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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Ed Aarons (now), David Tindall (briefly)

Eriksen to Inter agreed, FA Cup news: football countdown – as it happened

Christian Eriksen is Milan-bound.
Christian Eriksen is Milan-bound. Photograph: Marc Atkins/Getty Images

And that will be about that. We’ll sign off with these, thanks for joining us and have a great weekend.

Watford have announced the departure of Dutchman Marvin Zeegelaar and it’s no surprise that he has joined Udinese given the connections between the two clubs.

Good to see QPR are ready to kick things off in the FA Cup fourth round later. They reached the fifth round last year for the first time since 1997!

Some good news for Chelsea fans with Ruben Loftus-Cheek back in training after a lengthy injury layoff. He hasn’t played since getting injured on their preseason tour.

An update here on West Ham from Jacob and they are tyring to sign right-back Matty Cash from Nottingham Forest. The Premier League side have also been looking at former Leeds midfielder Ronaldo Vieira.

“West Ham have lodged a bid for Nottingham Forest’s highly promising Matty Cash. He’s also been targeted by Milan and Southampton. West Ham are desperate for players and have also been offered CSKA Moscow’s Fyodor Chalov and hold an interest in Sampdoria midfielder Ronaldo Vieira.”

Some food for thought here from my esteemed colleague Barney Ronay and Gary Neville’s recent visit to Qatar.

Northampton’s choice of shirt sponsor has caught the eye of Peter Oh, who has emailed to compliment the League Two side as they prepare to face Derby this evening.

“The photo featuring Northampton players,” he writes. “It’s refreshing to see a shirt sponsor that’s not an online betting company. Unless ‘University of Northampton’ is the brazenly deceptive name of a gambling outfit.”

Here we go … Eriksen to Inter

Christian Eriksen has been on the brink of joining Internazionale for a while and now it looks like that deal is done. A fee with Tottenham has been agreed according to Fabrizio...

Updated

The Fiver has landed so your weekend can almost officially begin. Unsuprisingly, a team from Manchester is in the crosshairs again I’m afraid.

Updated

This weekend is a reminder of how important the FA Cup can be for clubs in the lower leagues in terms of finance. Oxford are hoping to cash in by claiming the additional windfall on offer for the side in each EFL division who goes the furthest in the competition, with £250,000 up for grabs if they can outlast Coventry City, Portsmouth, Shrewsbury Town and Tranmere Rovers.

They face Newcastle, who incredibly haven’t reached the fifth round since 2006. This was number one when they lost to Chelsea that year in the quarter-finals... (huge apologies)

Some team news from West Ham, who have lots of players missing for the meeting with West Brom. Not easy times for David Moyes, no wonder he has been trying to be very active in the transfer market.

And here’s something from last night on Liverpool’s man of the moment, Jordan Henderson.

A reminder that there are two ties this evening to start things off in the FA Cup fourth round, with QPR hosting Sheffield Wednesday and Derby travelling to Northampton.

Here’s Ben Fisher speaking to Northampton’s Jordan Turnbull about facing a certain former England striker.

Updated

Some more transfer news from Barnsley, who have allowed striker Victor Adeboyejo to join Cambridge on loan.

It’s almost 4pm on a Friday so that means you must have time for a little quiz? Test your knowledge...

For those who are keen planners, the details for Monday’s fifth round draw are already available. Reading, who are hoping to reach that stage for the first time since 2016, must get past Cardiff first tomorrow.

Frank Lampard revealed earlier that Tammy Abraham did not suffer a fractured ankle in the game against Arsenal but could still be out for a couple of weeks at least. That and the news that Jamie Vardy could also be back sooner rather than later will be a huge relief for England manager Gareth Southgate, who must have feared the worst after what happened to Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford.

Here’s more from Newcastle’s new man. He was previously at Red Bull Salzburg and Hertha Berlin and has 26 caps for his country.

Valentino Lazaro joins Newcastle on loan

We have a done deal! The Austria international has signed from Inter until the end of the season and Steve Bruce couldn’t look happier. Not sure why his hand stayed in his pocket however.

