Key events
10 things! From Burnley’s Q, Arne Slot’s selection issues, to Jordan Pickford’s joyous return to Wearside:
Arteta: clubs could pull out of cups amid fixture congestion
Ed Aarons
Mikel Arteta has warned that clubs could consider pulling out of competitions if fixture congestion is not resolved.
The EFL has yet to confirm when Arsenal’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace will take place, with 16 December having been earmarked. A game then would leave Palace facing three fixtures in five days, and talks are understood to be ongoing over when the game will be scheduled.
“Every decision that we make in terms of a fixture has to be guided on two main things: player welfare and then supporters,” Arteta said. “That’s it. And the rest has to come very, very far away from that.”
Asked whether big clubs could decide to prioritise some competitions if the problem gets worse, the Arsenal manager said: “I hope we don’t go [that far]. If we have that big piece of paper with those two principles there in front before we make any decision, all of us in our industry, we won’t get there. If we don’t and we just ignore that, then anything is possible.”
I’m not sure whether to be impressed or depressed by this.
One day in the off season, I was writing things into ChatGPT like, ‘what is Seattle Reign’s identity?’ And it would spurt it out. And I was like ‘I don’t know if that’s true or not. And then I put in ‘what formation should you play to beat NWSL teams?’ and it spurted out every team in the league and what formation you should play. And for two teams, it went ‘you should play a back five.’ So I did. No joke, that’s why I did it.
Newcastle fans have been hoping to see summer signing Yoane Wissa in action soon, but Howe’s latest update on the former Brentford striker was not overly optimistic.
He said: “He’s on the grass and working but he definitely won’t be involved on Sunday. I’d say he’s not close to training with the group due to fitness. I’m not trying to be evasive but I don’t know when the moment will be when he’s back with the squad.”
Oh dear.
Eddie Howe is up next. And the Newcastle manager has been saying what everyone else has been thinking about their weekend opponents, West Ham.
The thing I would say from looking at the squad they have got is they have a group of very good players. There is no doubting the quality of the players they have got, especially in attacking areas.
Lucas Paquetá, Jarrod Bowen, Niclas Füllkrug… yep West Ham do have some top players. So why have they been so bad this season? They’ve got four points, and one win, in nine games this term.
There’s been a bit of back-and-forth between Amorim and Sean Dyche – largely over comments Dyche made a while back, claiming he “bet [he] could win more games with that squad playing a 4-4-2,” amid that ongoing debate about Amorim’s 3-4-3.
“Maybe it’s true that if we play 4-4-2 we win more games,” Amorim said. “But I always said that I have a way of playing that is going to take a while, but in the future it’s going to be better. I can look at Sean Dyche as a manager and as a pundit. If you are a pundit and you don’t say very strong things, I don’t want to watch you. So I understand that it’s a completely different job. I know that Sean Dyche is really smart and he knows how to play the game.”
Dyche did clarify his comments.
The Nottingham Forest boss added: “Clickbait kills everything, it changes the whole story. I’m sure Man United have got a big enough press department to watch that whole interview, because I equally said managers should be given time.”
Here’s what Amorim said about his year in the Manchester United hot-seat:
It was a journey, a big journey. It was tough, really tough, good moments and bad moments. I learned a lot that is really important. I found out that even in my lower moments I can stick with the things I believe and that is a good thing for anyone to understand. Today the answer is different from three weeks ago. One of the biggest honours of my life to be here and I want to continue here for many years.
It’s hard to believe it’s almost been a year since Manchester United appointed Ruben Amorim.
After three successive wins of late, including that first victory at Anfield against Liverpool for almost 10 years, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS’s faith in Amorim suddenly feels farsighted.
Rob Draper has dived deeper into the past 12 months at Old Trafford. And in the upcoming posts we’ll hear what Amorim said in his press conference before United’s trip to Nottingham Forest tomorrow.
Paquetá warned for failing to comply with FA
West Ham midfielder Lucas Paquetá has been reprimanded and warned as to his future conduct over his failure to co-operate with a Football Association investigation into spot-fixing allegations.
Paquetá was cleared of four spot-fixing charges by an independent commission in July, but the commission did find he had failed to comply with a requirement to answer questions and provide information to the FA’s investigation.
The FA later confirmed it would not appeal against the commission’s decision to clear the Brazilian of the four spot-fixing charges. PA Media
Cheers Yara. There are loads more Premier League press conferences for us to get stuck into this morning …
My short stint has come to an end but Dominic Booth is here to bring you the latest.
Newcastle: More from Howe on the challenge of West Ham, who are winless since 31 August.
They have a group of very good players, especially in the attacking areas, we are going to have our work cut out to limit the space for their attacking talent. Our away form has not been strong enough and we want to put that right in this game.
And on the possibility of winning back-to-back games:
It would be huge for us. It’s only with back-to-back wins that we are going to propel ourselves.
