Ageless Salah remains driving force behind Liverpool quest for trophies

At 32 the striker is part of a new generation, powered by science and making a huge impact on the title race

It takes a team to win trophies but it is quite useful to have an individual enjoy the season of their life. Mohamed Salah is that for Liverpool. Highlighting his importance to his side’s success is not exactly controversial but any praise is merited after driving his team into pole position as the business end approaches.

Salah leads the Premier League scoring and creativity charts with 22 goals and 14 assists to put Liverpool clear at the top. On a difficult night at Goodison Park in midweek, he set up the opener before scoring in a game of few chances, the ninth time this season he has achieved such a feat. Sunday’s opponents Wolves will be well aware of his threat, although attempting to nullify him is more difficult.

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Omar Marmoush’s rapid Manchester City hat-trick demolishes Newcastle

Omar Marmoush arrived in the winter window as a 20-goal forward for Eintracht Frankfurt and against Newcastle emphatically showed why, via a scintillating 14-minute first-half hat-trick that tore the opposition apart. For the Egyptian and Manchester City, joy; for the visitors, despair, as they were sent home reeling, on the back of a 16th consecutive Premier League reverse here.

At the break, a home fan suggested it was “the best first 45 minutes I’ve seen all season”: he was not far wrong, because when City are performing like this you see how Pep Guardiola might revive his embattled champions.

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Keown apologises to Van Nistelrooy for infamous Old Trafford ‘shenanigans’

  • Former players recall incident from game in 2003
  • Van Nistelrooy: ‘It was a good rivalry, wasn’t it?

Martin Keown has apologised to Ruud van Nistelrooy for the notorious clash between the pair at Old Trafford in 2003 after they renewed acquaintances at Leicester on Saturday.

The TNT Sports pundit Keown was at the King Power Stadium to cover Leicester’s Premier League home fixture with Arsenal and caught up with Foxes boss Van Nistelrooy before kick-off.

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Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Welington can beef up Saints, Ola Aina returns to SW6 and Raheem Sterling has the chance to roll back the years

It may have taken Brighton’s record signing a few months to settle in but the performance of Georginio Rutter in their thrilling FA Cup victory over Chelsea showed that the Frenchman was worth the £40m they paid Leeds in the summer. A brilliant header to equalise before setting up Kaoru Mitoma’s winner gave Fabian Hürzeler’s side the confidence boost they needed after their 7-0 mauling against Nottingham Forest, with Rutter justifying his manager’s decision to leave João Pedro on the bench. Rutter – who has seven goals in all competitions – did not start a Premier League game in January after struggling with a hamstring problem and Hürzeler has been mindful of protecting the 22-year-old, although he will be itching to face Enzo Maresca’s side for the second time in six days. “There were a lot of personal duels and he proved that he can win the majority of them, and that’s why I’m happy with him,” said Hürzeler. Ed Aarons

Southampton v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm

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Ratcliffe is being cast as Scrooge but Glazers made Manchester United’s mess | Jamie Jackson

Time will tell if the Ineos chief’s severe cost-cutting pays off, but this is a club that has been mismanaged for years

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is making drastic cuts to Manchester United’s operation for fear that the club are on a fast-track to bankruptcy. Whether such seismic concerns are legitimate or unfounded, it reflects a tale of off‑field financial woe that matches the club’s 12 years in the title‑contending wilderness.

The failure to reel in a 21st championship or make a genuine challenge for one is a direct corollary of slow decline and mismanagement under Malcolm Glazer, and then his six children after his death in 2014.

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Everton’s Tarkowski thwarts Liverpool as final Goodison derby ends in brawl

Four goals, four red cards, one mass brawl plus enough controversy, fury and entertainment to elevate the fixture way above the Premier League norm; the Merseyside derby bid a fitting farewell to Goodison Park.

David “Mystic” Moyes had predicted the 120th and final Goodison derby would, by the nature of an emotionally charged occasion, be explosive. James Tarkowski triggered a detonator under the old place. The Everton captain volleyed in a stunning 98th-minute equaliser to ensure Liverpool went seven points clear in the title race rather than nine.

