Premier League

MANCHESTER UNITED are reportedly planning a mass exodus this summer to save millions on wages.The Red Devils have several stars out of favour under Erik ten Hag they could look to get rid of at the end of the season, according to MEN.
Erik ten Hag could look to offload several stars this summerCredit: PA
First-team regular Raphael Varane is out of contract and has been tipped to move to Saudi Arabia, along with Casemiro.
If that pair leave United would save a staggering £690,000 a week, and there are more savings to be made.
Third-choice goalkeeper Tom Heaton and injury-hit Anthony Martial are also approaching the end of their deals, with the latter believed to earn £250,000-a-week.
Sofyan Amrabat will leave the club at the end of his loan deal this summer and the Red Devils could place a number of other players on the transfer list.
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Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelof and Facundo Pellistri all have less than 18 months remaining on their contract so the upcoming transfer window could be United’s last chance to cash in.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has voiced concerns about Financial Fair Play so could sell high profile stars including Jadon Sancho and Donny van de Beek.
Both those players have found themselves surplus to requirements with Sancho shipped out on loan to Borussia Dortmund last month after falling out with Ten Hag.
Hannibal Mejbri is another player out on loan who could be sold, along with Alvaro Fernandez.
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United could save millions in player wages
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While Mason Greenwood, who has spent this season at Getafe, may also be on the chopping block.
Ratcliffe refused to rule out the forward staying at Old Trafford but Barcelona are said to be interested in a £30million deal.
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If United manage to offload all 14 players it would be the biggest ever exodus of first-team players in one summer.
It would also mean a total saving of £1.9m a week in wages, which could be spent on recruiting players.
Ratcliffe stressed the importance of sales last week: “FFP (Financial Fair Play) has become a new aspect of running the football club and it’s clearly a really critical part of running a football club. And you have to think about how you can manage FFP to the benefit of the club.
“There are different ways in which you can do that. But ultimately, FFP says you have to operate the club within its own means. And, effectively, it takes into account your prior expenditure, and the club’s spent quite heavily in the last couple of seasons. So that does impact FFP going forward because they’ve used quite a large part of their allowance if you like.
“So we need to be quite clear in the summer as to what the extent of [it]. I don’t know the full answer to that question at the moment. It’s obviously related to sales as well as purchases, and so we need to get our heads around that well before the summer window, so we understand the number.” More

ARSENAL made it six Premier League wins on the spin with a thumping 4-1 victory at home to Newcastle on Saturday night.Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Jakub Kiwior all found the net while Sven Botman also scored an own goal before Joe Willock grabbed a consolation for the Toon.
Arsenal cruised to a 4-1 win over NewcastleCredit: Getty
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners are well and truly in the title race against Manchester City and current leaders Liverpool with 12 games remaining.
Here are five things you may have missed from the Emirates at the weekend, and what it means for their next clash away at Sheffield United in seven days’ time.
MIKEL ARTETA’S BIG SCREEN INFLUENCE
For the second time this season, Mikel Arteta was involved in putting together a motivational pre-match video on the Emirates big screens against Newcastle.
Mikel Arteta helped put together a motivational video for the matchCredit: Getty
Alongside members of the club hierarchy, Arteta wanted to rev up the home crowd for the evening kick-off, and it worked a treat, as well as a flag and light show in the seating area.
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The video consisted of throwback clips of their greatest moments in their history, before delving into images of the current side with an Arteta vocal soundtrack as a backing.
Arteta feels the Emirates still needs a few more tweaks to make it one of the most intimidating grounds in the country, and these videos are part of that.
A VERY EARLY KAI HAVERTZ IMPACT
The German international netted his sixth Prem goal of the campaign in to make it 2-0 against Newcastle with a simple tap-in.
Kai Havertz scored his sixth Premier League goal of the seasonCredit: Alamy
He now has two in two in the league and is hitting form at the right time, beginning to silence those wrong doubted his £65m move from Chelsea last summer.
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With him in the side, Arsenal can vary up their game, and did so inside the first 15 seconds as David Raya’s long ball from kick-off was beautifully controlled by Havertz on the edge of the box before winning a corner.
It set the tone, and Havertz continued to be a nuisance aerially as well as producing several cute touches for his teammates, including an assist for Bukayo Saka’s second half strike.
Saka gives two-word response after being asked if goal was ‘world class’ just days after Ferdinand questioned talents
BUKAYO SAKA FEELING THE HEAT
Newcastle left-back Tino Livramento has received a lot of praise as a young left-back making his name in the Prem, but he had a torrid evening trying to contain Saka.
Bukayo Saka started the game wearing a thermal under-shirtCredit: Reuters
The winger took it off during a break in playCredit: Getty
The Three Lions star had Livramento in the palm of his hand with numerous darting runs in behind before Eddie Howe’s men wised up and filled that space with more cover.
But by then, Saka was so exhausted from his constant attacking that he took off his thermal under-top during a break in play.
After the break, Saka turned Livramento inside and out yet again to grab his goal – scoring for the fifth Prem game in a row making it 13 Prem goals for the campaign.
BEN WHITE GETTING REVENGE OVER ANTHONY GORDON
There is no love lost between Arsenal and Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon, the man who scored that controversial VAR-themed winner in the reverse fixture at St James’ Park back in November – one that got Arteta into hot water with the FA over his “disgrace” comments.
Ben White got the better of Newcastle’s Anthony GordonCredit: AFP
And so, it was a surprise to see Gordon go on the offensive in North London. Frustrated with the lack of ball as Arsenal dominated early on, the winger took a swipe at Ben White that was missed by referee Paul Tierney.
White did well not to react, but decided to get his revenge with not one but two off-the-ball collisions that left Gordon on the floor in some pain.
Gordon had little to no impact in the game after that, while White continued to show why he is one of Arteta’s most valuable players as an inverted right-back, a role that was initially forced on him with the recent injury to Oleksandr Zinchenko.
DECLAN RICE’S TUNNEL TALES
Declan Rice was one of the first Arsenal players showered, changed and down the tunnel after the match as he caught up with some friends near the main entrance.
Declan Rice was quick to praise Arsenal’s performance at full-timeCredit: Getty
It was there that he was overheard gushing about his own side’s display, including his awe at Arsenal’s press this season and the impact on their ability to win the ball back quickly.
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Not only has Arsenal’s intensity off the ball seen them score 62 goals in the Prem – one less than leaders Liverpool – but also conceded the fewest in the division with 23 in 26 outings.
Rice plays a huge part in triggering Arteta’s beloved press, and the England midfielder has had more freedom to do so with Jorginho behind him as cover as of late. More

