For Premier League champions Chelsea, a massive 20 points behind shock league leaders Leicester City, the FA Cup represents their best chance of a trophy this term, but Pellegrini may be tempted to rest the likes of Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Joe Hart at Stamford Bridge.
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“The money is important and we’ve used that wisely, but there’s the excitement it generated in Cambridge and people who were not interested in football were in front of the television”.
The Blues captain missed Tuesday night’s Champions League defeat at PSG after limping out of last Saturday’s win over Newcastle with a hamstring injury.
The injury shouldn’t be too serious according to the recent scans, but Daily Mirror reports that if Chelsea bring back the 35-year-old too soon, might he happen to be out for the next four weeks as well.
Doggett has pointed to a long-term benefit for clubs and communities that go further than just two 90-minute games of football.
It has been a quarter of a century since Arsenal’s north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur won the Cup but Mauricio Pochettino’s men will be eager to continue their high-flying league form when they host Crystal Palace on Sunday.
And what does Doggett think of scrapping replays altogether?
“There’s such a deep rooted benefit to the FA Cup that goes right the way through the national game”. Not for me, I watch non-league most weekends and midweeks, those players could tell the elite a thing or two about fatigue. But Premier League footballers? “But I’ve played with Iva in big games before, so I don’t see it being a problem”.
This is where the Premier League comes in.
They may not have needed a replay for that, but Plymouth Argyle manager Derek Adams has asked the Premier League to think about what they would want if they were beneath the vast riches the top division has to offer.
The FA and Premier League clubs are now in discussions to turn the cup into a midweek competition with no replays. No longer is the club wasting money in the transfer market and there seems to be a very specific vision that he’s managing to make into a reality. Champions League and Europa League matches.
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It’s getting close to that time of year where we start thinking about who will be scooping the end of the season awards.
