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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has shared some injury news ahead of today’s blockbuster derby clash against Manchester United.

The Lowdown: Derby day…

One of the most important days of the footballing calendar has arrived for City supporters as the Premier League champions take on cross-town rivals United at the Etihad Stadium this afternoon. The battle for supremacy over Manchester begins at 2pm in what should be an absolutely mouth-watering clash.

Both sides come into this game on a solid run of form, but it’s the Sky Blues who boast the best numbers statistically, having scored the most goals whilst conceding the fewest out of every team in the top flight.

Spearheaded by on-fire marquee summer signing Erling Haaland, Guardiola’s side have been thrilling at times as they seek to retain their domestic crown for a third successive year.

However, Erik ten Hag is aiming to upset City, and on derby day, form is arguably more irrelevant than ever.

The Latest: Stones ruled out…

Speaking to the media ahead of this huge clash, Guardiola has confirmed that City will be without England international John Stones after he was taken off with a hamstring injury against Germany in midweek.

City’s head coach gave an estimated timeframe for the 28-year-old’s return but officially ruled the defender out of contention to feature against the Red Devils today.

Guardiola said: “It will not be four, five or six weeks, it will be less. I don’t know when he will come back, but I think maybe 10 days to two weeks.”

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The Verdict: Setback…

For Stones himself, this latest injury problem comes as an annoyance, considering that he was just starting to recapture his best form.

The 28-year-old has contributed immensely in recent weeks, even scoring a thunderous long-range effort against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

As per WhoScored, the elite ball-distributor has also averaged a higher pass accuracy domestically (96.8%) than any other player in City’s squad.

Called an ‘unbelievable player’ by team-mate and compatriot Kyle Walker, not being able to call upon the centre-half comes as a setback for the champions ahead of a massive occasion.

Manchester United have ‘looked into’ the possibility of making a move for Brentford striker Ivan Toney this summer, according to transfer insider Dean Jones.

The Lowdown: Three-horse race

After a mixed start to the new campaign, Erik ten Hag will be keen to bolster his ranks and strengthen his squad as much as he can before deadline day on Thursday.

The Mirror recently reported that, alongside fellow Premier League rivals Chelsea and Everton, the Red Devils are in a three-horse race for the 26-year-old’s signature.

However, the forward is reportedly valued at a fee in the region of £50m by the Bees following his rise to fame in west London.

The Latest: Man Utd plotting Toney move

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Jones reiterated that United have considered a deal for Toney, but insists that Brentford will stand firm when it comes to their asking price.

He said: “At the start of the window £50 million for Ivan Toney seemed unthinkable, but with some of the fees that have been dished out recently, it doesn’t sound quite so weird anymore.

“Brentford know he would be so hard to replace so they won’t budge on the figure, not downwards anyway! United have looked into it so let’s see if they knock on the door this week.”

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The Verdict: Ronaldo replacement?

Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at United remains very much up in the air, so it makes sense for Ten Hag to be eyeing up suitable alternatives, and Toney would be a fantastic addition.

The Northampton native, who has the ‘mindset of a lion’ according to Brentford manager Thomas Frank, is a natural finisher in the final third, having made 68 goal contributions for the Bees.

He has already scored two goals and set up another two in the opening four games of the new top-flight season (Transfermarkt).

Toney is used to playing in the top flight so he wouldn’t need much time to adapt to the rigours of the league, perhaps making him an even more attractive option for the Dutchman when it comes to deciding who he wants to bring to Old Trafford.

Sky Sports journalist and North East reporter Keith Downie shared the latest injury news for Newcastle United on Monday.

The Lowdown: Unavailable

Jonjo Shelvey was unavailable for the Tynesiders’ 2-0 win against Nottingham Forest at St. James’ Park on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, leaving question marks over the seriousness of his injury.

Luckily, Eddie Howe’s team did not need him in the end, as goals from Fabian Schar and Callum Wilson were enough to earn them all three points and the perfect start to the new campaign.

The Latest: Three months out…

Taking to Twitter 48 hours after the Forest match, Downie shared that Shelvey has had surgery on his hamstring, which he described as a ‘real blow’ for the player and his side:

“Jonjo Shelvey had surgery on his hamstring in London on Saturday, and is set to be out for the next 3 months. On the positive side, the World Cup break will give him a chance for a second “pre-season” in Nov/Dec. A real blow for the player & team, though.”

The Verdict: Worrying

Of course, losing a player of Shelvey’s quality for up to three months will be worrying for Howe and the Toon Army – at 30, it’s tough to know if he’ll even return the same player from a hamstring surgery.

