Points deduction a win for Everton fans

I personally never believed in deducting ten points from Everton because of financial irregularities within the club.

It was the owners and management who created the problems but it was the fans, the coach and the players who were made to suffer. Alongside the ridiculous amount of time the club has had to wait for an appeal verdict the club did not know, for most of the season, what their true league position was.

The “fine” has been reduced to six points, pushing Everton six places from the bottom of the league and with a five-point cushion outside the relegation places.

Sean Dyche is a fine coach and the players have done well this season but it is the fans who deserve praise. Everton fans make the most noise, travel around the country in huge numbers and support their team through thick and thin. For them, the points deduction is well-deserved and a win.

Odegaard positive Arsenal will win title

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard said the Gunners are not afraid of the intense title race with Manchester City.

Following a 1-0 win over Bournemouth, they now head to the bottom of the league Sheffield United, who are 11 points from safety. Arsenal have moved back to one point behind City in third place and the two meet at the Etihad Stadium on March 31.

Odegaard said: “Now is the moment to show that we’re not afraid, to show what we learnt from last season when we failed at the last moment. That will not happen again.”                 

Update on Liverpool’s Alcantara and Bajcetic

Jurgen Klopp said he does not know if Thiago Alcantara will play again for Liverpool. Thiago has been available for only a few games this season and the ex-Barca and Bayern star has played just five minutes since April.

He is now in the final months of his contract and is likely to leave in the summer. Klopp said: “There is no timescale and to be honest from a medical point of view, I do not know if he can play again for us. It is not a short-term thing.”

Klopp also gave us an update on Stefan Bajcetic, who has been the subject of injuries during the past year and has only featured twice since March.

He said: “Stefan is one of these things. I had lunch here and saw him training. I sat at my table and thought, ‘Why is he not playing?’

"He is training and gaining fitness, running around and it’s like ‘wow’ but he did not get the green light for team training. He is completely pain free, which is the most important thing. He has had all the scans and checks and all looks fine, the bone looks good and now we have to make sure we use him again.”

Coutinho to stay in Qatar

Philippe Coutinho said this week that he wants to “live the moment in Qatar.” He is on loan from Aston Villa but the team is doing exceptionally well and coach Unai Emery has no plans to take him back.

Coutinho left Villa and joined Al-Duhail last August. He had left Barcelona to join Villa for £17million. Coutinho has been linked with joining David Beckham’s Inter Miami and reuniting with his former Barca teammate Lionel Messi.

Where Pochettino got it all wrong

Chelsea owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali were at Wembley to see their Chelsea Carabao Cup side beaten 1-0 by Jurgen Klopp’s academy players. It was an embarrassing after-match drink in a Wembley lounge as Mauricio Pochettino explained to his bosses what went wrong.

Chelsea played their part in an entertaining match but lost  was their last chance of silverware this season since they are 11th in thePremier League table —17 points outside the top-four.

After spending half a billion pounds, the owners were less than pleased.

The difference between Klopp and Pochettino was clear. Klopp knew what he was doing but Pochettino once again failed to cope with the situation.

The pressure is on the Argentine coach and he is failing. Klopp’s academy youngsters were more than a match for Pochettino’s youngsters, who are in their early twenties and with experience.

Liverpool youngster Jayden Danns, 18, had previously played only one minute of Premier League football. Chelsea fell apart in the last 15 minutes whereas Liverpool were stronger.

Boehly and Eghbali have bought some expensive failures and it is difficult to jettison Pochettino because he was their choice to take over from Graham Potter. If they sack him it shows they have no plan going forward.

Kelleher benefits from Alisson injury

Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher has made the most of his time standing in for the world’s best goalkeeper Alisson Becker. All the main Liverpool first team squad train together and especially the goalkeepers, who have a special programme.

Kelleher was excellent in the Carabao Cup final and he has been performing well in the league. As Ireland’s No1 goalkeeper, he will have a decision to make when Alisson returns. He will not want to sit quietly on the bench. Several clubs are tracking his situation and will come calling at the end of the season.

Casemiro’s legs have gone

I spoke with Manchester United and Arsenal this week and discussed Casemiro and Jorginho. Erik Ten Hag has an admission to make.

He automatically calls up Casemiro for major games. However, most Premier League clubs have worked out that “his legs have gone” and I have seen him several times this season and he looks like he is carrying a bag of rocks on his back as he struggles for pace.

He was never the quickest player, even at Real Madrid, but his lack of speed means that coaches train their players to run at him and past him during play and they can easily exploit his lack of pace as he fails to catch up. It happens to the best players.

Wayne Rooney retired in his early 30s but one player who has proven his current club was right to sign him is Arsenal’s Jorginho. He is the same age as Casemiro and admittedly doesn’t have the pace of his mid-twenties but he can win the ball, is strong in the tackle and he relies on Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz to collect his accurate passes and do the running. Very clever move by Mikel Arteta.

Brighton’s Mitoma likely to miss rest of season

Japanese winger Kaoru Mitoma has lit up the Amex Stadium recently and was a vital part of Brighton’s push for a top-six place and their Europa Cup campaign in which they play Roma in the last 16.

Coach Roberto De Zerbi has already had to cope with Mitoma sustaining an ankle injury and then he was called up to play for Japan in the Asian Cup.

De Zerbi said last night: “It’s a bad, bad situation. It’s the back injury that kept him out against Everton and it’s an important problem. I think perhaps two or three months so he is finished for this season.”

Grealish suffers another injury

Manchester City’s midweek FA Cup win over Luton Town should have been Jack Grealish’s comeback game after limping off against Copenhagen two weeks ago with a muscle injury.

That was his first start in six matches. Grealish pulled up in the Luton game without a challenge on him. He was devastated and left the field only to hide his head inside his warm jacket for a couple of minutes. He was upset.

Consequently, he did not appear for the second half and I was later informed that he was complaining of pain in his groin. Pep Guardiola had not spoken to the club doctors but he said: “A little bit similar to previous problems. Grealish felt really good before the game but, unfortunately, was injured again at the beginning. It’s been a tough season for him and he has to recover well before we play him again.”