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Leeds United: In news that is unlikely to comfort fans who are worried their team will “do a Leeds” and blow their chances of promotion o the Premier League, Daniel Farke has assured Leeds fans their team will not “do a Leeds” and blow their chances of promotion to the Premier League.
Second in the Championship table after surrendering a five-point lead, Leeds have won only one of their last five matches and could fall out of the automatic promotion places if they fail to beat Luton Town tomorrow and Burnley get a result against Coventry, but Farke is convinced they will be in the top flight next season.
“I was involved in that [2018-19 promotion, with Norwich City] battle and yes, Leeds fell apart and I was struggling to explain it because they had a really good coach in Marcelo [Bielsa],” he said. “And for me, I liked the Norwich team, but Leeds had by far the better players and by far the better side and I was thinking, ‘why does this happen?’.”
Farke sensed the weight of expectation at Elland Road from the opposition dug-out when his Norwich side won 3-1 there in February 2019 when both teams were vying for top spot.
“I was thinking then I loved so much to be in this stadium and the atmosphere and what a big club this is,” he said. Of course I was working for a different club at this time, but I was thinking one day I would like to come back and help this club to stay, in these situations, a bit more calm and positive. This is why I wanted to sign two years ago. I know how difficult it is to stay calm and cool with this club, believe me.
“So my composure and calmness is more than enough for all Yorkshire. Everyone is allowed to panic, it shows how much they care. But my task is to make sure we stay cool, that we stick together, don’t over-react, that we’re not over-motivated and that we totally believe.
“This is what I bring to this club. I can’t guarantee [promotion] right now, but I’m totally calm right now, totally composed and I totally believe the boys are doing a great job. And believe me, in the end, next season we will play in the Premier League. I’m 100 per cent convinced of this.”
Leeds face relegation battlers Luton tomorrow at lunchtime and Farke, who has no new injury worries, has confirmed goalkeeper Karl Darlow will start in place of Illan Meslier after a string of costly errors by the Frenchman.
West Ham: Graham Potter’s side host out-of-sorts Bournemouth at the London Stadium tomorrow, hoping to win for the first time in four Premier League outings. West Ham go into the game on the back of a defeat at the hands of Wolves on Tuesday, their sixth loss in 11 matches since Potter took over from Julen Lopetegui. The 49-year-old has told his misfiring West Ham stars they are “some way off” what he expects of them and says they are playing for their futures.
“You can’t play for West Ham and throw games away,” he told reporters. “It’s impossible. Every game is massive for us. So we have to remember that, starting with Bournemouth on Saturday and finish as strong as we can. I would say we are some way off, for sure. In the end we want to control games and dominate games through attacking football, and we are far from that.
“When you understand where we’ve come from and what the bigger picture is, it’s a bit more understandable. But at the same time we have to acknowledge we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ll need to carry on improving daily and then see how we can improve the team in the next transfer window, and keep taking steps. But with the ambition I have for this football club, we are some way off from where that is.”
England women: Leah Williamson has praised the form of her Arsenal and England teammate Alessia Russo before the No 9 spearheads the Lionesses’ attack in their Women’s Nations League double-header against Belgium, starting in Bristol tonight. Tom Garry reports …
The weekend’s Premier League fixtures
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Everton v Arsenal (Sat 12.30pm BST)
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Ipswich Town v Wolves (3pm)
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Crystal Palace v Brighton (3pm)
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West Ham v Bournemouth (3pm)
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Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest (5.30pm)
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Tottenham Hotspur v Southamptopn (Sun 2pm)
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Brentford v Chelsea (2pm)
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Fulham v Liverpool (2pm)
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Manchester United v Manchester City (4.30pm)
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Leicester City v Newcastle United (Mon 6pm)
Absolution of Hillsborough officers prompts fury
A 12-year investigation into the Hillsborough disaster by the police watchdog has concluded that no senior South Yorkshire police officers were guilty of misconduct for falsely blaming misbehaviour by Liverpool supporters. David Conn and Peter Walker report …
Postecoglou cops earful during Spurs loss
Tottenham Hotspur: Despite his post-match protestations to the contrary, Ange Postecoglou appeared to goad Tottenham’s travelling fans at Stamford Bridge last night with a gesture that further damaged the increasingly fragile bond between the Australian manager and dissatisfied supporters. Jacob Steinberg reports from Stamford Bridge …
Premier League: Enzo Fernandez scored the only goal of Thursday’s game to move Chelsea into the top four, while a clearly exasperated Ange Postecoglou may have finally fractured his relationship with Spurs fans beyond repair. David Hytner reports from Stamford Bridge …
The weekend is almost upon us ...
Welcome all as we strap ourselves in ahead of another weekend of piping hot football action. The weekend’s first order of business is tonight’s Women’s Nations League match between England and Belgium at Ashton Gate, but before that we’ll get to see and hear no end of top flight managers fielding interrogatory projectiles from the men and women of the Fourth Estate ahead of the latest round of Premier League action.
As is customary, we’ll be here throughout the day to flag up all the major talking points and bring you any other news that happens to present itself as the day unfolds. In the meantime, our crack team of writers have been scouring the weekend fixture list to come up with these 10 things you ought to keep your eyes peeled for in the Premier League this weekend.
