Abdiaziz Rashid
December 28, 2021 at 4:48 PM EST
Hello and welcome to The Athletic’s coverage of today’s football news.
It’s been a brilliant few days of Premier League action, with 28 goals across six games on Boxing Day and Newcastle drawing 1-1 with Manchester United last night.
There have, however, been more postponements with Leeds vs Aston Villa and Arsenal vs Wolves called off due to COVID-19 outbreaks and long injury lists. Four games, including Leicester vs Liverpool and Southampton vs Tottenham, do go ahead today.
The transfer window is also on the cusp of opening with only a week to go. We’ll bring you all the latest updates from the Premier League, Championship and across the footballing world.
Background reading
- Manchester United’s 4-2-2-2 formation seems to be hampering not helping
- Wilson and Saint-Maximin injuries increase pressure for Newcastle’s ‘most complicated’ transfer window
- Explained: How and when the Premier League will reschedule its postponed fixtures
(Photo: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
December 28, 2021 at 4:48 PM EST
Wow – big news from Watford
The Hertfordshire club are trying to stop Nigeria international Emmanuel Dennis from going to AFCON over a “late email”.
More below from Adam Leventhal.
Luke Bosher·
Junior Editor, News
GO FURTHER
Watford may try to stop Emmanuel Dennis going to Africa Cup of Nations over ‘late email’
December 28, 2021 at 4:27 PM EST
Chelsea duo train ahead of Brighton clash
Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante and Kai Havertz have trained ahead of their match against Brighton tomorrow.
Kante had sustained a knee injury against Villa on Sunday, while Havertz has been out with COVID-19.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Luke Bosher·
Junior Editor, News
December 28, 2021 at 4:00 PM EST
HT in Leicester vs Liverpool…
And it’s goalless.
Surprising, perhaps, given the relative strength of the two sides.
Oh, and Mohamed Salah has missed a penalty…
Luke Bosher·
Junior Editor, News
December 28, 2021 at 3:43 PM EST
Breaking: Everton vs Newcastle is OFF
The game has been postponed due to COVID-19 cases and injuries in the Newcastle squad.
Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe said on Monday that his side were “dangerously close” to falling below the threshold to fulfill a Premier League fixture.
Luke Bosher·
Junior Editor, News
December 28, 2021 at 2:53 PM EST
Leicester vs Liverpool live!
We have live coverage of Leicester vs Liverpool if that takes your fancy.
Luke Bosher·
Junior Editor, News
December 28, 2021 at 1:58 PM EST
The other 3pm games … as they happened
Crystal Palace 3-0 Norwich: Norwich’s misery continued as they got swept aside by Crystal Palace, who return to winning ways following their defeat to Tottenham on Boxing day. Goals from Odsonne Edouard, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jeffrey Schlupp saw the Eagles ease to victory at Selhurst Park.
Watford 1-4 West Ham: After a five-game winless run, David Moyes’s men returned to winning ways in emphatic fashion. But they were made to initially work for it after Emmanuel Dennis’ eighth Premier League goal of the season gave Watford the lead. The Hammers’ fought back and eventually grabbed the three points thanks to goals from Tomas Soucek, Said Benrahma, Mark Noble and Nikola Vlasic.
Abdiaziz Rashid
December 28, 2021 at 12:48 PM EST
Hasenhuttl bullish on prospect of Southampton vs Newcastle going ahead
The two teams are slated to play on January 2.
Speaking after Southampton’s 1-1 draw with Spurs, Hasenhuttl said: “Injuries are not Covid cases. Injuries for us are also there and I think they had in their last game seven players on the bench. They now have two injuries, so they should be able to have 13 players plus one. This is the message from the Premier League.
“We will prepare for the game like always with the players we have, and then we are not moaning about it. We are trying to be positive and take it as it is. This is the toughest league in the world, we know this.”
Jacob Whitehead
December 28, 2021 at 7:32 AM EST
FPL reminder
The FPL deadline is fast approaching. If you haven’t made changes already, then what are you waiting for?
Before you do make those changes, read the below article written by The Athletic’s FPL expert Holly Shand as she guides you through possible transfers ahead of Gameweek 20.
Remember, the deadline is 13:30 UK time.
