• Ashley’s lawyer says it is hoped deal can be concluded by Christmas• Option of staggered payments also being offered to potential suitorsMike Ashley has confirmed that he is actively attempting to sell Newcastle United. Although the Sports Direct own…
Anthony Knockaert could make all the difference fro Brighton, Pablo Zabaleta is fed up with West Ham’s ill-discipline and Kevin de Bruyne is drawing more praiseMark Hughes was in no doubt he had witnessed the favourites for the title. “Clearly I would …
Your weekend roundup of the best photography from England’s top flight• Follow us on Instagram for more great sports photography Continue reading…
As Mauricio Pellegrino allowed himself a sigh of relief at the full-time whistle, his embrace with his former mentor Rafael Benítez said it all. A hard-fought encounter, during which Newcastle twice took the lead through Isaac Hayden and Ayoze Pérez be…
Updates from the match at the St Mary’s StadiumLive scores: the goals from around the UK and EuropeEmail Simon here. Tweet @Simon_Burnton 3.48pm BST Now it’s Rafael Benitez’ turn to talk:I know him really well. I think he’s a good manager. He was a goo…
Mauricio Pellegrino has endured an indifferent start at Southampton but begins a forgiving run of fixtures with the visit of Newcastle and Rafa Benítez, whom he worked under at Liverpool and Internazionale. Pellegrino has no new injury concerns after t…
• The midfielder on loan from Borussia Dortmund has been a key player• Rafael Benítez: ‘He has a lot of quality on the ball and is keen to learn’Mikel Merino has completed a permanent move to Newcastle from Borussia Dortmund after an impressive start t…
West Ham v Newcastle, a 560-mile round trip, has been mooted for a Super Sleigh Bell Sunday on the night before Christmas, along with Arsenal v Liverpool
The almost total lack of regard in which broadcasters hold football fans is no secret, so it should have come as no surprise to learn Sky Sports is proposing to reschedule Arsenal’s home match against Liverpool for Christmas Eve in what the Football Supporters’ Federation has described as “a new low point in putting the interests of football broadcasters over those of match-going fans”. And yet somehow it did come as a surprise. Even by the notoriously cut-throat standards of TV networks scrambling for subscriptions, this seems unnecessarily grasping.
With an already hectic festive grind looming, footballers would almost certainly rather not play on Christmas Eve. Fans, some with other commitments and others forced to make the return journey to and from London from Liverpool on what is a chaotic day for transport, would almost certainly rather not travel on Christmas Eve.
Newcastle United are under investigation over alleged “extensive” tax evasion on player transfers, court papers have shown.
Details of the allegations have emerged as the club failed in a legal challenge against search warrants issued to HM Revenue and Customs during Operation Loom, which saw dawn raids by HMRC on premises including St James’ Park as part of a £5m tax investigation involving Premier League and French clubs. The papers show HMRC investigators suspect Newcastle, owned by the billionaire Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley, of involvement in an elaborate scheme to evade income tax, VAT and national insurance.
• Klopp: ‘We should have won. We were the better side’
• Rafael Benítez happy with draw against former club
Jürgen Klopp seemed torn between defiance and anxiety after a 1-1 draw at Newcastle United left his Liverpool side in seventh place, seven points behind the leaders, Manchester City.
“We should have won,” Klopp said. “We were the better side and created more chances but you know we have a real problem because we have to play better next game, otherwise we will not get a point.”
Your weekend roundup of the best photography from England’s top flight
At the final whistle Rafael Benítez polished his spectacles and smiled. The Newcastle United manager had reminded Liverpool fans precisely what they lost when he left in 2010 while his latest successor at Anfield, Jürgen Klopp, appeared to have succumbed to apoplexy.
Klopp – who at one late juncture publicly berated Jordan Henderson, although the visiting captain was not alone in feeling the heat of his manager’s ire – knew his side really should have won.
3.33pm BST
Newcastle (4-2-3-1) Elliot; Yedlin, Lascelles, Clark, Manquillo; Shelvey, Merino; Ritchie, Perez, Atsu; Joselu.
Substitutes: Darlow, Lejeune, Gamez, Hayden, Diame, Murphy, Gayle.
Liverpool (4-3-3) Mignolet; Gomez, Matip, Lovren, Moreno; Wijnaldum, Henderson, Coutinho; Salah, Sturridge, Mane.
Substitutes: Karius, Milner, Klavan, Can, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Firmino, Solanke.
3.16pm BST
Hello and welcome to coverage of Rafa Benitez Day, when the fans of Newcastle and Liverpool compete to demonstrate their love for a shy Spaniard. The background entertainment will be provided by 22 men attempting to win a football match.
Liverpool need the points more than Newcastle, who have done enough in the first few weeks to suggest this will be a season of relatively comfortable consolidation. Liverpool start this game eight points behind Manchester, so even a draw would be unsatisfactory.
