Fikayo Tomori will recognise the bricks and mortar, but plenty has changed at Chelsea since he packed his bags and took a punt on an Italian odyssey.
While Milan have been in an ascent, the Roman empire has crumbled in west London, Russian oligarch Abramovich effectively becoming persona non grata in London following Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine.
Four days after Tomori went to Milan, Chelsea sacked head coach Frank Lampard, and last month his Champions League-winning successor, Thomas Tuchel, has been run out of town.
Boehly-ball is flavour of the day at Stamford Bridge, with long-term thinker Graham Potter entrusted by the new owners with delivering short-term improvements for the Blues.
On and off the pitch, it's been a dizzying 21 months in west London since Tomori, in the midst of the pandemic, said farewell to Chelsea and 'Ciao!' to the Rossoneri.
There will be familiar faces for Tomori to greet when Milan arrive at San Siro for Wednesday's Champions League game, but he is far from alone in having moved on. Kurt Zouma and Antonio Rudiger, erstwhile rivals to Tomori for a centre-back berth, have been among those to leave.
Born in Canada but raised in southern England, Tomori left Chelsea for Milan on January 22, 2021.
The deal, initially a loan, was struck in a week when the UK's home secretary Priti Patel announced an £800 fine for anyone attending a house party. A fortnight earlier, it was announced the Queen and Prince Philip had received their first COVID-19 jabs. They were very different times.
There's a new king in London town, these days, the first change of monarch for 70 years, but Chelsea kingpins come and go.
Tomori never reached that status, unlike Lampard, who as Derby County boss gave the young defender a leg up, taking him on loan from Chelsea before both were reunited in west London.
In this corresponding midweek four years ago, Tomori was lining up with Mason Mount for Lampard's Derby in a Championship game against Norwich City, the two Chelsea loanees helping the Rams to a 1-1 draw.
Now he is a major figure at the heart of Milan's title-winning backline, trusted by coach Stefano Pioli and admired by that great Rossonero, Paolo Maldini.
Tomori's world?
Milan have kept 14 clean sheets in domestic league action since the turn of the year, the joint-fewest of all teams in Europe's top five leagues (Serie A, Premier League, LaLiga, Ligue 1, Bundesliga).
Only Barcelona can match that total, while Chelsea have managed a relatively modest eight shut-outs.
Milan's goals-against tally of 18 in 27 Serie A games this year is five better, or meaner, than any side who have been in the Italian top flight throughout 2022, with Napoli next on that list.
Tomori has not played every game, it should be pointed out. In his 22 appearances, Milan have had nine clean sheets and shipped 13 goals.
Milan are stronger for his presence. Taking all competitions into account, and working on the basis of three points for a win in every game, Milan have averaged 2.0 points when Tomori has started, and 1.5 when he has not, since his debut.
Their average goals-against is 0.9 when he plays, and 1.3 when he does not, and the win percentage stands at 58.2 per cent with the 24-year-old in their XI, up from 46.7 per cent when he is either absent or a substitute.
Tomori only played 17 games for Chelsea, starting 15 of those, before the Premier League club decided his services were expendable.
World Cup in his sights
Perhaps he will have something to prove to Chelsea on Wednesday, but Tomori has arguably moved beyond that point. He is a Serie A champion, recently signed a contract that runs through to 2027 at San Siro, and could hardly be happier in Italy.
He has learned the language and is a starter with a long-standing giant of European football.
Tomori netted against Liverpool in the group stage last season, becoming only the third English player to score a Champions League goal against an English opponent while playing for a non-English side. How he'd love to put one past Chelsea on Wednesday, too.
If there is anyone Tomori might want to impress, it could be Gareth Southgate. He looks to rank among the possibles rather than the probables in terms of Southgate's England World Cup squad plans, having won just three senior caps so far.
Tomori has been "excited" by the trip to London, saying: "It's obviously an important game in this round of the Champions League, and going back to Chelsea and Stamford Bridge is going to be a great game for me."
He added: "It's just another chance for me, seeing some familiar faces, to show how I've developed. Seeing everyone will be nice. It will be a nice reunion of sorts, but I'm trying to think of it as just another game."
Tomori watches Chelsea games whenever he can, but not with any sense of envy, telling Milan's website: "The Premier League is, as people say, the best league in the world; but for me right now, being in Milan, playing in Serie A, learning the trade of nasty defending, per se, is where I'm comfortable at right now."
There it is, the Milan culture seeping into Tomori, the new guy in town learning from the cunning of that sly dog Zlatan Ibrahimovic, aching to pick up the tricks of the past masters.
So, Chelsea will recognise the returning familiar figure, but plenty has changed with Fikayo Tomori since he packed his bags and took his punt on this Italian odyssey.
Milan took his eye; he's been a hell of a buy. That's Tomori.
