CHELSEA will face Man City for a place in the FA Cup final after the final four draw.
Meanwhile, Jude Bellingham is set to link up with the England squad after being given a sporting exemption by the German Government for the three World Cup qualifiers.
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Follow our LIVE blog below to get the latest from around the clubs…
TAKING THE MIK
Mikel Arteta admitted that Jekyll and Hyde Arsenal are giving him sleepless nights after a stunning three-goal comeback at West Ham.
He said: “I am very disappointed with the way we started the game. We weren’t at the races and the way we coincided three goals was completely unacceptable.
“But the final 60 minutes was probably the best I’ve seen us play under pressure in tough conditions.
“Some teams would have collapsed and started complaining to each either, but we were the complete opposite and it’s a shame we didn’t win because we created six or seven good chances to score.
“But it’s the first part of the game that keeps me awake because I’m worried about the different levels of performance that we still show within the same game.
“That’s where I think we are still far from the top teams and I don’t know if it’s a hangover from Europe that so many players switched off early in this game.
“But I won’t accept that fatigue is an excuse. If someone is not fit enough to play from Thursday to Sunday he needs to tell us before the game because we need everyone ready to go from the first minute.”
BEEK SALE
Mark Hughes thinks Manchester United could be “edging towards” selling “lost” Donny van de Beek this summer.
He told Stadium Astro: “Clearly it’s difficult, he hasn’t had enough game time and you can see that in his play.
“He’s wandering and not really getting on the ball, doesn’t know how to affect the game, can’t demand the ball of his team-mates because they’re not quite sure whether or not they have enough confidence in him.
“He looks like a guy who’s wandering around lost on the field. Okay, some of that responsibility he has to take on himself, he has be more demonstrative, he has to be a key player. He’s a big-money signing he’s come from a big club in Ajax so he’s used to being a top player of influence.
“But clearly, since he’s come to United he hasn’t shown anything like what the level he needs to be at to remain a Man United player.
“He can only have so many opportunities, at some point he’s going to have to take them or United will move him on. I think they’re edging towards that decision if he’s not careful.”
BRUCIE BONUS
Steve Bruce has escaped the Toon axe for now – despite club legends turning on the team.
Calls for Bruce’s sacking reached fever pitch after Newcastle’s 3-0 loss at relegation rivals Brighton on Saturday.
Yet owner Mike Ashley is convinced keeping Bruce is still their best hope of staying up.
Newcastle have won just twice in 20 games and sit 17th – two points clear of Fulham and the bottom three.
But it is understood the Sports Direct billionaire is in no mood to make a change.
BRANCO BLOW
Brazil World Cup winner Branco is fighting for his life in hospital after being admitted with ‘Covid complications’ last week.
The 56-year-old former Middlesbrough star was placed on a ventilator in intensive care but is said to be ‘showing improvement’.
And after several worrying days he is now ‘reacting well to medication’, according to CNN.
The latest report from CNN Brazil on Saturday said: “Doctors have begun the process of reducing sedation to remove mechanical ventilators.
“They hope that in the next few hours he will be able to breathe without the aid of the device.”
MOR ISSUES
Cardiff captain Sean Morrison has left fans stunned after playing through the pain barrier in the 1-0 derby win away at Swansea.
And fans can have Morrison to thank for a clean sheet as his man of the match performance included four blocks, two interceptions and nine clearances.
His performance was even more impressive considering the fact he pulled his calf muscle early in the second half.
Meanwhile his partner Stacey Amber Ward posted a gruesome picture of Morrison’s heavily-blistered ankle on her Instagram story following the match.
SCOTT ON
Exclusive by Isabelle Barker: Alex Scott has hailed the landmark megabucks WSL TV deal as an “emotional day for women’s football”.
The English top-flight has landed the biggest broadcasting deal in women’s football history after securing an agreement with Sky Sports and the BBC.
Arsenal and England legend Scott said: “This is a landmark deal for the women’s game. Not just for the WSL – but the whole of the women’s game.
“So many women have fought incredibly hard to get the game to be professional, so for the league to have now landed a multi-million pound broadcasting deal is an emotional day for our sport.
“Young girls are going to be inspired to become the next Steph Houghton, Lucy Bronze or Jordan Nobbs and I couldn’t be happier.”
Read more HERE.
MOUR ANGER
Jose Mourinho has laid into modern football stars, blaming ‘selfishness’ and ‘agents’ for some of Tottenham’s recent poor performances.
He said: “Football nowadays is not easy. Selfishness is around, the individualism is around, the connection between agents and the press is around.
“You need time to develop team empathy because the psychological profile of young people now is not an easy one.
