Aston Villa boss Unai Emery insists Sunday’s crunch Premier League clash with Tottenham was not on his mind when naming his side for Thursday’s 0-0 Europa Conference League draw at Ajax.

Emery made several changes, with John McGinn, Matty Cash and Leon Bailey among those dropping out, and Villa put in a disjointed performance in the last-16 first-leg tie in Amsterdam.

Villa do not have long to recover ahead of Sunday’s huge clash with Spurs, where they could strengthen their grip on a top-four place and Champions League qualification.

But Emery said: “Not really thinking about Sunday because we decided the starting XI with the players with Tim (Iroegbunam) and Morgan (Rodgers) because we didn’t have one player like Tim after injury to (Boubacar) Kamara.

“Ajax have a lot of young players and with Tim we have to do the same and play around players with experiences.

“We decided to play with Pau Torres but knowing the maximum of him was not 90 minutes because maybe that would be taking a risk.

“McGinn, he had a small pain and was a doubt and I prefer not to take a risk. But more or less I was trying to be positive with those players but really we didn’t control the game like we wanted.”

Villa took off Pau Torres at half-time, but Emery said that was planned.

“Pau had a small injury two weeks ago and didn’t play against Luton and we did a plan with him,” he added.

“The plan before the match is not completely 100 per cent because the result and how the match is going.

“I think tactically we needed to change something and we did, and the plan was to play 45 minutes with Pau and we decided to do that.”

Axel Disasi admitted Chelsea’s 2-2 draw at west London rivals Brentford was two points dropped.

Defender Disasi’s late header secured a point for the Blues, who led through Nicolas Jackson’s first-half goal but then trailed to strikes from Mads Roerslev and Yoanne Wissa.

It was another unconvincing display from Chelsea and one that prompted the away fans to turn on head coach Mauricio Pochettino for the first time.

“To be honest we are left frustrated. I think in the first half we deserve to score maybe one goal more,” Disasi told the club website.

“Then after half time they pushed and we have to do better because we lost two points. I think we had the quality to win the game, so the feeling is a little bit sad.

“I’m happy to score and we didn’t lose because of this goal, that is good. But it would be a much better feeling if this goal was for the win. It was not the case but hopefully will be in the future.”

Wissa scored a spectacular overhead kick which the DR Congo international admitted was the best of his career – despite some stiff competition.

“This is the best one,” he said. “If I have to compare it, a goal against Oldham (in September 2021). But this is better because this is the Premier League against this kind of team.

“Especially in this time – it’s not an easy time for every fan and player – it means a lot to me, especially after coming back from AFCON.

“In the second half we gave only one and a half chances away. The second half was much better.

“Everyone stepped up their level and the crowd was with us. This is how we want it, this is how Brentford play. It means a lot for the team. I’m very happy with that.

“It came from the players. This is what we wanted, some personality.”

Peter Crouch equalled Alan Shearer’s record for headed Premier League goals on this day in 2015.

The then 34-year-old nodded in a 71st-minute winner for Stoke in a 1-0 victory at Hull on February 28, 2015 for his 46th headed goal in the top flight.

Crouch admitted afterwards that he had enjoyed proving wrong those who doubted his aerial ability.

The 6ft 7in striker said: “There were a lot of people in the early days who said I was better on the ground than at heading, so it’s pleasing to rub it in a little bit.

“A lot of people said, for my size, I wasn’t as good (at heading) as I should have been when I was younger. Becoming the record holder for headed goals in the Premier League is something I didn’t think would happen when I was 15 or 16.

“I’m very proud – Alan Shearer’s a hero of mine. He’s one of the best, if not the best, striker the Premier League’s ever seen, and to equal any record of his, I’m very pleased with that.”

Crouch passed the record on May 24 with another headed goal in Stoke’s 6-1 victory over his former club Liverpool to conclude the season and remains the record holder with 53.

The striker moved from Stoke to Burnley in January 2019 and announced his retirement in July the same year.

He ended his career with 108 Premier League goals, having also played for the likes of Tottenham, Portsmouth and Aston Villa, and netted 22 times in 42 appearances for England.

