Big Midweek: Chelsea v Brighton, Maddison, Man United, Guardiola

Dave Tickner
Pep Guardiola Chelsea Cristiano Ronaldo Big Midweek

We’ll keep writing these despite the whacking great Covid caveats – Coveats, if you will – that come with them. Here’s hoping it’s still a Big Midweek by the time the games actually come along…

 

Game to watch: Chelsea v Brighton
Victory at Aston Villa was important for a Chelsea side suddenly in some danger of being cut adrift from the top two and finding themselves closer to a scrap for Champions League qualification with Arsenal, Spurs and possibly the whinge-bags of Manchester United than a title scrap with City and Liverpool.

The rock-solid defensive reliability that has been the cornerstone of Thomas Tuchel’s success at Stamford Bridge has suddenly evaporated, with Chelsea having kept only two clean sheets in their last seven Premier League games. They conceded twice to Leeds and three in defeat at West Ham.

Brighton have rather reverted to type after a truly eye-catching start to the season but have now at least snapped a run of 11 games without a win (although also with only three defeats) by beating Brentford 2-0.

Chelsea must and should win, but a Brighton side that has already drawn at such a motley collection of Premier League grounds this season as Carrow Road, Anfield, the London Stadium and Selhurst Park will still fancy there are rather more vulnerabilities around Chelsea than was once the case for Tuchel’s side.

 

Player to watch: James Maddison
Leicester remain a malfunctioning and depleted team achieving no better than mixed results, but Maddison is playing some of the very best football of his career. He was magnificent in the 6-3 defeat at Manchester City – a classy tribute to the great Boxing Day of 1963 – and has scored six goals in his last eight in all competitions.

He’s not quite at Joe Root levels of being let down by his teammates but after a starring role in that heavy loss and being instrumental in earning Leicester a 3-1 lead in a Carabao quarter-final at Liverpool that ended in penalty heartbreak, he might reasonably ask for a bit more assistance when Liverpool arrive at the King Power. But if Leicester are to kickstart their season against the Reds, it probably is going to need quite a bit of Maddison to make it happen.

Leicester City midfielder James Maddison

 

Team to watch: Manchester United
They may have been spread out across almost three weeks, but Thursday’s clash with Burnley means United will have played the Premier League’s bottom three in succession. Based on the first two games, Burnley have absolutely nothing to fear. The 1-0 win over Norwich was unconvincing but the 1-1 draw at Newcastle was worse still. Gary Neville had given up on them by half-time, and he had a point. Had Newcastle managed to be even a tiny bit less Newcastle at both ends of the pitch then they would have won the game with something to spare. The only United players not to embarrass themselves were David De Gea and game-saving substitute Edinson Cavani.

They probably were slightly better in the second half, but there’s no real praise to that statement; they could hardly have been worse than the meek fare served up before the break. Bruno Fernandes just looks absolutely wretched, Cristiano Ronaldo is in one of his moods and the McFred double-pivot managed to be both superfluous and ineffective. Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire did not look like seasoned international centre-backs.

Ralf Rangnick’s 4-2-2-2 looks designed primarily to win the ball back again once they’ve inevitably given it away. They seem a needlessly reactive side right now against even the most impotent of opponents. Enter Burnley, without a goal in their last three Premier League games. United simply have to offer something more.

 

Manager to watch: Pep Guardiola
He was, as is so often the case when he gets the opportunity to pat a beaten rival on the head, full of praise for Leicester’s spirited attempt at a comeback from 4-0 down on Boxing Day, but inside Guardiola must have been seething to see such a commanding lead racked up inside 25 minutes almost handed back.

But it’s probably a bit easier to take those kinds of setbacks when you still manage to record a ninth successive league win and have scored 17 goals in your last three games. Brighton are sat in the top half of the table having scored one fewer than that all season, while City are now also level on 50 goals scored in the Premier League this season with Liverpool and on course for a century.

 

Football League game to watch: Nottingham Forest v Huddersfield
It was at Huddersfield that Forest began one of the more unlikely about-turns in fortune. Having lost six and drawn one of their opening seven Championship games of the season, Forest prevailed 2-0 at the John Smith’s and have barely looked back since. They’ve won eight, drawn six and lost only two of 16 games since that September clash and that means this is now a significant game in the play-off picture. If Forest can make it a double over Huddersfield they will leapfrog the currently sixth-placed Terriers.