“I want to be proud of my players, doesn’t matter the result. During my career I was proud of my players many times after defeats.
“I was not proud last Thursday [against Zagreb] and I was not proud at the Emirates [against Arsenal last Sunday].”
WORK OF ART
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has hailed Martin Odegaard after he played a starring role in their dramatic 3-3 draw against West Ham.
Arteta was left singing his praises following the full-time whistle, as he told the Arsenal website: “I think he had an incredible performance.
“He was very intelligent the way he read the game, the way he effected the game and again he showed how much he wants to win.
“When everyone was a little bit trembling, he gave us that composure on the ball and he created chance after chance.
“I love talented and creative players that all the time are willing to take that ball and make things happen, that are mobile and also hard-working. He is one of them.
“We have some others with different qualities but it’s true that Martin is now giving us a different level on certain things that we didn’t have.”
THAT’S RICH
Chelsea will be ‘scary’ next season if they sign Erling Haaland, believes Micah Richards.
He told the BBC: “I think they’ve got absolutely everything. They’ve sorted their defensive problems.
“The only thing to add that little bit of icing to the cake would be a striker. They’ve put Werner in there, they’ve put Havertz in there.
“It seems like they’ve not really cracked that offensive aspect of the game.
“I’m not going to speculate. If you put Haaland in this team, they’ll be scary next season.”
SOL DESTROYING
Jesse Lingard insisted he was one of the fittest and strongest players at Manchester United despite being constantly overlooked by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
He said: “During the lockdown I recapped my best moments playing football – the season under Jose [Mourinho] where I scored all of those goals and went to the World Cup and the season when Ole came in and I started well.
“So I started recapping a lot of games to see where I did well, getting that fire in my belly and drive again to go and kick on because it would have been easy for me to fall off and take the easy option out.
“But a person like me who’s been through a lot and knows the game, I can’t just give it up like and I’ll always go out with a fight.
“I came back one of the strongest and fittest after the lockdown and I didn’t get my chance that I was waiting on.
“But the whole time I was there and not playing I was doing extra training and keeping on top of my fitness for when the time was right.
“So for me it’s about working hard and staying dedicated, and I went back to basics.”
GOOD MORNING FOOTBALL FANS
Tammy Abraham has suffered a fresh blow in his battle to be part of Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea revolution.
The club’s top scorer will undergo a scan on a persistent ankle injury after breaking down in training yet again.
Striker Abraham, 23, has not played since February 20 and lasted only five minutes before getting crocked.
Boss Tuchel said: “It was an accident in training. He quit after only five minutes of the warm-up and it is more or less on the same spot as where the first injury was.
“We thought he was going to be in the squad for today but now he will be out for many games.
“He has to take it step by step. The way back is for him to be a substitute and be hungry and show it in training.”
Meanwhile, on the transfer front, SunSport’s Dan King revealed Manchester United are eyeing a £50million-plus summer move for Wolves star Pedro Neto.
The Red Devils have made signing a right winger one of their top priorities and Neto’s impressive season, despite Wolves’ struggles, has moved him up the shortlist of Old Trafford chiefs.
Utd could have signed Neto, 21, for next to nothing back in 2016 when he came to Carrington on trial from Portuguese side Braga – but he did not do enough to convince them to buy him then.
But now United are understood to regard the Portugal international – Wolves’ £16m signing from Italian club Lazio – as a genuine alternative to long-term targets like Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish.
Rivals Manchester City have also been linked with Neto, but sources insist they are now ahead of United in the queue for Villa captain Grealish instead.
And finally, Jude Bellingham will be allowed to link up with the England senior team this week.
The FA have been told that the Dortmund teenager Bellingham will, after all, be given a sporting exemption by the German Government for the three World Cup qualifiers.
This means the midfielder will not have to quarantine when returning to Germany from the UK.
Bellingham, 17, who has just one cap, was included in the squad despite the strict German rules because the FA were confident there would be a change.
RAISE THE BAR
Lionel Messi added to his countless moments of magic for Barcelona as he broke the club’s all-time appearance record on Sunday.
A trip to fifth-placed Real Sociedad promised to be a huge test of the Blaugrana’s title credentials.
INSTAGRAM RACISTS
Fred was racially abused after Manchester United’s 3-1 FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Leicester.
Trolls targeted the United midfielder’s Instagram account after his error gifted Kelechi Iheanacho the opening goal.
Some posts were racist, making Brazil star Fred one of several UOld Trafford players to be so abused this year.
Sick comments were aimed at Marcus Rashford on Twitter in January, while Anthony Martial and Axel Tuanzebe were attacked online last month.
TAM SCAN
Tammy Abraham has suffered a fresh blow in his battle to be part of Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea revolution.
