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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Tumaini Carayol (earlier) and David Tindall (later)

FA Cup fourth round, transfer news, plus De Bruyne and Vardy blows – as it happened

Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne has been ruled out for four to six weeks with a hamstring injury.
Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne has been ruled out for four to six weeks with a hamstring injury. Photograph: Martin Rickett/Reuters

And that’s about it for today. Thanks for reading. Your fourth round FA Cup action starts soon and Ben Fisher is primed to go live with some hot MBM action at 7.45pm. Chorley v Wolves - do we smell an upset?

Saucer of milk for Cribbins...

Barney Ronay asks the question on many lips.

Frank Lampard has certainly come in for some grief on social media following his press conference today.

Updated

It’s almost 5pm so what better time to unleash The Fiver! It’s all here, including Jurgen’s latest shock.

“Liverpool have also been stymied by Ole Gunnar Solskjær, the sort of inoffensive trans-North Sea diplomat who could thrash out a decent fishing agreement.”

Some more (non-Kevin De Bruyne) Man City team news for their fourth-round tie at Cheltenham.

Defenders Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake are out while striker Sergio Aguero is self-isolating after testing positive for coronavirus. Aymeric Laporte and Eric Garcia are back in training.

Guardiola on Walker: “Kyle had a big impact kick in his hips, but it was just a kick. He’s not available, but maybe for the next game.”

Guardiola on Aguero: “He felt uncomfortable for two or three days after his positive test, he felt quite tired and had symptoms. But he feels well and we want him to come back.”

Pep Guardiola has again drawn attention to the workload put on players in light of the Kevin De Bruyne injury news.

While Liverpool’s attacking players just look knackered and devoid of spark, one of City’s main men has actually been forced out for up to six weeks.

Jurgen Klopp rather lost the will to keep complaining about fixture congestion after being branded a whinger but Pep has picked up the baton here.

Man City boss Pep Guardiola.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola. Photograph: Martin Rickett/Reuters

To demand they are fit for 11 months playing every three days is impossible. There have been injuries at all the clubs.

We knew it was going to happen. We’ve tried to avoid it. We have more medical treatment than ever, better nutritionists, we tried to masseur as much as possible to take care of the players but they are human beings.

These amount of games and competitions, at the end the bodies of the players say ‘it’s enough’.

The players don’t want to get injured but there are injuries, it’s no secret. When we demand five substitutions, it’s for this reason. Why can we do it in the FA Cup but the Premier League we cannot? Is it a special competition?

OK, the Premier League voted for it but if you want to protect the players…it’s not because it’s Kevin, it’s many, there are more than ever. There are too many games and competitions and the players suffer.

Without Kevin De Bruyne for four or five weeks, the spectators will miss an incredible player, like with other teams and other players, but it is what it is.

The year ends in ‘1’ so, as history and Chas N’ Dave tell us, Tottenham lift the FA Cup this season (they won it in 1901, 1921, 1961, 1981 and 1991).

The draw is certainly helping them so far. Marine in round three and a depleted Wycombe on Monday. That tie seemed in doubt but has been given the green light. Via PA:

Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth has confirmed he has enough players to fulfil his side’s FA Cup fourth-round tie with Tottenham.

The Chairboys have not played for the last two weeks due to a coronavirus outbreak, seeing games against QPR and Sheffield Wednesday called off, and they only returned to training on Thursday.

Ainsworth did not reveal details of how many of his players were affected by the virus, but said he will have to assess a couple of them before Monday night’s game.

There are also a couple of unnamed injuries, while Anthony Stewart (knee) is still missing.

Updated

A good omen to cheer up Liverpool fans. The Reds were champions for the first time in a while in 1973 but failed to defend their crown the following season. However, while the title slipped away in 1974, they did win the FA Cup.

Forget Lady Gaga singing at Joe Biden’s inauguration, we had Bruce Forysth holding court at Wembley.

Nice to see you.

