'It's too soon'
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to the press ahead of Spurs' game against Brighton on Sunday.
The north London club were in action last night in the Europa League and beat Hungarian side Ferencvaros 2-1 in a nervy encounter.
Destiny Udogie played no part after picking up a knock against Manchester United, while there was no Heung-min Son either.
And it's good news for one, but bad for the other, with Udogie expected to be fine, but Spurs will still be without their captain.
When asked about injuries, Postecoglou said: "Fairly tired, but physically, no issues from last night's game.
"Destiny we think will be okay, training today and tomorrow.
"Sonny is unlikely, he's pushing hard, but it is too soon."
'He's going to run out of lives'
talkSPORT's Alex Crook thinks that Erik ten Hag's time as Manchester United manager is nearly up and is likely to end at the weekend when they face Aston Villa.
The Red Devils scraped a 3-3 draw with Porto in the Europa League last night, needing Harry Maguire to score a last-gasp equaliser.
One of the stranger decisions made by Ten Hag was to take Marcus Rashford off at half time despite the England international scoring and causing havoc down the left wing.
After the match, Ten Hag revealed that Rashford wasn't injured, and it was simply 'rotation'.
This decision baffled Crook.
Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: "The Rashford substitution at half-time was utterly bizarre. Unless he’s injured, which we now know that he wasn’t, this was a complete headsgone from Ten Hag. He scores one goal, he makes another, for him not to come out for the second half was appalling management.
"Ten Hag needs wins, he needs performances and he got neither last night. He was 2-0 up and looked like they were cruising, then as they always do under Ten Hag they suddenly look vulnerable at the back and all of a sudden they’re 3-2 down. It’s utterly chaotic.
"He brings on Maguire and he’s got lucky because Maguire has gone up and scored a superb header.
"But that’s not great management, that’s just luck, and he’s going to run out of lives in the end, and I think he’ll probably run out of lives against Aston Villa at Villa Park on Sunday."
Sob on the Tyne
Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has confirmed that Alexander Isak will not be fit for the Toon's game against Everton tomorrow.
The Swedish striker wasn't called up for his country's Nations League games next week, suggesting he wouldn't play on Merseyside, and Howe has confirmed that is the case.
Isak picked up a toe injury during Newcastle's 2-1 win over Wolves.
He played the 3-1 defeat to Fulham but couldn't be involved in the 1-1 draw against Manchester City, and he's now expected back after the international break.
Callum Wilson is also out, meaning Anthony Gordon is likely to lead the line once more on his return to Goodison Park.
But Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier and Fabian Schar are all fit.
Speaking to the press, Howe said: "Alex Isak will not make the game. We hope he will be back with Callum Wilson for the game after the international break."
Scholesy on the money
Manchester United scraped a 3-3 draw against Porto last night in the Europa League, and the performance of their centre-backs was a concern.
The Red Devils were 2-0 in front but found themselves 3-2 down, needing Harry Maguire to step off the bench to rescue a point.
They also had Bruno Fernandes sent off for two bookable offences.
But the real issue was just how poor Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez were.
De Ligt was beaten to two crosses by Porto's Samu Omorodion, who scored twice, while Maguire came on and saved the day.
Certainly, it was a performance that made Paul Scholes' comments about De Ligt appear true.
Speaking on a recent edition Sky Sports' Fan Debate, Scholes revealed he didn't think there was too much difference between Maguire and De Ligt.
He said: "I am not sure it's that much of an upgrade.
"He might be slightly better, but he's not a massive improvement."
Walks' return
Another player to be recalled to Lee Carsley's side for England's upcoming Nations League games is Kyle Walker.
The Manchester City right-back was given extra time off after helping the Three Lions reach the Euro 2024 final.
So when Carsley picked his first England squad as interim boss, Walker hadn't featured for his club, so he was left at home.
However, now that he's back in the team, Walker has been recalled into the Three Lions side, with Newcastle's Valentino Livramento missing out.
Speaking about Walker's recall after announcing his squad, Carsley said: "Before the last squad, he hadn't played a minute for Manhchester City.
"He's a player I've never worked with, but we are looking forward to having him back.
"I know what he's done in the past, and we think he can help the young players as well."
'It's nothing to do with form'
Interim England manager Lee Carsley has revealed his squad for the upcoming Nations League games.
The unlucky members to miss out were Eberechi Eze, Jarrod Bowen, Harry Maguire and Valentino Livramento.
However, Carsley has assured those players that they still have long-term futures with the Three Lions, while he also insisted none of them had been dropped due to form.
When asked about those four, he said: "This was more a chance of me looking at other players.
