Q&A with Jacob Steinberg
Jacob Steinberg will be at Stamford Bridge for the lunchtime game between west London’s finest. Before the game we’ll have a Q&A with him on all things Chelsea, Fulham – and West Ham, the other club on his journalistic beat.
If you have any questions for Jacob, post them below the line or email matchday.live@theguardian.com. Serious questions, please; we’re all trolled out.
Key events
“Is it just my Arsenal-supporting brain that feels this way, or does the whole of this weekend in the Premier League just feel like a preamble to tomorrow’s clash at Anfield?” wonders Kári Tulinius. “I don’t ever recall feeling this way in August, the most meaningless of football months. I suppose it’s a symptom of a league where a champion can only afford to lose 20 points across a whole season. Even a draw is 10 percent of the way to second place.”
Last season Liverpool could have lost 39 points and still won the title, though I appreciate that was a bit of an outlier. Even so, I’d be loath to douse tomorrow’s game in too much hype. It has the potential to be a statement game but there have been plenty of those in Augusts past.
Man Utd v Burnley preview
Will Unwin
Ruben Amorim knows that Manchester United cannot afford to lose against Burnley. The midweek defeat to Grimsby was the lowest moment of a reign that has seen few positives. Nine months in, the dramatic change required at Old Trafford is yet to be witnessed. There is a commitment to Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation and it does help the squad because there are glaring personnel problems, forcing the head coach to field Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro as the central midfield pair. More than £200m has been spent on the forward line but that means everything behind them is still the same as the side that finished 15th in the Premier League last season.
The Old Trafford faithful will give their backing to Amorim because they are desperate for this to work. Another mid-season sacking would suggest a great failure from the club’s hierarchy and trying to find a suitable successor at this point would be very difficult. Amorim has not just caused issues on the pitch but also off it; Alejandro Garnacho has departed for £40m, a fee arguably half what he was worth when the Portuguese coach arrived in November. Supporters will be disgruntled that their best academy graduate of recent times, Kobbie Mainoo, wants to leave. If he were to go, it would indicate a short and long-term failure of United. A win against the Clarets will at least make people forget these problems for 24 hours until deadline day begins.
Burnley will almost certainly be in a relegation battle come the end of the season but they are less than ideal opponents for United. As Grimsby proved, getting at United by offering relentless energy and pressing is more than enough to unsettle and Scott Parker’s side possess that in spades. Kyle Walker has six wins at Old Trafford in his career and would relish adding a seventh, while Hannibal Mejbri will want to show the club they were wrong to let him go. It should be an intriguing clash.
Chelsea’s Jackson to join Bayern Munich
Jacob Steinberg
Bayern Munich have agreed a deal to sign Nicolas Jackson on loan from Chelsea. Bayern are paying a €15m loan fee for the striker and I’m told there’s a €65m option to buy. Jackson is out of favour at Chelsea after the arrivals of Liam Delap and Joao Pedro. He joined from Villarreal in 2023 and has done well but is heading off to Germany for a new challenge. A good signing for Bayern.
Leeds v Newcastle (5.30pm)
The Alexander Isak saga is wheezing towards a conclusion, or least a hiatus. The imminent signing of Nick Woltemade increases the chances of Isak joining Liverpool before Monday’s transfer deadline, though Eddie Howe used yesterday’s press conference to refute rebut Isak’s talk of “broken promises”.
Thomas Tuchel named his England squad yesterday ahead of the World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Serbia. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s omission was the big news; Tuchel also apologised for choosing the wrong word in his second language to describe Jude Bellingham’s occasional on-field excess.
Championship: Leicester 2-0 Birmingham
A sizzling finish from Abdul Fatawu was the highlight of Leicester’s win over Birmingham in last night’s Championship game. Birmingham dominated almost all of the underlying statistics – but not the overlying one.
Q&A with Jacob Steinberg
Jacob Steinberg will be at Stamford Bridge for the lunchtime game between west London’s finest. Before the game we’ll have a Q&A with him on all things Chelsea, Fulham – and West Ham, the other club on his journalistic beat.
If you have any questions for Jacob, post them below the line or email matchday.live@theguardian.com. Serious questions, please; we’re all trolled out.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to matchday live, our buildup to all the day’s association football action. We’ll have previews, transfer news and more between now and midday, at which point we’ll hand over to, er, Rob Smyth for live coverage of Chelsea v Fulham.
That’s one of six Premier League games today. And here they are.
Kickoffs 3pm unless stated
What are your plans for the day? Football-related, ideally, but if you’re creosoting the fence that’s fine. Let us know either below the line or by emailing matchday.live@theguardian.com.
