• Pep Guardiola is worried about playing Newcastle only three days after winning the Super Cup against Sevilla.
• Arsenal have revealed that the injury to defender Julien Timber is more serious than originally diagnosed by their medical team.
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Curtis Jones and Joel Matip did not train on Wednesday at Liverpool’s AXA Training centre.
Jones played a substitute role against Chelsea but Matip was ignored by Jurgen Klopp, who preferred linking Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
The good news for Liverpool supporters is that Thiago Alcantara did train and is nearing full fitness and could be considered for the match against Bournemouth this weekend.
Media reports about Thiago being sold are wrong and Klopp confirmed this on Thursday.
The Reds are being beaten to big-name signings, having lost out on midfielders Moises Caicedo, Jude Bellingham, Enzo Fernandez (it is not generally known that Liverpool were offered Enzo for £15m in 2022 but he later signed for Chelsea for a staggering £106m).
Now Liverpool look to be losing the battle for the signature of Romeo Lavia. Liverpool enjoyed success in the transfer market for years with head of recruitment Michael Edwards but he has now left the club.
Joao Gomes, who put in a tremendous performance against Manchester United over the weekend was offered to Liverpool last year when he was still at home in Brazil with Flamengo which translates to another good signing missed.
Sporting Director Jorg Schmadtke has used his German contacts to speak with Stuttgart about Japan international captain Waturu Endo, who, despite being 30, is considered one of the best defensive midfielders in the Bundesliga.
Guardiola worried about Newcastle game
Pep Guardiola is worried about playing Newcastle only three days after winning the Super Cup against Sevilla.
The club appealed to the FA to move the game to Monday evening and said they would accept a Sunday game. However, their pleas were rejected, which puts the players at risk and fatigue could be a factor against an aggressive Newcastle side.
Guardiola admitted that playing at home helped his team but he is far from happy.
Kevin De Bruyne’s hamstring injury means he has to rely more on Rodri and Phil Foden will find more game time as De Bruyne is ruled out for at least four months.
"We have other alternatives with Mateo Kovacic and the club has given me a very good squad for this season,” said Guardiola.
Midfielder Rico Lewis is delighted to have signed a five-year deal and City are also interested in West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta as cover for De Bruyne.
City have accepted an offer for Aymeric Laporte from Saudi club Al Nassr. However, Bernardo Silva is close to signing a new deal.
Timber could be out for six months
Arsenal have revealed that the injury to defender Julien Timber is more serious than originally diagnosed by their medical team.
Timber was covering for injured Oleksandr Zinchenko and this week the medical team have made further tests to determine the full extent of his injury.
A serious anterior cruciate ligament problem could keep him out of the side for six months. Mikel Arteta now has to make a decision whether to let Kieran Tierney leave because he planned to use Timber as his right-back, given the experience he gained playing in that position and centre-back for Ajax.
Nottingham Forest player Brennan Johnson fell onto Timber’s leg and despite initially coming out for the second half of the match ,he had to leave the field after a few minutes.
Real Sociedad and Newcastle are interested in taking Tierney and Arsenal admit they have to reduce the size of their squad and save £50m. Arteta could use Takehiro Tomiyasu instead.
Prior to Timber’s arrival, Zinchenko was working from defensive left field into the middle where his superb range of passing was instrumental in Arsenal’s success.
Arteta has instructed his medical team to get Zinchenko fit as soon as possible so he can take Timber’s place and a decision will be made this weekend on whether or not he can start against Crystal Palace on Monday evening.
United train to strengthen attack
Erik Ten Hag assembled his players at the Carrington Training ground on Tuesday morning and his team talk was completely different from the team talk 75 miles away in the Wolves camp.
Ten Hag was furious with his forwards and made his disappointment quite clear during a breakfast meeting whereas newly installed Wolves coach Gary O’Neill was delighted with his men despite their 0-1 defeat at Old Trafford.
When your defence is the most threatening part of your attack and defender Raphael Varane scores the only goal of the match, then something is very wrong. And Ten Hag knows it!
Rashford had one of those nights when you had to keep checking to make sure he was playing. Alejandro Garnacho, for all his energy, missed passes, lost tackles and was constantly outfought for the ball.
Bruno Fernades was strangely quiet despite his usual shouting. Antony also misplaced passes for most of the match and Mason Mount made the United faithful wonder why the club spent £85m on him.
The United success stories were goalkeeper Andre Onana, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Varane and man of the match Casemiro.
United were ill-prepared against a Wolves team who were expected to be toothless after losing their coach four days before the start of the season and installing Gary O'Neil, who had only taken four training sessions.
In preparation for the Tottenham game, United played a friendly against Everton on Wednesday at the Carrington Training Centre and Anthony Martial made his first appearance in 79 days.
