Key events
Krishnamoorthy v emails in. Good to take the positives.
“Hello David,
I have some good news for Spurs.
1. They are so low, they can’t sink any further.
2. Tudor is safe. Not because he won’t be sacked. But because there is no one available to take his place.
3. The fans are safe too . Spurs may be the only team that is likely to drop the season ticket prices.
4. They will not be relegated THIS week.”
Although our correspondent’s tongue is firmly in his cheek, it’s worth noting that Spurs could actually sink further this weekend. If Forest (home to Fulham) and West Ham (home to Man City) both win and Spurs lose at Liverpool, Tottenham will be in the relegation zone. Yikes.
Rangers head coach Danny Rohl has urged fans not to risk the special derby atmosphere as he fears the consequences for away allocations following the trouble that marred their Scottish Cup defeat by Celtic.
The Scottish Football Association launched an investigation into the pitch invasions that followed Sunday’s penalty shoot-out at Ibrox, and police are probing a series of violent incidents with a number of arrests already made.
Police Scotland have already stated they would oppose a repeat of the 7,500-seat allocation of away fans and Rohl fears there may be more severe consequences.
“The emotional part was great during the game. I like to have these Old Firms with supporters from both sides. I think this is great. This makes the football exciting, it makes the atmosphere in the stadium, and everyone should take responsibility that we can keep going like this.”
When asked if he feared there would be no away fans for Rangers’ post-split league encounter at Celtic Park, the German said: “It would be a shame for us, and for all of us. That is what I’m trying to explain. Since I’m here, I really enjoyed this game with the supporters on both ends. I think this is great.
“If you’re away or at home, that makes the football exciting, and hopefully we can carry on. But, of course, if such a thing happens, then you have to be careful because it could be that there’s a consequence and it might be not be nice. There’s an investigation and we will see what that means.” (PA Media)
Antoine Semenyo wins Player of the Month
It’s a double for Manchester City. As well as Pep’s award, new signing Antoine Semenyo has been voted EA Sports February Player of the Month.
The January capture from Bournemouth has hit the ground running at City. In five games in February, the winger/forward scored three times and provided an assist. Also nominated: Dango Ouattara, Benjamin Sesko, Viktor Gyokeres, Nico O’Reilly and Virgil van Dijk.
Pep Guardiola wins Premier League Manager of the Month
Pep Guardiola has been crowned Premier League Manager of the Month for February. Whatevs you may say. Except that, remarkably, this is the first time he’s won that gong since December 2021. Yes, you read that correctly. And to think that Ange Postecoglou once won it three times in a row.
Guardiola held off Keith Andrews, Michael Carrick and Arne Slot to end his drought.
Manchester City enjoyed an unbeaten February, winning four and drawing one of their five league games. One of those victories came at Anfield.
You’ll have to wait a little for Premier League action this weekend. Nothing on Friday night or at 12.30pm on Saturday. But, weirdly, two games at 5.30pm on Saturday. Arsenal were meant to play Sunday but they have their Champions League second leg against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday so their home game against Everton was moved back.
Saturday
3pm: Burnley v Bournemouth
3pm: Sunderland v Brighton
5.30pm: Arsenal v Everton
5.30pm: Chelsea v Newcastle
8pm: West Ham v Man City
Sunday
2pm: Crystal Palace v Leeds
2pm: Man Utd v Aston Villa
2pm: Nottingham Forest v Fulham
4.30pm: Liverpool v Tottenham
Monday
8pm: Brentford v Wolves
Will Iran play in the World Cup? Matt Hughes offers this Explainer on a situation that appears to be changing constantly.
May I point you towards our live Cheltenham blog where it’s the final day of the festival. And what a day we have in store with Harry Redknapp fancied by many to win the Gold Cup. Not literally although, talking of literal interpretations, let’s join Eric Idle.
Having the giant Jarrad Branthwaite available will help Everton deal with Arsenal’s set-piece threat. And David Moyes is hopeful his central defender can start following a hamstring issue.
Asked about the fitness of his squad, Moyes said. “We’re hoping everybody’s fine. Jarrad, we think, will be okay, so we’ll go into the game and hopefully we’re all fine.
“We do [want to play him]. We had to leave him out of one of the games and I think we got a bit of criticism because we changed the team around for different reasons, but it was mainly because we couldn’t play him at the time.
“He’s now back long enough – we played him Saturday [then] Tuesday, also because after it we had a 10-day rest and recovery period as well.
“I think there are times where you have to look after the players. I think the time of Jarrad’s injury and and the length of it meant that we were always going to have to be mindful of it but, look, he plays a big part and he’s a really good player. We want him fit for every game but we’ve also just got to take some [medical] advice at different times.”
A couple of Opta stats to show that Everton could be very tricky opponents for Arsenal this weekend.
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Only Arsenal (9) have won more Premier League away games this season than Everton (7). The Toffees have won four of their last five league games on the road (D1).
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No team has shipped fewer goals from set piece situations than Everton (8 including penalties, 6 excluding).
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David Moyes won with West Ham on his last visit to the Emirates in December 2023.
Moyes defends Arsenal’s style
Everton boss David Moyes has been speaking ahead of the trip to Arsenal. The Toffees manager isn’t having the criticism being chucked Arsenal’s way, especially the negative connotations of ‘physical’ and ‘set-pieces’, the knee-jerk terms when discussing the Gunners these days it seems.
“What’s up with any of those things you say? You are making it sound as if that’s a problem because they are good at set-pieces and they are a strong, physical side. I don’t see any problem with any of that. It’s part of the game.
