These stories are samples pulled from external media sources. They do not represent the views or position of Chelsea Football Club.

Bierhoff backs Werner to succeed in England

Former Germany striker Oliver Bierhoff has told The Athletic he is confident Timo Werner will adapt quickly to the demands of Premier League football and be a big success at Chelsea because of his ‘obsessive quest for goals’.

Bierhoff, who scored his country’s golden goal winner at Euro 96, understands the challenge of playing abroad after his spells at Udinese, AC Milan and Monaco.

However, he feels Werner, who scored 28 goals to help Leipzig finish third in the Bundesliga, has the right mentality to be a success in England.

‘You believe football is the same everywhere, but it’s totally different everywhere. The people are different, the dressing room humour is different, communication is different, the game is different,’ he said.

‘You need a bit of time to get used to it. There is an expectation on you that you should not take too long, of course, but I believe that Timo’s obsessive quest for goals and his ambitiousness will help him settle quickly.

‘He doesn’t look left or right too much, he’s focused on scoring and performing well. And with his pace, he will score goals in England, I’m sure.’

Klopp sees Blues as potential challengers

According to the Mirror, Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp expects Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United to be the main challengers to his side when they attempt to defend their Premier League title next season.

While the Reds have been runaway champions this year, the German is expecting a strong test in the 2020/21 campaign from the three clubs and has not ruled out other possible challengers for their league crown.

‘City will be strong next season, United will be strong next season, Chelsea will be strong next season,’ said the Liverpool boss.

‘The three of them, it’s obvious - City is just an outstanding team, United are in outstanding shape, Chelsea are in really good shape and is doing some interesting business.

‘Tottenham will not sleep, Arsenal will not sleep, Leicester will be there. The thing is, we have to play 38 games and who wins most of them can win the league.

“That happened now for us the first time, so we will not defend the title next year we will attack the next one.

‘That will be difficult enough but we are in the same situation as other teams, it’s just what we achieved last week is something for the history books. We will try again to show that already tomorrow night.’

Ferguson used guard of honour as motivational tool

According to Metro, Phil Neville says former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson ordered his players to give Chelsea a guard of honour in 2005 because he wanted them to feel the pain of missing out on the Premier League title.

Under Jose Mourinho, the Blues ran away with the title in the 2004/05 season, wrapping up our first league championship for 50 years in April and finishing 18 points ahead of third-placed United.

We travelled to Old Trafford for our penultimate game of the campaign and according to Neville, Ferguson insisted the players should pay tribute to the newly crowned champions.

‘I remember at Old Trafford we had to do a guard of honour on our own patch for Chelsea and it was almost like Sir Alex enjoyed it,’ the former United defender told Premier League Productions.

‘It was like “This is going to hurt you this, seeing a team that has got your title come out at your stadium and you have to applaud them”.

‘It was almost like a motivation [tactic] for the season after to make sure that it didn’t happen again. That’s how we used it.

‘Ultimately you’ve got to give respect to the best team in the league with the best manager and the best players by giving them that guard of honour. I think it’s something that should just be done out of respect for the team that won the league.’