And that’s all from the Friday blog for this week. Enjoy your sporting weekend.
Brendan Rodgers has bestowed his regal approval on Frank Lampard, manager of Frank Lampard’s Chelsea, ahead of Leicester’s Sunday visit to Stamford Bridge.
Frank and Jody (Morris) are a perfect fit for it. They both understand the fabric of the club. Frank understands the policy at the club, with the transfer ban, and he is giving young players a chance, which perhaps in the past those young players wouldn’t get that opportunity. But, under Frank and Jody, young players are getting a chance to flourish now and he is doing a good job. In the games I have seen, Chelsea have played with a good tempo and intensity. Frank understands the importance of giving those young players a chance, but he also knows he has to win matches and get results, and I believe he will do well there.
The referee when Everton take on Watford will be Jon Moss. There is a musical link beyond his sharing a name with Culture Club’s drummer. He is now the proud owner of a record shop/coffee shop called, of course, Vinyl Whistle. It’s on the Otley Road in Leeds, famed for its near-impossible pub crawl. (14-23 pubs/bars). Here, another fellow ref brings the banter. It looks pretty useful for your indie landfill needs.
Popped in for a coffee @whistle_shop to see how my favourite pregnant referee is getting on 😂 pic.twitter.com/pM0Pkct26B
— Bobby Madley (@BobbyMadley2) August 9, 2019
Arsenal look to build on last week’s win at Newcastle, but will have to get past some Dyche-ball.
Here’s today’s chortlesome Fiver chunks.
Pogba latest: nothing is happening. But it might. Maybe.
First, his brother, Mathias Pogba, speaking to El Chiringuito: “I can’t assure you that he is going to stay at United. ‘We know he wanted to move, but he’s not to blame. He’s waiting. He works hard and we’ll see what happens. In football you never know. Until September 2 everything can happen.”
Next, Zinedine Zidane: “Paul is a Manchester United player and we must respect that, I am happy with my players, thinking only about tomorrow’s game. The players are the same. We are ready to play a good game, we want to compete. I have the best players here, no doubt, I always say that.”
Two more weeks of such nonsense to go, then.
Marco Silva takes on his former club at 3pm on Saturday.
Manchester City v Tottenham is Saturday’s plum Prem game, so here’s some team news. Fuller preview to follow.
Midfielder Fernandinho is back in contention as Manchester City have close to a fully-fit squad available for Saturday’s Premier League clash with Tottenham. The Brazilian missed last week’s opener against West Ham having returned to training late following international duty. Winger Leroy Sane is the only major absentee as he awaits knee surgery while left-back Benjamin Mendy is unlikely to be involved as he builds up match fitness.
Tottenham are still without hamstring injury victims Dele Alli and Ryan Sessegnon. Juan Foyth and Son Heung-min are both suspended but Spurs are otherwise at full strength. Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen are vying for starts while Giovani Lo Celso could be on the bench following his deadline day move from Real Betis.
Even more Liverpool? Here’s a preview of their Saturday 3pm game at Southampton.
Time for Palace fans to panic? Roy Hogdson has some not-so soothing words.
Via PA Media
Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson admits he cannot rule out Wilfried Zaha leaving during the European transfer window - but hopes the forward will fully commit himself to the season ahead at Selhurst Park.
With the European transfer window still open until September 2, there is a possibility Zaha could further his career away from England.
Hodgson, though, hopes it will be the Eagles who now get to see the best of the 26-year-old former Manchester United man for the remainder of the campaign.
“Well there is not too much point worrying about it, if you are asking me ‘would I welcome it?’ the answer is no,” said the Palace boss when the issue was raised at a press conference, in quotes broadcast by Sky Sports.
“I would rather that he now gets his head down and commits himself to the season that we have got in front of us and commits himself to helping me, the coaching staff and the players into having another season that we can regard as a good one. That is what I would like.
“But of course I don’t suppose you can ever rule out the possibility that it might happen because the transfer window in Europe is still open until the end of the month - but it is not something which I am going to worry about because it is something that I really cannot affect.”
Asked what Zaha’s attitude had been like since his return, Hodgson replied: “It has been good, very good.”
And Suzanne Wrack has been talking to Carla Ward, the Sheffield United women’s team manager.
Updated
Ben Fisher has heard from Ralph Hasenhüttl, coming off the back of last week’s horror show at Burnley.
