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Premier League fixtures this week

Saturday, October 5



Crystal Palace v Liverpool, 12:30 – LIVE on talkSPORTArsenal v Southampton, 3pm – LIVE on talkSPORT 2Brentford v Wolves, 3pmLeicester v Bournemouth, 3pmMan City v Fulham, 3pmWest Ham v Ipswich, 3pmEverton v Newcastle, 5:30pm

Sunday, October 6

Aston Villa v Manchester United, 2pmChelsea v Nottingham Forest, 2pmBrighton v Spurs, 4:30pm

2nd Oct 2024, 19:11By Jake Lambourne

Enzo Maresca has stood by his decision to axe Ben Chilwell from Chelsea's Conference League squad - insisting he has no regrets.

The Blues boss has shown his ruthless side since replacing Mauricio Pochettino in the Stamford Bridge dugout in the summer by freezing out a number of players.

It resulted in Conor Gallagher, Romelu Lukaku, Raheem Sterling, Trevoh Chalobah, Armando Broja and Kepa Arrizabalaga all being shipped out.

But Chilwell remained on the club's books following the summer transfer window - despite being offered to Chelsea's Premier League rivals.

And he was one of many high-profile stars in the Chelsea dressing room to be left out of the League stage of their Conference League squad.

Despite being included in their Premier League squad, he has failed to even make the bench in any of their opening six top-flight matches.

Ahead of the club's Conference League opener against Belgian outfit Gent on Thursday night, Maresca was asked whether he has any regrets over his decision to omit him from their squad list.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, he simply stated: "No.

I don't think so."

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2nd Oct 2024, 18:42By Jake Lambourne

Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven has unsurprisingly been clocked as the fastest Premier League player this season.

After a marauding run set up Brennan Johnson's opener away at Manchester United on Sunday, he then sprinted back before half-time to tackle Alejandro Garnacho.

It saw him reach a staggering 37.12 km/h in the process.

Not only was this the fastest any Premier League player has run so far this term, it was also the fourth highest speed recorded since data began being collected from the 2020/21 campaign.

Incredibly, Van de Ven is responsible for three of the four top speeds recorded during this time, with his 37.38 km/h against Brentford last season topping the charts.

Along with Van de Ven, Erling Haaland, Gabriel Martinelli and Anthony Elanga are all in the top ten quickest players so far from this season.

Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven has unsurprisingly been clocked as the fastest Premier League player this season.

After a marauding run set up Brennan Johnson’s opener away at Manchester United on Sunday, he then sprinted back before half-time to tackle Alejandro Garnacho.

It saw him reach a staggering 37.12 km/h in the process.

Not only was this the fastest any Premier League player has run so far this term, it was also the fourth highest speed recorded since data began being collected from the 2020/21 campaign.

Incredibly, Van de Ven is responsible for three of the four top speeds recorded during this time, with his 37.38 km/h against Brentford last season topping the charts.

Along with Van de Ven, Erling Haaland, Gabriel Martinelli and Anthony Elanga are all in the top ten quickest players so far from this season.

Top 10 fastest Premier League players this season (km/h)Micky van de Ven – Tottenham – 37.12.

I have to find out but, of course, when a player is coming off before half-time already, then there are some concerns."

But those concerns appear to have been allayed with Mainoo pictured in a training session today.

Mainoo will likely be rested for tomorrow's Europa League clash with Porto but looks set to be fit for Sunday's Premier League trip to Aston Villa.

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2nd Oct 2024, 10:57By Marc Williams

Bukayo Saka is convinced this will be the season that Arsenal beat Manchester City to the Premier League title.

Saka, 23, made the claim following Arsenal's impressive 2-0 Champions League win against Paris St Germain at the Emirates.

The statement win, against a side which reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season, came three days after a stoppage-time victory over Leicester which took Arsenal level on points with rivals' City.

Arsenal have finished runners-up to Pep Guardiola's side for the past two seasons, but when asked if the Gunners are ready to deliver their first league title since 2004, Saka replied: "I don't want to put too much pressure on us, but I do think this is the year.

"We have been close for the past two years and we are getting closer, but, yes, hopefully this will be the year.

"There is a lot of hunger in my belly.

In previous years we have finished runners-up, but that spirit in me is that I want to win this season and I believe in myself a lot."

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2nd Oct 2024, 10:22By Marc Williams

Chris Kavanagh has been selected to referee Chelsea v Nottingham Forest this weekend following his controversial decision to send off Bruno Fernandes last Sunday.

Fernandes’ red card in Manchester United’s 3-0 defeat to Tottenham has been overturned.

The midfielder lunged in on James Maddison but appeared to slip just before and United have made a successful claim for wrongful dismissal.

Kavanagh, who oversaw the match at Old Trafford, has now been appointed as the referee for Chelsea’s home clash against Forest at 2pm Sunday.

Meanwhile, United’s trip to Aston Villa at the same time this weekend will be refereed by Robert Jones.