The Englishman was a key player last term, playing in almost every match he was available for under Howe, scoring two goals and supplying one assist (Transfermarkt).

He also captained the side towards the back end of the season, showing his leadership qualities both on and off of the pitch, and so he will not be an easy void to fill in the middle of the park.

Transfer insider Dean Jones has told GiveMeSport that he expects Bukayo Saka to ‘sign a new contract’ at Arsenal. 

The lowdown

The 20-year-old’s current deal, which puts him towards the middle of Arsenal’s earning list at £70,000 per week, is due to expire in 2024.

Speaking to The Athletic, the club’s technical director Edu said that talks over a new deal are going well and that all parties are ‘happy’.

However, The Daily Mail reported earlier in the summer that Premier League champions Manchester City and last season’s runners-up Liverpool have both ‘earmarked the 20-year-old as a future target’.

The latest

Jones believes that Edu won’t countenance any bid for Saka and thinks that Arsenal could hold firm in the face of an offer from Liverpool, believing that the north London club should be able to tie him down to a long-term deal.

The transfer insider told GiveMeSport: “Edu particularly won’t entertain offers for Saka at the moment and doesn’t believe that even a Liverpool bid could force the club to sell at the moment, so I think he will sign a new contract.”

The verdict

If Arsenal can secure Saka’s agreement to a new deal, it would be cause for major celebration.

The 20-year-old not only won Arsenal’s Player of the Season award last term, he was also nominated for the Premier League Player of the Season.

The Englishman was the Gunners’ top scorer in 2021/22 with 12 goals, while only Alexandre Lacazette (eight) managed more assists (via BBC Sport).

City manager Pep Guardiola named him as one of the ‘incredible’ and ‘talented’ youngsters who should be able to build ‘a bright, bright future’ for Arsenal.

Arsenal need to be wary, though. If their form in the early part of the season suggests that they won’t qualify for the Champions League, then perhaps Saka will hesitate about signing a new deal, having yet to play in the competition in his three years as a Gunners first-team regular.

Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White is set to have “a big role” at the club next season according to journalist Paul Brown.

What’s the latest?

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, the reporter said:

“Gibbs-White seems to be doing really well for Wolves in pre-season.

“From what we hear, the noises coming from the club are that he’s going to have quite a big role to play for them this season.”

The update follows speculation about the player’s departure after he failed to agree on a new contract at Molineux despite being offered one.

Several clubs have been interested in signing the highly rated midfielder including Everton who had a £25m bid turned down, but he looks set to stay in the West Midlands.

Supporters will be buzzing

Supporters will be buzzing to hear that academy graduate Gibbs-White looks like he will stay at the club and be a key player for Bruno Lage’s side next season.

The 22-year-old impressed whilst on loan in the Championship at Sheffield United last season making 35 appearances and being directly involved in 20 goals.

He also created 16 big chances according to SofaScore which proves just how much of an all-rounder he is.

With his current contract due to expire next summer, many clubs have seen this transfer window as an opportunity to buy a talented youngster at a cheap price.

However, his form last season, coupled with how well he has performed for the Old Gold during pre-season, seem to have persuaded Lage that he still has a lot to offer at Molineux.

He was also named as team captain last week for Wolves’ friendly in Spain against Levante which is a further sign that the club have no plans to let him go anytime soon.

But there is still a danger that he decides not to renew and leaves on a free transfer.

The Wanderers seem willing to take that risk and will hope that because of Gibbs-White’s connection to the club where he’s been his whole career, it won’t take much to persuade him that it’s is the best place for his development in the longer term.

AND in other news: Imagine him & Neto: Lage can form “world-class” duo in Wolves bid for “fantastic” star…

Recent reports have seen Aston Villa linked with a move for Manchester City defender Nathan Ake, with the Dutchman set to be allowed to depart the Etihad this summer.

While the suggestion is that City boss Pep Guardiola is a ‘fan’ of the 27-year-old, the Premier League champions are said to be willing to cash in on the former Bournemouth defender if they receive a suitable offer in the current window.

The belief is that Villa are one of a number of top-flight clubs who are monitoring the situation, as the Midlands outfit are seemingly in the market for a new left-sided defender – with the 27-cap international offering that flexibility to feature at both centre-back and left-back.

Dubbed a “baller” by one source, the 5 foot 11 defensive rock only joined his current side on a £41m deal two years ago, although appears set for a hasty departure after two successive title triumphs.

With Sevilla’s Diego Carlos already in the door, it looks as if manager Steven Gerrard is keen to significantly bolster his backline this summer, amid doubts over the future of captain Tyrone Mings and teammate Ezri Konsa.

