Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest off: weekend football countdown – as it happened | Football

That’s all for now. Thanks for your shin splints chat and musical offerings. Barry’s done the Fiver business again (though I’m now a little concerned for his safety). I’ll leave you with a nugget from him – and one from me. Stay warm, folks.

Who’s in? Who’s out? Fill your boots…

Antonio Conte has been purring about Pep Guardiola and the Man City boss has returned the Friday feels.

Conte served up a statement result with Chelsea against City in 2016 and could do with a big mood-lifter after scrutiny off the field and three straight league defeats on it.

“He show it in Juventus, and many things since his arrival,” Guardiola said of his next opponent in the dugout. “Always my first season here was tough, managers need time and investment to be there for a long time, especially in this country.

“I have incredible respect for when I watch his teams, I can learn something new and improve.”

Back in the Premier League, Ralf Rangnick played down reports of Maguire-Ronaldo tension earlier but he did toggle his filter back off to admit some “unhappy players” had affected the atmosphere in camp.

Rangnick did not dish the dirt further but said: “There were players unhappy, the squad was too big, players realised they wouldn’t get game time and the atmosphere is better than it used to be a couple of weeks ago. Now, for us it’s about performing well, showing togetherness on the pitch, winning games and those are the things we can influence.”

Man City v Tottenham: The build-up to this one has heavily focused on Antonio Conte’s candid thoughts about Spurs’ transfer dealings.

“They asked me about the club and if I’m happy,” Conte says of the Sky Italy grilling in question.

“I said the club did the best it can do. We lost four players, important players for Tottenham. These players we sent away on loan cost a lot of money. Numerically you could be a bit weaker. Then I said also with Kulusevski and Bentancur we are as a squad more complete.

“I don’t understand why someone wants to create a problem between me and also in the past. A lot of stories between the chairman and the club. He knows my thoughts. It’s not important for me to go to the media. I can speak to him.

“I always say that I’m enjoying my time at Tottenham and with the players. I’m always saying this.”

Hmm.

Leicester news: Ricardo Pereira has signed an contract extension that will keep him at the King Power until at least 2026. “I would say this is the natural thing to happen,” he says. “I’m happy here. I think the club is happy. It’s a win-win situation.”

Your correspondence: Peter Oh reckons West Ham should blast out a 1983 number from The Cure ahead of kick-off for the PR boost they and Kurt Zouma need.

Oh, Peter, the link’s broken! But I see what you did there.

This one shouldn’t be.

Brighton v Burnley: Brighton boss Graham Potter has been talking up Burnley’s chances of avoiding relegation ahead of his side’s appointment with the Clarets at the Amex Stadium tomorrow.

Burnley are bottom of the Premier League, seven points from safety and have not won a game since October. They do, however, have a game in hand against their rivals. After seeing Burnley hold Manchester United to a draw before being edged out 1-0 at home by Liverpool last weekend, Potter is not about to take their challenge lightly.

“This league is so competitive, you only need a few things to go wrong and you can find yourself in trouble,” he said. “But Sean Dyche is a vastly experienced manager who organises the team really well. They have a fantastic attitude all the time, are a together team and everyone knows what they are doing.

“The reality in the Premier League is that there are a lot of other good teams and it is hard to get points. If you draw a few games, miss the wins, maybe pick up a few injuries to key players or you fall behind in the fixture schedule, then you are playing catch-up a bit and it can be tough.

“But Burnley have got the experience, they have got the know-how. I don’t think they will be writing themselves off – and I am certainly not writing them off at all. I think they will get points between now and the end of the season – we just have to make sure it is not against us.”

Leeds United v Manchester United: Ahead of one of the weekend’s stand-out and more exciting, unpredictable fixtures, Marcelo Bielsa has refused to discuss his future at Elland Road. Rather bafflingly, some sections of the Leeds United support feel it might be time for a change of manager, despite the success and entertaining football the Argentinian has provided in his three-and-a-half years at the club.

Bielsa, who has been repeatedly hamstrung by a series of injuries to key players this season, tends not to sign deals of more than a season in duration at the end of each campaign and one suspects Leeds need him more than he needs them even if there are plenty of supporters (and neutrals) who would be devastated if he left.

Leeds are believed to be working on a succession plan in case Bielsa decides to take his business elsewhere and the American former RB Leipzig boss Jesse Marsch has been linked with the club.

“It’s not a subject that we should talk about at this moment,” said Bielsa, who went on to talk about what avoiding relegation would mean for the club this season. “It’s an obligation and the injuries don’t justify the season that we’re having.”

