{"id":38218,"date":"2025-12-19T10:42:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=38218"},"modified":"2025-12-19T10:42:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:42:37","slug":"chelseas-maresca-says-manchester-city-links-are-100-speculation-football-live-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=38218","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea\u2019s Maresca says Manchester City links are \u2018100% speculation\u2019: football \u2013 live | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Key events<\/p>\n

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The Guardian’s top 100 male footballers: No 10-1 revealed<\/h2>\n

The winner has been revealed \u2026<\/p>\n

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Re the players that have made it to Afcon<\/strong>, this is a handy explainer of the extent to which Premier League teams will be affected.<\/p>\n

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Some<\/strong> of the names not featuring at Afcon are remarkable<\/strong>, and feature some of the most talented footballers from the continent. The main reason for this is that their nation has not qualified (for example, Ghana), but there have also been omissions from squads that have made it (unexpectedly Ivory Coast\u2019s Simon Adingra, who was voted the best young player at Afcon 2023, providing a fine assist for the winner in the final) and there has even been an unexpected retirement on the eve of the tournament (Nigeria\u2019s William Troost-Ekong, who was voted the player of the tournament at the last Afcon).<\/p>\n

Here is a non-exhaustive list of players that are also not at the tournament.<\/p>\n

Serhou Guirassy (Guinea\/Borussia Dortmund)
Andr\u00e9 Onana (Trabzonspor\/Cameroon)
Yoane Wissa (DRC\/Newcastle United)
Mohammed Kudus (Ghana\/Tottenham)
Antoine Semenyo (Ghana\/Bournemouth)
Ola Aina (Nigeria\/Fulham),
Yankuba Minteh (Gambia\/Brighton)
Hakim Ziyech (Morocco\/Wydad AC)
Nicolas P\u00e9p\u00e9 (Cote d\u2019Ivoire\/Villarreal)
Mohammed Salisu (Ghana\/Monaco)
Cheick Doucoure (Mali\/Crystal Palace)
Amine Adli (Morocco\/Bournemouth)
Andr\u00e9-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon\/Napoli)
Victor Boniface (Nigeria\/Werder Bremen)<\/p>\n

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Afcon kicks on Sunday<\/strong>, which is rather exciting. Morocco v Comoros is the first game and Osasu Obayiuwana has penned this preview for your eyes only.<\/p>\n

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An email from Dave Estherby.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have to disagree with Neville, Carragher et al that everything should be handled \u201cin-house\u201d; doing pressers before and after games is something I imagine most managers wouldn\u2019t do were it not a contract stipulation. I don\u2019t think a bit of honesty here and there is a reason to start throwing mud\/starting rumours\/whatever it may be. Maresca is clearly pissed off about something, he a big boy so I would guess he\u2019s already aired these grievances in private, if that\u2019s fallen on deaf ears I think he has every right to speak his mind publicly. Don\u2019t the fans have a right to know that\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n

Absolutely, Maresca has a right to air the dirty laundry in public, but it rarely ends well for managers when they do this, particularly at clubs like Chelsea. If Maresca does survive, it will be interesting to see if Chelsea back their manager in January. There are rumours that Maresca is demanding an(other) elite midfielder, perhaps because Rom\u00e9o Lavia can\u2019t stay fit for longer than five minutes. Whatever happened to \u2018making do\u2019?!<\/p>\n

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A reminder that the top 10<\/strong> of our 100 best male footballers in the world 2025 will be revealed in the next few minutes.<\/p>\n

Here is the list 100-11.<\/p>\n

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The most interesting line<\/strong> from that Maresca press conference was: \u201cIt\u2019s important to understand the reason why this [Manchester City] news was there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since we are still in the dark about Maresca\u2019s comments last weekend, that is a clear message to the Chelsea hierarchy. A veiled threat of sorts. The Italian is playing a dangerous game, even if he spent 90% of the press conference saying all the right things as Chelsea manager: ignoring the reports, playing down the speculation, focusing on the next game, etc.<\/p>\n

