Wayne Rooney says Plymouth Argyle's under-18 side would have performed better than his first team during their humiliating 6-1 defeat by Norwich City.
The former England captain suffered his heaviest defeat with the Pilgrims, who are just two points outside the relegation zone having failed to win an away game all season.
Plymouth, who were missing the likes of skipper Joe Edwards, goalkeeper Connor Hazard and Morgan Whittaker through injury, recorded an xG of 0.62 compared to Norwich's 3.15.
The visitors also enjoyed just 27.5% of the possession, and Rooney pulled no punches in his assessment of the performance at Carrow Road.
"We were nowhere near good enough," he said. "We are down to the bare bones with injuries, but that is no excuse.
"But if players want to come in the team and stay in the team, then they need to perform better than that. I could probably put the under-18 team out there, and they wouldn't concede six goals.
"I'm very disappointed, angry, frustrated and the next 24 to 48 hours are not going to be very nice for the players, but we need to get to the bottom of why this is happening."
Hurzeler unsurprised by Brighton's progress towards Champions League places
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler does not want to stop his fans dreaming of Champions League qualification following their impressive start to the season.
They have accrued 22 points in their opening 12 matches of the season and currently occupy fifth place in the Premier League, one point behind second-placed Manchester City and level with the respective third- and fourth-placed sides Chelsea and Arsenal.
Their run of form led to a section of fans singing about potentially qualifying for Europe's top tournament during their 2-1 victory over Bournemouth last weekend.
While Hurzeler would not be drawn on the chant, he did not exactly dampen fans' enthusiasm, saying: “I don’t listen so they can sing what they want.
“I didn’t hear it. I was focused on the game, but I think it is always important to make the supporters proud because in the end, they pay a lot of money, they spend a lot of time to support us, and it’s our responsibility to give them something back.”
There has been surprise from some quarters at the position the club currently occupy, having finished in 11th last term while juggling the Europa League. But not from the manager, who talked up his players following their most recent victory.
"There is no surprise [at the progress] or expectations. It is belief in the process and the guys," he said.
"If you see them work everyday, you see an unbelievable work ethic. When you are a man down, you have to stick together and support each other. We can improve on a lot of points but I believe in the process."
Southampton manager Russell Martin, meanwhile, is trying to keep positive ahead of his side's trip to the Amex Stadium and following their 3-2 defeat at home to Liverpool.
"I think there's so much more to come. The fight is there, they're running," he said.
"It's about work, analyse the problems. We have to keep learning and helping the players through it as much as we can. Playing out is what got us to the Premier League and I'm really proud of the players.
Southampton were relegated bottom of the league in 2022-23, which was their most recent season in the Premier League.
Despite currently occupying the same spot, Martin believes that this season is different and that the players are doing their best for him and the club.
"I think the feeling is very different from the last time this club was in the Premier League. There's no lack of fight, they're really trying," he said.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Brighton – Joao Pedro
Pedro has been directly involved in six goals in his last five Premier League appearances, scoring four and supplying two assists.
The Brazilian forward scored the opening goal in Brighton's 2-1 victory against Bournemouth last weekend and the equaliser against the Citizens in the previous match.
Southampton – Adam Armstrong
Armstrong has scored three goals in his last three home appearances for Southampton, being the last player to net four in the top flight at St. Mary's since Charlie Austin in 2016.
The 27-year-old scored the only goal of the game in Southampton's only victory this season against Everton, which came earlier in November.
MATCH PREDICTION: BRIGHTON WIN
Brighton have won their last two Premier League games, last winning three in a row in September 2023. The Seagulls are also unbeaten in all six of their home league games this term (W3 D3), their longest such run from the start of a campaign since 2015-16 (10 in the Championship).
They are also the only team to be unbeaten when conceding the first goal in Premier League games this season (W2 D2). Meanwhile, Southampton have gone on to lose all eight games in which they’ve conceded first, with only Nottingham Forest also having a 100% loss rate (2/2).
And having been winless in their first seven Premier League meetings with Southampton (D4 L3), Brighton have now won three of their last five against them (D2).