Updated

Ouch. There’s always the FA Cup...

Brentford v Leicester is one of Sunday’s five staggered FA Cup offerings. That’s a full day on the couch. Remember to make time for your Joe Wicks/Bez workouts.

12:00 Chelsea v Luton
14:30 Brentford v Leicester
14:30 Fulham v Burnley
17:00 Man Utd v Liverpool
20:00 Everton v Sheff Wed

Bez hasn’t run since 1999. “It’s me knees more than anything.”

Updated

While Jamie Vardy is absent for Leicester, round four opponents Brentford are also missing their top scorer.

Ivan Toney has netted 16 times for the Championship side this season but is serving a one-match ban.

More team news (via PA):

Brentford midfielder Josh Dasilva is also unavailable as he completes a three-game suspension. Defender Pontus Jansson and midfielder Christian Norgaard are both sidelined by ankle problems and winger Shandon Baptiste is a long-term absentee with a knee injury.

Ayoze Perez is likely to deputise up front for Vardy while Danny Ward, Christian Fuchs, Ricardo Pereira and Daniel Amartey could all be handed starts. Dennis Praet is out until April with a thigh problem while Wes Morgan will also miss the trip to west London.

Everton and Sheffield Wednesday have met 19 times previously in the FA Cup. That includes replays but even so. Apparently, it’s the third most played fixture in the competition’s history.

Of course, this was the most famous. 1966 and all that. When orange balls were de rigueur.

A five-goal Wembley thriller.

Good news for Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti. Dominic Calvert-Lewin is back for Sunday’s FA Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday.

England striker Calvert-Lewin had missed Everton’s last three games due to a hamstring injury. Here’s the Toffees boss with more team news:

Calvert-Lewin is fit again.
Calvert-Lewin is fit again. Photograph: Craig Galloway/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock

We have Calvert-Lewin back for the game, unfortunately we have some players out, like (Jean-Philippe) Gbamin, Allan, (Fabian) Delph, (Lucas) Digne, (Alex) Iwobi and (Niels) Nkounkou. But the others are in good condition, ready to play this game and ready to compete in this competition because it is important. The FA Cup for us is very important.

Updated

How about an upset at the London Stadium where it’s again Premier League v League One as West Ham host Doncaster? This, like Sheff Utd v Plymouth, is a Saturday 3pm-er.

West Ham are in fine form but so are Rovers. The South Yorkshire outfit dumped Blackburn out in the third round and have reeled off three straight wins to climb to fourth in the third tier.

Captain Tom Anderson had this to say on the club’s official website:

It’s a massive game for us and a great opportunity to enjoy and show what we can do against a Premier League side. It’s a chance to test ourselves and give it our all, our approach will be the same and we have to go into it believing we can win.

A potential hotspot for an FA Cup upset must be Bramall Lane where League one Plymouth play Premier League strugglers Sheffield United.

Plymouth boss Ryan Lowe has been speaking to BBC Radio Devon.

I want them to go out with a freedom, I want them to play our football like we’ve been doing. We’ve beaten a Championship team along the way, and is it a big ask to beat a Premier League team? It’s an ask, it’s not a massive one.

Plymouth won at Huddersfield in the last round and gave a recent example of how they can win at a big club that wears red and white stripes and begins with ‘S’ by defeating Sunderland on Tuesday.

Updated

How strong will Ole Gunnar Solskjær go for the FA Cup clash with Liverpool?

Here’s the Norwegian putting the league first before a stream of consciousness about cup runs.

We’ll rotate, that’s for sure. We’ll put a decent team together of course, a team I feel can win the game. Of course you want to get your hands on that first trophy, but it’s always the league position that’s the measure of how far you have come. Anyone can have an easy cup run, I’m not one of those. I never get an easy cup run! I’m never going to watch a draw ever again because we always seem to pick out the difficult opponents. In a cup run, sometimes you can get to a final without really playing any of the top ones.