Jorginho insists he is happy for Arsenal to be “in the shadows” of the Premier League title race and fight as underdogs against Liverpool and Manchester City.

The Gunners are just two points off the top of the table after easing to a 4-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday night.

A Sven Botman own-goal set them on their way before goals from Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Jakub Kiwior rounded off another fine display from Mikel Arteta’s men, although the returning Joe Willock’s late header ruined another clean sheet.

City won the treble last season and remain the favourites to secure a record fourth consecutive Premier League crown – while Liverpool will be aiming to end Jurgen Klopp’s reign in style by winning a second title under the German.

Arsenal, meanwhile, are aiming to go one better than last year when they topped the division for 248 days before ultimately missing out to City.

“I like to be underdogs,” Jorginho said after returning to the starting line-up to put in a man of the match performance against Newcastle.

“Let people speak, we just need to stay humble and keep working hard in the shadows, keep pushing and keep believing.

“That is what we need to do, just keep pushing, pushing and then we will see where we are going to get but we are on the right path.

“We need to keep the momentum going and we can do that. Just working hard the way we are doing and keep believing, keep enjoying this journey together and I think that’s the way that we need to go.”

Arsenal have turned their form around since a mid-season break in Dubai and Jorginho is enjoying his football.

“I think we were creating before but we were not finishing and now it feels that the calls are coming more,” he added.

“It’s a pleasure to see the boys scoring more and they can have fun with the team working hard as well so we are enjoying this moment and we need to just stay humble.

“I’m really happy, not just with my performance but with the team because the team performed very well and that doesn’t happen with everyone.

“It is just a pleasure to be out there enjoying this moment with an incredible team.”

Fit-again Willock came off the bench against his former club to head in a consolation for Newcastle late on in north London.

The 24-year-old is now keen to move on from the defeat and not let it affect the build-up to Tuesday’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Blackburn.

“I think it was a difficult game, they’re a great side, there’s no denying that,” Willock told the club’s official website.

“I think, for us, we just have to stay positive, find those good things to take from the game and we have to take that on Tuesday, it is a big game for us and for our season and let’s put this game behind us.”

The Premier League’s auditor Deloitte has been awarded a key contract in helping to set up football’s independent regulator, the PA news agency understands.

Sources have expressed concern over a potential conflict of interest for financial services firm Deloitte, which signed off the Premier League’s most recent set of annual accounts.

The EFL and campaign groups want the regulator to be able to review whether any new deal agreed between the Premier League and the EFL on how television cash is split meets the regulator’s stated aim of ensuring the sport’s financial sustainability.

The involvement of Deloitte has raised some eyebrows, at a time when the regulator’s precise remit is still unclear as the wait goes on for the publication of the Football Governance Bill.

EFL clubs left a meeting with Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer last week concerned that the regulator would not be given powers to correct any  settlement which is agreed, something which football reform group Fair Game has said would be “unacceptable”.

Government sources say the Deloitte contract will involve the firm providing support around the design and implementation of the regulator’s operating model, and insist the firm will not be providing advice on, or developing, regulator policy.

Deloitte will look at how the regulator is structured, staffed, and its systems and infrastructure requirements, the Government source said.

They said any potential conflicts of interest would be managed in the usual way, and were considered as part of the procurement process.

The Government and Deloitte declined to comment.

EFL chairman Rick Parry told MPs last month that his organisation was prepared to do a deal with the Premier League but stressed that the “right solution” on financial distribution and cost controls would only be reached through independent analysis by the regulator, as part of a planned ‘state of the game’ review once it is up and running.

The EFL has declined to comment following last week’s meeting as it continues dialogue with the Government, but Fair Game – which has 13 EFL clubs within its membership – insists the regulator must have the power to intervene.

“The number one stated aim of the regulator is to secure the financial sustainability of the football pyramid,” Fair Game’s director of advocacy Mike Baker said in a statement issued on Friday.

“So it is not about having any regulator, it’s about having the right regulator. The status quo is not acceptable.

“The proposed backstop powers (of the regulator) currently can only be triggered by the Premier League and the EFL authorities, and if a deal is signed now for six years the regulator will have no powers to correct it.

