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Here’s Jürgen Klopp on the clear and present danger of Erling Haaland.
Klopp praises ‘world’s best striker’ Haaland ahead of Liverpool-Manchester City – video
This is all from Hasenhüttl and, incidentally, from me. John Brewin has returned from a delicious lunch and will guide you through the rest of the afternoon.
Hasenhüttl is not worried about his future
In what is becoming an alarmingly common occurrence, the Southampton manager is being asked if he fears losing his job. “I haven’t really had a minute to think about it,” he says curtly.
“That’s not the way I plan my week. While I’m here, I’m doing everything I can to make us successful. It takes so much energy that there’s no energy left to think about this question. For me, the only goal is to see my team working hard and knowing that at the weekend we have a very important game for this club, the fans. It’s not about me, it’s about getting points and getting in a better position in the table. I think since I’ve been here we have not been below [relegation] line, so we have to win on Sunday or we could be below that line.”
Updated at 14.04 BST
With Manchester United set to host Newcastle on Sunday, Erik ten Hag has given an upbeat assessment of his side’s attacking capabilities. Here’s Jamie Jackson on bass.
Looks like bad news for Reece James. Jacob Steinberg has the latest knee injury, which is worse than first thought and could keep him out of the World Cup.
More injury news. Hasenhüttl has suggested Roméo Lavia, Southampton’s £12m summer signing from Manchester City, is close to recovering from the hamstring problem that has kept him out since September. Moussa Djenepo has been sidelined through illness, but Tino Livramento is still working his way back from knee surgery.
“For us we only have Moussa with illness. He was not at training all week. The rest of the team, apart from Roméo, who will possibly start early next week with the team, and Tino, [who] it will still need a little more, the rest is in condition.”
With West Ham on a four-match winning streak in all competitions following a 2-1 win against Anderlecht in midweek, Hasenhüttl knows Southampton will have to be at their best on Sunday. “The Premier League is the most difficult league and even if you perform well, you might not win games,” he says.
“Against Wolves and Everton it was possible to do more than a good performance, but it wasn’t enough.”
This is all about Guardiola. Towards Ralph Hasenhüttl. Asked about Southampton’s worrying four-game losing streak, he says: “This is a Premier League situation for us, as it has been for the last four years since I’ve been here. The margins to win a game … bring the last game against Everton, 1-0 up and conceding two goals in five minutes, you have to put those margins on your side to succeed again.
“We have experienced difficult times but also times in which we have changed things. We have been part of the Premier League for over 10 years, of course the fans want to see further up the table and that is our aim.”
Ralph Hasenhüttl has reason to worry at the moment. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
And now some injury news. Guardiola confirms that Kalvin Phillips, John Stones and Kyle Walker will miss the trip to Anfield, saying: “John I think will be back, I don’t know when, but maybe a week, 10 days. Kalvin is improving and improving a lot. Kyle is still out.”
Asked if they will be fit in time to feature for England at the World Cup, he says: “I don’t know.”
Guardiola “doesn’t think” about contract talks
When asked if there has been any progress in extending his contract, which expires at the end of the season, Guardiola dismisses the question with air. “You know I’m not giving it a second thought.
“We have two or three weeks before the World Cup and this is an important moment. After that, we have plenty of time to talk about it.”
Updated at 13.04 BST
It’s press conference time for Pep Guardiola, who insists Manchester City’s next visit to Anfield will be a tricky challenge despite Liverpool’s drop to 10th in the Premier League. “It’s always difficult in the years we’ve come here together, it’s going to be a tough game and I don’t expect anything more. The game will be dictated on the pitch, not on the table, because we are ahead of them, or behind, not for that kind of thing.
“I know the quality they have, they know the quality we have. If it was with three days to play, I’d say they couldn’t get first place in the league, but with that much time to play plus a World Cup, anything can happen.”
Ahead of West Ham’s trip to Southampton on Sunday, David Moyes has reflected on Jarrod Bowen’s chances of being On The Plane™ in Qatar. “He’s a really good guy to work with. He wants to listen and watch his clips and watch his runs. He wants to see where he can improve. He’s a very diligent guy to try to improve his game.
