Transfer updates, Alexander-Arnold latest and weekend team news: football – live | Football

Southampton v Brentford: With his side already 10 points adrift of Premier Leaghue safety and hosting Everton tomorrow, Ivan Juric has addressed the size of the task facing him if he is to keep Southampton in the Premier League. The 59-year-old Croatian has been in charge for two games so far, back-to-back defeats at the hands of West Ham and Crystal Palace.

“I thought it would be extremely difficult but it was my desire to come here,” he said. “I see lots of good players [in the Premier League] and the level is really high,” Juric said the Croatian. “We have already seen something [in our team]. Against West Ham, we have seen moments that I really liked.

“I was delighted with how they played, how they took the ball, playing forward immediately and even when we kept the ball to create situations. It was one game that I liked. Against Crystal Palace it was another situation and there were moments that we were not ready for this kind of game. We have to work a lot to live with the situation. Against Palace, they suffered against their aggressiveness and in this thing, we can take a little bit of time and it is getting better.”

Southampton are reported to be open to offers for striker Ben Brereton Diaz during the current window and will be without Mateus Fernandes, who serves a one-match ban after collecting his fifth yellow card of the season during the defeat at Selhurst Park. Midfielder Flynn Downes is a doubt as he recovers from a dead leg.

Bournemouth v Everton: The Toffees travel to the Vitality Stadium having won one, drawn three and lost one of their previous five games and Sean Dyche has called on his team to turn more of those draws into wins.

“We need results and we know that,” he said. “We’ve had a good run of not losing games but turning it into wins is massive. We’ve done enough to build that inner confidence, it’s about moving that forwards and breaking the cycle of events: good spell, bad spell, good spell. Can we win a game, which makes all those draws look even better?”

Southampton v Brentford. Good afternoon everybody and nd what better way to get my stint on the Friday hamster-wheel rolling than by eavesdropping on Thomas Frank, who has been addressing his team’s quite atrocious form on the road … against admittedly more superior teams than they’ve hosted at Fortress Gtech. Thomas expects an upturn in that form imminently and not just because they travel to Southampton this weekend.

“Of course, we can get more away from home, which is the aim but we need to look more at the performances,” he said. “In the 19 games we have played, we’ve had one bad performance over 90 minutes – that was against Fulham [a 2-1 defeat in early November] and we were very close to winning that anyway.

“Then there have been spells in games when we haven’t been at our best but have generally performed well. If we keep those performances away from home, then we’ll win games.”

Speaking specifically about Southampton, Frank had this to say: “They are a good team and I know they’re bottom of the league. Southampton will win games before the end of the season so we need to make sure we have done our part to avoid that happening against us.

“They’ll be looking at our away form and see it as a must-win game to get out of the relegation battle, we’re very aware of that. But it’s about us, our approach and how we’ve prepared.”

And this seems an appropriate time to hand over the blog to Barry Glendenning. Baton being exchanged right now.

Here’s a nice lunchtime read from Max Rushden. Words: 2025. Photo: 2010. As Max points out: “Ethan Nwaneri was three when that picture was taken.”

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe can’t rule out in-form goalkeeper Martin Dubravka leaving the club during the transfer window. The Slovakia international, who turns 36 later this month, has kept four clean sheets in the five games he has played since replacing the injured Nick Pope, but has been linked with a move to Saudi Pro League club Al Shabab.

Asked if he could leave Tyneside this month, Howe said: “The situation with Martin is we would not want him to leave, but of course you have to respect and understand the player’s wishes as well in this. It’s not as clear-cut as everyone would necessarily have you think.

“Martin is out of contract as well in the summer, so that’s a different dynamic to add into the mix. But it’s all hypothetical. Martin is, and has been, fully committed. He’s been outstanding, he’s been a brilliant professional to work with. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and I think he’s done really well when you consider he didn’t have a lot of football when coming into the team, so fair play to him and how he’s handled that situation.”

(PA Media)

Some of these characters will be very familar. Great article here by Harry Pearson for When Saturday Comes where I once did a six-week work placement as a student when it was based across the road from the old Guardian Towers in Farringdon. Happy days.

On email krishnamoorthy v writes: “Morning David and a Happy New Year. When was the last time the league was wrapped up by Christmas? As my friend aptly pointed out – the league is usually won by who tops at Christmas unless it’s Arsenal.”

And HNY to you too! Well, it’s not as clearcut as you may think. In fact the strike-rate is a mere 50%.

• In 16 of the Premier League’s 32 full seasons so far, the team sitting top on 25 December went on to lift the trophy, but in the other 16 campaigns they missed out.

Your friend is right about Arsenal as the Gunners have failed to convert on all four occasions when they were top at Christmas. But in 1997/98 they came from 13 points behind Manchester United to snatch the title.

Liverpool are very dodgy Christmas converters too having been top six times in the Premier League and gone on to win it just once. However, that was the year (2019/20) they had a big lead (10 points). They went into this Christmas with a four-point lead and a game in hand over nearest rivals Chelsea.

Some Liverpool team news from boss Arne Slot ahead of that Manchester United clash at Anfield on Sunday and it’s all about the defence.

The bad news surrounds Joe Gomez, who pulled up with a hamstring problem during the 5-0 rout of West Ham. “Joe is, of course, not in a good place when it comes to his injury. He is out for a few weeks, that’s for sure,” said Slot.

