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Bournemouth: Andoni Iraola takes his side to Wolves tomorrow on the back of consecutive defeats at the hands of Brentford and Brighton. Needless to say, the Spaniard is expecting another tough game tomorrow.

“They are surely in their best moment of the season,” he said of tomorrow’s opponents. “They come to us without any losses in their past four. We have to be ready for a very good team. We have to be at their level. In their first run of fixtures, it was very difficult because they played against all of the top teams. A similar thing happened to us last season. Now they have had more games against teams around their level, they have been very good.”

It is to be hoped somebody tells Andoni that the game is at Molineux and not the Vitality Stadium, as he seems to think.

Ipswich Town: Kieran McKenna got his media duties ahead of Ipswich’s trip to Nottingham Forest out of the way yesterday and was asked to discuss his side’s progress after they’d taken four points from games against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United either side of the international break.

“I think you look at the performances in both games and there was a lot of positives to take but it’s up to us to continue that,” he said. “We feel like we are in pretty good form but it’s about the next game - a tough game against Nottingham Forest. We need to step up again.”

Asked about Omari Hutchinson, who scored a fine equaliser against United last week, Mckenna had this to say. “It’s enjoyable seeing a hungry, talented young player getting to grips with the league and trying to make an impact. He’s been a positive through the season but certainly in the last few games. He was maybe the standout attacker on the pitch against Manchester United. He is making good strides. Lots to go.”

Newcastle: Eddie Howe’s side travel to Crystal Palace tomorrow hoping to bounce back from a dreadful performance in defeat at the hands of West Ham at St James’ Park on Monday. Asked if he’d ripped his players a new one in the aftermath of their poor display, he said he had not.

“Firstly, from personal view point, you can never underestimate opposition,” he said. “The second goal floored us which was a surprising reaction. First thing you look at is the attitude of players, the key clues to how players are mentally going into a game and they were pretty good. So no riot act but lots of analysis since.” The Newcastle head coach went on to describe tomorrow’s match against Palace as “another test of their mentality”.

Asked about Callum Wilson’s return from another lengthy spell on the sidelines through injury, he had this to say: “It is difficult, naturally every sportsman wants to execute what they are paid and love to do. He loves to scores goals. In training he has a brilliant mentality to do that. When you can’t do that because of your body it is frustrating.”

Everton: Yet to feature for Everton this season as he continues his recovery from the achilles injury he was carrying when he signed on loan from Chelsea in August, Armando Broja has had a couple of run-outs with the club’s under-21s this week and could be part of the senior squad that travels to Old Trafford on Sunday. Over to you, Sean Dyche …

“We’re getting there,” said the Everton boss. “AB [Broja] will get some minutes again today, as will Youssef Chermiti on his journey back to full fitness, which is good. AB is in front of Youssef. This is only Youssef’s start point, really, but AB is looking really fit.

“We’ll see how he gets on today. He’s done a lot of background work and I’ve spoken to him about possibly being involved”

Broja’s last senior appearance came in Albania’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of Spain in Dusseldorf during the Euro 2024, while the 23-year-old striker has not scored a Premier League goal in 14 months. With a barren spell like that to his name, the 23-year-old should feel right at home among his fellow Everton strikers. Miaow.

Women’s football: Both England and the USA have key absences but the out-of-sorts hosts hope to learn from going toe-to-toe with Emma Hayes’s resurgent side, writes Tom Garry.

Brentford: Christian Nørgaard was sent of last weekend for catching Jordan Pickford’s shin with his studs as he tried to force a loose ball home against Everton last weekend. While there was zero intent or malice, the Brentford midfielder was sent off and personally, I thought it was the right decision. Thomas Frank and others disagreed, Brentford appealed and the red card has since been rescinded.

“It’s more happiness that we have him available for the next three games,” said Frank earlier this afternoon. “It would have been a very harsh decision. I’m very happy that it was correctly overturned. This [VAR mistakes] will be an ongoing thing. We are luckily still dealing with people and not AI. Human beings can make mistakes. I think it is progressing in the right way.”