“If there’s this thing out there where everybody has to play the beautiful game and everything has to be perfect, well if we all do that then it would be boring. Football would be boring. Part of the reason you people are talking about it is because it might be slightly different from what we have seen for a few years.
“It’s giving you something to talk about, but I would hate to be going to football matches all the time and seeing football only played the one way. I want teams to play different styles and in different ways.
“We have got some unbelievable managers, and Mikel [Arteta] is one of them, who have come into this country and shown us what they can do. But maybe they can’t really stay with it and do it all the time. So you can bring something in, but you have got to bring something that is going to work. Mikel has been able to evolve his team and move it on. And he’s certainly got a very good team at the moment.”
English teams’ poor results in the Champions League this week has been a hot topic. Was it random or is there something deeper at play? Here’s Barnay Ronay’s interesting take.
It’s the Women’s League Cup final this weekend with Manchester United taking on Chelsea at Ashton Gate. Ahead of the game, Tom Garry has been speaking to United’s Sweden winger, Fridolina Rolfö, who knows a thing or two about playing in finals.
The game kicks off at 2.15pm GMT on Sunday.
Need a live football fix right now? Well, we have one, courtesy of Joey Lynch.
Apart from the weather forecast, here’s a match-by-match guide of other things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend.
“Erling Haaland’s first competitive outing in English football came at the London Stadium. He ran riot that day, scoring twice as Manchester City opened the 2022-23 season with victory over West Ham, and this venue has been a happy hunting ground for Haaland ever since. He found the net in another win in September 2023 and bagged a hat-trick there last season, but he is in patchy form before City visit West Ham for a must-win game on Saturday night.”
Thanks Taha. Good morning everyone. Off to a game this weekend? Let me know. I’ll be at Anfield on Sunday which could be a bit wild. Just checking the weather forecast and it looks set to be really windy. Gusts up to 40mph! That doesn’t look ideal for two sides prone to lots of errors even in flat calm conditions.
That’s enough from me. Here’s David Tindall to take the reins.
Will Unwin
Arne Slot accepts it was a difficult week for English teams in Europe after the six Premier League sides failed to win the Champions League but does not believe it is fully reflective of the quality of those clubs.
Liverpool will be aiming to turnaround their tie against Galatasaray after losing 1-0 in Istanbul in midweek. “To jump to a conclusion after one gameday, I think that is such a small sample size that is never the smartest thing to do because maybe, after the next week, we will have a different conclusion,” Slot said.
“In general I think it is not helpful for English clubs not to have a winter break but I am not saying that all these teams have lost because we don’t have a winter break. Why? Because you are facing in the last 16 of Europe good teams and four of the five teams in the Champions League played away from home, it is usually an advantage to play at home and a disadvantage to play away.
“To jump to conclusions – missing a winter break or the level of the Premier League is not as high as we expected it to be – would be for me, at this moment in time, not right the conclusion to make. Let’s first judge us all after next week and then maybe it is still too early to jump to conclusions. But one of the things is definitely also is that if you are in the Champions League last 16 all the teams are good and strong teams and if you play four of the five teams away from home and the margins were quite as small as our own game – I thought we didn’t deserve to lose – Arsenal the margins were really small but I didn’t see the 3-0 coming when I saw the first half of City v Real Madrid. The only one I didn’t see was Paris St Germain v Chelsea but people told me Chelsea were very involved in that game and didn’t deserve to lose 5-2. Jumping to conclusions on one game is usually not what I would do.”
Max Rushden decided to rewatch the first 20 minutes of Spurs’ defeat in Madrid. Brave.
“Harry Redknapp rules himself out of return.” A real human person wrote the words that a 79-year-old has had to rule himself out of managing Tottenham again. In March 2026.
Time for a Europa League and Conference recap. For Villa, yay. For Palace, meh. For Forest, nay.
Slot adds on Alisson that it’s a “minor” muscle problem and he’s hoping the goalkeeper is ready to play on Sunday. “If not, I’m expecting him – if things go as planned – definitely against Galatasaray.”
Reece James signs new six-year deal with Chelsea
Jacob Steinberg
Reece James has committed his future to Chelsea by signing a new six-year deal. The club captain’s previous contract expired in 2028 but he has agreed terms on an extension. The move will quash any prospect of the right-back, who came through Chelsea’s academy, leaving on a free transfer.
The England international, who signed his previous deal shortly after the takeover by a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, is understood to have agreed terms in line with Chelsea’s incentivised pay structure. James had enjoyed a fine season and having previously struggled with fitness problems he has largely managed to stay injury free. He is expected to be a key player for England at this summer’s World Cup.
Arne Slot’s been speaking to reporters ahead of his side’s meeting with Spurs on Sunday. He’s hoping that Alisson, who missed Liverpool’s loss at Galatasaray on Tuesday, will train today.
“He’s been with the physios and rehabbed until now,” said Slot. “We are training today and let’s see if he can join the team session. That’s something I expect but I am not 100% sure because I have not spoken to him or the medical staff this morning. I am hopeful.”
Preamble
Right then, English football has had a tough time of it in Europe this week, Aston Villa the only winners across nine games (Unai Emery always delivers in the Europa). So perhaps a return to domestic life is something to be welcomed. Manchester City got the Valverde treatment but they’re still very much in the title race; Nottingham Forest went down to Midtjylland but they’re getting closer and closer to Tottenham in the table. The good news for Spurs? Um, come back to me on that one.