• Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Thomas Partey have also been missed but it is Saliba’s influence at the back which has caused most concern.
•In their quest to replace Antonio Conte, Tottenham are planning to interview former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique for the head coach’s position
Image: HANDOUT
Arsenal have given Pep Guardiola plenty of motivation to win the title as they buckle under the final run-in pressure which is affecting their younger players.
Injuries in key positions have not helped the Gunners and Mikel Arteta recognises that William Saliba is his most important missing link.
He has not played at centre-back since sustaining a back injury against Sporting in the Europa League on March 16.
Arsenal’s medical team and trainers are working with Saliba every day in an attempt to get him fit for the end of the campaign.
Arteta said this week that he is progressing well and is hoping his defensive kingpin will be fit for Arsenal’s crucial match at the Etihad Stadium against City on Wednesday.
Since Saliba was injured, Arsenal have kept no clean sheet in four matches whereas previously, they had kept 12 clean sheets in the Premier League.
Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Thomas Partey have also been missed but it is Saliba’s influence at the back which has caused most concern.
His strong partnership with Gabriel - the two are great friends - and his solid performances at the back are highlighted with Gabriel winning crucial balls and Saliba sweeping up behind the Brazilian to protect him.
This combination has given Arsenal the opportunity to press higher up the field and win balls in the opposition’s half. Rob Holding has done a good job covering for Saliba but he does not have the same pace.
Against West Ham Arsenal generally played three metres deeper than with Saliba in the team. Arteta’s problems increased with Takehiro Tomiyasu being ruled out for the rest of the season.
Facing an in-form Erland Haaland is Arteta’s main concern next week and getting Saliba match fit is vital.
Tottenham take on Chelsea for new coach
In their quest to replace Antonio Conte, Tottenham are planning to interview former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique for the head coach’s position.
Enrique has already talked to Chelsea but he is not happy with the Stamford Bridge set-up and is yet to be convinced it would be a good move. Chairman Daniel Levy is taking charge of appointing a new head coach because Spur’s managing director Fabio Paratici is currently banned from any football activities.
Spurs are also preparing to do battle with Chelsea for Julian Nagelsmann who is number two on their list. He has already been interviewed by Chelsea.
Nagelsmann wants to wait until the summer before deciding where to move after being sacked by Bayern Munich whereas Enrique could start immediately. Tottenham are also looking at Burnley’s Vincent Kompany after he successfully lead the claret and blues back to the Premiership for next season.
Former coach Mauricio Pochettino, I understand from Spurs, is not currently under consideration after initial interest in hiring him has cooled.
Liverpool fans blame owners for poor season
During 2019 and 2022, Liverpool won every major honour but their fan base has always accused owners Fenway Sports of being mean with money and not giving coach Jurgen Klopp enough support.
It is Fenway who the supporters blame for this season’s lacklustre performances and poor league table position. European football next season will be hard to achieve. However, the Reds have a winnable game against Nottingham Forest but then face tricky matches against West Ham, Tottenham and Brentford. I can confirm that attacks on Twitter against the Boston-based sports group will fall on deaf ears.
Liverpool always make their own decisions on transfers and do not listen to the digital media platform. When the club decided this week not to go after Jude Bellingham, digital media was alive with attacks by supporters criticising the club’s reluctance to spend big bucks.
The club have decided that the team needs several new players and spending a possible £130million on one player is not practical. Remember that Liverpool will probably not have the huge income from Champions League football next season.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and James Milner will almost certainly leave on free transfers in a couple of months.
Bellingham has become close friends with Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold and his non-arrival from Dortmund has added fuel to the supporters complaints. Liverpool’s decision not to replace Philippe Coutinho in 2018 upset fans because he was arguably their most creative player and not signing Lyon’s Nabil Fekir was the final straw.
This was compounded by denying Gini Wijnaldum a new contract when most supporters thought he was the most complete defender at the club. Paris Saint-Germain said thank you very much and snapped up Gini.
Klopp has hailed the “super important” injury recovery of Luis Diaz as the Reds push for a top four place.
For six months, he has had to be content to watch his teammates suffer a mediocre season but the Colombia international overcame his knee injury in time to make a late substitute appearance in the 6-1 win against Leeds on Monday.
Klopp said: “It’s super important having Luis back. He’s lacking rhythm, which is normal, and a bit of sharpness but that will change quickly. In training sessions you cannot reach maximum match fitness. You need game time and we will help him step by step.”
Liverpool have eight games remaining this season and are nine points behind fourth-placed Newcastle but bookmakers are still offering 5-1 odds on them succeeding so there is hope.
They play Nottingham Forest this weekend and visit West Ham next Wednesday with Alexander-Arnold back to peak form and operating more in the centre of the field where he notched up 124 completed passes against Leeds.
Bayern Munich’s midfielder Ryan Gravenberch’s agents have been in touch with Liverpool and said the 20-year-old Dutch is interested in moving to Anfield. Bayern are looking for around £15million and wages would have to match Bayern’s which means approaching £200k-a-week.
Emery turns around Villa’s fortunes
Unai Emery has done a remarkable job at Aston Villa. Instead of fighting a relegation battle Emery’s team is now up to 6th in the table and just behind Tottenham.
The coach explained his strategy which I saw working to perfection when Villa beat Newcastle. He has deployed Alex Moreno and Ashley Young and their jobs include protecting the centre backs.
They also attack but are very defence-minded. Up front, Emery has given the nod to Emi Buendia instead of Philippe Coutinho because he presses hard and more effectively.
