Mikel Arteta says he is hopeful that Arsenal can convince Bukayo Saka to stay at the club even if they fail to finish in the Premier League's top four this season.
Saka's current deal at the Emirates Stadium reportedly expires in 2024, with the club eager for him to sign a new one.
However, reports have linked the 20-year-old with a move to the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City, and the player himself has expressed his desire to play in the Champions League.
Saka recently told Sky Sports: "I think the Champions League creates so many special nights and it’s a dream for me still to experience one of them and hopefully many more of them."
At a media conference ahead of Thursday's trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers, when asked if the club needed Champions League football to keep hold of their star youngster, Arteta replied: "I don’t know. It’s a conversation we’re going to have with the player internally and then with his environment, his agent, his family, who are going to be extremely important, so everybody is on board.
"Obviously, our desire is to keep Bukayo as long as possible because we are really happy, he’s part of our club, he’s our DNA, he’s growing, he’s maturing, his importance in the team is unquestionable and we want to keep our best talent at the club, that’s for sure."
Arsenal currently sit sixth in the Premier League, four points behind fourth-placed West Ham but with three games in hand.
Saka has emerged as a key player for the Gunners, having played the most games in all competitions at the club so far this season (26), while only Emile Smith Rowe (nine) has scored more than his seven goals.
No-one has created more than the England international's 40 chances, and he has created eight big chances, whereby a team-mate would be expected to score, which is three more than the next highest (Martin Odegaard, five).
Arteta also outlined the balance Arsenal must find between allowing opportunities for their best young talents, while also strengthening the team with big signings.
"Here there are two things. It’s trying to build a squad that you have room for those players to develop, and the other one is to have those players developing when we are extremely competitive," he added.
"Because if you sign three top players, and then those kids start not playing, what happens? You cannot have it both ways. If you sign big players, with big money, the money has to be on the pitch – which means that these players are not going to be on the pitch.
"So we need to find the balance, but with the standards that this club requires, which is to be the best. This is what we are trying to do, but without killing what is growing."
Gravenberch ready to show off Liverpool form ‘to the world’, says Gakpo
Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo expressed his pride in seeing compatriot Ryan Gravenberch show off his qualities ‘to the whole world’ after a fine start to the Premier League season.
Though the Netherlands pair did not become teammates at Liverpool until late summer of 2023, Gakpo knew well Gravenberch’s talents from their respective Eredivisie spells with PSV Eindhoven and Ajax.
Now in his second season at Anfield, Gravenberch has drawn widespread plaudits for his form in a new deeper-lying midfield role under new head coach Arne Slot, having largely been used as a substitute under Jurgen Klopp.
Gravenberch is the only midfielder in Europe's big-five leagues to both make 30+ tackles (30) and 30+ interceptions (33) in all competitions this season, and Gakpo insisted that his Netherlands team-mate can continue to go from strength to strength, starting against Southampton this Sunday.
“We [the Dutchmen at Liverpool] knew Ryan already from the Eredivisie when he played at Ajax, and I think everybody knew already that he is this good,” Gakpo recently told Men in Blazers.
“After that, he made a move to Bayern Munich, and maybe he didn’t play that much over there, but still everybody in Holland knew how good he could be when he was playing.
“And I think maybe the manager [Slot] also knew this. At the beginning of the season, he put him in a slightly different position, but he gave him the confidence to play there.
“Ryan showed his quality in that position, grabbed his chance as well and turned out to be a good match. He is playing outstandingly for us this season.
“I’m very happy that we can see Ryan, as we Dutchmen already knew, but now he can show it to the whole world. I’m very proud of him.”
Southampton, meanwhile, welcome the Reds to St. Mary’s on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Wolves ahead of the international break, leaving them bottom of the table after 11 games of the season.
The Saints are the lowest scorers in the Premier League this season (seven), while only Crystal Palace (5.1%) have a lower shot conversion rate than Russell Martin’s side (6.2%). Just 30.1% of Southampton’s shots have been on target this term (34/113), a league-low ratio.
