And finally, I’ll leave you with a piece from Barney Ronay about Eden Hazard and Real Madrid. Thanks for reading everyone.
Quiz answer.
So, just who was that well-known ref in the 90s indie band Powersleep?
Answer: Jon Moss. He takes charge of Arsenal v Aston Villa this weekend.
Fun fact: The drummer is Andy McVeigh, aka Burley Banksy, aka the guy who paints communication boxes in and around Elland Road. And the ‘Bez’ figure with his top off? That’s a bloke called Duncan Jacques, who was recently awarded a CBE for outstanding services to education in often deprived areas in and around Leeds.
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Back down to Merseyside for this one.
Up north now to Newcastle.
It’s a one-hour drive from the Etihad to Turf Moor in current traffic. Let’s go there.
And now to the champions...
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Let’s whizz through some match previews - each containing likely line-ups, ref details, stats and odds. Our journey begins in the east midlands.
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Andre Gomes - middle name ‘Tavares’ - is a notable absentee at Goodison Park this weekend. Everton must be missing an angel due to the elegant midfielder’s rib injury which also kept him out of last weekend’s defeat at Bournemouth.
The hosts are also without thigh-injury victim Jean-Philippe Gbamin.
Visitors Sheffield United will lack some cutting edge due to Billy Sharp serving a ban for his straight red card in the home defeat to Southampton. Mo Besic is ineligible against his parent club.
Tottenham have a bizarrely poor away record in the Premier League. Mauricio Pochettino’s side have failed to win any of their last eight top-flight road trips, losing six of them. A trip to Leicester on Saturday isn’t the easiest of tasks and yet Spurs have won four of their six games at the King Power Stadium. Stats eh.
Mauricio Pochettino rotated in midweek so Serge Aurier and Danny Rose are set to return to the starting XI while Son Heung-min should also be on from the start after only playing the final 17 minutes away to Olympiakos.
For Leicester, full-back Ben Chilwell missed training on Thursday but should be ready for Saturday’s 12.30pm kick-off.
Farke news. Norwich are fast becoming everyone’s favourite second team this season but their German boss, Daniel Farke, is plonking his feet firmly auf dem boden despite the thrilling win over Manchester City last weekend.
“I wasn’t carried away by the Man City win. Perhaps the reaction was a bit too much, but it is always a big topic when a team wins against them,” said Farke.
“We are still unbelievably modest, we always have to prove ourselves again and again. We have beaten one of the best teams in the world, but all the teams have different approaches.
“We got back to proper, focused work (at training) and are hoping for a good result at Burnley. Man City was good for the confidence and mood, but Burnley will be completely different.”
And what does he expect from Sean Dyche’s side?
“They are quite a physical side and are dangerous in crossing situations, are sharp enough to win second balls, so we have to be awake at defending crosses.
“We are totally different to Burnley in how we play, but when you stick together and have spirit, commitment and togetherness, like they have, then you can be successful, so they can be a role model for us.
“We will try to get off the mark with our first away win as quickly as possible, but I don’t expect it to be easy tomorrow.”
Farke has Patrick Roberts available again after the on-loan winger was not eligible to face parent club Manchester City.
Elsewhere, midfielder Moritz Leitner has shaken off a calf injury and defender Grant Hanley looks to be over a pesky groin problem.
In further Carrow Road news, Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber has signed a new three-year contract until the summer of 2022.
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No exciting news in Roy Hodgson’s press conference. After making a mockery of their status of away-day giantkillers by going 4-0 down in the first half at Spurs last week, Crystal Palace will hope to become the latest side to cash in against a Wolves side which has already played 150 games this season.
Midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate has been passed fit for Sunday’s Selhurst Park match after being taken off at Spurs with an ankle problem while, looking ahead, Connor Wickham is due to return to training at the start of next week following his own ankle problem.
Diogo Jota is set to return for second-bottom Wolves after Patrick Cutrone played in Thursday’s 1-0 Group K loss at home to Braga. Jota has netted three goals in Europe this season but is yet to get off the mark in the Premier League.
