Phil Jagielka has revealed he is yet to fully recover from a knee injury but will not let the pain stop him playing for Everton.
The centre-half had to take a painkilling injection ahead of the win over Stoke on Saturday and may have to do so again before the Goodison Park side travel to top-four rivals Spurs on Saturday.
Everton are still involved in the battle for a place in next season’s Champions League, as they trail fourth-placed Chelsea by four points, and Jagielka is desperate to do all he can to help his side secure a place in Europe’s top competition next season.
“It’s not quite healed up yet but it will get there and I can play without any problems,” Jagielka told the Liverpool Echo.
“I’ve got to have an injection to take a bit of the pain away because there’s still a bit of scar tissue but it’s part and parcel of being a footballer.
“I’ve been desperate to get back training and playing with the lads. It’s a boring time being on your own, especially being injured.
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“I’ve been there before and so it’s been nice to get back amongst it this week, even more so to play.”
Manchester City’s media team, as well as the companies associated with the club, would have created plenty of content ready for the day when the team were crowned Premier League champions.
That day was Sunday, and Pep Guardiola’s side secured the title without even kicking a ball thanks to their neighbours Manchester United.
After overcoming Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 at Wembley at the start of the weekend, City knew that defeat for United against West Bromwich Albion would hand them the English crown.
Nobody would have expected bottom-of-the-table Baggies to get anything out of the contest, but they proved the doubters wrong by earning a 1-0 win over Jose Mourinho’s side.
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As a result, City took an unassailable 16-point lead with five games left to play, and celebrations ensued.
One particular tribute video to the club’s success has taken centre-stage, but for all the wrong reasons.
Club sponsor Etisalat UAE, which is a telecommunications operator based in the Middle East, posted a video on Twitter to congratulate the team.
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The likes of Sergio Aguero and Ilkay Gundogan drew on their acting chops for the clip, which featured a bizarre chant throughout.
A few days ago, City were being mocked for falling at the quarter-final hurdle in the Champions League, and now they are being ripped apart for another reason.
Last week, women around the country spoke up about their love of football and why despite the age we live in, sexism is still a heavy part of the sport.
From our fantastic England team who have reached the Cyprus Cup final, to the lineswomen and assistant referees, to the CEOs, directors and other members of staff, women are an integral part of football in the 21st century.
Last week, alongside International Women’s Day, the group “women in football,” which represents more than 1200 women in the sport, contacted all 92 Football League clubs about the issue of sexism after footage emerged of Chelsea’s medic Dr Eva Carneiro and assistant referee Helen Byrne suffering sexist chants and taunts at matches.
Do people really think this is still acceptable? Many fans see it as banter, but it’s demeaning and unfair.
It’s not just those on the pitch that have to deal with sexism on a regular basis, Karen Brady has well documented the sexist remarks that have been made against her – she famously sold a player after he said something sexist to her on a club coach.
People in all walks of life suffer with sexist remarks and as, a football writer and woman, I am one of them.
I have been a football fan and football player since I was a little girl and since then I have been used to people looking at me differently when I started joining in with football chat – that is until they realised I actually knew what I was talking about.
As a football journalist I come across sexist comments occasionally and most of the time they just go straight over my head and I laugh at them. But sometimes you cannot help but feel insulted.
I have only been a sports journalist for about two years and while most of the time I will encounter nothing when writing or investigating stories, but there has been the occasional time I have been shocked at comments made against me.
I was writing a story late one night whilst talking with my editor via email – it had been one of those stupidly busy nights where basically every team in England had played and we were in a rush to get everything out. Despite being the only one working that night, the editor was not happy with the speed at which I was working.
I listened to said editor bang on about why women should not be in football – “Women should not be on a sports desk, they belong in the kitchen.” I was gobsmacked. Why I didn’t report it?
I had just started my career and quite simply he could ruin it in one foul swoop. I was not prepared to risk that for one stupid comment.
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I think that’s one of the problems why sexism exists. There is a large part of us that know what we are getting ourselves into by getting into the football industry.
We know there will be days where things are said that hurt us, days where we can shrug them off but most of the time things are great because we are doing what we love best.
Liverpool’s resounding 5-0 victory over a weakened Swansea side at the weekend at Anfield provided a small sign of hope that while a place in the top four by the end of the season looks a long shot, that with a reasonably straightforward fixture list between now and the end of the campaign, that the side still stands a chance.