Bielsea said Stuart Dallas, who has been sidelined with injury, could be fit to play some part against Manchester Un ited but added that Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips will not be avaialable until March. “Dallas is recovering,” he said. “He hasn’t been discarded from Sunday’s game. Kalvin and Cooper are continuing their normal processes. The objective is that they get to March and are available. The medical calculation was 12 weeks and that hasn’t changed.”

Patrick Bamford and Leo Hjelde remain out indefinitely with respective foot and knee injuries.

More correspondence: My thanks to Jon who has written in to point out that I somehow managed to omit Aston Villa’s game against Watford from my original list of top flight weekend fixtures … a state of affairs that has now been rectified. It’s just another example of the outrageously blatant anti-Watford and Villa bias for which the mainstream media has long been renowned.

Some correspondence: “Please can we have more pics of weather Barry?” asks Dean Kinsella. “I tried to snap a shot of the wind here in the west of Ireland yesterday but it didn’t come out very well. We’ve been having so much weather lately. Oh, and I support Charlton Athletic.”

Liverpool v Norwich City: Four points from safety having played one game more than Newcastle in 17th place, Norwich City face a difficult trip to Anfield tomorrow to take on Liverpool. Their manager Dean Smith is not under-estimating the task that lies ahead of his players.

“Our mindset is going to be a really important part of it. We have to try to out-think Liverpool where we can. I saw them during the week and it is amazing what Jurgen has done at Liverpool in the time he has been there, it is something like 50 Champions League wins alone now.

“So, yes we are coming up against a grandmaster and I am really looking forward to it. We have had some good battles against him before, but obviously I was at a different club at the time, so it would be my first with Norwich.

“We will have two in the space of two weeks [including an FA Cup tie], so we have to come up with some tricks where we can. We certainly have to limit our mistakes, that is the biggest thing.”

Norwich will be without Republic of Ireland striker Adam Idah, who is expected to miss the rest of the season following knee surgery. Idah, 21, picked up knee and ankle problems during the draw against Crystal Palace. Following initial tests, it was determined an operation was needed.

West Ham v Newcastle: Newcastle fans making the long journey from Tyneside to that there Big London via rail for their lunchtime kick-off against West Ham tomorrow are advised to check their train timetables. Lots of trains appear to be being cancelled, presumably for weather-related reasons.

Tottenham Hotspur’s plans to get to Manchester today for their game against Manchester City tomorrow evening also appear to be have been disrupted although there is no suggestion the game will be postponed.

One suspects these won’t be the only teams whose players and supporters will be inconvenienced by Storm Eunice and we’ll bring you more news of any disruptions as we get it.

Newcastle United: Marquee January signing Kieran Trippier has undergone surgery to repair his fractured metatarsal and is now facing a battle to be fit before the end of the season.

The 31-year-old England defender, brought in from Atletico Madrid for £12m, broke a bone in his left foot after scoring the only goal in last weekend’s Premier League win over Aston Villa, Newcastle’s third in succession since his arrival.

“He had his operation yesterday and that went well, so that was good news,” said Eddie Howe. “I don’t know at this moment in time how long he’s going to be out. We hope to have him back before the end of the season, but it’s obviously a significant injury, which is a big blow to us because he was performing so well.

Pressed on whether or not Trippier might return before the end of the current campaign, Howe was non-committal. “In terms of a definitive time, no,” he said. “We’re going to have to see how his early rehab goes. As I said, the operation was a success, but it’s an opportunity now for someone else to step up in his place.

“But sadly, we’re going to miss his leadership skills on the pitch and everything that he was delivering for us. He’s scored two goals in the last two games which have been defining moments for us, but we’re confident we have enough quality in the squad to cover.”

Women’s football: England, Spain, Canada and Germany are the participants in the inaugural Arnold Clark Cup round-robin and the first two matches were played at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium last night.

Germany and Spain drew 1-1 in the curtain-raiser, before England were pegged back by Canada in the second game, which finished with the same scoreline. Millie Bright opened the scoring for England with a sensational hook over her own shoulder to give them a half-time lead, but Canada equalised through Janine Beckie.

England’s next game is against Spain at Carrow Road in Norwich on Sunday and kicks off at 3.15pm. In the meantime, here is Louise Taylor’s report from the Riverside last night …

With another busy weekend of football very much ahoy, assorted top flight managers get to participate in arguably their favourite part of the job today by facing barrages of interrogatory projectiles from the ladies and gentlemen of the press.

It promises to be a busy Friday so we’ll bring you news of their musings and cover all the other major talking points on a day in which Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has already said “now is not the time to talk about his future” and Manchester United skipper Harry Maguire has felt compelled to deny media reports that he has fallen out with Cristiano Ronaldo”.

Hmmm.