Prem break
While the World Cup draw is the main attraction today, Premier League managers have spoken out ahead of this weekend.
Below is a summary of what some of the gaffers said in their press conferences today.
arsenal
Mikel Arteta has hinted that Mikel Merino could remain his striker given his impressive form.
The Spaniard, who is a true midfielder, has scored in the last two league games and has five goals so far this season.
This would allow Merino to continue playing ahead of Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus for Arsenal.
“I think that at least he deserves to be considered with the way he performs and the influence he brings to the team, so that’s a yes,” Arteta said when asked about the 29-year-old.
“And playing together, these are the things we prepared in the summer because of the team we have, and so far we haven’t been able to do it.”
Chelsea
Enzo Maresca has expressed his regret at not playing against Josh Acheampong in the shock 3-1 defeat to Leeds United.
The 19-year-old has been an unused substitute at Elland Road, although he has impressed every time this season.
And Maresca was apparently left to regret his decision not to play the Cobham graduate.
“After the game, I regret not playing with Josh,” he said.
“The reason we played with Trevoh [Chalobah]Benoit [Badiashile] and Tosin [Adarabioyo] That was because we saw long balls to their strikers, but just that [with] that we have lost most of them.
Liverpool
Arne Slot believes Liverpool have shown signs of improvement despite their 1-1 draw with Sunderland.
They have remained unbeaten in their last two games in all competitions, having lost their last three and nine since the end of September.
And although they had to come from behind to take a point, Slot was happy with what he saw at Anfield on Wednesday night.
“Four points from two games is different to the last two home games we played, in which we lost both and conceded seven goals.”
“In the last two games we were one distraction away from keeping two clean sheets.
“This is progress if you compare it to seven goals conceded in two games. We didn’t concede a goal from a set piece, which is also important, and we got two results.”
“There are positives to take away, but of course we are still not where we want to be. That has to be clear and obvious.”
Tottenham Hotspur
Thomas Frank has praised Xavi Simons’ attitude in training but gave him no guarantees of consistent starts for Tottenham.
Simons has made just six Premier League starts this season since his £51.8million move from RB Leipzig in the summer.
Spurs fans have been calling for the Dutchman to feature more often in the starting XI, but that could be a while away.
“Xavi has trained fantastically the last five or six times we’ve really been able to train,” he said.
“Very good attitude on the training pitch. I like that a lot. We played different games, with different line-ups.”
“I think it was Xavi [working] towards something better and better and as long as he is the same as Matty [Tel]Train well, have a good attitude, then we’ll get closer and closer.
“And I think it’s fair to say that he played in all four games we played.”