The club’s top scorer will undergo a scan on a persistent ankle injury after breaking down in training yet again.
Striker Abraham, 23, has not played since February 20 and lasted only five minutes before getting crocked.
Boss Tuchel said: “It was an accident in training. He quit after only five minutes of the warm-up and it is more or less on the same spot as where the first injury was.
“We thought he was going to be in the squad for today but now he will be out for many games.
“He has to take it step by step. The way back is for him to be a substitute and be hungry and show it in training.”
NO TOKY-MO?
Egypt have named Mo Salah for the Olympics but say he won’t play and miss the start of the next Premier League season unless Liverpool agree.
Reds’ boss Jurgen Klopp is anxious over stars joining the Tokyo Games from July 23 to August 8 this year.
But Egypt under-23 boss Shawky Gharib insists Salah will only be one of his three over-age players with “an agreement between all parties”.
Gharib has so far chosen striker Salah as one of TEN players aged over 23 in his preliminary squad.
And he stressed: “It is not only up to us to decide Salah’s situation in joining the Olympic team as we just called him and are waiting for his decision along with his club.”
Klopp has already said he would want to examine Egypt’s full preparations before giving his verdict.
DRAGONS BLOW
Aaron Ramsey will miss Wales’ opening two World Cup qualifiers.
The Juventus midfielder, 30, has been ruled out of Wednesday’s trip to Belgium and the home clash with the Czech Republic on March 30 with a thigh injury.
Wales named Ramsey in their squad last Monday but he missed Juve’s last two Serie A games.
On Sunday night, the Welsh FA tweeted: “Aaron Ramsey is unable to join up with the squad due to injury.”
OUT FOXED
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer blamed United’s FA Cup defeat to Leicester on their busy schedule and their midweek trip to Milan.
The Red Devils were well off the pace as their FA Cup hopes were crushed by the Foxes.
He told the BBC: “We didn’t have the spark tonight – but it’s understandable. This team have been fantastic in the last three or four months.
“We played every three days and been on a great run. It just caught up with us, all the games and travels.
“Thursday night in Milan was a big night and took a lot of out of us physically. We didn’t have the extra zip, authority and confidence today.
“We tried to get on the front foot and start well because sometimes you can get that adrenaline boost and confidence if you get a goal and that can carry you over the line.
“We’ve got too many players that have played too many games and too many that haven’t really had much football, Anthony Martial, Donny van de Beek, Paul Pogba and others are trying to get in who haven’t had enough football. We didn’t have enough against a tough team.”
BANTER FROM NEV
Good news for Joe Hart – his social media team CAN post ‘job done’ after Tottenham picked up three points against Aston Villa.
Gary Neville, however, is not sure they’re still on the payroll…
VILLA 0-2 TOTTENHAM
It’s all over at Villa Park – the visitors pick up the win to move up to sixth.
But was Mike Dean right to award a penalty for Tottenham’s second?
BID TO SCORE AGAIN
Dele Alli, meanwhile, is seeking love on celebrity dating app Raya.
The Spurs and England midfielder, 24, is hoping to move on just weeks after he was dumped by model Ruby Mae.
Dele will be hoping for some joy off the pitch — having seldom scored on it this season.
He is seeking classy dates using a photo from a magazine shoot of him in a natty blue suit.
A pal said: “Dele’s still gutted about the break-up with Ruby but knows he’s got to look to the future.
“His pride was dented but now he is open about starting a relationship with the right person.”
KANE MAKES IT 2-0
A quick update from Villa Park.
Harry Kane has scored from the spot to make it 2-0 to Tottenham.
And it was him who won the penalty after Matty Cash caught him in the box.
A long way back for Villa now.
WHAT A SAVE
It could have been very different for Atletico today had Jan Oblak not made a fabulous save.
The 28-year-old saved former Newcastle star Joselu’s powerful penalty with less than five minutes remaining.
How important could that be in the title race?
REMEMBER RIBERY?
Former Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery scored for Fiorentina today in their 3-2 defeat to AC Milan.
The 37-year-old, who spent 12 seasons with the Germany giants, has featured 39 times since his move to Italy in 2019.
The opening goal of the game was scored by another veteran, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
500 FOR SUAREZ
Suarez’s winner today for Atletico was his 500th career goal.
More than 80 of those came during his stint at Liverpool, fondly remembered by many Premier League fans.
The 34-year-old scored 198 times for previous club Barcelona – and already has 19 for Atletico.
Why did they let him go?
FIRST FOR VINI
Carlos Vinicius has scored his first Premier League goal for Tottenham Hotspur.
Jose Mourinho’s side lead Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park with 40 minutes played.
Click HERE for live updates on the match.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
