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Righty, let’s give our full focus to Nottingham Forest v Manchester City. It’s goodbye from this blog and hello to Barry Glendenning at the City Ground where he’ll bring you live minute-by-minute coverage from the first of today’s seven Premier League matches.
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Plenty of tributes for John Robertson ahead of today’s 12.30pm kick-off at the City Ground.
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Updated at 11.26 GMT
We have team news from the City Ground. City are unchanged! Pep doesn’t do much rotating these days it seems.
Nottingham Forest: John Victor, Williams, Murillo, Milkenkovic, Savona, Anderson, Dominguez, Gibbs-White, Hudson-Odoi, Hutchinson, Igor Jesus.
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Nico, Bernardo, Reijnders, Foden, Cherki, Haaland.
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A little more on Diogo Jota’s two sons accompanying the mascots for today’s Premier League match between Liverpool and Wolves at Anfield. Jota, who was killed along with his brother Andre Silva in a car crash in Spain, played for both clubs.
Writing in his matchday programme notes, Liverpool boss Arne Slot reflected on the past 12 months: “Doing so leads me to think especially of the family of Diogo Jota on what will be their first Christmas without him.
“It is not my place to tell them where they should look for comfort – if that is even possible – but I can only hope that the feeling of love and affection that Diogo still generates brings them some solace.”
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Still buzzing about the Christmas gift from his skipper – “I received a top bottle of wine from Reece” – Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca is relishing the chance to lock horns again with counterpart Unai Emery when the Blues host Aston Villa in this evening’s 5.30pm game.
“I try to learn and watch as many games as possible. I try to see things. For sure when you see Unai’s teams you can learn many things, and he’s one of the managers where you can learn things,” said Maresca.
“I’ve seen him before because I faced Emery when I was a player and he was Almeria manager. It’s many, many years ago now, 20 years ago. So Unai is doing a fantastic job everywhere and he deserves it because his work ethic is very, very big.”
Villa picked up just three points from their opening five Premier League fixtures but are now up to third – just three points behind leaders Arsenal – and have won their last 10 matches in all competitions.
Maresca admires the way Emery didn’t panic during that tough start and stayed true to his beliefs. “This has to be a key thing for any manager because the moment things don’t go the right way and you start to doubt, I think it’s the beginning of the end,’ said Maresca. “I try to believe in what I believe, no matter if things don’t go the right way, because it can be for different reasons.”
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Some Arsenal team news ahead of their home game with Brighton. Could Kai Havertz make his comeback? If Manchester City beat Nottingham Forest in the early game – live minute-by-minute coverage from Barry Glendenning coming soon on that 12.30pm clash – the Gunners will start the game in second place.
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Arne Slot likes his stats and it’s pretty obvious that Liverpool’s woes at set-pieces are doing his head in – perhaps to the point where he wakes in the night dripping with sweat, attempting to head away long throws and shouting ‘Ibou’. Here’s the Liverpool boss speaking ahead of today’s Anfield encounter with rock-bottom Wolves where, if rumours are to be believed, there could be a rare start for Federico Chiesa.
“If you look at our set-piece balance, there is not one team in the world that is minus eight in set pieces and is still joint-fourth in the league. If you find that team please tell me. From open play we are the number-one team in the league for chance creation but I don’t think anyone sees it because I think in general we are criticised a lot.”
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Managers are getting younger and younger, aren’t they. Here’s Nick Ames on new Parma coach Carlos Cuesta and how the 30-year-old matured under Mikel Arteta during a five-year stint at Arsenal.
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Oliver Glasner said there has been no training for his Crystal Palace side as they struggle for “rhythm” during an unusually hectic schedule. Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final defeat away to Arsenal was Palace’s third match in five days and their commitments are not about to ease with Tottenham to come at home on Sunday then Fulham on New Year’s Day.
It has been a difficult period results wise too with three Premier League defeats in five as well as disappointing cup results domestically – exiting on penalties against the Gunners – and in Europe where they failed to beat Finnish minnows KuPS.