Updated

It’s been a miserable week weather-wise but that hasn’t stopped Millwall’s players tuning up for their FA Cup fourth round tie against Sheffield United at the Den. Millwall have reached the quarter-finals in two of the last three seasons so will be confident of causing an upset against Chris Wilder’s Blades.

Quite a few matches have been moved for TV coverage, including Manchester City’s meeting with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 21 March, which is now a Midday kickoff...

Wolves are always in the market for new players but Real Madrid loanee Jesus Vallejo is on his way out of Molineux having agreed to join Granada on loan.

Hull reached the FA Cup final back in 2014 and came within 19 minutes of beating Arsenal before eventually losing 3-2. They clearly fancy their chances of causing an upset six years on against Chelsea.

This has been one of the slowest transfer windows in recent memory, with just £45m spent by Premier League clubs compared to £120m at the same point last season.

Perhaps most clubs are waiting until the end of the season instead? Or maybe there will be a late rush this time next week? There are lots of teams out there crying out for reinforcements so I would expect the latter ...

Until The Last Minute

Updated

Jamie Vardy looks like he could be back in action soon after his injury at the weekend. Brendan Rodgers is hoping he could be back in time to face Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg after they face Brentford tomorrow.

“He’s not available for the weekend and there will be a question mark for Tuesday, although it’s certainly not as serious as we first thought,” said Rodgers.

“It’s not his hamstring, it’s a glute, so we’re hopeful for Tuesday, but there’s a little bit of work to do. He’ll get some work in with the medical team. He’ll stay with them for the weekend.

“He’s much better than directly after the game, when he was tight and sore and struggling to move. But today he was much better.”

Pep Guardiola has been holding court ahead of Manchester City’s FA Cup tie against Fulham. He has been singing the praises of returning defender Aymeric Laporte while 17-year-old defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis could be heading out on loan it seems...

What’s in a rivalry? It’s a good question ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup ties. Let Paul Hyland be your guide.

Mohamed Salah is in a rich vein of form right now and it’s little wonder that Madame Tussauds have decided to immortalise him in wax. But it wasn’t always so easy for the Egyptian, whose last appearance against Sunday’s opponents Shrewsbury came when he was still at Chelsea in 2014.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has been speaking ahead of their meeting with Hull and it seems that they are hell bent on signing a striker before the end of the month. Tammy Abraham is definitely out of tomorrow’s game and could miss next week’s game against Leicester as well, with Olivier Giroud still yet to complete his mooted transfer to Inter.

“The impetus to bring in a striker or players who can get on the end of chances is there and we have to be honest about that,” said Lampard.

“Recent games have shown that if we are creating chances that’s one problem, but if you’re creating 20 chances a game then it can be crucial. It doesn’t absolutely change [the situation], but with Tammy being our main source of goals it’s very relevant.

“With Olivier, we are still in the same position. We will keep contact with other clubs and if and when that’s agreed then we will let you know. So he’s still our player on those terms.”

More injury news from Tottenham and Harry Winks has a chance of featuring against Southampton.

It looks like some of Liverpool’s injured contingent could be returning to action this weekend. They have a lot of matches coming up so definitely need some reinforcements...

Some news on Crystal Palace now and it looks like Christian Benteke will not be leaving Selhurst Park this month. Everton and Aston Villa have also been linked with the Belgium striker, who is out injured at the moment anyway.

Coventry go head to head with landlords Birmingham in the FA Cup fourth round tomorrow in what should be an interesting experience for the home/away team.

Ben Fisher has been reminiscing about the few other occasions this is has happened, including when Crystal Palace were the away team at Selhurst Park.

West Ham are struggling in the league but David Moyes still fancies a crack at the FA Cup. His side will come up against former manager Slaven Bilic and Championship leaders West Brom on Saturday.

“We’ve not had lots of fixtures like other clubs - we’re not in Europe,” he said. “I don’t see why we should feel we’re too hard-pushed. We’re pushed because of numbers, because of injuries, but we can play Wednesday-Saturday.

“”I think we’re playing with quite a lot of confidence and showing that in our games. I think the two late goals on Wednesday turned an OK performance into a really bad one.

“I’d really like a good run in the cup. I think everyone’s well aware we have to play Liverpool on Wednesday and Brighton the Saturday after, so it begins to make you question if you can afford any more injuries, but ideally for the supporters we get through in the cup and do the best we can.”

