.png)
4 hours ago
1
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
And here is a healthy dollop of further transfer gossip:
Here’s more on the future of Evan Ferguson, with Chelsea joining a six-way race for his services as we go into the final weekend of the transfer window:
The Brighton manager, Fabian Hurzeler, has said that the reason he has been limiting the playing time of the club’s record signing, Georginio Rutter, is that he has “issues with his muscles” that means “we have to protect his health”.
Rutter has played only two full games since signing for the club from Leeds for £40m last August, and has played more than 45 minutes only once since Christmas, against Norwich in the FA Cup.
“There have been some small issues with his muscles and therefore we also need to protect his health,” Hurzeler said ahead of Saturday’s trip to Nottingham Forest. “I know that it is not always understandable why we choose the starting XI, but there are so many things going on.
“The main thing for me is that I am responsible for the person behind the player, to protect him and protect his health. It’s not only a decision about performance, especially when young players get injured.”
Chelsea join race for Brighton's Evan Ferguson
Chelsea have joined the race to sign the Brighton & Hove Albion striker Evan Ferguson. Brighton are willing to sell or loan the Republic of Ireland international, who has been the subject of interest from Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Bournemouth, Everton Tottenham and West Ham.
Champions League and Europa League draws will be happening over the next couple of hours: the Champions League goes first, at 12pm CET/11am GMT, with the Europa League an hour later.
In short the teams that finished between ninth and 16th in both league stages will be seeded, and those that finished between 17th and 24th will be unseeded. In each pairing the unseeded team will, unless there’s a good reason not to, play the second leg at home. So far, so straightforward.
Beyond that, and to add a bonus level of complication, sides have been paired for the draw. So the ninth and 10th-placed teams can only play either the 23rd or the 24th-placed teams, and so on until 15th and 16th play 17th and 18th.
Then in the quarter-finals the teams that progressed directly from the group in first and second place will face the winners of those 15th/16th/17th/18th playoffs and so on from there, until the teams that finished seventh and eighth play the winners of the ninth/10th/23rd/24th playoffs. In each of these pairs, one will go into the top half of the draw and one into the bottom.
All clear? Good.
Hello world!
Well this could be a big, messy, sprawling, wild Friday. Just over three days to go in the men’s mid-season transfer window, which officially closes at 11pm GMT on Monday, there’s fallout from a busy week of European action with every British club involved in the Europa League snagging spots in the round of 16 in Thursday’s last round of group games, and there’s a look ahead to a weekend in which the Premier League leaders go to the division’s form team and the bottom two face off. Here are some things to look out for in the English top flight this weekend:
