Mauricio Pochettino acknowledged it will be difficult for any club to win the Premier League title whilst Pep Guardiola remains in charge of Manchester City.
Chelsea face the champions at Stamford Bridge on Sunday seeking a fourth win in six games in the league, but go into the game 11 points behind Guardiola’s treble winners having finished a colossal 45 points back last season.
Despite spending over £1billion on signings during the 18 months that owner Todd Boehly has been at the helm, the club have slid away from the league’s summit in that time, dropping from third place at the end of the 2021-22 campaign to 12th last season.
Pochettino has consistently defended results and performances since he took over in July, emphasising that despite the huge outlay, the club has mostly invested in young, inexperienced players who will required time to mature.
Ahead of Sunday’s showdown in west London, he agreed that toppling City will be a significant challenge whilst Guardiola is still in his job.
“I think we are all trying to be close to their level,” said Pochettino. “That’s the idea, that’s the challenge. It’ll be tough of course. If he continues there, he has the experience and the capacity, and the knowledge. He’s a great coach. It’s going to be tough to beat Manchester City.
“But we need to believe. Football is about belief and to try to develop and to create some different strategies to try to be above them.”
Pochettino previously enjoyed success against Guardiola and City in eliminating them from the Champions League with Tottenham en route to the final in 2019.
They ultimately lost in the final to Liverpool in Madrid, with Pochettino leaving less than six months later having failed to win silverware, despite running Leicester close for the title in 2016.
“We were contenders in the Champions League, we beat (City) with Tottenham,” said Pochettino. “But our possibility to win the league was when we fought in 2016 with Leicester. We never went in a fight with City for the league.
“But we were contenders in the Champions League. It’s not easy.
“That’s why massive credit to Pep and the organisation. Of course, you can see. But different clubs, different people, different structures, for sure, they’re building something really special.
“It was tough for them to win their first Champions League (last season), but they were consistent; improving and improving and improving with the confidence in Pep’s project, backing Pep for seven years. Massive credit to them.”
Brighton boss Hurzeler predicts swift return for injured O'Riley
Matt O'Riley is in good spirits and could come back "quite fast" as he recovers from ankle surgery, so says Brighton coach Fabian Hurzeler.
Brighton signed Denmark international O'Riley from Celtic last month, but the midfielder sustained an injury on his debut.
O'Riley was on the end of a poor challenge from Crawley Town's Jay Williams, and subsequently had to undergo surgery.
Ahead of Brighton's meeting with Ipswich Town on Saturday, Hurzeler said O'Riley could return ahead of schedule.
"He's in very good spirits. He has a great character, a great attitude, so immediately after the surgery he was very, very positive," Hurzeler said of the 23-year-old.
"He is around us in the training ground, he is doing his rehab already and I think he will be coming back quite fast."
Brighton have made a strong start to the season, going unbeaten in their opening three Premier League matches.
And for new boss Hurzeler, the international break provided an opportunity to reflect on the first weeks of the campaign.
"For me it was time to reflect, to re-analyse the first few weeks," said the 31-year-old, who is the youngest coach in Premier League history.
"I think it is very important to reflect on what is going good so far and where we can improve. That was the first thing I did.
"The second thing was to plan the next phase and the next week because now we have a lot of games in the next period of time. We have a lot of home games so we want to use this chance.
"For me it was more reflection and planning. Of course, I also had one or two minutes for myself."
Brighton v Ipswich will be the 936th different fixture to be played in the Premier League. They met eight times in the top flight between 1979 and 1983 (four Ipswich wins, two Brighton wins, two draws), with the Tractor Boys winning 2-0 in the most recent thanks to goals from John Wark and Alan Brazil.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Brighton - Simon Adingra
Excluding own goals, Adingra has scored five of Brighton's last eight Premier League goals against newly promoted opponents. This accounts for 71% of the Ivorian's Premier League goals (5/7).
Ipswich Town - Leif Davis
Davis was a star for Ipswich in the Championship last season, and he leads the way for the Tractor Boys for chances created (three).
That being said, he will be tested defensively on Saturday, with Yankuba Minteh likely to start down Brighton's right flank.
MATCH PREDICTION: BRIGHTON WIN
Ipswich have had the fewest shots (19), shots on target (seven) and the lowest expected goals total (1.2) of any side in the Premier League so far this season.
And in a run stretching back to March 2002, Ipswich have lost each of their last five Premier League away games by an aggregate score of 18-3. They are winless in their last eight on the road in the top-flight (D1 L7) since a 2-1 win at Everton in February 2002.
Meanwhile, Brighton have won six of their last eight Premier League matches in September (D1 L1), scoring 3+ goals in each of their last four such victories. However, their last September match ended in a 6-1 defeat at Aston Villa.
Brighton have lost just one of their last 13 Premier League home games against promoted sides (W5 D7), going down 1-0 against Fulham in February 2023.
