I had lunch with Sam Allardyce, but he thought it was a better idea to talk about wine than to talk about football, and then to get up and leave me halfway through our meeting.
Michail Antonio has joined Qatar side Al-Sailiya after recovering from a serious car accident. The 35-year-old has not had a club since leaving West Ham at the end of last season. Antonio suffered a badly broken leg in December 2024 when his Ferrari came off the road and hit a tree in Epping Forest. He broke his femur bone in four places and spent three weeks in hospital.
Michail Antonio is set to sign a short-term deal with Qatar's AlSailiya before his return to club football following a near-fatal car crash. The former West Ham striker had been training with Charlton Athletic and held exploratory talks with the Championship club over a pay-as-you-play deal. But the 35-year-old is poised to sign for Qatari Stars League club AlSailiya until the end of their season, which has six games left.
Chelsea have kept two clean sheets in 10 games since appointing Liam Rosenior as head coach last month. Repeated doziness at the back has cost them. They have held commanding advantages against Charlton, Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leeds, only to give away silly goals. It is a bad habit and proved costly when a 2-0 lead was squandered during Tuesday's draw with Leeds.
Starting with the hosts, while West Ham might have suffered a dramatic collapse away at local rivals Chelsea last week as they eventually fell to a 3-2 loss at Stamford Bridge, Nuno Espírito Santo saw his resurgent squad claim an immediate response on Saturday afternoon. Claiming a deserved 2-0 victory against Burnley, the former Nottingham Forest boss has seen his squad turn a major corner over the past few weeks.
