The next week or so will be full of cup matches, with two League Cup semi-final matches in the middle of the two weeks, and the fourth round of the FA Cup on the weekend. This will also give the strong teams a buffer opportunity.
In the previous Champions League draw ceremony, the Premier League teams were not very lucky.
Only three of the four teams qualified for the group stage. Liverpool was suffocated by Real Madrid and Basel, and the three teams that qualified were all drawn against strong teams...
UEFA has always loved Premier League teams deeply.
Manchester City, who finished second in the group, were drawn against Barcelona. It can be said that they brought it upon themselves to blame themselves for not finishing first. However, Chelsea and Southampton, who were ranked first in the group, both drew strong opponents.
Southampton drew Juventus, while Chelsea drew Paris Saint-Germain.
Of course, such a draw result is very depressing, but neither Noriya nor Mourinho said much. In short, they all want to compete for the championship. There is no other way to meet a strong team first, they just have to fight.
For Mourinho, he will definitely win all the championships he can win this season. After all, it is already the second year. If he cannot win the championship again, it will be a bit embarrassing.
Therefore, even in the League Cup this season, he will send out the main force to play, and Southampton seems to be much calmer in this regard.
In the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals in the next midweek, it can be seen from the starting lineups of both sides.
After reaching the semi-finals, no one will let go. Whether it is Chelsea, Liverpool or Southampton's rival Tottenham, they have sent most of their main players in the game. Even if it is a rotation, it is only a rotation of the main players on the bench.
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And what about Southampton? They did have a lot of main substitutes, but fringe substitutes like Jenkinson, Peters, and Klose all came on the field. Even after reaching the semi-finals, Noriya still made the substitutes more effective.
He played a lot of games in the League Cup.
So in the first round, they faced Tottenham, who played an elite team, and lost on the road.
Eriksen scored a penalty kick in the second half to help Tottenham beat Southampton 1-0 at home. Southampton fans did not care too much about this defeat. They knew the focus of Southampton this season.
Or the league and Champions League.
Many strong teams are like this and will not take the cup seriously - after thinking this way, Southampton fans were relieved.
In the FA Cup match in midweek, Noriya continued to rotate, and then they defeated Crystal Palace 3-2 at home and entered the fourth round of the FA Cup.
In the second round of the Carabao Cup, Southampton, who continued to send a large number of substitutes, failed to defeat Tottenham at home. The final score was a draw of 2 to 2 - in fact, they had a chance to drag the game into overtime.
Yes, because there is no home and away goal rule in the League Cup, after Eriksen scored in the first half, Southampton suddenly exploded in the second half. Dembele assisted Schneiderlin with two assists.
He scored twice to overtake the score. Just when the game was about to enter overtime, Eriksen assisted Kane and scored the equalizer in the 88th minute. Southampton was eliminated by Tottenham at the last moment.
The final!
"It's a pity that we lost this game... Our players performed very well, but it also allowed us to play one less game in the future, which is also a good thing for us who have a lot of games this season.
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Noriya said after the game that although his words were a bit of a compliment, he was right. The final of the League Cup was held on March 1st, which happened to be a game in the middle of the two rounds of the Champions League. You can say whatever you want
Play as a substitute, it is also a final, let the main force play, and it will affect the performance of the Champions League, and it will easily lead to a dilemma.
However, Chelsea successfully entered the final. They first played with Liverpool 1-1 away from home, then returned to home court and entered overtime after zero-0. Then Ivanovic scored in overtime and were eliminated.
Went to Liverpool and reached the League Cup final.
But it is obvious that these two games have also made Chelsea's main players very tired.
In the case that the next round of the league is against Manchester City, this choice seems a bit unwise.
However, for Mourinho, the most important thing now is to win a championship first, even if it is the League Cup.
You must know that when he first coached at Chelsea, the first championship he won was also the League Cup.
Whether it was superstition or strengthening his confidence, he was determined to win this championship.
Costa's injury after this semi-final also cast a considerable shadow on Chelsea.
Southampton fans felt that it would not be difficult for their team to win the next game, but soon, Swansea proved that the earth is round.
Just like Everton was a completely different team when playing against Manchester City and Southampton, Swansea also performed extremely well in this game.
They were beaten 5-0 by Chelsea before, but in this game, their defense seemed extremely tenacious. Even in the 41st minute of the game, forward Shelvey counterattacked and scored, taking the lead.
Goal!
The Southampton fans at home couldn't believe their eyes. Their team was in such good form before, so why was it blocked by a team like Swansea?
Southampton continued to launch attacks in the following time, and Noriya also continued to make substitutions to increase the intensity of the attack. He basically put on all the attackers that could be put on the field, but they only played in the 80th
In three minutes, Coutinho's world-beating long shot equalized the score!
With one draw and one draw, Southampton stopped its winning streak.
This made Southampton fans very regretful, because in the next game, Chelsea tied with Manchester City at home. Although Costa could not play, substitute forward Remy still scored for them.
A crucial goal...
Southampton is still two points behind Chelsea, and they missed a good opportunity to tie the score.
"Chelsea has a strong ability to grab points this year, but our state has some ups and downs, but we still have an advantage going forward. We are playing together in the league and Champions League, and Chelsea is also tired." Noriya said to Benali.
Benelli nodded helplessly. He really could only think this way. There were still fifteen rounds of the league, and as long as he didn't let go, there would still be plenty of opportunities.
"The Premier League is the most difficult game in the world. It is normal for us to be tied by Swansea. They are also a top ten team. I don't think this is an upset." Noriya said at the press conference after the game.
