Key events
Arsenal will come up against a goalkeeper on loan from Bayern Munich when they play Southampton in the cup later today. Ben Fisher spoke to Daniel Peretz.
Peretz was inspired by the Germany goalkeeper as a boy – he had a giant photo of the 2014 World Cup-winner on his bedroom wall – but in Bavaria Neuer, who turned 40 last week, morphed into a mentor. “[It went] from admiring the players, to them becoming my friends and my teammates.
“I watched every single save [Neuer] made and then he was with me day by day and he became a friend,” Peretz says, recalling the emotions of their first encounter. “I was sweating all over, so nervous that I could not speak. I had goosebumps, everything.”
More Liverpool, more Slot. More Salah.
Slot, however, insisted he would not have handled the situation with the club legend any differently. He explained: “Yes [he is happy with how he managed it]. I look back at this season thinking that I made a few decisions that could have been better, but I’m not talking about this specific thing with Mo. I don’t regret many things I did during our one-and-a-half years together, or just longer.
Ed Aarons takes up genealogy in this deep dive on the Arsenal family.
George Male was a key figure in Arsenal’s dominant side of the 1930s, helping them win five league titles in eight seasons. Known for his consistency and leadership in defence, he remains one of the club’s historic figures and is pictured in two places outside the Emirates Stadium. Male went on to become a long-serving youth-team coach and then a scout at Arsenal after retiring, and is remembered as the man who discovered Charlie George, who was part of the famous Double-winning team of 1970-71.
That Easter double-header got off to a great start for Frank Lampard’s Coventry. And: Millwall in the Premier League? It may well be happening.
Mikel Arteta wasn’t holding back in his press conference, either. This on the Carabao Cup.
During the first part, it’s like a ball of poison that you have in your tummy,” said Arteta when asked whether he had spent the international break stewing over the final.
“Take that out as quick as possible. How can I use that to make myself better, to make the team better? There is a part that I think has to be there and I think this is not going to go in the next 30 years. Because when you have the opportunity to win a final in Wembley, you have to get it done. So that has to stay there.
Talking of players linked with Madrid and City v Liverpool, Rodrí and Guardiola from Friday.
As mentioned in the preamble, today’s is a huge game for Liverpool. Andy Hunter has run the rule over the Arne Slot regime.
Let’s start with that Chelsea story. Ben Bloom was at the Liam Rosenior press conference while Jacob Steinberg has analysed the latest Cobham crisis.
Preamble
Good morning, football. Happy Easter, you happy eaters.
We’re up for the FA Cup, and it’s the last eight, with a huge game between Manchester City and Liverpool starting the weekend’s quartet of matches. Perhaps that’s not as amped up as it might have been, with both teams having tough seasons by contrast to previous successes but: City won the Carabao Cup in style and Liverpool look to rescue something from their season.
So, the games today are:
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Manchester City v Liverpool, 12.45pm
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Chelsea v Port Vale, 5.15pm
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Southampton v Arsenal, 8pm
With the EFL being played on Good Friday and Easter Monday, there’s a lack of action in England’s 92. But: there’s action in Scotland and across Europe, and a series of stories to look at, including L’affaire Fernandez at Chelsea.
Join me.