give us success.”
Another player who criticised the club on social media was Jadon Sancho and the winger has since found his form on loan at Borussia Dortmund, who made it through to the Champions League semi-finals this week.
Ten Hag said nothing has changed surrounding his future because of his performances in Germany.
“We know Jadon Sancho is a fantastic football player, so that is not a surprise for us, that is not the issue,” he said.
“Of course, I follow international football and follow the players on loan at other clubs.
“It was a fantastic game, Dortmund against Atletico Madrid, great performance from Dortmund and for Jadon it’s good news. He made his contribution to the result for Dortmund.”
Ten Hag hopes to be able to have Scott McTominay and Antony back in the squad against Championship outfit Coventry on Sunday.
“Antony and Scott I expect them to be back,” he said. “Scott didn’t train all week, partial on Wednesday, today I expect him full. Antony did train all week.
“We have some problems. Harry (Maguire) had a small injury, he didn’t train this week so far but now he is back on the pitch. We expect him to be back for Sunday, I hope.”
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