Premier League news: Fernández’s Chelsea future in further doubt; Arteta praises Eze

1. Rosenior casts further doubt on Fernández’s future

Liam Rosenior has cast further doubt on Enzo Fernández’s future by admitting a “few hurdles” need to be overcome to resolve the midfielder’s situation. The Argentina international will sit out the Chelsea’s Premier League game against Manchester City after Rosenior confirmed he would not overturn an internal two-match suspension.

Fernández received the in-house ban after an interview during the international break in which he appeared to court Real Madrid. He missed last weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final victory over Port Vale and has since apologised for his comments. Rosenior expressed hope Fernández would be a “massive part of the group moving forward” but said there were issues to clear up.

“I had three or four [conversations] with Enzo,” the head coach said. “He’s apologised to me, he’s apologised to the club, and we’ll deal with that after a massive game on Sunday.”

Asked about the talks he said: “It’s a serious meeting about something very serious that Enzo has said. Every single step along this way, I’m not questioning Enzo’s character, I’m not questioning who he is as a person. I believe people make mistakes and you can’t overstep the punishment for the mistake. We’ve made a sanction, I made a decision, and what I want from Enzo is to go on here and have an outstanding career.

“He won’t play on Sunday but hopefully after that he will be a massive part of the group moving forward. There are still are few hurdles that need to be overcome that I won’t go into, but at the same time I want every player really, really focused on a huge run-in.”

Sixth-placed Chelsea are pushing for Champions League qualification. Rosenior dismissed suggestions overlooking Fernández for the City game was self-sabotage. “Football is a team sport; it’s not about individuals, it’s not about shooting yourself in the foot,” he said. “There are certain values and cultures that I believe in, that this club believes in, that makes the team stronger if you get that right.” PA Media

2. Guardiola: City must win every game

Pep Guardiola has said Manchester City must win every game, starting with Sunday’s fixture at Chelsea, to have any chance of winning the Premier League. His second-placed team trail Arsenal by nine points but have a game in hand and host the leaders next Sunday.

“In the situation we are in the Premier League, we need to win all of them, otherwise it will not give us the chance to try until the end,” Guardiola said. “We have not been consistent enough this season. We have dropped points that we should have taken, which is why we are now in the position where we cannot do anything differently.“

City have won six Premier League titles under Guardiola, and Bernardo Silva has been part of each. The head coach joked he was “angry” with the Portugal international for not telling him he would be leaving, after Pep Lijnders revealed Silva would depart in the summer. Silva has made 450 City appearances, the most during Guardiola’s tenure, since signing in July 2017 from Monaco for £43.5m.

Guardiola said: “I’m so angry with Bernardo because a month ago I said: ‘If you take a decision you have to be the first to tell me.’ He didn’t say anything yet. I said, joking: ‘Tell me I deserve it,’ but he didn’t tell me so I don’t know what’s going on.”

Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva celebrates scoring a goal that was later disallowed against Sunderland

Guardiola outlined why Silva is a favoured footballer of his. “One of the dreams of a manager is a player who can play in every position except the keeper,” he said. “It means you have the intelligence to play in many positions.

“He was a winger in the year of the Treble [2022-23], the decisive part of the season. Attacking midfield he can play but he’s not a player to make a lot of goals or runs in behind but he’s intelligent to read the tempo of the game and I like when he’s involved in all the process.

“Maybe because he’s getting old – and when you get old you go back and back and back – he now plays in central midfield. He is so smart to read what is going on and what we have to do and not all of them have this ability.”

Guardiola changed his policy for this season by deciding who should be captain, after previously allowing players to vote. He chose Silva. “The best decision I made this season,” he said. Jamie Jackson

3. Eze has ‘obsession’ with improving, says impressed Arteta

Mikel Arteta has praised Eberechi Eze’s determination to return early from a calf injury and said he was been surprised by the England forward’s “obsession” with improving since joining from Crystal Palace last summer.

Eze is in line to feature against Bournemouth on Saturday after a calf injury that ruled him out of last month’s Carabao Cup final. The £67.5m signing has missed Arsenal’s past three games and had been expected to be sidelined for longer. But with doubts over Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard for Saturday’s crucial lunchtime meeting with Bournemouth, Arteta was delighted to confirm Eze would be available.

“The will that he’s shown from day one to get back as quick as possible, how he’s pushed the medical staff and himself to be there, it’s just great to watch,” said Arteta. “I didn’t know that he was so determined, so obsessed and so willing to push his body. I didn’t know that part of him. He really surprised me in a really powerful way, how much he loves the game. When you take somebody’s opportunity to play, you really see their reaction. How involved he was in and around the team, the energy that he brings every day in the building.”

Eberechi Eze of Arsenal celebrates scoring in the Champions League.

Arsenal sent an email to season-ticket holders this week asking them to arrive early for the 12.30pm kick-off, and Arteta has urged fans to “have an early breakfast, bring your lunch”. Victory would stretch their lead over Manchester City to 12 points before Pep Guardiola’s side face Chelsea on Sunday and Arteta recognised the importance of the occasion.

“The closer we get, the relevance and importance of the match increases, obviously, and tomorrow is a big day for us,” he said.