It’s so tight. There are a lot of teams congested where we are, you are looking for one positive result to try to elevate you.
Newcastle: Eddie Howe has given an update on Lewis Hall and the rest of his squad’s fitness ahead of Sunday’s trip to West Ham.
[Lewis Hall] is very close. He hasn’t trained with us yet so hopefully he will be training with us today for the first time. We will see how he looks. I think he has worked really hard. He has looked after himself and looks in really good shape. But then we have to reintroduce himself back into the squad at the right time.
I don’t think there is anything new. We are still managing Will Osula’s ankle problem. We will see how he is today, but apart from that I think we are as we were.
FA Cup: A quick turn to tonight’s meeting between Luton Town and Forest Green Rovers in the FA Cup first round. Both sides will wear kits made by the eco-conscious brand Reflo and to mark the occasion, Reflo says it will plant 1,000 trees for every goal scored at Kenilworth Road, with a minimum of 1,000 trees guaranteed regardless of the result. The initiative is designed to highlight the growing intersection between football and environmental responsibility, particularly among clubs that have made sustainability part of their identity.
Forest Green Rovers, long known as the world’s first fully vegan football club, are celebrating ten years since that milestone this season. Their kits are also certified by the Vegan Society. Luton Town have launched tree-planting schemes of their own as part of their broader push toward greener practices, including plans for an environmentally conscious new stadium at Power Court.
On the pitch, two former Premier League players-turned-managers, Jack Wilshere and Robbie Savage, face off in the dugouts with a spot in the second round and a few thousand trees at stake.
Liverpool: The defending champions take on Villa this weekend before hosting Real Madrid in the Champions League. Their final game before the November international break will be away to Manchester City. Here is what Slot said on the challenge Villa posses:
If you don’t win the beginning, people say: ‘oh maybe they don’t have the same team as last season’ and then they start winning and everything is positive again. Where with us, it’s exactly the opposite.
We’re both on the same points, apart from Arsenal many teams are in and around the same points. It shows how hard the Premier League is.
They’ve done very well in the last six or seven games. And maybe it’s not a surprise and you could see in the games they lost before the signs that they are a very good team.
They decided not to make a habit out of having more chances than the opponent and not win it. Let’s make sure we don’t have that habit.
The Dutchman also provided some team news:
Ryan [Gravenberch] trained with us yesterday. The other two [Curtis Jones and Alexander Isak] not yet.
In the end bit of an injury, things can slow down. Let’s see where the other two are.
Ryan trained with us for the first time yesterday, and will train with us today. Then we’ll make the call to see if he can start or not. The other two are probably 99.9% not in the squad on Saturday.
Liverpool: Slot is also asked whether he and the club are in negotiations for a contract extension.
This is the last question that I was expecting.
My focus is completely on getting Liverpool back to winning ways. That is my first answer and my second answer, contract talks, if they are even there, we never speak about this here.
Let us first start to win again, that is my main focus.
Liverpool: More from Slot on finding form.
The thing that gives me the most confidence is the quality in the players and the chances these players are creating. This will result in the players scoring more goals than we have up until now.
We have to address other things. But if I talk about that and speak about them, people tell me I’m using excuses. So maybe it’s best that I just say that. There are other positives to go int this week – quality of the players first and foremost and the amount of chances we created from open play is enough to compete for the positions we want to compete for.
Slot ‘happy with quality of team’ despite dire Liverpool results
The Liverpool manager Arne Slot was asked whether he feels his squad depth is the reason his side have lost six of their last seven matches.
We miss nothing. I’m happy with the quality of the team. But I’m also convinced by the strategy and policy we have. What makes it ‘the issue’ – not all of them have had a proper pre-season. When three or four are injured, you go down to having 16 players.
I am a firm believer in 21 or 22 players are enough. But you have to keep them fit as we did last season. We are struggling to keep them fit this season for in my opinion, obvious reasons.
[Alexander Isak] came to us on 1 September. A few others missed out in pre-season. It has been more difficult than last season to keep them more available. When players are not available, it [workload] comes down more to the same players.
But no excuses for results. We had to play a lot of away games with only two days in between. That would have been difficult last season, and for any player that has been fit this season through pre-season. But it has not been the case this season.
Then you have to manage it. The upcoming week is three games in eight days. It has nothing to do with squad depth, but it has how we have run through the season in terms of injuries, availability every two or three days.
Preamble
Another spine-tingling weekend of football is upon us. Join us as we preview a frightful round of fixtures from the Premier League, FA Cup, Women’s Super League and more with team news and key press conferences.
Arne Slot’s press conference ahead of Liverpool’s match against Aston Villa is underway and the defending champions’ form leaves much to be desired. Will they rise from the grave? Or will Unai Emery’s men join the list of teams haunting Anfield’s faithful?
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