Rosenior and Fernández have ‘few hurdles to overcome’
Liam Rosenior will not bring Enzo Fernández back against Manchester City and says the matter remains unresolved despite the Chelsea midfielder apologising to the club for his recent controversial comments.
Fernández was dropped for two games after appearing to cast doubt over his future and there are no plans to end the Argentina international’s punishment early, even though he has responded well to being suspended before last week’s FA Cup quarter-final victory over Port Vale.
Chelsea have taken a tough line with the £106.7m midfielder, who is not part of the squad to face City at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, and there was further intrigue after Rosenior suggested that the Real Madrid target’s situation remained up in the air.
“He won’t play on Sunday, but hopefully after that he’ll be a massive part of the group moving forward,” the head coach said. “There’s still a few hurdles that need to be overcome that I won’t go into, but at the same time I want every player really, really focused now on a huge run.”
Pressed on whether those hurdles relate to when Fernández will play again, Rosenior said: “There are still things in the air that I won’t speak about now. I have a very good relationship with Enzo, as all of us do, but there are still things that need to be cleared before I make a clear statement on the situation.”
The cryptic vibe continued when Rosenior was asked whether the unresolved issues could stop Fernández, Reece James’s deputy as captain since the start of last season, from returning when Chelsea host Manchester United next weekend. “Not in this moment,” he said.
Rosenior denied Argentinian reports that Fernández’s teammates asked for his suspension to be lifted this week. He said Chelsea, who need to get their push for Champions League qualification back on track after a poor run, were capable of beating City without the midfielder.
With James unavailable Moisés Caicedo is poised to captain Chelsea. Cole Palmer will be looking for a big performance against his former side. The playmaker has been repeatedly linked with Manchester United but is considered untouchable by Chelsea and says he finally feels up to speed after being troubled by a persistent groin complaint.
“I have to give Cole so much credit because he’s put himself up to play for this club, maybe at times where other players wouldn’t,” Rosenior said. “A lot of people speak about Cole’s commitment to this club, how much he buys into what we’re doing. He’s fully invested in what we do.”
Chelsea are preparing for a big summer and have shortlisted the Nottingham Forest defender Murillo. They have been linked with Brighton’s Jan Paul van Hecke. Jacob Steinberg
Guardiola: City must win every game
Pep Guardiola has said Manchester City must win every game, starting with Sunday’s fixture at Chelsea, to have any chance of winning the Premier League. His second-placed team trail Arsenal by nine points but have a game in hand and host the leaders next Sunday.
“In the situation we are in the Premier League, we need to win all of them, otherwise it will not give us the chance to try until the end,” Guardiola said. “We have not been consistent enough this season. We have dropped points that we should have taken, which is why we are now in the position where we cannot do anything differently.“
City have won six Premier League titles under Guardiola, and Bernardo Silva has been part of each. The head coach joked he was “angry” with the Portugal international for not telling him he would be leaving, after Pep Lijnders revealed Silva would depart in the summer. Silva has made 450 City appearances, the most during Guardiola’s tenure, since signing in July 2017 from Monaco for £43.5m.
Guardiola said: “I’m so angry with Bernardo because a month ago I said: ‘If you take a decision you have to be the first to tell me.’ He didn’t say anything yet. I said, joking: ‘Tell me I deserve it,’ but he didn’t tell me so I don’t know what’s going on.”
Guardiola outlined why Silva is a favoured footballer of his. “One of the dreams of a manager is a player who can play in every position except the keeper,” he said. “It means you have the intelligence to play in many positions.
“He was a winger in the year of the Treble [2022-23], the decisive part of the season. Attacking midfield he can play but he’s not a player to make a lot of goals or runs in behind but he’s intelligent to read the tempo of the game and I like when he’s involved in all the process.
“Maybe because he’s getting old – and when you get old you go back and back and back – he now plays in central midfield. He is so smart to read what is going on and what we have to do and not all of them have this ability.”
Guardiola changed his policy for this season by deciding who should be captain, after previously allowing players to vote. He chose Silva. “The best decision I made this season,” he said. Jamie Jackson
Arteta: title will be sweeter for 22-year wait
Mikel Arteta believes winning the Premier League this season would mean more given that Arsenal have waited 22 years to be champions and said his players “will put everything on the table” to make the final step.
Arteta’s side face Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime knowing victory would stretch their lead over Manchester City to 12 points before City travel to Chelsea on Sunday. Arsenal sent an email to season-ticket holders this week asking them to arrive early for the 12.30pm kick-off, and Arteta has urged fans to “have an early breakfast, bring your lunch”.
Arsenal’s manager said that after three successive runners-up finishes, this had to be their moment. “Embrace the opportunity, the difficulty. I think the outcome when we reach that is going to be totally different to any other club. You’re there in clubs and you go there as a manager and they won it the year before or two years before; you win it, it’s fine. [It happens] a lot in Europe.
“But this one is a very particular one – in the Premier League because it’s been 22 years and the Champions League has never been done before. So that has to fill you with enthusiasm, energy and there’s the possibility and the probability that it’s very big to do it. So put everything on the table because that’s the moment to do it.”
Eberechi Eze is ready to return earlier than expected from a calf injury but there are doubts over Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard. Arteta said he had been surprised by Eze’s powers of recovery and backed the England forward to make the difference.
“The will that he’s shown from day one to get back as quick as possible, how he’s pushed the medical staff and himself to be there, it’s just great to watch. I didn’t know that he was so determined, so obsessed and so willing to push his body … He really surprised me in a really powerful way, how much he loves the game. When you take somebody’s opportunity to play, you really see their reaction. How involved he was in and around the team, the energy that he brings every day in the building.”
