Sunday News (includes West Ham)

[Alan]

BBC

England striker Marcus Rashford, 28, has agreed a three-year deal with Barcelona and the Spanish club intend to trigger a release clause of about £26m to turn his loan from Manchester United into a permanent deal in the summer. (Sport - in Spanish), external

Chelsea's 24-year-old Senegal striker Nicolas Jackson, who is on loan at Bayern Munich, and Borussia Dortmund's Guinea forward Serhou Guirassy, 29, are among the options AC Milan are interested in. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian), external

Aston Villa are also keen on Jackson as they plan to let 30-year-old England forward Ollie Watkins leave in the summer. (Football Insider), external

Real Madrid want to sign 29-year-old Manchester City midfielder Rodri, with the Spain international set to cost about £44m. (Radio Marca), external

England winger Anthony Gordon has been linked with Arsenal but, rather than suggestions the 25-year-old has two years left on his Newcastle United deal, he actually has four. (Sky Sports), external

Atletico Madrid and Juventus have joined Newcastle in wanting to sign 26-year-old Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez, who has fallen out of favour at Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal. (Football Insider), external

Juventus have made 27-year-old France striker Randal Kolo Muani, who is on loan at Tottenham from Paris St-Germain, a top summer transfer target. (Tuttosport, via Football Italia), external

Former England boss Gareth Southgate has been linked with taking over at Manchester United but says he is "not actively looking for a role in coaching". (Football Boardrrom Podcast, via Star), external

AC Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri has played down reports suggesting he is considering his future at the Serie A club. (Football Italia)




Sky Paper Talk

PREMIER LEAGUE

Barcelona are making progress towards signing Marcus Rashford on a permanent deal from Manchester United in the summer - The Athletic

Nottingham Forest have taken steps to ensure they remain on the right side of UEFA's multi-club ownership rules in light of their progress in the Europa League - The Athletic

Graeme Souness has revealed that he is trapped in Abu Dhabi amid Iranian strikes, with the Liverpool legend sharing an update on social media detailing the 'loud bangs' he heard overnight - Mail on Sunday

US men's national team coach Mauricio Pochettino said it is very difficult to "stay on the sidelines" of political issues during a radio interview with "Radiogaceta de los Deportes" on RNE in Spain in which he was asked about the US men's Olympic hockey team, President Donald Trump and the actions of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) - The Athletic

FIFA chiefs have held crisis talks over the possible ramifications for the World Cup of the United States' military strikes on Iran, which have already led to the cancellation of an England Lions cricket match due to be played on Sunday in Abu Dhabi - Sunday Times

TENNIS

Men's tennis stars playing at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships appear to be stranded in the United Arab Emirates after a local hotel was struck by an Iranian suicide drone in retaliation for joint US-Israeli attack - Mail on Sunday

F1

Formula One's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne next Sunday is due to go ahead despite bombing in the Middle East resulting in hundreds of F1 personnel having their flights cancelled - Mail on Sunday

PARALYMPICS

The Paralympics opening ceremony in Verona faces the risk of mass boycotts after the news that Finland has joined the growing list of nations to opt out in ​protest at the ‌inclusion of Russian athletes - Sunday Telegraph

BOXING

Chris Eubank Jr shared horrifying footage of a missile attack striking an area close to the Dubai Palm on Saturday afternoon - Sunday Express




Guardian

Liverpool’s five-star display heaps more pressure on wobbling West Ham

Andy Hunter at Anfield

The contrasting strengths of Liverpool and West Ham are reflected on the balance sheet, the team sheet and ultimately the score sheet. Arne Slot’s side improved their prospects of Champions League qualification with a peculiar victory at Anfield, the winning margin far more resounding than the performance.

In the week Liverpool announced record overall revenue of £703m in their latest accounts, most of it ploughed back into the bank balances of a title-winning team, West Ham warned that players will have to be sold this summer whether they stay up or not having suffered a £104.2m loss in the same financial year. Their prospects of avoiding relegation look bleak in the context of such a heavy defeat yet, strange as it seems, Nuno Espírito Santo could take encouragement from elements of West Ham’s display.

The visitors had a better xG than Liverpool but found Alisson in fine form and the champions devastating at set pieces. West Ham must have known it was not going to be their day when their bus got stuck on a ramp while attempting to leave the team hotel. “If I say it was a good performance I sound silly,” said Nuno. “But that’s what I saw.”

And yet this game was effectively over by half-time. As damning as that was for West Ham, they retained hope of getting back into the contest before Alexis Mac Allister extinguished it in the 43rd minute. The midfielder’s brilliant volley was the third Liverpool goal to originate from a corner as Slot’s side continued their metamorphosis into the Premier League’s set-piece specialists.

Poor at defending them and scoring from them in the first half of the season, resulting in the departure of the set-piece coach Aaron Briggs in December, Liverpool have now scored more set-piece goals than any other team in the division – excluding penalties – in 2026. West Ham were defensively weak as Liverpool took their set-piece goals total to eight for the calendar year.

Hugo Ekitiké gave the hosts an early lead after El Hadji Malick Diouf had cleared the first corner of the afternoon. Ryan Gravenberch returned a fine ball into the France international, who took his shot early and saw it nestle into Mads Hermansen’s bottom corner via a slight deflection off Konstantinos Mavropanos. Both the West Ham centre-half and goalkeeper could have done more.

The visitors responded well to their first setback. Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville were to the fore as Liverpool were opened up frequently, but West Ham could not find a finishing touch. Mavropanos scooped wildly over when a Jarrod Bowen corner landed at his feet and Mac Allister worked tirelessly to cut out a dangerous counterattack led by Summerville. The threat from West Ham was growing, then Liverpool scored another simple goal from a corner.

Virgil van Dijk headed home Dominik Szoboszlai’s delivery after bumping aside Soungoutou Magassa and beating Tomas Soucek to the ball. It was the Liverpool captain’s second set-piece goal in three games and his team’s seventh of the year. Number eight was executed brilliantly. Mohamed Salah took a corner from the right, Van Dijk flicked on at the near post, Ekitiké cushioned the ball out to Mac Allister and he volleyed into the roof of the net via the head of Aaron Wan-Bissaka. The ball did not touch the ground from the moment it left Salah’s foot.

West Ham had their moments before the third goal, Alisson saving well from Soucek and gratefully from Bowen after hitting a clearance straight at the visiting captain, but were in for a long afternoon. To their credit, Nuno’s side did not concede to the inevitable. Soucek reduced the arrears early in the second half when sliding in to convert Diouf’s low cross.

Anfield became noticeably edgy as errors crept into the Liverpool display and both Fernandes and Summerville drew good stops from Alisson. But Cody Gakpo restored the host’s three goal cushion when his low shot struck Wan-Bissaka and deflected into the far corner.

West Ham responded once again when Bowen’s corner sailed over a crowded six-yard box and Taty Castellanos scored with a free header at the back post. But a late, unfortunate own goal by Axel Disasi, who deflected a low cross from the Liverpool substitute Jeremie Frimpong beyond Hermansen, compounded a punishing day for West Ham. “You’re going down with Prince Andrew,” taunted the Kop.

Slot reflected: “I’m very pleased with the set pieces, firstly because that is the reason we won and secondly because we played OK-to-good. We’ve played better this season and lost. We’ve started scoring from set pieces and things look brighter and better than when you don’t.”

[Mr Logic]

Tx m8
 

[Mickey Rat]

Thanks Alan

[Mex Martillo]

Thanks Alan