Premier League team news, previews, press conferences and European reaction – live

Key events

If you missed it, Wales defender Chris Gunter has followed Gareth Bale and Joe Allen in retiring from international football. He won 109 caps over 15 years and, of course, was the inspiration for one of the great lines from former Welsh boss Chris Coleman.

Everton boss Sean Dyche chucks some football philosophy our way ahead of Saturday’s home match against Brentford. Perch on the edge of your seat and take this lot in.

“A manager’s dream; if you speak to the best managers they love a 1-0. You can never guarantee any score, the only worry about scorelines is how you are managing the game.

“What I do know is the relentless mentality I want from the players and we have been speaking about that with them. Anything is achievable at any given moment so we take on the game until the last breath.

“These are all learning curves. You have to remember these players are wise players, a lot of them have been in the Premier League for a long time and they know the details and that is the frustrating thing.

“You want to play and enjoy it but you know there is a professional responsibility and the players should understand that. You win because you get everything right all the way through a 90-minute match.

Use your noggin. Photograph: Javier García/REX/Shutterstock

“We have never wanted pure football every time, it is ‘how many times can you affect the opposition?’. It is reading the game, understanding the nature of the game and game management as you mature as a player and a group.

“Knowing the moments when to be more attacking, that is on-pitch stuff. You can only coach so many things on the training ground.”

Liverpool have scored 23 goals across just three matches in this strange season of theirs, that ridiculous figure being arrived at via the seven-goal romps against Rangers and Manchester United and the 9-0 drubbing of Bournemouth. The Cherries hope to have better luck in the return match against the Reds on Saturday. All that and more in this week’s episode of 10 Things.

Is it snowing near you? Deep stuff in my neck of the woods (West Yorkshire).

Jacob Steinberg on Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell thriving again.

“They were top of the league when Chilwell was injured against Juve. Thomas Tuchel’s system had flourished with Chilwell surging down the left and Reece James dominating the right. Assessing his two key wing-backs, Tuchel would often describe them as being more like No 10s than defenders. “It’s a very important position in the system we play,” the German said. “A very important part of the position is to create a goal threat.”

Sundays were boring when I was a kid. Everything shut, nothing to do, the comedown from the excitement of Saturday and ‘Songs of Praise’ adding to the ennui. Then live football came along. Great piece here from Steven Pye.

Cheers Barry. Oh dear. Les will look after you.

Mid-morning matters: While you’re reading this, I’ll be spending the next hour or so enduring agony in a dentist’s chair, so I’ll hand you over to Dave Tindall in the meantime.

Newcastle: Eddie Howe was asked about his side’s poor recent form and their chances of turning it around in the hope of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. ““There’s a belief that we can win again and we need to very quickly to fulfil that aim,” he said. “I’ve never sat here and talked us up in terms of targets and top four but I have talked us up in terms of what we can achieve and the quality in our group and I’m not going to change now.

“Through every season there are difficult moments and there are patches where you for some reason don’t win the games maybe you should and sometimes you win games you shouldn’t. We’re in the first one and that’s where you have to be strong mentally and know it will change.”

Newcastle are expected to spend the international break doing some warm-weather training in Dubai. During the World Cup, Eddie Howe, his staff and the players who were not on international duty in Qatar, travelled to Saudi Arabia for a training camp.

Newcastle United: Newcastle host Wolves at St James’ Park on Sunday afternoon, with Eddie Howe’s team looking for their first win in six games in all competitions. Eddie Howe’s men have taken just three points from the past 15 available but remain in fifth place in the table.

“Julen Lopetegui has had a really big impact on their team,” said HOwe of Sunday’s opponents. “I’ve watched them closely this week. They have some very good players. I think the manager has come in and given them confidence and now they look like they are back to the Wolves we have seen in previous seasons.”

After Wolves, Newcastle are away at Nottingham Forest next weekend, ahead of the international break. “They are two big games because of where they are situated,” said Howe. “We have the international break afterwards and we want to go into that break really good. We want to feel good going into that and we’re also running out of games. They are going to go so quickly, 14 left. We need points and we are determined to end this run of games we have had in a confident way.”

Manchester United: Elliott Management have made it through to the second phase of the Manchester United sale process. The American hedge fund are not interested in buying the club outright but do want to invest in the club. They join the bids fronted by Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe in ther next round of the bidding process.

Brighton: Of all the teams challenging for fourth spot in the Premier League, it could be argued that Brighton are currently playing the best football. Currently seven points off the pace being set by Spurs in the final Champions League qualification spot, Roberto Di Zerbi’s side have three games in hand over the north London side and have also played fewer games than Fulham, Newcastle and Liverpool, who are all above them.

The Italian manager has been linked with the Tottenham job and has addressed the speculation in his press conference ahead of Brighton’s match against Leeds at Elland Road tommorrow. ““I have a long contract with Brighton and I’m happy to work here,” he told reporters. “I enjoy working with these players, I’m delighted with their performance. I can’t ask for more, it’s a good moment in my life.

“We have a dream. I think we know we can write a new history for the club. This is a nice challenge. It will be difficult, but now we have a complete squad with many young players and we are stronger.”

Brighton manager Roberto Di Zerbi is one of several managers being linked with the job of putting out the Tottenham Hotspur binfire. Photograph: Steve Bond/PPAUK/REX/Shutterstock

Sporting 2-2 Arsenal

Europa League: Arsenal dominated for long periods but were forced to come from behind courtesy of a Hidemasa Morita own goal in Lisbon to leave themselves in a good position ahead of next week’s second leg at the Emirates Stadium. Nick Ames was at the Estadio Jose Alvalade to see it …

Manchester United 4-1 Real Betis

Europa League: Manchester United bounced back from their Sunday afternoon humiliation at the hands of Liverpool with an enphatic win over Real Betis in the Round of 16 first leg. Jamie Jackson braved the Old Trafford blizzard to bring you this match report …

Something for the weekend

Greetings one and all and welcome to your one-stop shop for all the news that’s fit to print (and much that almost certainly won’t be) ahead of the latest weekend of Premier League action. We’re here to bring you news from all the managerial pre-match press conferences and will flag up and other talking points as they arise.

And as we approach the end of a surreal week in which a tweet from Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker has somehow generated more news headlines than the divisive subject the Match of the Day presenter happened to be commenting on, we’ll be sure to keep our ears peeled for any more tortured, witless and inaccurate football analogies from the front bench of the Tory party.