“Since November 22 we play every third day,” said Glasner. “We’ve had no training sessions. It makes it difficult, especially for players who are not in the rhythm. We could see (against Arsenal). Players who are not getting many minutes, especially when you are a young player, it’s not the perfect situation. But there is no other solution.
“If you have three games in five days, you just play and rest, preparing on the screen. Now when we meet, you think we can have a high-intensity session? It’s just not possible, because two days later we play again.”
The game against Fulham begins another whirlwind spell of four matches played between January 1 and 10, which incudes the start of their FA Cup defence away to non-league Macclesfield. “We have four games in nine days with travel in between so it’s resting, resting, resting,” said Glasner. “The best thing is to win your games because then you get confidence.”
(PA Media)
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Staying with Afcon, Osasu Obayiuwana tracks the story of tournament hosts Morocco, who were in a very different place 10 years ago.
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Mo Salah seems to be enjoying himself at Afcon after making it two goals in two games. His latest winning strike, converted from the spot, has put Egypt into the last 16. Keep that up and the lad may be in line for a start at Liverpool.
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Updated at 10.16 GMT
Arsenal fan David Cassidy is making the trip from Calne in Wiltshire to north London today and is glad to be setting off at an earlier time.
“Much joy – I’m travelling to London for a rare 3pm Saturday match for Arsenal. Our last three games have been 8pm including the last two Saturday nights which is barking. Come on Premier League, give the fans a little more thought.”
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Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris is raring to face an “intense” Leeds side when the two teams meet at the Stadium of Light on Sunday. Both sides earned promotion from the Sky Bet Championship last season and eight points separate them in the Premier League as they approach the halfway stage of the campaign, with Leeds entering the contest unbeaten in their last four outings.
Looking ahead to the game, Le Bris said: “I like playing against Leeds because they are intense, they play a proactive style of play, so it’s always a good game and an exciting game. After that, we know that some non-negotiable points will be key in this game, especially the intensity, the way we’ll defend on set-pieces, for example. It’s another challenge, especially at home, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Both Championship meetings were decided with late goals as an Illan Meslier mistake in the final seconds allowed Sunderland to snatch a 2-2 draw in October 2024, while Pascal Struijk scored in stoppage-time to clinch a 2-1 win for Leeds in the reverse fixture at Elland Road and Le Bris insisted Sunday will be “a new story”.
“It’s always a different story, but the two games were really good, balanced with good moments for each team. The equaliser was really positive for our fans and for us, and probably we lost our dynamic for the automatic promotion at Leeds. So good memories, but I repeat, this will be a new story.”
Asked if he expects more late drama against Leeds this season, Le Bris said: “We don’t know, but we’ll see. If it’s a positive outcome at the end we’ll enjoy, for sure. It wasn’t the case away last season!”
(PA Media)
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Diogo Jota’s two sons – Dinis and Duarte – will join the mascots at Anfield when Liverpool host Wolves today. The Portuguese forward, who played for both Premier League clubs, died in a car crash alongside his younger brother in July in north-western Spain. He was 28.
Sachin Nakrani’s piece on the Reds’ difficult campaign so far is also worth a read.
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Updated at 09.37 GMT
An email. And a rather withering assessment of Eddie Howe after Newcastle failed to take anything at Old Trafford last night.
Jeff Sax writes: “The most important fact from last night’s PL game is that Howe has reached his limit and Newcastle will not improve anymore under his management.”
Agree? Disagree? Newcastle are a rather funny team to assess this season. Some highs but a fair few lows.
Here’s another fact: Newcastle have won just one of their last 12 away league games (D4 L7), a 4-1 victory at Everton in November. In fact, since the first game in this period (1-4 defeat at Aston Villa on 19 April), the only ever-present Premier League side with fewer away points than the Magpies (7) are Wolves (4).
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A few Optas ahead of today’s 12:30pm kick-off between Nottingham Forest and Manchester City. The Dyche v Guardiola one doesn’t bode well for those hoping for an upset.
● Nottingham Forest won their last Premier League match against Man City 1-0 in March last season, last winning consecutive league games against the Citizens in September 1995.