“That is unacceptable. If the regulator is to achieve its core objectives then it must oversee football’s finances and reward well-run clubs. Anything else and we will have a regulator that lacks the teeth to fix football’s ills.”

The deal under discussion between the Premier League and the EFL is believed to be worth an additional £900million over six years to the EFL’s clubs, but the EFL has strong misgivings over the cost control measures attached to it.

While clubs in the Championship are expected to be capped at spending around 70 per cent of revenue on squad costs, in line with UEFA’s new financial sustainability regulations, those relegated to the second tier are set to be capped at 85 per cent while they are in receipt of parachute payments.

That would mean those clubs being able to spend a greater percentage of a larger amount than non-parachute rivals. Parry believes that puts non-parachute clubs in the “horrendous” position of having to choose between being competitive and sustainable and will widen the cliff edge between the top two divisions.

Top-flight clubs are still to agree on how any extra funding for the EFL is paid for, and on a new financial system for the Premier League to ultimately replace its profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

Premier League clubs are due to gather for further shareholder meetings on February 29 and March 11, with the latter understood to be the more likely to prove decisive in moving this issue forward.

PA understands a number of EFL clubs, even those who had been inclined to agree to the deal, are now feeling more hostile towards the process following the meeting with Frazer which some described as “a car crash”.

Accrington chairman Andy Holt took to social media to voice his concerns about it and felt Frazer was applying pressure to agree to the deal, even though the ball remains in the Premier League’s court at this stage.

Government sources have said Frazer’s position was misinterpreted and that she was advising clubs to do a deal, as has always been the Government’s position, not necessarily to accept the deal that was on the table.

A publication date for the Football Governance Bill, which has the creation of the regulator at its heart, is still understood to be some weeks away after there had been indications it could be published on Monday next week.

Mikel Arteta believes Premier League officiating has improved since his “strong” criticism of VAR following Arsenal’s defeat at Newcastle in November.

The Spaniard labelled the decision to allow Anthony Gordon’s goal to stand in a 1-0 loss at St James’ Park as “embarrassing” and a “disgrace”.

Arteta was later charged by the FA for breaking Rule E3.1 – which could have resulted in a ban but was instead cleared in December.

Arsenal now host Newcastle on Saturday looking to keep up the pace in the Premier League title race, as well as bounce back from their 1-0 Champions League last-16 first-leg defeat in Porto on Wednesday.

Asked if he had seen an improvement in officiating and VAR since his post-match rant – which was backed up by an official statement from the club – Arteta replied: “Well that is what we all wanted.

“That at the end the decisions are better and I think the last stats that came across show that there was a significant improvement and a lot of the decisions they were getting right, so hopefully that is the case and we continue to do that.

“I talked the way I felt. I was very straight and I did it in a way that was pretty strong but within the law because I didn’t get charged for it and I think that tells the story.”

After impressive away wins at West Ham and Burnley, Arsenal suffered defeat in Portugal on Wednesday night to leave their Champions League progression in the balance.

Porto did a great job of slowing the game down at the Estadio do Dragao, with 36 fouls awarded – a Champions League record this season – before Galeno hit a last-gasp winner.

Speaking after the game, Declan Rice said that Arsenal need to improve their “savviness” while Arteta admits his players need to develop their level of streetwise.

“Yes, we certainly can develop a lot of things and those experiences are really relevant to judge whether we were or we weren’t,” he replied when asked if the team need to improve their darks arts.

“I believed that they did a lot of things right. But managing games and things like that, we can still improve.

“But in a year’s time for sure we can still improve and we can improve in our build-up phase and we can improve in our restarts. We can improve in many areas.

“I don’t know if it is about (being) a bad guy but you have to be tricky, you have to be smart, you have to be streetwise and you have to try to take advantages in every situation. They know that.
 
“That’s a thing that has to be developed – you don’t have it, that’s for sure. The best teams, the best players, they have that.”

Arteta revealed that Thomas Partey could return on Saturday evening, with a number of other recent injury absentees pushing to be in contention.

Partey has not played since suffering a thigh injury in October, while Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko could also return – while Takehiro Tomiyasu is still out.