With manager Michael Laudrup clearly trying to prepare his team for their big day out at Wembley next week as they head into the Capital One Cup final against League Two’s Bradford City as the overwhelming favourites, his decision to rest a number of key faces was at least understandable, even if the performance was unforgivable. Nevertheless, the manner of the hosts win saw them end a five-match winless streak and finally put to bed the statistical anomaly that has dogged their season so far – the fact that they had failed to win a game against a team ranked inside the top ten in the league all season and after Southampton’s surprise win over Manchester City the other week, they even became the last side in the top flight this term to do so.
Of course, that includes the recent 2-0 loss in front of their own fans to West Brom, which looked every inch the textbook away performance from a limited but resilient Baggies. While Brendan Rodgers’ side were far from their best, they should still have done enough to avoid yet another embarrassing defeat to a team they should be beating on home soil and it perfectly encapsulated their up and down campaign so far. In times of transition, an inconsistent nature will be rife and the side are already looking worryingly reliant on Daniel Sturridge to galvanise their fluid attack up front.
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Next up on the agenda are Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg in the Europa League and a testing but not insurmountable 2-0 deficit to overhaul, but should they fail to be inspired on Thursday and exit at the first knockout stage of the competition, it could have a positive effect in the long run on their top four hopes, with both Tottenham and Chelsea still likely to go further into the draw.
Liverpool sit nine points off Tottenham in fourth at the moment having played a game more than Andre Villas-Boas’ side and Rodgers sounded cautious on his team’s chances of clinching an unlikely turnaround in their league fortunes after the Swansea win, telling reporters: “I am an optimist, you have to be, but we’ll not get too carried away. I’ve likened us to a marathon runner just getting ready for the finish line, ready to make our move, and then we trip ourselves up.
“That is something we have to change going forward for the remainder of the season and finish as strong as we can.”
They are the words of a man refusing to throw in the towel in public but acutely aware that his side are in last-chance saloon territory. Of the club’s final 11 games, five of them are at Anfield and all against teams with plenty left to play for in Chelsea, Everton, Tottenham, QPR and West Ham. It could work both ways but with Rafa Benitez’s side still possessing the ability to implode at any given moment and Tottenham stretched by a relatively thin squad competing on two fronts, there could be just a glimmer of an opening.
When you throw into the mix that the club’s remaining away games are against Wigan, Southampton, Reading, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Fulham and it becomes increasingly clear that the vast majority of the team’s difficult away games this season are already out of the way and that a run, the sort required now to play themselves back into contention, is certainly possible.
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Under Rodgers’ guidance, the club do still look dangerously fragile at the back to the counter and any sort of physical battle, while the lack of leadership on show at times will have to be seriously addressed in the summer, but in a campaign where being the tallest dwarf might be just enough to tip them over the line, even with a sizeable point gap to overcome, they are worthy of consideration.
It’s difficult to ever truly tell when this Liverpool side has turned a corner and just when it looks as if they are starting to put a run together, they deliver a performance and result like the one against Aston Villa, or West Brom just last week, but with a kind fixture list between now and their last game at home to QPR on May the 19th, they at least stand a chance still of validating their undoubted progress in recent months.
Newcastle fans are having the time of their lives this Easter, as Alan Pardew became the latest Premier League manager to lose his job.
Things probably didn’t feel like they could get any better for Newcastle fans last summer, as they got promoted as champions while arch-rivals Sunderland went down the other way.
After a difficult season, things are now looking even better for the Magpies though, as back to back wins against relegation rivals has moved Rafa Benitez’s side into 12th, seven points clear of the bottom three.
As if escaping relegation trouble and beating Manchester United in the space of a month wasn’t enough to lift spirits on Tyneside, West Brom have today announced that Alan Pardew is leaving the club by mutual consent.
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This may seem relatively insignificant to fans outside of Newcastle, but the Toon Army are celebrating the news like they’ve just beaten another relegation rival.
Pardew managed the Magpies from 2010 to 2014, and earned plenty of animosity from fans for his awful management and multiple conflicts and controversies.
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West Brom are currently bottom of the league, ten points adrift of safety, and Newcastle fans are absolutely loving Pardew’s downfall.
Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…
With Winston Reid’s future still in the balance, West Ham may be looking to strengthen the centre their defence this month. Although the centre-back position is a priority, there is little money available for big transfers this month.
Instead Allardyce believes that loan signings are the only possibility for recruitment this January due to the financial fair play regulations: “There is limited finance for us, as I have said before, on the financial fair play side of it.
“So anybody coming in on a permanent basis wouldn’t be possible for us, I don’t think, based on the budgets that we have got available.
“Maybe a loan player or two, but not a permanent deal.”
West Ham will be looking to grab a bargain in the winter window in order to provide further depth to a squad that has just three senior centre-backs. The addition of Canadian defender Doniel Henry this month is a signing for the future but Allardyce knows that he needs to sign a player that can immediately settle into the first team in order to provide competition for Winston Reid, James Tomkins and James Collins.
Here are FIVE budget centre-backs West Ham should sign this January…
Azubuike Egwuekwe
Football – Scotland v Nigeria – International Friendly – Craven Cottage, London, England – 28/5/14Nigeria’s Azubuike Egwuekwe Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Matthew ChildsEDITORIAL USE ONLY.
Recent reports suggest that West Ham have taken the Nigerian international on trial with a view to signing the centre back permanently. The 25-year-old has 33 caps for his country but is yet to play club football outside of Nigeria.
The Warri Wolves defender has talent but the leap from Nigerian football to the Premier League could be a problem. A bid of around £1 million should be enough to sign the defender and the fee would not break the financial fair play constrictions that West Ham have to adhere to.
Efe Ambrose
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Another Nigerian defender, Efe Ambrose has become a regular starter at Celtic alongside the impressive Virgil van Dijk. He has 46 senior caps for his country and can play in both the centre-back and right-back positions of defence, something that will appeal to Allardyce.
He could be available for around £3 million which means West Ham may have to sell to buy. The defender has been strongly linked with a switch to the Premier League for a number of transfer windows and could be the cheap but effective option that West Ham need.
Nicolas N’Koulou
The Marseille defender has enjoyed an excellent season so far with Marseille as the French club currently sit 2nd in the league. The 24-year-old’s contract runs out at the end of the season and there is no sign of the Cameroonian committing himself to a new deal.
Therefore, Allardyce may choose to wait until the summer to snap up the talented centre-back. N’Koulou is understood to be good friends with Alex Song so a potential deal for the defender could persuade Song to join West Ham in the long run as well.
Lewis Dunk
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Dunk has enjoyed a fine season with Brighton so far, often being the only shining light in a defence that has struggled this season. The 22-year-old has been linked with a number of Premier League clubs and West Ham feel that he could be the ideal Winston Reid replacement if the new Zealander decides to leave.
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A bid in the region of £5 million would be an attractive proposition for the Championship side but again, it’s a case of one out, one in at West Ham if they wanted to pay the fee and sign Dunk.
Dan Burn
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Another young Championship defender that has impressed this term, Fulham centre-back Dan Burn has been attracting interest from the Premier League this window. Standing at 6’7, the defender would fit the bill for Allardyce, as Burn is a threat from set pieces as well as being a commanding figure in the heart of defence.
Similarly to Dunk, a bid of around £4 million could see the young Englishman leave Craven Cottage this month.
With the news that Arsenal’s Theo Walcott has finally signed ended his ongoing contract saga and signed a new three-and-a-half year deal, you would have thought such news would finally dampen the endless scaremongering and gloomy analysis cast towards the Gunners’ future prospects.
With the club now adding Walcott to the British quintet of Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey, Carl Jenkinson at Kieran Gibbs whose future’s have also been tied down during the course of this term, it would appear that the club looked to have finally learned from the mistakes made in recent history.
Yet in awarding Theo Walcott terms thought to be worth around £100,000 all in over a three-and-a-half year contract, all the Gunners may have done is simply ensured that the status quo of their current Premier League position resumes for a longer period of time. Because while they can’t control the extrinsic factors that inflate the wages top clubs are handing out to players in this league, they’ve played their own part in having to shell out the six-figure sum that Walcott is now earning at the club.
And let’s be under no illusions, regardless of the impact supporters feel he may or may not wield in Arsene Wenger’s side, there’s simply no way he should be earning the money that he’s now set to receive. For all his recent good form – which as proven within recent games, still continues to be patchy – would Walcott likely get a look in within the first XI of Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea?
