The word is that Emi Martinez will start for Chelsea. Full team news to follow soon…
Chelsea have a new goalkeeper. Where will Robert Sanchez end up? He was, as is customary for Chelsea, previously at Brighton.
On a similar tip, Andrew Beesley has run the numbers.
Vítor Pereira, Graham Potter and Thomas Frank became managers of Wolves, West Ham and Tottenham respectively in 2025, started last season in those roles and yet were removed by mid-February of this year at the latest. Across the preceding decade, 25 men who started a season as a new manager, appointed in that year, did not see out the season in question.
Here are the young men, the weight on their shoulders. Regis Le Bris is the oldest manager on duty for the 2pm kick-offs.
It turns out it is true. Managers used to be ashen-faced men with nicotine-grey hair dressed in the sports jackets of grim experience. They spoke with a rasping melancholy of the depths of human fallibility and of fates that were not to be trusted. Now they’re trim, sprightly figures in T-shirts, convinced that analytics can explain the world.
Preamble
Three matches in the 2pm Super Sunday slot, and plenty to go at. Chelsea take on Brighton, the club they keep taking personnel from, who smashed Aston Villa last week. Brentford, who smashed Tottenham last week, travel to Leeds, who beat Nottingham Forest not once in the opening week of the season. Sunderland, whose fans are getting very excited about their European tour, take on the new-look Fulham.
All kick off at 2pm BST. Join me.
