BBC
Juventus are interested in signing Tottenham and England full-back Djed Spence, 25, in the summer. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian), external
Liverpool are giving serious thought to signing 26-year-old Al-Ittihad and France winger Moussa Diaby, with the former Aston Villa man keen to leave the Saudi Pro League club this summer. (Teamtalk), external
Real Madrid have the USA head coach and former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino on the shortlist of candidates to replace Alvaro Arbeloa in the Bernabeu hot seat ahead of next season. (ESPN), external
Newcastle are determined to hold on to midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, 28, and are engaged with contract talks with the Brazil international despite Manchester United's interest. (Caughtoffside), external
Manchester United will will not rush into appointing a permanent manager despite interim boss Michael Carrick advancing his case. (The Athletic - subscription required), external
Newcastle and England defender Tino Livramento, 23, is not close to agreeing to join Manchester City in a summer deal despite speculation. (Fabrizio Romano), external
Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, 27, is not planning to hold talks with Liverpool over a new contract this summer but is happy at Anfield despite links with Real Madrid. (Mundo Deportivo - in Spanish), external
Napoli want to extend the contract of Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay until 2030 in a bid to ward off any interest in the 29-year-old this summer. (Il Mattino - in Italian - subscription required), external
West Ham striker Callum Wilson has verbally agreed terms on a new one-year contract despite Celtic's interest in the 34-year-old Englishman. (Sky Sports), external
Manchester City are unlikely to trigger a clause which would see talented 16-year-old American midfielder Cavan Sullivan join them from MLS outfit Philadelphia Union next season. (The I - subscription required), external
Former Tottenham midfielder Ryan Mason is a leading candidate to replace Igor Tudor as interim boss at Spurs. (Football Insider), external
Bayer Leverkusen will consider the future of boss Kasper Hjulmand at the end of the season. (Florian Plettenberg)
Sky Paper Talk
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Mauricio Pochettino is expected to attend Tuesday night's Champions League last 16 first-leg tie between Atletico Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur - the first time he's watched Spurs since leaving the club - The Athletic
Real Madrid have Mauricio Pochettino on the shortlist of candidates to replace Álvaro Arbeloa ahead of next season - ESPN
Tottenham Hotspur are planning to overhaul the club's underachieving squad with rebel captain Cristian Romero one of the potential high-profile departures - The Telegraph
Juventus are interested in signing Tottenham and England full-back Djed Spence, 25, in the summer - Gazzetta dello Sport
OTHER FOOTBALL
Kylian Mbappe was not in team training for Real Madrid ahead of their Champions League clash with Manchester City on Wednesday - Evening Standard
Roman Abramovich's lawyers have warned the Government that the £2.35bn Chelsea proceeds are "wholly" his and he is ready to fight confiscation efforts - The Telegraph
Manchester United will will not rush into appointing a permanent manager despite interim boss Michael Carrick advancing his case - The Athletic
Manchester City are unlikely to trigger a clause which would see talented 16-year-old American midfielder Cavan Sullivan join them from MLS outfit Philadelphia Union next season - The I Paper
SCOTTISH FOOTBALL
Jens Berthel Askou insists he has no plans to leave Motherwell any time soon - Scottish Sun
Auston Trusty has been accused of blatantly 'cheating' in an attempt to get Rangers striker Youssef Chermiti sent off during Celtic's Scottish Cup quarter-final victory at Ibrox - Daily Record
Lee Ashcroft admits Partick Thistle will struggle to keep Ben Stanway after his star showing against St Mirren - Scottish Sun
Guardian
West Ham through to last eight but Brentford’s Andrews backs Ouattara after Panenka miss
Konstantinos Mavropanos celebrates with his teammates after scoring West Ham’s winning penalty in the shootout. Photograph: John Walton/PA
Ben Bloom at the London Stadium
Given their inability to win a knockout tie in normal time, there can be little doubt of the physical impediment that West Ham’s prolonged FA Cup endeavours must make to their efforts of remaining in the Premier League.
But, with an eminently winnable home quarter-final against Leeds United now upcoming, the chance of a rare trip to Wembley is the type of happy distraction any relegation-threatened side can embrace. Momentum can provide a dangerous asset.