More Liverpool news. It appears that Dejan Lovren’s move to Roma is OFF, according to widespread reports. So one of the world’s best defenders - according to the man himself - looks to be staying at Anfield.
Roma wanted an initial loan for Dejan Lovren - that wouldn’t have made any sense for #LFC so talks ended. Right decision to keep him. Klopp needs four senior centre-backs with Liverpool competing on so many fronts.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) August 16, 2019
#LFC have ended talks with Roma over Dejan Lovren. The Serie A side failed to come up with an official proposal after indicating they would be willing to pay over £15m. Instead, they used Italian intermediaries to try and negotiate a small loan fee to sign the defender.
— Melissa Reddy (@MelissaReddy_) August 16, 2019
Here’s the team news from the Tyrone Mings derby.
Manuel Pellegrini is ready to end West Ham’s Brighton hoodoo, which amounts to one point from four games since the Seagulls were promoted:
It’s just a statistic. Every game in football is different. Brighton started very well, with a clear style of play under their new manager. Playing in their stadium is always difficult so we must be very focused and play with a high pace and intensity.
Brighton were really very good last Saturday, and Shane Duffy in particular was magnificent. This should be a harder assignment than the four previous ones that the Hammers have flunked. Anyway, that’s all from me: I’m going to swan off into the weekend. John Brewin will be here shortly with the rest of the day’s news: emails here please. Bye!
Some news from Chelsea, who have successfully made Stamford Bridge a hostile environment for touts:
The good news is, he thinks he has “many chances” of being fit to play this weekend:
Adrian says he thinks he'll be ready to play tomorrow.
— Neil Jones (@neiljonesgoal) August 16, 2019
"Yeah, I think I have many chances.
"I feel mentally ready and I also hope today with the treatment of the ankle it's going to be much better.
"But I'm very optimistic to start playing tomorrow again."#LFC
Adrian has spoken about his supporter-inflicted injury, describing it “a strange, weird situation”.
Adrian on freak #SuperCup injury “It was a strange, weird situation... I think he slipped in front of us and also the security with him and made me a tackle from the side. It was a bit of a strange situation but I feel much better today and I hope [I'm] ready for tomorrow” #LFC
— Richard Buxton (@RichardBuxton_) August 16, 2019
Zinedine Zidane has changed his tune when it comes to Gareth Bale, who will now be in the squad for their curtain-raiser against Celta Vigo. This is from today’s press conference:
It seemed that [Bale] was going to leave but today he is here with us. The dynamics are changing, things are changing. From now on, I will rely on him, as on others. I will rely on all the players who are here. He has his place, he is an important player and I hope that all the players will make the task of choosing a team difficult.
We will, as ever, preview every Premier League game before the day’s out. Here’s the first of the day:
Hello again! I have mainly spent my lunch break accepting delivery of a desk, and then on hold for a merry half-hour arranging return of said desk, which has no legs. I do not feel rested. Meanwhile Amazon Prime’s Leeds-focused documentary, Take Us Home, has inspired Max Rushden to pick up his pen:
A bit of Sheffield United news, as the Blades prepare to host a Premier League game at Bramall Lane for the first time in more than 12 years, courtesy of PA Media:
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder must decide whether to recall Billy Sharp to his starting line-up for Sunday’s home game against Crystal Palace.
Sharp stepped off the bench to clinch the Blades a point in their draw at Bournemouth on the opening day and could return for their first home game of the season.
Club record signing Oliver McBurnie is hoping to make his first start and Everton loanee Muhamed Besic could feature, but fellow summer recruits Lys Mousset and Ravel Morrison are not ready for first-team action.
Crystal Palace will have defender Jeffrey Schlupp back from an ankle problem for the trip to Bramall Lane.
Defender Gary Cahill, midfielder James McCarthy and Victor Camarasa should all be involved again after the new signings featured for the under-23s in midweek.
Centre-back James Tomkins continues his recovery from a groin problem sustained at the end of last season, while Mamadou Sakho (knee) also remains unavailable
And with that, I’ll hand you back to Simon after his ultra-relaxing lunch hour. Email him here if you fancy. Bye.
A stalled La Liga start for Eden Hazard: the Belgian is out of Real Madrid’s season-opener against Celta Vigo with a thigh injury that is expected to sideline him for around three or four weeks.
Pep speaks, and he plays up Tottenham’s threat, describing them as “the second best team in Europe”, adding: “Since I came to England they have always been a real contender, always they were tough games.” He’s not underestimating any of the other contenders either: “Liverpool and Tottenham are impressive, Chelsea have played very well over the two games they lost. We saw in United [against Chelsa] the real quality they have up front, they seem in a new mood, Arsenal bought good players, Tottenham the same.” He was tight lipped on tomorrow’s team, and whether Bernardo Silva would be back in the team in the light of Rodri’s fine debut at West Ham.
Some more nuggets of team news: Everton will be without Andre Gomes for Watford’s visit to Goodison. Fabian Delph and Leighton Baines are both still out. While Southampton should have new signing Kevin Danso available for the visit of Liverpool. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg should also be involved after an illness. Moussa Djenepo could also be set for a debut.
Updated
Down to Stamford Bridge, where Frank Lampard has been speaking about the abuse faced by Tammy Abraham on social media after his missed penalty in the Super Cup shootout on Wednesday. “Tammy wanted to stand up and be brave and take the penalty,” said the Chelsea manager, “and then a few hours later someone sitting behind a keyboard or a phone is saying the most disgusting things possible. I don’t know how these platforms work but something should be done. I’m so angry for Tammy and that’s not what we’re about as a club and the work we do against discrimination.
As for the challenge posed by Leicester, Sunday’s opponents: “It’s a big game for us, in front of our home fans for the first time this season, I know Brendan well he’s a good manager, with a good mix of experienced and young players.” Regarding his transfer-ban hindered squad, he insisted Michy Batshuayi was here to stay. “The important thing is he trains at the top level every day, and plays how I like strikers to play – constant movement and trying to score goals.
He’s rather less forthcoming when invited to comment on Manchester City escaping a transfer ban and whether that might assist their own appeal. “I don’t know, as I don’t know the difference between our case and theirs. So I don’t want to comment on something where I don’t have a full understanding of the details.”
Thanks Simon. Afternoon all. It may be Pep hour but his opposite number tomorrow evening, Mauricio Pochettino, has been chatting about Spurs’ trip to the Etihad, the scene of one of their more memorable nights last term. And the Spurs coach is up for it: “I’m so happy to compete against [Guardiola] again,” he said. “For me, he is one of the best managers in the world and that means we are in the same race, which is so important for myself.”
The coach says he’ll continue to pick Christian Eriksen, despite the ongoing speculation about his impending exit. Though he could only mutter “we’ll see” when asked about whether the Dane will be in Saturday’s starting XI. “For me it is the same between a player who has one year on his contract and one who has five years, the section is not for the length of the contract it is for the performance. After five years you all should know to avoid this question, because you know I will take the decision based only on performance, and not their personal situation with the club.” Son Heung-min and Juan Foyth will miss out tomorrow through suspension. Tottenham are also still without Dele Alli and Ryan Sessegnon.
Updated
We have entered Pep hour, with Guardiola scheduled to give his press conference at about 1.30pm. Tom Davies is going to be here for it, as I’m going to step away from the blog for a bit. Send him your emails here, if you could. Bye for now!
Updated
News just in from the world’s-gone-mad department:
Watch Ronaldo score his latest victory in our new TV commercial in celebration of Shopee 9.9 Super Shopping Day! 😱Comment below and let us know what's your favourite scene and tag a fan! 😂#ShopeeSGxRonaldo #ShopeeSG99 #Shopee99SuperShoppingDay pic.twitter.com/SzkDMhM7bU
— Shopee Singapore (@ShopeeSG) August 16, 2019
Andy Hunter was at Jurgen Klopp’s morning briefing, and has more on Adrián’s ankle injury:
Elsewhere, the women’s Champions League draw is about to happen. Join John Brewin here, if you wish:
Jamie Jackson was at Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s press conference this morning, and this is what he’s written about it:
Here’s Sean Dyche on Arsenal, and the prospect of playing the Gunners, who always seem to get a dodgy penalty or handball goal against Burnley, with VAR in place:
I am not going to start harping on about some of the decisions that have gone against us but that has certainly played its part. It didn’t last season but it did before that. I have always said you need to be on top of your performance against the top sides. They might be having a quiet day, you might get the rub of the green, you might need a decision. They might be a bit more measured now with VAR and you certainly wouldn’t have the decisions go against us. But, when it comes down to it, you have to perform. The top sides are there for a reason, they have good individuals and they are good as a unit, and if you don’t perform you very rarely get anything against anyone in the Premier League.