As the Newcastle manager faces his former club in an emotional reunion, he insists money is not everything in search for silverware
Rafa Benítez likes to list the very real similarities between the cities of Liverpool and Newcastle and their respective football clubs. He relishes the hallmark, often razor‑sharp humour common to both sets of supporters, appreciates the broad socioeconomic parallels and understands shared fears that their teams are in peril of turning into perennial also-rans.
If such worries are markedly more pronounced on Tyneside, it is approaching six years since Liverpool last won a trophy – the 2012 League Cup, under Kenny Dalglish. Accordingly their supporters head to St James’ Park for Sunday’s meeting with Benítez’s Newcastle United anxious about the balance of Jürgen Klopp’s often thrillingly attacking yet defensively vulnerable side. With memories of Liverpool’s 1980s hegemony increasingly distant, the days when the Spaniard lifted four trophies – most notably the 2005 Champions League – at Anfield are now a source of nostalgia.
• Shepherd was chairman between 1997 and 2007
• Alan Shearer among the first to pay tribute
The former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd has died, his family has announced. He was 75. A pivotal figure in the St James’ Park club’s rise during the 1990s, he was chairman for 10 years from 1997.
Shepherd eventually sold his share of the club to Mike Ashley and recently, along with brother Bruce, was granted the freedom of the city of Newcastle. “Freddy Shepherd, former chairman of Newcastle United and chairman of Shepherd Offshore Group and Triple S Sports & Entertainment Group, sadly passed away peacefully at his home last night,” his family said in a statement. “At this difficult time the family have asked that their privacy be respected.”
In the 1-0 win over Newcastle both managers set up their teams not to lose and, while their organisation was impressive, it was at the cost of attacking flair
Sometimes straightforward virtues are the best. In a Premier League that at times seems to have all but given up anything resembling traditional defending, there was something almost comforting about a clash between two sides who play in such a familiar, unpretentious way. This was a reminder of simpler virtues, a world in which the greatest aspiration is to be compact, and produced a sort of mutually assured self-neutralisation, a game in which flair was all but absent and, where it did exist, confined to a tiny sliver on the flanks. That the one goal came from a set piece was entirely appropriate.
The free-kick that produced the goal five minutes into the second half was in part a result of the Brighton left-back Markus Suttner pushing forward and linking with Tomer Hemed on the left, which always looked the most likely source of a breakthrough for Brighton. There seemed a fairly clear plan from the start to isolate DeAndre Yedlin, the Newcastle right-back, against Solly March. It was the 23-year-old’s cross, after Newcastle had been opened up by a burst from Anthony Knockaert, that led to the Pascal Gross shot that cannoned to safety off Knockaert and then his cross-shot, cutting inside, that drew an awkward sprawling save from Rob Elliot.
If Brighton & Hove Albion get relegated this season it will not be for a lack of valour, focus or determination. This narrowest of home wins against a team who were technically their better will be celebrated in this part of the south coast, though probably only briefly. The next test, at Arsenal next Sunday, is only around the corner.
Tomer Hemed’s dextrous second-half volley was enough to separate the home side from a Newcastle United who had come into the match after three consecutive wins and left it reminded of the fine margins of Premier League football. For Brighton, meanwhile, it was back-to-back victories at the Amex Stadium.
3.30pm BST
Email! “Does anyone seriously think that Brighton can ‘do’ ‘gritty’?” asks Rob Coughlan.
Well, to the extent that anyone can “do” “anything”, of course not. And I don’t think they’ll stay up, but reckon it’ll be lack of goals that does for them.
3.29pm BST
So what does it all mean? Well, Brighton make one change: Liam Rosenior of the Guardian is replaced at right-back by Bruno, his new diet of lentils and hummus ill-received in the dressing room. Newcastle, meanwhile, are unchanged; as such, they have a bench which hosts Jonjo Shelvey and Dwight Gayle, key men for them last season.
3.30pm BST
Email! “Does anyone seriously think that Brighton can ‘do’ ‘gritty’?” asks Rob Coughlan.
Well, to the extent that anyone can “do” “anything”, of course not. And I don’t think they’ll stay up, but reckon it’ll be lack of goals that does for them.
3.29pm BST
So what does it all mean? Well, Brighton make one change: Liam Rosenior of the Guardian is replaced at right-back by Bruno, his new diet of lentils and hummus ill-received in the dressing room. Newcastle, meanwhile, are unchanged; as such, they have a bench which hosts Jonjo Shelvey and Dwight Gayle, key men for them last season.
The Dutch goalkeeper’s career has faltered since serious injury two years ago, but he is determined to recapture his best form on the south coast
Rafa Benítez’s ruthless streak is rarely evident these days but a notable manifestation occurred in the summer when Tim Krul and Jack Colback, two unwanted Newcastle United players, were banished to train with the juniors.
Colback remains in unhappy exile at the academy but Krul took the hint and eventually secured a deadline-day move to Brighton & Hove Albion. Reunited with Chris Hughton, his old manager at St James’ Park, the erstwhile Holland goalkeeper hopes to make a first Premier League start for his new club when Benítez’s team visit the south coast on Sunday afternoon.
