Chelsea made it three Premier League wins in a row for the first time since October 2022 as Cole Palmer’s penalty guided them to a 1-0 victory over Fulham at Stamford Bridge.

The winning goal came in stoppage time at the end of the first half, the top scorer for Mauricio Pochettino’s side notching his ninth goal of the season after Raheem Sterling was tripped in the box.

However, the move had been started by a moment of Palmer genius, spotting a gap and threading a superb ball through the middle that drew defender Issa Diop into a clumsy foul.

Marco Silva’s visitors never truly looked beaten until the final whistle sounded.

Chelsea, though, defended doggedly in the final moments to breath genuine momentum into their season.

The first half began in a familiar pattern, plenty of possession for the hosts but little or no penetration in the final third. Sterling was busy down the left during the opening 15 minutes, Kenny Tete at right-back barring the way.

The only chance of those opening exchanges fell to Conor Gallagher, the captain lifting his shot a couple of yards over the bar from just outside the box.

Sterling opted for a different tact on 20 minutes, laying it off wide to Enzo Fernandez to cross. His centre was met by Armando Broja at the front post, who failed to get enough of a glance on the ball and thumped his header wide.

The best chance of the half, though, was Fulham’s. Willian fed Andreas Pereira overlapping on the left, who picked out Harry Wilson stealing away into space on the far side. Wilson hit it first time, looking to sneak it inside Djordje Petrovic’s near post, but the goalkeeper spread himself well, rebounding it away with his legs.

Chelsea’s goal in added time at the end of the half was not deserved on the balance of play, but the pass from Palmer to carve out the chance was sublime. Making eyes for a lofted cross, he instead slipped a reverse ball through the middle for Sterling, who in cutting in onto his left was tripped by Diop. Palmer did the rest from the spot.

Chelsea were seeking a fourth win from five in the league, the kind of points return they had not enjoyed since former boss Graham Potter’s early days in charge more than a year ago. They were, in truth, fortunate to lead at the break.

Sterling headed against the post from six yards out at the start of the second half after Fernandez’s cross had picked him out. Malo Gusto played a low ball for Broja at the near post, but he failed to get a touch and it was cleared by Tosin, as a rebooted Chelsea emerged after the break with renewed purpose.

Fulham took time to get going in the second half half but finally found some bite after 70 minutes, Raul Jimenez shooting low first-time at goal and drawing a save from Petrovic dropping to his right. Pochettino responded by sending on Ben Chilwell for his first appearance in nearly fourth months after recovering from a hamstring injury.

Gallagher struck the post with a superb curling effort off the outside of his right boot as Chelsea looked to kill the game off, then Willian just cleared the bar from a free-kick, Fulham refusing to lie down easy.

In the end, the clock ran out on them, as Chelsea’s resurgence under Pochettino rolled on.

Ange Postecoglou has no interest in Tottenham’s poor historical record away to the Premier League’s ‘big six’ but has challenged his young team to accelerate their growth by winning those games on the road.

Spurs travel to Old Trafford on Sunday with Manchester United trailing the fifth-placed visitors by eight points after 20 matches.

Tottenham won 6-1 at United in 2020 but have claimed only one victory at Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City or United in the ensuing 16 attempts.

“I’m not a great one at looking at the historical references to these things, I wasn’t there so I don’t know whether there was something endemic in the club that didn’t allow that,” Postecoglou explained. “I just tackle from when I get into a club.

“I think it is important – if you want to be successful, you need to be able to perform in those big games, particularly away from home.

“We went to Arsenal, City (and drew), (beat) Liverpool here, we’ve done OK in those games. Not just results but performance-wise, I don’t think we’ve walked away from any of those games and thought there was a massive gap between us and them.

“Old Trafford is another place where you know the atmosphere is going to be a great challenge for us. It would be good to see how we react to that and how we keep developing as a team.

“It’s an important part of the process. Home comforts are great and we have a great crowd behind us, but if you can do it away from home in adversity I think it accelerates your growth.”

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Spurs will be without a number of key individuals, with captain and leading marksman Son Heung-min absent with South Korea at the Asian Cup, though Postecoglou can call upon January recruits Radu Dragusin and Timo Werner.

