Saturday 5th October
Brighton 12:30 Tottenham
Burnley 15:00 Everton
Liverpool 15:00 Leicester
Norwich 15:00 A Villa
Watford 15:00 Sheff Utd
West Ham 17:30 C Palace
Sunday 6th October
Arsenal 14:00 B’mouth
Man City 14:00 Wolves
So’ton 14:00 Chelsea
Newcastle 16:30 Man Utd
Tammy Abraham has “really good attributes” and the Chelsea striker should target Harry Kane’s England starting berth as his “next step”, says Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
The in-form 22-year-old, who has scored seven goals in seven games for Frank Lampard’s side, was named in the England squad on Thursday for the European Qualifiers against Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
Abraham, whose call-up came almost two years after his first, is one goal behind Sergio Aguero in the top goalscorers in the Premier League so far this season and Hasselbaink says he must now look to replicate his domestic form on the international stage.
“As a young boy when you dream of being a footballer you want to play at the highest level and the highest level is England,” Hasselbaink told Sky Sports News .
He has to try to get [Harry] Kane’s position. It is not easy but that is going to be the next step.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink on Tammy Abaham
“He has been called up. He is going to get the chance and he has to compare himself with the best [striker] and that is Kane at the moment.
“He has to try to get Kane’s position. It is not easy but that is going to be the next step. He has been invited for the England national squad. Now can you make that place yours?
“The only way is to do well for Chelsea, keep on scoring and when you go with England show that you can do it on that level as well.”
Gareth Southgate praises Chelsea’s youth setup and explains why he’s called up Tammy Abraham
Academy product Abraham has had loans at Bristol City, Swansea and Aston Villa in the past three years but a transfer embargo during the summer and Lampard’s determination to trust the youth has benefited him.
Abraham, who scored his first Champions League goal in the club’s 2-1 win at Lille on Wednesday, will look to continue his rich vein of form in Chelsea’s final game before the latest international break against Southampton on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Premier League
Giroud has been a bit-part player at Chelsea this season and has not played a minute of Premier League football since the end of August.
He also remained an unused substitute in Chelsea’s win over Lille in the Champions League on Wednesday night and is down the pecking order under Frank Lampard.
There are suggestions if his situation does not improve, the striker is likely to consider the option of escaping Chelsea in the January transfer window.
And according to Italian outlet Calciomercato.it , he could have suitors in Italy in the form of Serie A giants AC Milan once the window opens in January.
The Rossoneri are in the market for a striker and are keeping tabs on a number of players ahead of the winter window.
The club are yet to take any concrete measures, but Giroud has been suggested as a player they could look to sign in January.
And if he continues to warm the bench at Chelsea, the striker could welcome the chance to move elsewhere in the new year.
Police in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo said on Tuesday they had indicted the woman who accused soccer star Neymar of rape, charging her with fraud, extortion and slander, in what could be a major relief for the Paris Saint Germain striker.
The former Brazil captain was accused of raping Najila Trindade in a Paris hotel room in May, but he alleged the encounter was consensual and prosecutors said in August they were dropping the case against him due to a lack of evidence.
Sao Paulo state police also said in a statement on Tuesday they were indicting Trindade’s former husband, Estivens Alves, on fraud charges.
The BBC reported Trindade’s lawyer as saying the indictment had taken him by surprise and that his client rejected the accusations.
The case received worldwide attention and posed sponsorship headaches for Neymar, as well as hurting his international career.
The former Barcelona and Santos forward always denied the accusations against him and released private chats and lurid photos he had exchanged with Trindade.
Credit: Euronews.com
Manchester United’s lean goalscoring form continued in a turgid 0-0 draw away to Dutch club AZ Alkmaar in their second Group L match in the Europa League on Thursday.
United never looked like scoring for most of the evening on the plastic surface of the Kyocera Stadium in The Hague and failed to produce one effort on target.
The hosts were playing 70 miles away from home because of a roof collapse at their AFAS Stadium last month, but their fans still produced a raucous atmosphere.
There was not too much to get excited about, however, with defences on top on the slick surface.
United will be happier with the point which puts them on four points from two games, level with Partizan Belgrade who won 2-1 in Astana in an earlier kickoff.
“The conditions were tough but I thought we did very well. It puts us in a good position,” Solskjaer, who had criticised the state of the artificial pitch in the build-up, said.
While United defended well, the paucity of their attacking options was again in evidence as their run without an away win in all competitions stretched to 10.
Solskjaer’s side have now failed to score more than one goal in a game since they began the season with a 4-0 thumping of Chelsea in the Premier League.
If any team looked like scoring it was Alkmaar for whom the lively Oussama Idrissi was the best attacking player on view.
Alkmaar striker Myron Boadu had a first-half goal ruled out for offside before Idrissi forced David de Gea into a sharp save. Idrissi skimmed an effort wide after the break and tested De Gea again with a powerful shot the keeper punched away.
United’s ambition was limited but they brought on Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Scott McTominay in the final quarter of the game to try and force a winner.
Rashford was denied what looked a blatant penalty 10 minutes from time when he appeared to be clipped by a sliding Stijn Wuytens after a sharp turn in the area.
Lingard, left out of the England squad earlier on Thursday, had United’s best effort with a dipping shot just wide soon after but worryingly for Solskjaer he limped off before the end.
One of the positives for United was an assured performance by Brandon Williams who made his first start at left back.
Credit: Super sports
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