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BBC
Everton want Arsene Wenger to take over as manager if he is sacked by Arsenal. Everton owner Farhad Moshiri believes he is the best candidate to help the Toffees rebuild. (Star)
Everton are also interested in bringing former Gunners midfielder and current Manchester City assistant boss Mikel Arteta into the managerial set-up at Goodison Park. (Mirror)
Arsenal want Wenger's successor to be a head coach rather than a manager, which would help them focus on coaching and a return to the Champions League. (Sun)
Former Gunners forward Thierry Henry says he would "always say yes" if asked to replace Wenger at Emirates Stadium. (Evening Standard)
Chelsea's Brazil midfielder Willian, 29, says he wants to stay at the Premier League club, despite interest from Manchester United. (Planeta Sportv - in Portuguese)
Tottenham are interested in Bayer Leverkusen's Germany defender Jonathan Tah, 22, as a replacement for Toby Alderweireld. Spurs have been unable to agree a new contract with the 29-year-old Belgium international. (Mirror)
Paris St-Germain will not sell Neymar in the summer, says sporting director Antero Henrique, despite the 26-year-old Brazil forward being linked with Real Madrid. (Goal, via L'Equipe)
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson says he "does not know much" about his side's Monday night opponents Manchester United. (Sun)
Leicester and Algeria forward Riyad Mahrez, 27, says his failed move to Manchester City in January "was a difficult situation" but that he "will give everything" for the Foxes while he is at the club. (Telegraph)
West Ham manager David Moyes has warned his players that "there'll be none of us here" if they continue to play like they did in the 4-1 defeat by Swansea at the weekend. (Telegraph)
Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn has warned that a team could be relegated from the Premier League by a refereeing error unless VAR is introduced in the top flight. (Times - subscription required)
Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has not started a Premier League game since 26 December but Old Trafford boss Jose Mourinho says if England manager Gareth Southgate "trusts him, he selects him". (Express)
Fulham's on-loan Serbia striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, 23, says players at the club "enjoy the football more than last season" when he was promoted from the Championship with parent club Newcastle. (Mail)
Guardian Rumour Mill
Barry Glendenning
Weekend reports in the Mirror declared it was decided at a recent Everton recruitment meeting to make the signing of Jamie Vardy the club’s top priority this summer. Everton fans could scarcely be more disgruntled at the moment and travelling die-hards made their dissatisfaction with Sam Allardyce abundantly clear in the wake of their latest defeat away from home on Saturday, the club’s sixth in a row on the road. While Cenk Tosun scored in defeat against Burnley, the Turkish striker is not seen as the answer to Everton’s toothlessness in front of goal and Vardy has been identified as a replacement. Whether or not the 31-year-old, who has over two years remaining on his contract and previously turned down a move to Arsenal in favour of staying with Leicester, is interested in a move remains to be seen.
Following defeat at Brighton, Arsenal feature prominently and unsurprisingly in today’s tittle-tattle. While Arsène Wenger’s position has never looked less secure, there’s no suggestion he’s likely to be sacked any time soon, but should he go in the summer, Germany coach Joachim Löw is the favourite to be tasked with clearing up whatever mess he leaves behind. Currently a vision in magenta training gear in his role as one of Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff at Manchester City, Mikel Arteta has also been mentioned as a potential future Arsenal manager, while Everton are another of the Spaniard’s former clubs who are interested in offering him his first role in management. Aaron Ramsey is unlikely to be around to witness any potential managerial handover at the Emirates Stadium, as the Mail claim the Welsh midfielder has become surplus to requirements and will be sold in the summer.
Speculation in Spain suggests Samuel Umtiti is ready to jump ship and join Manchester United if Barcelona don’t double his annual salary of £3.6m. The French central defender, whose contract contains a £53m release clause, has a long-term admirer in José Mourinho and may just be using United’s interest as leverage in his negotiations with his employers. Interestingly, however, Lionel Messi is reported to be dismayed at the prospect of his team-mate leaving the Camp Nou.
Andrés Iniesta, who will almost certainly miss Barcelona’s Champions League second leg against Chelsea with a hamstring injury, is also being linked with a move away from the club, with his former manager Guardiola likely to offer the 33-year-old playmaker one last job with Manchester City before he hands in his badge and gun. With Ivan Rakitic also expected to leave La Liga’s leaders, Tottenham Hotspur fans will be unimpressed to learn that their own creator-in-chief, Christian Eriksen, has been earmarked as Iniesta’s eventual successor.
And finally, Nice midfielder Jean Michael Seri could find himself the centre of a summer tug-of-love between Liverpool and Manchester United, while Fulham prodigy Ryan Sessegnon, who appears to have been a first team staple with the Cottagers for years despite being just 17 years old, is wanted by both of Manchester’s Premier League clubs.
OS
Moyes: Our next two home games could define our Premier League season
David Moyes says West Ham United’s next two home games could ‘define’ their Premier League season.
The Hammers host Burnley and Southampton in their only top-flight fixtures in March and know six points out of six would go a long way to securing their safety.
However, after losing 4-1 at Liverpool and Swansea City in their last two matches, the manager has demanded more energy, more quality and more resilience when they return to action at London Stadium.
“The next two games could define the season,” he confirmed. “We’ve got games now that we know we can get something from. Before, I thought a point a game could get us to 40 points, as that was the old-fashioned figure, but we’re now finding we need to do more than that.
“We’re having to make sure we pick up points, but obviously the games are not easy against any of the teams, it doesn’t matter who you are playing.
“I like the message to be that we’re going to be fine, but the truth is we’re not fine yet. I want us to be positive and we are capable of winning games, but at the moment we have to find a way of not conceding goals.
“We have to give our attacking players the chance to win us games. We’re not fine yet, but I want us to be positive and look forward. We have got a squad that can do it, but on Saturday we went without four big players, including two centre-halves. Angelo [Obgonna] was an illness, so he shouldn’t be out too long. Ginge [James Collins] felt a bit of tightness in his hamstring during the week, so that made it a little bit difficult.”
West Ham went on a fine run over Christmas and the New Year, picking up 20 points and losing just two of 12 Premier League matches, but their heavy defeats at Anfield and the Liberty Stadium have led Moyes to call on his players to go back to basics and rediscover that level of performance.
“The big thing for the players is that we’re not reaching the standards we were six weeks ago. We’re not reaching the energy levels, or the quality or making ourselves hard to beat – all the things we wanted to instil since we came in.
“To be fair, we probably have been playing better football, but ultimately we need to get results. We’re not in a good enough place, because we need to win more games.
“Saturday was miles away from where we want to be going and if we play like that, none of those players will be here. The players need to show a bit and I think they are good enough, but in the last two games they didn’t show anywhere near enough to win games.
“At Swansea, we should have saved the first goal, the second one was a corner kick which we should easily deal with at the back post, the third one was a corner kick we should easily deal with, and the fourth one was a penalty kick, so if you go through it, it was a really poor performance because we didn’t do the basics well enough, and if we do the basics well enough we’ll be OK.”
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