Chelsea face a pair of season-defining fixtures in the next two weeks but former captain Marcel Desailly sees no reason for the Premier League leaders to feel daunted by the challenge that lies ahead.
Chelsea remain on course for a domestic double and first travel to Manchester United on Sunday hoping to maintain a seven-point advantage in the league before taking on Tottenham Hotspur in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley six days later.
“These two weeks are the key moments and games for Chelsea but they will make it. There’s no reason why the players should shake in front of these various events,” Desailly, who won the FA Cup with Chelsea in 2000, told Sky Sports.
“It’s just that they have to finish correctly. The FA Cup is there against Tottenham, there are many major important games such as United this weekend, so you have to be careful.”
Later this month, Chelsea will host Southampton before they embark on a tough away game to Everton, who have won their last seven league matches at Goodison Park.
Chelsea finished 10th last season and Desailly felt the reintegration of Victor Moses in the squad and the additions of midfielder N’Golo Kante and wing back Marcos Alonso have been key to the club’s change in fortunes.
“When you look at last season where it was very difficult,” the 48-year-old added. “This year you have three new players: Kante, Alonso and Moses and you just change a little bit of the tactics, it’s just an amazing season for Chelsea.”
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Uefa Champions League
■ In pictures: Messi dejected as Barca throttled 3-0
■ Bayern Munich: Ancelotti gets chance to show up Real Madrid
■ Atletico v Leicester: Toughest of matchups for English upstarts
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* Reuters
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The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Rocketman
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last-16 second leg
Paris Saint-Germain (1) v Borussia Dortmund (2)
Kick-off: Midnight, Thursday, March 12
Stadium: Parc des Princes
Live: On beIN Sports HD
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
India squads
T20: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur
Test: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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