Sam Leah

Dan Mullan / Getty The conclusion of Exeter City versus Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup last night gave us the first sorry looks at the future of the competition - one that has scrapped the magic of replays. Many will have told you Exeter were far and away the better team. Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo opted for heavy rotation to his team and paid the price in the opening five minutes - backup goalie Carlos Miguel blundering in the opening few minutes to give the home side the lead. Both teams exchanged goals in an entertaining contest to tie the game 2-2 at full time. Prior to this season, that would have meant a replay of the fixture at the Forest Ground, but with replays now a thing of the past, extra time followed, and then penalties. All four of Forest's penalty takers were brought on as substitutes - this included their star duo of Chris Wood and Morgan Gibbs-White, who made no mistake from the spot, sending them into the next round.  Exeter were not disheartened by t...

Manchester City and Manchester United are the last two winners of the FA Cup - and the last two finals have also featured the two teams in a derby matchup. The fifth round draw of the FA Cup was announced yesterday, and gave Manchester United a home tie against Fulham, whilst City were assigned the giant-killers of Plymouth Argyle, who shocked many when they beat league leaders Liverpool 1-0.  The two teams are the last of the 'big six' remaining in the competition this season, but to avoid another repeated final and see a familiar face lifting the trophy, I'm quietly praying for their downfall - for the sake of variety. Gareth Copley / Getty Images United are currently the more unpredictable of the two teams, with new boss Ruben Amorim aiming to make the best of a tricky situation; holding out until the summer transfer window where he can begin to recruit players more suited to his system. The United hierarchy won't be expecting miracles in this half season - of course...

Credit: Richard Heathcote / Getty 7 minutes into the Brighton game Chelsea went 1-0 down. Caicedo passed backwards instead of clearing the ball, Colwill's attempted clearance was blocked, and then Robert Sanchez attempted to run and punch the ball away, failed, and Rutter was able to head into an empty net. From that point on I got slightly worried. All I wanted was three points, and now Chelsea had to come back from behind to reach that point. Brighton had a young exciting head coach and a good start to the season with three wins and two draws in five games.  Chelsea, so far this season, have failed to win when their opponents score first, and so my mind went into worry that the team would switch off, lack motivation, and maybe even concede another goal. Luckily, we set up well to exploit Brighton's high line, we had the talent in midfield to send accurate, first time passes in behind, and after 30 minutes gone in the game, Cole Palmer had a hat-trick. Panic over.  Having tha...

Embed from Getty Images I was surprised by Fabian Hurzeler's presser this week and the positive words he gave towards Chelsea and a few of our players. I feel it's been a good long while since we've had such detailed praise from an opposition manager, usually its more of a generalised statement about how much we've spent or something similar.  Hurzeler singled out Nicholas Jackson in his comments, and he's very right to. "I think he is the full package. He wants to combine. Sometimes he's getting more space where he can combine with his teammates."   "He's also very fast - he can attack the defence. This mix, this balance, makes him very dangerous for us. Of course, he is a top striker and at the moment he's in very good shape, so you can't defend against them in a one-against-one." I was of the belief that even if we landed a big money number 9 in the summer, you couldn't just eliminate Jackson completely from the team. Yes, ...

During this transfer window, and probably the last few transfer windows, my silent plea to Chelsea would have always been to not go overboard with too many transfers. Despite that, it seems that the direction of the board is to flood the club with several talented prospects in each position, which leaves a difficult dilemma for the head coach regarding his main squad of players. Maresca caught flack when he admitted that out of the 40 or so players Chelsea had on their books in pre-season, he had trimmed down a 'main squad' and sent the rest to train separately. Of course, Chelsea were not able to get rid of every single one of those fringe players, which is why you see players like Ben Chilwell (who Maresca stated wouldn't get any minutes in the team) getting a 45 minute run out in the Carabao Cup. Chelsea's squad is a talented one, though, and most players will see some game time in the many competitions the Blues will feature in this year, namely the domestic cups as...

Chelsea's hunt for a Mauricio Pochettino replacement appears to be down to a shortlist of four candidates.  The club says they are seeking a 'dynamic, forward thinking and progressive coach who fits in with the club's ideology and has experience with coaching in English football at a high level'. However, this list may seem relatively... bland, especially for a club as big as Chelsea. The managerial free agent pool is relatively sparce at the moment, as well as the fact that many candidates may feel put off by Chelsea - given the club's current tiptoe around financial spending rules, and the ownership's cut-throat approach to signing new head coaches; this new appointment being the third new full time manager in only two years.  So, who are the four remaining candidates? Enzo MARESCA Age: 44 Current club: Leicester City Maresca has returned Leicester City back to the Premier League in his first full season at the club, finishing as league Champions. A former ass...

