And that’s it from the blog today. Thanks for reading. A reminder of those weekend Premier League fixtures. Can Manchester United do Liverpool a massive favour?
Saturday
Leicester v Leeds - 12.30pm
Aston Villa v Southampton - 3pm
Burnley v Chelsea - 3pm
Newcastle v Brighton - 3pm
Norwich v Brentford - 3pm
Wolves v Crystal Palace - 3pm
Liverpool v West Ham - 5.30pm
Sunday
Watford v Arsenal - 2pm
Man City v Man Utd - 4.30pm
Monday
Spurs v Everton - 8pm
Emma Hayes is confident her highly successful Chelsea women’s team will remain an important and properly funded part of the club once new owners move into Stamford Bridge.
Roman Abramovich’s decision to sell Chelsea has prompted concern that future support could be withdrawn from Hayes’s squad but the manager does not share such worries. “We’re fully embedded into this football club,” said Hayes as she prepared for Saturday’s League Cup final against Manchester City at AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane ground. “I know any future owners are going to want success for the club and the women’s team are part of that.
“You hear about underfunded women’s teams but there’s no chance of that happening here or things going backwards. This club is invested in its women’s team and I expect that to remain long and strong into the future. I have no anxieties or worries about our status.”
Thanks to Peter Oh for noting that I’d written Jesse March instead of (now corrected) Marsch.
Well, I got the Jesse bit right, the new Leeds manager now my second favourite Jesse after Jesse Birdsall. Roger Webb from Footballers’ Wives to some but always Eldorado’s Marcus Tandy to me.
Wolves v Crystal Palace preview. Erm, these are getting harder now. Why, of course, it’s the Bakary Sako derby.
Here’s the Fiver.
Your preview of the Julian Joachim derby is right here.
It’s all eyes on the Joe Cole Paul Ince Titi Camara derby on Saturday evening.
Updated
And now the Steven Davis derby.
Let’s have a burst of match previews. First, the Dan Burn derby.
Updated
One man who could prove a thorn in the side for Jesse Marsch and Leeds is returning Leicester striker Jamie Vardy.
The 35-year-old still darts around the pitch like a keen and hungry man in his early 20s and came back from a two-month absence to register a goal and an assist in the 2-0 victory at Burnley in midweek.
Here’s Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers on full gush mode - his favourite setting - when asked about Vardy’s importance.
“He’s a natural goalscorer. He works at his game. He’s very astute. He studies the game. He’s very clever, he picks up on things in his game.
“He’s sharp, he has a bright mind. He’s looking for ways to get in. He’s got a lovely soft finish if he has to.
“There’s no doubt he has been one of the world’s best over these last few years. He works tirelessly at his game and he has a hunger to keep proving a point.”
Rodgers also heaped praise on departing Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa.
“Marcelo is a big loss to the Premier League, as much for the human qualities he showed.
“It’s a big loss for the city, he was a father figure. He was admired there and by managers. I spent some time with him while he was here.
“The game is a circus now but he brought old-school values. He was not taken in by everything that goes around the modern game. It was what football used to be like. He will be a loss.”
Updated
It’s pretty obvious what new Elland Road boss Jesse Marsch has to address first: Leeds’ defence.
These stats make grim reading:
- Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier has conceded 60 goals in 26 appearances this season, conceding once on average every 39 minutes. Over the course of a season, no goalkeeper to play at least 20 times has had a worse minutes per goal conceded ratio in the competition.
- Leeds conceded at least three goals in all five of their Premier League games in February, setting a competition record for the most goals conceded in a single calendar month (20). The last team to concede 3+ goals in six consecutive top-flight matches were Birmingham City between October-December 1964.
- Leeds have shipped at least two goals in the first half in each of their last five Premier League games, the longest run of any side in Premier League history. In the club’s history, they have only once previously shipped 2+ goals in five consecutive league games, doing so in February and March 1937, never doing so in six in a row.
Erm, how about some new manager bounce then... oh!
- Including caretakers, six of the last seven managers to take charge of Leeds in the Premier League have lost their first game in the competition. The exception was Terry Venables.
But let’s end on a positive...
- Leeds are unbeaten in their last five away league games against Leicester (W2 D3). They won this exact fixture 3-1 last season.
David Moyes has also revealed that Ukraine forward Andriy Yarmolenko will miss West Ham’s trip to Anfield.
Yarmolenko was given time off last week following Russia’s invasion of his homeland and Moyes says the player isn’t yet ready to return to the squad.
“He has been training but he won’t travel to Liverpool with us,” said Moyes. “I don’t think he’s quite ready and we want to give him every opportunity to do everything he can for his family and for his country. I think he just feels a little bit bogged down with the situation at this present time.
“I feel helpless and that’s not just me as a football manager, but we as a country and a population. I think we all feel as if we can’t do anything.
“We can only give him our full support. We continually ask if there’s anything we can do.
“I spoke with him this morning for 20 minutes about it and tried to ask a few questions about what’s going on etc., but it’s really difficult because nobody’s ever been in these circumstances before and I hope I’m never in them again.
“Coming into training sometimes makes things feel a little better for him and we try to give him a bit of release, but we also want to do everything we can for him and his family.”
Thanks Luke. I’ll start with West Ham boss David Moyes addressing player workload and his poor record at Anfield.
“We’re not pleased with the Premier League that we’ve had to play so many games, and you can relay that to them please,” said Moyes in today’s press conference.
“We had a game on Sunday (1-0 home win over Wolves), a cup game on Wednesday (3-1 loss at Southampton) and now we’re playing again on Saturday (away to Liverpool), so three games in six days would not be correct.
“But they (the players) have been really resilient. Whenever we have had to continue playing, even in lockdown and the periods when we’ve been really busy, they have always backed it up and come good again.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence that will happen, but obviously with the fixtures we’ve got it’s made it a really difficult week for us.”
As for his Anfield hoodoo which shows 17 failed attempts to win there as manager of West Ham, Everton, Manchester United and Sunderland, he had this to say.
“Going to Anfield is difficult and it has been for me over many years. I have found it really difficult throughout my career because Liverpool have really, really good teams and they tend to have top managers. Hopefully it gets better this time.”
Fighting talk!
That’s the lot from me for today’s blog – I shall hand you back to David Tindall to take you through the rest of today’s football news.
Steven Gerrard is relishing the chance to end Southampton’s excellent run in order to kickstart one of his own with Aston Villa. Villa endured a run of just one win in eight matches before the much-needed 2-0 victory at Brighton and Gerrard wants to see more consistency from his side as they bid to make a strong end to the season.
“We can certainly see the belief and the confidence on the back of that result,” Gerrard said. “The players knew that they’d put in a really strong performance, they were really difficult to play against and at the right times we went and hurt Brighton. Our game plan certainly played off, the players went and delivered that and it was on the back of a couple of tough weeks, so you can certainly see a bit of a release and relief in them by getting that win. Now it’s all about backing it up this weekend going into a home fixture. We don’t want to be inconsistent.” (PA Media)
Updated
Thomas Frank says Christian Eriksen may be ready to make his first start since his cardiac arrest at Euro 2020 when Brentford face Norwich in the Premier League on Saturday. Eriksen made his comeback as a substitute in last weekend’s 2-0 home defeat by Newcastle, 259 days after collapsing during Denmark’s clash with Finland at Parken Stadium last June. Frank has revealed that the 30-year-old midfielder has successfully emerged from an important staging post in his return to playing regularly again.
“Christian’s good. He keeps progressing in terms of his fitness and getting good training minutes into him,” Frank said. “It was not a box ticked, but I think it was very important to get that game played. Now hopefully for everyone involved we can focus on football.” When asked if Eriksen will be picked in the starting line-up against Norwich, Frank replied: “You’ll find out tomorrow. Of course I’m interested in getting him on to the pitch as much as possible.”
Saturday’s Carrow Road showdown will be overseen by Anthony Taylor, the referee who took charge of that Euro 2020 match. Taylor was praised for the way he handled the cardiac arrest after his understanding of the urgency of the situation led to medical attention arriving promptly. Frank said: “I’ve mentioned it to Christian. I said ‘do you know who the ref is?’. He didn’t know....and then he said ‘ah is it Anthony? How funny, what a coincidence’.” (PA Media)
The new head coach Jesse Marsch has vowed Leeds will show no fear in their bid to keep their Premier League status. Marsch, 48, will take charge of his first game in the early Saturday kick-off at Leicester.
Marsch said: “Our style of play is fearless. I think we have a lot of fearless young men here and we have to tap into that fearlessness, it will help us in a situation like this. The thing I loved about this team in the past is their fight, their ability to run for each other, to do whatever it takes no matter what the result was. This will have to remain a big part of our DNA.”
A story from the newswires from earlier today:
Ralf Rangnick believes Manchester United have to become more like Manchester City and Liverpool by appointing a manager who has a clear way of playing and can implement this over the long term.
Roy Hodgson says Watford need to “break the cycle” of their current disappointing run when Arsenal visit on Sunday. Watford have taken five points from six games following Hodgson’s appointment as Claudio Ranieri’s successor in January.
That run has included one victory, Watford’s first since the 4-1 win over Manchester United in November which proved to be Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s last match in charge, and the Hornets are three points from safety.
“It’s results that really keep the mood high; they keep the spirits higher, they keep everyone with a smile on their face,” Hodgson said. “It’s very hard to maintain that good feeling about yourself, about the club, about the players – and for the players to feel good about themselves when you’re losing games all the time.
“So we badly need to break the cycle that we’ve found ourselves in where we need points. And what we need basically is what the one or two teams around us have found. A period where they played three games and took a lot more points than everyone thought they were going to take - it’s lifted them a little bit higher up the table.”
