Key events
Chelsea are now arriving at St James’ Park ahead of their lunchtime clash with Newcastle.
Not all seems serene in the Blues’ camp at the moment, with Enzo Maresca being touted as a possible successor to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. That comes on the heels of last week’s broadside, when he claimed “so many people didn’t support me and the team” after a 2-0 win over Everton, saying the 48 hours before that game had been his worst since joining the club.
This is a huge game indeed. Cardiff have been playing good stuff under Brian Barry-Murphy this season and could go seven points clear with victory at Sincil Bank AKA the LNER Stadium.
Today is a big game in League One: Cardiff away at Lincoln, 1st vs 3rd. Lincoln have one of the best home records in the division and Cardiff the best away record. Super nervous for the Imps, a draw would be fantastic I think against who I consider the best in the league.
David Hytner delves deeper into the enigma that is Tottenham Hotspur here.
What of Spurs, then? A run of three wins from 11 matches has piled pressure onto Thomas Frank, who is beginning to sound as weary and tetchy as latter-day Ange Postecoglou did.
Frank was done no favours by Micky van de Ven’s recent Overlap interview in which the Dutch centre-back revealed he “still really like[s]” the Australian, and called him “a really good manager” who played “unbelievable football” at Spurs. Postecoglou continues to divide Tottenham even months after his departure.
There was no explicit negativity from Van de Ven towards Frank but the former Brentford manager’s own rhetoric speaks of a man struggling for answers.
“If nobody gets [time], nobody will be able to turn this around,” said Frank after last Sunday’s 3-0 Premier League defeat at Nottingham Forest adding that there was no “quick fix”.
Frank is right, of course, Spurs are a work in progress. But defeat at home at Liverpool today could spell trouble with away London derbies at Crystal Palace and Brentford after Christmas.
Will Liverpool feel the benefits of a trip to Dr Tottenham tonight? Arne Slot’s side are showing signs of life having (supposedly) put the Mohamed Salah saga in their past, beating Inter and Brighton in their past two outings. A clash at troubled Spurs could be another welcome tonic for Slot and his boys.
Curtis Jones has been the latest Reds player to pour cold water on the fiery Salah issue, revealing to Sky Sports that the Egyptian apologised for his recentcomments. Whether all is now fine and dandy, we will find out in the coming weeks. Don’t rule out a January departure for Salah.
“Mo is his own man and he can say his own stuff,” said Jones. “He apologised to us [saying], ‘if I’ve affected anybody or made you feel any sort of way, I apologise’. That’s the man that he is. I can only speak from me knowing Mo and how he is with us and how he acted on that.
“He was positive as well. He was the exact same Mo. He had a big smile on his face and everybody was exactly the same with him. I guess it’s just part of wanting to be a winner and I don’t think he will be the last.”
Another plug here, as Max Rushden gives his take on Wilfried Nancy’s struggles at Celtic. It’s not been the greatest start to the season for the Old Firm clubs, has it?
Have you tried the Guardian’s new football game, Off the Ball, yet? Find it in the Puzzles section of the app.
Re the top 100 – some emails:
Dave Estheby:
We could argue about the order until the New Year but the thing that leapt out at me was only two entries from the supposed best league in the world in the top 10 (and one of those is highly questionable – I’ll leave you to figure out who…)
Julian Barrell:
Your top 100 footballer list is biased towards certain clubs and attacking positions. How is someone like Ezri Konsa of Aston Villa not in it, and therefore worse than say Mason Greenwood? Konsa has been the rock and mainstay in Villa’s rise to the top table, season after season putting in performances for club and now country too. How does this not get recognised?
I’m told by my bosses to remind readers that The Guardian top 100 is voted for by 219 experts – we haven’t just made it up.
I’m sure that will placate the scores of angry commenters below the line. Maybe.
Fantasy football corner: A reminder that today’s deadline is 11am, so get your transfers sorted ASAP! You may still have some free transfers left over, as extra ones were afforded by the kind FPL people due to AFCON.
I’m in a bit of pickle about Lewis Hall. The app says he’s got a 75% chance of playing for Newcastle today, while Eddie Howe’s answer on the left-back’s fitness was “could be… we’ll see”, which isn’t helpful. Other Newcastle defensive injuries may mean Hall simply has to play.
I would highly recommend transferring in Bruno Fernandes. Manchester United have defensive injuries but they’re starting to tick as an attacking force. With Bryan Mbeumo and Amad at AFCON it could be left to Fernandes to pick up the slack in terms of goals and assists.
My team for GW 17 (feel free to ridicule in the comments): Henderson; Hall, O’Reilly, Andersen; Fernandes, Foden, Semenyo, Saka; Haaland (c), Mateta, Calvert-Lewin.
Continental corner: There are some eye-catching games around the European leagues today, no less than Real Madrid v Sevilla (8pm GMT) which rounds off the day in La Liga. Dortmund went second in the Bundesliga last night but RB Leipzig can reclaim the position if they beat fourth-placed Leverkusen at 5.30pm. In Serie A, Juventus v Roma (7.45pm) is fifth v fourth but both sides will have designs on the top three.