Arteta also offered up good news on Jurrien Timber’s return – the summer signing having been out since suffering a serious knee injury on his Premier League debut in August.

Asked if Timber could play again this season, the Spaniard said: “I really hope so. He’s doing really well.

“He’s been with some players on the pitch. He’s going to start to do some bits with us on the pitch in the next week or so.

“Then we’ll have to see how he’s doing, his confidence level, his fitness level. Hopefully the answer will be yes.”

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has set out his vision for bringing some of the Eric Cantona glamour and swagger back to Old Trafford.

The 71-year-old Ineos founder and chairman wants the club he has supported since the age of six to be seriously challenging their “noisy” north-west neighbours Manchester City and Liverpool for domestic and European titles within three seasons, and “knock them both off their perch”.

In a wide-ranging briefing, Ratcliffe also:

:: Outlined his hope to either redevelop Old Trafford at a cost of around £1billion, or build a new £2billion stadium with state support that could host England matches, FA Cup finals and Champions League finals.

:: Admitted Dan Ashworth would be “a very good addition” to the Manchester United leadership as sporting director and said it would be “absurd” if he remained on gardening leave after his departure from Newcastle.

:: Pledged that a fresh decision would be taken on Mason Greenwood’s future.

:: Joked about whether Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim, his long-time rival for full control of United, even existed.

Ratcliffe, who by the end of the year will hold a 28.9 per cent stake in United and whose Ineos company now controls football operations at Old Trafford, conducted the interview with a bust wearing a United number seven shirt stationed behind him, collar turned up in the fashion of the club’s hero of the 1990s Eric Cantona.

“(Cantona) was the catalyst for change in Sir Alex Ferguson’s era … and then that sort of kickstarted everything off. He was the sort of talisman,” Ratcliffe said.

“There has always been a bit of glamour attached to Manchester United which has been lacking a bit in the last few years. You’ve had George Best, Bobby Charlton, Eric the King for a while.

“At the end of the day we are in the entertainment business. So that’s why you don’t want to watch bland football or characterless football.

“And to be honest, since Christmas, with the young lads, they have played some fantastic football.

“There have been some great matches. I can’t remember many matches at the beginning of the season I was really excited by but since Christmas we have played some really good football and there has been a bit of glamour attached to some of these footballers on the pitch, and we have really enjoyed it.

“The three young lads (Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo) sitting on the hoarding at the side – that was a good picture. So I think that’s the ‘Eric’ point really. We are cognizant of the fact you do need a bit of glamour in this.”

Ratcliffe says improving the club’s record on recruitment is “top of the list” of things to get right, and publicly stated his club’s interest in Dan Ashworth, who has been placed on gardening leave by Newcastle after expressing his desire to leave the Tyneside club.

“I think it’d be a very good addition to Manchester United, but he (Ashworth) needs to decide whether he’s going to make that jump,” Ratcliffe said.

“We’ve obviously had words with Newcastle. They clearly would be disappointed to lose Dan. I understand why they would be disappointed to lose Dan but but then you can’t equally criticise Dan because it is a transient industry.

“So we’ll have to see how it unfolds.”

Ratcliffe said it would be “a bit silly” if it took £20million to secure Ashworth’s services, and added: “What I do think is completely absurd is suggesting that a man who’s really good at his job, sits in his garden for one and a half years.”

Also key to the transformation as Ratcliffe sees it is a redeveloped Old Trafford or a new stadium built partially with state support.

Ratcliffe said a taskforce would be set up to look at the feasibility of the latter option and agreed former Manchester United defender Gary Neville would be an “obvious” person to include on it.

Ratcliffe sees no issue with one of the world’s richest clubs in United seeking state support for such a project.

“The people in the north pay their taxes like the people in the south pay their taxes,” he said.

“But where’s the national stadium for football? It’s in the south. Where’s the national stadium for rugby? It’s in the south. Where’s the national stadium for tennis? It’s in the south. Where’s the national concert stadium? It’s the O2, it’s in the south. Where’s the Olympic Village? It’s in the south.

“All of this talk about levelling up and the Northern Powerhouse… where is the stadium in the north? How many Champions Leagues has the north-west won and how many Champions Leagues has London won? The answer to that is the north-west has won 10 – Liverpool have won more than us – and London has won two.