Updated

Vardy ruled out for 'a few weeks'

No Jamie Vardy for Leicester’s fourth-round tie at Brentford on Sunday.

De Bruyne out (Man City have lost four of their last eight Premier League games without him by the way) and now Vardy sidelined. Are the planets aligning for Manchester United?

Updated

Here’s Frank Lampard getting a bit chippy. Echoes of Graham Taylor and Rob Shepherd? Much more humour in the room back then though.

Compare and contrast here:

Tonight’s opening FA Cup fourth-round game is merely hours away.

Chorley ‘shocked’ Wolves on the one previous occasion they met in the FA Cup.

Then again, was it really a shock? Wolves were a fourth division side at the time (1986/7) and this was in round one. In addition, the 3-0 win came in a second replay after a pair of 1-1 draws so doubtful this was first up on Match of the Day. Or Sportsnight.

Some Opta stats for tonight’s game:

  • Wolves lost their last FA Cup meeting with non-league opponents, going down 0-1 at Luton in January 2013.
  • This is the furthest Chorley have ever progressed in the FA Cup. Their only previous meeting with top-flight opposition in the competition ended in a 0-6 defeat to Notts County in January 1900.
  • Wolves have reached the fifth round of the FA Cup in just two of the last 12 campaigns, doing so in 2016-17 and 2018-19.
  • Connor Hall has netted in the first, second and third rounds of the FA Cup for Chorley this season, scoring what turned out to be the winning goals against Wigan (first round) and Derby (third round).

Here’s Pep Guardiola revealing the Kevin De Bruyne injury news.

Klopp also squeezed in his thoughts on Sunday’s game against Manchester United at Old Trafford. It’s a 5pm kick-off which messes with my eating times but hey ho.

A wistful Klopp.
A wistful Klopp. Photograph: Paul Greenwood/BPI/REX/Shutterstock

We want to win the game, that’s clear. It’s a cup game - the game will be decided on the night. We want to win this game. That’s how we will make the line-up. We have to work on the details. We have to play football, we have to create, defend and score. We know that. We will try to do that on Sunday. We want to go through and for that we have to play really well. United are in a really good moment. They are getting the results they wanted. We have to be ready - 100%.

Doesn’t look as if Klopp wanted to stick around. However, he did have this to say on any possible transfer dealings.

Of course somebody else is making the decisions. It was always like this. We discuss on a daily basis, I make recommendations but I cannot spend the money. That’s not how it is. I don’t make those decisions and I never did. Could we improve something or not? I don’t make these decisions, I never did. Is that news? I don’t want to confuse anyone. I just said what I said. Hopefully we can clarify it now.

De Bruyne out for four to six weeks

With Liverpool struggling and Manchester United still to convince most that they could go all the way, surely the door is wide open for Manchester City.

This doesn’t help though...

Updated

Jürgen Klopp is now speaking to the press ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup showdown with Manchester United. Words coming shortly.

Liverpool’s form looks horrible but it’s not unprecedented in the Klopp era. Back in 2017, they had this run from January 2 to February 4:

DDLDWLLLDL

That stretch of five losses, four draws and a single win included a 0-0 home draw with Plymouth and a 2-0 defeat at Hull.

Thanks very much Tumaini. It’s all getting a bit heavy in Frank Lampard’s press conference, so let us lighten the mood with an FA Cup song. This has most of the classic elements. Maybe not the awkward swaying but they’re dressed in tracksuits holding footballs so that’s good. This is Coventry on Blue Peter in 1987.

Sing it fellas...

Anyway, that’s all from me this afternoon. Thanks a lot for following and Dave Tindall will take over now.

After yet another question about his job, Frank Lampard got a little irritated:

“Their confidence would be shot if they were to read some of the pieces you write at the minute. I read some of them and some of the confirmation bias you always reflect on games with, almost like a social media pundit to try and get a reaction in a negative way. I read the pieces when we were doing well, as well, and they didn’t go both ways. So I think for a journalist to be objective would be a start because players do read it.”

