Barcelona pull new lever, team news and more: weekend football countdown – live! | Soccer

Arteta has given a cautiously positive update on the injury status of Takehiro Tomiyasu, Emile Smith Rowe and Fábio Vieira. The trio have been nursing various ailments, but are nearing full fitness.

They’ve been reintegrated into training this week, all of them. They are in different phases but some of them will be in the squad tomorrow.

Mikel Arteta’s press conference started slightly later than scheduled today, meaning he has transgressed one of his own non-negotiables and will have to run laps of London Colney until Arsenal kick off against Leicester on Saturday afternoon. Before setting off, he had time to speak about the potential for further incomings and outgoings in the transfer window.

We had Bernd [Leno] and Lucas Torreira [as well as Pablo Marí]. There were a few [who left], we had Flo Balogun going on loan as well. We’ve moved the squad a lot and we’re still willing to finalise the squad the way we want it. We could add something great, but there are a few players that we need to find the right game time for as well. At the moment, that’s going to be difficult.

We pause this live blog to bring you footage of Georgia Stanway’s initiation at Bayern Munich. A rendition of Sweet Caroline for her new German teammates? Not exactly a diplomatic choice.

And now for something completely different. It’s time to test your knowledge of Premier League players who have been loaned to Serie A clubs because, well, why not? Look, there’s a tangential link to Pablo Marí being packed off to Monza for the season. Just roll with it, OK?

Frank has also been talking about Brentford’s new signing, Mikkel Damsgaard. Unsurprisingly, he’s tried to downplay lofty comparisons with Eriksen.

We are excited to work with him and develop him as he has a high ceiling. We want to maximise his potential. He is a different style from Eriksen. Christian has proved himself, Damsgaard is on the development and on an upwards journey. It is tempting to put him in the squad for tomorrow but he won’t start.

Thomas Frank has reserved some warm words for Christian Eriksen ahead of his return to Brentford with Manchester United. There may be a few misty eyes in the house, though Frank has insisted there will be no room for sentiment once the teams take to the field.

We are looking forward to seeing him again and saying hello, also looking forward to competing. We can’t give him too much time, he uses the ball so well. We only knew about [the transfer] 10 days before he went to Man United. The culture of our club is about respect and we hope that Christian gets a great reception before and after the match, but during the game it is all about beating the team he is now part of. It is about the two teams, but who knows how it will be reported if certain things happen.

Back to Guardiola, who’s announced that Kalvin Phillips will not be fit to face Bournemouth on Saturday.

Kalvin has some niggles and won’t be able [to play]. Cole Palmer had a knock in his feet in the last days and is a doubt for tomorrow.

You know what this blog is missing? A heated debate. Here’s our jumping-off point. Enjoy!

Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola has confirmed the signing of Sergio Gómez from Anderlecht. Whether he’s the last left-back to arrive at the Etihad this summer remains to be seen.

Patrick Vieira has the unenviable task of trying to mastermind a win over Liverpool on Monday, when Crystal Palace travel to Anfield. He’s a man with a plan, however, namely to replicate last October’s 2-0 win at the Etihad.

The game against City we were well disciplined, well organised and we defended well as a team. We managed to frustrate them until the kind of moment when we could score that goal. Against those teams, it is hard to have possession. We accept that, and we will have to work well as a team if we want to get something from the game.

Vieira also suggested that attack may be the best form of defence.

It’s about our organisation, how we can be really disciplined, work well and close those kinds of spaces where they can hurt you. If we manage to do that well, it will be important for us to be brave and to take those chances to score goals. Going to Anfield and defending for 90 minutes will be tough. We have to play our game and to try to create chances and score goals.

Jürgen Klopp was less than delighted when asked about Liverpool making “slow starts” during his press conference earlier. This was his – quite entertaining – response.

We’ve got another transfer! This time it’s Danish utility player Daniel Wass, who’s left Atlético Madrid, where he made a single appearance in six months, and returned to boyhood club Brøndby. Sorry? What do you mean, “a bit niche”?

Ten Hag has also spent some time ruminating on the nature of pressure, which is always a good sign.

I know there is always pressure, I have the experience, how it is, I know we have to win every game, I know the fans, I know everyone expects Manchester United to win every game, we have to deal with that and all I can do is prepare the team as well as I can this weekend.

Asked about United’s pursuit of Adrien Rabiot and Frenkie de Jong, Ten Hag has kept his cards close to his chest.

I’m happy, I think we’re cooperating really well. I cannot talk about players under contract at other clubs.

Erik ten Hag has been speaking to the press ahead of Manchester United’s trip to Brentford on Saturday, which somehow feels like a proverbial crunch match despite it being his second competitive game in charge. Asked about Marcus Rashford’s future in light of reported interest from PSG, Ten Hag has suggested he wants to hang on to the England international.

He’s really important. You have seen from the first day I’m here, I’m really happy with him, I don’t want to lose him, he’s definitely in our plans at Manchester United.

