1. Guardiola dismisses speculation over City future
Pep Guardiola has insisted there are “no discussions – end of the subject” over him leaving Manchester City and the head coach wants to see out his contract. The 54-year-old’s deal runs until June 2027 but reports on Thursday suggested City were making contingency plans should he quit at the end of this season. After winning 18 major trophies at City, Guardiola says he is motivated by more than success.
City would go top of the table for a few hours at least if they defeat 18th-placed West Ham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday to show the progress the team has made since last season’s struggles.
“There are no discussions – end of the subject,” Guardiola said. “I will not be eternally here, but I’ve said before I will not be here for ever. None of us will be for ever in this world but there are no discussions. What is going to happen will happen and the club has to be prepared for everything – for the players and the CEOs, except the owners.
“The last three or four years every time during a certain period someone asks me that question. Sooner or later, when I’m 75 or 76, I will quit Manchester City. I understand the question when I have the end of a contract [coming] but I have 18 months left and I am so delighted, happy and excited about the development of the team and being there. That is all I can say. That question happens every single season at a certain point and I’m OK. The club and I are incredibly connected in terms of the decisions we have to take and when it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen.”
Guardiola extended his stay in Manchester by signing a new contract last November when he only had seven months remaining. “I’m happy here,” Guardiola said. “I want to stay here. What can I say? When the club and myself have results, always results decide. When it is the chapter the club will choose the best one to continue this incredible period in Man City. There have been rumours for the last years, many many times. I want to stay here. At the end of the season, we’ll see.”
City beat Brentford in midweek to reach the Carabao Cup semi-finals and the team is on course to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League. With City active in four competitions, Guardiola will be confident of adding to his haul of silverware. “Always I need to be challenged. Enthusiasm is for many other reasons, apart from the titles, I fight for the titles. At the end, the titles, I would say it’s done.” Guardiola said.
“Of course I want to win the Premier League and the Champions League but that is not the reason why I wake up in the morning. It’s not. It’s the process, the journey. Do it better. With the trophy raised high and a parade, we’re happy. Well done Pep. Two days later, it’s ‘what’s next?’ It is the process to see the team move along.” Will Unwin
2. Wolves chief Shi steps down amid struggles
The under-fire Wolves executive chair, Jeff Shi, has stepped down from his role. The 48-year-old has come in for criticism from supporters, with the club languishing bottom of the Premier League without a win all season.
Wolves say he will remain chairman and chief executive of the Fosun Sports Group, but will have no operational duties with the club. He has been replaced for an interim period by Nathan Shi, who has been with Fosun since 2016.
In a statement on the club’s website, Jeff Shi said: “I took the keys to this chair with humility; today, I step aside with a heart full of gratitude. My seat may change, but my heart will still roar for this club every single game. I give my full support to the new management team and wish them every success in driving Wolves to even greater heights.”
3. Slot: Liverpool have ‘moved on’ from Salah fallout
Arne Slot feels Liverpool have “moved on” from the Mohamed Salah controversy and hopes the player’s Africa Cup of Nations involvement takes further heat out of the situation. Salah sparked crisis at the club with an explosive interview a fortnight ago in which he, among other things, claimed he had been made a scapegoat for a poor run of form.
He was consequently dropped for a Champions League game at Inter but, after talks with the manager, returned as a substitute in last week’s Premier League victory over Brighton. The 33-year-old is now on international duty, for potentially up to another month, with Egypt.
Slot said: “As I said last week, actions speak louder than words and we moved on. He was in the squad and he was the first substitution I made. But now he is at the Afcon, playing big games for himself and the country, so I think it is fair to them, and also to us because we are going to play some important games, that all the focus is for him over there and there should not be any distraction from me saying things about his time at Liverpool.
“We have moved on after the Leeds interview and he played against Brighton. Now he is there, so it is fair for his country, and for him and us, to talk about Tottenham and other games.”