Watford will probably have to go into the game against Arsenal without Ismaïla Sarr after he sustained a hamstring problem during his side’s goalless draw at Old Trafford last Saturday. “He played so well at Manchester United. He was really good,” said Hodgson. “His work rate was excellent, he did a really, really good job for the team.
“We were looking forward so much to get him back (from the Africa Cup of Nations) and we’ve not had the benefit we would have liked from that. These things happen in football.” (PA Media)
Updated
Premier League matches will be blocked by Chinese broadcasters this weekend because of planned displays of solidarity with Ukraine.
Under the banner “Football Stands Together”, club captains will wear armbands in the colours of Ukraine this weekend and a “moment of reflection and solidarity” will take place before kick-off.
The gestures of solidarity are to feature in international broadcast feeds of all Premier League fixtures, and the league’s Chinese broadcast partner, IQIYI Sports, has informed the league that matches will not be broadcast in the country as a result.
La Liga fixtures for this weekend:
Friday
Deportivo Alavés v Sevilla
Saturday
Osasuna v Villarreal
Espanyol v Getafe
Valencia v Granada
Real Madrid v Real Sociedad
Sunday
Cádiz v Rayo Vallecano
Elche v Barcelona
Celta Vigo v Mallorca
Real Betis v Atlético Madrid
Monday
Athletic Club v Levante
The Everton manager Frank Lampard says the sanctioning of one of the club’s main sponsors, Alisher Usmanov, has not impacted on his work. On Thursday the owner of USM, which sponsors the Finch Farm training complex, was the latest Russian billionaire to have restrictive measures imposed in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The club had already announced earlier in the week they had suspended all dealings with Usmanov’s companies - MegaFon had a deal at Goodison Park while smartphone company Yota was the women’s team’s shirt sponsor. “I haven’t any conversations on that and it hasn’t impacted on my side at all,” said Lampard.
USM has also paid for first option on bidding for naming rights for the new ground currently being constructed at Bramley Moore Dock, and Lampard was asked whether there were any worries about the future of that project.
“I don’t have concerns and by that I mean I don’t have enough information to comment on the stadium,” he said. “My focus has to be on the pitch and the job I’m here to do.”
Lampard is hopeful of having Dominic Calvert-Lewin back for Monday’s trip to Tottenham after the forward missed the last two matches with a groin problem. Another forward, Demarai Gray, should be available after he sat out Thursday’s FA Cup win over non-league Boreham Wood with a fever. The midfielder Andre Gomes is back after a thigh problem but the centre-back Ben Godfrey is not set to return to training until next week due to a hamstring injury. (PA Media)
Updated
Turkish businessman Bayrak "discussing terms" to buy Chelsea
Muhsin Bayrak is trying to buy Chelsea, according to reports in Turkey. The Turkish businessman is quoted as saying: “We are discussing the terms of Chelsea’s purchase with Roman Abramovich’s lawyers. We are in the negotiation phase. We will fly the Turkish flag in London soon.”
Serie A fixtures for this weekend: there’s a huge game on Sunday night when Napoli, who went top on goal difference with a 2-1 win against Lazio last Sunday thanks to Fabian Ruiz’s late goal, host fellow table-toppers Milan:
Friday
Internazionale v Salernitana
Saturday
Udinese v Sampdoria
Roma v Atalanta
Cagliari v Lazio
Sunday
Genoa v Empoli
Bologna v Torino
Fiorentina v Verona
Venezia v Sassuolo
Juventus v Spezia
Napoli v Milan
Updated
Back to our regular programming. The Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick has been opining about club’s need to develop a ‘corporate identity’ similar to Manchester City. I thought a corporate identity was the one thing United had nailed, but there you go.
Rangnick said: “Guardiola has a clear idea of how he wants to play. This idea is the headline for everything that happens at the club - recruitment, players they will sign or, at one stage, sell,” Rangnick told reporters ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby at the Etihad.
“This is the secret behind their success. They have a clear corporate identity and this is their guideline for everything that they do. That is for new players and staff members. This is what all top clubs in Europe have in common and this is something that needs to be developed and improved at Manchester United in the next couple of years.”
(Quotes via PA)
Thanks very much David. I’m staggered by the news about Shane Warne.
From the ECB’s YouTube in 2013, Mike Gatting recalls receiving the ‘Ball of the Century’:
“I keep seeing it, and it looks a pretty decent ball to me ... Would I have swept it? Could I have swept it? ... Well bowled, Warney, unlucky me.”
RIP Shane Warne.
Updated
Righty, that’s my stint over. I’ll hand you back to Luke McLaughlin for the rest of the afternoon. Cheers.
Cristiano Ronaldo has managed just one goal in his last 10 games. Cook that how you like but let’s go with Craig Dawson has two in his last four.