For the third time in as many FA Cup ties, the conventional 90 minutes were insufficient for Nuno Espírito Santo’s team to locate a winner, with two goals apiece for Jarrod Bowen and Igor Thiago cancelling each other out.
Unlike the previous two occasions, they could not even settle this one in extra time, requiring a penalty shootout to see off Brentford. Their cause was aided by a woeful Dango Ouattara spot-kick, when he followed an inordinate pause with an embarrassingly weak Panenka that looped gently into Alphonse Areola’s hands. By contrast, all five West Ham penalties were hammered firmly home, Konstantinos Mavropanos providing the winner for a 5-3 triumph.
“I’m not annoyed at all,” said Keith Andrews, when asked about Ouattara’s crucial miss. “I think the easiest thing for a footballer to do is not take a penalty. It takes unbelievable courage on a stage like that to take a penalty.
“I despise the culture around players that miss penalty kicks – national heroes that have done it. Ridiculed, persecuted. I think it’s disgusting.
“It takes serious courage to do that. You practise that technique a lot. It goes in, everyone is raving about him. Dango will get the absolute support he needs from myself and everybody attached to us.”
West Ham’s season had looked like collapsing until they grabbed a 98th-minute winner to beat QPR in the FA Cup third round in January. Nuno’s side have lost just two of their 10 games since.
“A long night, but a good one,” said Nuno, who suggested Adama Traoré, Ollie Scarles and Crysencio Summerville would all need to be assessed for potential physical problems this week. “The atmosphere in the end was amazing. The fans deserve this moment of happiness. It’s been hard but they have stuck with us, supporting us and I think the boys are giving back.”
Jarrod Bowen opens the scoring for West Ham. Photograph: Tony O’Brien/Reuters
It was a triumph that had perhaps appeared unlikely when Andrews fielded close to the strongest team at his disposal, while most of West Ham’s heavy artillery began the evening in the London Stadium dugout.
Crucially, they had their biggest weapon on the pitch from the outset though. If West Ham do find themselves in the second tier next season – and their form in recent months suggests such a prospect is increasingly unlikely – it is difficult to envisage Bowen remaining with them. Little of his abundant majesty was required in his first-half double, just a simple knack of ensuring he was in the right place at the right time, and then following up from the penalty spot.
His first goal came after a recycled corner was delivered back into the box by Mateus Fernandes and nodded across goal, where Bowen had peeled off his marker to prod home from a couple of yards. The opportunity to score a second only arose after the referee, Andrew Madley, had been sent to the pitchside monitor to inspect a Michael Kayode challenge that had sent Traoré tumbling inside the Brentford penalty area. Little examination was required, given the clarity of the trip. Up stepped Bowen, who sent Caoimhín Kelleher the wrong way.
Dango Ouattara sees his penalty saved by Alphonse Areola in the shootout. Photograph: John Walton/PA
Between times, Brentford had found a deserved, but briefly held, equaliser. Nathan Collins’ header deflected off Igor Thiago’s midriff and past a hopelessly stricken Areola.
Having been introduced at half-time, Summerville’s twinkle toes provided much of West Ham’s subsequent attacking threat, but he proved the villain when shoving Kayode just as the Brentford defender looked likely to get on the end of a dangerous cross. Madley awarded his second penalty of the night and Igor Thiago lashed it past Kelleher to restore parity.
West Ham came closest to finding an extra-time winner. Callum Wilson saw a shot excellently saved, while a Taty Castellanos effort was deflected just over the crossbar. But penalties were needed.
Fittingly, Bowen and Igor Thiago led the way when finding the net for the third time apiece. But when Ouattara paid the price for his cheekiness, West Ham seized the opportunity, Castellanos, Wilson and Tomas Soucek all scoring before Mavropanos lashed home the winner.
The Athletic
West Ham are dreaming of ‘miracles’ – even if Nuno cannot bear to watch them
West Ham celebrate their shootout victory Julian Finney/Getty Images
By Roshane Thomas
Nuno Espirito Santo walked to his seat in the technical area, sat down, and only proceeded to lift his head in acknowledgment of West Ham United’s penalty shootout win over Brentford once loud cheers reverberated around the London Stadium.
