Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick is hopeful his side can take the “positive experiences” from their FA Cup third-round loss into their Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea.
Boro were knocked out of the FA Cup by Matty Cash’s late strike in the 87th minute, which took a deflection into the bottom corner.
However, Boro’s attention quickly turns to the Carabao Cup, where they come up against Premier League Chelsea at the Riverside on Tuesday and Carrick hopes his players can take inspiration from their performance against Aston Villa.
He said post-match: “The boys are disappointed, which is good that they’re disappointed.
“It’s not an acceptance of ‘we’ve got beat’, it shows to me, more importantly, how much they felt they were right in the game. That’ll help us.
“We’ve got a lot of young boys in there that are learning, developing and experiences like that and the positive experiences we’ll take from it are no end for Tuesday hopefully and to the end of the season.”
Two games against Chelsea stand in the way of Boro reaching the final of the Carabao Cup, which they won in 2004, and Carrick insists his side are already relishing the test against the Blues.
“I won’t have to lift them (for the Chelsea match),” he added.
“It’s a huge game for us obviously, for each individual it’s a massive game, but for us collectively it’s a massive game.
“There won’t be any issues with recovery or motivation, my job’s already done for that one, they’ve done it themselves by getting into a semi-final.
“It’s a different game completely in terms of tactically and the dangers Chelsea have got, we’ll obviously have to adapt and look forward to that.
“They’re dangerous, at any point they can change a game, we know that.”
The 1-0 victory on Saturday night saw Aston Villa break their poor FA Cup run to progress to the fourth round for the first time since 2016.
Their best chances came from a succession of corners in the second half where goalkeeper Tom Glover pulled off an excellent save to deny John McGinn before Ezri Konsa’s header smashed off the inside of the post and Alex Moreno blasted the ball over the bar from close range.
The winning moment fell to Cash who struck from outside of the box to beat Glover and he revealed it was something he had worked on in training.
He told VillaTV: “I think I’ve worked closely on it in training, out of the box shooting and trying to keep the ball on target, and that’s all you can do.
“Obviously got a lucky deflection but I’m delighted it’s gone in, I’m really happy to get a goal.
“Since I’ve been here I haven’t progressed through to the next round, we made it clear before the game we wanted to do that and we’re obviously delighted to get into the fourth round.”
Ferencvaros 1-2 Tottenham: Johnson the difference as Postecoglou's side stay perfect
Brennan Johnson's red-hot form in front of goal continued as he helped Tottenham to a 2-1 win over Ferencvaros in the Europa League on Thursday.
Pape Sarr had given the visitors the lead in the first half before Johnson got the second with four minutes remaining prior to Barnabus Varga giving the hosts a late consolation.
A young Spurs side started slowly and were given a wake-up call 12 minutes in as Varga's header across goal nestled into the far bottom corner, but his goal was ruled out due to a tight offside.
Sarr put Spurs ahead just 11 minutes later, getting a little bit of fortune as the ball ricocheted through the box before he slotted past Denes Dibusz.
Pedro Porro then cut inside to drive a low shot against the foot of the right post before the break, while Matheus Saldanha forced Guglielmo Vicario into a fingertip save shortly after half-time.
Johnson came off the bench and hit the bar before keeping his composure to double Spurs' lead, sending his strike in off the inside of the post.
Varga did get his name on the scoresheet in stoppage time, stretching out a leg to lift Cristian Ramirez's whipped cross over Vicario.
Data Debrief: Johnson proves the difference
He may not have started the game, but it is Johnson's involvement that sealed all three points for Spurs, and a second consecutive Europa League win.
The forward has scored in each of his last five appearances for the club in all competitions, matching his goal tally for the entirety of last season (five goals).
Ange Postecoglou was not afraid to ring in the changes, and Tottenham became the first English side to start four-plus teenagers in a single match in a major European competition since Manchester United versus Astana in the Europa League in November 2019 (six).
Lopetegui ready to ease pressure as he targets first home win
Julen Lopetegui says he expects to be under pressure after West Ham's recent struggles at home but hopes to put that right against Ipswich Town.
