The Premier League title race was blown wide open last night after Arsenal surrendered a two-goal advantage to draw at bottom side Wolves.
Up next for Mikel Arteta’s men is a mouth-watering North London derby clash with bitter rivals Tottenham on Sunday.
Before that, there are a whole host of big Premier League fixtures to kick-start the weekend, not least Newcastle’s trip to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
Stay tuned with Daily Mail Sport for the latest from the likes of Arne Slot, Liam Rosenior and Daniel Farke as they preview their side’s weekend clashes.
Rosenior reveals Romeo Lavia plan
Romeo Lavia is set to play for Chelsea’s Under 21s in their clash with Leeds United on Friday afternoon to help build him up for his big return to the senior side.
It is hoped Lavia will be available for selection in time for next weekend’s Premier League trip to Arsenal with the 22-year-old midfielder having trained fully for the last two weeks.
Chelsea have seven fixtures for tackling in March before the international break and, barring any setbacks, Liam Rosenior should have Lavia available for them.
Lavia has not appeared for Chelsea since a Champions League trip to face Qarabag in November when he picked up a thigh problem inside the opening 10 minutes. That was only his 30th appearance in all competitions since signing from Southampton in 2023.
Romeo Lavia is expected to play for Chelsea’s Under-21s on Friday as he builds towards fitness
Chelsea’s main aim while overseeing his rehabilitation plan has been to make sure he returns for the remainder of the season after his history of setbacks.
As reported by Chelsea Confidential this week, he is now in the final stage of that programme, with his comeback close after his involvement in full training and with him set to represent the club’s youth side on Friday.
Harry Hudson’s youngsters host Leeds at their Cobham training ground in the Premier League 2 with them currently sitting second to Ipswich Town in the table.
Rosenior calls for those guilty of racism to be thrown out of the game
Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior believes anyone involved in football who is found guilty of racism should not be allowed to work in the game anymore.
Like many of us, Rosenior saw how Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni was accused of racially abusing Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior during their Champions League clash in Lisbon. UEFA have launched an investigation into the incident which saw the match halted for 10 minutes.
Prestianni faces a minimum 10-game ban if found guilty. However, Rosenior, who is proud of his mixed heritage background and feels it is important to use his voice as the head coach of Chelsea, appears to believe the consequences against those proven to have used a racial slur are nowhere near harsh enough.
Speaking at Chelsea’s training ground before Saturday’s Premier League visit of Burnley, Rosenior said: ‘If any player or any coach or any manager has ever found guilty of racism, they shouldn’t be in the game. It’s as simple as that for me.’
Benfica boss Jose Mourinho, formerly of Chelsea, was heavily criticised for his post-match comments as he suggested Vinicius incited the home crowd before the incident involving Prestianni with his celebration after scoring in the 1-0 win for Real.
Liam Rosenior believes anyone involved in football who is found guilty of racism should not be allowed to work in the game anymore
Likewise, the Portuguese club’s social media team have been accused of bizarre behaviour as they posted a video of the incident, claiming no Real players were close enough to hear what was said by Prestianni, who was covering his mouth with his shirt at the time.
Vinicius says he was called a ‘monkey’ by Prestianni in a claim also repeated by his Real team-mate Kylian Mbappe.
On what he witnessed in Tuesday’s game, Rosenior added: ‘It’s upsetting. There’s context that needs to be had in terms of this situation. What I will say, if you can see any form of racism in society, let alone football, is unacceptable. It’s unacceptable.
‘I cannot speak about an incident where an investigation is ongoing. What I would say is when you see a player upset, how Vinicius Junior was upset, normally they’re upset for a reason. I’ve been racially abused myself. I know people have been racially abused.
‘What people have to understand is when you are judged for something that you should be proud of, it is the worst feeling you can ever possibly imagine.’
Kieran Gill
Slot eyes Isak return
Alexander Isak is set to make his return for Liverpool at the end of next month after boss Arne Slot issued an update on the £125million striker’s ongoing recovery.
Isak has been out of action for two months after undergoing surgery to a fibula and ankle fracture suffered in Liverpool’s 2-1 win at Tottenham on December 20.
Asked about a timeline for Isak’s return, Slot said: ‘Alex has been on the pitch, not with his football boots, but with his running shoes for the first time this week, so that will take a while as well.
