{"id":132726,"date":"2023-12-19T10:03:11","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T10:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/12\/19\/fit-again-nkunku-in-line-for-chelsea-debut\/"},"modified":"2023-12-19T10:03:11","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T10:03:11","slug":"fit-again-nkunku-in-line-for-chelsea-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/12\/19\/fit-again-nkunku-in-line-for-chelsea-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Fit-again Nkunku in line for Chelsea debut \u2013"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>LiveScore Daily is here to deliver all the big talking points from the world of football throughout the day. Keep refreshing this page for the latest stories in bite-sized chunks.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Don\u2019t bank on a Chris of life<\/h2>\n<p>Christopher Nkunku could make his Chelsea debut from the bench tomorrow night \u2014 but Mauricio Pochettino has urged the club\u2019s fans to be patient with the summer signing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After recovering from a knee injury suffered in pre-season, Nkunku, 26, was an unused sub for Saturday\u2019s 2-0 win over Premier League strugglers Sheffield United at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>And while Poch has confirmed the fit-again striker will be in his squad for the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Newcastle, he is not expecting miracles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Blues boss said: \u201cMaybe he can play 20 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow I saw him before Saturday in my mind I had 1% to 2% of doubt. That\u2019s why I didn\u2019t want to take a risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need to be 100%, then things can happen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was good for him to feel in the warm-up, being involved with the team. But why take a risk when it was 2-0?\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Virgil bites back<\/h2>\n<p>Virgil van Dijk insists he was not being arrogant in dismissing Manchester United\u2019s negative display at Liverpool.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Reds skipper provoked a stinging response from former United midfielder Roy Keane when he said only one team played to win during the goalless draw.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sky Sports pundit Keane claimed the comments smacked of arrogance and disrespect before adding: \u201cHe needs to remember he\u2019s playing for a club that have won the title once in 30-odd years.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/cd9568df-7d72-45e7-9cdf-60f13982c35e.jpg\" alt=\"Virgil van Dijk was critical of Manchester United after Sunday's goalless draw\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Virgil van Dijk was critical of Manchester United after Sunday\u2019s goalless draw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Van Dijk, 32, explained there was honesty but no arrogance in his words on a frustrating afternoon when Liverpool had 34 shots but failed to score for the first time since April.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cI like Keane. If he said that, it\u2019s fine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is Man United throughout and I understand he could react like that but I felt what I said and there is absolutely no arrogance in that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone who watched the game probably felt the same. We move on.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had the opportunity and we couldn\u2019t score and that\u2019s the frustrating part.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fine for City<\/h2>\n<p>Manchester City have been fined \u00a3120,000 after their players surrounded ref Simon Hooper during the 3-3 draw with Tottenham earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hooper made the contentious call to bring the game back after he initially played advantage following Emerson Royal\u2019s mistimed challenge on Erling Haaland.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Haaland was able to get back to his feet and release Jack Grealish but the match official blew his whistle to end City\u2019s hopes of scoring a potential last-gasp winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Norweigan striker, 23, expressed his frustration at full-time before making his feelings clear with a post on social media site X.<\/p>\n<p>And the FA have now dished out a substantial fine to the Premier League champs.<\/p>\n<p>A statement said: \u201cManchester City have been fined \u00a3120,000 after their players surrounded a match official at the Premier League game against Tottenham on December 3.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cManchester City admitted they failed to ensure their players did not behave in an improper way during the 94th minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn independent regulatory commission imposed this sanction following a hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Black Cats turn to Beale\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>Sunderland have appointed Michael Beale as their new head coach until the summer of 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Black Cats believe the ex-Rangers boss is the right man to lead them back to the Premier League after parting ways with Tony Mowbray earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Beale, who left the Gers two months ago, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a huge honour to be joining the Sunderland family.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Action Jackson<\/h2>\n<p>Nicolas Jackson was delighted to notch his seventh Premier League goal of the season as Chelsea saw off Sheffield United on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The striker, 22, has had his fair share of critics since joining the Blues during the summer but he tapped home against the Blades to make it 2-0 and secure three precious points.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jackson, who struck after Cole Palmer had broken the deadlock at Stamford Bridge, told the\u00a0club\u2019s website: \u201cIt was nice to be on the scoresheet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere have been hard times and some criticism but that\u2019s how life is.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow I have scored I hope to continue to help us win more games and win for the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Vill to succeed<\/h2>\n<p>Unai Emery called on his Aston Villa players to keep up their positive form after Sunday\u2019s 2-1 win at Brentford.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Bees opened the scoring through Keane Lewis-Potter before Ben Mee\u2019s red card allowed Alex Moreno and Ollie Watkins to strike late on, with Boubacar Kamara also dismissed late on in a feisty affair in West London.<\/p>\n<p>With Villa\u2019s unbeaten league run now standing at six games, Emery is determined to ensure his third-placed side maintain the momentum.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cLet\u2019s keep going. We are moving on because on Friday we will face Sheffield United at home and it\u2019s a new challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to try to keep consistent across 38 matches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- AI CONTENT END 1 --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LiveScore Daily is here to deliver all the big talking points from the world of football throughout the day. Keep refreshing this page for the latest stories in bite-sized chunks. Don\u2019t bank on a Chris of life Christopher Nkunku could make his Chelsea debut from the bench tomorrow night \u2014 but Mauricio Pochettino has urged [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fit-again Nkunku in line for Chelsea debut \u2013 - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/12\/19\/fit-again-nkunku-in-line-for-chelsea-debut\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fit-again Nkunku in line for Chelsea debut \u2013 - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LiveScore Daily is here to deliver all the big talking points from the world of football throughout the day. 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