The behind-closed-doors friendly saw Scot McTominay, Harry Maguire and Donny Van De Beek get a chance to play as United won 2-0.
Facing Tottenham away is not going to be easy and it will be very much the tale of two striking forces. Ange Postecoglou is still sorting out his best strike force after Harry Kane's departure.
Ward-Prowse takes over Hammers' midfield
West Ham coach David Moyes has been a long-time admirer of Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse.
His wish came true this week as Ward-Prowse joined the Hammers for £30m, becoming the club’s second signing of the transfer season following the arrival of Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez.
The 28-year-old ex-Southampton captain will strengthen Moyes' midfield, the area he was most anxious to improve. Moyes wants Ward-Prowse to be a leader in the dressing room at the London Stadium.
West Ham say they might have to go back into the market if Manchester City strike a deal for Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paqueta.
The Hammers remain hopeful they can add Harry Maguire to their summer signings and Manchester United insiders tell me that the club will definitely let Maguire go if the price is right.
I understand the figure of £ 30m has been agreed and it is now up to Maguire to negotiate personal terms. However, he is worrying West Ham by asking for £7m from United to end his contract, which has two years to run.
Maguire wants the £7m to make up for his wages being considerably less at West Ham since United players won significant wage increases after qualifying for this season's Champions League.
Caicedo's family choose Chelsea
Meeting Moises Caicedo was a wonderful moment and I can tell you for sure that this likable, humble young man was always going to choose Chelsea over a move to the north of England and Liverpool.
Why? Because his mother and his family all love London. Arsenal tried to sign him in January and Liverpool thought they had a £115million deal agreed with Brighton for Caicedo’s signature.
Chelsea, however, won the day and Caicedo claims it was former Blue’s midfielders Claude Makelele and N’Golo Kante who inspired him to move to Stamford Bridge plus the influence of his family.
What will Caicedo bring to Chelsea? I don’t think any player in the world is worth £115m. However, he is very good indeed and will strengthen Mauricio Pochettino’s midfield.
Caicedo said: “My family is the most important thing. They are everything for me and my mum knows I supported Chelsea when I was a boy in Ecuador. It is amazing to share this moment with my mum and my girlfriend. They have always supported me and they are always on my mind, even during training sessions, and they love London.
Brighton have prepared an offer for French club Lille’s Carlos Baleba to replace Caicedo.
Klopp wants clarity on time-wasting yellow cards
Jurgen Klopp wants the FA to explain exactly what being yellow-carded for time-wasting is all about.
Reds' wing-back Trent Alexander-Arnold was booked for taking too long over a throw-in but Klopp explained that he was simply looking for the best option player to receive the ball.
He admitted that some teams were guilty of time wasting last season but he pointed out that Liverpool were not losing at Chelsea and referees now determine which players will be available in coming matches because of the new yellow card rule.
Salah apologises
I was disappointed to see Mo Salah’s reaction to being taken off during the Reds' draw against Chelsea. Salah, you will remember, tore off his sock tie-ups and threw them onto the ground in front of coach Jurgen Klopp.
Salah looked tired and the substitution was correct and the introduction of fresh legs with Harvey Elliott and Ben Doak quickened the pace and provided more opportunities to score.
Even the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were often hooked off during games to save them for next time.
Klopp is a master at handling players and recognised emotional passion from his winger and a quiet word with him after the game put matters right and Salah apologised for not keeping his cool.
Villa brought down to earth
Everything felt right for Aston Villa boss Unai Emery and his notes to the supporters promised them a great season. He was full of confidence. How 90 minutes can change everything in football.
The opening day 5-1 thrashing by Newcastle was bad enough but Emery is in despair at losing his influential towering England international centre-back Tyrone Mings.
I contacted the club this week and the news is dreadful. Mings damaged his cruciate ligament and faces a stay in hospital, surgery and possibly nine months out of the game.
Mings has been cursed in this way and after joining Bournemouth in 2015 he again damaged cruciate medial knee ligaments only six minutes into his debut and was out for 15 months!
Dyche needs more players at Everton
Leeds United winger Jack Harrison is an excellent loan acquisition for Everton but fans and critics are upset that the club has let the season get underway before bringing in more transfers.
The poor state of Everton’s management situation has caused several players to reject a move to the North East. Sean Dyche knows too well that Everton are joked about, being called the Interested Party FC, because they need so many players to survive in the Premier League.
What they need now is a number nine since the injured Dominic Calvert-Lewin can’t be expected to perform on his own. Neal Maupay has shown he is not a No9, 19- year-old Youseff Chermiti needs more experience while Arnaut Danjuma and Ashley Young are not natural strikers.
Relying on centre-back James Tarkowski to contribute headed goals from corners and free kicks shows how desperate Sean Dyche is for a fit out and out striker.
Harrison has recorded 21 goals and 16 assists in 107 Premier League games and is the outstanding hope at the moment.