Apparently this is Joaquin Phoenix? Not sure why he is a Fulham fan, although it could be the clappers of course...

I wonder if he will be in the away end at the Etihad on Sunday for the tie against FA Cup holders Manchester City?

Many thanks for standing in Dave, I’m back and raring for a busy afternoon session. First up, some news from Chelsea and it looks like Tammy Abraham’s injury may not be as bad as initially feared.

And with that, it’s back to a rejuvenated Ed Aarons to take you through the rest of the afternoon...

Jose Mourinho is not short of praise for Southampton ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup tie. Well, he did lose there on New Year’s Day so fair enough. It also hasn’t gone unnoticed by Jose that Southampton played on Tuesday night while Spurs were in action on Wednesday this week. And there’s also a mention of how many strikers Saints have. Not that he’s getting in his excuses early...

“What do I expect? I expect a team that is 24 hours fresher than another because they have 24 hours advantage in relation to that. A team with big self-esteem and confidence. Again, a very difficult team to play against, we learned there that it is hard and it is going to be hard. They are strong, they found a pattern of play, they play with two strikers and they have four or five. They are strong and apart from the game they lost against Wolves they win, win, win, win. Wolves is one of the teams where you can lose because they are also a very, very good team.”

Joe Mourinho is wary of Southampton.
Joe Mourinho is wary of Southampton. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

Wycombe striker Scott Kashket has been banned from all football-related activity for six months, with four months suspended, for betting breaches, the FA has announced.

Kashket’s betting activity took place between the period of September 2014 and August 2016, when he played for Leyton Orient. Wycombe will not appeal.

Kashket said in a statement on the Wycombe website: “I regret my actions and will learn from the experience to improve myself both as a person and a player. I am thankful to Wycombe Wanderers for their ongoing support and am determined to come back stronger in two months’ time.”

Overhearing some Manchester United transfer news.

It’s a potential move for “Is.....” didn’t quite catch that. Must clear the old ears out. Presume it was Isco from Real Madrid.

Oh, it’s actually Islam Slimani, the 31-year-old loaned out by Leicester to Monaco.

Jurgen Klopp was fulsome in his praise of Adama Traore again after Liverpool’s battling 2-1 win at Wolves last night, leading to speculation that the Reds could consider a bid for the jet-heeled winger.

Klopp on Traore: “He is unplayable in moments, it’s unbelievable. What a player – it’s not only him but he’s so good.”

Leicester are still all set for a podium finish in the Premier League after moving eight points clear of fourth-placed Chelsea with a 4-1 win over West Ham in midweek. Next up, they travel to Brentford (fifth in the Championship) in the FA Cup and we’ll have some musings from Brendan Rodgers shortly...

Ole Gunnar Solskjær has stressed that talks with Manchester United’s bigwigs have been positive but a little peek at the ‘Next Premier League Manager To Leave Post’ betting shows him as the odds-on favourite to go. For the record, Eddie Howe (4/1) and Dean Smith (6/1) are considered the next most vulnerable.

After back-to-back defeats to Liverpool and Burnley, could the United board really stomach an FA Cup exit at Tranmere on Sunday? It’s probably unfair to deal in hard-nosed ‘lose and you’re gone’ speculation so let’s ask the question gently via the medium of 60s bubblegum pop.

A little more on the Danny Rose saga. Can we call it a saga yet? Best tell the creative bods not to waste time preparing an infographic if he’s true to his word...

While Ed devours a protein shake and runs around the block 13 times, it’s a change in the hotseat, with Dave Tindall your guide for 45 minutes or so.

Shrewsbury entertain Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday and they are gearing up for a big day in Shropshire ...

More info on confirmation that West Ham’s Grady Diangana is staying at West Brom on loan until the end of the season..

“West Brom fans will be pleased to hear that Grady Diangana’s loan from West Ham will not be cut short. The winger is injured at the moment and that might be a blessing in disguise for West Brom - West Ham might have recalled him otherwise. As it is Slaven Bilic’s side have agreed a small payment to make sure Diangana will spend the rest of the season at the Hawthorns. The fee is £1.25m plus £250k if West Brom get promoted.”