The hope for the Villa boss will be that Ake – who has been described as “special” by Marwan Ahmed – can have a similar impact to that of his compatriot Virgil van Dijk, with the 30-year-old having proven hugely influential since his £75m move to Liverpool back in January 2018 – a club, of course, close to Gerrard’s heart.

The younger man – who began his career at Chelsea – has previously admitted to trying to model his game around the Reds colossus, while he has also been the subject of praise from Van Dijk himself, who labelled him an “underrated” figure.

It will undoubtedly be near on impossible to replicate the success of a man who has been described as the “best centre-half of all time” by pundit Michael Owen and has swept a host of major honours during his time at Anfield in recent seasons, although the indications are that Ake can make just as strong an impact at Villa Park as his international colleague has done on Merseyside.

This is not simply wishful thinking, however, with the pair no doubt sharing a likeness in their playing style, with both men seemingly comfortable in possession and adept at playing the ball out from the back.

The statistics appear to corroborate that claim with Van Dijk ranking in the top 11% for pass completion and the top 3% for attempted passes among those in his position among Europe’s top five leagues, while the City man ranks in the top 7% and the top 2% for the same two metrics, albeit while having featured less frequently.

Both are also aerially dominant, with Ake winning 3.82 aerial duels per game compared to 4.02 per game for the former Southampton brute, while they both provide a threat in an attacking sense, having netted 15 and 17 goals, respectively, in their Premier League careers thus far.

As the case of Van Dijk has shown, it is never too late for a superstar to emerge, with the £49.5m-rated giant spending time at the likes of Groningen, Celtic and the Saints before truly being recognised as an elite force after joining Jurgen Klopp’s side.

While the Villans may not be considered a club of equal standing, that’s not to say that Ake can’t go on to help spark a dramatic improvement in the coming years and help push the ambitious club into European contention.

Who knows, Gerrard could have a Van Dijk of his own if he is to pluck the £100k-per-week star from Manchester this summer.

AND in other news, Lange eyeing Villa move for £30m “goalscoring machine”, he’d be their own Darwin Nunez

Rumoured West Brom transfer target Conor Hourihane will leave Aston Villa when his current deal ends this summer, coming as a boost for the Baggies.

The Lowdown: West Brom linked with Hourihane

Steve Bruce will be hoping for a productive summer transfer window as he looks to bounce back from a disappointing 2021/22 season for Albion overall.

A number of new faces are expected to come in, and one player who has been linked with a move to The Hawthorns in the recent past is Hourihane.

The Baggies have been given fresh hope of signing the 31-year-old, who has been hailed as ‘excellent’ by his former manager Steve Cooper in the past.

The Latest: Baggies given Hourihane boost

As per a report from Football League World, Hourihane will be released by Villa when his contract expires at the end of this month, meaning that the Irishman will be available on a free transfer.

That could alert Bruce as he potentially looks to snap up the midfielder from West Brom’s Midlands rivals.

The Verdict: Worth the gamble

At 31, Hourihane may not be at his peak these days, but he remains a formidable Championship player, with 31 goals and 35 assists in the second tier of English football.

For that reason, he would appear to be a shrewd prospective signing for the Baggies, providing valuable experience for what will hopefully be a promotion push, along with an ability to unpick opposition defences. His match average of 1.3 key passes from the most recent campaign was surpassed only by Alex Mowatt at The Hawthorns (with 1.4).

Hourihane registered four assists on loan at Sheffield United last season, helping them to reach the play-offs, and this level of creativity could help West Brom to become more prolific in the final third next time around, having scored just 52 league goals in 2021/22.

In other news, one pundit has dropped a significant West Brom transfer claim. Read more here.

Aston Villa are said to be close to signing Hearts’ Ewan Simpson as well as Rangers’ Rory Wilson. 

The lowdown

Gerrard is about to take an exciting prospect from the club he managed from May 2018 until last November, with a move for Wilson nearing completion.

Rangers are entitled to a £300,000 development fee for 16-year-old striker Wilson, who bagged a whopping 49 goals in the junior ranks last season.

Simpson is a year younger than his fellow Scotsman Wilson and plays in midfield.

Villa have already been extremely busy this summer, making four additions to their first-team.

The latest

Barry Anderson, a football journalist at The Scotsman/Edinburgh News, relayed the double update on Monday morning.

In addition to Wilson, he reported that ‘Villa [are] also close to signing’ Simpson in a transfer that will cost them £250,000.

The verdict

Based on his remarkable goal record, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the arrival of Wilson generated more excitement amongst the Villa fans.

