Jürgen Klopp’s side looked impressive at times during their helter skelter 4-3 win, but defensive frailties remain a concern
Within 15 minutes Trent Alexander-Arnold had helped to create two goals in what looked set to be a thrashing of Tottenham. But then Liverpool stopped, and a madness of their own making ensued.
Alexander-Arnold’s new hybrid role showed once more the benefits it could provide to Liverpool as he secured his 53rd Premier League assist, but Jürgen Klopp’s side need to learn how to compensate when the defender drifts from right-back into midfield.
Arsenal Women to play in front of record 60,000 home fans
Women’s Champions League semi-final poised at 2-2
Head coach Jonas Eidevall believes the first sell-out crowd for a women’s match at the Emirates Stadium can inspire Arsenal into the Women’s Champions League final on Monday.
It was revealed on Sunday that more than 60,000 tickets have been sold for the semi-final second leg against Wolfsburg, meaning the Gunners are expected to break the attendance record for a women’s club match in England.
DOMINIC KING AT ANFIELD: Nothing encapsulated the madness more than the 120 seconds in injury time where Richarlison scored his first Premier League goal nly for Diogo Jota to strike back in the very next attack
Onana is Chelsea’s first-choice goalkeeper target (Picture: Getty)
Chelsea have opened talks with Inter Milan over a move for goalkeeper Andre Onana with the Italian giants eager to sign Trevoh Chalobah or Ruben Loftus-Cheek as part of the deal.
Kepa Arrizabalaga have been the Blues no1 this season but neither him or Edouard Mendy, who has struggled with injury this season, viewed as a long-term option in goal.
Inter have played a €40million (£35m) price tag on the 27-year-old with club officials meeting with their Chelsea counterparts on Wednesday.
During those talks, Chelsea also offered to include Kepa in part of the deal, a proposal swiftly rejected by thr Serie A side.
Negotiations will continue but while Inter are not interested in Kepa, Gazzetta dello Sport claim Inter would be open bringing in another Chelsea player.
Chalobah is highly thought of at Inter.
Chalobah among the players admired by Inter (Picture: Getty)
The club are set to lose Milan Skriniar at the end of the season with the Slovakian set to join PSG and the Londoner is viewed as a possible replacement with Inter also impressed with his flexibility across the backline.
Fellow Chelsea academy graduate Loftus-Cheek is also viewed as an interesting option by Inter.
The midfielder has started 17 league games this season but is among the Chelsea players at risk of being moved on with the club planning a major clear-out this summer.
Mauricio Pochettino is expected to be named the new permanent Chelsea head coach with the former Tottenham boss is advanced talks with the club.
The Argentine has already given his assessment of the current squad and given his verdict on a number of players whose futures are in question.
The 51-year-old has also informed the club the presence of homegrown talent within the group can serve a key role in building a winning culture in west London.
Fernandes scored the winner against Aston Villa on Sunday (Picture: Getty)
Bruno Fernandes is playing through the pain barrier to help Manchester United secure a top four finish, admitting he is still feeling the effects of an injury suffered in the FA Cup semi-final.
Last Sunday, the 28-year-old suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury in the first-half of the semi-final clash with Brighton at Wembley. Fernandes was able to carry on before he was finally replaced in 101th minute as United secured victory on penalties.
The midfielder has been ever-present in Erik ten Hag’s Premier League line-up, missing one game through suspension last October having played every other available minute of top flight football.
While he is still nursing the injury suffered last week, Fernandes insists he will always strive to be available.
‘I am happy to never be in a condition where I can’t play games,’ Fernandes said after the 1-0 win at Old Trafford.
Fernandes netted after 39 minutes (Picture: Getty)
‘I had a knock in the semi-final that is still hurting a little bit but I can play, I can still help the team and when the manager needs me I will be available for the team to help.
‘It is important for me to play as much as I can but obviously I want to be in the best condition, try not to get ill, eat healthily enough to be in the best condition to play every game.’
With Harry Maguire not in the side, Fernandes has been United’s regular captain this season but faced criticism over his suitability for the role following the 7-0 defeat to Liverpool last month.
Having praised his performance against Villa, one that leaves United in a commanding position to secure a top four finish, Erik ten Hag fired back at his skipper’s critics.
‘He’s so tough. A couple of weeks ago there was questions about his captaincy. It’s crazy because he’s such a big leader, by example,’ ten Hag said.
‘He gives so much energy to the team besides his smartness. But also his determination, his passion and his resilience, so I think we as a team are so happy.
‘We need such players if you want to win games, if you want to win trophies.’
Fulham did expose one weakness but Pep Guardiola’s relentless side shrugged it off to go top of the Premier League
Tick. Tick. Tick. At the end of this breezy, fun, quietly feisty 2-1 defeat of Fulham, there was even a sense of super-smart design in Pep Guardiola’s onfield displays of affection.