Updated

Fair to say it’s been a quiet transfer window so far but there is still time of course for plenty to happen. Mikel Arteta has been speaking about reports Dani Ceballos is keen to cut short his loan spell with Arsenal but his compatriot insists he is having none of that.

Some early lunchtime reading for you here. It’s Ben Fisher’s interview with Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.

Updated

More on Newcastle’s interest in Danny Rose from Steve Bruce here. The England left-back has only started one game in the league since October so could he be heading for Tyneside?

Good news for Baggies fans here. Diangana has been superb for West Brom so far this season and will be now definitely there until the end of the campaign according to our man in the know.

Updated

Re footballers as waxworks, This fine article from 2008 has just been brought to my attention. Have to say Michael Owen looks quite realistic ...

Southampton have been in tremendous form in recent weeks and now have the opportunity to inflict another defeat on Tottenham this weekend after the 1-0 win on New Year’s Day. Here’s Ralph Hasenhüttl on how his squad is shaping up ...

A big day beckons in the Midlands tomorrow as Birmingham make the short trip to Coventry in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Coventry’s Jordan Shipley has been speaking to the media today ahead of the game and he admitted that their local rivalry will be very much on the agenda at the ground they are currently renting from their opponents.

“There will be no love lost on the pitch we’re looking forward to the game and we want to win and get through,” he said.

Should be a great occasion...

Updated

Now this would be the mother of all comebacks: Carlos Tevez back at Old Trafford?! Could it happen? Not so sure given he is about to turn 36 but then that’s the Rumour Mill for you ...

So it seems that footballers’ waxworks are quite a big thing... There’s even a gallery of them over at Fifa’s website. My favourite has to be Kevin Keegan.

Here’s a few we assembled in 2013:

Updated

Tranmere’s return from their spell out of the league has been almost as rapid as their demise a few years back. But could their change in fortune be down to this perhaps?

“Nick Palios, Tranmere Rovers owner reads Rudyard Kipling’s IF every morning,” emails Gordon Roberts.

Fascinating. And it also reminds me of this:

Updated

Liverpool fans will be sweating on news on Sadio Mané’s injury after he limped off during the win over Wolves on Thursday. Jürgen Klopp was unsure how long the Senegal forward will be out after the game...

“We don’t know exactly [what the injury is], it’s the muscle. He felt something in the hamstring,” he said. “We don’t know yet, obviously, we have to wait. We will see.”

Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah has just made an important announcement...

Have to say I’ve always found the whole Madame Tussauds thing a bit odd. Anyway ... who is the most unlikely player to have been immortalised in wax?

Updated

Steve Bruce has been speaking ahead of Newcastle’s FA Cup tie against Oxford and he has been singing the praises of new signing Nabil Bentaleb. The former Spurs midfielder has joined on loan until the end of the season, with Austrian Valentino Lazaro also on his way.

“I’ve seen enough in two training sessions to know he’ll be good for us,” Bruce said of Bentaleb. “He’s in remarkable shape despite having not played in a few months. He’ll make his debut tomorrow.”

Bruce has also confirmed that he is interested in Tottenham’s Danny Rose, with Emil Krath out for six weeks after twisting his ankle at Everton and Florian Lejeune also missing tomorrow’s tie due to an injury sustained in that astonishing comeback.

Updated

Meanwhile United have been fined £20,000 for failing to control their players during the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool last week.

Here’s our man Jamie Jackson with the latest from Manchester United. Ole is staying strong

It’s not just here where Cup fever is sweeping the nation. Over in the rugby heartland of Pau, the locals are gearing up for the visit of glamour boys PSG next weekend.

We’ve had an email! And it’s an interesting one from Derby fan David Hopkins, who points out that this evening’s clash with Northampton will be the first time the two clubs have met for more than half a century...

“One of the little joys of the earlier cup rounds is games between teams who have rarely played each other in the past, such as tonight’s game between Derby and Northampton. My trusty edition of Derby County - The Complete Record tells me that the teams haven’t met since January 1967, the year before a certain B Clough arrived at the Baseball Ground. It was a 4-3 thriller that day so hopefully some similar fun tonight!”

Updated

Prenton Park is a hive of activity this morning as supporters rush to secure tickets for Sunday’s meeting with Manchester United ...