However, Southampton have lost just one of their last seven Premier League games played on a Friday (W4 D2), going down 1-0 at Aston Villa in September 2022. This follows a run of four straight defeats on Friday games, a run which culminated in a 9-0 home loss to Leicester City in October 2019.
The Saints have also scored in all 12 of their top-flight games against Brighton – it’s the most they’ve faced an opponent while scoring every time in the competition, while Brighton have only faced Man City (15) more without keeping a clean sheet.
But Southampton have struggled away from home. They have lost each of their last nine Premier League away games – only once have they lost 10 in a row on the road in the top-flight, doing so between December 1973 and April 1974. The last side to lose 10 in a row in the Premier League were Aston Villa (February 2016 to September 2019).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Brighton – 63.7%
Draw – 19.2%
Southampton – 17.1%
‘Proud’ Glasner insists Palace are on the ‘right pathway’ to success
Crystal Palace’s point away to Aston Villa shows that the club are on the “right pathway” after a difficult start to the campaign, so says head coach Oliver Glasner.
Despite leading on two occasions against the Villans, the Eagles have just one victory in the Premier League this season (D5 L6); their joint-fewest after 12 games of a single campaign in the competition.
While Palace have failed to replicate the form they showed at the start of Glasner’s tenure at Selhurst Park, he is confident that they can build on their latest result when they welcome Newcastle United to south London this weekend.
"I’m very proud of the team's performance. We’re missing some key players in attack, but we still scored two amazing goals,” Glasner said.
"I’m very proud how they played together, worked together, fought together and believed in getting a point here. Overall, it was a good performance for us, and we go home very pleased with the point.
“I think we're on the right pathway, getting a point here at Villa is a good result for us. And now we want to improve our performance to take the win against Newcastle, because this will be necessary.”
The latest round of fixtures concluded at St. James’ Park, though Newcastle faltered at home to West Ham, with Tomas Soucek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka on target either side of half-time.
The Magpies have now lost two of their last three Premier League home games (W1), as many defeats as in their previous 20 league matches (W13 D5), leaving them 10th in the table and four points behind the top four.
And Newcastle boss Eddie Howe lamented his side’s inability to put away their chances against the Hammers, while also citing the manner in which his side conceded both goals.
"I don't think anything takes me by surprise in the Premier League. We know every team has qualities. We were the dominant team at half-time and the game would have been very different if we had equalised before the end of first half,” Howe said.
"We know we made individual mistakes for both goals. It was disappointing from our perspective. Very uncharacteristic from us because we've defended well in recent weeks.
"At the end we had players out of position, so I didn't like the way we looked at the end. But up until that 60-minute mark, I thought we were the dominant team.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Crystal Palace – Jean-Philippe Mateta
While Mateta has failed to hit the heights of last season for the Eagles so far this term, the Frenchman’s assist against Aston Villa will give him confidence about returning to home soil.
All five of his goals for Crystal Palace in all competitions this season have come in home games. Since Glasner’s first game in charge of the Eagles in February, Mateta has scored 16 goals in just 13 starts at Selhurst Park in all competitions.
Newcastle – Anthony Gordon
After failing to make the desired impact against West Ham last time out, Gordon will be keen to add to his two Premier League goals this season.
The England international has created more chances (24) than any other Newcastle player this season, and has two goals in six appearances against Crystal Palace, one for the Magpies and one during his time at Everton.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEWCASTLE WIN
While Newcastle are favoured by Opta’s data-led simulations, after winning their first four Premier League away games against Crystal Palace, they have won just one of their last nine visits to Selhurst Park in the competition (D5 L3).
After being unbeaten in eight Premier League away games against London sides between October 2022 and October 2023 (W4 D4), Newcastle have also now lost six of their last eight visits to the capital (W2), shipping at least two goals in seven of those games.
Newcastle have lost three of their last five Premier League games (W2), as many as they had in their previous 17 combined (W9 D5).
However, the Magpies have kept 14 clean sheets in their 26 Premier League games against Crystal Palace. Only against Aston Villa (19) and Arsenal (15) have they recorded more in the competition, while it’s their highest percentage of clean sheets against sides they’ve faced 20 or more times (54%).
Crystal Palace won this exact fixture 2-0 in April, last winning consecutive league meetings with Newcastle between 1971 and 1972 (a run of three).