“I told him that if he scores five or six goals in the World Cup, he will have a chance to go to the World Cup. He already has a pair, so he has a chance. We hope it can continue like this.”
David Moyes chats with Jarrod Bowen in training. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/Reuters
Will Magee here. You fell for me again. Look, I’m just as upset about this as you are, okay? Here’s Ben Fisher’s interview with Wout Faes, Leicester’s only summer signing, to get you started.
Okay, lunchtime calls and so the next installment of breaking news will come from Will Magee.
Potentially a big story here, far beyond the world of football, albeit a reminder of how football has become entwined with geopolitics.
The Premier League has been asked to confirm whether it has investigated the billionaire owner of Manchester City Football Club under its “fit and proper” owner test, over allegations he helped Russian oligarchs avoid Western sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, has been accused in media reports of helping to allow wealthy Russians to evade the sanctions by moving their assets, including superyachts. and private jets, in the Emirates.
More from Newcastle’s Dan Ashworth, this time in the realm of women’s football.
They have already gone from a team where players had to pay to play last year to being professionalised. We will do everything we can to support them to reach the WSL as soon as possible.
In the WSL itself this weekend, all eyes are on Chelsea, where Emma Hayes has taken her leave. His assistants Denise Reddy and Paul Green will take over the team in his absence. Chelsea’s next game is at Everton on Sunday. They begin their Champions League campaign at Paris Saint-Germain the following Thursday.
Some meat on the bones of that SENSATIONAL Nuno returns to Ben Fisher’s Wolves.
Nuno signed a two-year contract with Al-Ittihad in July and his lucrative contract with the Saudi Arabian club could prove prohibitive, with compensation likely to be required. But Nuno’s agent Jorge Mendes, who also represents Lopetegui, has huge influence at Molineux and could facilitate talks.
Wolves have also spoken to their former under-23s boss Rob Edwards, who was recently sacked by Watford after 11 games. Edwards, a former Wolves defender, is highly regarded by the club’s hierarchy.
Newcastle corner, courtesy of a BBC interview with sporting director Dan Ashcroft Ashworth, and some decent quotes from the former West Brom, England and Brighton agent.
On the big transfer spend: “You can’t keep doing this every year. You just can’t, so we have to look at some emerging talent, improve our academy and get players through a different route.”
On selling to buy: “I can’t lie to you and say we will never have to sell a player, we could always hold on to our best talent. This doesn’t happen anywhere. Liverpool sold Mane – sometimes you have to make a pragmatic decision to say, ‘OK, we’ll do it because it’s a way of reinvesting in the club.’ But as a general rule, I’d like to think we’ll be able to keep our best talent to drive our ambitions to move up the league and compete for cups.”
Meanwhile, for their game at Old Trafford, Newcastle will be without Alexander Isak, who is due back soon, and Emil Krafth, who has a long-term injury.
Blackpool’s Jake Daniels and Australian Josh Cavallo of Adelaide United are the current highest-profile men’s players to come out. Asked why they hadn’t followed more, Lineker said: “Fear. Fear of the unknown, I imagine. Maybe they’re worried about what their peers think, although they probably already know that. It seems crazy that even everything must be one thing.
Updated at 10.57 BST
Klopp distrusts ‘world’s best striker’
Some Jürgen Klopp, before Sunday, in the first place about the concession of the first goals of his team.
Those things can happen if you lose the ball at the wrong time,” he says of Liverpool’s habit of cutting in first. Obviously, when you play someone at the moment who is the best striker in the world you have to make sure you don’t get as many balls. That’s what we’re going to try, but obviously against City the problem is that if you close Haaland with too many players, it opens up gaps for the rest of the world-class players. So that’s not going to make life easier, it’s a challenge, it is a football problem and we will try to find a solution.
And on City’s attacking talent, including you know who.
when [Haaland] he was very young, you could see the potential, it was crazy. I don’t think he started against us in a home game, I think he got injured…