Five things to look out for including how Liverpool will replace Lallana and Lukaku’s pursuit of the golden boot when the two old rivals meet at AnfieldJürgen Klopp’s side triumphed without their influential No10 at Goodison Park in December but he remains pivotal to their prospects of breaking any defence and one of the few talents capable of elevating a derby with a touch of class. Since returning from an ankle ligament injury in January, Coutinho has recaptured his early-season form only sporadically and scored once in 13 outings for his club. However, his goal and performance for Brazil against Paraguay in midweek, when he helped his country to qualify for the World Cup in Russia before flying back to...
The club have planned to leave Goodison Park before and failed; this time they appear to have the imagination and ambition to pull it offThe press release announcing Liverpool city council’s intention to help Everton move to a prime waterfront location describes it as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to regenerate the Atlantic Corridor in north Liverpool”. It is a second-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Everton and one that, even with a £300m price tag, they cannot afford to miss.A transformation is planned for a 2.3km bank of the river Mersey and a proposed state-of-the-art stadium at Bramley Moore can have a ripple effect on Everton. Thursday’s confirmation that the club has agreed a deal for the land with Peel Holdings and the council...
Everton manager has readily changed clubs to further his own career and this response to Lukaku’s desire to move shows an all too common double standardThey were nine games into the Eredivisie season when Valencia came calling for Ronald Koeman in October 2007. PSV Eindhoven, the team he had led to the Dutch title, had won seven and drawn two and were enjoying the view from the top of the table. Yet Koeman had always wanted to manage in Spain and the relevant people at PSV were candid enough to realise Valencia was an upgrade. Jan Reker, PSV’s general director, would later say: “Our question to Valencia was: ‘Can’t this wait until next year?’”The answer was a polite no. Valencia’s information...
Everton and Romelu Lukaku get to shift their attention to the pitch, Liverpool face off with Manchester City, and Spurs look to push on without Harry KaneEverton-owned strikers will provide two causes for regret at Goodison Park on Saturday. Hull City miss Oumar Niasse, the on-loan centre-forward whose goals against Swansea City last week have made escaping the drop a realistic proposition, as he is ineligible to face the club that froze him out within months of arriving from Lokomotiv Moscow. That is poor timing as Marco Silva looks to create some momentum but Everton have concerns of their own. Romelu Lukaku and his family are hardly known for reticence but his clearly voiced concerns about the club’s ambition, hot...
Arsène Wenger overcomes resistance to change, Aitor Karanka wants fighters more than Stewart Downing, and José Mourinho has more pressing concerns than getting revenge at ChelseaOne of the many criticisms routinely directed at Arsène Wenger concerns his tactical conservatism and it is fair to say that he has seldom deviated from his preferred and predictable 4-2-3-1 in recent years. But on the back of a crucial drop in form Wenger has actually started the last two games with a new plan, playing 4-3-3 against Bayern Munich and Lincoln to address the malfunctioning midfield by adding an extra man. He thinks some of his midfielders, namely Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, benefit from being in a three and perhaps it is...