Premier League LIVE: Jamie Carragher addresses AFCON comments, Man United announce more redundancies, Chelsea dealt injury blow

Tuesday, February 25

Wednesday, February 26

Thursday, February 27

Action

Okay, today is the start of the Premier League midweek action, and you can catch it all across the talkSPORT network.

We have four games for you this evening as Chelsea look to re-start their bid for Champions League football against basement boys Southampton.

Crystal Palace welcome Aston Villa, with the Eagles looking to win just their third home game of the season, while Villa are in the hunt for European football.

Wolves are starting to build a gap to the bottom three and host Fulham, while Brighton and Bournemouth meet in a south coast derby that should be extremely entertaining.

Plus, we have a whole host of press conferences ahead of the matches tomorrow and on Thursday.

This is what the day looks like.

Games

Press conferences

Relaxed

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said he is 'more sure' than ever that his side are on the right track despite their chastening slump down the Premier League table.

Tuesday's meeting with Southampton at Stamford Bridge sees them seeking just a third league win in 11 matches that would, for 24 hours at least, hoist them back into the top four and give the 45-year-old room to breathe.

The manner of Chelsea's last three defeats has been particularly dispiriting. Brighton beat them twice in the space of six days, performances that stood out as some of the worst of what is threatening to turn into another indifferent campaign, before they chucked away a half-time lead to lose to Aston Villa on Saturday.

It continued a trend of letting points slip from winning positions - the tally now stands at 15 points for the season, 13 of which have been lost since Boxing Day, while Brighton also came from behind to knock them out of the FA Cup.

Chelsea have struggled for goals with leading scorer Cole Palmer not having netted since January 14 and on a run of 13 games without an assist, and with Maresca's only two strikers - Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu - out until April, solutions do not appear to be at hand.

Nevertheless, he was upbeat ahead of the visit of the league's bottom side and insisted his ideas are working.

"Now I am even more sure (than when) we started," said Maresca. "I don't have any doubt about the idea. The problem is in general people judge the idea because of the results.

"If I ask you one month ago if you are happy with the idea when we were winning every game and we were second, probably everyone would have said yes.

"Now that we drop points, we are seventh, people have doubts about the idea. For me I feel even more strong about the idea. It's just a matter of results."

Statement

Jamie Carragher has addressed his comments about the Africa Cup of Nations yesterday, which have received widespread criticism.

The Liverpool great flippantly commented that the continental competition isn’t a ‘major tournament’ and has received plenty of knockbacks.

One is from former England teammate Rio Ferdinand, who labelled Carragher as 'ignorant'.

Carragher has now addressed the comments he made on Sky Sports, posting on X: "The point I was trying to make yesterday was that MO Salah is at a disadvantage playing for Egypt in terms of him winning the Balon d’Or.

"If Salah had an average season at LFC but won the AFCON & was MVP I don’t think he would win the Balon d'Or.

"Because I don’t think AFCON carries the weight of other tournaments. But if Mbappe had an average season at Real Madrid but won the World Cup/Euros he would still have a great opportunity.

"It’s not just about certain tournaments, Shevchenko (Ukraine)

Lewandowski (Poland) were never going to win the WC/Euros to help their case for the prize. I don’t think it’s controversial at all really it’s just a fact.

"I know Mane came 2nd a few years back after winning the tournament but that alone wouldn’t have got him to that position, it was LFC being two games away from a quadruple that played a big role also.

"It’s not disrespectful if I feel the WC/Euros/CP are better tournaments it’s just my opinion when I watch them. Saying it wasn’t a major competition was clumsy but I think most people watching could understand the point I was trying to make.

"The face I pulled when Micah interjected was nothing to do with the merits of the tournament, I just knew as soon as he did what the reaction was going to be! I get a lot people didn’t like what I said & that’s fine.

"I don’t normally respond to things on here with posts like this but

I decided to tweet in the end after seeing so many phoneys jumping on the bandwagon & playing to the gallery when they knew what I meant. Good luck MO you little dancer."

Mic drop

Rapper AJ Tracey phoned talkSPORT after Darren Bent claimed Mohamed Salah has been better in the Premier League than Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Spurs-mad musician couldn't believe what he was hearing on Monday's edition of Drive from the former England striker.

However, talkSPORT's Benty did appear to get Tracey around to his way of thinking by the end of the exchange.

Check it out in full below...

Palm of his hands

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has claimed he is not concerned by Cole Palmer's form or body language.

The 22-year-old England star has not scored in any of his past six matches in all competitions.

