Football news: Arsenal back out of January plan as Ruben Amorim surprises Man Utd stars
Arsenal had made moves to land Ollie Watkins back in January but are unlikely to return for the Aston Villa striker as one of Ruben Amorim's funnier moments makes its mark on the Manchester United squad
Chelsea's win over Tottenham concluded the Premier League's midweek set of fixtures and lifts them back into the top four ahead of Manchester City. Nearly all of the European-chasing outfits won in recent days with Aston Villa, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest securing three points.
The fallout from Liverpool's Merseyside derby win continues after VAR found itself under the microscope following the decision not to send off James Tarkowski - which the PGMOL have confessed was the wrong call.
Manchester United, who lost in Nottingham in midweek, have the small matter of a Manchester derby to prepare for this weekend. They will welcome Pep Guardiola's side having gained the bragging rights when they met earlier this season.
Arsenal will also look to put the pressure on Liverpool this weekend when they play 24 hours before the Reds, who face a difficult trip to Fulham. Here's the latest talking points from around the game.
Arsenal back out of Watkins plans
Arsenal are eyeing a new striker this summer, but there are seemingly no plans to rekindle their interest in Ollie Watkins after their failed January swoop for the Aston Villa star. Watkins emerged as a surprise target for the Gunners in the January transfer window. They saw a £40million offer rejected with Villa reluctant to sell both him and Jhon Duran, who ended up moving to the Saudi Pro League in a big-money deal.
Arsenal remains in need of attacking reinforcements which led to inevitable speculation that they would make a fresh attempt to lure Watkins - who himself is a boyhood Gunners fan - to The Emirates. But that may not be the case.
According to Sky Sports, Arsenal have their sights set on a number of younger targets and their interest in Watkins now 'cooled' despite his stellar record against the north Londoners.
Amorim's awkward dressing room moment
Diogo Dalot admits Ruben Amorim's brutal honesty has been well received by the United dressing room as they continue to struggle with some funnier moments still finding the way into the club's inner sanctum.
Results have not improved since Erik ten Hag was axed with the Portuguese boss coming in as his replacement, but he has certainly made an impression on his players and his attempts to speak English from day one were well received, according to Dalot - even if his compatriot did slip back into his mother tongue.
The defender told talkSPORT: "It was funny because sometimes he was so used to it in the beginning, to speak Portuguese, that he would start speaking Portuguese to all the players. And the players were like: ‘Boss, come on, you’re speaking [Portuguese]’. And he was like: ‘Oh, sorry!'"
Angry Ange narrowly avoids swear
Ange Postecoglou almost swore live on TV after making a bizarre excuse for his very public spat with the Tottenham fans. Postecoglou cupped his ear at the travelling fans who had mocked him by shouting: “You don’t know what you’re doing” when he brought on Pape Sarr for Lucas Bergvall.
Tottenham substitute Sarr thought he had equalised only for it to be ruled out by VAR for a foul in the build-up and Postecoglou’s reaction backfired horribly. Spurs boss Postecoglou stopped himself as he said: “We just scored a f... cracking goal and I turned to them to see them smile.”
Postecoglou later added: “Jesus mate, it's incredible how things get interpreted. We'd just scored, I just wanted to hear them cheer. Because we'd been through a tough time, and I thought it was a cracking goal. I wanted them to get really excited."
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