But there’s more optimism surrounding central defender Ibrahima Konate (knee) and right-back Conor Bradley (hamstring), who have been sidelined recently.

“Conor and Ibou will train with us today for the first time so I’m interested to see where they exactly are. They have worked hard to come back to the team but the next step is always ‘how do you handle team sessions?’.”

The Football Association remains committed to diversity in the England men’s senior team coaching staff, with fresh appointments to Thomas Tuchel’s group due to be made in the coming weeks, sources at the governing body have told the PA news agency.

None of the coaching group appointed by new head coach Tuchel so far are from ethnically diverse backgrounds, but sources close to the governing body insist diversity remains a top priority.

Ashley Cole has reverted to his role with the under-21s, having served as an interim assistant for the senior team alongside Lee Carsley in the autumn. While Anthony Barry has effectively filled Cole’s role, there remain vacancies within the senior coaching group and it is expected Tuchel will assess suitable candidates in the coming days, having officially started work on January 1.

The FA has operated an elite coaching placement programme with the support of the Professional Footballers’ Association to boost diversity since 2018, but it is understood any new appointments to the senior coaching group would not be part of that programme.

Cole’s appointment was not linked to the programme and nor was that of Paul Nevin, who worked in the England coaching group at different levels over two spells before leaving to join Stoke earlier this week.

Three further appointments to Tuchel’s backroom team were confirmed on Thursday. Former Chelsea goalkeeping coach Henrique Hilario will occupy the same role with England, Nicolas Mayer has been confirmed as a performance coach and James Melbourne joins as an analyst.

The FA confirmed the first match Tuchel would attend as England head coach would be the Tottenham v Newcastle Premier League match on Saturday lunchtime, before taking in other top-flight matches across the weekend.

Brighton’s current form is definitely open to interpretation. They’re winless in seven but have also suffered just four defeats in their 19 Premier League matches this season as they prepare to host Arsenal on Saturday evening.

Boss Fabian Hurzeler has had this to say about his team that have turned into draw specialists (five of the last seven and nine in all) this term.

“You can say we are not able to win games against these teams, or on the other perspective you can say we are really difficult to beat, because in the end I think there are only one or two teams in the league with fewer losses than we have.

“So I think you always can see it from that or that perspective, and in the end I’m a very positive guy, so I see that the glass is half full, and I see more the positive things than the negative things in general in my life. I try to stay positive and I try to give the trust and the belief to the club and to the players. Then I’m sure the glass will be also really, really full one day.”

Here’s an interesting body language take on Pep Guardiola from Simon Hattenstone, who says it’s in the Manchester City manager’s spit that we can begin to understand his quest for perfection and its recent unravelling.

Slot responds to Madrid’s Alexander-Arnold approach

To give those top-flight fixtures even extra meaning, our writers have picked out some angles.

These are the 10 fixtures in the Premier League this weekend/Monday. Fun facts: Bournemouth could go fifth if everything went their way; Manchester United could end it four points off the drop zone.

Saturday
12.30pm Spurs v Newcastle
3pm Bournemouth v Everton
3pm Aston Villa v Leicester
3pm Crystal Palace v Chelsea
3pm Man City v West Ham
3pm Southampton v Brentford
5.30pm Brighton v Arsenal

Sunday
2pm Fulham v Ipswich
4.30pm Liverpool v Man Utd

Monday
8pm Wolves v Nottingham Forest

The strange case of Dani Olmo rumbles on. If you’ve been following, Barcelona lost a second appeal to register the player for the remainder of the season on Monday, with the club unable to meet La Liga’s wage cap. They remain hopeful of finding a solution for the rest of the campaign – Olmo isn’t able to kick a ball for them until something changes – but Manchester City and Manchester United have their ears pressed up against the wall if an outcome can’t be found.

But what does the Spanish international himself think as he twiddles his thumbs on the sidelines? Well, we know a little more now after his agent, Andy Bara, gave these quotes to Givemesport.

“It’s a stressful situation for Dani as it would be for any other player. But he’s a great player and person, he’s trying to be calm. Of course, Dani is a winner and he loves to play the games, not to watch them! We are not negotiating with any club. Dani is a Barcelona player and he wants to be a Barcelona player. He has made a big effort in his life to be at Barcelona. It was his desire for a long time. Barcelona is the first and last option! Dani, his father, family, me, we’re not thinking about other options.”

And specifically replying to the stories surrounding City and United, Bara replied: “To be honest, I feel calm. It could feel strange but I believe in president Laporta, Deco and I feel they will find a solution for Dani. It’s a massive club. I believe that Barcelona will finalise everything and make it happen. La Liga should help them, instead of these reports of Dani not being available for the national team, but I’m sure he will be at Barca for many years. He’s happy at the club and Dani has a desire to be there.”

This might have been fun in a car crash kind of way but the Wayne Rooney Plymouth doc won’t be seeing the light of day.

With Bukayo Saka sidelined, the obvious solution for Arsenal is to get busy in the transfer market. Today’s Rumour Mill points to two potential targets for the Gunners and just what has Darwin Núñez been up to on social media?

Preamble

One other problem for Arsenal in their pursuit of Liverpool: injury concerns. And that’s not what you want when facing a January schedule peppered with no less than nine fixtures. Here’s Ed Aarons.