Key events
Championship news:
Eight home losses did for Liam Manning at Norwich. City have been off the ball, to say the least.
Will Unwin got to sit down with Liverpool’s hottest striker.
What other guidance has Slot offered Ekitiké? “Obviously keep my shirt on,” he says with a smile. “I would say he’s on my back, but not for a bad thing. He just wants to help me, so I don’t take that badly. He wants me to give more and more. Maybe sometimes you feel like it’s a little bit too much and you want to complain. It’s a good thing because I think if a coach doesn’t like you, he will not speak to you or not try to get the best of you.”
Important story from Suzanne Wrack.
Jonathan Wilson has previewed Sunday’s big game; it’s not a title decider, more an eliminator.
Never before, not even in the four years when he had Lionel Messi in his side at Barcelona, has Guardiola focused his play so much on one player. After overhauling his squad since January, everything is geared to creating chances for Erling Haaland, who has scored a preposterous 27 goals in 17 games for club and country this season.
City’s leading scorer in the league this season after Haaland is Maxime Estève, who scored two own goals in City’s 5-1 win over Burnley in September. Once Guardiola would demand his side played 15 or 20 passes to deal with a potential counter before launching an attack; now everything is about trying to play Haaland in quickly behind the opposing defensive line.
It’s looking grim for Fulham at the moment. Everton are having an Everton season, sat in 11th.
Another win for West Ham, but more rebellion among the fans.
Wolves may have a new manager soon, and Rob Edwards has a job on his hands.
The day began with late drama at Tottenham.
Let’s begin the review of Saturday’s action with Arsenal’s late slip at Sunderland.
Premier League fixtures today:
Crystal Palace v Brighton
Aston Villa v Bournemouth
Brentford v Newcastle
Nottingham Forest v Leeds
Manchester City v Liverpool
Preamble
Good morning, football. A busy day awaits, and one of the blue – and red – riband fixtures of the season as Manchester City welcome Liverpool for Pep Guardiola’s 1000th game in management. All that, and a review of Saturday’s action. There’s talk the title race might be back on.
Join me.