However, the Southampton head coach is relishing the opportunity of facing Liverpool, with his players performing well against the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City already this term.
"I'm really excited about Sunday. We're playing the best team in the country at the moment, on their current form and what they have been doing with their manager, built on an incredible foundation from the previous manager, so I'm really looking forward to it,” Martin said.
"I think we showed the guys the Premier League table last season and how much it changed by the end and by the end of December. But it's honestly such an exciting month.
"People talk about the difficulty of the game and every competition we face in the next four or five games, but it's what we all worked so hard for. We should be excited about the challenge.
“I think teams have shown in the last few weeks that you can pick up big results against big teams, good opposition, and we are going to have to. Our level of performance against teams at the top end of the table has been good on the whole."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Southampton – Mateus Fernandes
Fernandes has become a mainstay in the Southampton team, starting the last eight Premier League games in a row, and has been one of Martin’s standout performers in a lacklustre start to the campaign.
In the Saints’ 2-0 defeat to Wolves last time out, the Portuguese contributed a team-high expected goals (xG) tally of 0.22 from his three shots, while only Yukinari Sugawara (10) and Flynn Downes (12) have created more chances in the top-flight than Fernandes (eight) this season.
Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
Salah has both scored and assisted in the same match 35 times in the Premier League (including four already this term), just one shy of Wayne Rooney’s record of 36 games with both a goal and an assist in the competition. The Egyptian has been directly involved in 11 goals (seven goals, four assists) in 11 Premier League appearances against Southampton.
He has also been directly involved in 67% of Liverpool’s Premier League goals this season (14/21 – eight goals, six assists), the highest ratio by a player for any side in the division in 2024-25. Indeed, only Matt Le Tissier for Southampton in 1993-94 (69% - 34/49) has scored or assisted a higher proportion of a side’s goals in a single season in the competition.
MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
Liverpool have won nine of their 11 Premier League games under new head coach Slot (D1 L1). A win over Southampton will see the Dutchman become the joint-fastest manager to reach 10 wins from the start of a Premier League career (12 games), alongside Guus Hiddink in May 2009 and Carlo Ancelotti in November 2009 (both with Chelsea).
The Reds’ last Premier League game against the Saints was a 4-4 away draw in May 2023 – they conceded as many goals in that game as they had in their previous six visits to St Mary’s combined.
Southampton have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games against Liverpool (D3 L10), a 1-0 home victory in January 2021.
This will also be the first Premier League match between the side starting the day bottom of the table and the side starting the day top since April 2023, and Southampton’s 3-3 draw away to Arsenal. The league leaders are unbeaten in 14 such matches (W12 D2) since Wolves won 2-1 against Manchester United in February 2011.
However, Southampton have only lost one of their last eight Premier League home games against sides starting the day at the summit (W2 D5) and are unbeaten in their last four (W2 D2 – including a 1-0 win over Liverpool in January 2021) since a 0-1 defeat to Man City in May 2018.
But Martin’s side have lost nine of their 11 Premier League games this season (W1 D1). Only seven sides in English top-flight history have reached 10 defeats in 12 or fewer matches from the start of a campaign, with all seven going on to be relegated.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Southampton – 9.7%
Draw – 12.6%
Liverpool – 77.7%
Taylor proud of 'gritty' Man City display in Hammarby victory
Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his Manchester City players handled the atmosphere against Hammarby to secure their passage into the Champions League quarter-finals.
Khadija Shaw opened the scoring in the 31st minute before Ellen Wangerheim restored parity shortly after the interval with a finish from close range.
But Shaw continued her fine start to the campaign, scoring the winner to become City's all-time top scorer in the competition, surpassing Georgia Stanway and Janine Beckie (both six).
The result saw City make it to the last eight of the competition for the first time since 2021, though the encounter was far from comfortable at the Tele2 Arena on Thursday.
Hammarby ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.15 compared to the visitors' 1.07, despite both sides having 14 shots throughout the match.