Mauricio Pochettino has spoken about his rivalry between himself and Pep Guardiola, who he will come up against on Saturday evening.
It is not a competition between him and myself. Of course, that I try to beat all the managers I’m going to face, I love to be competitive and I love to beat them, like they try to beat me. But football is a collective spot and always in that moment, playing at Espanyol against Barcelona and Tottenham against City, it’s not a personal competition. The only way to see if one is better than the other is to play 1v1 and see what happens.
Sky interviewed Andy Lonergan, suddenly the most talked-about goalkeeper in the country, on Wednesday. “Alisson unfortunately got an injury and I got a call, and there’s only one answer you give to a team like this, and obviously I’m here,” he said. “I enjoyed my time at Rochdale, but I’ve played a lot of games in my career and recently it hasn’t gone as I’ve wanted it to. That’s all in the past, and I’m looking for the future. I’ve signed for the season. Happy days, and whatever they need me to do I’ll do.”
This doesn’t augur well, although United won on Goram’s debut anyway. Here’s the Guardian’s report on Manchester United 4-2 Coventry in April 2001.
2001 - Andy Goram was the last goalkeeper to make his Premier League debut aged 35 or older, doing so for Manchester United against Coventry City in April 2001 aged 37 years and 1 day, conceding twice and being substituted off in the 67th minute. Baptism. pic.twitter.com/8sB82gCxdJ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 16, 2019
Andy Lonergan spent most of last season at Middlesbrough, where he was named on the bench for 10 league games, never used, and left out of the squad for the remainder. He did play seven league games on loan at Rochdale, keeping one clean sheet, and a few times in the cups. In 2017-18 he played seven league games for Leeds, the year before than 10 for Wolves. It has, in short, been a while since he played regularly, and he has never played in the Premier League.
35y 302d - Should he debut for Liverpool tomorrow, Andy Lonergan will be the oldest Englishman to make his Premier League debut in the 21st century, aged 35 years and 302 days. Evergreen. pic.twitter.com/lZRTnaR2BT
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 16, 2019
Here’s some video of Adrián being taken out by a two-footed flying fan-tackle. In addition to all Liverpool’s other goalkeeping troubles, Caoimhin Kelleher needed surgery on a wrist injury last month:
Did anyone see this slide tackle by some idiot after the shoot out... what the heck man!! #LFC #SuperCup pic.twitter.com/hJrGpiguMd
— Reaaz Ahmed (@ReaazAhmed) August 16, 2019
Updated
The La Liga season starts tonight, with Barcelona’s game against Athletic Club in Bilbao. Here’s Sid Lowe’s season preview:
“There’s no doubt about how much we love our fans,” says Klopp, “but if they can all stop doing that please. Norwich, Istanbul, people ran on the pitch. It’s not funny. The girl in the Champions League final made money obviously. I like that we don’t have fences in stadiums but that means a lot of responsibility for supporters as well. It’s crazy. How can something like this happen?”
That leaves Andy Lonergan, the 35-year-old former Preston netminder, as Liverpool’s only fully fit senior goalkeeper. They also have the 20-year-old Irishman Caoimhin Kelleher. “We are all completely excited about [him], a young boy with the potential he has,” says Klopp. “He’s not in 100% training, but nearly 100% for a week and a half. He has to be in training today and then we have to make a decision.”
Injury news from Liverpool: Adrian has an ankle injury, which he suffered during the wild post-shoot-out celebrations in Istanbul. “When we were all together a supporter jumped over, was chased by some security guards, slipped and kicked his ankle. Crazy. Yesterday it was swollen. Today he says it is much better than yesterday, but we have to see. Apart from that it was a brilliant night for him.”
Watford hold their press conferences on Thursdays, but this has just landed from PA Media. I think it’s a bit weird how last week’s defeat to Brighton seems to have been universally ascribed to rogue player underperformance, because I thought there were obvious tactical issues that Javi Gracia made no attempt to deal with, and were at least as important in determining the outcome of the game as anything the players did within his chosen system, and nobody seems to be asking him about those:
Watford boss Javi Gracia is expecting a better show from his side when they visit Everton on Saturday. The Hornets’ new campaign got off to a woeful start as they were beaten 3-0 at home to Brighton last week, but Gracia is not hitting the panic button. He wants his side to learn their lesson from last week and be more like themselves at Goodison Park.