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A bit more Maresca for you<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

I have a lot to achieve here [at Chelsea]. We achieved the third semi-final in 18 months the other day. Last year was good for trophies, we finish fourth in the Champions League, now we want to improve on that this year.<\/p>\n

He also provides some injury news, for all you FPL freaks.<\/p>\n

Liam Delap and Dario Essugo are probably available for Aston Villa and Rom\u00e9o [Lavia] is still out, Levi [Colwill] is still out.<\/p>\n

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Updated at\u00a004.30 EST<\/p>\n

Maresca: Manchester City links are ‘100% speculation’<\/h2>\n

Chelsea\u2019s press conference has started<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Enzo Maresca, Chelsea manager, is asked about the stories linking him to the Manchester City job.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t affect me. It\u2019s 100% speculation. In this moment, there is not time for these type of things. I have a contract [at Chelsea] until 2029. I\u2019m very proud to be here. I don\u2019t pay attention to that. One week ago, it was the same with Juventus so I don\u2019t pay attention.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to understand the reason why this [Manchester City] news was there. I\u2019m focused on the Newcastle game. It is going to be a difficult game.<\/p>\n

Maresca is asked if he has spoken with the club hierarchy about the Everton comments. A reminder that the Chelsea manager claimed last weekend that \u201cthe last 48 hours had been the hardest since I joined the club because so many people didn\u2019t support me and the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the Everton press conference? No. About other things? Yes.<\/p>\n

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Updated at\u00a004.34 EST<\/p>\n

Ashton Gate to stage the Women\u2019s League Cup final<\/h2>\n

Tom Garry<\/span><\/p>\n

Ashton Gate, the home of Bristol City, will stage the Women\u2019s League Cup final on Sunday 15 March 2026, it has been announced.<\/p>\n

It is the first time the venue has staged this final, although Ashton Gate hosted a Women\u2019s FA Cup final in 2012.<\/p>\n

The match will be a 2:15pm (all times GMT) kick-off, broadcast live on BBC One and Sky Sports. Only Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City have lifted the trophy since the cup was founded in 2011.<\/p>\n

The quarter-finals are taking place on Sunday, with Liverpool hosting the holders, Chelsea. Crystal Palace, the only remaining side from below the top flight, are at home to Arsenal.<\/p>\n

Last season\u2019s beaten finalists, Manchester City, are away against managerless West Ham, while in another all-WSL tie, Manchester United host Tottenham. All four quarter-finals get under way at 1pm.<\/p>\n

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Preamble<\/h2>\n

Hello world! We are well and truly into the festive fixtures now. The games come thick and fast, and staying on top of one\u2019s form and fitness is paramount. Given their Club World Cup efforts, Chelsea are worse off than most when it comes to injuries.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s results that matter, though, and the heat is on Enzo Maresca after his comments last weekend.<\/p>\n

Failure to explain them has only increased the scrutiny on the Italian, who is due to give his pre-weekend press conference imminently before Chelsea\u2019s trip to Newcastle tomorrow. There are various reports flying around that Maresca is fighting with the Chelsea board over signings and is also being linked with replacing Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, should the Spaniard leave. Remember, Maresca was one of Guardiola\u2019s assistants 2022-2023.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019ll have the latest from that, plus all the rest of the Premier League news and analysis going into this weekend.<\/p>\n

Do email me on michael.butler@theguardian.com with any thoughts. Let\u2019s do this.<\/p>\n

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Updated at\u00a004.08 EST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature The Guardian’s top 100 male footballers: No 10-1 revealed The winner has been revealed \u2026 Share Re the players that have made it to Afcon, this is a handy explainer of the extent to which Premier League teams will be affected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[3367,1485,1413,3504,5278,132,1570,13536,1706,4908],"class_list":{"0":"post-38218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-chelseas","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-league","12":"tag-links","13":"tag-live","14":"tag-manchester","15":"tag-maresca","16":"tag-premier","17":"tag-speculation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}