"Certainly, it's nothing to do with form or anything like that.
"The players I left out all had a chance of being involved, I've spoken to all of them and made it totally clear that this is sort-term, and they just need to keep playing well for their clubs."
He was also asked specifically about Maguire and made clear that the Manchester United centre-back's England career isn't over.
"Harry is a player I've worked with in the past.
"It was a case of talking to him about my decision, but Harry still has a really important part to play in future squads."
Dom's on target
England manager Lee Carsley has been speaking to the press after naming his squad for the upcoming Nations League games against Greece and Finland.
Dominic Solanke has earned a recall for the first time since 2017 after scoring 19 Premier League goals last season.
He also has two in his last two for Tottenham, and Carsley is excited to work with him.
When asked about Solanke's inclusion, he said: "Dom is a player I am fully aware of. He was very close to making the last squad.
"He did so well at Bournemouth, and he's taken that into his time at Spurs.
"He's got a lot of attributes I really like, as well as being a really nice person."
Rogers is ready
talkSPORT's Adrian Durham believes that Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers is ready to play for England.
Rogers has made a breakout this season in the Premier League, becoming a regular starter for Unai Emery's side.
And Durham thinks the U21 international's form proves he's worthy of a first senior Three Lions call-up.
"I love players who want the ball, even when the chips are down and against difficult opponents," the talkSPORT presenter explained.
"This [Rogers] is a proper footballer.
"And when Villa signed him in the January window, I don't think anybody thought that he'd be ready for the first team this season.
"But he looks ready for England, nevermind the Aston Villa first team.
"He's a quality footballer and with the amount of young players who have come through in that team, what a credit to the football club."
'They always speak about weight'
Kalvin Phillips has opened up about his frustration at constant comments about his weight.
Phillips was labelled 'overweight' by Man City boss Pep Guardiola after the 2022 World Cup and the midfielder went on to describe it as the 'toughest moment of his career'.
Guardiola did apologise for the comment, but the now-Ipswich loanee has revealed the knock-on effect that those words had.
And he also went into detail about how it has been a consistent issue since he was at Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa.
"Bielsa is obsessed with body composition and weights," Phillips explained on the 'My Mate's A Footballer' podcast.
"And I was on the higher end of the team, if not the highest.
"We had a pre-season where for three weeks I'd go home and I'd literally just have a protein shake for my dinner.
"I just had to keep losing weight, losing weight. He was like that until the last week I was there. He always pushed me to be on a certain weight target.
"I obviously respected it, but I knew that I couldn't starve myself or dehydrate myself because eventually, I was going to get injured or stop performing.
"Only recently, since I've come to Ipswich, have I got to the target, round about, that Biesla set me.
"The manager here is very big on body composition as well and I thought 'I'm not getting off to a bad start here, I need to make sure my weight's on point'."
"It's just become a narrative with me," Phillips continued.
"You obviously heard about the time when Pep [Guardiola] came out and said that I was overweight after the World Cup. That narrative on social media just grew and grew into something that it wasn't.
"Every club I'd go to, the manager and nutritionist, they'd always speak about weight before they'd say anything else. At a point it peed me off a little bit. I was getting quite frustrated with it.
"Now I've come to Ipswich and the manager is an unbelievable person as well as a manager. We spoke about all the past stuff that happened in my career. He just said he wanted me to get to where I was when I was at Leeds."
Call them up, Carsley
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has called for interim England boss Lee Carsley to pick two of his biggest stars in the squad.
Postecoglou has piled praise on James Maddison for his recent form and also on Dominic Solanke for his scoring streak.
Speaking on Wednesday, he said: “I think Madders has been outstanding so far this year. His form from the first game has been really strong physically.
“I’ve said a few times that he’s back at the levels where he can play in the manner he wants to and do everything he wants in a game.
“In the last two or three weeks he’s had an effect on goals and assists as well, which always gets highlighted with players in his position, but his general play has been outstanding.
“I’m sure if he continues in that vein he will be in the conversation for England squads moving forward.”
And on Solanke, Postecoglou added: “He’s getting up there now in terms of physical fitness, I think every game he looks like he’s getting stronger.
“It’s a demanding role up front for us, it’s not just about goals, it’s about his link-up play and pressing.
“We’ve put a fair amount of workload on him, even though he’s missed a couple of games.
“I can see he’s getting strong. Obviously the goals help. He’s a striker.
"He wants to score goals and that helps him to feel better about the beginning of his career here.
“I think he’s in great condition, he’s already made a big impact at our football club, but I’m even more excited about what’s ahead and the potential we have as a team and he as an individual and that he can make a significant impact.”