Frank went on to say that Brentford will be without Kristoffer Ajer and Gustavo Nunes for tomorrow’s visit of Leicester.

Aston Villa: Without a win in seven games across the Carabao Cup, Premier League and Champions League, Aston Villa are having a bad time of it at the moment and face a tough assignment at Chelsea on Sunday. Unai Emery has been chatting ahead of their trip to Stamford Bridge.

““We are Aston Villa, we are in our process,” he told reporters. “We are more or less getting our high demands but to be consistent is the next challenge. We’ve won two times [against Chelsea] and we’ve drawn in the cup but now it is a different match. A different match, different players and different coach of them. They are feeling comfortable, they are performing consistently and getting better and the challenge is this Sunday. We want to fight to be competing [with those teams] that are contending for the top seven.”

Villa currently sit eighth in the table, behind Nottingham Forest on goal difference.

Crystal Palace: Having steadied the listing ship somewhat with a win and two draws in their past four games, Crystal Palace host Newcastle tomorrow. Not renowned for the quality of their performances in the Big Smoke, Eddie Howe’s side go into this game on the back of their worst performance of the season, an uncharacteristically insipid display in defeat at home against West Ham on Monday night.

Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has confirmed that both Eberechi Eze and Eddie Nketiah will be fit to take their places in his squad.

“Eberechi will be in the squad tomorrow, Eddie Nketiah as well,” he said. “We worked pretty hard on their rehab, and also the medical staff did an amazing job, so that’s why they are available earlier than expected.

“Other players are coming back, some have had one more week of training after returning from injuries, so this week was very positive. It’s good when we enter a three-game week that players are back, so now we have a better situation in the squad.”

After tomorrow’s game, Palace travel to Ipswich for their midweek Premier League game on Tuesday night, then host Manchester City the following Saturday.

Southampton: Hurzeler’s opposite number, Russell Martin, takes his Saints side to his home town tonight and is expecting a “warm” welcome.

“I have a lot of people in the crowd that I know will shout some abuse at me,” he joked yesterday. “My kids are desperate for me to win because they go to a school of all Brighton fans, and they will be in their Southampton shirts and their tracksuits.

“I split my time between there and here, because I love being part of this club and part of this city, but my kids are in Brighton, they go to school there, so of course I have to have a home there as well.”

On four points, a win for Southampton would not be enough to lift them off the foot of the table but would take them to within a point of Crystal Palace and decimate the field in the game of Last Man Standing I’m currently playing, as half the remaining field of 20 players have gone for Brighton. I’ve plumped for Liverpool this weekend.

Diving in to take out man and ball Conor Bradley-on-Kylian Mbappe style, more like. Good afternoon, readers and welcome to the last leg of today’s rolling football news blog.

Brighton host Southampton tonight and with my green Leprechaun hat on, I was interested to hear what Fabian Hurzeler had to say about Evan Ferguson in his pre-match presser yesterday. The Irish striker is fully fit but has struggled to get much game time this season, not least because of the scintillating form of Danny Welbeck and Joao Pedro.

“I am happy how he is training, what shape he is in physically, mentally,” said Hurzeler, who said a January loan move away from Brighton has not been discussed … yet. “Of course, he is a young player and needs game time. It is exactly that which I demand from Evan and also what I said to him.”

That’s it from me. Barry Glendenning is stepping in.

“We have a bounce back mentality,” says Marco Silva after Fulham’s thumping by Wolves. “Wolves had four shots … it was a strange game. And the score didn’t reflect the game.

“We are going to be ready for the next one … we analysed, we worked on it, and we’re ready.”

“We’ve made a considerable difference to the defensive part,” says Everton’s Sean Dyche before Sunday’s meeting with Manchester United, Ruben Amorim’s first home Premier League game in charge.

“The final third is hardest as a manager … you can’t kick it in for them,”

“Strikers want to score goals … Dom [Calvert-Lewin} has been working hard … Beto’s been working hard …

“We have mixture of good strikers, I feel, but we’ve got to get them operating. That’s my responsibility and the staff’s to get us scoring more goals.”