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Delays, edits, and no Son Heung-min: how North Korea watches the Premier League

State TV has started broadcasting matches, albeit with heavy-handed intervention of Pyongyang regime’s censors

TV viewers in North Korea have to endure more than their fair share of war films – in which there can be only one victor, news reports delivered with revolutionary gusto and breathless Kim dynasty propaganda.

But even for a country as wary of outside influences as North Korea, it appears unable to resist the lure of Premier League football – the most-watched sport on the nation’s TV screens. Just don’t expect to see any live action, let alone Gary Lineker presenting in his underpants.

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Chelsea fans accuse Boehly of ‘breach of trust’ over his ticket resale website

  • Co-owner and chairman is a director of Vivid Seats
  • Premier League lists as ‘unauthorised ticket website’

Chelsea supporters have accused Todd Boehly of a “breach of trust” and a potential conflict of interest over his co-ownership of a website selling tickets to the club’s games and other Premier League matches to foreign tourists.

Boehly is a director and investor in Vivid Seats, an American site that allows users outside the United Kingdom to buy and sell tickets to concerts and sporting events, often at huge mark-ups. British fans cannot use the site or others like it because it is illegal to resell football tickets in this way in the UK. The Premier League lists Vivid Seats as an “unauthorised ticket website”.

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Transfer window verdict: how every Premier League club fared

Only one of the top six made a notable signing – and they spent £172m – in a frustrating window for several managers

Mikel Arteta’s hopes of strengthening his squad never materialised, no doubt to his frustration and that of every Arsenal supporter, despite the surprise bid for Ollie Watkins and interest in Bayern Munich’s Mathys Tel. The feelgood factor generated by the famous thrashing of Manchester City will not last long if a lack of attacking options means they cannot sustain their challenge in the Premier League. Arteta, who would not allow Kieran Tierney or Jorginho to leave with their contracts expiring in the summer, will be hoping that some winter sunshine in Dubai next week can give his players extra spark when they return. Ed Aarons

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Chelsea 2-1 West Ham: Premier League – as it happened

Chelsea boosted their push for a Champions League place after a fortunate win on Graham Potter’s return to SW6

More on the enigma that is Andy Irving.

Brendan Large gets in touch: “As a Chelsea fan I think dropping Sanchez was a no-brainer today. He hasn’t been as bad as his headlines (mostly) and has made some good saves. But all the noise around him would have made every touch a chance for West Ham fans to put him under pressure. Jorgensen doesn’t look spectacular but seems to be a safe pair of hands (mostly) from his Conference League/Cup appearances.

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Arsenal’s rout of Manchester City shows how great empires end

Pep Guardiola was thought to have stabilised City’s form, but Sunday’s 5-1 demolition by Arsenal shows that the champions’ reign is now surely over

By the time Ethan Nwaneri whipped in Arsenal’s fifth, the mood at the Emirates was euphoric. The 17-year-old’s finish, arced into the bottom corner from that inside-right position through which so many of Arsenal’s attacks had come, felt like the perfect finale to a dominant 5-1 win over reigning Premier League champions Manchester City. And it was, in more ways than one.

Its youthful chutzpah seemed an appropriate way to round off a win in which 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly had been the most eye-catching player, having scored the third goal with an impudent shimmy into the box. Yet there was a strange realisation on seeing the replay. Nwaneri’s finish hadn’t nestled in that close to the corner of the goal; it wasn’t quite as good as it had initially appeared. And that felt emblematic of the game as a whole.

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Transfer deadline day: Rashford, Tel, Nkunku, Disasi, Félix news and latest moves – live

Manchester United would not be surprised if Chelsea make a cheeky late bid for Alejandro Garnacho though the early signs are the west London club may not. For United, after letting both Marcus Rashford and Antony go on loan (to Aston Villa and Real Betis) there would surely be serious uproar if Sir Jim Ratcliffe allowed another wide forward, who Ruben Amorim talked up last week, to depart.

Ruben Amorim left more than £100m of striker on the bench in yesterday’s 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace. Surely he wants the Manchester United hierarchy to invest in someone that guarantees goals. He also sanctioned the departures of Antony and Marcus Rashford, leaving them short of options in attack, not that either has done anything of note this season.

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