Steel yourself for the weekend’s top-flight action with our 10-part guide:
Sticking with Wolves, this is a nice read from Ben Fisher, who sat down with their goalkeeping coach, Tony Roberts. The former QPR and Dagenham & Redbridge keeper is also part of the Wales setup, and dreaming of World Cup qualification.
“I was involved in the Wales team when we nearly got there, USA 94. We missed out when [Paul] Bodin hit the crossbar against Romania. I bawled my eyes out that night and to get there now, I think I’d be crying at 52 years old.”
Bruno Lage has been chatting to reporters this morning, and the Wolves manager thinks it’s time for his side to push for Europe. “I never used to talk about it … but now we have five games in 20 days,” Lage said. “I challenge them now, the final curve, the last 100m, we see the finish line in front of us, we need to go and fight for sixth and seventh position, and play European football.”
It feels like Wolves have been knocking on the door for several months now, only to get beaten somewhere like Turf Moor just as the top six/seven are in reach. They host Brighton tomorrow, with their final home game against Norwich. The trouble is, their other games are against Chelsea (A), Man City (H) and Liverpool (A). Still, they’re a match for anyone on their day, as the saying goes.
More on the news that Channel 4 will show England men’s matches free-to-air until 2024.
Newcastle entertain Liverpool in an entirely appetising Saturday lunchtime kick-off. Eddie Howe has revealed that Callum Wilson and Kieran Trippier are almost ready to return, but not in time for tomorrow’s game.
“We definitely won’t rush them back. We won’t put them at risk but if they’re fit we’ll use them like any other player. I think that’s important. Kieran, we’ve seen on the grass and he’s trained with us for one session. Callum isn’t quite there yet but he’s edging closer and is doing a lot of work with the sports science team.”
Newcastle announced on Friday that defender Fabian Schär has signed a new two-year deal. “I really like him as a player,” Howe said. He’s performed very, very well. He had a long spell out of the team and to come back into the team initially was quite difficult for him, but he’s picked up his rhythm and his form.
“I think everyone knows Fab is technically a very, very good footballer. The big thing he’s proved is he can defend very, very effectively within the team structure that we’ve given him.”
Salah and Kerr win FWA awards
Some more news – the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) has named Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah their men’s footballer of the year for the second time, with Chelsea forward Sam Kerr winning the women’s award.
Salah won 48% of the vote, with Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne in second and West Ham’s Declan Rice in third. Kerr was similarly dominant, picking up 40% of votes, to finish ahead of Arsenal striker Vivianne Miedema and City’s Lauren Hemp.
Channel 4 to show England men’s matches live
Some interesting early news, with Channel 4 announcing it has acquired the rights to broadcast the England men’s team’s matches in the Nations League, plus Euro 2024 qualifiers and friendlies. In total, Channel 4 will broadcast 20 live England matches between 2022 to 2024, all on free-to-air TV.
The Nations League campaign features four matches in June – two against Hungary, a trip to Germany, and Italy at Molineux – before the return fixtures with Italy and Germany in September. The Euro qualifiers will kick off in 2023, with the draw being made in October.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to a long weekend of football, with crunch clashes everywhere you turn. For Liverpool and Manchester City, every game is big – but Saturday’s assignments, at the cathedrals of St James’s Park and Elland Road respectively, are likely to turn up the title race tension even further.
Elsewhere, Dean Smith takes Norwich to Villa Park, knowing that defeat could return the Canaries to the Championship if Burnley get a result at Watford. That would also be bad news for Frank Lampard, who desperately needs something from his former employers when Chelsea visit Goodison on Sunday. In the top-four race, Arsenal face yet another test of their mettle at West Ham, while Spurs look to end their own stumble against Leicester.
Beyond the Premier League, we could see Real Madrid win La Liga on Saturday, and Celtic all but regain the Scottish title in Sunday’s Old Firm derby. League One comes to a close, the race for promotion spots and playoff berths up and down the pyramid coming down to the wire. Chelsea and Arsenal continue their nip and tuck WSL title fight, and the Women’s Champions League finalists will be set.
We’ll have team news, previews and plenty more besides, so let’s put on our classics and we’ll have a little dance, shall we?