Coutinho possesses greater flair and is entertaining to watch when he is fit and on form but he rarely worries defences with aggression. In Villa’s midfield, Douglas Luiz plays in front of the defence which allows Jacob Ramsey and the much-improved John McGuinn to support Ollie Watkins who, as I mentioned to you before, is told before each game to stay in the box area.
During training Emery instructs each player and explains exactly what his role is. Villa is a classic example of how to turn a team around in a season.
Lukaku’s last chance
In contrast to Aston Villa, Chelsea players seem confused, chaotic and play without a clear plan of how to win. Individuals attacking and hoping for the best these days does not win you matches.
Raheem Sterling, Mykhailo Mudryk, Conor Gallagher and Christian Pulisic are very skilful players and in a five-aside practice match can display their particular talents.
Playing against Premier League opposition for 90 minutes in a competitive match, they simply do not fit as a unit. Each wants to win the game on their own. Chelsea’s problems would be a lot simpler if they had a strong Didier Drogba style centre forward.
During the loss against Brighton, the ball was quite often booted upfield towards the forwards but the defence won the ball almost every time because Chelsea forwards are not that big.
The problems are about to get worse because of the huge money already spent by owner Todd Boehly and his investors which brings into play the Financial Fair Play rules and they might not be allowed to pay big money for a recognised elite striker.
Lampard might not be at Stamford Bridge at the end of the season and therefore Boehly himself has organised for Romelu Lukaku to return from his loan period at Inter Milan and train for the beginning of next season.
Without a new signing, the club hopes he can start delivering goals. Circumstances have allowed the Belgian one last chance to prove his worth to the team.
Haaland always wants more
Erling Haaland doesn’t just score goals, he thinks about little else, feeds on scoring and his life revolves around shooting practice in training.
Therefore, it was surprising to see him looking grumpy and stone-faced after scoring twice against Leicester. During a break for the medical staff to attend to an injured Aymeric Laporte, Haaland went over to Kevin De Bruyne waving his arms and it looked like he was giving the midfield genius a lecture.
Erling covered his mouth so we could not lip read what was being said but after the game Kevin revealed: “He was telling me that there was no space for him. That is normal when you are playing against a 5-4-1 formation because it is almost impossible to find space.”
“It is a little bit different from his days at Dortmund or Salzburg but City have been dealing with this problem continually because teams know how lethal Erling is around the box so they try to crowd him out. I told him to be patient and we would find a way to get the ball to him and he would have his chances.”
City have scored three or more goals in six consecutive matches and their unbeaten run has reached 14 during which they have won their last 10. But Erling still wants more…that is what makes him so great.
Martial still favoured by Ten Hag
Events are moving fast at Manchester United. With their home match against Chelsea postponed, the Red Devils next face a tricky away match at Tottenham.
Coach Erik Ten Hag has made a complete turnaround regarding Anthony Martial and although signing a top-class striker during the summer is a priority he still intends to keep the Frenchman at Old Trafford.
It is Ten Hag’s focus to work with Martial and Antony, who he believes could be the new Arjen Robbin. United admit Harry Kane will be difficult to prise away from Tottenham because of chairman Daniel Levy’s reluctance to negotiate and they have turned much of their interest towards Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Benfica forward Goncalo Ramos.
Fitness is Martial’s weakness and despite being impressive in the Europa League against Sevilla, he was only able to last an hour. Only once has he completed more than 72 minutes this season but his seven goals and three assists have convinced Ten Hag that he still has a role to play at the club.
When asked if Martial would be at the club next season Ten Hag simply said: “Yes, from my point of view I think he will be.”
Meanwhile, Ten Hag is pleased that he has given a sharing role to Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire as joint club captains. Raphael Verane and Lisandro Martinez are both injured and Maguire has captained the side six times this season and Bruno has led the team 22 times.
Ten Hag said: “They both respect each other and link with togetherness. I think it works out very well.”
Ten Hag said he wants more leaders at the club and named Fernandes, Maguire, David De Gea, Casemiro and Verane as the players who bring that to the squad.
In some ways, the postponed game against Chelsea has given Ten Hag time to wait for some of his injured players to improve their fitness. Varane, Martinez (out for the rest of the season with a broken metartasal bone in his foot), Tom Heaton, Donny van de Beek, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho are all at different stages of recovery.
Costa back on the goal trail
That old warhorse Diego Costa has finally ended his goal drought and helped to move Wolves away from the relegation zone.
When Bruno Lage was sacked, Julen Lopetegui took over and despite his team’s improvement he admitted: “We are in the middle of the river and have a lot of crocodiles around us. It’s not enough yet.”
Costa played for Lopetegui in the Brazil national team and the coach knows the big man’s strengths. “He has a big heart,” he said but believe it or not, his goal against Brentford at the weekend was his first since scoring for Atletico Mineiro in his native Brazil in 2021.
Stellini sticks with Conte strategy
Tottenham suffered a home shocker when relegation threatened Bournemouth beat them 2-3. However, interim coach Cristian Stellini said he will not abandon Antonio’s 3-4-3 strategy which has angered fans this season.
Stellini told us after the game. “We are trying to create more chances and we have to play more attacking football.”
Conte’s favourite move was playing through his wing-backs but the crowds found this boring because it did not provide enough entertainment with the ball constantly passed between defenders. The fans want more to come through the middle to give Son Heung-min and Harry Kane opportunities near the goal.
Stellini, however, is adamant he will stick with Conte’s formula and finished by saying: “Do you remember how many goals we scored last season?”
I think you will agree that quoting last season is not very convincing.