But they should be very pleased with the capture of Simpson too, because he looks a superb talent.

According to The Daily Mail, he’s been delivering ‘outstanding performances’ despite the fact that he’s playing at Under-18 level as a 15-year-old.

Indeed, Villa have prevailed in a hotly-contested race, with Hearts allegedly fielding ‘a number of enquiries’ for Simpson.

It will of course be a while before he’s ready to compete for a first-team place at Villa Park, but it’s certainly a name worth remembering.

In other news, Aston Villa are eyeing a Champions League star Gerrard saw up close on a scouting trip. 

Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte is ready to sell Giovani Lo Celso this summer, according to a report from TNT Sports in Argentina. 

The lowdown: Struggle at Spurs

Signed from Real Betis for £27.2million in 2020 following an initial loan spell under Jose Mourinho (BBC), the attacking midfielder struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League before heading back to La Liga on loan.

Lo Celso made 84 appearances for the Lilywhites, directly contributing to just 14 goals before joining Villarreal on a loan deal until the end of the 2021/22 campaign in January.

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Due to return to N17 in the coming weeks, the Argentinian international may already be deemed surplus to requirements…

The latest: Conte cuts Lo Celso

As per TNT Sports, Tottenham boss Conte has informed the 26-year-old that he is not part of his plans for next season.

It’s claimed that Spurs ‘intend’ to let Lo Celso go on a permanent basis despite the man hailed as an ‘amazing player’ by Mourinho being under contract at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium until 2025.

This will be part of a big overhaul, with Steven Bergwijn and Tanguy Ndombele also likely to leave the club during the summer transfer window.

The verdict: The time has come

Clearly out of favour under Conte, selling Lo Celso appears to be the best option for all parties, particularly if there is a deal to be done with Villarreal that may involve sought after centre-back and reported Tottenham target Pau Torres.

Despite playing an integral part in Unai Emery’s plans with the unlikely Champions League semi-finalists, the 38-cap Argentina ace has still only managed two goals and three assists in 38 competitions this season, failing to complete 90 minutes in the Premier League prior to his loan switch.

Holding a market value of £19.8million – albeit down from £45m when he joined, a 56% decrease – and with three years remaining on his contract (Transfermarkt), Daniel Levy will be confident of cutting a lucrative deal for Lo Celso that could see Conte and transfer chief Fabio Paratici’s own transfer coffers boosted handsomely.

In other news: Conte admits one thing this season left him ‘very angry’, find out more here

Seven Anglo-Australian contests across two formats and four months ended with a trophy apiece and little to separate the sides