Werner was linked with a move to United but has returned to England with Tottenham and has a point to prove after he managed only 10 goals in 56 Premier League appearances during two seasons at Chelsea.

“Again, that’s not the way I look at it,” Postecoglou countered. “I’m looking at what he can give us today, not something that happened three or four years ago.

“I just don’t think it’s relevant. I dare suggest he’s a different player, he’s certainly a different person. We all, with more experiences, evolve, we grow up in many senses, there’s more maturity, he’s probably at a different stage of his life.

“What I look at is if we bring Timo in, can he contribute to the side we have today and the way we play provided his motivations are right?”

While Werner is set to start this weekend, centre-back Dragusin is likely to be on the bench with Micky van de Ven fit again and Cristian Romero back in full training.

Postecoglou is nevertheless excited about having three top centre-backs competing for two spots.

He added: “If Radu just wanted to play, he would have stayed at Genoa.

“He has come to a big club and when you go to a big club, you know you have to compete. That’s part of your development.”

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany has told his players the latest VAR controversy to hurt their survival chances shows they must rely on themselves as they cannot expect favours from anyone else.

Kompany was fuming after Carlton Morris’s controversial stoppage-time equaliser cost them victory in Friday’s 1-1 draw with relegation rivals Luton.

Morris headed into an empty net in the second minute of time added on but only after Elijah Adebayo had blocked off Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford as he looked to gather Alfie Doughty’s cross.

Burnley had led since Zeki Amdouni’s 36th-minute strike and appeared on course for only their second home win of the season, one that would put them one point behind the Hatters and two behind 17th-placed Everton, who host Aston Villa on Sunday, but instead the result left them four points adrift of safety.

Kompany’s frustration was obvious in a post-match press conference as he described the situation as a “joke” and pointed to previous incidents at Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth where refereeing decisions have cost the Clarets.

But while Burnley will make their feelings known on the issue, Kompany said he and his players must focus on themselves.

“We’ll keep focusing on our performance and to do what we have to do to give ourselves a chance to stay up,” he said when asked if such decisions were going to cost Burnley come the end of the campaign.

“At this moment in time, I don’t want to draw these types of conclusions because it’s admitting defeat and I won’t do it. But it has to rally us if anything, rally us to be more united, more together and more willing to go the extra yard and not expect any favours from anyone.”

VAR controversies have come to the fore this season, and Kompany said there needed to be “better mechanisms” in place to deal with to the system.

“I love this sport and I want to fight for it,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to be in the referee’s shoes nowadays, I have sympathy for them. I think there’s a lot of new elements now and scrutiny and it’s difficult for them to even come to a logical decision.

“Them missing something that everyone sees like this is probably the result of the general confusion around a lot of decisions. I have sympathy but I have also a lot of frustration right now.”

Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted he would have been upset to have been on the wrong end of the decision but he and his players could celebrate a point that was their seventh from the last four league games and which moved them level with Everton.

Although Burnley had the better chances in the game, it was Luton who had more of the ball and Edwards said it showed the progression they have made.

“What pleased me most was the performance,” he said. “We’d never have been able to come here and dominate a game like that. We were really good with the ball and I loved a lot of that…

“We have got a fighting chance, it’s a fact. We’re performing really well, we’re in good form. I don’t think anyone can deny that and we are getting points. In the last four games we’ve got points from three of them and we’ve performed well so of course we’ve got a fighting chance.”

Erik ten Hag says goal-shy Manchester United must show a clinical edge if they are to kickstart their Premier League campaign against Tottenham.

This has been a bumpy second season in the hotseat for the Dutchman, whose side enter the weekend eighth in the standings having lost nine of their 20 Premier League games.

That is as many top-flight defeats as United tasted in the entirety of last season and victory against Spurs would improve the mood around a team playing just one top-flight game in January.

Ten Hag takes heart from his side’s performance in August’s 2-0 defeat in the north London reverse but knows a killer instinct is needed if they are to beat Ange Postecoglou’s men on Sunday.

“It’s definitely different,” he said of the visitors’ approach under the Australian, who swapped Celtic for Spurs in the summer. “I think it’s a really big compliment the way they played, so he changed the environment there.

“They play really proactive, it’s very enjoyable to watch them, with a lot of dynamics. Very proactive. And they combine it with good results.