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Ready for The Fiver? All sorts to surf through here including a lovely tale about Jock Stein.
Some Liverpool team news for their game at Chelsea. Not an awful lot to report with the defence and front three picking themselves, leaving Jurgen Klopp to decide which of his midfielders to rotate in or out.
Alisson Becker is now doing individual sessions with goalkeeping coach John Achterberg while Naby Keita is back in training too although neither are in contention.
Divock Origi’s ankle is set to keep him out so Rhian Brewster will offer back-up from the bench although the young striker is being earmarked for his full debut in next week’s Carabao Cup tie at MK Dons.
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Man City team news. Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Fernandinho will continue in central defence at home to Watford. Apart from that, City’s players came through unscathed form Wednesday’s trip to Ukraine and midfielder Phil Foden should be available to be ignored again following a stomach virus. In the battle between City’s season points and Premier League minutes played by Foden it’s currently all square at 10 apiece.
For Watford, Isaac Success looks set to be out for a month due to a thigh injury. Defender Craig Cathcart will return to training next week after suffering with the same affliction while Troy Deeney is still doing those hard yards in the gym after undergoing knee surgery last month.
Barry on bogey teams. Yes, our very own Barry Glendenning has been investigating this most irrational of fears. Or is it?
You are the ref. A guess from reader, Peter Oh, as to the identify of the mystery indie-band ref (see picture below at 14:56).
“Mike Dean?” Nope.
Peter adds: “I suppose it’s better for Kante to be in and around than out and about.”
Dean Smith talks chess. Not part of Alan’s pitch to Tony Hayers but a line from the Aston Villa manager’s press conference.
Villa travel to Arsenal on Sunday and Smith expects a tactical battle having had an extra insight into the workings of Gunners boss Unai Emery.
“He has a wealth of experience at the top level and it’ll be another chess match this weekend,” said Smith,
who may take advice from celebrity Villa fan Nigel Short. Damn, I meant Nigel Kennedy. Why have I fused those two in my head?
**
“I did my Pro Licence and went to do a study visit at Valencia when he was there. We played a pre-season friendly against Arsenal when I was at Brentford and then we drew them in the League Cup last year (losing 3-1). We’ve had some good games against him already.”
** Nigel Short once played Sol Campbell at chess.
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In and around. Robbie from Shetland has been in and around his keyboard area to send us the following e-mail on today’s earlier posts (14:02 and 14:13):
“OK, I’ll try and give Frank plausible deniability on the in and around us thing (see . Maybe he meant that it was nice to have Kante back in, and also it was nice to have him around. Us...”
Manuel Pellegrini steps up to the plate now. And he’s given us a “insert you own joke here” opportunity by declaring that he wants West Ham to play “exactly the same way” as Manchester United.
The two meet at the London Stadium on Sunday and Pellegrini says: “I think we are in a good moment so if we need to play against these big teams now we must demonstrate that we are able to play exactly the same way they do.
“We know that we have a very strong team in front of us, now we have a good test against United and we will try to beat them and it’s the only way to try to arrive in the first six positions of the table, demonstrating every game that you are able to do it.”
West Ham, who have the same number of points - eight from five games - as their Mancunian rivals, are still without defender Winston Reid while Manuel Lanzini will be assessed on Saturday for what is described as a “small problem” by the PA.
Time for a quiz question...
The singer/guitarist in this 1990s indie band is refereeing a Premier League fixture this weekend. Name him!
It’s the big talking point of the Premier League weekend - who will get bragging rights when Burnley’s Erik Pieters goes head to head with Norwich goalkeeper and best friend Tim Krul?
As we all recall, Pieters once scored against Kruhl to give Stoke a 1-0 win at Newcastle.
“I am going to mention my goal against him when he was at Newcastle,” said Pieters with a devilish glint in his eye during Friday’s press conference.
“We are really close, we met each other when we were 17 and ever since we have kept in contact and stayed close.” So there you have it.
In terms of team news, Johann Berg Gudmundsson could be back for the hosts following a calf injury. It’s also Sean Dyche’s 313th Burnley game - great new for fans of manager-based palindromes as well as taking him past Stan Ternant and up to fourth place on the Clarets’ all-time list.