The answer has to be an emphatic no for both Manchester clubs and even if he could creep into Rafael Benitez’s line-up at the moment, Arsenal are paying Walcott the sort of pay packet worthy of a title-winning player. So if the club have genuine designs at heading back to where their supporters believe they belong and challenging for Premier League titles, then they’ve just shot themselves straight in the foot.
Because say for argument’s sake they were to now pursue the signature of Napoli’s Edinson Cavani, a player whom many would regard to be within the ranks of Europe’s elite frontmen and certainly the type of player that could make a difference in hauling them back into title-winning contention. The Uruguayan is thought to be earning within the region of £75,000-a-week at the Stadio San Paolo – ironically the same amount of money Walcott originally rejected during his first round of contract talks.
Yet by backing Walcott with the sort of money they’re now currently paying him, Arsenal have set the bar a hell of a lot higher for themselves in terms of paying the wages for the quality they need to bridge the gap back to the two Manchester clubs. Would Cavani have ‘settled’ on a hypothetical pay packet of £120,000-a-week? Who knows, but he’s only going to have to take one look at what Walcott’s earning to demand a fair chunk more than that.
But should we really be all that surprised by the contract handed out to Theo Walcott? Because in truth, Arsenal had set the wheels in motion for rewarding players with contracts far beyond their actual worth long before Walcott’s wage demands reared their ugly head.
When Arsenal parted with £6.2million for Andre Santos back in 2011, few would have necessarily foreseen how bad that move was to eventually amount to, but equally few were in any doubt of the role he was set to play in the team; a squad player, capable of playing his part in all competitions, but nothing nearing a first-team banker.
Yet why did they agree to pay a potential squad player the wages equivalent to what an established first-teamer earned at the Emirates? Paying a 28-year old left-back whose best spell in Europe amounted to a couple of modest seasons in the Turkish Super League near on £60,000-a-week all inclusive, was an accident waiting to happen.
It was a horridly short-sighted decision that gave little thought for those, including Walcott, looking to earn their next contract. But when the England-man had substantially proved his worth last season, in relation to the other contracts being handed out at the Emirates, valuing Walcott’s worth to the team at barely 25% more than Andre Santos’ was never going to be enough. The money being handed out to Marouane Chamkah and Andrei Arshavin amongst others only adds to the trend.
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Yet they’re still not getting the balance right. In a desperate effort to prevent any repeats of the fiasco that Walcott recently brought to the club, Arsenal hastily tied down their aforementioned quintet of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain et al on long-term deals. But for all his injury troubles, has Aaron Ramsey really earned a £60,000-a-week deal? Likewise, for all the progression Oxlade-Chamberlain has made, he was already under a long-term deal with no desire to leave. He made big strides last term, but did they need to hand him out better terms after just 12 months? Or is it just a further adjustment to an already skewed wage bill?
For the last available published accounts, the Gunners possessed a wage bill £33million more expensive than Tottenham Hotspur’s. Yet over the last two season’s, the gap between themselves and their North London rivals has in fact shrunk, rather than increased. The continuous flow of Champions League football has been the overwhelming fuel behind that disparity. Their failure to manage it properly may well be driving force behind what brings it back down again.
Aston Villa midfielder Conor Hourihane represented Republic of Ireland for the fifth time on Friday night as he played 68 minutes of his nation’s 1-0 defeat to Turkey.
The 27-year-old had to wait until March 2017 to make his first appearance for Republic of Ireland, but he is now very much in the plans of head coach Martin O’Neill.
Hourihane joined Villa from Barnsley in January 2017, and the midfielder scored just once in 17 Championship appearances in the second half of the 2017-18 campaign.
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The Irishman has been brilliant for Villa this season, however, managing nine goals and two assists in 35 league matches to help fire Steve Bruce’s side up the table.
There is no question that Hourihane, who is valued at £3.6m by transfermarkt.co.uk, is key to Villa’s hopes of securing a return to the Premier League this season.
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Following another international appearance, the Villa supporters took to social media to reveal their love for the midfielder, and a selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
In a season of odd results and inconsistency, West Ham have been one of the Premier League’s most impressive sides.
An excellent summer has changed the mood in east London, where the calls for Sam Allardyce to be axed were strong, with the top four seen as a ever more realistic aim.
