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Arne Slot has held his Liverpool press conference bright and early.
He’s revealed that Jeremie Frimpong is “out for a few weeks but not as bad as we thought” after picking up and injury against Qarabag on Wednesday. Ibrahima Konaté returns after being granted compassionate leave following the death of his father, while Curtis Jones is available after sickness. Joe Gomez is still out.
Liverpool are just three points ahead of their Saturday opponents, Newcastle, and one point off fifth-placed Chelsea. So it’s another crucial game for their hopes of Champions League qualification.
Tom Garry
Marc Skinner has said Manchester United are unlikely to sign any more players in this transfer window, as Tuesday’s WSL deadline day approaches, and that the club are pleased with the early business they did this winter.
United added Hanna Lundkvist, Lea Schüller and Ellen Wangerheim, while Geyse and Rachel Williams left and the full-back Hannah Blundell was among those to go on loan.
“Right now, there’s nobody that’s imminent,” the head coach said before Sunday’s meeting with Liverpool. “I’m really happy with the work that we’ve done as a collective, in this window, but we’re still working towards summer targets as well.
“Unless there’s a miracle, probably not [any more signings in this window], at this moment. We’ll wait and see, but right now we’re in a space where nobody is imminently coming in.
“We’ve prepped and we’ve done our work early [and] you can already see them coming up to speed.”
Forgive me for picking out my own passage in the Rumour Mill. This, on clubs’ summer plans, I found extraordinary. We’ll wait to see if any of it comes to pass.
Plenty of clubs have seemingly given up the ghost on the notoriously tricky January window and are already plotting their summer swoops. In totally-feasible transfer news, Chelsea want Jude Bellingham, Arsenal and Liverpool are chasing Eduardo Camavinga and Real Madrid, in this scenario having been gutted and stripped of their best assets, are targeting … Diogo Dalot.
The Rumour Mill is certainly spinning. And how on earth did Raheem Sterling – who hasn’t kicked a competitive football in eight months – find himself at the centre of the speculation?
Crystal Palace’s proposed move for Wolves striker Jorgen Strand Larsen is reportedly on the rocks after the Eagles signalled their intention to walk away from a £50m deal.
It is claimed Wolves expected a formal offer to arrive on Thursday but that’s not been forthcoming, and Palace are apparently ready to pull out.
Jean-Philippe Mateta might be a little unhappy to hear this news, as Palace would surely veto his exit if they cannot seal a deal for the Norwegian striker.
Just another regular day in the Premier League transfer circus.
Let’s kick off with 10 things to look out for in the Premier League this weekend.
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Can Michael Carrick make it three from three?
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Can Arsenal bounce back?
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Can Oliver Glasner and Crystal Palace stop the rot?
Preamble
Hello and welcome to our Friday football news blog – the place you can join us to count down to the weekend’s action. As well as bringing you the latest from today’s Premier League press conferences and previewing the games, we’ll also be all over the Champions League and Europa League knockout phase play-off draws, which take place in Switzerland from 11am GMT (but most likely a bit later knowing Uefa draws).
Leeds v Arsenal, Liverpool v Newcastle and Tottenham v Manchester City are probably the standout games in the English top flight this weekend, but there’s a lot to play for down the EFL and across Europe, as always. Take Bristol Rovers v Newport County for example: a Severnside derby between two fourth tier clubs scrapping for their lives at the basement of the Football League.
From the glitz and glamour of European knockout draws to the muck and nettles of League Two, consider us your one-stop-shop for all things weekend football buildup. Oh, and there will be a whole heap of transfer news as that January deadline looms large – expect a few deals to get done today. So get your emails in, grab a coffee and stay tuned.
