Premier League

MYKHAILO MUDRYK appears to have liked an Instagram post mocking his Chelsea team-mate Marc Cucurella.Both Blues stars were in action earlier today as their side drew 1-1 at West Ham.
Mykhailo Mudryk was frustrated against West HamCredit: Reuters
Marc Cucurella is struggling for formCredit: AP
The result made it just two wins from Chelsea’s last 13 games, piling further pressure onto the West Londoners.
Mudryk, an £88million January signing from Shakhtar Donetsk, underwhelmed again – and appeared to show his frustration at Cucurella.
During the match he made a dart in behind, only for the left-back to instead opt to pass inside to Enzo Fernandez.
The Ukrainian appeared furious at the time.
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And his Instagram account later “liked” a post making reference to Cucurella’s passing.
The meme showed the 24-year-old ignoring Mudryk in favour of all of his other Chelsea team-mates.
Mudryk’s account later unliked the post.
Cucurella was substituted for Ben Chilwell in the 67th minute, the England ace returning for just his second Prem appearance since recovering from his hamstring injury.
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Mudryk’s Instagram account appeared to like this p[ostCredit: INSTAGRAM
The former Brighton left-back’s removal was greeted by cheers from the frustrated travelling Blues fans.
Addressing Cucurella’s form after the match, boss Graham Potter defended him – but admitted that he can be better.
He said: “Supporters are entitled to their opinion of course, they just want the team to do well and as I said in the previous press conference I don’t think Marc is in his absolute best moment.
“But at the same time he’s been part of a team that’s kept a clean sheet at Anfield, a clean sheet against Fulham.
“In the summer, I know because I was at the selling club, there was another club that were interested in Marc.
“From a points view in the Premier League they are a good club, so Marc hasn’t become a bad player at all but some players can go through bad times so we need to stick together and help him.
“Supporters are entitled to their opinion there’s nothing for me to be critical of. That’s just what we have to work with.”
Graham Potter defender Cucurella after the matchCredit: Rex More

MANCHESTER UNITED are planning a further overhaul at their Carrington training base – complete with a pamper parlour.A summer revamp will include a new wellness suite, where players can perform yoga.
Manchester United are set to upgrade their Carrington training groundCredit: Getty
Cristiano Ronaldo criticised the club’s facilities before leaving the clubCredit: TalkTV
Man Utd are investing millions to ensure Carrington keeps up with the times.
It comes after heavy criticism from Cristiano Ronaldo at the end of last year.
The Portuguese superstar, 38, left the club following an explosive interview with Piers Morgan.
He claimed very little had changed behind the scenes at the club since the end of his first spell in 2009.
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Speaking back in November, Ronaldo said: “The progress was zero.
“Since Sir Alex left, I saw no evolution in the club. Nothing had changed.
“He [Ferguson] knows better than anybody that the club is not on the path they deserve to be. He knows. Everyone knows.
“The people who don’t see that… it’s because they don’t want to see. They are blind.
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“I think the fans should know the truth. I want the best for the club. This is why I come to Manchester United.
“But you have some things inside that don’t help (us) reach the top level as City, Liverpool and even now Arsenal.
“A club with this dimension should be top of the tree in my opinion and they are not, unfortunately.”
Man Utd have not won a Premier League title since Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season in charge 10 years ago.
And the club have failed to claim silverware of any kind since 2017.
But they could end that barren run later this month when they face Newcastle in the final of the Carabao Cup.
They are also impressing in the Premier League under manager Erik ten Hag.
United sit third in the table, four points clear of fifth-place Tottenham. More