“Where do you have to go if you get to the semi-final of the FA Cup and you’re a northern club? You have to schlep down to London, don’t you?

“People in the north pay their taxes and there is an argument that you could think about a more ambitious project in the north which would be fitting for England, for the Champions League final or the FA Cup final and act as a catalyst to regenerate southern Manchester, which has got quite significant history in the UK.”

Luton captain Tom Lockyer has shown the scar of his implantable cardioverter defibrillator and called it his “new little superpower” following his cardiac arrest.

The 29-year-old midfielder collapsed on the pitch in the 59th minute of the Hatters’ Premier League game at Bournemouth on December 16, his heart stopping for two minutes and 40 seconds, and has since been fitted with an ICD.

He said on Sunday it was “out of his hands” whether he will ever play football again, but joked on Wednesday morning that his defibrillator was not “too intrusive” as it does not affect his golf swing.

“I call it my new little superpower really because after something like this happens and you make a recovery you have it in there just in case,” Lockyer told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

“It just in my side here. I’ll show you. It just sits there. The battery lasts for about eight years. To start with it was very sore and I still can’t sleep on my left side but I never slept on my left side.

“You get a little iPad almost and it plugs into a wall and every night you click a button on that and it syncs up to your defib an reports back to the hospital and shows your heartbeat throughout the whole day, if there was any sort of irregularities and if the device is still working.

“It doesn’t affect my golf swing, I’m still rubbish at that so isn’t too intrusive!”

The Welshman, whose partner is pregnant with their first child, has been keeping himself busy during his recovery by building Lego.

“I am doing the Disney castle at the minute so that’s another 5,000 piece,” he said. “I said I would like to do the Titanic, but with the baby on the way I don’t know if I can do it!”

Wayne Rooney ended speculation over his future to sign a new five-and-a-half-year contract at Manchester United on this day in 2014.

The forward had been linked with a move away from Old Trafford months earlier after Sir Alex Ferguson retired and was replaced by David Moyes.

With only 18 months to go on his deal, Rooney agreed fresh terms until the summer of 2019 and made clear his ambition to break Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 249 goals for the Red Devils.

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On a new contract worth up to £300,000 a week, Rooney would spend another three seasons at United and finish with 253 goals from 559 appearances.

The attacker broke Charlton’s record on January 21, 2017 with a free-kick at Stoke and a week later was presented with a commemorative Golden Boot to acknowledge him becoming the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.

After five Premier League titles, three League Cups, plus solitary success in the Champions League, Europa League, Club World Cup and FA Cup, Rooney left Old Trafford to return to boyhood side Everton.

His second spell at Goodison Park was short-lived and, after stints with DC United in the United States and at Derby in the Championship, Rooney retired from professional football at the start of 2021 to take over as manager of the Rams.

The former England captain also bettered Charlton’s record of 49 goals for his country and finished with 53 from 120 appearances, but was overtaken by Harry Kane last year.

Rooney was most recently manager of Birmingham.

Mark Clattenburg quit his role as a Premier League referee to take a senior position in Saudi Arabia on this day in 2017.

The Durham official had previously refereed high-profile events including the Euro 2016 final, as well as Champions League and FA Cup finals.

The 41-year-old’s move to the Middle East saw him take over from fellow Englishman and former Premier League referee Howard Webb as head of refereeing in Saudi Arabia.

Clattenburg told the Saudi Arabia Football Federation: “This is an important move forward. We have professional referees in the country that I am leaving, which has been a big positive.

“One thing I’d like to do is work with the refereeing team and the president to make this happen so that it will be successful for many, many years to come.”

The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), who provide and train officials for the Premier League, English Football League and Football Association, paid tribute to Clattenburg.

The PGMOL said: “Mark is a talented referee, he has been a great asset to the English game and hopefully an inspiration to those who want to get into refereeing at the grass roots of the game.

“We understand this is an exciting opportunity for Mark as well as further underlining what high esteem English match officials are held throughout the world game.”

Clattenburg held the role for 18 months before returning to refereeing with a move to China in the Chinese Super League.

