Bournemouth may struggle to hold on to Joshua King, Leicester got no help from the broadcasters but Daniel Levy deserves his due for Spurs’ fine season • The Dozen: the weekend’s best Premier League photosOnce the fight for Premier League survival is over, Bournemouth might have another battle on their hands: retaining the services of Joshua King. The striker, signed by Eddie Howe for a snip at £1m from Blackburn Rovers in the summer of 2015, scored his 13th goal of the season against Chelsea on Saturday evening. Despite winning several admirers since gaining passage to the top flight, Bournemouth are yet to be scavenged for players by bigger clubs. Matt Ritchie was sold to Newcastle United last year but...
With Manchester United visiting the Riverside only days after Aitor Karanka was sacked, Steve Agnew has been tasked with easing Boro’s relegation fearsSteve Agnew seemed slightly uncertain. “Suit or tracksuit?” mused Middlesbrough’s interim manager. “I don’t know. I haven’t had time to think about that, so it’ll probably be whatever takes my fancy when I wake up on Sunday morning … but I’d prefer the cameras to be focusing on the players rather than me.” Related: Stewart Downing has a ‘big part to play’ after Karanka row, says Steve Agnew Related: Middlesbrough v Manchester United: match preview Continue reading...
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...
Boro’s volatile manager paid the price after his cautious tactics failed to deliver Premier League points and led to fallouts with players and fansThe rationale behind Steve Gibson’s long-standing reluctance to sack Aitor Karanka and the reason he ultimately felt impelled to dismiss Middlesbrough’s first foreign manager were, paradoxically, both encapsulated by the Basque’s handling of Adama Traoré.A force-of-nature type winger, the former Barcelona prodigy turned Aston Villa flop was invariably instructed to switch flanks at half-time by Karanka. This, Boro’s manager revealed, was to ensure Traoré always operated within earshot of the home technical area so he could receive coaching throughout the game. Related: Aitor Karanka sacked by Middlesbrough with club in Premier League relegation zone Related: The making...
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...