Arteta’s contract expires at the end of next season and it is understood that Arsenal have held talks over an extension and would like him to stay on regardless of what happens this season. “I’m fully committed here,” Arteta said. “I’m really happy and I feel good. My family is good. I still have so much ambition and things to do in this football club.” Ed Aarons
Howe ‘aligned’ with Newcastle chief executive
Eddie Howe insists “nothing has changed” at Newcastle and that his relationship with the chief executive, David Hopkinson, remains “aligned” and amicable. During the international break Hopkinson hinted Howe’s managerial tenure on Tyneside could end this summer, saying: “I don’t have a stance on the manager’s future” and stating that he had spent a two-hour one-one-one lunch with Howe dissecting last month’s painful home defeat to Sunderland.
Newcastle’s manager responded in typically understated fashion before Sunday’s trip to Crystal Palace. “For me nothing has changed,” Howe said. “I’m 100% committed to the job. That commitment has never wavered from my side. I am right across everything for the summer and next season with Ross [Wilson, Newcastle’s sporting director] and David, whether that is potentials during the transfer window or pre-season schedules.”
Pressed as to whether his lunch with Hopkinson had been cordial, Howe replied: “Absolutely. It was all constructive. It was not necessarily a meeting about Sunderland. It was a planned meeting about the future and making sure we are aligned. We are all aligned. There have certainly been no falling-outs. I’ve got a very good relationship with Ross and David. I’ve had really good support from both of them.”
Asked whether he had challenged Hopkinson over the Canadian’s remarks to reporters during a briefing regarding Newcastle’s financial results, Howe demurred. “Absolutely not,” he said. “I don’t need assurances from anybody. We have spoken and had communication but not about those comments.”
Howe, whose nephew Andy Howe has a senior recruitment role at Newcastle, enjoys significantly greater say in player signings than many Premier League peers but offered a robust defence of this arrangement.
“Judge me by every signing we’ve made since I’ve been here,” he said. “Not just by one or two that people want to sort of beat with a stick about. Across the board I think we’ve recruited really well. I’m really proud of our recruitment. Every player we’ve signed has been chased and endorsed by myself.” Louise Taylor
Pereira asks Premier League to ‘protect’ clubs in Europe
Vítor Pereira has called on the Premier League to “protect” its clubs by adapting the schedule to help them prosper in Europe, insisting doing so would result in more silverware.
In France, the Ligue de Football Professionnel rescheduled Paris Saint-Germain’s Ligue 1 matches to provide them with more rest before Champions League knockout fixtures.
Nottingham Forest host Aston Villa on Sunday less than 48 hours after arriving back from their first-leg draw at Porto, and Villa played in Bologna on Thursday.
Pereira referenced how the Portuguese Primeira Liga has shifted games to help Porto cope with the schedule. Last month the league approved Sporting’s request to postpone a league game against Tondela between last-16 matches.
“They schedule the game for Sunday but [move it] to Monday and this is completely different,” said the Forest head coach. “It is one more day, they can recover – 24 hours more to recover makes a big difference.
“In my opinion, to protect the teams who are playing in the Europa League and the Conference League especially, and even the Champions League, just one day after is very important to get results. Sometimes it’s important to protect the clubs, to give them the chance to win more titles.”
Forest and Villa will meet in the semi-finals if both teams prevail. Pereira accepted the schedule was beyond his powers: “If we protect these teams, the teams in the Europa League, Conference League and the Champions League, for sure England can get more titles. For sure, I don’t have any doubts.
“If you look at PSG, they [LFP] delayed the previous four matches to be in conditions to compete in the league and Champions League. This is what we need to reflect on.”
Pereira said Forest could not become giddy despite being well placed in the Europa League, whose winners qualify for the Champions League. He said: “I cannot forget the Premier League because I need to be responsible … Of course I want to win the Europa League. I did it an assistant coach [with Porto].
“But we are competing with West Ham, Tottenham and Leeds [in the Premier League]. And it’s not easy to compete with these kinds of clubs. If we are not in the Premier League, it will be a disaster. It’s a disaster if we go to the Championship. And this is a disaster that I don’t want to have the responsibility for.” Ben Fisher
Sunderland aim to be in top seven every year, says Le Bris
Régis Le Bris has pledged that his promoted Sunderland side will not rest on their laurels after collecting 43 points in a season featuring two landmark wins against Newcastle. “It is clear what the board want, they want to be a strong club, consistently in the top 10 in the Premier League and, maybe after one or two more years, the top six or seven,” said Sunderland’s manager as he prepared to welcome Tottenham and their new head coach, Roberto De Zerbi, to the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
“That is their vision and I share that vision. We want to grow, we want to become a bigger club. We are ambitious, this is not the end of the story.”
Regular European football is the aim of Sunderland’s owner, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, and the club’s sporting director, Florent Ghisolfi, and Le Bris’s 11th-placed team have an outside chance of achieving it this season. “We are doing well,” Le Bris said. “The players are ambitious, there is pressure internally; we have to try to seize the opportunity.
“As a team we’re emotional but I think this is good. It’s not always easy to manage at half-time! But it shows the players care. They care about our style of play, about our results, about our ambition.”
Although less of a tactical fundamentalist than De Zerbi, Le Bris has long been a fan of the Italian and made detailed studies of his Shakhtar Donetsk and Brighton teams. “He’s a great coach,” said a manager who revealed that Robin Roefs, Nordi Mukiele, Reinildo and Enzo Le Fée were fit to start after injuries but that Dan Ballard would be sidelined by a hamstring injury for a further week. “Is it my style? Not always but he’s got good ideas and a clear identity. That’s important.” Louise Taylor
