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Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino says Enzo Fernandez will be “much better” next season.

Fernandez, 23, arrived at Chelsea from Benfica for £106million in January 2023, having only left River Plate the previous summer, but has struggled for consistency following his move to England.

Fernandez has remained a near-constant in Pochettino’s Chelsea team this season, though, with the midfielder rarely afforded a rest amid injuries to summer signings Romeo Lavia and Lesley Ugochukwu.

And Pochettino says comparisons between Fernandez and Declan Rice — who joined today’s opponents Arsenal for a similar fee last summer — are unfair.

“Declan Rice was playing for West Ham, an English guy who knows the Premier League, knows the language,” Pochettino said.

“For Enzo, after the World Cup to arrive here, in a team that was inconsistent, difficult to get positive results, always it was really difficult.

“In summer he was involved in too many games and he arrived late in pre-season, hasn't had a holiday in the last two years.

“Too many negative things happened. (It was) difficult for him to adapt, his family. It's not easy to adapt and perform so quick.

“For sure he is going to be much better next season, after the experience of the whole season in this squad and this team.

“He's more experienced, he gets better feelings. The whole season is good for him to learn. Even if he is a world champion, he needs to adapt to the Premier League and to this club. For me, there is no doubt that he is going to be much better.”

Jurrien Timber scored after just eight minutes for Arsenal Under-21s on his return to the pitch after suffering an ACL injury in the opening Premier League game of the season.

Timber, who started at left-back, made it a memorable return by receiving the ball in the penalty area, moving the ball onto his preferred right foot, and lashing a curling effort into the far corner.

The 22-year-old defender played 45 minutes of Arsenal's 2-2 draw with Blackburn Rovers yesterday, being substituted at half-time with Arsenal 2-0 up.

Manchester United are in discussions with the U.S. entertainment platform Disney with a view to striking a multi-million-dollar deal to create documentaries about the club.

The production would focus on United's era of success under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Adam Crafton has more below

Mauricio Pochettino believes Tuesday’s clash with Arsenal is an opportunity for Chelsea’s other attackers to show they do not play for Cole Palmer FC.

Palmer, who is the joint-top scorer in the Premier League with 20 goals alongside nine assists in 28 appearances this season, is set to miss Chelsea’s trip across London to the Emirates Stadium with what Pochettino described as an illness in a press conference on Monday.

The four players Pochettino is likeliest to turn to in Palmer’s absence — Raheem Sterling, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke and Carney Chukwuemeka — have registered 14 goals and seven assists combined in the Premier League in 2023-24, and Chelsea’s head coach has challenged them to step up and fill the void.

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Amorim was targeted by Sporting after a hugely successful — albeit brief — stint with fellow Portuguese side Braga that saw him win 10 of his 13 games in charge. In his first full season, 2021-22, he guided them to a first league title for 19 years with his controlled, possession-dominant style of play, and Sporting look set to add another title to their name this season as they sit seven points clear at the top of the Primeira Liga.

The 39-year-old’s CV is particularly impressive in improving the quality of the team with the resources he has had at his disposal. With many talented players leaving Sporting while he has been in the dugout — including Nuno Mendes, Pedro Porro, Joao Palhinha, and Matheus Nunes — Amorim’s stylistic approach has remained unchanged, and that consistency has been key to their title credentials this season.

Even accounting for the imbalance of the Primeira Liga, a side who boast, statistically, one of the best attacks and the best defence across Europe’s top seven league shows that their manager must be having a positive effect.

As a coach known for fielding young players and improving individual player performance, you can understand why he is highly sought-after.

Ruben Amorim is in London for talks with West Ham United over becoming their new manager if David Moyes leaves the club.

Moyes is out of contract this summer and despite the Scot saying in February he has been offered a new deal, no decision will be made on his future until the season finishes.

In the meantime, West Ham are duty-bound to formulate contingency plans and Amorim features prominently in their thinking, with discussions taking place between the parties.

Amorim, 39, travelled to London on Monday for further conversations with West Ham’s representatives. Sporting Lisbon players are not back in training until Thursday as they have been given Tuesday and Wednesday off.

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Mikel Arteta has built a reputation as a manager who uses alternative psychological methods before big games and he is planning on making it an everyday part of Arsenal's title race preparations.

Arsenal have five games left in the run-in with two London derbies this week against Chelsea and Tottenham.

Having struggled for years against fellow big six teams, Arsenal took 19 points from a possible 30 last season and could still take 22 from 30 this time.

Arteta once blared You'll Never Walk Alone out on the speakers before a trip to Anfield, while he has also used a lightbulb in one pre-match team talk, brought in a club dog called Win, and has revamped away dressing rooms in Arsenal stickers to make it feel more like home.

"Probably what I am going to do is not defined yet. There will be a few things," said Arteta.

"We have excellent professionals as well at the club who are constantly on top of that, much more than me. It is not something you can do on the day, to change the outcome of the next three weeks. It is something that you do daily.

"I call it a drizzle. If you go out there you don’t wear an umbrella, but you are constantly getting wet every single day. Then, before you know it, you are soaking wet and you are ready, because it is every single day as a habit."

Arteta is professing that testing his players every day in training prepares them for the tough tests of the Premier League.

