🚨 Foden masterclass, Arsenal go top, Poch's anger, van Dijk's sadness, De Zerbi's frustration, Leverkusen march on and more
Today's round-up, featuring Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United, and much more!
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Today’s top stories:
WATCH: Phil Foden’s rocket to round off Man City’s win against Villa
Plus more on Liverpool, Man United and Tottenham
Arsenal
Arteta: "Saka wasn’t with the national team because he was injured. It was a muscular issue and then he trained very little, then he played and we had to take him off because the risk of re-injuring the player was pretty high. You have to manage a player like Bukayo… He was close but he felt something in a very similar area against City and it was a very short turn around. Hopefully he can train and be available for the weekend."
Martin Odegaard set the Gunners on their way to a vital win against Luton Town with a superb strike in their 2-0 win [pictures from TNT Sports]:
Mikel Arteta showed his delight after the win in his post-match interview [pictures from TNT Sports]:
Arteta: “I love Smith-Rowe as a player. It’s a joy to watch him. He can help with all his skills. He’s a joy to watch, he helped us a lot to win the game today.”
Arteta on Ethan Nwaneri: "He is very close to the first team. The opportunity is there, now he needs to take it. I was really happy with his pro contract. A really proud moment to see another academy graduate signing his pro contract."
Arsenal fans will love seeing Mikel Arteta singing North London Forever [CaughtOffside]
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen qualify for the DFB Pokal final after their 40th consecutive game unbeaten. The final will be at the Olympiastadion in Berlin vs Kaiserslautern.
Brighton and Hove Albion
Roberto De Zerbi was left frustrated after his Brighton side were unable to break down a dogged Brentford in a 0-0 draw that saw the Seagulls have 24 shots at goal.
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Chelsea
Chelsea have released an official statement concerning a video circulating on social media which appears to show Conor Gallagher ignoring a club mascot: ‘Chelsea Football Club is aware of a video clip circulating on social media from Saturday’s fixture against Burnley, which has been taken considerably out of context. The subsequent level of abuse and defamatory comments directed towards Conor Gallagher is completely unacceptable. We are proud to be a diverse, inclusive club where people from all cultures, communities and identities feel welcome.’
Mauricio Pochettino was none too happy with those people who have abused Conor Gallagher in the wake of the video going viral on social media [pictures from Sky Sports]:
Pochettino: "The problem with social media today is that it's become a compulsory thing to communicate with your people and fans. Here I am always smiling, but on social media I am the worst guy in the world. But I am not going to change my values, I don't care."
Pochettino on a new deal for Cole Palmer: “He's doing well. But he signed a five, six, seven year contract, I don't know... Then, if the club believes we need to compensate or to reward him again, then the club is going to do that.”
Chelsea are planning a potential loan for Alfie Gilchrist next season after a new deal was agreed. Player and club agree on it being an important season ahead, how he needs to be a regular starter to improve and then to return to Chelsea.
Si Phillips makes a very interesting point as to where the blame lies for Chelsea’s poor season.
Pochettino says he doesn’t know if Nkunku will play again this season: “At the moment he's not training with us. No setback. He's recovering and it is taking longer than we expected. We hope he can be involved again as soon as possible.”
Pochettino: "In too many aspects, if we want to win and match expectations in Chelsea, we need to behave differently. We need to run. We are Chelsea. If you watch the Burnley game, you will agree. If the players don't run, we need to be worried."
Pochettino: "We talk about young players’ potential to be amazing players, but they need to realise that they need to improve so quick. There’s no time to improve over one or two years, because the level is so high."
Liverpool
Klopp: “Curtis Jones is back and ready. Diogo Jota and Trent are together in the group but it looks like from next week onwards they’ll be in team training. Alisson, no. Looks good as well… in his mind next week he join in with parts of team training.”
Van Dijk on the final game of the Klopp era: “I'm an emotional person, I don't like to say goodbyes. It's going to be horrible. As captain I'll probably speak a little bit, but I'll be dreading that day. It makes it easier if we have success, that's the aim now.”
The reason why Liverpool have to move quickly for Ruben Amorim [The Independent]
Manchester City
Phil Foden was a clear man of the match with a hat-trick against Aston Villa. His third was the pick of the bunch in City’s 4-1 win [pictures from TNT Sports]:
Pep Guardiola on criticism from former players as happened to Haaland: "I’m surprised when it comes from former players. Journalists I understand but former players, I’m surprised. It’s like former referees criticising referees... memory disappears quick."
Guardiola on Roy Keane's 'League Two player' opinion about Haaland: "I'm not agreeing with him, absolutely not. Erling is the best striker in the world and helped us to win what we won last season. He’s exceptional. The reason we didn't create enough chances vs Arsenal is not from Erling. We need more presence in the final third, with more people.”
Rio Ferdinand makes outrageous Man City prediction [CaughtOffside]
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Manchester United
Erik Ten Hag: had some good news ahead of the Chesea fixture [pictures from Sky Sports]:
Erik ten Hag on the injury crisis at Man United: "We have an idea about it but we will work on it. Internally, we will deal with it."
Ten Hag on Mason Mount: “I don't think Chelsea wanted to sell him. They wanted to keep him and offered him a new contract many times. But he wanted to make this step and join Man United.”
Jack and Tyler Fletcher have both signed their first professional contracts at Manchester United.
The reason why Jadon Sancho could still have a future at Man United [Manchester Evening News]
Newcastle United
Alexander Isak on his future: “Of course I want to be here at Newcastle in the future. I came here for the project, I absolutely love playing here, I really feel at home. I want to finish this season in a good way.”
Newcastle keen on signing Real Madrid midfielder [Mundo Deportivo]
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy confirms Spurs are in talks over fresh investment: “To capitalise on our long-term potential […] the Club requires a significant increase in its equity base. The Board and its advisors are now in discussions with prospective investors.”
Tottenham could be forced to sell Brazilian ace to balance the books [Football Insider]
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolves manager Gary O'Neil: "I was clear with the club in January that I feared we were overloading the players. I feared we would be in trouble if we lost forwards... We had a Premier League number nine ready to come in, but we couldn’t pay the small amount of money."