There was a double-hug for John Stones: both hands around the torso plus a final flurry of buttock pats for the key defensive peg on the current eight-match winning league run. Guardiola hugged Jack Grealish, just because he loves hugging Jack Grealish.
Gary Neville wanted Manchester United to appoint Mauricio Pochettino who is now Chelsea-bound (Picture: The Overlap)
Gary Neville is confident Chelsea are capable of ‘causing a big surprise’ next season and has backed Todd Boehly’s decision to appoint Mauricio Pochettino as the club’s new manager.
Pochettino will inherit a club and a squad in a state of disarray following an unprecedented spending spree that has created a situation that has been impossible to manage for the likes of Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard this season.
The Blues are currently languishing in mid-table obscurity and in the midst of a five-game losing streak ahead of Tuesday’s visit to Arsenal.
Lampard has failed to steady the ship following his own return to Stamford Bridge but Neville believes he saw enough in a goalless draw against Liverpool earlier this month, when the team was coached by Potter’s assistant Bruno Saltor, to suggest a competent, experienced manager would be capable of overseeing a quick turnaround in fortunes.
The former Manchester United defender admitted he championed Pochettino’s cause when the Old Trafford hotseat was vacant last summer and is confident Chelsea have eventually stumbled on the right man to take the club forwards.
He told The Overlap: ‘Chelsea played Liverpool and there was something in that game that you saw in that collection of players and you thought they could be brought together by a talented coach.
‘Pochettino I think is a really talented coach and I think Chelsea next year could really cause a surprise, just by Pochettino bringing the club together because he will. He’s likeable and the players will respect him enormously.
‘He’s worked at PSG and worked with big players, worked at Tottenham, worked at Southampton where he did a great job.
‘I think he’ll do a very, very good job next season and he’ll cover a lot of the stuff that’s going on behind the scenes. Those players are perfect for Pochettino. Talented, young but just needing direction.
‘I wanted Pochettino and United, that’s not to say I didn’t want Erik ten Hag. It was close and I’m happy we’ve got Ten Hag I think he’s done brilliantly well but Pochettino is a top coach who I’d be happy having at my club.’
The EFL’s young player of the year on his big ambitions, praise from Jack Grealish and still doing two-touch on the balcony
“I feel like I played all right … I don’t think I played that well,” Alex Scott says, doing himself something of a disservice as the Bristol City midfielder reflects on the night Manchester City came to town. A clip of Scott gliding into the box and away from Julián Álvarez and Riyad Mahrez and bursting between Kevin De Bruyne and Rico Lewis went viral. His modesty is indicative of his endearing personality and the standards he has set himself. “I wanted to show what I’ve been doing the past two years in the Championship against one of the best teams in the world.”
What the 19-year-old has been doing this season has earned him the English Football League young player of the year award, previously won by Brennan Johnson, Ollie Watkins and Jude Bellingham, an opponent in Scott’s youth days at Southampton and a source of inspiration. “I played against Jude a few times,” he says. “I remember playing in tournaments against Harvey Elliott quite a bit and Jamal Musiala, now of Bayern Munich, because we used to play Chelsea all the time. Players like Jude and Jamal who have gone on to the highest level possible, it gives motivation for young lads like myself who have played against them and seen how good they were as kids.”
The 21-year-old has not played for United since January last year after he was arrested and subsequently charged with attempted rape, controlling behaviour and assault.
All charges against Greenwood were dropped in February, with the Crown Prosecution Service stating that ‘in this case a combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material that came to light meant there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction’.
A dramatic late equaliser condemned Wigan to relegation from the Championship, with the 1-1 draw at relegation rivals Reading sealing their fate.
The visitors had given themselves a glimmer of hope of avoiding the drop when defender Charlie Hughes headed home from close range nine minutes from the end. But Reading - still favourites to accompany Wigan and Blackpool into League One - levelled in the third minute of stoppage time through Yakou Méïté.
Wilfried Zaha looked seething with the Crystal Palace coaching staff after manager Roy Hodgson took off his star forward with minutes to go of the Eagles' dramatic 4-3 win over West Ham.
Maguire has fallen down the pecking order since the arrival of manager Erik ten Hag and is now used a a back-up to Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane.
While Maguire has been absent, Bruno Fernandes has been handed the armband and Winterburn thinks Ten Hag will pick a new United captain for next season.
‘It’s unlikely that Harry Maguire will be Manchester United’s club captain next year because you want your club captain to be playing regular football,’ he told Paddy Power.
‘He certainly won’t be club captain, but whether he looks for a move away depends on whether he feels he’s getting enough game time or can force his way back into the team.