As for failing to score more goals, Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick wasn’t too concerned when addressing the issue today.
“We created enough in the last 10, 11 games. At times we converted them, like at Leeds, for example, where we scored four goals.
“But it’s correct we should have scored more goals, especially in the last game against Watford. We should have scored at least one, two, three goals in order to win the game.
“But I would be more worried actually if we didn’t create chances.”
Back to Sunday’s Manchester derby and a few stats to chew over.
- Premier League meetings between Manchester City and Manchester United have seen the away team win more often than in any other fixture in the competition’s history (21)
- Man City’s Raheem Sterling is still yet to score in 18 Premier League appearances against Manchester United
- Manchester United are looking to win four consecutive away games in all competitions against Man City for the first time since a run of four between November 1993 and November 2000
Grounds for Pep Guardiola to be cautious.
Antonio Conte admits he already knows the extra feeling of exasperation that comes with being the manager of Tottenham Hotspur.
In a classic Spurs-y week, he’s watched his team score a memorable 3-2 win at leaders Manchester City and then crash out of the FA Cup to Championship side Middlesbrough.
Here’s Conte’s take. “Tottenham’s story is this, many ups and downs. To be competitive and try to win something and try to fight for something important and to become a strong team, the first thing that has to happen is to be stable and to avoid these ups and downs.
“To do this and to change this type of situation that has been for many, many years is not simple. In a short term it is impossible to do this, not only me but for every manager to come here and change the situation.
“This story of this club for the last 20 years.” Lots of Tottenham fans nodding in agreement.
As for team news for Monday’s home game with Everton, Conte gave this update.
“Bentancur is available, the same for Lucas Moura. For Skipp and Tanganga they are not available, we have to wait.”
Ruben Dias to miss four to six weeks with injury
Pep Guardiola has revealed that defender Ruben Dias will be absent for four to six weeks due to a hamstring injury.
Dias was taken off at half-time during the FA Cup tie at Peterborough in midweek, as was fellow centre-back Nathan Ake.
Guardiola explained: “Muscular. Hamstring. Four to six weeks. It happens. In other seasons our best players have been out for months. I’d love him but he’s not there, I will not cry. It is what it is. We have decent players available. We have 14-15 players. With these players we are going to fight and try to play good. Impossible to fight if you don’t play good. We play with our people and hopefully our people support as they always do.”
Updated
Next, some Manchester United team news for Sunday’s derby showdown with City.
Ralf Rangnick reckons he’ll be able to call on the services of Edinson Cavani again following the striker’s groin issue that caused him to miss five games.
The Uruguayan’s absence was certainly felt during the 0-0 draw with Watford last weekend which dented United’s hopes of grabbing a top-four finish.
“He’s back in training since yesterday. Today was his second training session with the team,” said the German coach.
“It looks good so I think he could at least be part of the group for Sunday.
“Apart from that, we have two or three question marks behind some players but we will have to wait and see what happens by tomorrow or Sunday.
“But Edinson I think as it stands now will be part of the group.”
Updated
While we’re on Liverpool, some team news for the West Ham game:
The centre-back Joel Matip, who has been far more robust this season, misses out due to an illness (not Covid-related) while Thiago Alcântara’s pesky hamstring still isn’t right.
Elsewhere in midfield, Curtis Jones and Naby Keita will be given late assessments.
“So from eight midfielders to four midfielders in a week, that can happen easily,” said Klopp.
Updated
Some more from Jürgen Klopp. There was talk of the Liverpool manager’s future plans during today’s press conference, a subject that will cause all Reds fans to put fingers in ears and and hum until all such nasty, don’t-want-to-think-about-it talk has stopped.
His current five-year deal was signed in 2019 so, how about it then Jürgen, surely this sexy, quadruple-chasing squad will make you want to stay on?
“The plan is still the same, nothing changed really. If I decide to leave in 2024 it is nothing to do with the quality of the squad: ‘My God, I have to manage them’ or ‘Oh my God, I’d better stop managing them’.
“It’s nothing to do with that. All we do is for the long term. This club must be even better especially when I am not here any more and that’s the plan, that’s what we are working on.
“It’s not so important how long I will stay, it is much more important what we do until then.”
Thankyou. While Luke heads off to do Wordle in 3, I’ll fill in for an hour.
Dan Roan of the BBC is reporting that Chinese rights-holders have informed the Premier League that matches will not be broadcast this weekend, “because of planned shows of support for Ukraine”.
More to come on that I’m sure ... for now, I’ll hand you over to my colleague David Tindall for a spell.
“When Chelsea and Manchester City step out at a sold-out Plough Lane on Saturday, it will be, somewhat incomprehensibly, the first time English football’s two dominant teams of recent years have met in a cup final.”
Suzanne Wrack speaks to the Chelsea full-back Jonna Andersson before the Continental League Cup final:
Patrick Vieira was also asked about Roman Abramovich: “He helped the Premier League to grow ... 20 years, 19 trophies ... regardless of what’s going on, I strongly believe he was one of those people who helped the Premier League to be successful.”