Liverpool will give a fitness test to Dominik Szoboszlai ahead of Saturday’s trip to Spurs after the Hungarian suffered an ankle injury late in the Brighton game. PA Media
4. Arteta backs Gyökeres to improve in 2026
Mikel Arteta has backed Viktor Gyökeres to improve in the second half of the season but admitted Arsenal need to build on their understanding with the £64m striker. Gyökeres hasn’t scored since returning from injury against Chelsea last month and has six goals in 18 appearances. Arteta is optimistic Kai Havertz will be back from a long-term knee injury in the new year, and Gabriel Jesus has returned after 11 months and should feature against Everton on Saturday.
Gyökeres is expected to retain his place having started ahead of the Brazilian and Mikel Merino in the last-gasp win over Wolves and Arteta believes the best is yet to come from the 27-year-old.
“We bought a player with an incredible goalscoring record that had to adapt to the league,” Arsenal’s manager said. “He had no pre-season. The first few weeks were difficult because physically he wasn’t in his best state. And he’s a player that needs that, like any other player in this league almost, to perform at that level.
“Then he kicked on. I think he had a really good period and got injured. And now he’s back. But I saw a lot of positive things in the last two games that he’s done. We need to continue to tweak and understand him a little bit better in certain situations. And he needs to do the same. But that’s about time. And we have full support for him.”
Asked whether expected Gyökeres to go to another level in the second half of the season, Arteta said: “I think so, yes.” Ed Aarons
5. Moyes claims West Ham undersold Rice
David Moyes believes West Ham were short-changed when they sold Declan Rice to Arsenal for £105m as the England international was worth £150m. Moyes faces his former West Ham captain when the Premier League leaders visit Everton on Saturday evening.
The pair remain in contact, as do Moyes and his former Everton captain Mikel Arteta, and the Scot’s view that Rice was sold cheaply in 2023 has strengthened over the course of the midfielder’s Arsenal career. Rice was the joint-most expensive British footballer of all-time when he left West Ham for £100m, plus £5m in add-ons, but his former manager believes Arsenal landed a bargain.
“I genuinely meant it at the time – I thought Declan was £150m,” said Moyes. “I thought we didn’t get enough at West Ham, I really didn’t. We had offered Declan huge contracts to stay but we couldn’t get him to stay. And we knew, so the club had to do what they had to do. I think it was £105m in the end but I always thought he was £150m at that time.”
Friday marked 12 months since The Friedkin Group was announced as Everton’s new owners and Moyes believes the company is satisfied with the progress made so far, although he insists there is more to be done.
The Everton manager explained: “I get the feeling we are in a pretty good place with them. They are happy and I think they are seeing progress around the club, around the team, obviously there’s the new stadium, so I think the pace is being set. I don’t think we are going to be a club that’s owned by a state and can keep spending so much, I think it will be done in a business way.
“We are getting in a better position but there are other things. We want to try and bring our academy back to life, and things like that are going to take much longer. We are seeing how the new stadium is coming along and there are probably a few things there. The first-team squad had 12 players coming out of contract so I knew we wouldn’t be able to fix that right away.
“You could say: ‘How many windows is that going to take?’ I don’t think you can put a number on it, you just have to accept that hopefully the new ownership are right behind us and are going to try and help us improve every chance we get. They’ve been pretty good.” Andy Hunter
6. Bournemouth blow as Adams is ruled out
Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams has been ruled out for at least two months after sustaining a medial collateral ligament injury in Monday’s 4-4 draw at Manchester United. Adams was forced off after just five minutes at Old Trafford and Andoni Iraola confirmed the extent of his injury before Saturday’s fixture against Burnley.
Iraola said: “From our previous experience with MCL injuries, it is normally around two or three months. It’s a big blow because he is an important player for us. Straight away, when you see the mechanism of the injury and the action itself, we felt it could be something serious.”
Bournemouth are boosted in other areas with Lewis Cook set to return after completing his three-match suspension, while Ryan Christie, who has been out since November with a knee injury, faces a late fitness test.
Meanwhile, Iraola insisted he is relaxed about Marcos Senesi’s future at the club after the defender’s failure to sign a new contract led to increased speculation that he is set to leave.
“The most important thing is he is playing very well,” said Iraola. “Both parties still have time regarding his contract situation – there are still seven months left. There is no doubt I want him to continue here.” PA Media