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

Manchester United snatch chaos from jaws of serenity, Nicolas Jackson misfires and Liverpool stay in hunt Jammy, jammy Man United. To be fair, they did find a new way to be hopeless. Instead of the usual mayhem, they were in total control for 70 minutes, barely letting Coventry have a shot. But then, somehow, they snatched chaos from the jaws of serenity. ITV, and all their teatime viewers, couldn’t believe their luck as a cakewalk turned into a classic. United threw away a 3-0 lead, and for a minute, right at the end of extra time, they were 4-3 down – only for the VAR to come to their rescue ..read more

Adam Wharton shines on Merseyside, Mateo Kovacic displays City’s depth and Erik ten Hag gets tetchy Joachim Andersen was named Sky’s man of the match at Anfield and with good reason. But while the Danish centre-back won header after header and made clearance after clearance, and while the front three of Jean-Philippe Mateta, Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise caused repeated problems on the break, there was one figure who stood out in midfield for his calmness: Adam Wharton, perhaps the brightest of the hugely promising generation brought through by Tony Mowbray at Blackburn. The 20-year-old moved ..read more

Arijanet Muric is on a one-man crusade to bring back football gaffe videos but he might need to pay Bart Verbruggen some royalties, too. Last week, Muric whacked a clearance against Dominic Calvert-Lewin to gift Everton three points and on Saturday he let a meek Sander Berge backpass under his foot to cost Burnley a much-needed victory ..read more