Premier league

At the moment, the FA Cup final on May 15th and the Carabao Cup final between Manchester City and Tottenham on April 25th will have to be played behind closed doors as they are scheduled to take place before the restrictions are lifted.

However, Neville thinks the performances of Chelsea under manager Thomas Tuchel should be taken into account, and he expects them to be in contention:

NYCFC got off to a rousing start, taking a 1-0 lead inside the opening five minutes with defender Alexander Callens slamming into the open net at the back post after Nico Acevedo beat Atlas goalkeeper Camilo Vargas to Gabriel Pereira’s free kick.

The 28-year-old missed the 2-0 defeat to Manchester City due to suspension but it was confirmed yesterday that he had pulled out of international duty with France due to a fitness issue.

The big decision will be up front. Diogo Jota is in form but, following his brace in midweek, Roberto Firmino could come back into the team, with Sadio Mane on the left and Mo Salah playing off the right flank.

Brazil’s game against Uruguay takes place on Friday, October 15th at 1:30 am UK time so it’s unlikely that any of them will be available for the matches on Saturday. There is a possibility that Emerson could play for Spurs against Newcastle on Sunday, October 17th but that is still a tight turnaround for the player.

Defeating Burnley also provided a little payback, given Sean Dyche’s side had ended Klopp’s 68-game unbeaten run at Anfield last term.

The heavy defeat on the road comes ahead of an international break, during which captain Aubameyang believes the squad need to hold honest talks between themselves, having worryingly played with a lack of courage against Pep Guardiola’s impressive side at the Etihad Stadium.

However, Jurgen Klopp subsequently revealed that only Trent Alexander-Arnold had COVID-19, with the other tests all turning out to be false positives.

Title challenges are built on consistency and, although it can be argued that injuries have played a big part in Chelsea’s current form, there are some other problems that manager Thomas Tuchel also has to resolve.