



1) Newcastle look to make Anfield experience count

The two youngest squads in the Premier League go head to head and last weekend it was Newcastle, second only to Liverpool in the callowness stakes, whose inexperience told. They capitulated late on to draw at Bournemouth, the seventh time they have not seen out a lead this term, and Rafa Benítez admitted afterwards that a team slightly longer in the tooth may not have allowed their relegation rivals back in. But they do, at least, have plenty of Anfield knowledge in their ranks and despite the disparity in ability between the two teams it would not be a seismic shock if Benítez was the man to inflict Liverpool’s first home league defeat of the season. Last time he took a side to Anfield, in April 2016, Newcastle turned a 2-0 deficit around to clinch an improbable draw; it may be tougher now but there are a few in his ranks with points to prove. One of them is Jonjo Shelvey, who never quite made the grade at Liverpool and also missed a huge chance to make the game safe at the Vitality Stadium. Shelvey was also criticised for lax defending as Bournemouth pulled level; can he make a few people eat their words on Saturday? NA

• Bournemouth rally to cancel out Gayle double

• Liverpool set to strengthen squad after posting healthy profit



England Women get Phil Neville’s reign off to flying start with win over France Read more

2) Arsenal’s apathy to defeat is hugely alarming

Manchester City may have been sublime, but there were still lots of things wrong with Arsenal last night. Danny Welbeck couldn’t trap a beanbag. Mesut Özil wasn’t interested. Henrikh Mkhitaryan looked lost. The full-backs, Héctor Bellerín and Sead Kolasinac, were taken to the cleaners. Laughably, the club even got the attendance wrong: 58,420 people were apparently inside the Emirates on Thursday (which would make it 97.58% full) when anyone could see the stadium was half full at best. Arsène Wenger, switching to an attacking line-up, was outmanoeuvred by Pep Guardiola for the second time in five days and yet failed to make a single substitution during the game, almost as though he wanted to punish those on the pitch; more likely, he was too resigned to defeat to bother to change things. Of all the things that went awry, it was the apathy that felt the most poignant: of the players, of the manager, of the fans. None of them turned up. Normally, disappointment follows a first goal conceded, anger follows a second, despair follows a third but those emotions had already been exhausted on Sunday. Now, it appears some people have started not to care and for that reason, the defeat to City was arguably the most alarming loss of Wenger’s 22-year reign. Sunday’s away fixture at Brighton at least provides some relief from the toxic home atmosphere. MB



• Nick Ames: Arsenal’s old habits prove their undoing once again

• Wenger insists he will honour contract and stay at Arsenal

• David Squires on … Man City, Arsenal and political prisoners

Facebook Twitter Pinterest It was not exactly a full house at the Emirates on Thursday. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

3) Less selfishness in front of goal from Wilfred Ndidi

No Leicester player has taken more shots on goal in the Premier League this season than Wilfred Ndidi, whose only goal during 35 appearances in all competitions came in added time against Peterborough in the FA Cup when Leicester were already 4-1 up. While some might charitably label his selfishness as optimistic opportunism, it has irritated Jamie Vardy enough to become a press conference talking point. In his pre-match briefing before Leicester’s visit from Bournemouth, Claude Puel said he could understand Vardy’s frustration as “he wants all the balls to score”. Safe from relegation, the otherwise excellent Ndidi’s insistence on going for personal glory won’t make much difference in the Premier League, but is a foible that could ultimately cost his side dearly in an FA Cup that is very much up for grabs. It is time to the midfielder saw the error of his ways. BG

4) Sané is an absurd talent, and getting better

There are a few players that are so good that even when defenders know what they are going to do, they still can’t be stopped. Arjen Robben will cut in on his left foot and curl a shot into the far corner, Sinisa Mihajlovic will curl a free-kick over the wall past the keeper and Luis Suárez will nutmeg his marker. There’s nothing to be done, it will happen. Leroy Sané has this quality: right-backs know that he is going to drop his shoulder, race towards the byline and cut the ball back to a team-mate, but the speed and control is simply too great. Sané made two goals (and scored one) against Arsenal, the first an absurd assist in which he skipped past four tackles before squaring a perfect pass to Bernardo Silva, who calmly curled it home from 20 yards. To blame any Arsenal player is doing the German a disservice – to watch Sané run is to watch water pour: it is effortless. It was masterful how he went from being trapped against the touchline to the edge of Arsenal’s box in five seconds. The scary thing is that he is still improving, and Pep Guardiola – who reportedly gave Sané a rollicking after his below-par performance against Wigan in the FA Cup – seems the perfect manager to keep his dainty feet on the ground and help him become one of the best players in the world, if he is not one already. Guardiola may choose to rest Sané against Chelsea on Sunday with one eye on next week’s Champions League tie with Basel. MB

• Sané is catalytic converter as Man City pummel Arsenal again

• Guardiola: I’d take ribbon off if I thought it affected the team

• Paul Wilson: Agüero’s goals a constant in City’s evolving drama

5) Pardew rolls dice one more time with axe hovering

It would be an exaggeration to say West Brom’s appalling form is a surprise but they seemed to be approaching the right track as recently as 27 January, when they surprised Liverpool at Anfield in the FA Cup and brought up a run of one defeat in seven games. Five weeks on, Alan Pardew will almost certainly lose his job if they come undone at Watford and, given that he was appointed only three months ago, the sheer desperation of West Brom’s owners to avoid relegation could hardly be spelt out more clearly. Pardew’s cause may appear lost but he will try one last throw of the dice on Saturday: the word locally is that West Brom will beef things up by deploying a five-man midfield at Vicarage Road after his players expressed dissatisfaction with the manager’s preferred 4-4-2. If the switch does not yield three points then the fear is that, for manager and indeed club, then horse may well have bolted. NA



• Pardew given a week to halt West Brom’s slump

• Premier League relegation scrap: who will and won’t survive?

