Pep Guardiola reiterated his admiration for the free-kicks of James Ward-Prowse, insisting the Southampton midfielder is the world's best over dead balls.
The Manchester City manager described Ward-Prowse as the best free-kick-taker he had ever seen in December 2020 after his side won 1-0 at St Mary's Stadium.
The England international scored a spectacular long-range goal in the 3-1 loss to Wolves last week that took him to 12 goals from direct free-kicks in the Premier League, a tally bettered only by David Beckham (18) in the history of the competition.
Since the start of 2012-13, Ward-Prowse's first in England's top flight, only Hakan Calhanoglu (14), Miralem Pjanic (15) and Lionel Messi (33) have scored more often directly from set-pieces. His 12 goals have come from just 90 attempts, though, giving him a 13.3 per cent conversion rate, a figure only bettered by Paulo Dybala (13.5 per cent) among players to score at least 10 such goals in that time.
Ward-Prowse's repertoire goes beyond spectacular goals, though: he has created 224 chances from set-pieces over the past 10 seasons, providing 19 assists, numbers only beaten by Calhanoglu and Dani Parejo in Europe's top leagues.
Ahead of Saturday's match on England's south coast, Guardiola again drew attention to the threat the 27-year-old poses.
"He is the best taker I have ever seen, right now in the world," he said. "No player is a better taker than Ward-Prowse.
"He is so good, maybe we miss a little bit this quality of a football player: a guy who adapts in the same position, a team player, great quality without the ball, with the ball, understanding the game.
"Set-pieces and corners are exceptional. We need to pay more attention."
Beating Southampton away on the final day of the 2017-18 season saw City win their first Premier League title under Guardiola and become the first side in England's top tier to score 100 points in a single season.
Their latest visit offers the chance of another moment of history, as a draw will see Guardiola reach 500 points since he took charge in 2016. City have already accrued at least 38 more than any other team in the competition in that time, and 108 more than Manchester United.
However, when asked about the milestone, Guardiola said: "I'm not thinking of this when it hasn't happened. It will happen sooner or later. Southampton.
"We struggled in the first game last season when we played there. When we played home, we won, but we struggle in the actions. Southampton are a tough team. A real tough team."
Guardiola, who confirmed Riyad Mahrez has been given a week off after Algeria exited the Africa Cup of Nations, has seen his side build up an 11-point lead at the top of the table with one game to go until the Premier League takes a two-week break.
He said there will be no warm-weather training camp in Abu Dhabi during that interval due to concerns around coronavirus.
"We spoke with the club and it’s not safe to go all together with the virus," he said. "Instead, we decided everyone to go for themselves with family and friends."
'It's a poor season, not a poor football club' – Blades boss Wilder
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has defended Sheffield United, acknowledging it has been a bad season, but dismissing that the Blades do not have a positive future.
A midweek defeat to Manchester United means the Blades can be relegated back to the Championship should they lose to Newcastle United on Saturday.
The Blades are 10 points from safety with four games left, but even a point would not realistically be enough given they have a goal difference of -59, 41 worse than Nottingham Forest’s -18.
To make matters worse, the Blades will start their next season in the Championship with a two-point deduction for financial discrepancies.
"We're not saying everything is great," said Wilder.
"What we are saying is there is a load of optimism about the future of the football club.
"It's a poor season, not a poor football club. We've been in far worse positions than this as a football club, certainly over my time as a supporter, player and manager.
"So, we'll come again if the inevitable happens on the weekend. We'll try our best, as we did, like we did on Wednesday night at Old Trafford, to get a result for our club and our supporters – who yet again were magnificent."
Newcastle, meanwhile, are in the hunt for European football, and Eddie Howe wants a response following the 2-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in midweek.
Howe said: "We must learn and absorb all the lessons from Wednesday. Every game is so difficult, it is up to us to go into the game with the right mentality and let our players express themselves in the right way. We have to finish the season strongly, we are under no illusions on how important these fixtures are."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Newcastle United – Alexander Isak
Isak has scored in each of his last six Premier League home games, with only Andrew Cole (eight in 1993-94) and Alan Shearer (15 in 1996-97) netting in more consecutively for Newcastle in the competition.
Sheffield United – Ben Brereton Diaz
Brereton Diaz scored in Sheff Utd’s 4-2 defeat at Old Trafford – his fifth Premier League goal of the season since he joined on loan from Villarreal in January. With Oli McBurnie set to miss the rest of the season, Diaz will be the Blades’ biggest attacking threat.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEWCASTLE UNITED WIN
Newcastle are overwhelming favourites, and it is no surprise given Howe have lost just one of their last 25 Premier League games kicking off at 3pm on Saturday (W16 D8), going down 1-0 at Luton Town earlier this season.
The Magpies have scored in all 17 of their Premier League home games this season, with their 43 goals in total their most at St James’ Park in a top-flight campaign since 1996-97 (54).
Newcastle have lost none of their eight Premier League home games against promoted sides under Howe (W3 D5), with their last such defeat coming against Leeds United under Steve Bruce in January 2021. They also beat Sheffield United 8-0 in the reverse fixture at Bramall Lane – the most goals they have ever scored against an opponent in a single Premier League campaign is 10, doing so against the Blades’ rivals Sheffield Wednesday in 1999-00.
The Blades have lost three of their four Premier League away games against Newcastle, failing to score in each defeat. The exception was a 1-0 victory under Neil Warnock in November 2006.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Newcastle United – 71.6%
Sheffield United – 9.7%
Draw – 18.7%
Howe does not want 'constant speculation' over Guimaraes' future
Eddie Howe acknowledged he cannot control speculation over Bruno Guimaraes' future, though the Newcastle United boss wants it to end swiftly.
Reports emerged this week that Manchester City, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain are all interested in the Brazil international, who has been crucial to Newcastle's rise under Howe, having been signed from Lyon in January 2022.
According to the rumours, Newcastle value their star player at a minimum of £80million.
And ahead of Newcastle's meeting with Premier League strugglers Sheffield United, Howe conceded the club cannot control the speculation.
"Having that was well planned and structured by the club, in a sense that there’s a sort of finish point," he said.
"We don't want constant speculation, it's not healthy for the player or for us.
"It goes without saying we want to keep him, I want to build our team around him. His form has been very good and he seems very happy and settled.
"He'll be thinking about a very busy summer ahead, where hopefully we can take the team, with him a big part of it. But we aren't in control of that so let's see."
Chelsea midfielder Fernandez undergoes groin surgery
Chelsea will be without Enzo Fernandez for their final six games of the season due to a groin issue.
Fernandez was forced off with an injury during Chelsea's 5-0 defeat at Arsenal on Tuesday.
And it has now been confirmed the 23-year-old World Cup winner has undergone surgery, and will subsequently miss the final month of Chelsea's campaign.
Fernandez has made 28 Premier League appearances this season, scoring three goals. Chelsea did not put a timeframe on his return, though Argentina will be hoping the former Benfica star is fit to feature in the Copa America, which begins in late June.
The Blues sit ninth in the table, though they do have games in hand on all of their rivals for European qualification.
Mauricio Pochettino's team take on Champions League hopefuls Aston Villa on Saturday, with fixtures against Tottenham, West Ham Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Bournemouth to follow.
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