IT HAS always been the most tribal of sports. One where the mood of an entire week can be shaped by 90 minutes.
Sheikh Mansour is arguably the best-loved owner in football for what he has done at Manchester CityCredit: AFP or licensors
Eternally driven by emotion.
And over the past few days we have had further proof of the most dominant force of all… jealousy.
Don’t agree?
Well, take a look at the reaction from Manchester City’s biggest rivals when the Premier League charged them with 115 financial rule breaches and think again.
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From Old Trafford to Anfield, from Stamford Bridge to North London, there has been the sound of gleeful palms rubbed together.
By those desperate to see the demise of the best team over the past decade being brought to book.
Some even calling for them to be relegated to the bottom tier.
How they’d love for Sheikh Mansour and his Abu Dhabi group, who have brought the likes of Pep Guardiola, Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland to the Prem, to be driven out of town.
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Well, don’t all those now baying for blood have any sense of irony?
It’s as if they don’t know what a bad owner actually is.
Although listening to them, they certainly should.
Look at the ones who have always had the most to say about the City model and method.
No one could tell you more about jealousy than them.
Starting four miles away at Old Trafford, where United have an owning family hated by fans and trying to sell the club.
Down the East Lancs Road at Liverpool, whose supporters are becoming increasingly disillusioned, there’s another owner trying to find a buyer.
Like Chelsea, who have just sold the club to someone whose idea of how FFP should work is his own but no one else’s.
Or Tottenham, a club hard to take seriously when the one thing guaranteed at every home game is a booming chorus of “Levy Out”.
And then there are City.
With arguably the best-loved owner in football — not through scarf-waving and soundbites but by what he’s done for their club and an entire community.
There was a time, before Sheikh Mansour arrived, when the area around the Etihad was a derelict, downtrodden slum.
The suburbs of Beswick, Ancoats, Newton Heath and Ardwick were places where anyone not locking the car door at a red light might find an unwanted guest in the passenger seat.
One where locals were shunted to other parts of the city in the 1980s as part of a slum clearance scheme.
Even the soil in the area around the main shaft to the old Bradford mine — a short throw-in from the Etihad — was poisonous.
But now it is a site for some of the most desirable properties in Manchester and where a visit to the City stadium is one of the best fan experiences in the world.
A club with owners who have done more than anyone to help promote the women’s game, with a side enjoying facilities right out of the top drawer.
Yet ones who are now accused of pumping more money into their club than the rules permit.
Is there any other business where you are limited on the size of the investment you can make?
It’s interesting to see that the UK government is on course for £10billion of UAE investment after announcing a “relationship reset” with the Gulf State.
So the Abu Dhabi money is clearly good enough for them, but not to spend in the Premier League.
Has there ever been a better example of football’s crazy FFP rules?
It should be about focusing on conmen and crooks, not trying to trip up someone who has — and is — flooding football with millions.
Yes, City have made a few cock-ups with their managerial appointments, but the good has very much outweighed the bad.
Far from simply for their own supporters, too.
And believe me, these aren’t words of someone who spent years on the Kippax and bleeds sky blue.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Having financial boundaries is one thing.
No one would argue against that — as long as they train the sights on the right people.
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There’s an old Aussie saying that a rising trickle raises all boats.
But in the Premier League it seems jealous rivals and d*** head rules are more intent on trying to sink them. More

MANCHESTER CITY’s Prem rivals are furious about Pep Guardiola’s public attack on them.Guardiola used his press conference ahead of the clash with Aston Villa to accuse the other 19 clubs of orchestrating the charges for breaking Financial Fair Play rules.
Manchester City’s Premier League rivals are fuming at Pep Guardiola’s attack on themCredit: Reuters
The City chief singled out Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.
And he claimed that the Etihad outfit had unfairly been condemned over charges of which they had been “proved completely innocent” in their ultimately victorious fight with Uefa over similar allegations in 2020.
But with club bosses now fearing it will take four years for the final verdict to be known this time, Guardiola’s attack has fuelled the anger of other clubs.
They accept that City were cleared of the substantive charges by a majority verdict of the Court of Arbitration for Sport three years ago.
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But, privately, they are pointing out City were found to have committed a “severe breach” and showed “blatant disregard” for the expectation of cooperation with the Uefa investigation.
Among the 115 alleged breaches cited by the Premier League were no fewer than five similar charges, relating to each season — up to the current one — since the investigation was opened in December 2018.
Clubs from both ends of the Premier League have put their other differences aside to unite in welcoming the decision to charge City.
One club boss said: “We’ve all had our suspicions about them for a very long time.
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“And there is a feeling that this could be when the chickens come home to roost.”
Prem chief executive Richard Masters pushed the button to confirm that the charges should be laid.
And clubs were initially pushing for a swift outcome and a verdict by the start of this summer.
But the anticipated elongated timetable was a major reason why the clubs opted not to confront City’s chief exec Ferran Soriano head-on during meetings which ran over two days at a central London hotel.
Club chiefs believe City’s aggressive legal approach, as demonstrated in their drawn-out battle with Uefa that was eventually won in 2020, will be repeated this time.
League bosses have handed over the running of the case to Judicial Panel chairman, Murray Rosen KC.
He will appoint the three-member, Judge-led commission.
It means the League has no powers to order a speeded-up process, as the majority of top-flight clubs wanted.
And the view emerging from the clubs is that it is more than likely the final outcome of the City case will not come until 2027.
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Another club chief said: “Nobody thinks it is going to be settled anytime soon.
“We all expect we are going to have a long wait for the ultimate decision.” More