Patrick Vieira has told Crystal Palace to stay focused on the Premier League and not allow their FA Cup run to distract them ahead of fixtures with Wolves and Manchester City in March. The Eagles progressed to the last eight of the competition with a 2-1 win against Stoke this week and discovered on Thursday they will host Everton for a semi-final spot, which would mean a trip to Wembley.
Palace are nine points clear the relegation zone but the 45-year-old urged his squad to focus on the league. “No, honestly we did not talk about the draw at all,” Vieira said. “The only conversation this morning in training was about the Wolves game and how important it is for us. We have had some positive results lately and it is important for us to keep that momentum.
“We wanted to have a really good run in the FA Cup and so far it has been good but there is still the game to come against Everton and a long way to go (before Wembley). We don’t want to get carried away or be too excited for it. We are pleased with where we are but we still know there are massive games to play before the FA Cup. In the league the games coming before will be massively important for us because we need points, need wins but going through builds this momentum, confidence and excitement we need and want.” (PA Media)
Pep Guardiola and Ralf Rangnick are up soon, looking ahead to Sunday’s Manchester derby. Frank Lampard will also be along to talk Spurs v Everton.
Updated
The lowdown on Norwich v Brentford here (Saturday 3pm), courtesy of Conrad Leach:
Sky Sports News are running an interview with Wout Weghorst of Burnley ... and it emerges that he once beat Michael Van Gerwen at darts!
“We played once, it was at the [Dutch] national team ... at the end we played from 301, we played down, and then I beat him. Of course that was crazy, it was really nice, but he was a little bit angry and he wanted to play more two more games and there I had no chance.”
Weghorst says he threw two 140s and then nailed a double. Only one word for that: magic darts.
Updated
Liverpool meet West Ham at Anfield tomorrow at 5.30pm. The manager Jürgen Klopp is asked if he is enjoying chasing down Manchester City at the top of the Premier League: “I have to be careful whatever I say then you, some of you, will make something really weird of it. I enjoy the situation that we’re in, that’s true ... I really want to win tomorrow, really ... but if we lose, you will all sit here [the media] and tell me the title race is over now ... and these kind of things. I don’t have enough capacity for all these different scenarios. I don’t really think about it. The only thing I think about is to prepare for West Ham, and then Inter [in the Champions League], and Brighton ... they’re all so difficult to play. I cannot think about what we can win in the end ... I am barely smart enough to get enough concentration and maybe focus for one game, and not the whole general situation.
“We are obviously not in the worst moment, but there are so many challenges ahead of us that I really ... I don’t feel in a ‘chasing mood’ [against Man City], or whatever, but hopefully we’re ready to face West Ham in a better way than when we played them there.”
It is mentioned that David Moyes has never managed a team to win at Anfield: “Long may it continue ... What West Ham is doing is incredibly good ... I’m really pleased for David, he’s really a nice colleague ... making smart transfers, bringing really good players in and having ... it’s a really strong side, I have to say. Against us, traditionally, they are more defence-orientated with counterattacking but if you let them play football now, with this team ... [Jarrod] Bowen, what a player he became, unbelievable ... [Saïd] Benrahma, outstanding, [Pablo] Fornals, outstanding, [Michail] Antonio, outstanding.”
Updated
Ralph Hasenhüttl hopes Southampton’s key men will feel they can wait a little longer before thinking about moving on. The Saints are on an upward trajectory following an unbeaten run of seven matches in all competitions.
Hasenhüttl takes his squad to Aston Villa on Saturday, where they are set to meet the forward Danny Ings who left in the summer. The Denmark defender Jannik Vestergaard also departed during August, joining Leicester.
Hasenhüttl believes the outlook for a longer stay at St Mary’s should now appear more appealing: “It is not about was it the right or wrong decision letting [players] go. We were without alternatives with what we did in the summer, to be honest,” he said. “I think we have now a situation which is a very good learning atmosphere here at the moment, everybody improves, everybody has a positive effect. This is not something normally naturally given in this business.
“You have tough moments and we also had those here, where it is not so nice to be in this club. But at the moment you can feel that the team is growing and we are in a very good flow I think. That doesn’t mean that super-talented guys have to stay with us for the next 10 years. Everybody is ambitious and wants one time in his life to come to a top club.
“This is understandable, we always want to develop them. When they develop, we do as a club, then it is OK when they want to take the next step. But I always say ‘be very careful when is the right moment’ and ‘you don’t want it to be too early too much’. Not (stay) for the rest of our life but for a necessary time to develop, and this is very often what I tell my players.” (PA Media)
The Brighton manager Graham Potter insists Dan Burn’s impact at Newcastle has come as no surprise. Towering defender Burn completed a £13m switch from Brighton to St James’ Park on the final day of the January transfer window.