He was later appointed president of the Egyptian Referees Committee, but resigned in January 2023 after just five months in the role.

Former England and Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard retired as a player on this day in 2017 after a stellar 21-year career.

Lampard, then 38, widely regarded as one of the Premier League’s all-time greats, announced his decision on social media after spending the previous year at Major League Soccer side New York City.

He said: “After 21 incredible years, I have decided that now is the right time to finish my career as a professional footballer.

“Whilst I have received a number of exciting offers to continue playing at home and abroad, at 38 I feel now is the time to begin the next chapter in my life.

“I’m immensely proud of the trophies I’ve won, of representing my country over 100 times and of scoring more than 300 career goals.”

Lampard is the Premier League’s fourth-highest appearance maker (609) and sixth-highest goalscorer (177). He is also fifth on the all-time assists list with 102.

After starting his career at West Ham, Lampard spent 13 years at Chelsea and became part of his country’s ‘golden generation’ despite failing to win major honours with England.

The former midfielder is Chelsea’s all-time record goalscorer (211) and only three players have made more than his 648 appearances for the club.

He added in his retirement statement: “The largest part of my heart belongs to Chelsea, a club which has given me so many great memories. I will never forget the opportunity they gave me and the success that we managed to achieve together.”

Lampard won 11 major trophies at Stamford Bridge – three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups, the Europa League and the Champions League in 2012.

He made his senior England debut in a friendly win against Belgium in 1999 and went on to win 106 caps in total, placing him eighth on the all-time appearances list, and scored 29 goals.

After moving into management, he took Derby to the Championship play-off final and Chelsea to an FA Cup final, losing both games.

He avoided relegation with Everton in 2022 but was sacked the following January with the club 19th in the Premier League, and won just one of 11 games after returning to Chelsea in a caretaker capacity.

Premier League clubs spent just £100million in one of the quietest transfer windows in recent memory.

That figure, as estimated by leading finance company Deloitte, is down from a staggering £815m last January and an average of just over £319m since the 2016-17 season, when the value of domestic television rights first jumped past £5billion in a three-year cycle.

A relative plateauing of broadcast revenues and the threat of sanctions under the league’s profit and sustainability rules – with Everton already docked 10 points this season – have been cited as potential reasons for the lack of activity this month.

Tim Bridge, lead partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, said: “After record-breaking spending in the last three transfer windows, Premier League clubs’ spending this January has been subdued.

“The more prudent approach is likely driven by the high level of spend invested during the summer window, but may also have been influenced by a heightened awareness of the Premier League’s financial regulations and the potential repercussions of non-compliance.

“Securing the highest-quality player talent remains pivotal for Premier League clubs, but we’ve seen in this window that retention has been of higher priority than attraction.”

Spending stood at around £70m going into deadline day – in line with the Covid-affected January 2021 window, when Said Benrahma, Amad Diallo and Morgan Sanson were the only arrivals league wide for fees in excess of £10m.

Thursday’s deals, including Morgan Rogers’ move from Middlesbrough to Aston Villa pushed that figure to £100m, but Radu Dragusin’s move to Tottenham for a reported £26.7m on January 11 remained the biggest of the month.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool and Manchester United have not made a single addition, while Manchester City’s £12.5m signing Claudio Echeverri was loaned straight back to River Plate.

Nottingham Forest and Brighton made early moves in an otherwise sedate start to transfer deadline day.

Forest have been one of the most active clubs in the transfer market in recent times and continued that trend with the signing of Rodrigo Ribeiro from Sporting Lisbon.

The 18-year-old striker has joined on loan until the end of the season in a deal which could become permanent.

Ribeiro came through the ranks in Lisbon and made his professional debut for the club as a late substitute in a Champions League tie against Manchester City in March 2022.

There was an exit rather than an arrival at Brighton, with midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud moving to Stuttgart on loan until the end of the season.

The 28-year-old German joined Albion in June last year from Borussia Dortmund and returns to the Bundesliga after making 14 appearances in all competitions for the club.

Technical director David Weir said: “This is a good move for Mahmoud. It will give him an opportunity to play regularly for a side doing very well towards the top of the Bundesliga. We wish him well for the rest of the campaign.”