The Coupe de France takes centre stage in, well, France, with PSG, Lille, Lorient and Toulouse among the top flight sides in action, going away to lower league opponents.
And in the Eredivisie, are Ajax… back? They play NEC away today looking to make it five wins on the spin in all competitions – having won just one of their previous 10. PSV are already running away with the Dutch title as a result of Ajax’s struggles.
Yes, I do. He was the best attacking player for the (emphatic) Champions League winners.
Is there anyone, except Dembele himself maybe, who thinks he was the best player in the world in 2025? Let him try it in the PL and see if he is a better attacker than Haaland. And as for PSG, Hakimi is far more important for their success, just to name one.
Just to mark your card, here’s a full rundown of today’s Premier League fixtures:
In the Championship, I’m picking out Hull v West Brom and Watford v Stoke as the most intriguing clashes – Hull and Stoke have been surprise high-flyers this season so far – with Lincoln v Cardiff in League One a contest between third and first. In League Two, the top two meet when Notts County host Walsall at 12.30pm.
Let’s have your Premier League predictions in the comments below.
This comment hits a little too close to home for my liking. The festive period is always about football first, fir trees second.
This can be a difficult time for football supporters. Can we manage to keep the necessary eye on our team while showing appropriate enthusiasm for gift choices, wrapping, food shopping and preparation, table decorations, joining in family get-togethers….? We’ll give it a damned good try! Sorry, what was that you were saying…?
Manchester United target Neves and Gallagher
Manchester United are on the hunt for a midfielder. This can’t be good news for Kobbie Mainoo… as a pair of former Premier League stars are targeted by Ruben Amorim’s side.
Jamie Jackson has the full story here.
Newcastle v Chelsea at 12.30pm is a great way to start the day’s action, isn’t it? Eddie Howe’s side are down in 12th and Enzo Maresca’s men sit fourth but only six points separate them, with the Magpies’ formidable home record likely to make it tough for Chelsea.
Newcastle may be hamstrung, however, by their sheer number of current defensive absentees. Tino Livramento has joined Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Emil Krafth, Jamaal Lascelles, Kieran Trippier and goalkeeper Nick Pope on the treatment table, with Lewis Hall also a doubt.
Even so, and despite Maresca claiming he was “falling more in love with [his players” earlier this week, you wouldn’t bank on Chelsea strolling to victory at St James’ Park. Can Maresca settle on a regular forward line? Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho came off the bench in the Carabao Cup against Cardiff in midweek to score and look like contenders to start this one.
Predicting games like Newcastle v Chelsea this season has been very, very difficult.
I notice there’s lots of discussion in the comments about the Guardian’s Top 100 players… these things are always subjective, of course. One thing you cannot argue with is Ousmane Dembélé’s place at the very summit.
Find all our Top 100 content here and feel free to disagree with our writers.
10 things to look out for: From pressure on Scott Parker at Burnley, to Wolves’ long search for a win, to calls for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to feature in Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup plans, it’s all here.
In case you missed it there was drama in the all-Welsh Friday night Championship clash, with Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo handing victory to Swansea in the 90th minute in south Wales when he dropped Ben Cabango’s header right into the path of Adam Idah. The Swans substitute had the simplest of task to tap home to make it 2-1.
An early Christmas present from Okonkwo – who is one of Bukayo Saka’s best friends in football, by the way, having grown up at Arsenal – and Welsh bragging rights for Swansea.
Steve Evans steered Bristol Rovers to their first point in 10 league matches, although he said the 1-1 draw at Crewe was “frustrating” given the home side had 10 men for most of the game. Elsewhere in League Two, Cambridge United jumped into the playoff spots with a 2-0 win over Accrington and Cheltenham picked up a 2-1 win at struggling Barrow.
Northampton cruised beyond AFC Wimbledon 3-1 in League One.
And in the Bundesliga, the battle of the Borussias was won 2-0 by Dortmund, Max Beier scoring in the 97th minute to see off Mönchengladbach after Julian Brandt struck early on.
Preamble
Good morning all and welcome to another of our matchday live blogs. It’s Saturday morning so that can only mean one thing – buildup! And we can safely called it a bumper day of action with no less than eight Premier League games, starting with Newcastle v Chelsea at 12.30pm, heading into the four 3pm kick-offs, Tottenham v Liverpool at 5.30pm and then two 8pm games: Everton v Arsenal and Leeds v Crystal Palace (all times GMT).
There is also a full schedule of games in the Scottish Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two, plus lower down the pyramids and in Spain, Germany and beyond too. See – bumper.
As always with matchday lives we encourage your comments and emails, so let me know your predictions for the day ahead, thoughts on 2025 in general now that it’s coming to an end, or just how you’ll be spending a day of festive footy-ball. Should be fun!