“I think he has done really well,” said Potter. “What we would expect of him, I would say, because everyone held him in such high regard here. He was fantastic for me. I think he is playing with a real confidence and a real maturity that he had, and it is nice that he’s taken that to his new club, and we are pleased for him.
“Obviously we don’t want it to go so well for him at the weekend, but apart from that we wish him well. The guys have been in touch with him and I’ll look forward to seeing him at the game. It is an exciting move for him, and an exciting time.”
Regarding Newcastle’s recent uptick under Eddie Howe, Potter said: “They’re more on the front foot, more intense, they attack and defend better. Everything has grown in terms of results and positivity, they’ve had the investment, the crowd has become a lot more positive.
“Eddie and his staff have been the catalyst for that and they’ve not just invested in players, they’ve improved the ones that were there before. I think everything has improved and that shows in the results.”
Updated
So, for Roman Abramovich, after 19 years of being garlanded in Britain for the glittering success his money bought for Chelsea football club, the game is finally up. A whole era in which the government, Premier League and crowds of London professionals were untroubled by the well-documented way the Russian oligarch had amassed his fortunes crashed when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
Clyde are in the process of terminating David Goodwillie’s loan deal after the striker was banned from their stadium. North Lanarkshire Council wrote to the League One club telling them they would be immediately evicted if the striker entered Broadwood. The re-signing of Goodwillie has also resulted in the council telling the club they will not have their lease renewed in 2023.
A brief Clyde statement read: “The club are in the process of terminating the loan agreement with Raith Rovers for David Goodwillie.” Goodwillie rejoined Clyde on loan earlier this week, four weeks after his move to Raith sparked a major backlash from sponsors, employees and supporters of the Fife club. There was further criticism from the likes of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon when it emerged Clyde and Raith had agreed a loan deal for the 32-year-old, who was ruled by a judge at a civil court case in 2017 to have raped a woman.
Goodwillie returned to action on Tuesday in a Glasgow Cup tie against Rangers B at the Scottish champions’ training ground. But Clyde Ladies Football Club announced on Wednesday that their general manager had resigned and all of their players no longer wished to play for the club, and North Lanarkshire Council took action on Thursday. (PA Media)
And here’s the Burnley v Chelsea match preview from Graham Searles:
Last but not least from Tuchel. It is suggested to him that playing Burnley is a very different challenge to facing Liverpool or Manchester City: “Very different, and fair enough, because every team has its style and they had huge success throughout the years, they’re very consistent in what they’re doing and how they’re approaching their games, it’s very physical, it’s very direct, it’s very direct up front, a lot of crosses, very dangerous at set pieces.
“We think we know what’s coming and still we hold ourselves back and and don’t allow ourselves too much to predict ... in the end, it’s to enable the players to find answers on the pitch and not today in the meeting. They need to find solutions and they need to be well prepared ... I think we played a very good match [against Burnley in the 1-1 draw in November] ... we had a look into it ... we created a lot ... and we were punished in the end with a very typical Burnley goal that we could not defend ... we’re looking for a better outcome tomorrow.”
The Norwich head coach Dean Smith knows time is running out on his side’s battle for Premier League survival as they prepare for Saturday’s “must not lose” showdown with Brentford. The Canaries sit bottom of the table, five points from safety, following a run of three straight league defeats. However, victory over a Brentford side who have lost seven of the past eight league games would breath life back into the survival bid - and also drag teams above them into the equation again.
“I don’t think anything is a must-win at the moment, but it is certainly a ‘must not lose’,” Smith said. “We are going into each game that we have to try to win. We know we are running out of games, there are a dozen left. It is a big game for both teams – a loss against them means they are 10 points ahead of us.
“They are one of the clubs who came up with us last season and we all know how hard it is to stay in the league in the first season. We feel we are ready and have a fairly full squad to go into it as well.”
Following such a positive start to their campaign, the Bees now sit only three points above the drop zone and having played more games than the teams below them. Smith was manager at Griffin Park before he left for Aston Villa, with his assistant Thomas Frank promoted to manager in October 2018.
“I had three great years at Brentford. You could see the direction they were going in,” said Smith, who took over at Norwich in November. “Brentford are a strong squad and they have proved that. If you have been promoted then you have usually been winning, but when you start losing it is a different feeling.” (PA Media)
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More Tuchel – Will the club’s sale impact negotiations on new contracts with the players whose deals are close to ending? “Maybe the bottom line is we cannot help it. It’s what it is. You never know, maybe it has a positive effect on the negotiation. Maybe it has a negative effect ... we cannot predict ... of course, like I said, everybody has a different situation ... still I think Chelsea is a strong club and will stay a strong club ... our owner sells a strong, solid and very well-organised club on the highest level.”
Can the success of the Abramovich era be repeated? “We will see. Let’s speak in the next 20 years. Whoever buys it is lucky to have it.”