“But also, when we played them over there, I think we can take belief out of that.

“I would say, especially in the first 35 minutes, we dominated them and we should have gone in the lead.

“But we didn’t, so we have to make our own luck and take control of the game, and then we have to finish the chances.”

United’s inability to make the most of their dominance caused frustration in Monday’s FA Cup third-round win at Wigan, when they had 33 shots but only managed to triumph 2-0 against League One opposition.

Only Burnley and Sheffield United, the bottom two sides, had scored fewer than the Red Devils’ 22 Premier League goals entering a weekend they will again be without Anthony Martial for.

The 28-year-old forward is out of contract in the summer and has managed just two goals and 19 appearances in another disrupted campaign, leaving Rasmus Hojlund and Marcus Rashford as options through the middle.

“He’s not fit, so he’s not OK,” Ten Hag said of Martial, who has not featured since United fans cheered his substitution in the 3-0 home loss to Bournemouth on December 9.

“We want all the players to be fit and prepared for the game. In this moment, he is not. We have to make him fit.

“It’s his job as well to get ready for the next game, but in this moment he isn’t. He is in medical treatment, and he has to recover.”

Martial joins Victor Lindelof, Mason Mount, Tyrell Malacia and Harry Maguire on the sidelines, plus Sofyan Amrabat is at the Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco.

There is better news about Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro, with Ten Hag expecting the long-term absentees to be involved on Sunday.

Luke Shaw, Antony, Christian Eriksen and Amad Diallo are also back in contention for the visit of Spurs.

Vincent Kompany fumed over the decision to allow Luton’s controversial stoppage-time equaliser as Burnley were denied a crucial three points in a 1-1 draw against their relegation rivals at Turf Moor.

Carlton Morris headed into an empty net after Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford was blocked by Elijah Adebayo as he tried to claim Alfie Doughty’s cross, but referee Tony Harrington was unmoved and VAR Peter Bankes upheld the goal following a lengthy check.

After Zeki Amdouni’s 36th-minute goal, Burnley had been moments away from celebrating a win that would have put them a point behind Luton and within touching distance of safety, but instead it was the Hatters who moved level on points with 17th-placed Everton.

“It’s a joke, a joke,” the Burnley boss said. “I will start by saying 100 per cent respect and credit to Luton, they’re a terrific outfit, what they do as a club, the players, managers, they deserve whatever is coming to them, a really good club.

“In that phase I’ve just got to defend my team, my club. I don’t understand how we can go through this phase and those events and not come to the conclusion it’s a foul.

“The striker, good luck to him, his first look is at the goalkeeper, he has a look and takes a couple of steps back and backs into him, clears a way for his colleague, then has a look at the referee to see if he gets away with it. The ball goes in, none of the Luton players celebrate, nobody.”

Kompany pointed to a series of controversial decisions that have gone against his side this season.

“For those that where there for Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Forest, how many times is it going to keep happening? A couple of lines in the newspaper and on we go. Consequences? Zero,” he said.

“Maybe we get a bit on one of the specialist things where they explain the referee decision but we won’t spend too much time on it because we need to talk about Manchester United and Liverpool. And we move on…

“It’s against my nature because I would like to congratulate Luton and tell my players what we have to do to improve. I’m shocked.

“I’m disappointed but if you know me tomorrow the only people I will blame is ourselves, what can we do better? But hopefully it will balance out and then we’ll get a lot of angry managers from the opposition when it does.”

Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted he would have been disappointed to have been on Burnley’s end of the decision, but did his best to argue there had been no foul.

“Obviously I’m really pleased to get a point,” he said. “In the end that’s nothing less than we deserved. We were excellent. We dominated large spells of the game. In the first half we dominated and looked a threat. In the second half we blocked things up a bit more made it difficult to get behind…

“We showed a lot of control without hurting them but we kept going, the team doesn’t give in and we found a way, whatever way it was.

“It’s difficult. VAR is there to show if a decision is blatantly wrong and I don’t think it is blatantly wrong. But I can understand their frustration. There is contact there with James Trafford but if it hadn’t have been given I would have been frustrated because it was pretty minimal.”

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany expressed his frustration after his side were held 1-1 at home by a controversial late goal from Carlton Morris.