West Ham have won just one of their six Premier League matches so far, away to Crystal Palace, but have lost all three of their home fixtures, conceding eight goals and scoring twice.
Having failed to win any of their last four in the league, along with a heavy 5-1 defeat to Liverpool in the EFL Cup before last week's draw at Brentford, Lopetegui is coming under a little pressure already.
However, the Spaniard is not fazed by that, explaining his team are working hard to change their fortunes at the London Stadium.
"Always it's very important to win, and that's why we work hard every day. We want to win for sure," Lopetegui said.
"Ipswich are a good team, and all our thoughts are on Saturday.
"Our job is to live under pressure, and it is normal because we haven't won at home yet. That's why we are working, to try and win on Saturday against Ipswich."
Meanwhile, the Tractor Boys are still searching for their first win since being promoted back to the top-flight.
There is reason to be optimistic though, as Ipswich have drawn each of their last four outings, including 2-2 against Aston Villa last weekend.
Kieran McKenna is expecting another tough test but knows his players will show their competitiveness once again.
"I know it is another big game, another big challenge and one to look forward to," McKenna said.
"Let's hope we can make it really competitive. I don't think there [will be] many weeks this year where we are going to blow teams out of the water, so we need to work really, really hard to be competitive.
"We hope we can be really clinical in our execution when we have our moments and defend their moments well to give ourselves a chance to get a result."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
West Ham – Tomas Soucek
Tomas Soucek netted his 29th Premier League goal for West Ham United in their 1-1 draw with Brentford, overtaking Milan Baros (28) into second place for the top Czechia scorers in Premier League history.
He is now only behind Patrik Berger (38 goals), a record he will be keen to start chasing down.
Ipswich Town – Sam Morsy
No player has more Premier League yellow cards this season than Ipswich midfielder Sam Morsy (four) and was perhaps lucky not to receive a second against Aston Villa last weekend.
Since his Ipswich league debut in September 2021, only one player has more yellow cards in the league in England's top four tiers than Morsy's total of 40, but given his importance to McKenna's side, the manager will be hoping he can avoid another.
MATCH PREDICTION: WEST HAM WIN
West Ham have lost just one of their eight Premier League meetings with Ipswich (W3 D4), a 1-0 home loss in March 2001. Their last such meeting was a 3-1 victory for the Hammers in March 2002.
However, Ipswich won their last two league meetings with West Ham, beating them 1-0 away and 5-1 at home in the 2011-12 Championship campaign.
West Ham have lost their three home Premier League games this season, the first time they have started a season with three home defeats. The Hammers have not suffered four defeats in a row in the top-flight at the London Stadium since the final four home matches of Manuel Pellegrini's reign in November-December 2019.
Indeed, West Ham have won just five points in their opening six Premier League matches this season (W1 D2 L3), the fifth time in the last nine seasons they have had five or fewer points at this stage of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Ipswich are winless in all six Premier League games this season (D2 L4), only once starting a top-flight season with a longer winless start, in 1969-70 (seven games).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
West Ham – 51.3%
Draw – 23.8%
Ipswich Town – 24.9%
Bremer to have surgery after suffering ACL injury
Juventus centre-back Bremer will undergo surgery after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury against RB Leipzig.
The Brazil international was forced off six minutes into Juve's 3-2 win over Leipzig on Wednesday, with the club confirming the extent of his injury on Thursday.
Bremer has been key to Thiago Motta's side so far this season, playing every minute in Serie A with the team yet to concede a single goal in six matches.
Among his team-mates, he has played the most minutes (540), making the most interceptions (six) and blocks (11).
Juventus were also dealt another blow, with midfielder Nico Gonzalez suffering a thigh muscle injury.
"Bremer and Nico Gonzalez underwent diagnostic tests which revealed an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the left knee for the former and a low-grade injury to the rectus femoris of the right thigh for the latter," the club said in a statement.
"Bremer will undergo surgery in the coming days."
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