‘My gut feeling is that he’ll move on from Manchester United if he doesn’t get the reassurances that he’ll be after.
‘It’s a difficult situation because modern players are used to playing less and still being part of the squad.’
The former striker discusses visiting hospitals in his homeland, his push to raise funds and Champions League hopes for Milan
“It was an incredible, emotional moment for me to spend time with her,” Andriy Shevchenko says as he describes meeting a little Ukrainian girl called Maryna last month. The most famous former footballer from Ukraine, who won the Ballon d’Or in 2004 and the Champions League with Milan before he also coached his country at Euro 2020, pauses as he reflects on a simple encounter where he kicked a football back and forth in hospital with the six-year-old.
The images of their kickaround assume a grainy resonance when it is explained that Maryna had become the first child in Ukraine to receive a prosthetic limb after her leg was blown off by a Russian missile last year. For many weeks she barely moved. Finally, when she was well enough to sit up, her doctors started the slow process of her rehabilitation by using a football. Maryna learned to balance on her prosthetic leg while using her good foot to kick the ball.
Chelsea’s hierarchy, which includes co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, are set for a meeting in Los Angeles this weekend to make a final call on Pochettino, who remains the club’s No.1 choice for the role.
Although Chelsea’s hierarchy are not quite in full agreement on Pochettino, he remains the favourite of three candidates which also includes Burnley manager Vincent Kompany and a third unknown name.
Chelsea are looking to reach a unanimous decision on Pochettino and then plan to make a contractual offer, according to The Times.
Pochettino has been out of work since leaving Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2022 where he won Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France.
He is adored by Chelsea’s London rivals Spurs – guiding them to the Champions League final in 2019 – and has also managed Southampton and Espanyol.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has been moved to midfield in recent games for Liverpool (Photo: Getty)
Liverpool legend John Barnes believes Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move to midfield isn’t the great success many have made it out to be.
One of the best right-backs in the world, Alexander-Arnold has garnered much praise for his attacking output but has often received criticism for being a defensive liabilty.
This has been especially prevalent this season with Liverpool struggling in the Premier League table, and likely to miss out on Champions League qualification fro the first time since 2016.
But in their last four games, Jurgen Klopp has deployed the 24-year-old in a slightly different role, starting at full-back but drifting into midfield to aid his side’s creativity.
And it appears to have done the trick with Alexander-Arnold registering five assists in the games against Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Leeds and West Ham, compared to just three in his 37 other matches this season.
Many have been quick to praise both player and manager for this tactical switch, but in spite of the stats Barnes is not convinced it has made much of difference and has suggested the England international should return to his more traditional right-back role.
‘In my opinion, Trent’s number of assists will increase if he is playing as a right back because of his crosses,’ the former Reds star told BonusCodeBets.
Alexander-Arnold recorded his eighth assist of the season against West Ham (Photo: Getty)
‘A lot of his assists are coming from the right back position like [against] Arsenal, so it’s not that he is getting more assists because he is playing as a midfielder now.
‘He is very creative in terms of his crosses and passes but I don’t agree with the fact that he is creating more chances from a midfield position but because of his qualities on the ball, he will create chances no matter what position he is playing.
‘We need to talk about what an assist is. He passed the ball to [Cody] Gakpo [against West Ham] and he turned and did all the work to get a goal so sometimes an assist can be quite easy to get.
‘Trent played well but we have to ask ourselves the question if he is creating more chances from his position in the midfield? I don’t think he is. He is a good midfielder but he creates more chances with his crosses from the right back position.
‘I think Liverpool missed him at the right back position. They will benefit more from him playing there but in the midfield even though he did well.’
It remains to be seen how Klopp will utilise Alexander-Arnold in Liverpool’s next game at home against top four rivals Tottenham.
New guidelines also advise 14-day wait for training return
Coaches and teachers told: ‘When in doubt, sit them out’
Anyone who suffers a concussion should not play a contact sport for at least 21 days, the first-ever government concussion guidance for grassroots sport across the UK has warned.
Coaches, teachers and referees are also urged to immediately remove anyone with a suspected concussion from the field of play, under the slogan “When in doubt, sit them out”, and to get players assessed by a healthcare professional.
Bruno Fernandes suffered an ankle injury in United's FA Cup semi-final win over Brighton at Wembley on Sunday, and was pictured with his foot in a protective boot next to a set of crutches.
Arsenal’s hopes of winning the league were dealt a huge blow this week (Picture: Getty)
Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith believes the Gunners will need to invest in a centre-half, a midfielder and another striker if they are to launch another title challenge next season.
Mikel Arteta’s side are still two points clear at the summit but City now have two games in hand with a more favourable fixture list ahead of them.
City can move top with a win at Fulham on Sunday with Arsenal not in action until Tuesday when they host Chelsea.