Morris headed into the net in stoppage time following a collision between his fellow Hatters forward Elijah Adebayo and Clarets goalkeeper James Trafford, with referee Tony Harrington unmoved and the effort standing after a lengthy check from VAR.

Kompany told TNT Sports: “I don’t get it anymore. If we get a foul against us that is given as a penalty that is as soft as it is against Aston Villa (the 3-2 loss on December 30), then what is this here?

“There’s a clear attempt to stop the goalkeeper getting up. It doesn’t take anything away from the performance by Luton, I thought they were incredible today. But it’s just a moment there where the referee has to get it right.

“I think any ex-pro will say they understand what the striker has been doing in this case, clearing the room for the other striker.”

Kompany, whose men had led against their relegation rivals through Zeki Amdouni’s 36th-minute strike, added: “First I expect the referee to see it, it was that obvious.

“None of the Luton players have celebrated. The striker (looks) to the referee, to see if he got away with it.

“Luckily we have VAR, we think that is going to sort it out, and then it rolls, it rolls, lack of decision and that’s it, 1-1.

“I’m absolutely fine if we concede this goal and it’s consistent and this is allowed – if everyone can do it, I’ll tell my players to do it.

“But we dropped points at Villa after the softest red card and softest penalty against us, and it just keeps happening.

“Here I’m like ‘what do I go and tell (my players)?’. I don’t understand what’s happened to them a couple of weeks ago, what’s happened to them now. The frustration at this moment is very difficult to hide, it’s very difficult to digest it.”

Mauricio Pochettino admitted he is concerned by Christopher Nkunku’s ongoing injury absence with Chelsea’s attacking options looking stretched ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Fulham.

The France international returned from a five-month lay-off following knee surgery only in December but has missed the team’s last two fixtures with a hip issue.

He has been unable to train since before Chelsea’s FA Cup win over Preston on January 6 and the manager said he is unsure when Nkunku, who was the Bundesliga’s top scorer last season with 16 goals for RB Leipzig before moving to west London for £52million, will be available again.

With fellow summer-signing Nicolas Jackson away representing Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations for what is likely to be at least the rest of the month, and Armando Broja still looking to find form after being sidelined for nine months with an ACL injury, Pochettino has few options in Nkunku’s absence.

Chelsea’s goalscoring form has improved significantly on last season, when their return of 38 was the club’s lowest in the league for almost a century.

They currently have 34 at the halfway stage of the Premier League campaign, but despite this they have repeatedly found it difficult to break teams down, and have failed to convert high possession figures into   clear chances.

They enjoyed 72 per cent of the ball and had 18 shots on goal during Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg away to Middlesbrough, yet still slumped to a 1-0 defeat at the Riverside.

“I’m a little bit worried because I don’t have the whole information (on Nkunku’s injury),” said Pochettino. “If he’s going to be ready or not, or available (after) a short period.

“We need to be very clinical and, if it’s possible, to take some decision. If not, we need to think about how we can fix the problem.”

The 26-year-old shone during the team’s pre-season tour of the United States before injuring his knee in a game against Borussia Dortmund in Chicago.

That sent early plans for Pochettino, who had hoped to use Nkunku as the focal point of his side’s new-look attack, into disarray, and heaped pressure on Jackson and Broja – both only 22 – to take up the goalscoring mantel.

The club have been linked with possible moves for Brentford’s Ivan Toney and Brighton’s Evan Ferguson in January to help bolster their attack.

“(Nkunku) was the only player that was performing, of course in a different league, in Germany,” said Pochettino. “But consistently scoring goals. That was the situation before the start of the season.

“When (the injury) happened, we needed to see about Broja after one year (out injured), and Jackson moving from Villarreal, where he wasn’t top scorer.

“The age of the players, (they are) young guys that need to adapt. That was why we felt a little bit more the hit of (losing) Nkunku.

“He was consistently scoring goals. When you miss a player like this, you hope that players that maybe came here and need time to grow and score goals, it (became) a necessity, compulsory for Jackson to score in every single touch.

“Or Broja, after one year out, needs now to play three games in a row. It’s difficult for him.

“It makes our job more difficult. It’s exciting this project, but situations like this make it more difficult. You have to grow at a different pace.”

Erling Haaland is expected to be sidelined until the end of January, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said.