So, have the Hammers got genuine reason to dream? Maybe, and here are FIVE reasons why…
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CLICK ON SAM ALLARDYCE TO REVEAL THE FIVE
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Options…
From relying on Carlton Cole for a large slice of last season, West Ham now have multiple options to slot in and out of the forward line. Andy Carroll’s return from injury has been a prime example, with top scorer Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia’s roles now under threat long-term. Such depth means competition for a role is high, which should, in theory, keep everyone at the peak of their powers, and allow Allardyce to rotate his options over the festive period – which is typically the section of the season so called weaker teams fall away.
It’s not just ‘up top’ that ‘Big Sam’ has decisions to make, with some wise summer purchases now presenting a wealth of choices in midfield and defence.
Rivals all stumbling
The weekend’s results could not have been much better for the Irons. The majority of their rivals slipped up, allowing the Londoners to boost their top four credentials. Swansea, also in the upper reaches of the division, presented a potential ‘six pointer’, which West Ham came through unscathed. Manchester United vs. Southampton is a game worth keeping an eye on, but if the Londoners’ luck is really in, a draw will further increase the ‘what if?’ calls at Upton Park.
Alex Song
In Song, West Ham have a genuine midfield dictator. The Cameroonian was a real coup for the Hammers over the summer as they secured a somewhat surprise loan deal for the Barcelona ace, which now looks to be one of the best bits of business during the window. Although he has no direct assists to his name in Premier League action, Song has contributed hugely to West Ham’s forward play, with his pass success rate hovering around 80%.
The ‘Big Sam’ factor
Love or hate Allardyce, the man knows how to get results in the Premier League. Last season may be one to forget, but the former Bolton man has proven himself in the lower end of the division, and may now have the squad to make a real push for the upper echelons.
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Experience is an underrated trait, and it could be a vital one while other sides are stumbling.
Fortress Upton Park
16 points from eight games at Upton Park is a decent record. Only two sides –Spurs and Southampton – have come away from east London with maximum points, making the Hammers’ home ground somewhat a fortress nowadays. Maintaining such a record could be the bedrock of a top four push, with West Ham’s away form also respectable.
To say that Everton find themselves in unfamiliar territory at this stage of the season would be an understatement to say the least. The Toffees are perennial slow starters but have hit a rich vein of form in the first half of the campaign. A six match unbeaten run sees David Moyes’ men currently occupying fifth in the Premier League table and garnering genuine hope of Champions League qualification.
In stark contrast to their Boxing Day hosts Wigan find themselves struggling at the wrong end of the top-flight ladder and will hope to start their fight for survival with a win against Everton despite a seven year barren spell in the blue half of Merseyside. Roberto Martinez hasn’t seen his team record a victory since they beat Reading in November and that five game winless streak has seen them drop into the bottom three.
Team News
Marouane Fellaini serves the second game of this three match ban but Everton will have Darron Gibson available after they successfully appealed the red card he received in Saturday’s win at West Ham.
Wigan are suffering a defensive crisis with Antolin Alcaraz, Adrian Lopez and Ivan Ramis all definitely out, whilst James McCarthy is touch and go. However, they could have captain Gary Caldwell back after three games out.
What the managers said…
“It’s a shame we aren’t talking about how well Everton are playing at the moment. We decided to go 4-4-2 with the two boys up front and what we have done is won in another fashion. I have learnt you can’t just have one way of playing in the Premier League. As the season goes on, injuries and suspensions take their toll. And I think it was a good lift for us as well to win without Marouane in the team.” David Moyes on Everton’s win at West Ham (Liverpool Daily Post)
“It will be our second game against Everton and in the first one, it was the best Everton side we have faced. This Everton side tick every box. They have been able to get consistently good results in this league and that allows you to be fighting for the top four positions. At Goodison Park they are unbeaten and it is one of the hardest places to visit in the Premier League. We are well aware of all that, but we feel we can match Everton on our day.” Roberto Martinez feels Wigan can earn a favourable result (Yahoo Eurosport)
Pre-match statistic
Everton are unbeaten in their last 12 games at Goodison Park, winning eight and drawing four. Wigan haven’t tasted victory in this fixture in each of the last eight meetings
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Prediction: Everton 3-0 Wigan
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