Liam Twomey

Chelsea will formally complete their purchase of the Sir Oswald Stoll Mansions site adjacent to Stamford Bridge on Thursday, Stoll veterans charity has announced. The club’s offer was chosen ahead of 12 rival bids for the 1.9-acre site in July 2023, and the sale was green lit by Stoll’s board of trustees in October following a consultation period. Advertisement Contracts will now be exchanged on a land deal that expands the footprint of Stamford Bridge for any potential stadium redevelopment, th…

vs was a final 16 years ago. Here, in April 2024, the horizons of both have dimmed but two clubs with such heritage will invariably put on a match worth watching, even if the quality is not what it used to be. And tonight’s edition only took four minutes to get going, with giving Chelsea the lead with a well-taken strike after a deflection fell to him inside United’s penalty box. Did this feel like the sort of game where one goal would be enough? No not really, and by half-time it was level,…

have reported a pre-tax loss of £90.1million ($114.8m) in their accounts for the 12-month period ending on June 30, 2023. The loss, down from £121.4m in the previous financial year, raises fresh questions about Chelsea’s ability to remain compliant with the and ’s financial regulations, though the club insist they will do so. Advertisement Chelsea’s overall turnover for the year actually rose to a club-record high of £512.5m, buoyed by commercial revenue increasing to £210.1m and matchday incom…

’s Bernardo Cueva is one of those being considered as look to bolster their coaching of set pieces. The two clubs are in talks over Cueva — who holds the role of tactical statistician at Brentford — although nothing has yet been finalised. Chelsea are in the process of recruiting for specialist set-piece coaches as part of a new department at the club. Plans to establish a dedicated faction within the club to look at this particular skill set were first raised last summer, but they are now ste…

Sunday will be a big day for Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, with due to contest their first final since the end of the Roman Abramovich era. Finding a way to upset and lift the Carabao Cup would be a significant milestone for what has been a painful and, at times, chaotic rebuild at Stamford Bridge, and the first tangible return on more than £1billion ($1.27bn) committed to transfer fees in the first two years of their ownership. Advertisement It would also bring European football back to…

’s unexpected display of defiance against at the Etihad Stadium was epitomised by their man of the match in the 44th minute. On the right flank, shifted the ball out of his feet and whipped a devilish in-swinging cross towards the back post. The ball curled and dipped and stooped a little, serenely waiting to nod it back across Chelsea goalkeeper and into the net. When the ball instead zipped over his head, a look of momentary confusion crossed Haaland’s face. He turned his head to track the…

As a non-native English speaker, Mauricio Pochettino can sometimes struggle to find the correct word to convey exactly what he means. His press conference after ’s 3-1 win over at Selhurst Park on Monday was not one of those times. “He’s a player with great commitment to the team, always trying to compensate in every situation, in offensive and defensive situations,” the Argentinian said when asked how important has become to Chelsea, before adding a memorable flourish. “That is priceless, to…

Less than a year on from the sacking of Graham Potter, two defeats with eight goals conceded are all it has taken to drag into the bottom half of the table and the project led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital back under severe scrutiny. Mauricio Pochettino and his players are now facing open hostility from their own supporters, and no one at any level of the club is safe from criticism or questioning. It is hardly the ideal preparation for a Carabao Cup final against league leaders at Wem…

Things have to get really bad for Belle Silva to decide she has seen enough. Graham Potter lasted less than two more weeks as head coach after the wife of liked a tweet from a supporter calling him a “deadbeat tacticless coach” in February 2023. Correlation is not causation, but it was hardly a good sign for his future prospects at Stamford Bridge. Mrs Silva’s latest withering public assessment fell short of directly criticising Mauricio Pochettino, but it is certainly open to interpretation a…

“Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be, we’re going to Wem-ber-ley, que sera sera…” It took just 43 minutes for the Stamford Bridge crowd to burst into triumphant song, but Chelsea’s total dismantling of Middlesbrough had already ensured there was nothing presumptuous about their mood. What ended as in the 64-year history of the League Cup was truly competitive for only its first 14 minutes and was settled beyond doubt before half-time by goals from the home side’s first four shots on target…