“In all of the games we try to learn, win or lose,” he said. “In this case we had a bad result, it was hard for us, because we were looking forward to the first game of the season and we wanted to start well, it wasn’t possible. We will try and learn from it. We have many things to improve, we will try to do it better.
“It was only the first game and we have another chance on Saturday. I think we can play better because we have done it before and I am sure we will do it.”
Despite having Danny Welbeck, Quina, Nathaniel Chalobah and Adam Masina available on Merseyside, Gracia is not going to make wholesale changes.
“When we finished the game against Brighton I was asked about the players that were out of the team,” he said. “It is not the main solution, the main solution to play better is to try and work during the week, try and improve with all of the players. All of the players will be important in the next games. We try to find the solutions for all of the different games we play.”
Andy King has been talking about his move from Leicester to Rangers, and specifically about whether he spoke to Brendan Rodgers about it, which surprisingly he hasn’t, yet:
I’ve not really spoken to him about coming here specifically but I will do. A man who was so successful in Scottish football with the titles he won, I will call him and ask him about life in Glasgow, what Scottish football’s like and stuff like that. But I have not really had the chance to do that.
I am really grateful for him being clear with me a couple of weeks ago. He said it was up to me to try and find a new challenge and fortunately I have managed to do that - a massive challenge at a massive football club and one I am delighted to be at.
Some early Aston Villa v Bournemouth team news: Jonathan Kodjia is out for Villa with the striker nursing an ankle injury. He is expected to be sidelined for around 10 days while Kortney Hause is also missing with his own ankle problem. James Chester remains absent for Dean Smith’s side after picking up a hamstring injury during pre-season. Bournemouth will again be without forward Arnaut Danjuma as the Dutch summer signing continues to be assessed for a foot problem.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is holding his weekly press conference, and has been chatting about Alexis Sanchez:
Alexis is such a professional, he comes in working every single day really hard, and he wants to be part of this. It’s these stories again that he’s been put in the reserves - of course he hasn’t. He’s part of our squad and he’s a very, very good player. He’s a few weeks behind the rest but he’s very close to being part of it. We don’t have the biggest forward line in numbers, so Alexis might end up playing a lot more games than you expect. We expect him to come good at this club. He’s quality.
Some news from Newcastle, courtesy of PA Media. In brief: Shelvey fine, Saint-Maximin doubtful, Carroll a while off:
Newcastle boss Steve Bruce has revealed new signing Allan Saint-Maximin is a doubt for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Norwich. The French summer signing, who was handed a debut as a substitute in last weekend’s 1-0 home defeat by Arsenal, has a hamstring problem and could miss out at Carrow Road, although fellow midfielder Jonjo Shelvey is expected to shake off an ankle injury.
Deadline day signing Andy Carroll remains several weeks away from making a second debut for the club, although Bruce is convinced he will have a significant role to play this season.
He said: “He’s doing a bit of running on the grass. We still think he is gong to be at least four, five weeks away. The big thing with Andy is not to put a timescale on him. He’ll be ready and fit when he is, and if you try to put timescales on it it disappoints him and disappoints everybody else. I’m sure he’s going to have a big part to play. The way I’ve seen him running in the week then hopefully - touch wood he stays OK - he’ll be in in the next few weeks.”
Also new this morning: a freshly-baked batch of transfer rumours, straight from the oven:
Here are 10 things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend:
Hello world!
It’s Friday, and the weekend is just around the corner, carrying with it a bumper basket full of footballing fun. Here are this weekend’s Premier League fixtures (all times BST):
Saturday
Arsenal v Burnley (12.30pm)
Aston Villa v Bournemouth (3pm)
Brighton & Hove Albion v West Ham United (3pm)
Everton v Watford (3pm)
Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur (5.30pm)
Norwich City v Newcastle United (3pm)
Southampton v Liverpool (3pm)
Sunday
Chelsea v Leicester City (4.30pm)
Sheffield United v Crystal Palace (2pm)
Monday
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester United (8pm)
We’ll look ahead to all of those with the usual press-conferential updates, as well as injury news, other news, things that scarcely qualify as news and whatever curveballs the world wants to throw at us. Welcome!
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