Category: English Premier League

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Enzo Fernández and Rodri would quite like to move to Madrid; many people would. They both said as much in the international break, those special parts of the season when players join up with their national teams and give interviews while apparently unaware that media are global these days: a whisper on Luzo TV can soon become a hurricane in London. But Rodri will line up for Manchester City at Chelsea on Sunday, while Fernández will not, suspended by the club for “crossing a line”.

It’s worth, perhaps, looking at exactly what was said. Fernández expressed disappointment at Enzo Maresca’s departure on New Year’s Day. “It … hurt a lot,” he told Luzo, “because we had a lot of identity, he gave us order, but it’s the way that football is, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. But we always had a clear identity when it came to training, playing and obviously his departure hurt us especially in the middle of the season – it cuts everything short.” Sadness that a manager has gone surely isn’t a crime; it could even be supportive of Liam Rosenior and the difficulty of taking over a club mid-season.

Crystal Palace 0-1 Newcastle

Nottm Forest 1-1 Aston Villa

Sunderland 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur

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• Football updates from Sunday’s top-flight fixtures

• Email Daniel | Premier League table | Football Daily

And there looks to be a more solid look about the side he’s sent out, with players in their natural positions. In particular, I like the legs in midfield, though I’m still concerned about where the goals might come from – none of the front three can reliably create for themselves, and there’s a lack of wingers and invention around and behind them.

All that said, I’m really looking forward to seeing how Spurs look, having had a couple of weeks to absorb new instructions. I very much doubt De Zerbi leaves things alone for fear of confusing them – I’d expect his instructions to be the pro forma, from now.

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Rio Ngumoha, 17, scored his first goal at Anfield and stole the show in a morale-boosting victory for Liverpool

3 min Both teams have started in a 4-2-3-1 formation as expected.

1 min Fulham kick off from left to right as we watch. The home fans launch straight into a song about Andy Robertson, who announced this week that he will leave the club this summer. £8m he cost.

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The title race was blown wide open as Eli Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott scored the crucial goals against league leaders who looked paralysed with fear

• Read Ed Aarons’ match report from the Emirates Stadium

Managerial contract news: In short, there is no managerial contract news. Andoni Iraola and Mikel Arteta were both asked if either had been in talks with their respective employers during their pre-match press conferences and both men suggested they had not.

Iraola: “I’m sorry, I don’t have any news for you,” he said. “There has been no change on that side of things.”

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Two goals each from Taty Castellanos and Dinos Mavropanos pulled the Hammers out of the relegation zone

Here’s the talk from the managers ahead of the Premier League weekend.

Just wondering how much Danny Dyer we will see this Friday night. Sunday versus Leeds bordered on the overkill.

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Arsenal host Bournemouth at Saturday lunchtime and De Zerbi leads Tottenham out for the first time at Sunderland

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue Emirates Stadium

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There are protests planned at Anfield as Roberto De Zerbi starts his Tottenham tenure and Everton eye Europe

Nuno Espírito Santo has rolled back the years in an attempt to save West Ham. He has gone old-school, switching to a gung-ho 4-4-2 system to give his side more threat in the final third. Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos, both January arrivals, have altered the face of the attack, but neither forward has been prolific. Castellanos has scored three goals in all competitions since joining from Lazio and Pablo, who is yet to open his account in English football, failed to convert during last week’s penalty shootout defeat by Leeds in the FA Cup. As a pair, though, Castellanos and Pablo have been oddly effective. Are they any good? Unclear. Do they run around a lot and give a previously ponderous West Ham more energy? Undoubtedly. Played together, Pablo and Castellanos do a worthy job for the team. Importantly, they create space for the wingers, Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville, who hopes to return from a calf injury for Friday night’s vital home game against Wolves. Bowen and Summerville are the big threats; they are West Ham’s main source of goals, but both are more dangerous with Pablo and Castellanos in the team. Jacob Steinberg

West Ham v Wolves, Friday 8pm (all times BST)

Arsenal v Bournemouth, Saturday 12.30pm

Brentford v Everton, Saturday 3pm

Burnley v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Liverpool v Fulham, Saturday 5.30pm

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Players are not covering the distances of old – they are not being lazy but adapting to demands of an arduous campaign

There is nothing English football admires more than honest endeavour, which is perhaps a consequence of the league’s origins in the industrial cities of the north and Midlands. “He put in a shift.” “She did her job.” “He gave his all.” The language of football is the language of the pit or the factory floor.