'His potential is huge'
Aston Villa's Jhon Duran continues to prove himself as an up-and-coming star in the world of football.
Duran has only played 303 minutes this season, with almost all of his appearances coming off the bench.
The 20-year-old continues to play as an understudy to Ollie Watkins in the Premier League and other competitions.
But he's still managed to score six goals in that time and his latest was an historic one against Bayern Munich last night.
And following that Champions League goal, Villa manager Unai Emery spoke about the Colombian striker.
Emery said: "He arrived here two years ago and he is young, his potential is huge.
"Sometimes he has been impatient and I need to speak to him as a person and connect to him as a person.
"As well as a player to try to let him play, putting him on the field because his talent is there and the capacity to help us."
Need for speed
Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven has unsurprisingly been clocked as the fastest Premier League player this season.
After a marauding run set up Brennan Johnson's opener away at Manchester United on Sunday, he then sprinted back before half-time to tackle Alejandro Garnacho.
It saw him reach a staggering 37.12 km/h in the process.
Not only was this the fastest any Premier League player has run so far this term, it was also the fourth highest speed recorded since data began being collected from the 2020/21 campaign.
Incredibly, Van de Ven is responsible for three of the four top speeds recorded during this time, with his 37.38 km/h against Brentford last season topping the charts.
Along with Van de Ven, Erling Haaland, Gabriel Martinelli and Anthony Elanga are all in the top ten quickest players so far from this season.
Need for speed
Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven has unsurprisingly been clocked as the fastest Premier League player this season.
After a marauding run set up Brennan Johnson’s opener away at Manchester United on Sunday, he then sprinted back before half-time to tackle Alejandro Garnacho.
It saw him reach a staggering 37.12 km/h in the process.
Not only was this the fastest any Premier League player has run so far this term, it was also the fourth highest speed recorded since data began being collected from the 2020/21 campaign.
Incredibly, Van de Ven is responsible for three of the four top speeds recorded during this time, with his 37.38 km/h against Brentford last season topping the charts.
Along with Van de Ven, Erling Haaland, Gabriel Martinelli and Anthony Elanga are all in the top ten quickest players so far from this season.
Top 10 fastest Premier League players this season (km/h)
Micky van de Ven – Tottenham – 37.12
Anthony Elanga – Nottingham Forest – 35.90
Erling Haaland – Man City – 35.74
Timo Werner – Tottenham – 35.69
Gabriel Martinelli – Arsenal – 35.57
Alejandro Garnacho – Man United – 35.48
Cameron Archer – Southampton – 35.47
Pedro Neto – Chelsea – 35.40
Yankuba Minteh – Brighton – 35.38
Marcus Rashford – Man United – 35.53
Best of the rest
Bukayo Saka may be one of Arsenal's world class players - but he's not the club's most important star.
That's the view of ex-Tottenham striker Darren Bent, who believes that honour belongs to striker Kai Havertz.
The German forward brought up his fifth goal of the season in Wednesday's 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain.
Speaking on talkSPORT Drive, Arsenal fan Bent waxed lyrical over the ex-Chelsea man, who has reinvented himself at the Emirates.
He said: "There's an argument now that he's Arsenal's most important player - and that includes Saka.
"He can play in a number of positions, as a No.9, a No.8, he's comfortable in possession.
"He scores goals, he's brave, the most league goals he ever got for Chelsea in a season was eight and the most assists he got in a season was three.
"He got 13 [for Arsenal] last season, seven assists, he's become vital, he's just score three games on the bounce.
"He just looks a big physical presence, and that's what I like about him for Arsenal, where Arsenal try and play it out from the back, there's time where the press is on, you can't do it, but you can clip the ball to him, he takes it on his chest, he battles for it, he wins the header, he brings it down, he brings others into play."
He added: "His ability is not limited to just scoring goals, he can do everything."
'They should be challenging'
Arsenal legend Ray Parlour is quietly confident that the Gunners will win a trophy this season.
Mikel Arteta's side are still unbeaten in all competitions and are the current favourites to win the Premier League.
But in recent campaigns, they got close to winning trophies and seemed to lose form at the most crucial of times.
Parlour knows that, and he believes that the key to having some success is to keep consistent and ride some luck at times.
"They're going in the right direction, that is the most important thing for Arsenal," Parlour said on talkSPORT Drive.
"I'm not going to get carried away and say they're going to win this or that, but they're going to be challenging, that's what I'm going to say.
"They should be challenging with the squad they've got and with the team they've got.
"But they've just got to keep going now and they'll need a bit of luck along the way as well."