Former Manchester United goalkeeper Mark Bosnich has said that the Red Devils may forget about their prospects of making the top four, should they succumb to a defeat at the hands of Chelsea after the winter break. The Red Devils are presently six points adrift of fourth-placed Blues in the standings and a defeat would definitely hamper their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League through the division.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said that it is unrealistic that the Citizens will catch Liverpool in the race for the Premier League title. The Citizens recently reduced the gap to the leaders down to 11 points with a victory over Leicester City but they have played an extra game as the Reds were on Club World Cup duty over the weekend.

Speaking in a press conference, Guardiola said that he is not optimistic of the Citizens’ comeback in the Premier League title race, particularly with the Reds losing just one league game over the past 18 months, he told: “When a team has 16 victories from 17 [games] it’s unrealistic to think we are going to chase them. It’s unrealistic right now.

Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has heaped praise on interim boss Freddie Ljungberg following the club’s 3-1 comeback win over West Ham United on the road. The Gunners went into the Premier League clash with a nine-match winless streak but they managed to put end the dreaded run with a superb display after the our mark.
The north London side failed to muster a single shot on target in the opening half and they eventually paid the price with Angelo Ogbonna taking advantage of their defensive frailties from a set-piece. After the break, it was the Hammers, who made the better resumption to the derby but out of the blue, Gabriel Martinelli bagged his first goal in the 60th minute.

Thereafter, the momentum shifted towards the Gunners and goals from Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the next nine minutes sealed a comfortable win for the Gunners in the end. With the victory, the north London giants have propelled to the top half of the table in ninth spot and they are now within seven points off the top four places.

Former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley has said that Christian Pulisic may have to reconsider his Chelsea future next summer, should his position not improve under manager Frank Lampard. The United States international was signed by the Blues from Borussia Dortmund in January but he only joined them during the summer after spending the second half of the previous season on loan with the Bundesliga outfit.

It was initially anticipated that Pulisic would become the main orchestrator of the Blues attack but that has, however, not been the case with the breakthrough of Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham at the club. As a result, the former Dortmund man has found himself on the bench more often than not and he has made just one appearance since the last international break.

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka has responded to the recent criticism levied by Gary Neville by stating that he cannot influence the opinions of other people. The Switzerland international conceded a penalty through a reckless tackle during the recent north London derby and Neville had branded the challenge as disgraceful.

Spurs went 2-0 up following the penalty scored by Harry Kane but the Gunners managed to salvage a draw after a tremendous comeback thereafter. Speaking to reporters, Xhaka said that he can only make the difference on the playing field while acknowledging that he made a mistake contributing towards the spotkick.

Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs has said that Marcus Rashford should take more responsibility following the club’s 1-1 league draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers on the road. The Red Devils had the opportunity to take maximum points from the visit to west Midlands but they squandered the chance after Paul Pogba could not convert the penalty which he had won.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Giggs said that Rashford is a centre-forward with goalscoring pedigree and he should have taken the spot kick following the successful conversion last time around. He added that Paul Pogba does not have the best of penalty-taking records with four conversions missed over the past 12 months alone.