Gravenberch ready to show off Liverpool form ‘to the world’, says Gakpo
Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo expressed his pride in seeing compatriot Ryan Gravenberch show off his qualities ‘to the whole world’ after a fine start to the Premier League season.
Though the Netherlands pair did not become teammates at Liverpool until late summer of 2023, Gakpo knew well Gravenberch’s talents from their respective Eredivisie spells with PSV Eindhoven and Ajax.
Now in his second season at Anfield, Gravenberch has drawn widespread plaudits for his form in a new deeper-lying midfield role under new head coach Arne Slot, having largely been used as a substitute under Jurgen Klopp.
Gravenberch is the only midfielder in Europe's big-five leagues to both make 30+ tackles (30) and 30+ interceptions (33) in all competitions this season, and Gakpo insisted that his Netherlands team-mate can continue to go from strength to strength, starting against Southampton this Sunday.
“We [the Dutchmen at Liverpool] knew Ryan already from the Eredivisie when he played at Ajax, and I think everybody knew already that he is this good,” Gakpo recently told Men in Blazers.
“After that, he made a move to Bayern Munich, and maybe he didn’t play that much over there, but still everybody in Holland knew how good he could be when he was playing.
“And I think maybe the manager [Slot] also knew this. At the beginning of the season, he put him in a slightly different position, but he gave him the confidence to play there.
“Ryan showed his quality in that position, grabbed his chance as well and turned out to be a good match. He is playing outstandingly for us this season.
“I’m very happy that we can see Ryan, as we Dutchmen already knew, but now he can show it to the whole world. I’m very proud of him.”
Southampton, meanwhile, welcome the Reds to St. Mary’s on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Wolves ahead of the international break, leaving them bottom of the table after 11 games of the season.
The Saints are the lowest scorers in the Premier League this season (seven), while only Crystal Palace (5.1%) have a lower shot conversion rate than Russell Martin’s side (6.2%). Just 30.1% of Southampton’s shots have been on target this term (34/113), a league-low ratio.
However, the Southampton head coach is relishing the opportunity of facing Liverpool, with his players performing well against the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City already this term.
"I'm really excited about Sunday. We're playing the best team in the country at the moment, on their current form and what they have been doing with their manager, built on an incredible foundation from the previous manager, so I'm really looking forward to it,” Martin said.
"I think we showed the guys the Premier League table last season and how much it changed by the end and by the end of December. But it's honestly such an exciting month.
"People talk about the difficulty of the game and every competition we face in the next four or five games, but it's what we all worked so hard for. We should be excited about the challenge.
“I think teams have shown in the last few weeks that you can pick up big results against big teams, good opposition, and we are going to have to. Our level of performance against teams at the top end of the table has been good on the whole."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Southampton – Mateus Fernandes
Fernandes has become a mainstay in the Southampton team, starting the last eight Premier League games in a row, and has been one of Martin’s standout performers in a lacklustre start to the campaign.
In the Saints’ 2-0 defeat to Wolves last time out, the Portuguese contributed a team-high expected goals (xG) tally of 0.22 from his three shots, while only Yukinari Sugawara (10) and Flynn Downes (12) have created more chances in the top-flight than Fernandes (eight) this season.
Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
Salah has both scored and assisted in the same match 35 times in the Premier League (including four already this term), just one shy of Wayne Rooney’s record of 36 games with both a goal and an assist in the competition. The Egyptian has been directly involved in 11 goals (seven goals, four assists) in 11 Premier League appearances against Southampton.
He has also been directly involved in 67% of Liverpool’s Premier League goals this season (14/21 – eight goals, six assists), the highest ratio by a player for any side in the division in 2024-25. Indeed, only Matt Le Tissier for Southampton in 1993-94 (69% - 34/49) has scored or assisted a higher proportion of a side’s goals in a single season in the competition.
MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
Liverpool have won nine of their 11 Premier League games under new head coach Slot (D1 L1). A win over Southampton will see the Dutchman become the joint-fastest manager to reach 10 wins from the start of a Premier League career (12 games), alongside Guus Hiddink in May 2009 and Carlo Ancelotti in November 2009 (both with Chelsea).
The Reds’ last Premier League game against the Saints was a 4-4 away draw in May 2023 – they conceded as many goals in that game as they had in their previous six visits to St Mary’s combined.
Southampton have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games against Liverpool (D3 L10), a 1-0 home victory in January 2021.
This will also be the first Premier League match between the side starting the day bottom of the table and the side starting the day top since April 2023, and Southampton’s 3-3 draw away to Arsenal. The league leaders are unbeaten in 14 such matches (W12 D2) since Wolves won 2-1 against Manchester United in February 2011.