He has also not registered an assist in any of his past 13 matches.

That has coincided with Chelsea's run of two wins in 10 matches in all competitions, but Maresca has insisted he is unfazed.

Ahead of the Blues' clash with Premier League strugglers Southampton, he said: "No, I am not concerned about him.

"I am always concerned about general performances but not Cole because Cole is a human being and always during a season he can have some moments where he struggles a little bit more.

"Every game we expect a goal or an assist, but it is difficult. In this moment his team performance reflects the team's that he struggles to score goals. We need to be more clinical when we get chances.

"Cole is just frustrated that we are not winning games. It is nothing more than that."

Salah-vating

Mohamed Salah is on track to achieve the best individual Premier League season in history.

The Liverpool talisman continued to rewrite the record books by matching a Lionel Messi feat in a 2-0 win over Manchester City.

The Egyptian was directly involved in both goals at the Etihad, which marked the eleventh Premier League match this campaign in which he's both scored and assisted.

This is the most by a player in a single season in one of Europe's big five leagues since Messi for Barcelona in the 2014/15 season, also on 11.

Overall, Salah already has 41 goal contributions in the English top-flight alone this term and has another 11 games to break all records.

Alan Shearer and Andy Cole share the mantle for the most goal contributions in a single Premier League season with 47.

The former achieved the feat in Blackburn's title-winning campaign in 1994/95, with Cole having done for Newcastle the year before.

However, an important distinction is that both of those achievements came in a 42-game season when the Premier League had 22 teams.

Since the introduction of a 38-game season in 1995/96, Thierry Henry and Erling Haaland share the record with 44 goal contributions each.

Joao about that?

Joao Felix has been brutally slammed with the Chelsea forward enduring a difficult start to his AC Milan loan spell.

The Portugal international played 70 minutes in his side's 2-1 away defeat to Torino on Saturday before being replaced by Riccardo Sottil.

The result leaves Milan seventh in the table, eight points adrift of the top four.

With the club currently missing out on European qualification, Italian journalist Fabio Ravezzani has slammed Felix on social media.

He also took aim at manager Sergio Conceicao, who replaced Paulo Fonseca as boss in December on an 18-month deal.

In a post on X, Ravezzani wrote: "Everything is going wrong at Milan.

"Joao Felix is ​​as handsome as he is useless, [Malick] Thiaw is no better than Fikayo Tomori and taking off [Rafael] Leao, unless he is injured, is foolish.

"Conceicao is causing more damage than hail. The directors failed in choosing the second coach."

'Nothing's changed'

Enzo Maresca isn't considering shuffling his goalkeeper's again after Filip Jorgensen's error at the weekend.

The Dane has replaced Robert Sanchez in between the sticks for recent games after Sanchez made mutliple errors.

But against Aston Villa, he made a mistake himself and continued Chelsea's shot-stopping woes.

Maresca has given an update on how Jorgensen is feeling after his performance and revealed he's not going to drop him.

"He is okay," the Blues boss said. "He feels a little bit sad, or upset because he recognises there has been a mistake.

"If we need to change players every time there is a mistake, we need to change players game by game, many players.

"But no, nothing's changed."

Return of the Mac

Kieran McKenna is heading back to Old Trafford.

The Ipswich boss is a former Man United coach and his side travel to Manchester for a huge game on Wednesday.

He has discussed the clash and what it's going to mean to him and his players who are fighting for Premier League survival.

"Now we have a big game to focus on on Wednesday," McKenna said in his pre-match press conference.

"There's a great energy around the training ground, everyone is really excited. It's the standout one on the calendar for sure.

"For our players, it is the first time some of them will play at Old Trafford. The opportunity to go and compete there in a league game is fantastic for the football club, for the group of players, and for the staff.

"It's a stadium that many of us will have grown up watching football at and be inspired by. You want the players to feel nothing but excitement and good feelings towards the game. 

“Of course, it's a difficult challenge as well and we have to prepare for that but the overriding feeling in the building is excitement."

United announce redundancies

Manchester United have just announced that they will be making 150 to 200 jobs redundant as part of their transformation plan.

A statement from the club has been released that states: "Manchester United is to transform its corporate structure as part of a series of additional measures to improve the club’s financial sustainability and enhance operational efficiency.

"The transformation plan aims to return the club to profitability after five consecutive years of losses since 2019. This will create a more solid financial platform from which the club can invest in men’s and women’s football success and improved infrastructure.