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Time for some Pep Guardiola press conf goss. The Manchester City boss has given an update on when centre-back John Stones will return:
“Hopefully in one month, or a bit more, he will be back.”
Stones’ absence has added to the longer-term loss of Aymeric Laporte, meaning City played Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho as a makeshift centre-half alongside Nicolas Otamendi in their Champions League tie away to Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.
That said, it went pretty well as City kept a clean sheet and won 3-0.
Pep also says he expects Saturday’s opponents, Watford, to present a stronger challenge than they did in the FA Cup final when City hammered them 6-0.
“Now it’s totally different,” said Guardiola. “It’s the beginning of the season and they have changed their manager. I saw their game against Arsenal and - wow - the second half was incredible, the way they played.”
Where did this “in and around” usage come from? Increasingly heard in football terms when referring to a striker being “in and around the box”. But now Frank Lampard has expanded it to a player being “in and around” the team.
Perhaps he’s just a fan of the Small Faces?
“Yes you have always been here
Feeling deep inside
A feeling that I could not see
Or touch, or try to hide
My love is in and around you
I bless the day that I found you
So listen up baby.”
Some Chelsea team news. And it could be of the positive variety with Frank Lampard giving an update on one of his young stars, Mason Mount.
The midfielder suffered an ankle injury after a late challenge from Francis Coquelin in the Champions League defeat against Valencia on Tuesday but Lampard isn’t ruling him out of Sunday’s showdown with leaders Liverpool.
“He’s got a chance,” said Lampard. “We all saw the image of the tackle which made it look really bad but we are trying to get him moving today. We’ll make a call before the game.”
Talking of midfielders and ankle injuries, N’Golo Kante looks to have shaken off one of his own after returning to training.
“It’s a boost with N’Golo, we all know the importance of him to the team. The only question is how fit he is. We have to manage him but it’s great to have him back in and around us.”
In and around us?
“In football and life, everything is possible,” says Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores. And coming from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Arsenal last week surely proves the endless possibilities of the universe.
Flores, who is back for a second spell at Vicarage Road, may have to look in a mirror and repeat that mantra plenty of times ahead of Saturday’s games as his side travel to the Etihad. And, as the stats gods of Opta tell us: Manchester City have won their last 11 meetings with Watford in all competitions, scoring at least twice in each game (38 goals in total).
“For us when we are preparing a match in the week, we are not thinking about how tough it is or not. Every single match (in the Premier League) is very tough,” said Flores, whose Watford side prop up the table with a grand tally of just two points from five games.
“We are preparing the match thinking about our possibilities and how we can do things and how we can try to manage. We are always positive. My priority basically is to try to find some style for us. We want to try and establish some order, some organisation and this is what I want.”
Because professionalism is...
It’s the Phil Jagielka derby at Goodison on Saturday. The England defender made 350 appearances for Everton and returns there with Sheffield United, the place where he launched his career.
The Blades are currently 15th with five points from five games and two-club man Jagielka sees plenty of encouraging signs.
“Because we’ve not got massive household names who have played a lot of Premier League football and we didn’t spend a tremendous amount of money in the summer, people have knocked us,” he said.
“But in among the squad and the staff the belief has always been there and I think, when you’ve done what these lads have done over the last few years, you can’t do that without great determination and self-belief.”
“It’s too easy to lose confidence in this division because you do play against some fantastic players week in, week out. But as it stands, as you can tell from the previous couple of years, the momentum is still there and that’s key for us at the moment.”
Meanwhile, Sheffield United’s new owner, Prince Abdullah bin Musaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has been keen to offer his support to boss Chris Wilder in the wake of the acrimonious high court battle to wrest full control from Kevin McCabe – previously the holder of a 50% stake.
He stressed: “We are blessed to have him. The results and the way we play our beautiful football speaks for itself. I have good harmony with Chris.”
Interesting to note that Prince Abdullah made his wealth from paper production. And he’s not the first. Look at Jeff Lamp, 42 years old, got his own Porsche. That’s from paper.