Updated

Frank Lampard is speaking with the media and unsurprisingly his future is one of the big talking points. Asked whether it is difficult to hear other managers being discussed as successors to him:

“I don’t listen to it. It’s only everywhere if you scroll through social media or something like that - I don’t do that. I’m not stupid. I know what the pressures are that come with managing a top football club but I can only do my job so it doesn’t matter to me.”

National League suspended

The North and South divisions have been suspended for two weeks.

Updated

One of the most beautiful own goals.

Manchester United Women sign Maria Thorisdottir of Norway from Chelsea.

There will be a fair amount of football this weekend.

Updated

For those who missed it, Zinedine Zidane’s coronavirus diagnosis was preceded by one of Real Madrid’s worst losses in recent times.

Mikel Arteta says he will not be loaning out Calum Chambers, who continues to look for consistent playing time since returning to full fitness after rupturing his ACL:

“I don’t think that is going to happen. I am really happy with Calum. He has gone through a really difficult period. He has worked so hard.”

“He has looked really good in the last few weeks in training. He is not even thinking about his knee right now. We want to give him minutes when we can because he is a player that we believe in.”

via PA.

Ben Fisher spoke with Doncaster’s Andy Butler, who combines playing for the men’s team with managing the women’s team.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is back in training after suffering from a hamstring injury. He has not played since Everton lost to West Ham on January 1st.

Updated

Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo says that Marcal has undergone abdominal surgery after injuring himself against Tottenham last month.

“First, he has to be free of pain, then we will start integrating and getting his fitness levels again. There will be some more weeks in front of him yet. It was in the game against Tottenham, he had a slip on his left leg, he felt a really strong pain in the abdominal area, so that required treatment and an operation to solve the problem.”

via wolves.co.uk

Zidane tests positive for Covid

All the best to Zinedine Zidane.

Updated

To the surprise of nobody, Brighton manager Graham Potter hopes that his team will approach the coming fixtures one match at a time. Brighton face Blackpool in the FA Cup tomorrow.

“We’ve got to get into a mentality just to focus on the next match and try to win the next match, which is Blackpool,” he said.

“We did that against Newport. We picked the team that we thought was going to be the right team to play against Newport, some of those guys played against Manchester City (three days later), quite a few of them did.

“We know we need to be at our best, we know we need a bit of luck, and we have to play well to go through against Blackpool, it’s as simple as that.

“As soon as you start looking too far ahead, you cause yourself a problem.

“We will try to pick a team that can give us a good chance to win the game - that’s what we want to do, to win the game and go through.”

(via PA)

Updated

Mick McCarthy is close to being named the new manager of Cardiff City and a deal is expected to be confirmed in the coming days. From PA:

McCarthy, the former Republic of Ireland, Sunderland and Wolves boss, will succeed Neil Harris, who left the club on Thursday after suffering six straight defeats.

The 61-year-old parted company with APOEL on January 6 after just nine games and two months with the Cypriot champions.

McCarthy’s previous job was his second spell with the Republic, which ended last April after the coronavirus pandemic caused the Euro 2020 play-offs to be postponed and Stephen Kenny replaced him.

His last post in club management was a six-year spell at Ipswich between 2012 and 2018.

Cardiff’s hierarchy have turned to the experienced McCarthy after slipping to 15th place in the Sky Bet Championship, closer to the relegation zone than the play-off places which they are 13 points adrift of.

Chorley FC are 9th in National League North, with 6 losses so far this season. Their route to tonight’s FA Cup fourth round meeting with Wolves:

Round one: Wigan 2-3 Chorley

Round two: Peterborough 1-2 Chorley

Round three: Chorley 2-0 Derby

Two League One scalps and a Championship upset. Be careful, Wolves.

According to Jacob Steinberg, West Ham intend to reward David Moyes with a new contract at the end of the season.

Spare a thought for poor Alex Rúnarsson, whose one terrible performance against Manchester City was enough for Arsenal to quietly seek out a No 2 goalkeeper.