The Spaniard’s contract is due to expire at the end of next season and it is understood Arsenal have held talks with Arteta over an extension and would like him to stay regardless of what happens this season. “I’m fully committed here,” Arteta said. “I’m really happy and I feel good. My family is good. I still have so much ambition and things to do in this football club and for now we are in a good place.” Ed Aarons

4. Howe ‘aligned’ with Newcastle chief executive

Eddie Howe insists “nothing has changed” at Newcastle and that his relationship with the chief executive, David Hopkinson, remains “aligned” and amicable. During the international break Hopkinson hinted Howe’s managerial tenure on Tyneside could end this summer, saying: “I don’t have a stance on the manager’s future” and stating that he had spent a two-hour one-one-one lunch with Howe dissecting last month’s painful home defeat to Sunderland.

Newcastle’s manager responded in typically understated fashion before Sunday’s trip to Crystal Palace. “For me nothing has changed,” Howe said. “I’m 100% committed to the job. That commitment has never wavered from my side. I am right across everything for the summer and next season with Ross [Wilson, Newcastle’s sporting director] and David, whether that is potentials during the transfer window or pre-season schedules.”

Pressed as to whether his lunch with Hopkinson had been cordial, Howe replied: “Absolutely. It was all constructive. It was not necessarily a meeting about Sunderland. It was a planned meeting about the future and making sure we are aligned. We are all aligned. There have certainly been no falling-outs. I’ve got a very good relationship with Ross and David. I’ve had really good support from both of them.”

Asked whether he had challenged Hopkinson over the Canadian’s remarks to reporters during a briefing regarding Newcastle’s financial results, Howe demurred. “Absolutely not,” he said. “I don’t need assurances from anybody. We have spoken and had communication but not about those comments.”

Howe, whose nephew Andy Howe has a senior recruitment role at Newcastle, enjoys significantly greater say in player signings than many Premier League peers but offered a robust defence of this arrangement.

“Judge me by every signing we’ve made since I’ve been here,” he said. “Not just by one or two that people want to sort of beat with a stick about. Across the board I think we’ve recruited really well. I’m really proud of our recruitment. Every player we’ve signed has been chased and endorsed by myself.” Louise Taylor

5. Pereira asks Premier League to ‘protect’ clubs in Europe

Vítor Pereira has called on the Premier League to “protect” its clubs by adapting the schedule to help them prosper in Europe, insisting doing so would result in more silverware.

In France, the Ligue de Football Professionnel rescheduled Paris Saint-Germain’s Ligue 1 matches to provide them with more rest before Champions League knockout fixtures.

Nottingham Forest host Aston Villa on Sunday less than 48 hours after arriving back from their first-leg draw at Porto, and Villa played in Bologna on Thursday.

Pereira referenced how the Portuguese Liga has shifted games to help Porto cope with the schedule. Last month the league approved Sporting’s request to postpone a league game against Tondela between last-16 matches.

“They schedule the game for Sunday but [move it] to Monday and this is completely different,” said the Forest head coach. “It is one more day, they can recover – 24 hours more to recover makes a big difference.

“In my opinion, to protect the teams who are playing in the Europa League and the Conference League especially, and even the Champions League, just one day after is very important to get results. Sometimes it’s important to protect the clubs, to give them the chance to win more titles.”

Forest and Villa will meet in the semi-finals if both teams prevail. Pereira accepted the schedule was beyond his powers: “If we protect these teams, the teams in the Europa League, Conference League and the Champions League, for sure England can get more titles. For sure, I don’t have any doubts.

“If you look at PSG, they [LFP] delayed the previous four matches to be in conditions to compete in the league and Champions League. This is what we need to reflect on.” Ben Fisher

6. Sunderland aim to be in top seven every year, says Le Bris

Régis Le Bris has pledged that his promoted Sunderland side will not rest on their laurels after collecting 43 points in a season featuring two landmark wins against Newcastle. “It is clear what the board want, they want to be a strong club, consistently in the top 10 in the Premier League and, maybe after one or two more years, the top six or seven,” said Sunderland’s manager as he prepared to welcome Tottenham and their new head coach, Roberto De Zerbi to the Stadium of Light on Sunday.

“That is their vision and I share that vision. We want to grow, we want to become a bigger club. We are ambitious, this is not the end of the story.”

Regular European football is the aim of Sunderland’s owner, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, and the club’s sporting director, Florence Ghisolfi, and Le Bris’s 11th-placed team have an outside chance of achieving it this season. “We are doing well,” Le Bris said. “The players are ambitious, there is pressure internally; we have to try to seize the opportunity.

“As a team we’re emotional but I think this is good. It’s not always easy to manage at half-time! But it shows the players care. They care about our style of play, about our results, about our ambition.”

Although less of a tactical fundamentalist than De Zerbi, Le Bris has long been a fan of the Italian and made detailed studies of his Shakhtar Donetsk and Brighton teams. “He’s a great coach,” said a manager who revealed that Robin Roefs, Nordi Mukiele, Reinildo and Enzo Le Fée were fit to start after injuries but that Dan Ballard would be sidelined by a hamstring injury for a further week . “Is it my style? Not always but he’s got good ideas and a clear identity. That’s important.” Louise Taylor