Mikel Arteta’s side dropped points in their three games heading into the City defeat with the absence of William Saliba at centre-half serving as a major blow for their title prospects.
Gabriel Jesus has proved to be a shrewd acquisition following his arrival from City last summer but Smith suggests another option up front could also be considered.
Rice on Arsenal’s radar this summer (Picture: Getty)
He told Sky Sports: ‘I think you’re probably looking through the heart of the team, through the centre.
‘We’ve obviously seen how they’ve suffered without Wiliam Saliba and the drop-off was quite drastic really, no manager would want to see that so they miss the Frenchman.
‘Thomas Partey has been a bit in and out this season, when Xhaka didn’t play they missed him certainly.
‘There’s been a lot of attention on Arsenal’s central midfield, possibly Declan Rice coming. That’s going to be a saga in the summer. Where’s the West Ham midfielder going to end up, it looks like he’s going to leave the Hammers.
‘Possibly another forward to compete with Jesus, they’ve got Eddie Nketiah but I think the centre-half and the central midfielder that will start games.
‘[Jakub] Kiwior, the defender who came in in January, could develop into a very good player so that might be a bit premature because they bought one in Kiwior but Mikel Arteta didn’t feel he was ready yet and Rob Holding got the shout.’
“Arsenal were 40-1 to win the Premier League at the start of the season,” notes Alex Norton. “In betting terms, who apart from Leicester are the most unlikely English champions?”
After enjoying a weekend away in the newspaper archive, we found – with one frustrating exception – pre-season odds for all champions of England since the mid-1960s. None come anywhere near Leicester’s 5,000-1 miracle in 2015-16. In fact, in the Premier League era, Leicester are the only team to win the title with odds in double figures, never mind quadruple.
The Argentine is currently unattached having been out of work since leaving PSG last summer.
But exactly how many trophies did he collect during his spell in the French capital?
Let’s take a peak inside Pochettino’s PSG trophy cabinet.
How many trophies did Mauricio Pochettino win with PSG?
Pochettino won three domestic titles with PSG during his 18 month spell in charge between January 2021 and July 2022.
Pochettino is on the verge of moving to Stamford Bridge (Picture: David Rogers/Getty Images)
The 51 year-old, who succeeded Thomas Tuchel in the Parisian hot seat, won the first title of his managerial career just 11 days into his job courtesy of a 2-1 win over Marseille in the French Super Cup.
A second cup arrived at the end of the season, with Pochettino guiding PSG to a 2-0 French Cup victory over Monaco at the Stade de France.
Pochettino’s first season in charge would ultimately be seen as underwhelming, however, with the French giants missing out on the Ligue 1 title by one point to Lille.
PSG did regain the league title in Pochettino’s one and only full season in charge, finishing 15 points clear of second-placed Marseille with 26 wins from their 38 fixtures.
But this was not enough for PSG’s Qatari owners, who parted company with the South American at the end of the season.
Part of the reason why Pochettino was sacked was because of his failure to land the club’s elusive Champions League trophy.
PSG were defeated in both legs of their semi-final against Manchester City in Pochettino’s first season, before blowing a 2-0 aggregate lead over Real Madrid in the Round of 16 the following year.
With a torrid run of fixtures to close out the season including trips to league leaders Arsenal, Manchester City, Newcastle and Man United; Chelsea fans are nervously biding their time.
Arsenal travel to City on Wednesday night for a match that could well decide who wins the Premier League title.
Ahead of kick-off, the Gunners are just five points clear of the Citizens having played two games more, with their title bid suffering a huge blow following three back-to-back draws against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton.
Though performances have dipped in recent times, forwards Saka and Martinelli have largely been consistently playing at the top of their game, with the pair scoring 28 goals and making 16 assists between them in the league so far.
Arsenal legend and former City midfielder Vieira has been impressed, but believes it is their work off the ball that has got Mikel Arteta’s side to where they are now.
‘I think they are brilliant, they are really important, they score some really important goals,’ the former Gunners captain told BT Sport.
‘It’s just they way they approach the game, they work hard out of possession, they run in behind. There’s a lot of activity. They help the team out of possession and they are showing such maturity in these games.
Gabriel Martinelli has scored 15 goals already (Photo: Getty)
‘When the team are in a really difficult area, you can see them being really disciplined and working with the team and accept that they have to defend. And then of course when they have possession, running in behind, stretching the opposition team.
‘And their strength in the 1v1s. They are really good runners and today they will be important for Arsenal.’
Saka and Martinelli are, as expected, in the line-up against City with Arteta making just one change from the Southampton draw with Granit Xhaka returning from illness to replace Fabio Vieira.
Arteta said: ‘Granit Xhaka has been really important throughout the season. Since I have been here he has played every single game. We need that experience, competitiveness and edge. We are happy to have him back.’