Thanks Tom and good afternoon. I’ll kick off with some Leicester news and words from the boss/guru himself, Brendan Rodgers. No less than eight of his side who featured in the 1-0 loss at Old Trafford last weekend were 23 or under and Rodgers says, as a group, they’re still learning.
“For us the ambition is important and there is real excitement going forward. We have a group of exciting young talent that need educating and we must give them confidence and belief to achieve,” he said.
“There is a strong culture here of learning and wanting to do better. We have very talented young players and also a great group of experienced pros to complement that.
“All of them have the hunger to improve and when you mix all that together then ambition will hopefully help you to progress. We are trying to form an identity here and we know we must improve - and we will over time.
“But we know we haven’t fully got to our top level yet and we’re still in a good place - fifth in league and still in a cup and showing some good qualities with lots still to improve on.”
Plenty of squares crossed off there in ‘Brendan Bingo’.
Right, I’m handing over now and putting you in the capable hands of David Tindall. We’ve got Pep Guardiola and Manuel Pellegrini media conferences, among other things, to come, as well as squadsheets for the weekend’s big games. Bye.
Paul Wilson chews over Liverpool and Manchester City’s title prospects and says that though questions are suddenly being asked about Pep Guardiola’s side, you’d be daft to say it’s already Liverpool’s to lose:
Embarrassing goals dept: here’s a Qatari goalkeeper making the worst possible start to a match
Welcome back. Some Arsenal chat from teenage sensation Bukayo Saka, who has cited the influence of assistant coach Freddie Ljungberg after the teenager hit his first senior Arsenal goal in Thursday’s Europa League win at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Nick Ames has more of the reaction from that here:
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Right, along with my colleagues, I’m off on climate strike for the next half-hour. To steal a not-yet-trademarked big football club’s slogan, this means more.
Brighton’s manager, Graham Potter, has been chin-wagging about the long trip to Newcastle tomorrow evening.
He says his team must be flexible as they look to shackle the “different option” of the fit-again Newcastle striker Andy Carroll, reports PA Media. Steve Bruce feels the former Liverpool player offers his team an “old-fashioned centre-forward” with which to target the opposition defence.
Potter accepts keeping Carroll quiet will be a tough task, but is also aware that his players have to keep guard against a frontline that caused Tottenham so many problems a few weeks ago. “I would imagine it is a big boost having someone of his quality,” Potter said when asked on the prospect of facing a fully-fit Carroll on Saturday evening. “It is a different option, there is not too many like for like players as Andy Carroll around.
“I have been impressed with how their front three have combined anyway and played. They went away to Tottenham and won. They were competitive at Liverpool before a couple of errors made the scoreline go away (from them) a little bit.
“Newcastle away is a difficult game, just like all the games we have played, but we will just focus on what we need to do well to get a positive result. We know we are going to have to play well and be lucky, that type of stuff, but we will try.”
Potter will have full-back Martin Montoya available again following illness. “The boys are open-minded to being flexible and adaptable and they all want to take that challenge on,” Potter said. “We lost three players after the international break, as an example, and you have to be able to adapt and do something different to before - those that needed to went out and demonstrated that.”
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You’ll be wanting a weekend quiz won’t you. Well here you are:
A Liverpool presser report:
Jurgen Klopp has compared Frank Lampard’s Chelsea to his early Borussia Dortmund team and said Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Callum Hudson-Odoi are already £60m players.
Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday when both teams will be looking to respond to midweek Champions League defeats. Chelsea, who also lost on penalties to Liverpool in the Uefa Super Cup final, have made an inconsistent start under Lampard, who has won only two of his first seven matches in charge. But Klopp believes the new Chelsea manager is developing an exciting young side that reminds him of his early work with Dortmund.
The Liverpool manager said: “They had a couple of problems but they sorted them well. It’s a really exciting team. It reminds me a little bit of my team at Dortmund years back. They were really young and people always spoke about that but they only played because they were that good.
