Liverpool’s tiredness could play into Manchester City’s hands, Newcastle should throw caution to the wind and Harry Winks must take his Tottenham chance“It’s a game of small margins,” said Vincent Kompany of the season’s standout fixture to date between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday. If the teams are as closely matched in quality as Kompany thinks then he can only have been heartened by the weary look of many of Liverpool’s players as they struggled with Napoli’s intensity in their 1-0 defeat on Wednesday. Jürgen Klopp’s midfielders create chances by harassing opponents out of possession and shuffling the ball forwards quickly but in Naples they looked heavy-legged. Liverpool’s past three fixtures read: Chelsea, Chelsea, Napoli; high-profile, energy-sapping...
David Luiz is impressing at Chelsea while Jordan Henderson’s place looks up for grabs and Huddersfield are on the rackBernd Leno was quick to do the decent thing and explain he was clearly not happy to see Petr Cech pull up with a hamstring injury, but at the same time the competitor in him cannot wait to seize his chance. The German keeper signed for Arsenal more than three months ago and has had to be patient to wait for Premier League football. Unai Emery had told Leno his time would come at some stage. “Some weeks ago he said you have to work hard, be calm, because I played for just one professional club in Germany and it is...
Gareth Southgate has been hoping Phil Foden would get more action at Manchester City but that will not happen soon so why not call him up for England now, with Euro 2020 in mind?Phil Foden has left enough positive impressions in the formative stages of his career that I hope it will not come across as too po-faced to ask whether this supremely talented footballer – and perhaps some of the people around him – can avoid getting too carried away now he is starting to benefit from the trappings of his industry.That is not meant to sound impertinent but perhaps you saw the photograph of Foden that was circulated via Instagram on his 18th birthday. Can you imagine the...
Ramsey needs to discover his inner Lampard, Shaqiri deserved more time and Traoré has become a specialist substitute Related: Unai Emery’s system beats out a dull rhythm that fails to entrance | Jacob Steinberg Related: The Dozen: the weekend’s best Premier League photos Related: Record-breaking Jorginho the beating heart of Chelsea’s mangled midfield | Barney Ronay Continue reading...
Ryan Fraser ran Leicester ragged; Neil Warnock will not tolerate more Cardiff mistakes; and Rafael Benítez needs a new planJürgen Klopp was asked to describe his emotions during stoppage time in the 2-1 victory at Tottenham. His dominant Liverpool team had led 2-0 going into it but they conceded to Érik Lamela in the 93rd minute to set up a nervy finale. “I would love to say it is the first time in my life I have been in a situation like that but it happens so often,” Klopp said. “My wife hates it.” The Liverpool manager would not have gone through the wringer if some of his players – Sadio Mané, in particular – had played in a teammate...