Ipswich have won two of their last four away league games against Brighton (D1 L1), with those wins coming in March 2014 (2-0) and December 2015 (1-0). They had been winless in their previous eight league visits to the Seagulls before this (D5 L3).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Brighton - 65.7%
Ipswich - 15.3%
Draw - 19%
Eidevall wishes Miedema well but Arsenal keen to move on
Jonas Eidevall wished former Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema all the best after her move to Manchester City, as the Gunners prepare for the upcoming Women's Super League season.
Arsenal are set to begin life without the WSL's all-time leading scorer, who left the club after netting 80 times in 106 appearances during her seven-year spell.
Miedema also holds the WSL record for most shots (452), efforts on target (198), touches in the opposition box (816) and goals from inside the area (70).
In WSL history, only Bethany England (48) has converted more big chances than the Netherlands international (44), while Miedema has also provided 35 assists.
Ironically, Miedema's first WSL appearance for her new club will come against Arsenal on September 22, two days after the start of the new campaign on Friday, September 20, for which Eidevall is now focused on getting his current squad ready.
Speaking at the Barclay's WSL's 2024-25 season launch Media Day, he told Stats Perform: "Of course, Vivianne Miedema has had a really good history at Arsenal, some really good contributions to the club.
"Then, you come to a point where you need to say, what does the squad need here now for the next season? We prioritise these players that we now have in the squad.
"[We] wish Viv all the best. I think she's going to have a really good and successful season with Manchester City, but we're really happy and content with the squad that we have."
Arsenal are aiming to improve on last term's third-place finish, and Eidevall wants his players to produce high-quality performances on a more frequent basis.
"We need to keep our highs that we had last season," he added.
"I think we showed - both with performances and results against the teams that were finishing at the top of the league - that we were a really good football team, but we lacked the consistency.
"So, we need to keep our highs, but we need to raise our lows from last season. That's not easy, but if we can do that, then we can be winning."
Martino looking to Suarez's influence with Messi involvement still unsure
Miami head coach Gerardo Martino is hoping Luis Suarez's influence can inspire the team to victory once again when they welcome Philadelphia Union to Chase Stadium.
The Herons have already clinched an MLS playoff place and recorded an impressive 4-1 victory over Chicago Fire last time out.
Suarez scored twice in his last two matches, propelling Miami to 59 points on top of the Eastern Conference, and Martino has been impressed with how the Uruguayan has led the line.
"Luis was probably the best player on the field [against Chicago], but I don't want to focus only on the goals because that is normal for him," he said.
"I prefer to focus on his game as a whole, the ball circulation and all the passes to midfielders and, because of that, we can play in other parts of the field. He did that very well."
Miami have been without talisman Lionel Messi since MLS action returned due to an ankle injury he sustained in the Copa America final, but Julian Gressel believes he could be back soon.
"It's nice to see [Messi] back out there," Gressel told the Player/Manager podcast. "If you can add a guy like that after what we've done over the past two months, it's certainly going to be an interesting kind of finish to the end here."
Meanwhile, Philadelphia are 11th in the standings but got back to winning ways with a 2-0 victory over New York Red Bulls last time out.
Head coach Jim Curtin was pleased to grind out the win but believes there are still improvements to be made.
"We were all disappointed with losing to a very strong Columbus team, but I had a good response [against New York RB]," Curtin said.
"I think big picture wise, if you look at the first 15 minutes of [the New York] game, that's us at our best. We have it in us, and now the challenge is to sustain it for all 90."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Inter Miami – Luis Suarez
Since the return of MLS action following the Leagues Cup break, Suarez has been running defences riot, scoring braces against both Cincinnati and Chicago Fire.
Against the Fire last weekend, he had the most shots (nine), shots on target (five), big chances (three) and touches in the opposition box (10), proving a constant threat in just under 80 minutes.
Philadelphia Union – Mikael Uhre
Mikael Uhre returned to the scoresheet against the New York Red Bulls last time out, netting his seventh goal of the season, the joint-second-highest tally in the team this season.
He is also known for his creative ability though, as his assist for Tai Baribo was his fifth of the campaign, with only Kai Wagner playing on more.
MATCH PREDICTION: INTER MIAMI WIN
Miami have recorded wins in each of their last two matches against the Union in all competitions. The Herons had won just two of their first eight all-time matches against Philadelphia (D2 L4).
Miami are just the second team in the post-shootout era (since 2000) to record 15 wins in a span of 19 matches in a single regular season (after Seattle Sounders in 2018). No team in the post-shootout era has won 16 times in a span of 20 matches within a single regular season.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia snapped a four-match regular-season road losing streak with a 2-0 win at the Red Bulls on August 31. Those four losses are the Union's only road defeats of the regular season in 2024 (W4 D5).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Inter Miami – 51.8%
Draw – 24.6%
Philadelphia Union – 23.6%
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