Melinda Farrell16-Sep-2019It’s a beautiful spring May day.Australia are at Whitgift, in London’s south, a school that is wealthy enough to have impeccable cricket facilities. A small band of journalists watch Marcus Stoinis smite Nathan Coulter-Nile over the distant green hedge that encloses the oval. They gather around Justin Langer, who jokes about how Steven Smith loves to bat more than anyone. He was shadow-batting on the battlefields of Gallipoli, he shadow-bats on the bus, he even shadow-bats in the shower. While you sleep he shadow-bats, so to speak.England, meanwhile, are debating the final World Cup squad while warming up against Pakistan. The opinions flip like pennies: heads, Liam Dawson, tails, Joe Denly. Heads, Liam Plunkett, tails, David Willey. In the end it’s heads and Liams. But still, Jofra Archer. Should he really be fast-tracked and would he disrupt some nebulous ‘culture’ for absolutely no reasonable reason at all?Edwin Way Teal was an American naturalist and writer who died a year before Ian Botham performed his Ashes heroics in 1981. He probably knew nothing of cricket, but he understood the rhythms of nature.”The world’s favourite season is the spring,” he wrote. “All things seem possible in May.”****Mitchell Starc bowls•Getty ImagesWhen the teams first met in earnest in the gloom of June at Lord’s, England had suffered their first major wobble against Sri Lanka. Australia had lost to India, but that was no upset, not compared to England’s defeat; the home side need to right the cart against a team that were still the title holders but, in reality, bore only a vague resemblance to the one that had lifted the trophy four years earlier.Instead the wheels splintered and it was the familiar foes who delivered the critical blows. Aaron Finch and David Warner hammered Australia’s foundations in place but it was Mitchell Starc who blew up England’s chase in the most Mitchell Starc way; Ben Stokes the victim of that searing, swinging yorker that is Starc’s trademark and talisman ball.It all seemed so inevitable, so true to type. Australia was the team who just knew how to win at all the right moments, who knew how to win World Cups. England’s recent success was fool’s gold, and the doubters started whispering that, when it really mattered, they were destined to stuff it up royally.***Jason Roy goes for a big shot on course to his fifty•Getty ImagesEdgbaston’s joust in July was to the death. England had been snuffed out in every knock-out match they had played in 27 years and their resolve to be aggressive this time around was being rigorously tested. By comparison, Australia’s own campaign hadn’t been overwhelmingly convincing, but the fears or hopes of the respective fans reflected their stereotypical national psyche; disposed to expect the worst on the one hand, and conditioned to assume the best on the other.This time Finch and Warner were sent packing early and the recovery effort stymied by England’s belligerent attack. And yet, and yet; there were still the hovering memories of recent batting collapses and the sterner spectre of history to overcome. They were blasted away with every smite of Jason Roy’s innings. Australia’s mounting desperation was never clearer than when Smith took the ball and Roy responded by clobbering it into the stands repeatedly. Many said couldn’t remember a bigger six than the one that landed high in the new stand.It was a complete obliteration. History be damned.England, cart now righted and hurtling to Lord’s, swept up a nation in febrile rapture, the height of summer witnessing arguably the greatest 50-over match ever played. The final was tied, New Zealand were both valiant and unlucky victims of a technicality while Ben Stokes turned water into celebratory champagne that showered over Eoin Morgan as he lifted the trophy. The first promise of the foretold glorious summer of English cricket has been fulfilled.Australia, faded into the background amid all the hullaballoo, had already turned their focus from the cup to the urn.***Would Ben Stokes’ Headingley performance be your innings of the decade?•Getty ImagesThe sound of August was the relentless booing. It had bubbled along during the World Cup, of course, but it erupted into a cacophony at Edgbaston as the self-appointed punishers of Warner, Smith and Cameron Bancroft did their worst. In Smith, it brought out the best. The hours of incessant shadow-batting in his hotel room metamorphosed into aeons of batting at the crease; the question of how to remove him became the riddle of the summer.He was removed, but in a sobering way; bludgeoned by the pace and bounce of Archer at Lord’s. Who knows if Archer would even have played if Jimmy Anderson hadn’t pinged his precious calf in the first Test? If he hadn’t, it would have deprived the fans of one of the spells of the rainy summer, the rain that may have deprived Stokes the chance of levelling the series. On such ifs and buts and beatings of butterfly wings we muse, for all its futility.But let’s play that game just a little longer; what if Smith had been fit for Headingley? Would that have robbed us of the summer’s second marvel? The soundtrack changed and the boos were diminished by the roaring of Sunday worshippers in the Western Terrace as Stokes obliged them by dispatching the ball in their midst. The drama piled up, climax by climax, until that word lost its meaning. Test cricket is dying, we are often told; here it sucked the marrow out of life and toasted its excellent health.***Steven Smith celebrates his third century of the series•Getty ImagesSummer came and went but here we all were in Manchester, where Smith lay in wait. His previous absence had only made his presence loom ever greater. The riddle of the summer was not solved by autumn and if the legend of Stokes was etched in Yorkshire sandstone, Smith’s was carved in the red brick of Lancashire.Cricket thrives on numbers and stats, on comparisons and averages. In some ways, they are as futile as the butterfly wings; no cold figures can describe the genius of Smith’s batting, while attempting to measure him against other greats is a duller pastime than simply watching his genius at work [although it makes for some pretty graphics! Ed].The victory was enough for Australia; the Ashes retained for the first time in 18 years. They celebrated hard while the series was not yet won; such are the illogical vagaries surrounding the pursuit of this small urn.*****Stuart Broad wheels away in celebration after dismissing David Warner•Getty ImagesAll things may seem possible in May and yet who would have foretold some of scenes at The Oval in September? The sight of Warner, Stuart Broad’s recurrent victim, trudging back to the dressing rooms with the worst returns for an opener in Test cricket history? Or the standing ovation, the acknowledgment of greatness, given to Smith’s lowest innings of the series? Perhaps, most bizarrely, the singing of “Stand up if you love Jack Leach” that echoed around Vauxhall as the bespectacled tail-ender played a forward defensive shot?The presentation was a peculiar affair: the Australians’ celebrations were muted and carried out under Langer’s disappointed glare, while England had won the match, drawn the series yet failed to capture the Ashes. Such vagaries mystify outsiders to the sport, yet are woven into the fabric of the game we love.Four months on, and it comes to a close. England and Australia depart having earned a trophy apiece. They will set off for foreign shores, and plant the seeds for the next World Cup campaign, the next Ashes series, as the rhythms and cycles of cricket and life move on.For, in the words of Edwin Way Teal, “For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.”