Chelsea bus transforms into title-chasing juggernaut

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was expected to 'park the bus' against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Monday night.

Manuel Pellegrini's free-scoring side have notched a staggering 68 goals in the Premier League this season, and nobody had kept them from finding the back of the net at home.

But rather than setting up Chelsea to sit back, soak up the pressure and play for the draw, Mourinho abandoned the bus and went all out for victory.

The Blues harried and pressed the hosts and were more than good value for their 1-0 victory courtesy of a Branislav Ivanovic strike.

The win leaves Chelsea level on points with City, just two adrift of league leaders Arsenal with 14 games still to play.

Tuesday, 4 February 2014 07:30

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Mourinho readies Chelsea bus ahead of Man City showdown

Jose Mourinho leads his title-chasing Chelsea team to the Etihad Stadium on Monday night looking to cause a shock and stop Manuel Pellegrini's free-scoring side from retaking the lead at the summit of the Premier League.

Mourinho has a number of famous career highlights in away games and although he has blamed visiting teams at Stamford Bridge for 'parking the bus', he may be wise to adopt such tactics at City.

Monday, February 3, 2014 07:23

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Fortress Barcelona comes crashing down

Barcelona’s long unbeaten home record came to an abrupt halt on Saturday night as Valencia triumphed 3-2 in an enthralling game at Camp Nou.

A miserable night for the hosts also saw Jordi Alba sent off as Gerardo Martino's men suffered their first home league defeat since April 2012.

The result throws yet another twist into the title race and hands the initiative over to Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, who both have the opportunity to move ahead of the Catalans on Sunday.

Sunday, February 2, 2014 11:50

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Time's up! Who sealed their deadline-day deals?

It was a frantic close to transfer deadline day, even if some of the big deals did not go through.

There was still plenty of action, with Dimitar Berbatov swapping Fulham for Monaco and Kostas Mitroglou replacing him from Olympiakos.

Dani Osvaldo clinched his move from Southampton to Juventus, and Adel Taarabt also left for Serie A, namely AC Milan.

Arsenal had been hopeful of signing Julian Draxler throughout January but would not match Schalke's valuation. They also wanted Blaise Matuidi and considered Mogran Schneiderlin, but ended up with Kim Kallstrom on loan from Spartak Moscow.

There was bad news for Liverpool, too, as they missed out on a late deal for Yevhen Konoplyanka.

If you want to find out how deadline day panned out in more detail, check out Goal's in-depth guide.

Saturday, February 1, 2014 10:00

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