Before ’s typically nerveless penalty deep in first-half stoppage time, the biggest cheer of an otherwise extraordinarily flat opening 45 minutes at Stamford Bridge was reserved for a player. Ripples of applause quickly became a torrent as trotted over to take the visitors’ first corner kick of the match in the 36th minute and, as he acknowledged the Chelsea supporters, a rousing rendition of his song reverberated around the Matthew Harding Stand. That the Brazilian should be so warmly receiv…

A significant few days lie ahead. By Monday, the must inform its member clubs whether they have been judged to be in compliance or in breach of the competition’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), their equivalent of financial fair play regulations, following last month’s submission of their accounts for the 2022-23 season. Advertisement Many of their rivals expect — and perhaps even hope — that will be in trouble, paying the price for an unprecedented £1billion ($1.3bn) recruitment drive…

’s miserable record at Goodison Park got worse as Mauricio Pochettino was condemned to successive defeats for the first time since he took charge in the summer by second-half goals from and . It was the club’s fifth defeat in six seasons at and to make matters worse they lost captain in the first half to yet another injury and goalkeeper had to go off in the second, with coming on for his debut. They were toothless in attack once more and were made to pay by Doucoure just before the hour an…

“ How can you be Black and a fan? ” It is a provocative question and one that Xaymaca Awoyungbo, a 22-year-old supporter of the club, says was levelled at him regularly in his teenage years. “People would bring it up as a weapon to use against you in any argument about football,” he tells The Athletic. “When there were incidents with the fans, how they would behave in certain countries or at certain games, people at school would be asking me, ‘How can you support Chelsea?’.” Advertisement Not…

Mauricio Pochettino says he is paying no attention to the criticism he receives online and even in text messages and phone calls as he tries to lead Chelsea up the Premier League table. Chelsea lie 10th having won just five of their first 14 league matches this season, and travel to Old Trafford on Wednesday to face a Manchester United team which has also underachieved relative to vast financial resources and lofty pre-season expectations. These struggles have led to Chelsea and United players a…

Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital have remade from top to bottom in a turbulent first 18 months since acquiring the club from Roman Abramovich, but the most consequential decision they will make as owners still hangs in the air — and is not close to being resolved. One of the conditions of the £2.5billion ($3.14bn) sale in June 2022 was a firm commitment to build Chelsea a stadium worthy of their modern status as giants of European football. Stamford Bridge remains a serviceable arena with ple…

The Football Association (FA) are reviewing an incident in which Raheem Sterling allegedly threw an object back into the crowd during Chelsea’s Premier League clash against Tottenham Hotspur. The incident occurred shortly after Cole Palmer successfully levelled the scoreline for Chelsea with a penalty in the first half, prompted by Cristian Romero’s red card for a challenge on Enzo Fernandez. Palmer marked the moment with a celebratory gesture, silencing the Tottenham fans by putting his finger…

With the dust having now settled on Saturday’s 2-2 draw with and the Mauricio Pochettino era appearing to be on a steady upward trajectory, this feels like a good moment for a mailbag. The coming weeks will tell us more about the scope of Chelsea’s capabilities following an underwhelming start to the season, but readers had plenty of questions in the meantime: about the goalkeeping situation, the stadium project, a seemingly never-ending injury crisis, ’s contract and much more. Advertisement…

came from two goals down to take a point against at Stamford Bridge in a thrilling game which saw former Paris Saint-Germain team-mates Mikel Arteta and Mauricio Pochettino draw in their managerial head-to-head. A first-half penalty from following a handball and a strike, with what looked to be a cross, put the home side in command just after the break before gave the ball away and scored into an open net from distance on 77 minutes. then tapped in from close range seven minutes later to…

With three words in June, cemented his place in the hearts of supporters and, perhaps, made his first move in an ultimately successful bid to win the club captaincy. Responding to a user on Twitter who had posed the question: “Reece James to arsenal who says no”, he replied simply: “I say no”. I say no. — Reece James (@ReeceJames) Posted on the same day The Athletic reported that Chelsea and a little more than a week after Kai Havertz , James’ words felt particularly pointed. Advertisement Th…