A SUPERCOMPUTER has predicted how the Premier League relegation battle will finish after Everton point deduction was reduced.The Toffees have had four points returned to their tally after appealing against their initial ten-point penalty.
Sean Dyche and Everton’s survival hopes have received a huge boostCredit: Rex
The Goodison club appealed to a second independent commission after they were hit with the huge punishment in November for breaching Prem Profitability and Sustainability Rules during the 2021/22 season.
However, they have now had that reduced in a partial win over the Premier League.
But Everton are still stuck in the middle of a relegation dogfight and they could also face a FURTHER points deduction before the end of the season.
They now sit 15th in the Premier League table with 25 points, five clear of 18th-placed Luton Town.
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Today’s news regarding the appeal will have come as a huge blow to rest of the clubs down the bottom battling for survival.
Sheffield United remain rooted to the foot of the table with a tally of 13 points from 26 games – and 11 from safety.
Burnley are sandwiched between them and Luton in the drop zone with the same tally as the Blades but a better goal difference.
We revealed earlier how Bettingexpert’s supercomputer BETSiE had predicted that Arsenal would be crowned champions come May.
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And it also revealed how they thought the relegation fight would end – and it made good reading for Everton.
The projections were made by the supercomputer taking into account multiple data points including xG, xA and it then ran the simulation over 100,000 times.
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And after initially predicting Everton to finish 16th, they are now set for an even better finish. 
Their final position has now jumped to 14th with their chances of relegation being close to 0 per cent.
But while it was good news for the Toffees, it made grim reading for those currently in the drop zone.
All three of Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton were predicted to go down, with Nottingham Forest beating the drop with a 17th-placed finish.
Forest, who are currently on 24 points, are tipped to reach the 40-point barrier, with Crystal Palace predicted to finish just ahead of them by a point.
Brentford are then predicted to finish on 44 points along with Everton, although the Toffees are expected to have a greater goal difference.
Here’s how the predicted final table will look More

JADON SANCHO was labelled as the “worst player on the pitch” after his dismal performance in Borussia Dortmund’s defeat on Sunday.The Black and Yellows lost 3-2 against Hoffenheim with Manchester United loanee Sancho still goalless upon his return.
Jadon Sancho was labelled as the ‘worst player on the pitch’Credit: Getty
Sancho has failed to score since his return to Dortmund in JanuaryCredit: EPA
The United outcast made his seventh appearance for Dortmund since returning to the club on loan during the January transfer window.
While fans have high hopes of the winger returning to his old form the opposite has occurred.
In his first two games back Sancho made two assists but has failed to add to that since and remains goalless.
And German outlet Der Westen had no shame in saying the 23-year-old was the “worst” player in the game against Hoffenheim.
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They said: “BVB was so happy when Jadon Sancho was brought back during the last winter transfer period. The prodigal son is finally back.
“He really sent the fans into a state of euphoria. A few weeks later there is no sign of it anymore.
“Against TSG Hoffenheim, the supporters hoped that the 23-year-old would finally score his first goal. 
“But they were disappointed once again. The BVB star showed another poor performance against Hoffenheim and was probably the worst player on the pitch.”
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Sancho played 75 minutes of the game before being subbed off after failing to get a shot on target or even successfully cross the ball to his teammates.
The England international returned to his former club last month after United boss Ten Hag fell out with the £73million winger.
Ten Hag claims there were ‘issues’ with Jadon Sancho BEFORE boss arrived at Man Utd and ‘all the way through’
And it does not look like Dortmund will want to keep the star after sporting director Sebastian Kehl told Sky Sports Germany that the club has already pretty much ruled out making his loan permanent. More