"As part of these measures, the club anticipates that approximately 150-200 jobs may be made redundant, subject to a consultation process with employees. These would be in addition to the 250 roles removed last year."

Omar Berrada, Manchester United CEO, said: “We have a responsibility to put Manchester United in the strongest position to win across our men’s, women’s and academy teams. We are initiating a wide-ranging series of measures which will transform and renew the club. Unfortunately, this means announcing further potential redundancies and we deeply regret the impact on those affected colleagues. However, these hard choices are necessary to put the club back on a stable financial footing.

“We have lost money for the past five consecutive years. This cannot continue. Our two main priorities as a club are delivering success on the pitch for our fans and improving our facilities. We cannot invest in these objectives if we are continuously losing money.

“At the end of this process, we will have a more lean, agile and financially sustainable football club, while continuing to provide a world class service to our valuable commercial partners. We will then be in a much stronger position to invest in football success and improved facilities for fans, while remaining compliant with UEFA and Premier League regulations.”

Anxious wait

Unai Emery has admitted that he doesn't know whether Morgan Rogers and Tyrone Mings will be fit to face Crystal Palace.

Rogers hobbled off during their win over Chelsea and so did Mings, who continues to have injury issues.

Emery told his press conference earlier today: "We are training this afternoon so let's see.

"We only played on Saturday, which was a very big effort physically and mentally, so we have to recover for tomorrow.

"The difficulty of that going into the next match is always there."

Should Rogers miss out, Marcus Rashford is likely to start out wide, or Donyell Malen could come in from the off.

Despite defensive injuries hampering their season, Villa will have an option to cover if Mings is out as well.

Axel Disasi is back available to return after sitting out against Chelsea as they are his parent club.

No risks

In the Brighton camp, they're also waiting on the availability of some key players ahead of their midweek clash.

Manager Fabian Hurzeler has given an update on the fitness of Danny Welbeck and Joel Veltman who missed the win over Southampton.

Speaking at his pre-Bournemouth press conference, Hurzeler said: "I am still concerned about Danny Welbeck and Joel Veltman.

"We have to wait how the training will go today and make a decision. These two are still doubtful.

"We also have another important match on Sunday [against Newcastle in the FA Cup fifth round].

"So we won't be taking any risks."

He also confirmed that captain Lewis Dunk has 'no chance' of featuring while Pervis Estupinan could start.

Cherry picked

Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has been discussing Illia Zabarnyi's availability against Brighton after he was controversially sent off on Saturday in the defeat to Wolves.

He said: "We will see [who will play] because we still have an appeal. We will see if he can play tomorrow, I still don't know. They are going to decide in a couple of hours."

On who will start if Zabarnyi cannot play: "These things happen to every team whether it's with injury or suspension and we have to adapt. Everyone has shown that they can step up. There are no excuses. I will try to make the right call."

Mac Attack

Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister has shown off the brutal war marks from the Reds' 2-0 win over Manchester City.

The Argentine took a hefty blow to the face attempting to block Omar Marmoush's equaliser for City - which was later ruled out for offside.

Mac Allister took a whack sliding in as the Egyptian finished past Alisson Becker and later needed treatment before continuing.

The ex-Brighton man later shared the wounds on his Instagram, but remained in fine spirits as Liverpool opened up an 11-point gap at the top.

"I watched the [Arsenal] game when I got home, the last 30 minutes I think," Mac Allister told reporters at the Etihad Stadium.

"You want them to lose — that is pretty normal because it makes our life easier. There are many games ahead and they are a really good team."

Double departure

Leicester have made some backroom changes following yet another defeat against Brentford last time out.

The Foxes were beaten 4-0 by the Bees on Friday and set a record for losing the most consecutive home games without scoring.

Ruud van Nistelrooy will be feeling the pressure amid fan unrest over the board and Director of Football Jon Rudkin.

But Van Nistelrooy remains in his role as manager ahead of 19th-placed Leicester's trip to West Ham this Thursday night.

The same can't be said for two first-team coaches though.

Coaches Ben Dawson and Danny Alcock have left the club after joining in the summer as part of Steve Cooper's team.

They combined to take interim charge for a game away at Brentford in November after Cooper was sacked, losing that clash 4-1.

The pair remained at Leicester after Van Nistelrooy took over, however, they've now departed his staff.

Two key issues

Arsenal legend Martin Keown has identified the two key reasons why the Gunners have slipped up in the title race.

He blamed a lack of discipline after Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off against West Ham at the weekend.

