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Key events
An email has landed from regular contributor Jeremy Boyce.
When you said ‘Big day for Frank…’ it was loaded with double meaning. Yes, a big day for Thomas Frank, manager of Tottenham for the time being. Big day for the other Frank as well though…. Of course I mean Frank [Lampard] the manager of Championship table-topping Coventry City, who have seen their impressive lead reduced over the last few weeks with a run of mediocre results, while the pursuers have maintained their push. It’s an early kick off for the M69 derby today and they will find themselves up against a much-improved Leicester. Anything less than a win today and Frank will be looking nervously over his shoulder.
Afcon: I omitted to mention in my earlier Fantasy Football post that Everton’s Senegal duo Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye are among those still unavailable as they’re to compete in the final of the competition. The same goes for Ismaïla Sarr, Pape Sarr, West Ham’s Malick Diouf and Sunderland’s Habib Diarra. Manchester United’s Noussair Mazraoui and Chemsdine Talbi, of Sunderland, are on Morocco duty.
Senegal v Morroco in the Africa Cup of Nations final gets under way at 7pm (GMT) on Sunday.
Players of Egypt and Nigeria (Mohamed Salah, Alex Iwobi et al) are still unavailable too, as those nations are contesting the third place playoff today at 4pm.
Have you played On The Ball yet? It’s the Guardian’s new(ish) football game and it’s available from the Puzzles tab of the Guardian app.
Here’s a handy explainer of what it’s all about.
It does feel odd that Liverpool didn’t push harder for Guéhi, given their defensive woes this season.
The Reds are targeting younger centre-backs like Senegalese teenager Mor Ndiaye and 19-year-old Noah Adekoya from Burnley… but surely a senior addition this month is necessary.
Guehi was nailed on for Liverpool back at the start of the season. Slot’s stock has crashed.
A week in the life of Crystal Palace:
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Humiliating FA Cup defeat to sixth-tier opposition
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Sale of captain and best defender for £20m
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Pending exit of progressive and popular manager
Yikes. Ed Aarons attempts to make sense of it all here.
Fantasy Football Corner
Let’s pivot away from the derby for a moment.
With all the FA Cup and Carabao Cup action, you’d be forgiven for forgetting about your FPL team, but the deadline is 11am today (GMT). You might even have five City players when Guéhi follows Semenyo in switching allegiances. The latter is an obvious choice for many FPL players, but in terms of under-the-radar shouts, the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Harry Wilson and Robin Roefs are all valuable picks and have made my team this week (I’ve played my wildcard).
Is there anyone I’m missing? Brentford’s Igor Thiago is perhaps another good option among slim pickings up front, while you may consider the returning Afcon stars like Bryan Mbeumo and Amad, but maybe not straight away.
Feel free to ridicule my XI in the comments. This is it:
Roefs; Gabriel, Kadioglu, Cucurella; Fernandes, Foden, Wilson, Saka, Xhaka; Haaland (c), Calvert-Lewin.
Well that’s a taste of Jamie Jackson’s derby day thoughts. More later of course – keep your questions coming in.
Marc Guéhi is a brilliant signing for City. They needed pace at the back and I’d suggest he’ll be in the first choice lineup even with Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol available.
United are underdogs and I don’t think they will win this. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up 3-0 or 4-0.
Jamie Jackson on Manchester City and the derby.
Departing Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner will be on Manchester United’s radar this summer when they are looking for a permanent manager, Jamie says, although Thomas Tuchel and Roberto De Zerbi are higher on the club’s wish-list at the moment.
Jamie Jackson is on Sky News right now chatting all things Manchester derby.
I do find it a bit concerning that there is this deference to Sir Alex Ferguson at United. I don’t think it’s best for the leadership, but at the same you can go to him for advice.
The Carrick appointment is essentially a morale boost. He was part of an unbelievably successful team that won a Champions League and five Premier League titles.
How much of that ‘magic’ of United that Carrick spoke of will feel if they get a bit of a pounding come 3pm today?
Is Antoine Semenyo already one of the best signings of the season? You wouldn’t bet against him scoring for City in the derby today – he’s already bagged a goal at Old Trafford this season for Bournemouth.
Remember you can track every single deal that happens in the men’s January transfer window with our interactive here. We also track all the deals in the women’s game here.
Is the end nigh for Thomas Frank at Tottenham?
Today he faces one of his fallen Spurs predecessors, Nuno – now in the West Ham dugout. Since Mauricio Pochettino, there has been quite the lineage of Tottenham managers who have come and gone while flattering to deceive.
Frank looks unlikely to recover his current position, though a win over the Hammers would be an almighty boost.
Manchester City then. They’re having quite the January window, aren’t they?
First Antoine Semenyo and now, seemingly, Marc Guéhi. The latter has not yet completed his move from Crystal Palace, so obviously won’t play in the derby today, but only the final formalities remain before he joins Pep Guardiola’s super-squad.
Key questions linger on about PSR and that case of 115 pesky charges which is yet to be resolved (with some predicting it will be another year until it is). But in the short term, will those deals prove enough to power City to the title, or have they left it too late given they trail Arsenal by six points? A draw or defeat at Old Trafford today could further hamper their chances.
Speaking of the Women’s FA Cup, Suzanne Wrack chats to those connected with Ipswich, who are bottom of WSL2, but have big plans to turn their season around starting in the cup against Sheffield United tomorrow.