Other notable appointments include Simon Hooper taking charge of Crystal Palace v Liverpool and Tony Harrington overseeing Arsenal v Southampton.

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2nd Oct 2024, 09:39By Marc Williams

Jamie O'Hara insists Arsenal haven't got the squad depth to go far in both the Premier League and Champions League this season.

The ex-Tottenham midfielder told talkSPORT: “Arsenal as a football club a great place at the moment, they're fighting on all fronts, for all competitions.

“The Premier League and the Champions League are the ones that they want, right.

But I was not the head coach and I could not be the one to make those decisions."

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1st Oct 2024, 18:08By Jake Lambourne

Bruno Fernandes will be available for Manchester United's next three games having won his red card appeal.

The Red Devils skipper was shown a straight red card in the recent 3-0 defeat to Tottenham just before half-time for a lunge on James Maddison.

While the Portuguese midfielder made contact high up Maddison's leg, it wasn't a studs-up challenge, leading many to feel he was harshly punished.

United subsequently appealed the decision, with Erik ten Hag's side revealing their have won their claim of wrongful dismissal.

A club statement said: "Fernandes was set to miss our league fixtures against Aston Villa, Brentford and West Ham, but will now be available for selection following the successful appeal."

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1st Oct 2024, 18:00By Jake Lambourne

Mikel Arteta is better than legendary Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger at one thing - being ruthless.

That's the opinion of Gunners icon Emmanuel Petit, who won the Premier League and FA Cup under Wenger's tutelage in 1998.

Petit appeared on talkSPORT Drive on Tuesday, where he insisted his former mentor wouldn't have sat back against Manchester City when Arsenal were reduced to ten men, which could have seen them fail to get a result.

Asked by co-host Andy Goldstein what Wenger would have done in the second half, Petit said: "Well, I think every time we had to play a game with Arsene Wenger, the target was to win the game, every single time.

"At home, away as well, for me that wouldn't be a surprise if Arsene was in charge for the game against Manchester City, before we enter on the pitch [for second half], he would have asked us to win that game as well.

"But I think Arteta is better than Arsene in terms of management of being ruthless with his players, this is something for me that makes a huge difference."

Explaining himself, he remarked: "The management of Arteta, for example the [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang [situation].

"There is many players as well, it doesn't matter if you the captain or if you have huge players, if you don't follow the rules, the vision he has on the pitch, the unity of the team, then you are out of the team."

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1st Oct 2024, 17:19By Jake Lambourne

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has appeared to make a subtle dig at Manchester United where he failed to name them as a top Premier League side.

The Reds eased to a 3-0 win at Old Trafford last month, with the Red Devils sitting 12th in the table after six games, compared to the Merseyside outfit who are sitting pretty at the top.

Attention has turned as to whether Liverpool can maintain their strong start and remain at the same level in both the top-flight and Champions League.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday's clash against Atalanta, Slot said: "One of the reasons we can compete is because we have a lot of quality and I also see a lot of team cohesion in the team.

"So, if we score, I also see the ones who don't play are really happy with us scoring [and] with us winning.

"Those are two really positive things, but I also see things we definitely have to improve if we want to stay where we are with the fixture list coming up.

"Like I said, every fixture [is] really difficult in the Premier League, but everybody tells me that a top league table team is a bit more difficult than a lower league table team, which we can all understand and we haven't faced one of them yet [top ten side].

"So, we have to do things better, but one of the reasons why we can stay up there is because we have a lot of players with a lot of individual quality."

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1st Oct 2024, 16:58By Joe Brophy

Martin Odegaard is still far from making his return from injury after he was left out of Norway's squad for the October break.

The Arsenal captain has been sidelined since the last round of international fixtures in early September with an ankle injury.

Odegaard limped out of his country's 2-1 win over Austria, with Mikel Arteta since confirming he sustained ligament damage.

The Gunners boss has been very cautious to put a timeline on any potential return for his talismanic midfielder.

However, any hopes of a fast comeback this month have seemingly been dashed by Norway boss Stale Solbakken.

Odegaard was left out of his 23-man selection for the upcoming Nations League games against Slovenia and Austria.

"He is far from being in the squad," Solbakken told reporters.

You know, it's ridiculous."

Credit: talkSPORTCopied

1st Oct 2024, 15:30By Joe Brophy

Southampton defender Jack Stephens has been banned for two matches and fined £50,000 for an expletive rant at an official.

The 30-year-old will miss the Saint's crunch clashes with Premier League title favourites Arsenal, and a relegation six-point showdown against fellow promoted team Leicester.

Stephens was shown a straight red card by referee Stuart Attwell during his side's 3-0 defeat by Manchester United on September 14.

In an FA regulatory commission, the defender admitted launching a swearing tirade at Attwell and his fourth official Gavin Ward.

The latter testified that he was called a “f******little c***", with both men also called a 'c***' by Stephens in the aftermath to the red card.

The player himself issued a 'sincere apology' for his verbal volley, adding: “I bitterly regret my choice of language
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