In the Sky Bet Championship, midfielder Alex Pritchard completed his move from Sunderland to Birmingham for an undisclosed fee.

The 30-year-old has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract to reunite with former Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray.

“I am happy,” Pritchard told BluesTV.

“My future has been well speculated for a while now and I am just glad to get everything done and just settled and, hopefully, I can just crack on with football.”

Kieran Trippier says Bayern Munich’s interest is a “compliment” but insists he remains fully committed to Newcastle.

The Magpies reportedly rejected a bid from the German champions to pry the England international away from the north east this month.

Trippier reiterated that Bayern’s interest has not put him off from being an integral player for Eddie Howe’s side, insisting he wants to make history.

Speaking after Newcastle’s 2-0 FA Cup victory over Fulham, Trippier said: “It’s always a compliment when a team like Bayern come in for you but I want to make history with the club, win a trophy and help the club grow for as long as possible.

“I hope everybody knows my commitment to this club. It has not changed since I first arrived. It’s a transfer window, things happen, it’s not put me off or anything. I’m at Newcastle.

“Things happen in the background. I had loads of conversations with the manager, everything was positive, nothing has changed and I’m committed to Newcastle.”

Newcastle will need to sell players in order to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations.

Trippier credited the professionalism of his team-mates despite several members of the squad drawing interest from potential suitors.

He added: “It’s a transfer window. The players are committed and nothing will change.

“We have a great squad, I’ve spoken about the togetherness in our group. Nothing will take us off track.

“Loads of rumours go round and it didn’t put us off tonight.

“We can only focus on what we do on the pitch and what goes on in the background goes on in the background.”

Trippier endured a difficult December period which included a mistake leading to a goal and a penalty miss during Newcastle’s Carabao Cup exit to Chelsea.

The right-back showed signs of his best on Saturday, delivering dangerous crosses into the box in the lead up to goals from Sean Longstaff and Dan Burn.

Trippier said: “I’m happy to stand here and say I’ve gone through some bad moments, it’s not like we do it on purpose, it happens.

“I’ve been in this situation in my career before but I just hope this is the turning point and I know I can do better.

“I recognise when I’m in a bad moment but it’s a new year and a new chapter.”

Jamaican forward Bobby De Cordova-Reid has entered discussions with English Premier League side Fulham regarding a potential contract extension, as revealed by the player himself in an interview with The Athletic.

De Cordova-Reid, currently in the last six months of his existing deal, confirmed the ongoing talks between the club and his agent. The 31-year-old expressed optimism about reaching an agreement but acknowledged that such negotiations take time.

"The club and (my) agent have been in talks, and the thing is to get to (an) agreement," De Cordova-Reid stated. "Obviously, I want an agreement to happen, but things take time, so we'll know more in the future."

Despite being in the final stretch of his current contract, talks are reportedly amicable between the Jamaican forward and Fulham. However, specific terms for the extension are yet to be finalized. Even in the absence of an immediate agreement, De Cordova-Reid has emphasized his commitment to Fulham until the summer.

De Cordova-Reid joined Fulham in August 2019 on loan from Cardiff City, and the move was made permanent in January 2020. The club exercised an option to extend his contract until summer 2024. In his time with Fulham, he has made 167 appearances, scoring 26 goals, including four in the current Premier League season.

Acknowledging his desire for regular playing time, De Cordova-Reid emphasized his focus on contributing to the team's success on the field. Known for his versatility and leadership qualities, he holds the position of one of head coach Marco Silva’s ‘group captains’ and maintains a strong rapport with the Portuguese manager.

“We get on really well,” De Cordova-Reid stated regarding his relationship with Silva. “He plays me quite a lot and in different positions, so he has that trust for me. I appreciate that, and I just want to repay him by doing well on the field."

Reflecting on past achievements, including promotion as champions from the Championship in 2021-22 and securing Premier League status, De Cordova-Reid praised Silva for bringing in the right personnel and fostering a cohesive team dynamic.

"He knows what players he needs on the pitch and in and around the dressing room, and it works well for us," De Cordova-Reid added, expressing his commitment to the club's continued success.