● Manchester City have failed to score in half of their Premier League away games against Nottingham Forest (3/6) but have avoided defeat in each of the three in which they’ve found the net (W2 D1).
● Nottingham Forest have won their last four Premier League matches played between Christmas and New Year, all under Nuno Espírito Santo in 2023 and 2024. The most recent of those on 29 December last year was against Everton who were then managed by Sean Dyche.
● Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche is winless in all 16 of his Premier League matches against Man City’s Pep Guardiola (D2 L14). Only Steve Bruce against Alex Ferguson (17) has managed more games against one manager without a single victory in the Premier League.
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Heading to a Premier League match today? Send your thoughts and hopes to [email protected]
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Just in case you woke up a bit confused, finished off a chocolate orange and then dived straight into this blog, perhaps you missed events Down Under. Well, get this, England have won the fourth Test in Melbourne! Here’s Ali Martin’s report:
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Let’s whet the appetite by looking at today’s Premier League fixtures. And, what the heck, as it’s Christmas let’s throw in a table.
12:30 Nott’m Forest v Man City
15:00 Arsenal v Brighton
15:00 Brentford v Bournemouth
15:00 Burnley v Everton
15:00 Liverpool v Wolves
15:00 West Ham v Fulham
17:30 Chelsea v Aston Villa
Great to see that Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis plans to rename one of the stands at the City Ground in John Robertson’s honour. The Scot passed away on Christmas Day at the age of 72. I’m just about old enough to remember Robertson in his Forest heyday. I have a simple memory: no-one could get the ball off him. Most wingers are hit and miss in possession but with Robertson it always seemed to be this: receive ball, glue it to foot, slow full-back down, shuffle down wing, short five-yard burst, cross. Time after time after time. And no-one could stop him doing it. “That lad is a bloody genius,” said Brian Clough. He wasn’t wrong.
Here’s Ewan Murray’s tribute.
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More from the Championship. Louise Taylor headed to the Riverside but witnessed a rather disappointing draw between Middlesbrough and Blackburn.
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Boxing Day’s real treat was the fantastically entertaining eight-goal thriller in the Championship where Wrexham fought back from 3-1 down to tonk Sheffield United 5-3.
The Championship has now reached the halfway point of the season (23 matches out of 46) and Coventry will go into part two with an eight-point lead over Middlesbrough. Frank Lampard’s team, who beat Swansea 1-0, are 13 clear of third-placed Ipswich.
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Just in case you wanted to check the stats at Old Trafford (listed at the bottom of Jamie’s report), here’s a few:
Goal attempts: Man Utd 6, Newcastle 13
Corners: Man Utd 2, Newcastle 11
Possession: Man Utd 34, Newcastle 66 (Man Utd’s lowest all season)
And, I know, I know, the main stat was Man Utd scoring one goal and Newcastle failing to score any.
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Manchester United are up to fifth. Despite the rare absence of Bruno Fernandes, they jumped above Liverpool after a 1-0 win over Newcastle at Old Trafford last night. A great goal too. I didn’t rate Patrick Dorgu at all until seeing him play for Denmark but he bettered his goal against the Scots with a crunching left-foot volley here. And yet, despite moving to a flat back four – the equivalent of Dylan going electric we were led to believe – it was still highly unconvincing stuff from Ruben Amorim’s men and Newcastle must have been kicking themselves not to have taken at least a draw. Here’s Jamie Jackson’s report.
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Preamble
I’ve no idea what day it is. That’s a standard refrain at this time of year and the discombobulation wasn’t helped by Boxing Day witnessing just one Premier League match. More on that later. But the upside of so little top-flight action yesterday is that we have seven games today, baby! It starts with Nottingham Forest hosting Manchester City at 12.30pm while leaders Arsenal take the field in one of five 3pm kick-offs.
We’ll also have the latest from Afcon and reaction from last night’s slightly odd game at Old Trafford. Ready for a big day of football? Let’s do this!
Oh, by the way, it’s Saturday.
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