The prolific Norwegian striker has missed City’s last eight games, including their Club World Cup triumph in Saudi Arabia, with a foot injury.

City had hoped to welcome the 23-year-old back early in the new year but the problem is proving more troublesome than expected and the player is not yet back in full training.

The expectation now is that he will be able to resume work as the club, without a game next weekend, travel to Abu Dhabi for a warm-weather training camp after Saturday’s game at Newcastle.

Guardiola said: “Yes, (he’s had) a little bit of disturbing problems in his feet. It’s fine but the doctors decided to stop for one week and maybe restart in Abu Dhabi.

“Hopefully at the end of this month he’ll be ready. It was a little bit more than we expected in the beginning.

“It’s the bone. It needs time. With every injury you can do whatever you want but it’s a question of time.”

Haaland scored 52 goals last season during an outstanding first campaign with City and had already netted 19 this term.

Guardiola feels his firepower has been sorely missed.

“We miss Erling a lot,” the Spaniard said. “We need him. Hopefully he can come back and play the last four or five months without a problem.

“When you are injured at end of November, you miss a lot of games. It’s the toughest period.”

In a further blow for City, defender Manuel Akanji is facing a spell on the sidelines.

The Switzerland international was forced off early in last weekend’s FA Cup victory over Huddersfield following a heavy challenge.

He joins centre-back John Stones on the casualty list.

Guardiola said: “He will be some weeks out. It’s not a big problem but until the end of the month.

“Now we’re lucky that we don’t have games in the next 10 days after Newcastle. We’ll see how they feel in the good weather in Abu Dhabi.”

Ange Postecoglou has insisted Tottenham are in the Premier League title race.

Spurs have endured a tricky winter period with a litany of injuries and suspensions, but they remain within touching distance of leaders Liverpool.

Tottenham are also only a point behind Arsenal and Manchester City ahead of Sunday’s clash at Manchester United.

“By definition, we are aren’t we? So, yes we are,” Postecoglou claimed.

“I’ve said all along that until the point where you’re not, why would you discount the possibility?

“We’ve gone through a really tough period and we’re hanging in there. We had four games when results went against us, but we’ve clawed our way back. We’re still in there.

“Our performances for the most part have been pretty consistent, but all that is meaningless if we don’t finish the season stronger than the first half of the season and that’s what we’ve got to do.”

A season of transition was expected for Spurs after they finished eighth last term and sold record scorer Harry Kane on the eve of the campaign.

Postecoglou enjoyed a flying start instead with Tottenham at the summit in November, but a costly 4-1 loss to Chelsea sparked a run of four defeats in five.

Spurs have regrouped admirably since and after securing the additions of Timo Werner and Radu Dragusin this week, the Aussie coach is not prepared to put a limit on his squad’s potential.

“No, I don’t think that would be right for the players and for the club,” Postecoglou added.

“We have scratched and clawed our way into a decent position in the league, we’re into the next round of the cup, those possibilities are always there.

“And we certainly want to tackle them as robustly as possible without any fear or fear of not achieving anything.

“We’ve done it from day one, we’ve had a vision of the sort of football we want to play and some parts are really, really good and have surprised me with the progress and other parts we’re still in the early stages of development.

“We’ve got a platform here to kick on and try on from here.

“It does excite me. Look, that has to be the objective and the aim and we’ve got to take every opportunity we have to get stronger.

“Part of that process is just a trust thing, they have obviously invested in me, you can only gain that trust over a period of time and after doing certain things.

“The club itself probably took a lot of comfort from our summer window knowing they got their business right there and going into this window, saying you want to work quickly, there’s a leap of faith there which the club has to have in me and what I’m doing.

“I think the first part of the season has helped that and hopefully that keeps accelerating because hopefully it can accelerate our work and where we want to get to.”

The prognosis for James Maddison is encouraging with the England international set to return to training next week with the intention of being fit to face Man City in the FA Cup on January 26.

Postecoglou said: “He’s getting closer. He hasn’t trained with the group yet. Obviously after Man United we’ve got two weeks.

“I’ll be hoping between the two Manchester game he’s back training with the first team as long as there’s no setbacks in that two-week window.

“I think we’ve got three games in that week after the Man City game so, him and Manor Solomon are the next two that should be fairly close after that provided there’s no setbacks.”