And he also pointed out the injury issues, with Bukayo Saka one of multiple stars missing at the moment.

Keown said on White and Jordan: "I think on the suspension thing, of course, there's been a lack of discipline in that area.

"But we can go through all five of the sendings off if we want to, if we want to drag it back to Rice, Trossard and Saliba.

"I think the one at the weekend was definitely a sending-off, you could argue the others weren't.

"But in those games, Arsenal have only won one match.

"So you're losing the points the games you go down to 10 men. Then you've got your suspensions."

He added: "I think it was critical when they lost Odegaard, very early in the season he was out for two months.

"And then you've had this catalogue of injuries, the front four players not available.

"At the weekend, there wasn't that explosive pace in the team. It was flat, it was a difficult afternoon. West Ham sat deep and they didn't have the answers in the final third.

"You can say they need a striker, but there wasn't enough chances created even if they did have a striker."

'He's a human being'

Enzo Maresca has defended Cole Palmer who has failed to score for five straight games for Chelsea in the Premier League.

When asked whether he is worried about Palmer's form, Maresca replied: "No. I am always concerned about general performance.

"I am not concerned about Cole because Cole is a human being and he can have some moments during a season where he struggles a little bit more.

"The problem with Cole is that we rely on Cole for everything and I said since we started that we need to rely on the team. We need top players like Cole but we are not worried about him at all."

Maresca continued: "He needs to continue the way he is working.

"The other day he had a great chance but overall the performance from him - as I said, every game we expect a goal or assist from him so it is difficult.

"He is a human being. At this moment his performances probably reflects the team performances that we struggle to score goals so we need to be a little more clinical when we get the chances."

Another injury

Chelsea have been dealt another injury problem following their defeat to Aston Villa at the weekend.

In the first half of that game, Trevoh Chalobah was taken off as he looked in some discomfort with his back.

Enzo Maresca has been speaking about Chalobah's fitness and he's ruled him out of the game against Southampton.

Speaking at his press conference this morning, Maresca said: "He had a check yesterday and he will be around one week to 10 days.

"On one side it is good because it is not an important injury but on the other side it is a shame because we lose another player at this moment with the amount of injuries that we had."

Chalobah joins Wesley Fofana, Romeo Lavia, Nicolas Jackson, Noni Madueke, Marc Guiu and Benoit Badiashile on the sidelines.

Ten Hag reflects

Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has been reflecting on his time at Old Trafford.

Ten Hag was sacked by the Red Devils earlier this season after a poor start to the campaign, with Ruben Amorim replacing him.

The dismissal came only a few months after he was handed a one-year contract extension at the club.

The Dutchman has now been speaking about his spell as Man United boss as part of an interview on the Seg Stories Podcast.

In a teaser released before the full chat drops tomorrow, Ten Hag says: “If there’s one thing I miss, it’s Old Trafford."

He then adds: “We’ve had many highs, but as I always say: there is always room for improvement.

“Good is not enough. You can do better.”

On his own future, Ten Hag also says: “I’ve already decided not to take any job until the 1st of July, so until the start of the new season."

'He deserves to be up there'

Is Mohamed Salah one of the best Premier League players ever?

talkSPORT's Ally McCoist thinks so after the Egyptian King broke even more records against Man City yesterday.

Salah now has 25 goals in 27 games, along with 16 assists.

His numbers are simply incredible and McCoist sang his praises on talkSPORT Breakfast this morning.

"Magnificent, that's the only word to describe his performance yesterday," he said in a chat with Jeff Stelling.

"His performances...he has been, without doubt, one of the elite players to have played in the league of all time.

"He honestly deserves to be up there and mentioned with your likes of your Henrys, Bergkamps, all those kind of guys.

"I genuinely do. I think he's a phenomenal talent.

"It was amazing, looking at him at the start of the season, incredibly I thought his body shape looked stronger and leaner and fitter.

"He was never carrying anything at all, but it looked as if he'd done a bit of extra work in the gym, he looks absolutely amazing."

Best team in history?

talkSPORT's Henry Winter has been assessing this morning whether Liverpool are one of the best teams we've ever seen.

Arne Slot's side are 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League table with 11 games still to go this season.

The title is already in their hands and Winter believes they are certainly one of the best - but not the greatest ever.

"It's one of the best, the fact that they could almost declare by the end of April," he said on talkSPORT Breakfast.

"Just listening to Arne Slot, he's going to keep them focused, the fans can party and book their places on the pavement to watch the procession.

