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The Champions League finalists meet, Manchester United begin a daunting run and Wolves face their bogey team
A fixture that could see Manchester City seal the Premier League title and is vital to Chelsea’s pushfor the top four has taken on the status of dress rehearsal. Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel both devour great long dossiers on what their opponent might be doing, so there could yet be some subterfuge in advance of the Champions League final. With City having plenty in hand at the top and Chelsea three points ahead of West Ham in fifth, there would seem little point inrisking an entire tactical hand. Of the Premier League’s “big six”, these two have never quite hit on a white-hot rivalry to compete with City’s recent power struggle with Liverpool, or Chelsea’s collisions with Manchester United in the 2000s. But it is also worth considering how different English football might have been had Roman Abramovich landed the signature of Guardiola, as was once his desire. JB Continue reading...