Carlton Morris’ controversial stoppage-time equaliser denied Burnley what would have been a crucial victory over relegation rivals Luton as it finished 1-1 at Turf Moor.

Zeki Amdouni’s 36th-minute strike looked like seeing Burnley complete the double over Rob Edwards’ side, but Morris headed home Alfie Doughty’s cross in the second minute of stoppage time.

Celebrations were muted as Burnley appealed for what looked like a foul – goalkeeper James Trafford having been barged out of the way by Elijah Adebayo as he tried to come for the cross.

But referee Tony Harrington was unmoved and after a lengthy check from VAR Peter Bankes the goal stood, to the fury of the home fans.

Up until that moment, Burnley had been good value for a win that would have left them one point behind the Hatters and two behind 17th-placed Everton, who host Aston Villa on Sunday, but their failure to hang on could be hugely costly come the end of the season.

Amdouni’s strike may have taken a deflection off Johann Berg Gudmundsson as it beat Thomas Kaminski on the line, but few inside Turf Moor would have cared about that had it delivered victory in a fixture which had taken on huge importance for both sides.

Luton had more of the ball but it was Burnley who had looked more threatening, with Wilson Odobert in particular showing why Vincent Kompany had said the 19-year-old was among a group of players whose emergence persuaded him to pull a contract offer to Andros Townsend, who instead started for Luton.

Burnley had a huge chance seven minutes in when Amdouni’s pass put Gudmundsson through on goal, but former Blackburn goalkeeper Kaminski got down to make a vital save.

And that looked like it might be costly for Burnley as Luton seized control of the game for the next 25 minutes, with Ross Barkley dictating play and going close himself with a curling shot touched over by Trafford.

Chiedozie Ogbene tested Trafford from a tight angle before playing a low ball in for Albert Sambi Lokonga, who was guilty of scuffing a very presentable chance.

Burnley were struggling to get over the halfway line but Odobert always looked their most likely outlet down the left-hand side.

The teenager cut in from the left and watched a curling shot drift just over in the 35th minute, but then set up the opening goal moments later.

Odobert got past Teden Mengi inside the box and pulled the ball back, with his cross taking a slight deflection to fall for Amdouni to fire at goal, beating Kaminski as Gudmundsson applied pressure.

Burnley made a bright start to the second half and Lyle Foster should have played Amdouni in, instead over-hitting his pass inside the box. Next, Josh Cullen’s pass found Vitinho, who easily turned away from Doughty but sent his left-footed shot over the crossbar.

Odobert was unlucky just after the hour, cutting inside to get away from Ogbene before his shot took a wicked deflection off Mengi, forcing Kaminski to scramble over and push the ball to safety.

Odobert went close again 10 minutes from time. Substitute Connor Roberts, strongly linked with a January move to Leeds, took a free-kick quickly to set Odobert away down the right and he darted towards goal before stinging the palms of Kaminski.

But just as Burnley fans prepared to celebrate, the mood changed in stoppage time. Trafford had comfortably collected everything Luton had thrown at him late in the game and should have had Doughty’s cross under control.

But Adebayo blocked his path and that left an open goal for Morris to score his fourth of the season.

Manchester United left-back Alvaro Fernandez is set to return from a loan spell at Granada and join Benfica, the PA news agency understands.

Donny van de Beek and Jadon Sancho have already left Erik ten Hag’s side this month to join Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund respectively on loan for the rest of the season.

Hannibal Mejbri is set to join Sevilla on loan with a view to buy having also attracted interest from Everton and Joe Hugill has joined Burton for the rest of the season fresh from extending his United contract.

Facundo Pellistri and Dan Gore are others attracting interest, while left-back Fernandez looks set to head to Portuguese giants Benfica.

The 20-year-old Spaniard joined from Real Madrid in 2020 but has yet to make a first-team appearance for United, spending last season on loan at Preston before joining Granada this term.

The process has now begun to recall Fernandez from the LaLiga outfit ahead of an expected move to Benfica, with the breakdown of the deal yet to be nailed down.

A potential 10 million euros (£8.6m) permanent move has been mentioned in the Portuguese media and a loan with clauses has also been under discussion.