Are any summer transfer plans on hold for Tuchel given the current situation? “Actually to be totally honest there are no talks at the moment for summer ... it’s simply a bit too early ... the main focus in the last weeks ... was on the different competitions and to be as successful as we can only be ... we are in a good place at the moment ... it’s still a long way to go [until summer].”
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Tuchel is asked a question regarding the doubt on the future of Marina Granovskaia, the Chelsea director:
“I will not comment on any speculation about that, but my communication with Petr and Marina was excellent from day one. Marina is ill at the moment, otherwise she would have been here. There is no doubt she would have briefed everybody ... There is no doubt this [club sale] will continue for the next days, weeks, months ... I hope it stays on the same level, hopefully with the same person. If not, OK, we need to adapt. It seems we need to adapt on a daily basis to new situations.”
Would a change of ownership lead him to question his own future at Chelsea? “I have the opposite of a problem staying here ... I love working in the Premier League, I love to be in England and feel the tradition and the love for sports in general, and for football in particular, it’s an amazing place to be. Chelsea is from my point of view, for me, a perfect fit ... and hopefully it continues ... I am used and trained to deal with it [uncertainty] on different levels ... but this is quite a level, I have to be honest, but I’m positive and hope things will end well.”
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Thomas Tuchel is asked about the ongoing situation at Chelsea and how the club being put up for sale may be affecting players and staff: “We had a briefing here after the [Luton] game, the day after the match, from Petr [Cech] who gave everybody here in the building, not only the players, a quick brief and explained the situation, not too much that we did not already know. So we have to live in this situation.
“It does not make sense to worry too much, because we don’t have a lot of influence, not to say no influence at all. So that was the bottom line, we are allowed to focus on football, and do the best to focus on football ... this is what we try to do anyway, to create an atmosphere where you feel safe once you enter the building, where you feel calm ... because we do this on a daily basis and this can can help now to deal with this situation.
“Of course there is uncertainty ... of course there will be, like with all humans, there are almost 100 people in the building ... and everybody will feel different about this. Some will feel scared, some will feel excited, some will feel, I don’t know, sad. And I think everything is allowed for every individual ... but we should allow ourselves to focus on what we love this most, and this is football, and to perform the best way possible.”
Chelsea travel to Burnley tomorrow for a 3pm kick-off in the Premier League.
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When Manchester City’s midfielder Caroline Weir came off the bench in the first of back-to-back Manchester derbies three weeks ago and found herself, six minutes later, in an almost identical position to the one she was in for her Puskas award-nominated chip last year, it was all instinct.
“At practice, when I see that area just outside the box, on that angle, it’s subconscious that I always try a little dink,” the 26-year-old says. “I try it in training and in every matchday warmup, in the shooting. It’s something I practise a lot so when I tried it again, I wasn’t overly surprised that I tried it. They definitely don’t all come off.”
Poya Asbaghi was at Zurich airport waiting for a connecting flight to Stockholm from Barcelona when the then assistant manager of Dalkurd, a team founded by the Kurdish diaspora in the Swedish county of Dalarna, received a panicked call from the chairman. “He asked: ‘Where are you?’” says Asbaghi, now the head coach of Barnsley. “I told him I was in Switzerland and he said: ‘One of those planes from Barcelona has crashed.’ I didn’t know which plane but, of course, you start doing the maths. I understood that there was a bigger chance that some of our players were on that flight than not. We didn’t get to speak more before we had to go on our next flight. We were sitting on that flight just thinking about which players might have died, basically.”
The Newcastle manager, Eddie Howe, was also asked about the situation with Chelsea and the impact on that club of the war in Ukraine – and if he is concerned that political issues could impact Newcastle in a similar way given their financial backing from Saudi Arabia, and its involvement in armed conflict.
Howe refused to comment on other clubs, and said: “I’m not going to get drawn into that. I’m not going to predict what people will do. I’ll only react to clear facts that I have in front of me. I think commenting on things like that is not relevant to me. I’m a football manager and I’m coaching the team to get results. And that’s all I’m going to comment on.”
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Will Jesse Marsch make an instant impact at Leeds? Will C-Ron rouse Manchester United to get a result in Sunday’s derby against City? Which Harry Kane will turn up for Spurs against Everton on Monday night? Get your Talking Points here:
Norwich City host Brentford at Carrow Road (3pm tomorrow).
The Canaries manager, Dean Smith, speaks: “They’re one of the clubs that came up with us last season. It’s a big game for both clubs ... we feel we’re ready, and it’s nice we’ve got a fairly full squad to go into it with, as well.”
On Christian Eriksen’s return following his cardiac arrest during last year’s Euros: “Everyone is so pleased to see, No 1, that he’s here with us, and No 2, that he’s back doing what he loves, playing football. I’ve spoken to my friends at Brentford and they say he’s in really good spirits ... I think everyone in football is pleased to see him out there.”