Arsenal sign Brighton goalkeeper Maty Ryan on loan until the end of the season. It is fair to say that this one went slightly under the radar.

Updated

Thirty five years ago, Chorley scuppered first division Wolves 3-0 in the FA Cup first round. There is no complacency from Nuno Espírito Santo today:

“We don’t have to go much further back, recent history in football tells you - especially in this competition - things can happen. We have to be aware of the responsibility we have.

“We will approach it exactly the same as any game, with the search for detail. The difference of the divisions doesn’t show you the game so we have to compete and play.

“We are going to find a pitch which is not in the best condition, we know an effort has been made to preserve the pitch but with the weather conditions it will be very difficult to play football on. We have to adapt.

“The next game is always the opportunity to improve on what you did wrong before.”

(via PA)

No regrets for Dean Smith after he was charged by the FA for using abusive/ insulting language after Aston Villa conceded against Manchester City due to a controversial goal that was not deemed to be offside. Here is how he previously described his comments before:

“I got a yellow card [from Moss] for saying I think you’ve had juggling balls for Christmas. What I said for the red card doesn’t need to be censored, it wasn’t swearing. He came over and said I’m interpreting the laws of the game, and I said you should’ve done that earlier in the game.”

Not ideal.

Mikel Arteta had some empathetic words for Frank Lampard:

“I have known Frank for a few years and I spent some time with him and I would like the club to support him and give him a chance,” he said.

“He has huge experience as a player, he is an icon over there and he has done some really good things.

“You need time, and something we have not had in this calendar year is time to work on anything.”

Derby County player Jordon Ibe says that he is suffering from depression. From his statement on Instagram yesterday evening:

“I want to apologise to all my fans around the world. I’ve found myself in a dark place, due to suffering with depression. It’s no scheme for the media or to have my name in your mouths, I just find things hard truly. I appreciate all the love and messages from everyone. Times are hard in general due to this pandemic...

I have the full support from my family and Derby County football club. I will fix myself and this situation, which I’m 100 per cent committed to. Not only for my family, close friends or my beauteous daughter but for me.

Much love to every single person.”

Updated

Despite currently having eight players unavailable due to injury, Ralph Hasenhuttl was in a confident mood ahead of two fixtures against Arsenal in four days. (via PA)

“I’d prefer winning both to be honest, if it’s possible we’ll do it, but I know it’s tough,” he said.

“Yes, we have the chance to I think. On our day we can beat any team in the league, we’ve shown this, especially at home.

“I think this is the goal we have. Yes, tough like always, but not impossible.”

Will Smallbone, Nathan Tella, Michael Obafemi, Oriol Romeu, Mohammed Salisum Moussa Djenepo, Jannik Vestergaard and Nathan Redmond are all injured for Southampton.

Another big loan deal to watch out for.

Fikayo Tomori heads to Serie A leaders AC Milan on loan with an option to buy.

Updated

Nick Ames spoke with Andy Preece and Irfan Kawri, assistant manager and coach of Chorley. Their team square off against Nuno Espírito Santo’s Wolves tonight. It will be a rare match between teams with senior Black and south Asian staff in the technical area.

Updated

There is already plenty to read this morning. Here are 10 things to look out for this weekend.

Preamble

Hello! As the weekend approaches once more, welcome to another Friday countdown. For the next few days, the leagues will take a back seat as the FA Cup fourth round beckons.

Tonight will see Wolves travel to Lancashire to face National League North side Chorley. Tomorrow’s games include Southampton versus Arsenal, Brighton against Blackpool and Manchester City at Cheltenham.

On Sunday, Chelsea will host Luton Town, Fulham will face Burnley, Leicester will travel to Brentford and, of course, Manchester United square off against Liverpool at Old Trafford.

In this strange, unique year, we have already seen ample cup upsets, both in England and abroad. Let’s see what this round brings.

Updated

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