Mauricio Pochettino confirmed Ben Chilwell’s return to the Chelsea squad for Saturday’s meeting with Fulham at Stamford Bridge after missing nearly four months with a hamstring injury.

The England defender last featured during the 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa in late September but is set to be named in the matchday party alongside Benoit Badiashile, who has recovered from a muscle issue.

However, Christopher Nkunku remains on the absentee list with the manager revealing that the forward’s recovery from a hip problem has become “complicated”.

Carney Chukwuemeka, who has not played since the second weekend of the Premier League season, will be assessed ahead of the clash against Fulham, while Trevoh Chalobah is training with the first team having missing the entire campaign to date.

“It’s good news about Chilwell and Badiashile,” said Pochettino. “For sure they’ll be in the squad (on Saturday). We need to assess Carney Chukwuemeka.

“Trevoh Chalobah is working with the group, we’ll assess day by day. He’s doing well. They’re so close to being involved again.

“I am worried about the situation of Nkunku. (It has been) now 10 days that he can’t train. We’re assessing him.

“He suffered a small issue and it became complicated. After six months that we were waiting for him, he was so close to feeling comfortable, he started against Crystal Palace (on December 27). We’re disappointed. We want him (back) as soon as possible.”

The France international was made to wait until December for his first start for the club following his summer move from RB Leipzig, after a knee injury sustained in pre-season ruled him out.

His absence places further pressure on Pochettino’s limited attacking options, with Nicolas Jackson away representing Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations and Armando Broja searching for form after returning from an ACL injury in September.

The PA news agency understands that striker David Fofana will join Burnley on loan for the rest of the season after his stay at Bundesliga side Union Berlin was cut short.

Meanwhile the club confirmed on Friday that Netherlands Under-21 international Ian Maatsen, who has made only three starts this season, has moved to Borussia Dortmund on loan for the remainder of the campaign.

“It’s good for the club, it’s good for him,” said Pochettino. “We hope he’ll have the possibility to play more than here. For both sides it’s a good decision.”

The manager called on his players to re-find the momentum saw them win four out five games in all competitions prior to Tuesday’s defeat to Middlesbrough in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.

Victory against Marco Silva’s side in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off would see them at least temporarily move above eighth-placed Manchester United, while a win of sufficient margin could see them climb as high as seventh, their highest league position since November 2022.

“We didn’t perform badly against Middlesbrough,” said Pochettino. “We came from a few victories. We need to keep the momentum.

“It’s true that after the first 90 minutes we are 1-0 down. We need to keep the belief, the team is preparing well, confident for (Fulham). I’m so sure we’ll do a good job.

“But when you lose a game to a Championship team, you need to accept the criticism. We have the chance (on Saturday) to put all these bad feelings out by performing in the right way.”

Pep Guardiola has spoken of his admiration for Sven-Goran Eriksson after the former England manager revealed he could have less than a year to live.

Eriksson, 75, went public on Thursday with the news that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The Swede said that in the “best case” he may only have around a year left.

Eriksson managed England from 2001-06 and led them to the quarter-finals of three major tournaments before later spending a season in charge at Manchester City.

Guardiola, the current City boss, said: “It is sad news. He’s a true gentleman.

“He has been here, and with the England national team and in other countries.

“I admire the courage to explain the situation. Of course will be with his loved ones and hopefully the hope is the last thing we lose.

“I’m sure he’s going to battle with the doctors and everyone to maybe can find a solution, to extend this period and the battle and go well.

“On behalf of Man City and all of us here, huge hugs and huge support. Anything we can do, of course we will do it.”

Eriksson had a long and distinguished career in football management, forged largely in Italy where, among his successes, he won Serie A and the European Cup Winners’ Cup with Lazio.

He also had jobs in other countries including his native Sweden, Portugal, Mexico, the Ivory Coast and China.

He stood down from his most recent job, as sporting director at Swedish club Karlstad, last year due to health problems.

Eriksson has revealed news of his diagnosis came as a huge shock.

He told TalkTV: “I got dizzy and I fell to the ground and my children took me to the hospital.

“And they did a lot of examinations and four hours later, I was diagnosed with cancer. So that’s how it happened. I felt totally well. It came like a very, very big surprise.