So what else is going on out there? Err, umm, Serie A journeyman Andrea Petagna has swapped Napoli for Monza? Everton youngster Lewis Gibson has gone on loan to Bristol Rovers? Former Elche defender Josema has joined Leganés on a free transfer? Wait, no, please don’t go!

In the interest of fairness – biased journo scum! – Millwall have also been busy in the transfer market. They have signed Andreas Voglsammer from Union Berlin, with their new forward telling the club website: “I’m very happy and proud that I am here. Everything is new for me right now, so I have to see what the next few days will hold, but I’m happy and looking forward to getting going at a new club.”

Well, well, well. If it isn’t my old friend, the weekend football countdown live blog. First up, here’s the latest transfer news. Memphis Depay is attracting interest from Chelsea and Juventus, but West Ham, ever the optimists, are hopeful of muscling in.

OK, I’m off to lovingly craft today’s Fiver. Apologies for that in advance, and thanks for reading. Will Magee is en route to take this blog higher, up and away.

Óscar García, once of Brighton and Watford, is now boss of Stade de Reims. Here’s how he’s bringing “Champagne football” back to the home of the 1956 and 1959 European Cup runners-up.

Mixed transfer news from Merseyside. Jürgen Klopp doesn’t sound like a man preparing to splash the cash, despite Liverpool’s midfield injury crisis …

I am happy with the strength, size and quality of my squad. We have injuries, that’s how it is. Now it is the question how long the players will be out and the different solutions for it. One of them – and there are plenty – is the transfer market but the transfer market only makes sense if you can bring in the right player – not a player. It is easy to bring a player in but that doesn’t help even for a week for ‘some’ player. If we bring in the right player then it could make sense but we always would have done that from the first day of the transfer window, the first day of pre-season.

… but over the park, Everton boss Frank Lampard is up for a spree.

We’re working away, seeing ways we can improve the squad, but until we get players in I’m only happy talking about the ones we’ve got in. But any potential targets are obviously ones for us to keep working on behind the scenes.

Idrissa Gueye may return to Goodison from Paris St Germain, with Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Mohamed Camara and Watford striker Emmanuel Dennis also on Lampard’s shopping list.

The Premier League is 30 years old on Monday night. Here’s Barney Ronay on football’s whole new ball game.

Rangers legend Jermain Defoe – just the four league goals, but he did win the title at Ibrox – has rejoined Spurs as an academy coach. Defoe is the sixth-highest goalscorer in Tottenham’s history, behind only Jimmy Greaves, Harry Kane, Bobby Smith, Martin Chivers and Cliff Jones. That’s some company to be keeping, and he’ll lend his expertise to the next generation of Spurs legends.

Nice to tweet you, to tweet you nice. Here’s how Burnley have announced the season-long loan signing of Nathan Tella. Very droll, though since Brucie last presented the show in 1994, fingers crossed this lands with the kids. A postal order for £10 to the first Football League social media team to film a riff on getting the network together on Saturday night.

Barcelona agree new deal to raise funds

Max and Barry.

Max, no Barry.

Barnsley seek to end sponsorship deal

Raheem Sterling will make his Stamford Bridge debut as a Chelsea player this weekend against Tottenham Hotspur. He was officially unveiled as a Pensioner (kids, ask a pensioner) yesterday, and in addition to making his goalscoring intentions crystal clear, he also explained how, having been targeted with racial abuse at the Bridge during his Manchester City days, he doesn’t let individual idiots “change my perception of the club”.

Football is, of course, when you boil the bones down, all about staring at a screen. Reading this website, for example. Or watching on Sky, BT, NBC, etc. Or, if you’re actually at the match, staring at your phone because there’s bugger all of interest happening on the pitch. And then there’s Fifa, which has been in the game for 30 years. The partnership between EA Sports and Switzerland’s finest haven of bureaucrats ends now, and as Keith Stuart reports, it’s going out with a bang. It’s come a long way, that’s for sure.

More from north of the border, and south of Dingwall. The SPFL are close to extending their television contract, and yes upon first glance at the headline we thought it was a bumper deal just 50p short of 30 quid too.

It’s shaping to be a difficult season for Dundee United supporters. If it wasn’t enough to deal with this root-and-branch reimagining of their identity …

… they’re now having to cope with this humiliation, a joint heaviest European defeat for a Scottish team. The days of chinning Barcelona home and away – something they’ve done twice (1966-67 Fairs Cup and 1986-87 Uefa Cup) to become the only club with a 100 percent record against the Catalan giants – seem an awfully long time ago.

Anyway, let’s start as we mean to go on, and today’s Rumour Mill, according to the standfirst, is “running on fumes”. Characteristic modesty, of course, because it leads with an eye-opening story about one of English football’s most heroic figures. Take a sip of water, then click.

Some weather we’re having, huh? With temperatures set to SOAR to 37 degrees centigrade (99°F) this weekend, it’s an amber extreme weather warning and drinks breaks ahoy in the Premier League and Football League. That’s official, so let’s all take it easy out there.

Preamble