The stress of seeing his side advance to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup — the first time West Ham have reached this stage since losing to Manchester United in March 2016 — and a date with Leeds United was too much for the head coach. It was only after club captain Jarrod Bowen, Taty Castellanos, Callum Wilson, Tomas Soucek and Konstantinos Mavropanos immaculately converted their penalties in front of the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand that Nuno could breathe again, walking onto the pitch to embrace his players.
Moments prior, Mavropanos ran into the arms of goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, who saved Dango Ouattara’s dreadful Panenka penalty in the 5-3 shootout win, while Axel Disasi, the loanee from Chelsea, led the charge from the halfway line to their team-mates.
The pressure may have been intense, but West Ham were prepared. Before the shootout, Nuno gathered the players in a huddle and gave a motivational speech. Goalkeeping coach Rui Barbosa and Areola re-emerged from the tunnel, with Barbosa putting a piece of paper in his pocket.
“I’ve been told (the penalties we took were good, but) I didn’t see them,” he told West Ham’s official website. “What I saw was during three days before the game, the boys had time to practise, and then comes the moment. You know that the stress is different, but I believe that they were ready to do their job and they did it amazingly.”
Alphonse Areola saves Dango Ouattara’s Panenka penaltyJulian Finney/Getty Images
This was more proof that the recent resurgence under Nuno is genuine. West Ham have only lost two of their last 11 games across all competitions. Before their third-round extra-time victory over London rivals Queens Park Rangers on January 11, their last win had come against Burnley in November.
The positivity is spreading through players who had looked broken in the depths of winter, having been seven points adrift of safety when they lost at home to Nottingham Forest on January 6, with just 14 points.
“This season has been really tough, but for the last two months, it’s become really great, with all the good results in the Premier League,” Soucek told The Athletic following Monday’s win. “But now, even in the FA Cup, we’re going step by step and we are so happy that we went through, because for us, for our fans, for everyone who works for West Ham, this adds to the momentum.
“The team is settled under the manager. We know how we want to play and we know what West Ham means to us. We want to win the fight of relegation, we want to win the FA Cup, and we want to play for our fans, so we have all this spirit, all this momentum. I can see the faces of the players, from the staff, from everyone, that we are so happy to see each other. It wasn’t like that much before, but we changed it, and we can show it on the pitch now.
“We prepared for the penalties before this match because we know that it could come. My group did it yesterday very well, so we showed it again today.”
Juggling FA Cup and Premier League commitments will be a challenge, but it is a better problem to have than having to heal wounds caused by a deflating cup exit. Nuno made seven changes to the side that defeated Fulham last week, with Areola, Kyle Walker-Peters, Ollie Scarles, Mavropanos, Mohamadou Kante, Adama Traore, and Pablo Felipe, who has recovered from a calf injury, returning to the starting XI.
Pablo made his first appearance since the away win against Burnley on February 7, academy prospect Kante impressed on his rare start in midfield, and Jarrod Bowen’s brace in the 90 minutes was the first time he had scored twice in the same game since his first career hat-trick, against Brentford, in February 2024.
There was just one concern — the sight of Crysencio Summerville limping off the field as the rest of his team-mates applauded the four corners of the London Stadium after the final whistle. The winger sustained a knock in the second half of extra time, causing Nuno to kick the turf in frustration. A member of the medical team massaged Summerville’s left calf before he re-entered the field, playing through the rest of the game as Nuno had made all his substitutions.
Summerville has emerged as a pivotal figure for West Ham, having scored seven goals in his last 13 games. Nuno did not elaborate on his condition post-match, but he did seem to be walking more freely when he left the ground. Any possibility of advancing to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, for the first time since the 2005-06 season, and sealing Premier League survival hinges on his ability to remain fit.
Attention now turns to Saturday’s encounter with Premier League title-chasers Manchester City. West Ham lost the return fixture 3-0 in December, but this is an improved team, with newfound confidence and renewed optimism about avoiding relegation.
“With all due respect to City, they are one of the best teams in the world, but with our belief, we are approaching that game now with a winning mentality,” Soucek said. “We want to show that we are a tough team to play against. I believe that we can make miracles.”