I've written two identical pieces in the past about this - one for Graham Potter and one for Tuchel.  For Poch, I think it's absolutely vital that we do not sack him this summer, and there are several reasons for doing so. 1. There aren't (many) better options at this time The two names that I've seen linked alongside the news of Poch's potential departure are Kieran McKenna and Ruben Amorim. Amorim has stated in a press conference that he wants to carry on in Portugal, as he attracted attention from several clubs this season including Liverpool and West Ham, before they settled on other options. It would be a statement signing, but has a few question marks that may lead to some issues managing in England, and due to that, he's a risk. Kieran McKenna has just led Ipswich to a Premier League promotion, and attempting to pry him away from the club to come and manage at Chelsea would just be... evil. At least give the man another season and see how he fares.  Tuche...

photo from @ChelseaFC on X For the impact that Thiago Silva, 'O Monstro' has brought to Chelsea in only a four year spell, receiving such a special final sendoff just goes to show that the Brazilian is 'um de nos' - 'one of us'.  Silva finished off a spectacular four years in London following Chelsea's final game of the season, a 2-1 win over Bournemouth at the Bridge. Silva was presented with a guard of honour after the game, and gave a speech to the fans alongside his wife Belle and his two children. What I think made Silva such a special part of Chelsea history over the last few years was his sheer ability at such a late stage in his career. Even approaching 40 years old, Silva is still an active, able, and at certain times, a crucial part of the Chelsea defense. He scored the most goals out of any Chelsea defender this season, with four in all competitions, his best return as a Chelsea player. What I loved most was his determination, always appearing in ...

@pythagorasinboots on X Chelsea pulled off a comfortable 6-0 against Everton yesterday, but the scoreline was overshadowed by a sour incident on the penalty spot. Jackson and Madueke had to be pulled away, with the former visibly angry, after a scuffle over who should step up to take the penalty. Jackson then walked away and didn't rush to celebrate with Palmer, and Madueke went straight down the tunnel after being substituted.  Chelsea have been awarded the most penalties in the PL this season, and Palmer has an unbeaten record from the spot, scoring all 9. However, Chelsea's other attackers (bar Mudryk) felt they deserved to be given a chance. Furthermore, there had been no official word on Chelsea's designated taker from Poch before this game, leaving the players on the pitch to make that call for themselves. After this incident, and repeated behaviour in past games, Poch came forward and confirmed Palmer as the designated taker - and that the incident had been cleared u...

Chelsea beat United last Thursday, and scrolling through my Twitter feed at full time, I saw a lot of people calling it one of the 'games of the season'. Usually with a game as crazy as that one, that last minute Palmer goal would have made me fall backwards out my seat. Instead, I was sat, staring with absolute disbelief, a mixture of emotions rushing around my head. It felt like a loss. It may have been a loss, before a penalty was won and converted, and then some lazy United defending left Cole Palmer with all the space in the world to shoot and seal the three points.  With games like these, which have been common to watch this season, I often don't really understand why the Chelsea players and management celebrate the way they do. The winner in this game sent Chelsea staff running onto the pitch, players running to embrace Poch at the sidelines. And yes, of course, it's a massive result, a massive 3 points. It might have been a key victory in hindsight if we end up ...

(This is part of an assignment for my university course.)

  CHELSEA 0-1 NOTTINGHAM FOREST Best players: Caicedo, Gallagher, Gusto Worst players: Chilwell, Silva :( It seems to be the same nagging issues from last season. We couldn't be doing a better job in terms of possession, or chances created, it really is just a case of putting those chances away. And especially in the case of this game, where we were undone by a single Nottingham Forest chance, gifted to them after a mistook pass, is the difference between 0 and 3 points. I still have faith in Pochettino. I think we're beginning to see signs of some great attacking football at Chelsea and I really enjoy our 1-2 passing as well as our newfound ability of actually finding runners in behind. I am also a fan of the Gallagher and Caicedo midfield pivot, which I hope remains as a mainstay in this team for the future. Both are relentless in the press and full of energy, Caicedo I noticed was always popping up as a passing option and a good springboard in the middle of the pitch. I wrot...