Leaders Liverpool are away at Brentford on Saturday while Ipswich host Manchester City on Sunday
Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue St James’ Park
Continue reading...Premier League drops PSR case against Everton, removing threat of points loss
- Case related to new stadium interest payments
- Moyes keen to recruit Charlie Adam as set-piece coach
Everton will face no further action for breaching profitability and sustainability rules up to 2023 after the Premier League discontinued its complaint over interest payments related to the club’s new stadium.
Everton were docked 10 points last season for a PSR breach up to 2022, reduced to six points on appeal, plus another two points for admitting a £16.6m overspend up to 2023. However, the club and the Premier League remained in dispute over part of the 2023 charge connected to interest payments on loans taken out for the construction of Everton’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore dock.
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
Newcastle chase a perfect 10, Chelsea seek a reliable No 9 and Southampton just want to get beyond six
If Arsenal’s books for the January window look closed, a meeting with Aston Villa casts forward thoughts to summer business. During Wednesday’s north London derby it was not difficult to wonder how much greater the margin of victory might have been with either Ollie Watkins or Jhon Durán leading the Gunners frontline. If Martin Zubimendi is an expected summer arrival, adding to an already packed midfield, where does a forward come in? Gabriel Jesus’s knee injury delays his possible sale while increasing the need for reinforcements. Villa have been busy, with Donyell Malen coming in from Dortmund and Jaden Philogene sold to Ipswich. Monchi, Villa’s president of football operations, has never been shy of selling players to bring in further talent. Watkins, who is 29, was on the mark at Everton for his first goal of 2025. Duran, 21, unused at Goodison after suspension, may be Arsenal’s next-best option to the imperious, and probably far too expensive, Alexander Isak. John Brewin
Continue reading...Amad Diallo hat-trick saves Manchester United from defeat by Southampton
Panicky, amateurish and dicing with defeat against Southampton, who are bottom and had failed to win away in the Premier League: Manchester United flirted with the crimson embarrassment of a reverse they would long be reminded of.
But, enter the game-winner, Amad Diallo, with a stunning 12-minute hat-trick. His third strike came in added time – into an open goal – his second on the stroke of the 90 – a fine finish of Christian Eriksen’s chip – and followed the winger’s mazy run and equalising stab just minutes before. All from a refusal to lose.
Continue reading...Manchester United 3-1 Southampton: Premier League – as it happened
United flirted with embarrassment against the Premier League’s bottom side before Amad Diallo stepped up late on to fire a glorious 12-minute hat-trick
2 min: Diallo embarks on the first positive run of the evening, down the inside-right channel. The crowd get excited … then Diallo slaps a wayward pass meant for Bruno Fernandes on the touchline out for a throw. Onwards and upwards.
United get the ball rolling. Saints are kicking towards the Stretford End in this first half.
Continue reading...Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham: Premier League – as it happened
Arsenal moved to within four points of leaders Liverpool with victory in the north London derby
Spurs kick off. They’re immediately on the front foot, accompanied by pantomime boos. But Arsenal snaffle the ball and Sterling wins a free kick out on the right touchline, bundled over by Spence. An early chance for one of those set-pieces!
The teams are out! Arsenal in red with white sleeves, Spurs in second-choice blue. Everyone looking real dandy. The atmosphere is ratcheted up to derby settings, and we’ll be off in a couple of minutes. “Glanced at the 2010 MBM to find a gratuitous reference to Roy Hodgson,” begins Richard Hirst, who is onto me and no mistake. “Perhaps you could remind your readers (he said pompously) what he achieved in 2010? Never to be forgotten in SW6.”
Continue reading...Isak extends hot streak to sink Wolves and lift Newcastle into top four
Newcastle’s sixth successive Premier League win – and ninth in all competitions – lifted Eddie Howe’s renascent team to fourth place as Alexander Isak demonstrated precisely why his manager believes he is a good as any striker in the world right now.
Isak’s 16th and 17th goals of an extraordinary season pushed Wolves into the relegation zone, nudging them below fourth bottom Ipswich on goal difference but Vitor Pereira’s side offered sufficient attacking threat to suggest survival should be within their grasp.
Continue reading...Ollie Watkins on target as Aston Villa wreck Moyes’ Everton homecoming
The second coming of David Moyes confirmed Everton’s new manager is no miracle worker. They could do with one. Everton failed to score for the ninth time in 11 Premier League games as Aston Villa, gradually working their way back to form, punctured hopes of a new manager bounce at Goodison Park.
Ollie Watkins struck the only goal of a tight contest, but one Unai Emery’s side deserved to win given their assured defensive performance and quality in the final third. It is a quality Everton sorely lack. Dominic Calvert-Lewin encapsulated the home side’s deficiencies when squandering a glorious chance to equalise in the 93rd minute.
Continue reading...Chelsea hope for financial deal with Premier League over secret transfer payments
- Current owners discovered irregularities during takeover
- Sources confident Chelsea will avoid points deduction
Chelsea are negotiating with the Premier League over a financial settlement related to secret payments for transfers made during Roman Abramovich’s ownership.