But the Eagles have just one win and eight points from their 12 Premier League games this season, their lowest points haul at this stage since 2018-19 (also eight), and fewest wins since 2017-18 (also one). This will be the first time they’ve played a Premier League match while starting the day in the bottom two of the table since December 2017 (2-1 v Watford).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Crystal Palace – 33.6%
Draw – 26%
Newcastle – 40.4%
Forest should be ‘worried’ about recent run of form, says Nuno
Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo believes his side should be “worried” after losing back-to-back Premier League games for the first time this season.
On their return to top-flight action following the international break, Forest were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Arsenal, with their toothless display in attack seeing them fail to register a shot on target.
The result dropped Nuno’s side down to seventh in the standings after their impressive start to the campaign, and the Forest boss wants to see improvements, particularly at the back after conceding six goals in the space of two games.
“It was not a good performance. I will not say bad, but I think we did a lot of bad things. We came up short in all aspects of the game. Offensively we were short, and defensively we must recognise we have conceded six goals in two games, so we should be worried,” Nuno said.
“We have to put it right immediately this week. We have to get back to being compact, solid and not giving too much time to individual players with such quality.
“Second half we were better when we had adjusted a little bit. We were better pressing. But Arsenal were very clinical and played good. They killed the game, and it was a tough day for us.”
Ipswich, meanwhile, denied new Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim a winning start with the Red Devils after holding them to a goalless draw at Portman Road last Sunday.
The Tractor Boys have now failed to win any of their first six home league games in a season for just the fourth time in the club’s league history, though Kieran McKenna believed his side were worthy of the victory against his former employers.
"We could have won the game, we finished the first half in the ascendancy and deserved to be at least level. The second half was competitive, we had a few big chances but had to be disciplined with our defending,” McKenna said.
“On another day we could have won it but if you concede an early goal the game could have run away from us, so credit to the players."
McKenna also showered praise on midfielder Omari Hutchinson, with the former Chelsea man netting a stunning equaliser to cancel out Marcus Rashford’s early opener.
“He’s shown good stuff from the start of the season, but he’s starting to understand it a bit more. It’s his second season of senior football, it’s his first season of starting, and it’s his first season being in a team who are going to be in the bottom third of the league, or likely to be,” he added.
“He’s maturing well, and he showed all the qualities we want from a number 10 today. We feel like when teams come and press us high and open up the middle of the pitch, having a dribbler like Omari in there is really, really hard to handle.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Nottingham Forest – Callum Hudson-Odoi
Hudson-Odoi has created more chances (18) and had more touches in the opposition box (40) than any other Forest player this season.
However, he has managed just two goals from 13 appearances in all competitions so far this term, and Nuno will be hopeful he can rediscover his scoring touch this weekend.
Ipswich Town – Leif Davis
Davis has adapted well to life in the top-flight, and Ipswich fans will be glad to know that the knock he sustained against United was nothing serious.
He has created more chances than any other Ipswich player in the Premier League this season, with his 28 also the most among defenders so far in the competition this term.
MATCH PREDICTION: NOTTINGHAM FOREST WIN
Forest have lost just one of their six league meetings with Ipswich (W4 D1), with this the first between the sides since a 1-1 draw in March 2019.
The two teams have met each other four times in the Premier League – Ipswich won both meetings in 1992-93 as Forest were relegated, while Forest won both games in 1994-95 with the Tractor Boys going down.
Forest are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League games against promoted sides (W5 D3), though, winning the last four in a row. Forest had failed to win any of their previous 15 such games before this run (D9 L6).
However, having lost just one of their first 10 Premier League games this season, Forest have now lost both of their last two. They’ve conceded three goals in these defeats, as many times as they’d conceded three or more goals in their previous 22 league games combined.
Ipswich, meanwhile, are winless in their last 14 away league games against Forest (D6 L8), with their last such victory coming in December 1999 (1-0 thanks to a Matt Holland goal).
McKenna’s side have drawn more games than any other Premier League side this season (six). It’s the first time they’ve drawn as many as half of their first 12 league games since 2018-19 (six) and first time in the top-flight since 1992-93 (seven).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Nottingham Forest – 57.9%
Draw – 21.9%
Ipswich Town – 20.2%
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