‘Let’s not put a timescale on it, but it’s clear he will be available if things go as planned this season. It will be some time around there, the end of March, start of April, when he is hopefully back with the group, but that’s not to say you’re ready to play, let alone start a game
Alexander Isak suffered the injury while scoring for Liverpool against Tottenham in December
The £125million signing has endured a nightmare start to his Liverpool career since his summer switch from Newcastle
‘I’m not sure if I’m educating you, but before they go on the pitch, it’s not like they’re lying in bed 24 hours a day. They come to the training ground, do their gym work and rehab.
‘It’s nice for him to go on the pitch, it’s nice for us to see him here, because there’s still enough work to be done but you know as a player, you arrive in the final stages of your rehab. As long as you’re in the gym and not the pitch, that’s not the nicest part.
‘The next step is doing work with the ball, which every player likes the most. The next step is to come into the group and then it takes a while before you’re ready to play. But it’s nice that the rehab goes well – that’s a complement to him and our medical staff.’
David McDonnell
Arteta: We need to go through pain
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta insists it is time for his camp to stick together after the Gunners hit another stumbling block in their bid to win the Premier League title by drawing 2-2 at Wolves.
It seemed like Arsenal were on their way to a routine victory after Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapie gave the league leaders a two-goal lead but Wolves fought back through Hugo Bueno and Tom Edozie to send Arsenal home with new doubt.
It left Arsenal’s title hopes hanging in the balance after they surrendered a lead for a second straight game and they have now won just twice in their last seven league games.
Arteta said: ‘I’m going to be the first one to be close with them (the players) because it has nothing to do with attitude or desire, it is completely the opposite.
Mikel Arteta saw his side surrender victory at Wolves on Wednesday night
‘It’s part of football. Where it could’ve gone wrong today, it went wrong. If you look at the way we conceded the two goals today without conceding any other situations, it is very rare but it happens. And it happened for a reason and we need to react.
‘If you are at the top you have to win and win, that’s nothing new.’
Arsenal visit neighbours Tottenham on Sunday in their next Premier League outing. Spurs will have new boss Igor Tudor in the dugout but Arteta says his team need to take the hurt from Molineux into the north London derby.
He added: ‘We need to go through the pain and go through it looking in the mirror and understand what the game requires now and the next action is Sunday. We need to keep all that in our tummies to show it on Sunday.’
Wolves must ‘keep believing’, says Armstrong
Wolves striker Adam Armstrong said he knew there was a chance the Premier League basement side could nick something against league leaders Arsenal despite trailing by two goals.
Armstrong hailed the character displayed against the top side in the division, and is enjoying his time at Wolves so far.
He said: ‘We know what sort of side they are. They’re an amazing team, we know that. It was how we dug deep towards the end, and we felt like there was always a chance to get a goal.
‘We have to keep believing, taking every game as it comes as cliched as it is, but we knew we could force them back and try to put them on the back foot, and to come back from 2-0 is amazing for where we are. Incredible.
‘We have to do that every game. Since I’ve come in, the boys have made me feel at home straight away. We have to take every game as it comes.
‘If we put in performances like that second half, we’ll keep getting better and better, and we have to because we know the situation that we’re in.’
Hull coach a contender for Turkish top flight job
Hull City coach Dean Holden has emerged as a contender for the vacant manager’s post at Turkish side Kayserispor.
Kayserispor sacked head coach Radomir Dalović earlier this month following a 2–1 home defeat to Kocaelispor, leaving the team 17th in the Turkish Süper Lig. His departure came after less than four months in charge, during which the team has struggled in the relegation zone.
Holden joined Hull as assistant head coach to Sergej Jakirovic last July after previously being assistant manager at Adana Demirspor in Turkey.
Ironically, he got to know Jakirovic, when the Bosnian was in charge of Kayserispor.
Hull City assistant coach Dean Holden has emerged as a contender for the Kayserispor job
Holden, 46, has vast experience as a coach. He also worked under Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia and has had stints in charge of Oldham Athletic, Bristol City, Stoke and Charlton Athletic.
Holden has been a key figure behind Jakirovic’s work at Hull which has seen them mount a serious promotion challenge this season.
They are looking to get back on track after their FA Cup exit to Chelsea when they face QPR this weekend.
Simon Jones