There’s been a lot of interest this window in young Canadian forward Jonathan David, who only moved to Belgian side Gent two years ago but has starred in the Jupiler League. Ajax are thought to be leading the race to sign him, although any move is likley to have to wait until the summer. Chelsea and Southampton have also been tracking him but you would have thought a few more English clubs may yet get involved...

Jonathan David

A reminder you can keep up with all the transfer news with our lovely interactive. Dejan Kulusevski’s €30m move to Juventus is the biggest deal so far in this wondow but will that beaten in the next few days?

More transfer news! Barnsley’s German Teutonic revolution continues with the arrival of AUSTRIAN Michael Sollbauer.

Updated

More from Ole Gunnar Solskjær, who has taken a trip to Analogy Street to explain why Manchester United have found life so tough since you-know-who left

Ole’s here for the long haul. That’s the message from Carrington this morning as their beleaguered manager faced the press again.

Brighton sign Mooy on permanent deal

Now then here’s some news. Brighton have confirmed Australian Aaron Mooy has joined permanently having spent the first six months of the season at the Amex on loan from Huddersfield. Good player him...

Updated

The future of Christian Eriksen also looks like it’s finally going to be settled with the Dane having accepted a four-and-a-half year contract worth a basic £260,000 a week that could rise to £320,000 with add-ons. Considering he’s been on roughly a third of that at Spurs since 2016, you can see why the man from Middlefart was so keen to join Internazionale’s Premier League throwback side.

More news from Fabrizio, who says that Spurs are yet to meet the asking price for Willian José, with the club “locked in talks” with Real Sociedad over the Brazilian striker.

Looks like Daniel Levy is proving as tough as ever on this one...

One of the standout ties from this weekend is surely going to be Manchester United’s trip to Tranmere on Sunday. Rovers squeezed past a second-string Watford last night but their manager Micky Mellon is not taking anything for granted against the 12-time winners.

This pitch could be something of a leveller however ...

To whet your appetite ahead of the weekend’s FA Cup matches, no less than four of our most esteemed scribes have assembled this for your perusal. Enjoy!

Next up some news from Belgium where it’s reported that Crystal Palace have been in discussions with Yannick Carrasco over a potential loan deal. The winger is at Chinese side Dalian Yifang but clearly fancies the idea of life in sunny south London.

First up today we have news from our man in Itay. Surely Fabrizio Romano must be in need of a holiday after the month he’s had so far. Anyway ...

“Edinson Cavani is now in advanced talks with Atletico Madrid. They promised him a contract until June 2022. He’s seriously considering this bid as the best he received - Man Utd and Chelsea are interested but at the moment Cavani’s priority is Atletico. Simeone wants him NOW, in January. If Atleti will find agreement with PSG (they ask €20m, first bid from Atleti was €5m and refused...), he can leave now. If not, he’s going to join Atletico as a free agent in January. So difficult for both Chelsea and Man Utd so... they’re trying with his agent. But more Atletico than EPL clubs at the moment, then we’ll see.”

Updated

Preamble

Good morning one and all - it’s time for the FA Cup to take centre stage once more as the fourth round ties get under way with two matches this evening, culminating with Arsenal’s trip to Bournemouth on Monday.

We will hear from a plethora of managers ahead of this weekend’s ties so here’s a list of all the fixtures coming up:

Tonight:

Northampton Town v Derby County

Queens Park Rangers v Sheffield Wednesday

Saturday

Brentford v Leicester City

Southampton v Tottenham

Millwall v Sheff Utd

Reading v Cardiff City

West Ham v West Brom

Burnley v Norwich City

Coventry City v Birmingham City

Newcastle United v Oxford United

Portsmouth v Barnsley

Hull City v Chelsea

Sunday:

Manchester City v Fulham

Tranmere Rovers v Manchester United

Shrewsbury Town v Liverpool

Monday:

Bournemouth v Arsenal

Plus there’s only a week left of the transfer window and I will be endeavouring to keep you across any of the moves that may (or may not) be happening...

Contact me via email on ed.aarons@theguardian.com or on Twitter @ed_aarons. Alternatively leave your thoughts below the line.

Updated

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