“Chelsea brought in Pulisic in the summer. I don’t know about the money but it was £50m-60m. All the players around him now have the same value. Tammy Abraham is a £60m player, Mason Mount for sure is 60m, maybe more. Hudson-Odoi was already that. Jorginho is still young, Kante looks like he could play for the next 20 years, Kovacic, Barkley, then the experienced guys around them, Pedro, Willian, Giroud.
“If there was one club in the world where a transfer ban didn’t hit that bad it was probably Chelsea because of their transfer policy in the last few years with these high quality players out on loan. Abraham didn’t learn where the goal is at Chelsea, he found it in different places. They are just a good team, they have all my respect. They are a proper contender for everything. Now we play there and we want to get something.”
Here’s David Hytner with that Tottenham loan refinance story in full:
Some financial crisis news: the BBC is reporting that Southend United have been hit with a winding-up petition by HMRC. It’s their second this year. The new petition is due to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on 16 October.
Southend have made a terrible start to their League One campaign, currently lie second from bottom above the even-more-afflicted Bolton, and are managerless after Kevin Bond quit earlier this month.
Southampton v Bournemouth chat: Saints manager, Ralph Hasenhüttl, is feeling pretty chipper about his side. “You can feel that these players are believing in what they’re doing,” he says, “It’ll be a tough and tactically demanding game against Bouremouth but an interesting one for the players and the crowd. It can be a very open game but hope we get the right result
Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe adds: “We’re looking for back to back wins in the Premier League, which is a very difficult thing to do, but there should be a good atmosphere, the rivalry [between Bournemouth and Southampton] is gaining in everybody’s focus the more games we have, and the more rivalry will become more intense.”
One of the Southampton players in an upbeat mood this season so far is Jan Bednarek, whom our own Ben Fisher met earlier in the week. Catch up with what he said here:
Some Spurs news: Daniel Levy has announced that the club will be refinancing their new-stadium loans but insisted that he will continue to run Tottenham on the relatively frugal business plan that has characterised his chairmanship. The full story on that from our man David Hytner will be up shortly.
As for the team, Mauricio Pochettino has been speaking before tomorrow lunchtime’s match at Leicester, and he thinks it’s too early to tell how the season’s going to pan out. “It’s too early to talk about contenders and what will happen in the future. Still all the teams are finding their best,” he said. “We only play five games in the Premier League. Until you play between 10 and 15 games, it’s difficult to see what will happen and the real contenders, teams who are going to be serious contenders. It is still so early.”
“Leicester is a very good team with a lot of unbelievable players. After winning the Premier League they rebuild their squad and are doing fantastic with a great manager like Brendan Rodgers, who I know very well. They are doing a fantastic job.”
Reflecting on the 2-2 draw at Olympiakos, and the criticism levelled at Christian Eriksen’s performance in particular, Pochettino admitted: “The collective performance wasn’t the best from us. I am happy with the commitment of Christian, he ran a lot and was very committed with the team, the effort but I think I am not concerned about him.”
Some reading for you’se: Ben Fisher surveys the top-flight’s subs’ benches and training grounds for this piece on the Premier League’s forgotten men.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær has aired some thoughts, in the aftermath of that narrow Man Utd win over Astana. Including that he’s not that stressed by Marcus Rashford’s recent lack of goals because the forward has demonstrated hunger and determination to improve.
“He’s getting the chances,,of course he could have had three [against Astana]. The keeper made a few fantastic saves. I don’t worry about that, no. We’re working every single day in training with Marcus. He wants to improve, wants to be better.”
Talking of forwards, Anthony Martial is expected to miss the trip to West Ham on Sunday along with Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw. United could also be without Dan James, who missed the match against Astana with a knock sustained in the victory against Leicester. “I don’t know,” Solskjaer said. “He’s not trained the last few days. Hopefully, but not sure. We’ll have a recovery day with everyone and we’ll see on Saturday.”
Solskjær said the likes of Axel Tuanzebe and Fred could also figure in the line-up on Sunday, as is 17-year-old Mason Greenwood after his display against Astana. “It’s always hard to keep players who perform well out of the team,” the manager said.
Newcastle news now, and Andy Carroll, no less, could be in for a second Toon debut when Brighton visit on Saturday. Here’s this from PA Media:
Andy Carroll could make a second debut for Newcastle against Brighton on Saturday evening after finally shaking off an ankle injury.