Abdiaziz Rashid
GO FURTHER
Fantasy Premier League: Weathering the storm caused by COVID postponements
December 28, 2021 at 7:04 AM EST
Explained: How and when the Premier League will reschedule its postponed fixtures
The Premier League postponements just keep on coming.
After gameweek 18 on December 18 and 19 was decimated by COVID-19 outbreaks at several clubs, with six of the round’s 10 fixtures being pushed back, the Premier League’s Boxing Day programme was also hit by a further three postponements among the nine scheduled games.
The postponements present the Premier League officials with a problem.
How are they all going to be rescheduled, with the FA Cup set to start in early January, an extra international break that month and European football resuming in February, with a shortened summer ahead due to having to make room in next season’s calendar for the first-ever winter World Cup?
Click on the link below to read on.
Abdiaziz Rashid
GO FURTHER
Explained: How and when the Premier League will reschedule its postponed fixtures
December 28, 2021 at 6:45 AM EST
Xhaka interview
Granit Xhaka, for good or bad reasons, has grabbed the headlines on numerous occasions since his arrival to the Premier League in 2016.
The Switzerland captain sat down with The Athletic’s Amy Lawrence to talk about his relationship with Arsenal fans, the art of tackling, fatherhood and much more.
Abdiaziz Rashid
GO FURTHER
Xhaka: ‘I don’t believe we will be best friends… but I feel much more love from Arsenal fans than two years ago’
December 28, 2021 at 6:17 AM EST
Ralf Rangnick defends body language of ‘whinge-bag’ Manchester United
Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick admitted he “did not like the performance at all” after the club drew 1-1 with Newcastle — but defended the body language of his beleaguered side after they were branded “a bunch of whinge-bags” by former defender Gary Neville.
Edinson Cavani came off the bench to score a second-half equaliser for the away side, who missed out on an opportunity to leapfrog Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham in the Premier League table.
On a disappointing night, Neville even launched an emotional half-time on Sky Sports during the game, criticising the body language of Rangnick’s players.
But Rangnick said after the match: “I don’t think today it was a problem of body language, it was more a question of physicality, of meeting the demands with regard to speed, tempo, physicality. The side-effect is the body language afterwards.
“But I don’t think that was the major problem today for us, the major problem was the way that we played in those moments when it was about physicality.”
Read more here.
Abdiaziz Rashid
December 28, 2021 at 5:05 AM EST
Harry Maguire blames COVID-19 break for insipid performance
The Liverpool vs Manchester United rivalry has taken another twist, with the former complaining about too much football, and the latter complaining about too little.
Speaking after the 1-1 draw against Newcastle last night, Maguire said: “No 16-day break in the middle of a football season is going to help you. The training ground has been shut and half the lads playing today are recovering from the virus, so of course it’s not going to help us.
“We’ve had people with symptoms, people without symptoms – it’s been a real mixed bag for everyone at the football club and it’s been a tough time.
“But you can’t make excuses for sloppy passes and the opportunities that we had, especially in the first half. We’ve got to stay on the ball, we’ve got to stay active and we’ve got to play the ball in their half and we didn’t manage to do that.
“You can look at that and ask whether the last 16 days had a big impact on that because it looked like we ran out of steam out there. A point in the end is a fair result, but it’s a result that we’re disappointed with.”
(Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Abdiaziz Rashid
December 28, 2021 at 4:36 AM EST
Newcastle’s injury nightmare
Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe has said the Premier League club are “dangerously close” to being unable to field a full team for their trip to Everton on Thursday.
Howe only named eight substitutes instead of the permitted nine for Monday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United, with his bench including two goalkeepers.
His squad has been depleted due to injuries and COVID-19 cases — with matters not helped by concerning injuries to star players Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin.
Howe fears Wilson could be facing “months” on the sidelines.
“The lads gave everything but we are thin on the ground in terms of bodies,” Howe told Sky Sports.
“These are difficult moments for us. I believe it’s 13 plus a goalkeeper (players required for a game to proceed). We’re going to be dangerously close to that number.
“Callum’s injury doesn’t look good. Just the way he went down with no one around him.
Allan, I don’t think is as serious.”
Newcastle currently sit 19th in the Premier League. They are two points from safety but the teams above them have several games in hand.
Read more here.
Abdiaziz Rashid
December 28, 2021 at 4:35 AM EST
Hello
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of today’s football news.
Abdiaziz Rashid