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alan Pardew was only appointed three months ago. Photograph: Matthew Ashton - AMA/WBA FC via Getty Images

6) A less-than-mouthwatering six-pointer for seventh

Everton looked nailed on for a seventh-place finish before the season began and despite an early flirtation with the drop are right back in contention in the less-than-thrilling contest to be best of the rest. It is a measure of just how many terrible teams there are in the Premier League that Burnley remain in seventh place despite not having won any of their 11 league matches since 12 December. Indeed, even defeat at the hands of Everton won’t dislodge them, unless Leicester beat Bournemouth. For those of us who would prefer a bit more entertainment, what passes for the scramble to be best of the Premier League teams who are all significantly worse than the much-maligned Arsenal resembles not so much a “race” as an endurance event. Even Everton and Burnley fans with a dog in Saturday’s lunchtime scrap can’t be looking forward to this encounter with anything approaching relish. For how long more can the so-called greatest league in the world sustain such levels of tedium before fans begin to lose interest? BG



• Andy Hunter: Moshiri’s case fails to revive Everton’s fortunes

• Insipid Everton slip to defeat at Watford

7) A test of nerve for Huddersfield

As Alan Shearer pointed out on Match of the Day last weekend, West Brom’s players simply weren’t good enough to cope with the tenacious hassling and harrying of Huddersfield’s players and duly lost, but the same kind of tactics are unlikely to yield similar dividends at Wembley against Tottenham. Spurs were the first top-four side Huddersfield faced this season and took the Premier League new boys to school in a match they could have won by considerably more than the 4-0 scoreline. It was a chastening experience for David Wagner’s side and one that prompted them to apply the handbrake in sterner tests, not always to great effect. The Terriers have since reverted to the have-a-go Scrappy-Doo heroics that look likely to keep them up. Probably mindful of the hiding dished out to them at the John Smith’s Stadium in late September, they will need considerable nerve to play to their own strengths rather than those of their hosts. BG



• Huddersfield’s Florent Hadergjonaj: ‘This is my dream’

• Alderweireld to miss Spurs’ tie with Juventus

• Paul MacInnes: five ways VAR could be improved

Play Video 0:48 VAR is going to kill the emotion in football, says Pochettino – video

8) Sørloth’s element of surprise could soften Zaha blow



For Crystal Palace it remains impossible to escape the sense that this section of the season constitutes a waiting game for Wilfried Zaha’s return. Unfortunately that will not be for several weeks yet, even though Roy Hodgson believes the winger is ahead of schedule; in the meantime they must pick up points where they can and hope, amid faltering form, their position does not worsen too much. Alexander Sørloth is hardly a like-for-like replacement but the strapping Norwegian striker, a surprise signing before the transfer deadline, was pressed into action for the defeats to Everton and Tottenham, acquitting himself well both times without really threatening a goal. Hodgson has been pleasantly surprised by the 22-year-old’s adaptation to the English game and breaking his duck at home to Manchester United on Monday night would really help the settling-in process; it is a lot to ask of a signing from the Danish league to step up immediately but Sørloth still has the element of surprise and could be important to Palace’s hopes of staying above the drop-zone before Zaha comes back. NA



• Loftus-Cheek’s England ambitions suffer injury setback

• Kane’s late header breaks Palace resistance

• Lukaku wants more ‘respect’ for goalscoring record

The pod's Irish odyssey, VAR and best Welsh players – Football Weekly Extra Read more

9) An end to Stoke City’s wastefulness under Paul Lambert?

Stoke’s habit of cheaply throwing away points they can ill afford to lose showed no sign of abating last weekend, when an uncharacteristic Jack Butland rick cost them another two in the fifth match of a Paul Lambert reign in which they have dropped five points they probably ought to have banked in as many matches. If the Scot was perturbed he hid it well and if his side continue to amass points at a rate of more than one per game under his stewardship they should survive. Nevertheless, with matches against Manchester City, Everton, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur coming up after this weekend’s visit to Southampton, a win seems vital at St Mary’s. Saints have problems of their own, having won only one league game since late November, against the bottom side West Brom. If a serious Stoke revival under Lambert does not begin on the south coast, one suspects that, despite promising early signs, it may not materialise at all. BG



• Stoke chairman ‘going off’ VAR before Premier League vote

• Gabbiadini snatches point for Saints at Burnley

10) Ayew could return to haunt West Ham

West Ham bought André Ayew from Swansea for £20.5m and sold him back, 17 months and 12 goals later, for £18m. It is fair to say there have, even by the Hammers’ current hierarchy, been better pieces of business although it remains to be seen whether the Ghana forward’s present employers will get great value for their outlay. Ayew has yet to start since returning on transfer deadline day and where he fits into Carlos Carvalhal’s best side is not immediately clear, particularly with his brother Jordan – whose last 15 games have brought six goals – in decent form. But the visit of David Moyes’s side would appear the ideal occasion to let the two operate in tandem, not least because West Ham’s resilience away from home has crumbled and Swansea need to show they can recover from a nowadays rare defeat, at Brighton. Should West Ham come unstuck here it would push them back into the thick of the relegation argument; a decisive blow from Ayew would, in the circumstances, seem an almost inevitable headline moment. NA



• Swansea put freeze on Wednesday to progress in Cup

• West Ham charged over breach of FA anti-doping rules