The 30-year-old last played for former club West Ham in February, and later underwent surgery to address a long-standing problem, but has trained all week with the Magpies, who he joined at the end of the summer transfer window, and is ready to resume his carer.
Head coach Steve Bruce said: “As long as he comes through today OK - touch wood, he’ll come through today OK - but yes, he will be involved, which is good news for all of us.
“At the top end of the pitch, him and Allan Saint-Maximin as well, we have been a little bit short - and Dwight Gayle is another one - so we have had limited options up top, but certainly the return of Andy and Allan give us something which obviously can only benefit us.”
Jürgen Klopp speaks! The Liverpool manager is up before the media, ahead of Sunday’s trip to Frank Lampard’s Chelsea (TM). Injury-wise, he tells us that Naby Keita’s back in training today, but Alisson is not ready yet, though he is “making good progress”. Divock Origi’s not ruled out.
As for converns around Virgil van Dijk’s fitness, the manager replies: “We have four world class centre-halves and they can play together, so that can be enough.” As for the man behind them, Adrian, Klopp hails his progress since his Southampton blunder. “The Southampton thing was exceptional but human beings make mistakes. He was only maybe two or three weeks here when we played Southampton and they know each other much better now and hopefully it can stay like this. It couldn’t be the case in the first few games.
It’s pointed out that Liverpool haven’t won at Stamford Bridge since September 2016, and have a poor recent away record against the top six – why? “Because they’re really good, that could be one reason. It’s not good news but I don’t feel it [the pressure]. We go there to get a result, you cannot go to Chelsea and guarantee you win a game, they’re too good for that. We are much more successful winning all the other games. We’ve had some unlucky moments and caught good performances from the opponents, but obviously there’s a job to do.”
Asked to assess Frank Lampard’s record so far, he says, “He’s done really well but it’s not my job to talk about other managers. What I can say is they play exciting football, they’ve played last two games in a different system in a busy period, so that’s interesting, they’re an exciting football team, young but good. It’s not a surprise that he’s done well. I said it last year and was not just being polite, it’s the truth. He did an outstanding job at Derby so I’m not surprised he’s doing a really good job at Chelsea.
“If there’s one club in the world a transfer ban didn’t hit that bad it’s Chelsea because of their transfer policy of the last few years with a lot high quality players out on loan.”
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Some news nuggets you may have missed: Callum Hudson-Odoi has signed a new five-year deal at Chelsea, whose transfer ban seems to have made them realise the breadth of their young talent:
And Sheffield United’s new owner Prince Abdullah has defended/explained the Bin Laden family’s interest in investing in the club:
And some random rumours, courtesy of Scott Murray:
Preamble
Morning everyone. It’s been a busy old week and we’re back in the cycle of Premier League teams being in action pretty much every day. No sooner have we digested last night’s European action – featuring relief for Manchester United, satisfaction for Rangers and Celtic, worry for Wolves and an upswing in the Arsenal rollercoaster – than we’re pitched into the weekend’s Premier League action.
Starting tonight at St Mary’s, where Southampton host Bournemouth in what should be an agreeable mid-table south coast tussle, Saints seeking their first home win of the season and Bournemouth looking to build on a deserved win over Everton last Sunday.
Tomorrow’s programme gives Leicester another chance to test their top-six credentials against a Spurs side who looked a bit ragged in Greece on Wednesday, while Norwich visit Burnley full of the joys of autumn after turning over Manchester City, who host Watford in what the visitors will hope won’t be a repeat of the 6-0 Cup final non-event in May. The second coming of Quique Sánchez Flores does at least appear to have made them more sprightly, if the draw against Arsenal is anything to go by. Elsewhere, Chris Wilder takes his marauding Sheffield United centre-backs to Everton and Newcastle take on a Brighton side who’ve not won since eviscerating Watford on the opening day.
It’s not too busy a morning on the press conference front, but Jürgen Klopp is due up soon. We’ll have team news and more about the above games and others as the day progresses. So stick around.
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