However, City maintained their unbeaten record against Swedish sides in the competitor (W6), and Taylor was proud of his side's "gritty" display in Stockholm.
“I’m really pleased. It was about qualification for us tonight," Taylor said.
"There were a couple of ways we could do it. Obviously, we knew a point was enough, but I don’t think the players were thinking that way.
“It was a really gritty performance on a really difficult on this pitch. It probably doesn’t look like that for the viewers at home watching it.
"But it was a really lively surface and we worked so hard.
“I felt there were some areas we could control the play better. I have to give credit to Hammarby, they were really aggressive.
"The referee was on our side a little bit in the first half and maybe not in the second.
“I’m really pleased and proud of the players, they really dug in tonight. You come away from a hostile environment with a win.”
Silva expects Iwobi to hit new heights for in-form Fulham
Fulham boss Marco Silva is counting on Alex Iwobi to provide his best-ever Premier League season as the Nigerian looks to continue his strong start to 2024-25 versus Wolves.
Fulham signed off for the November international break with back-to-back wins over Brentford (2-1) and Crystal Palace (2-0) and currently sit seventh in the table.
They are among a host of teams within distance of the Champions League spots, with Iwobi's performances a major factor in their strong start.
He has two goals and two assists so far this term, and Silva believes he is in the form of his life.
"For me, last season was the best season from him in the Premier League, in my opinion, and I'm sure that he's going to be better this season," Silva told Fulham's website.
"It's the same thing that I've been saying to him.
"I know him very well, I brought him to Everton, and when we got the chance to have him with us here at Fulham, it was a moment for us to go to sign him.
"First, he is a really versatile player that can play in many, many positions, he can do many roles. I know where he's capable, where he feels that he can perform better.
"He likes to be around in the middle of the pitch. But now he's playing more on the right, where he's capable, like he showed against Crystal Palace."
Wolves, meanwhile, picked up their first victory of the season at the 11th attempt prior to the international break, beating Southampton 2-0 at Molineux.
That result steadied the ship after coach Gary O'Neil had seen his position come under threat, and captain Mario Lemina thinks it will also provide a much-needed confidence boost.
"It was really hard. We just believed since day one," Lemina told the club's media channels.
"The whole city has been missing that sensation. To finish with this win, it's going to be good for our mental health.
"To be honest, we were sad for the fans, sad for the club, but now we can build from that and try to get back. We're really in a positive mentality."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Fulham – Alex Iwobi
Only Dejan Kulusevski (25), Cole Palmer (25), and Bernardo Silva (23) have created more chances from open play in the Premier League this season than Iwobi (22).
His expected assists total from open play of 2.9 xA is the second-highest in the competition, behind James Maddison (3.2), and he has scored more than twice as many Premier League goals against Wolves (five) than he has versus any other opponent.
Wolves – Matheus Cunha
Since the start of last season, only three players have been involved in a higher proportion of their side's goals in the Premier League than Wolves' Cunha (39%; 17 goals, nine assists).
Furthermore, the Brazilian has netted in each of his last three away league games and has five goal involvements in his last five outings overall (three goals, two assists).
MATCH PREDICTION – FULHAM WIN
Fulham have won just one of their last eight Premier League games against Wolves (three draws, four losses), though it was in this exact fixture last season (3-2).
However, Silva's men enter this match in excellent form, and they could win three successive Premier League games for the first time since a run of four victories in January 2023, which is the only time they have accomplished the feat since returning to the top flight in 2022.
Wolves, meanwhile, have not won successive Premier League games since February last season and are winless in their last 11 away league matches, drawing four and losing seven while conceding 28 goals in that time.
They have also lost seven of their last 10 Premier League matches in London including both such games this season versus Arsenal and Brentford (three wins).
As well as Iwobi, Wolves will have to be particularly wary of their former striker Raul Jimenez. All six of his Premier League goal involvements this season (four goals, two assists) have put Fulham ahead, the best 100% rate managed in the competition so far this term.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Fulham – 54.8%
Wolves – 22.2%
Draw – 23%
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