A financial settlement is seen as the likeliest outcome as the club’s current owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, discovered the irregularities during the takeover process in May 2022 and reported them to the Premier League and Uefa.
Continue reading...Nottingham Forest 1-1 Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened
The points were shared at the City Ground, where Diogo Jota scored seconds after his introduction from the bench to cancel out Chris Wood’s opener
“To lose on that day was hard to take,” said Liverpool’s head coach of his side’s surprise defeat at the hands of Forest at Anfield. “Now, looking back and seeing where they are in the league, it is not such a shock result as it felt then. They had a good game plan and made us play a poor game. We have to do better. We have to look into the details.”
“We are here to compete against all of the teams and I think we are doing well, but nothing changes in our approach, which stays the same,” said the Forest boss of tonight’s opponents. “We know what we can do and how we want to do things. We know each other, our strengths and weaknesses. So let’s play the game.”
Continue reading...Brentford 2-2 Man City, Chelsea 2-2 Bournemouth: Premier League – as it happened
Christian Norgaard and Reece James scored injury-time equalisers on a pulsating night of Premier League action
“I wonder if readers, like me, struggle to remember much about Tony Book, the name as understated as his demeanour, playing and managing,” begins Gary Naylor. “In that sense, he was the perfect choice to lead City on and off the field, operating with purpose and achieving a still surprisingly excellent set of outcomes, content in the shadow of The Behemoth’s cabaret across town. Footballers often looked old to teenagers, but he really did look old, unlikely to feature in Insta screen grabs. It’s how full-backs once were.”
It’s how all men once were, no? They had tough paper rounds in those days. Says Clooney over here!
Continue reading...Premier League top scorers 2024-25: who is leading race for Golden Boot?
Which sharp-shooting forwards are in the running for the Golden Boot? Our standings will update through the season
Continue reading...Kyle Walker’s talents deserved so much more than his crude tabloid caricature | Jonathan Liew
One of the most successful full-backs of the modern era, Walker has been dogged by a prurient obsession with his personal life
England ace Kyle Walker has SENSATIONALLY asked Manchester City for a divorce – and pals fear the sharp decline of his recovery pace could be to blame. According to insiders, jilted Pep Guardiola was HEARTBROKEN on hearing about Walker’s decision to walk out on their seven-year partnership, having publicly defended the 0.06-non-penalty-expected-goal-contributions-per-90-minutes right-back on numerous occasions this season. One source exclusively told the Guardian: “It’ll be an amicable split given everything they’ve been through together. But there’s a mutual recognition that a club of City’s standing can’t go on carrying a player averaging 7.7 possession losses per game and a career‑low 5.8 final-third passes per 90.”
Walker, 34, dropped his BOMBSHELL news last week to City’s head honcho Txiki Begiristain, 60, amid persistent rumours over a budding romance with Italian stallions Milan, 125, whose new coach Sérgio Conceição, 50, could see Walker, 34, as a better fit for his dynamic, transition-based defensive buildup style than either Emerson Royal, 25, or Davide Calabria, 28.
Continue reading...Liverpool’s holiday wobble won’t matter if their rivals can’t punish it | Jonathan Wilson
Liverpool may have got away with one in Sunday’s thrilling draw with Manchester United. But without a sustained challenge from those in chase, it may not matter
Title races are never just about the winners. In other circumstances, a run of three draws in six games for Liverpool might be cause for concern. Are they tightening up? Is there validity to that vague sense that the fixture list so far has been kind to them? But even if there is, it doesn’t really matter. Before the first of those draws, at Newcastle on 4 December, they were nine points clear of Arsenal in second; after Sunday’s draw at home to Manchester United, they are six points clear of Arsenal with a game in hand.
And that really has been the story of the past month, the great hectic splurge of the festive period. There has been a lot of heat and light, a lot of drama and excitement, and in the end not much has changed. Liverpool were far from their best on Sunday, could easily have suffered a surprise defeat, but in seven of the last nine match days the chasing pack of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City have managed one or fewer wins between them. That does, admittedly, leave Nottingham Forest, who will close to six points with a game in hand if they beat Wolves on Monday, and who are Liverpool’s next league opponents, but it has been a remarkable achievement for Nuno Espírito Santo’s side to get to where they are; realistically there is going to be some drop-off in the second half of the season.
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Guardiola warns Grealish over Savinho, Southampton hit new low and is Arsenal’s negativity holding them back?
So much about Trent Alexander-Arnold’s display on Sunday was puzzling. Real Madrid’s now-public courtship may have had something to do with it, but at times it felt he was being hung out to dry. Poorly as he played, he was deliberately exposed by his own team, left to deal with whatever threats Manchester United could conjure down their left flank while the only players likely to drop back and help him out, Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch, rarely did so. When it became obvious that he was having an off day, nothing was done to cover for it and nurse him back into the game. When his own poor clearance was returned in the buildup to United’s opening goal it found him briefly with four opponents to deal with by himself, demonstrating that Liverpool’s problems down the right were not just an individual but a systemic issue. He is (usually) an astonishingly good player, but miracles will sometimes be beyond him. Simon Burnton
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