"The players will want to keep proving and proving. Proving it to themselves as well as showing they're one of the best teams in history.

"There's a lot of debate that this is the best team in Premier League history, it's patently not.

"You've got to look at Arsenal's Invincibles, the two or three iterations of Sir Alex Ferguson's teams, the 93/94 double winners there, the 1999 treble winner - they're exceptional teams.

"But the fact is, Arne Slot, with only around £10m in investment in Federico Chiesa, has taken Jurgen Klopp's very good squad and turned them into this ferocious team.

"He's tweaked the midfield, tightened the defence and he's obviously got the best player in the world at the moment in Mo Salah.

"They're just rolling, but it's the momentum that makes the great teams and it's about doing it season in, season out."

Haaland latest

Erling Haaland was a big loss for Man City yesterday.

Liverpool were very rarely tested by City during their 2-0 win, with their huge victory coming comfortably.

Having Haaland on the pitch could have made the difference for Pep Guardiola's side, but he was absent.

And speaking after the game, Guardiola gave an update on his striker who will hope to be back on Wednesday.

"I don't know," Guardiola said when asked whether Haaland will feature against Spurs. "I would like to know, but I don't know.

"His knee - the moment against Newcastle moved the knee.

Apparently he's not injured because the scans dictate that he's fine, but he didn't feel fine.

"I have the feeling it [his return] will be soon because he trained yesterday and made some really good movements, but he said he was not ready and we have to respect that.

"Hopefully he can be back for Spurs."

No comment

Pep Guardiola didn't want to get drawn into talk over whether Liverpool would take Manchester City's Premier League title.

"How many points advantage for them over Arsenal? It's a lot. How many games have they lost?" Guardiola said after City's 2-0 defeat at home to the Reds on Sunday.

When pushed as to whether he saw their rivals as champions-elect he added: "I didn't say yes."

City are now 20 points behind Liverpool and their main concern is, at the very least, maintaining their fourth place to qualify for the Champions League.

"If it doesn't happen it's because we were not good enough, not because a lack of hunger and desire," he said.

"We saw it against Newcastle (a 4-0 win last weekend) and we saw it again today. It is so tight with four or five teams and Nottingham (Forest), Newcastle, Aston Villa are so good.

"It's not enough, but I recognise my team in the last two games in the Premier League - they were brilliant against both Newcastle and Liverpool.

"The pace today, the rhythm, the pressing, the solidarity for most of them playing in difficult positions, I approve it and it was really good."

Playing it cool

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot refused to consider the prospect the Premier League title was theirs to lose after a 2-0 victory over Manchester City sent his side 11 points clear the top.

First-half goals from Mohamed Salah, his 30th of the season, and Dominik Szoboszlai were followed by a disciplined defensive performance after the break to secure a first league victory at the Etihad Stadium since November 2015.

Although second-placed Arsenal have a match in hand, Slot's team would have to lose three times - they have suffered one league defeat all season - in their last 11 matches to even offer the chance of being overtaken, and then only if Mikel Arteta's side were able to win every game.

But Slot is refusing to look beyond Wednesday's visit of Newcastle despite joyous fans singing about winning the league at the final whistle.

"The fans can sing whatever they want, but we know as a team how hard we have to work for every single win," he said.

"It is only three days ago someone asked me if we had a dip on Wednesday (in a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa). I don't believe that as well as I'm calm now about this win.

"You can ask every single question you want, but it is so hard to judge the league table before every single game is played.

"In my opinion, Villa and City away (Liverpool's last two matches) are two very difficult games so you can drop points there.

"In every other league having a lead like this would be very comfortable - except for this one because this league every single game gives you a lot of challenges."

Gone

Big news north of the border, Rangers have parted company with Philippe Clement.

The Scottish side have parted ways with the 50-year-old with a 2-0 defeat to St Mirren at Ibrox leaving them 13 points adrift of Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic.

Rangers' defeat to St Mirren was their first since 1991, with Gers experiencing a number of other setbacks this season.

Their Scottish Cup hopes were ended by Championship side Queen’s Park and lost the League Cup final to Celtic - the Europa League remains their only chance of silverware this season.

The decision to dismiss the Belgian boss comes just seven months after he was given a one-year contract extension and only weeks after appointing his new assistant, Issame Charai.

A club statement read: "Rangers Football Club can confirm it has tonight parted company with men’s first-team manager, Philippe Clement.

"The club would like to put on record their sincere thanks to Philippe for his hard work and dedication during his spell in charge.

"A further update from the club will follow in due course."