However, Southampton have only lost one of their last eight Premier League home games against sides starting the day at the summit (W2 D5) and are unbeaten in their last four (W2 D2 – including a 1-0 win over Liverpool in January 2021) since a 0-1 defeat to Man City in May 2018.
But Martin’s side have lost nine of their 11 Premier League games this season (W1 D1). Only seven sides in English top-flight history have reached 10 defeats in 12 or fewer matches from the start of a campaign, with all seven going on to be relegated.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Southampton – 9.7%
Draw – 12.6%
Liverpool – 77.7%
Taylor proud of 'gritty' Man City display in Hammarby victory
Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his Manchester City players handled the atmosphere against Hammarby to secure their passage into the Champions League quarter-finals.
Khadija Shaw opened the scoring in the 31st minute before Ellen Wangerheim restored parity shortly after the interval with a finish from close range.
But Shaw continued her fine start to the campaign, scoring the winner to become City's all-time top scorer in the competition, surpassing Georgia Stanway and Janine Beckie (both six).
The result saw City make it to the last eight of the competition for the first time since 2021, though the encounter was far from comfortable at the Tele2 Arena on Thursday.
Hammarby ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.15 compared to the visitors' 1.07, despite both sides having 14 shots throughout the match.
However, City maintained their unbeaten record against Swedish sides in the competitor (W6), and Taylor was proud of his side's "gritty" display in Stockholm.
“I’m really pleased. It was about qualification for us tonight," Taylor said.
"There were a couple of ways we could do it. Obviously, we knew a point was enough, but I don’t think the players were thinking that way.
“It was a really gritty performance on a really difficult on this pitch. It probably doesn’t look like that for the viewers at home watching it.
"But it was a really lively surface and we worked so hard.
“I felt there were some areas we could control the play better. I have to give credit to Hammarby, they were really aggressive.
"The referee was on our side a little bit in the first half and maybe not in the second.
“I’m really pleased and proud of the players, they really dug in tonight. You come away from a hostile environment with a win.”
McKenna fired up for 'biggest game in world football' against Man United
Kieran McKenna believes Ipswich Town's Premier League clash with Manchester United will be the "biggest game in world football" this weekend.
United are in action under new manager Ruben Amorim for the first time since the Portuguese officially replaced Arne Slot as head coach.
While plenty of focus is on the visitors at Portman Road, Ipswich are fired up after beating Tottenham 2-1 before the international break.
That was Ipswich's first league win of the season – and their first in the Premier League in 22 years – and now attention turns to facing United.
McKenna, who previously coached United, said at a fan event this week: "Sunday, what a game. It's one we're really, really looking forward to.
"Not for the personal connection, but as manager of Ipswich Town, to be on that stage, it's what we've worked so hard for.
"It's the biggest game in world football anywhere this weekend, the biggest game in the world in the biggest sport in the world and it's at Portman Road."
Ipswich's surprise win at Tottenham last time out moved them up to 17th, while United are 13th after beating Leicester City 3-0 in Ruud van Nistelrooy's final game in caretaker charge.
Amorim took his first training session on Monday, albeit with many first-team stars away on international duty, and the former Sporting CP boss believes his style of play will be clear to see from the off.
"I think you will see an idea," he told the club's website. "You could like it or not, I don't know, but you will see an idea.
"You will see a positioning. You will see something that we want to reach that kind of level. You will feel that.
"We have to know it's [only] two trainings before the first match. This is the best league in the world. But if I have to say something to you, [it's that] you will see an idea. This I can guarantee."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Ipswich Town - Liam Delap
Delap scored what proved to be Ipswich's winner against Tottenham and has now netted six of his side's 12 Premier League goals this term.
That makes the Manchester City academy product one of only three players to have scored at least half of his side's goals in the competition this season, along with Erling Haaland at City (55%) and Chris Wood at Nottingham Forest (53%).
Manchester United - Alejandro Garnacho
Garnacho was among the scorers against Leicester two weeks ago and has now been directly involved in 20 Premier League goals for United (13 goals and seven assists).
The Argentina international is one of only two non-British players to reach that figure for United before turning 21, along with Cristiano Ronaldo (25 goals).
MATCH PREDICTION: MANCHESTER UNITED WIN
Ipswich are seeking back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since February 2022, with that run also beginning with a 2-1 victory against Tottenham.
The Tractor Boys are the only side in the competition without a home win this season. Only five newly promoted clubs have failed to win any of their first six home matches, all of whom went back down.
United have won 17 of their past 19 Premier League games against newly promoted opponents, meanwhile, including nine wins in a row in away fixtures.
The Red Devils were 1-0 winners on their most recent league trip to Portman Road in April 2022, but only once have they won successive league games away to Ipswich.
However, the Tractor Boys have lost four of their past five league matches against Man United, failing to score in each of those losses.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Ipswich Town - 22.2%
Draw - 23%
Manchester United - 54.8%
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