João Pedro scored the winner, following up his own saved penalty to nod home, meaning Villa’s Champions League place remains under threat from Spurs Roberto De Zerbi speaks. He says playing without important players, especially the full-backs, changes something in build-up and “the last 40 metres”, hence the lack of goals and no wins in six. He respects Villa but they want to keep the ball, play football, and take a lot of shots. So where do Villa – potentially fortified with Champions League money – need to strengthen this summer? A deputy for Ollie Watkins, perhaps, a right-back, and central ..read more

Aston Villa are running on fumes. The chance to go 10 points clear on Tottenham ended up reopening the door to the Champions League. Groggy from the short turnaround and shock result of their 4-2 Thursday defeat to Olympiakos, Unai Emery’s team could not replicate the energy of their manager, whose frantic touchline exhortations reflected a golden chance in danger of slipping away. Ezri Konsa’s tired tackle on Simon Adingra served up a late penalty that Robin Olsen saved from João Pedro only for the Brazilian to nod home the rebound and score the first goal from a Brighton player since March ..read more

Elijah Adebayo’s return boosts Luton, Wolves seek another City shock and Alexander Isak eyes golden boot Friday night’s clash between deeply imperilled Luton and newly safe Everton ought to mean contrasting moods among the two sets of supporters at Kenilworth Road. Still, off-field alarms at Everton are likely to dampen the mood in the away end despite the impressive three straight wins that have delivered safety for Sean Dyche’s side. Luton’s much-admired campaign against the drop, by contrast, looks as if it is running out of road yet this well-run club have less to fear from relegation than ..read more

Tractor Boys close to earning place in Premier League Unsettled De Zerbi reportedly wants new challenge Brighton will look to lure Kieran McKenna away from Ipswich if Roberto De Zerbi quits as manager this summer. It is understood Brighton have been making contingency plans as they prepare for the possibility of needing a new manager. De Zerbi, whose side are in dismal form, has grown unsettled and has been linked with several big jobs in recent months ..read more

Erling Haaland grabs vital goal, Richard Masters gets a Molineux earful and Brighton’s season fades out Ange Postecoglou found enough blue sky in the Spurs squad he inherited to make a pair of sailor’s trousers out of the opening 10 games of the season. The rest of the season since then feels like a return to the mean. Spurs would currently be eighth in the Premier League if their form outside of that supercharged start was rolled out across an entire season. Fifth place is probably above par for this miscellaneous group of players and the manager’s own first look at the league. And while defe ..read more

Liverpool await a dead-ball salvo, Luton have to keep their chins up and things could get spicy at City Ground David Moyes will surely have taken note of Liverpool’s struggle to defend set pieces against Everton. Jürgen Klopp, who must be delighted with a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday, should prepare his team for another bruising test when they visit West Ham. For Moyes, this is a chance to repair the sizeable damage to his reputation caused by last weekend’s collapse at Selhurst Park. West Ham were 4-0 down to Palace after 31 minutes and are preparing to part company with Moyes at the end of t ..read more

‘What happened to Liverpool can happen to us’ Manager urges champions to maintain focus after 4-0 win Pep Guardiola said he used Liverpool’s defeat at Everton as a reminder to his Manchester City players about the perils of football before they went to Brighton on Thursday night and won 4-0. Twenty-four hours after Liverpool’s 2-0 derby defeat, City ran riot on the south coast, two goals from Phil Foden and one apiece from Kevin De Bruyne and Julián Álvarez ensuring they retained control of their destiny in the title race ..read more

Pep Guardiola’s complaints about his team’s tiredness were hard to believe as they strolled to victory against Brighton It had been tempting to wonder if some kind of elaborate gag was taking place when the Brighton fan and noted stamina enthusiast “The Hardest Geezer” was paraded on the pitch before kick-off at the Amex Stadium. What was that, Pep? Your team’s a bit tired? Why not tell it to the guy who’s just become the first person in history to run the length of Africa? He must be dying to hear about Bernardo Silva’s hamstrings. Nobody is really buying it. The thing about City is that they ..read more

Almost 10 years to the day, Steven Gerrard slipped, Liverpool lost control of their destiny in terms of the Premier League title race and Manchester City nipped in to win it. The talk in recent weeks and certainly since Arsenal and Liverpool lost on the Sunday before last has been about whether City might have a slip of their own in them, something that – frankly – they have never done previously under Pep Guardiola when the trophy has been within their grasp, the focus narrowing over the run-in ..read more

Manager says fatigued stars are tired mentally and physically Erling Haaland to miss Brighton trip but Foden and Stones fit Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City have to be perfect and win their last six games to claim a record fourth consecutive title despite the manager’s concerns that his players “might fall down” at any moment due to fatigue. City travel to Brighton on Thursday four behind Arsenal, with two games in hand. On Saturday Guardiola’s side reached a second consecutive FA Cup final, beating Chelsea 1-0 to keep City on course to win a double-double. But afterwards, Guardiola co ..read more