On facing Amorim: “I think everyone talks about new manager bounce. It’s more difficult in that way … they’ve got good players, I’m sure he’s been working with the players and trying to get his thoughts across.

“No, I don’t know much of his work, other than stuff from the TV, stats and facts.

Gary O’Neil speaks before Bournemouth’s visit to Molineux tomorrow: “He can play there, it was a decent discovery for us,” he says of Mario Lemina’s role at centre-back last weekend in the thumping 4-1 win at Fulham. “He handled a very good Fulham attack exceptionally well.”

“Zero concern from my part,” he says, on potential interest from other clubs in Matheus Cunha.

“It’s my job to make him perform as best he can. I want the world to want him. I don’t see there being any problems with him in January … the contract stuff will be handled by the football club … Matheus won’t leave in January. Definitely not.

“I’m proud of Matheus at this moment. He’s worked very, very hard. He’s a very humble guy. He was big enough and open enough to accept the gaps he had in his game, and he’s gone head on in trying to piece the bits together.

“He has quality … all the other stuff is workable … you can’t help players with the quality and understanding they have … he is an exceptional player and very important to the group.”

Did O’Neil feel pressure when results weren’t so good? “I didn’t feel under any pressure … or, I’m always under pressure. I put pressure on myself … hopefully the fanbase have enjoyed the last few weeks more than the previous ones … now Bournemouth come and they are going to be a really tough test … it’ll be a real big test. Four unbeaten, yes, but desperate to make it five.”

Barcelona have stiff competition in midfield and Frenkie de Jong must work to nail down a first-team spot, manager Hansi Flick said.

De Jong has been sidelined for several months due to a persistent ankle injury, which also meant he missed Euro 2024 with the Netherlands.

Since his October return, the 27-year-old has largely featured off the bench, making just two starts, and he was booed during Barcelona’s 3-0 Champions League win over French club Brest.

“He must deal with this situation. He must regain his confidence. We look at every game to win. We want to play with the best team and based on that we make the eleven,” Flick said before a home game against Las Palmas on Saturday.

“He will be back, but it takes time. For me he was injured and now he is progressing well, and personally three or four weeks ago, when he started playing, he had a different mentality.

“Now he’s back after the international break and we support him, but we have a lot of midfielders. Those who are at 100% will play. He has to show the level. He is progressing, we follow him and we support him.”

“The managers just keep on coming,” declares the anchor on a well-known sports news TV channel, leading into an advert break.

“We’re about to hear from Wolves’ Gary O’Neil.”

Exciting!

On Guardiola and crisis-club Manchester City, Krishnamoorthy emails: “When Joseph Heller was told that he has not written a book as good as Catch-22 on the 10th year anniversary of the book he replied “Who has?”

Bayer Leverkusen want to show they have rediscovered consistency with a win at Union Berlin on Saturday that would make it three consecutive victories in all competitions, says coach Xabi Alonso.

Leverkusen, who won the domestic league and Cup double last season without a single defeat, crushed Heidenheim in the league 5-2 last week before firing another five goals past RB Salzburg in the Champions League on Tuesday in a 5-0 win. Yet they have managed three consecutive wins in all competitions just once this season, in September.

“We want to have again a good feeling. After [the win over] Heidenheim it was better and it was certainly better after Salzburg,” Alonso said. “Tomorrow is a different game ... but it is a good moment to show that after two good games we can play a third good one in a row. I want another clean sheet tomorrow.”

Leverkusen have one win in four league games and are fourth on 20 points, nine off leaders Bayern Munich who face Borussia Dortmund on Saturday. “We know we expect something different against Union and a big challenge in front of us,” Alonso said. “We have to be prepared for a physical game.” (Reuters)

A quote headline from Ranieri in Gazzetta, about last night: “Well done Roma, you never gave up. That’s how people get fired up”

Thanks John. Good afternoon all.

Just listening to Ange Postecoglou asking journalists at today’s press conference why he should make Tottenham more pragmatic. And I have to say, last night’s 2-2 draw against Roma was one of the most entertaining games I’ve seen in a long time. Keep doing what you’re doing, Ange.