Like most other competitions in women’s football, Chelsea have dominated the FA Cup in recent years, winning it in four of the past five years and six times since 2016. They’re in action in the fourth round at Kingsmeadow today (12.30pm), where they’re unlikely to be troubled by Crystal Palace.
The only other tie today is Sunderland v London City Lionesses at 12.15pm, with 12 games taking place tomorrow. Everton and West Ham booked their spots in the last-16 with victories last night.
This season does at least look more unpredictable in the women’s game, with Manchester City six points clear at the top of the WSL, and having just signed USA star Sam Coffey.
Surely Chelsea will not end the season trophyless?
This comment tickled me. Are there any West Ham fans out there with some remaining hope or optimism for today (or the rest of the season)?
My mate left his West Ham season tickets on display in his car. When he came back from the Westfield Centre someone had smashed the window and left two more.
Back to Manchester United and Rio Ferdinand has been speaking some sense in the past 24 hours, biting back at Roy Keane over the latter’s comments about Sir Alex Ferguson and Michael Carrick’s backroom staff choices.
Keane said Ferguson was “hanging around like a bad smell” and called out Carrick for appointing former United teammate Evans.
Ferdinand told BBC 5Live: “I don’t think Sir Alex Ferguson has the influence at the club people think he does. I think he should have an influence, I think his presence is felt. By the way is there anyone on the planet who deserves a seat in the stadium every week more than Sir Alex? So I think to say ‘hanging around like a bad smell’ airs on the side of [being] a bit disrespectful.
“The likes of Fletcher and Carrick do call him – they respect him. Most of their career has been alongside him. So why wouldn’t you call on that experience? I don’t agree with what Roy said, I think that’s more personal.
“Even the stuff with him calling out coaches, Jonny Evans is a young coach – why shouldn’t he get a chance? He knows every single player in that squad. He’s lived with them and breathed with them for a couple of years. I understand why Michael Carrick has gone for someone like Steve Holland, he’s experienced.
“That’s Roy’s stance and he can have that opinion but for me the gun was pointing at the wrong people.”
In a separate interview, Ferdinand named Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Bruno Fernandes as United’s only three successful signings post-Ferguson.
In terms of today, it all starts – and by it, I mean our minute-by-minute coverage – with the Manchester derby kicking off at 12.30pm. Then we’ll have the usual clockwatch, covering the 3pm games in the Premier League and beyond, before our attention turns to Nottingham Forest at Arsenal at 5.30pm. There’s no late game in the top flight tonight.
Of those 3pm games, I’m actually astonished there are as many as five – which means they cannot be shown on TV in the UK. Spurs v West Ham and Chelsea v Brentford feel broadcast-worthy, but hey ho.
(All times GMT)
What happened in the world of football last night? Well, Middlesbrough closed the gap at the top of the Championship to just three points with a dramatic win at West Brom in Eric Ramsay’s first game in charge of the Baggies. Delano Burgzorg’s 90th-minute winner sealed a 3-2 victory for Boro, who now have a five-point buffer to third-placed Ipswich, albeit they’ve played two games more.
North of the border, Bojan Miovski scored a hat-trick as Rangers thumped Annan Athletic 5-0 in the Scottish Cup.
Meanwhile, West Ham triumphed 3-0 over Newcastle in the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup; Werder Bremen and Eintracht Frankfurt drew 3-3 in an entertaining Bundesliga contest; Girona won 2-0 at Espanyol in La Liga, and Ousmane Dembélé scored twice as PSG beat Lille 3-0 to return to the Ligue 1 summit – although title rivals Lens are just two points behind with a game in hand. Lens play Auxerre today.
With United out of both cup competitions and not playing in Europe this season, Will Unwin poses the question of whether this is the club’s post-Ferguson nadir …
It’s fair enough to suggest so, but nothing will surely top be worse than losing to 17th-placed Spurs in the worst Europa League final of all time (TM), all the while finishing 15th. Sorry Ruben.
Get questions in for Jamie Jackson before Manchester derby
Later on this morning we’ll be holding a Q&A session with our Manchester football correspondent, Jamie Jackson, ahead of the Manchester derby at Old Trafford.
What sort of state are United in? Will City take full advantage and boost their title chances? Email your questions using matchday.live@theguardian.com or simply comment below.
Preamble
Good morning and welcome to another of The Guardian’s matchday live blogs. This is your one-stop-shop for all things Saturday football buildup, and today is another biggie in the Premier League, from which we enjoyed a (short) break due to the FA Cup last weekend.
It’s big primarily because it’s derby day in Manchester with Michael Carrick making his (second) debut as United’s interim head coach, but there are other games to whet the appetite; Spurs v West Ham has been dubbed ‘El Sackico’ with Thomas Frank and Nuno Espírito Santo both under immense pressure. There’s also Chelsea v Brentford, which is a west London derby and Liam Rosenior’s first Premier League game as Blues manager.
Down the leagues there’s plenty to play for as well. Coventry v Leicester in the Championship looks an attractive proposition while Bradford v Cardiff and Swindon v Salford should be belting games at the sharp end of League One and League Two respectively.
As always, we welcome your comments and emails. Let us know how you’re spending this dreary January Saturday. Hopefully it’s by watching some football, after you’ve scrolled up and down this blog of course. Stay tuned!