All top-level players these days are supremely skilled, but still we demand that they be exhausted by the final whistle, legs leaden with effort, hair soaked with sweat. Which was why it seemed to cause such consternation when Alan Shearer mentioned on Match of the Day last Saturday that Chelsea have run less than their opponents in every Premier League game they have played this season.

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• Tudor informed of news after 3-0 defeat by Forest

• Cristian Romero promises ‘200%’ in remaining games

Tottenham’s interim manager, Igor Tudor, is mourning the death of his father, Mario. Tudor was unable to fulfil his media commitments after Spurs’ 3-0 Premier League home defeat by Nottingham Forest because of the bereavement.

The Spurs assistant Bruno Saltor stepped in and the Spaniard declined to reveal any details on Tudor’s “family issue”. Juventus announced on Monday that their former player and manager was grieving his father’s death. In a statement the club said: “Juventus stands with Igor Tudor and his family at this difficult time. Juventus joins in mourning the passing of his father.”

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• Gunners eyeing trophies after Carabao Cup final woes

• Striker ‘even more motivated’ for coming games

Viktor Gyökeres has articulated the hurt and defiance inside the Arsenal dressing-room after Sunday’s 2-0 Carabao Cup final defeat by Manchester City and promised to use it as fuel in the club’s pursuit of other trophies.

Arsenal picked a bad time to produce their worst performance of the season with everybody in the starting XI falling well below their best – apart from maybe William Saliba. No one will want to dwell on the period from the beginning of the second half to the moment when Nico O’Reilly scored his second goal in the 64th minute to put City in an unassailable position. It was one-way traffic, Arsenal pinned back, unable to get out.

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• Two-goal hero says City are ready to hunt down Arsenal

• Rodri feels Carabao Cup can be springboard in title race

Nico O’Reilly has stated Manchester City “smell blood” as they hunt down Arsenal’s nine-point Premier League advantage following Sunday’s 2-0 Carabao Cup final triumph.

Two second-half headers by O’Reilly defeated Mikel Arteta’s team at Wembley to give City the season’s first major trophy. Pep Guardiola’s side have a game in hand on the leaders and host them next month at the Etihad Stadium.

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Kobbie Mainoo needs a power boost, Everton revel in home comforts but Brentford must rediscover their buzz

• Premier League top scorers: check the latest standings

One theory behind Manchester City’s subpar 18 months is that the end is sliding into view on Pep Guardiola’s glorious reign, and the fact that he may be considering life after City is transmitting itself to his players. Sunday’s Carabao Cup win goes some way to refuting that. Not only did he see off the challenge of his former apprentice Mikel Arteta, but it was vintage Guardiola on the touchline. He looked gobsmacked when decisions didn’t go his side’s way, produced a Chuck Norris tribute kick to an advertising hoarding when City took the lead then sprinted down the touchline, fists pumping, when Nico O’Reilly scored his second of a fairytale final for the club’s local lad. If Guardiola’s intense level of care has dropped, he’s disguising it well. Anybody writing off him – and City’s league title ambitions – would do well to remember just what level of manager we are dealing with here. Alex Reid

Match report: Arsenal 0-2 Manchester City

Player ratings: Arsenal 0-2 Manchester City

Match report: Tottenham 0-3 Nottingham Forest

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The assistant coach Bruno Saltor believes Tottenham will avoid relegation because of their performances against Liverpool, the second leg of their Champions League tie against Atlético Madrid and the first half of their defeat by Nottingham Forest. Stepping in for the interim head coach Igor Tudor, who couldn't attend his press duties because of a family issue, Saltor said: 'Every small detail is going against us and it's about turning that around.'

• Spurs get sinking feeling as Gibbs-White and Awoniyi fire Forest to thumping victory

• Pereira calls on Forest players to keep ‘feeling like champions’ after Spurs rout

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Igor Jesus, Morgan Gibbs-White and Taiwo Awoniyi scored as Forest plunged Spurs into even greater relegation trouble

Late drama in the Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park. Luke McLaughlin has more.

The night before Nottingham Forest prevailed against Midtjylland, going the distance in central Denmark to tee up a first European quarter-final 30 years to the day since their last, Ryan Yates was doing a spot of homework. The Forest club captain found himself flicking through the Champions League offering at the team hotel in Silkeborg, half an hour east of Herning, but naturally lingered on Tottenham’s rematch with Atlético Madrid. A trip to Spurs, of course, is next and, like Forest, they find themselves in a perilous predicament near the bottom of the Premier League.

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