That’s my stint on the blog done. Over to Luke McLaughlin. But first, a quiz.

A reminder of the table. Just look at Liverpool’s advantage. Shades of 2019-20, hopefully without the outbreak of a novel virus.

Nottingham Forest were in the top four but have lost their last two. Nuno’s been speaking to his club’s TV channel. Forest host Ipswich at 3pm on Saturday.

“Very positive. When you have a problem you have to address it, you have to take care of that and we did that. Now Saturday comes a test.

“But the mentality, the way we want to do things, we must go back from where we start, how we start, how we want to be as a team. When we speak I say over and over these words to the press, to the players, we must be compact, solid. We must be a team that is hard to beat, we must be a team that opponents don’t get anything. The first step has to be always like that when you go into the games.”

Kev McCready gets in touch about Arne’s day off: “I’d like to think Arne is enjoying some of Liverpool’s trendier venues - News From Nowhere (an independent bookshop run by a collective of women), The Open Eye (photography gallery) or maybe 69a (antique shop).“

It’s been a busy week at Tottenham, might it be a busy January? Here’s Ange on some transfer business.

“I’ve already had a few minutes with [Tottenham technical director] Johan [Lange] about a strategy for January. Last year, we did some business which helped us. We’ve got a lot of injuries but a lot of clubs have. At some point it is going to come home to roost, you will either get a diminished product or clubs will have to carry bigger squads.”

That West Ham v Arsenal game previewed here by Jacob Steinberg.

In that context Lopetegui needs to keep his guard up. Although suggestions that the former Borussia Dortmund manager Edin Terzic was being lined up to take over are wide of the mark, the situation remains precarious. Another bad run would inevitably bring more noise. Some at the club were unsure about Lopetegui’s appointment and suggested alternatives. However Sullivan, still the main power, has championed the 57-year-old and is determined to give him time to silence the doubters.

Ben Dawson is the caretaker – interim – manager at Leicester. On Ruud van Nistelrooy’s reportedly imminent arrival, he’s keeping cards close to his chest.

“Nothing at the moment. I was hoping you could shed some light on the situation. We probably know as much as you do and we’re just continuing and focusing on the game tomorrow.”

Leicester play at Brentford on Saturday at 3pm.

Ruben Amorim held his TV duties with fans singing his name.

Arteta on the Pep crisis at City.

“A bump, everybody has a bump. For them it is very strange because for nine years they have never had it. It tells you the level and the environment that we are in, everything has to be almost perfect - performance and ability has to be perfect and things have to go your way. It is so hard to win.”

Arteta on Raheem Sterling, who hasn’t played too much for Arsenal.

“I would like to see him more and this is down to me. He is trying his best. His application and his commitment around the team has been exceptional and now it is time for me to get him more minutes.

“That’s the intention [to get him more minutes] and that’s why I put him in against Forest and I wanted to put him in against Sporting and now getting him in that rhythm because he can really impact the team.”

It’s West Ham v Arsenal at 5.30pm on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta has been speaking about Martin Odegaard: “With the way he prepares himself and how much work he put in with the physios and medical department to get in the best possible condition to face the period and importance of the season that we are in and to hit the ground running - he has been exceptional since the Chelsea game and he has been very consistent the last three games.

“Good players that are so consistent and so reliable that can take the game to a different level and make the players better around them, that’s a huge quality of Martin’s and he has been missed.”

Last night’s Europa League action:

Colin gets in touch: You won’t hear from Arne Slot today. As Andy Hunter reported he held his press conference yesterday. I think on TNT on Wednesday he said his family was visiting for a few days. Maybe he’s off to visit the Three Graces, Albert Dock, The Cavern & The Cathedrals - “we’ve got one to spare”.

Let’s get it going with the usual 10 things.

Ahead of that Wembley friendly, here’s a piece from the ever excellent Emma John, comparing the England manager to her English opposite number.

Warnings from the US for Liverpool as the Salah contract saga goes on. Good piece from Ryan Baldi.