“You can’t operate it and you can take medicine to try to stop it (spreading) too fast and that’s what I’m doing. But sooner or later, it will happen. Let’s hope later rather than sooner.”

He added: “When you get a message like that it’s like a shock because I was fully fit, I think. Rather fit as well and training. So it came like from nowhere.

“So, of course, you feel very bad and you are shocked when you get it, and I think that’s normal. But you have to fight against it, and that’s what I’m trying to do, at least.”

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Boss Unai Emery admits Aston Villa are unlikely to make big moves in the transfer market this month.

Villa are second in the Premier League ahead of the weekend with Emery happy with the squad.

They go to Everton on Sunday and despite still being in the title hunt, the Europa Conference League and the FA Cup, Emery has ruled out major changes in January.

“We are not being very focused in the transfer window because we are second in the table and we are recovering some players that have been out since the start of the season (Alex Moreno and Jacob Ramsey),” said Emery, who won December’s Manager of the Month.

“I am very happy with the players. The commitment with the players is really good and the wish and desire to work hard is really good.

“We are going to face three competitions until the end of the season, Premier League, FA Cup and Europa Conference League, and it will be very difficult. We need players to be available and be ready with good performances to play in our idea and our style.

“We have the players here to do that.”

Emi Buendia and Tyrone Mings are long-term absentees with knee injuries while Lucas Digne (hamstring) is also out.

Pau Torres (ankle) and Youri Tielemans (calf) have returned to training although the game could come too soon and Bertrand Traore is with Burkina Faso for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Emery added: “They (Everton) are progressively getting better and playing being very competitive. With their issue with the points (deduction), they are playing well and being very competitive in each match.

“It’s very difficult to beat them in their stadium with their fans. We respect them a lot.

“They’re going to be very competitive at home and we’re going to prepare the match respecting them a lot.”

Ange Postecoglou believes an alignment between all the key figures at Tottenham has allowed them to move quickly in the January transfer window.

Postecoglou repeatedly made clear his desire to bring in a centre-back early and Spurs completed the signing of Radu Dragusin from Genoa on Thursday, with Djed Spence heading on loan in the other direction.

It capped a busy week for Tottenham after they secured the loan addition of Timo Werner from RB Leipzig on Tuesday and allowed Eric Dier to depart after 10 seasons to join Bayern Munich.

Spurs’ quick work is a big shift in strategy after previously waiting until the end of the month to secure signings and Postecoglou paid tribute to chairman Daniel Levy, technical director Johan Lange and chief football officer Scott Munn.

“It’s easier said than done because while we might have a desire to do things early, you’ve got to have all parties agreeing to that and it’s not easy to do, especially in January,” Postecoglou said ahead of Sunday’s trip to Manchester United.

“The key thing for us was from the chairman to Johan and his team and Scott, we were all very aligned in what we wanted and we got our targets early.

“It was pretty clear what we wanted to do and if it didn’t happen, then we’ve moved on. But I think the fact that we were all pretty aligned on what our objectives were allowed us to be sitting here now with two players in – not so much for Sunday, but we know we’ve got a two-week break which means we get at least a couple of weeks to get the lads up to speed.

“We had some pretty clear objectives. If there’s an opportunity for us to get better, we’ll take it, but what we were trying to achieve going into it, I’m really pleased we’ve got two players in who I think will play a really important part for us.”

Postecoglou has continued to reshape the squad this month with former captain Hugo Lloris joining Los Angeles FC and Dier ending his nine-and-a-half-years at Tottenham to join Bayern.

“The club made a conscious decision to change the way we went about things and for that to happen you need change in personnel,” the Australian reflected.

“Hugo left and Eric moves on to another chapter in his career, he’s another one who has had a fantastic career here at Tottenham.

“Eric’s left his mark, he was part of a very very good side who made many great memories for our supporters here and he certainly leaves his mark here at Tottenham.

“He moves to another big club and hopefully has success in the rest of his career.

“For us, it’s a constant evolution of traying to inch forward to becoming the team we want to be.”

Postecoglou expects Dragusin to be involved at Old Trafford despite still waiting for his work permit and Micky van de Ven is fit enough to start.

Cristian Romero has also returned to training and could feature against United, but Giovani Lo Celso and Ben Davies are both out.

Lo Celso’s absence could earn Werner his full debut.