Having lost to Aston Villa and Bayern Munich, there were questions over the team burning out with Arteta rotating his key players less than title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City.

But with the chance to extend their lead at the top to four points before Manchester City play next on Thursday, Arteta believes that some fatigue can be in the mind as much as in the legs.

"There are a lot of studies that prove that. If you can change the context and manipulate certain things, you can get something out of people that probably you don’t expect," he said.

"There is a lot around it. I don’t think we are in the stage where we need that, you can see that the team really wants it. There is so much stake. We will try to be as fresh as possible but certainly I think we can cope with that.

"When I saw them this morning I have to stop them because winning is a big boost of energy.

"After the performance against Wolves and winning, they have a London derby tomorrow and everybody is ready for it. Something else is the volume of the games but now is not the moment to look at this. It is just to think in a positive way, to think and feel that we are fresh."

Inter have won the Serie A title after their 2-1 victory over rivals AC Milan in the Derby della Madonnina.

The championship victory is Inter’s 20th in the club’s history, one more than Milan’s 19 league victories.

It is Inter’s first title victory since the 2020-21 season.

Full match report available below

Amorim was targeted by Sporting after a hugely successful — albeit brief — stint with fellow Portuguese side Braga that saw him win 10 of his 13 games in charge. In his first full season, 2021-22, he guided them to a first league title for 19 years with his controlled, possession-dominant style of play, and Sporting look set to add another title to their name this season as they sit seven points clear at the top of the Primeira Liga.

The 39-year-old’s CV is particularly impressive in improving the quality of the team with the resources he has had at his disposal. With many talented players leaving Sporting while he has been in the dugout — including Nuno Mendes, Pedro Porro, Joao Palhinha, and Matheus Nunes — Amorim’s stylistic approach has remained unchanged, and that consistency has been key to their title credentials this season.

Even accounting for the imbalance of the Primeira Liga, a side who boast, statistically, one of the best attacks and the best defence across Europe’s top seven league shows that their manager must be having a positive effect.

As a coach known for fielding young players and improving individual player performance, you can understand why he is highly sought-after.

Nottingham Forest have called for a change in the rules surrounding the appointment of referees — and their potential allegiances to other teams.

The move comes following the controversy at Everton, which saw Forest publish a strongly worded statement, via social media, after being denied what they felt were three strong claims for penalties at Goodison Park.

Forest had concerns about the appointment of Stuart Attwell as VAR for the game, with the Nuneaton official being a fan of relegation rivals Luton Town. The club say they raised those concerns with the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) on Friday, without going as far as to call for him to be removed from the fixture.

But now they have appealed for a review of the guidelines by which match officials are appointed for games — specifically asking for them to take into account any perceived conflicts, because of their affiliations to other sides.

“Following yesterday’s match at Everton, NFFC issued a statement highlighting our concern at the perception of the PGMOL appointment of VAR for the game. This was an issue we raised with PGMOL prior to the fixture because of the fear of the side show that would ensue if anything went wrong with officiating in the game. That fear has materialised, as the correctness of three important decisions against the club have been called into doubt,” said a fresh club statement.

“This is not about individuals but rather how the integrity of the game is seen. We know match officials do not allow outside factors to influence their decision-making and that all referees are required to declare their ‘allegiances’ to PGMOL to avoid any perceived conflict or harm to the game’s reputation for integrity.

“However, it is clear PGMOL must amend its rule on allegiances to account for contextual rivalries in the league table, not just local rivalries. This is currently not within the criteria but should be. Mere reliance on match officials to recuse themselves if contextual rivalries exist invites conjecture, as some have recused themselves where others have not.”

Ruben Amorim is in London for talks with West Ham United over becoming their new manager if David Moyes leaves the club.

Moyes is out of contract this summer and despite the Scot saying in February he has been offered a new deal, no decision will be made on his future until the season finishes.

In the meantime, West Ham are duty-bound to formulate contingency plans and Amorim features prominently in their thinking, with discussions taking place between the parties.

Amorim, 39, travelled to London on Monday for further conversations with West Ham’s representatives. Sporting Lisbon players are not back in training until Thursday as they have been given Tuesday and Wednesday off.

Additional reporting: Dan Sheldon and Roshane Thomas

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has refused to rule out requesting a replay of their defeat to Real Madrid in Sunday night’s El Clasico after Lamine Yamal’s shot was adjudged not to have crossed the goal line.

Yamal thought he had given Barcelona a 2-1 lead in the first half, but his effort did not conclusively cross the line.

La Liga does not have goal-line technology and following a VAR check — broadcast pictures only showed two angles from which it was impossible to tell for sure — the score stayed at 1-1.

Read the full story below.

Nottingham Forest say they have submitted a formal request for the public release of the conversations between match officials during their 2-0 loss against Everton on Sunday.

Forest want the audio from three specific incidents released in order to ensure “the integrity of our sport is upheld”.

Forest say they are “advocat(ing) for the broader football community” with their request to the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the organisation responsible for refereeing in England.

The City Ground club expressed their concerns about the officiating in the Everton game with a statement released on X shortly after full-time. “Three extremely poor decisions — three penalties not given — which we simply cannot accept,” Forest said.

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