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Breaking news from 2008: On this day 14 years ago, Arsenal became the first English club to beat AC Milan at San Siro, with goals from Fabregas and Adebayor:
🇮🇹 AC Milan 0-2 Arsenal
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) March 4, 2022
⚽️ Fabregas 84'
⚽️ Adebayor 90'
😍 The first English side to beat AC Milan at the San Siro#OnThisDay | @ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/WiiUztQSsX
More live press conference news coming up as soon as I get it ...
A typically excellent piece here by Jonathan Wilson, on why Chelsea are unlikely to find another Abramovich:
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More from Eddie Howe, who is speaking to the media now to preview Newcastle’s match against Brighton:
On Dan Burn, the centre-back who signed from Brighton in January: “He’s a great lad and has mixed well with the team. He’s got the respect of everyone with how he’s conducted himself and he’s trained very well. He had to be patient for a little period but when he got his chance in the team he’s performed very strongly.”
On Ryan Fraser: “He has played very well for me on the left [at Bournemouth]. I’ve used him more off the right here due to Maxi preferring that side too so it’s a difficult one. I’ve said before that good players can play in multiple positions and Ryan’s proved that.”
On Joelinton, who scored the opener in the win against Brentford last week: “I think there’s centre-forward qualities in there. Last week we saw that – it was a brilliant header. It was great to see him attack the box. His flexibility is something we’ll utilise but he’s doing so well in midfield I’m reluctant to move him.”
On the atmosphere at St James’ Park: “It’s hugely important. I can’t thank everybody enough. I have to compliment @worflags on the effort and detail they go into to make a difference to the visual look of the stadium. It’s incredible. That all plays a part.”
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Mansour spokesman denies plan to bid for Chelsea
It could be another eventful day at Chelsea as Roman Abramovich’s attempts to sell the club continue. A consortium headed by Hansjorg Wyss and Todd Boehly leads the race to buy the club and negotiations are ongoing.
There has also been speculation that Loutfy Mansour, an Egyptian businessman and a season ticket holder at Chelsea, could launch a takeover bid. However, his spokesman told me this morning: “In light of the recent media speculation, we want to make it clear that we are not pursuing a bid for Chelsea Football Club at this time.”
Wales anticipate delay to World Cup tie v Austria
Wales’s World Cup play-off against Austria will be delayed should Fifa postpone Scotland’s clash with Ukraine, Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney has suggested. Fifa confirmed on Thursday that Ukraine have requested a postponement of their play-off semi-final in Glasgow on 24 March following the Russian invasion.
Ukraine or Scotland are due to visit the winners of the Wales v Austria game on 29 March to determine a place at the World Cup in Qatar later this year.
“We are planning to play against Austria on March 24 at the Cardiff City Stadium,” Mooney told BBC Radio Wales. “I spoke to Rob Page (Wales manager) yesterday and we are all set for that. But then news came through about Ukraine requesting postponement of the match to June.”
Football has been suspended in Ukraine and it is now expected that Fifa will grant the request for the play-off at Hampden Park to be postponed. Asked about the likelihood of Wales’s game being delayed to June should the Scotland v Ukraine semi-final be played then, Mooney said: “Until we get official clarification of that, you can surmise it. We can surmise that, but that’s not what we have at the moment. We know Ukraine have asked for a postponement until June, but these things change quite quickly.
“I have spoken to my Ukrainian counterpart and will speak to him again. We’ll definitely make the right decision for football and for our friends in Ukraine, and at the same time balance it against the fact we’d like to qualify for our first World Cup since 1958.” (PA Media)
The Newcastle manager, Eddie Howe, is having a chat with the media now looking ahead to the meeting with Brighton at St James’ Park tomorrow, a 3pm kick-off.
Fitness update: “Maxi [Allan Saint-Maximin] hasn’t trained yet with us but we’re hoping he does today. We’ll have to make a decision based off how he looks and how is injury status is after the session. Other than that, we’re as we were pre-Brentford.”
On the overall strength of the squad: “When I first came in to the job we wanted competition for places in all positions. I wouldn’t say we’re absolutely there yet, but I think there’s a healthy competition in the squad.”
“I think players are elevating their levels and there’s a fight to get in the team. Then when you’re in it you have to fight to stay in it. Maxi coming back will give everyone a lift and hopefully he gets through today, then we’ll make the decision.”
Quotes via NUFC Twitter.
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Preamble
War in Europe rages on but that won’t stop the football. At least not yet. Added to the usual late-season Premier League questions – who will win the title? who will be relegated? – there is another significant unknown, to which we should have the answer within a couple of weeks: who is going to buy Chelsea?
Potential suitors are preparing their offers and Thomas Tuchel is getting sick of the questions and it promises to be another day when Chelsea dominates the football news agenda – and of course there is a full programme of domestic action across the UK and Europe to look forward to. You can see all the weekend fixtures here.
Team news, press conference updates and more coming up ...
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