Rightio, that’s pretty much all we’ve got time for. It’s been quite the day hasn’t it? From Pep Guardiola’s cat to Roy Hodgson booing himself, with a trio of unexpected Manchester United awards in between. Never a dull moment. Go and grab yourself a pre-Christmas Friday drink to celebrate. I’ll leave you with this piece from Nick Ames with Arsenal’s William Saliba. He’ll be taking centre stage tomorrow evening as two of the Premier League’s in-form sides meet at Villa Park. Saliba, that is, not Nick. One thing Pep did provide today was an explanation for Kalvin Phillips’ ongoing, and slightly baffling, exclusion. Meanwhile, it’s judgement day in the MLS on Saturday. If, like me, you’re a team news nerd, feel free to delve into this. Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti remains confident Jude Bellingham is recovering well from his shoulder problem – but said surgery cannot be ruled out if the issue flares up again. The England midfielder, 20, is enjoying a standout debut campaign with Los Blancos, having scored 15 goals so far in all competitions but was sidelined before the international break, missing England’s final Euro 2024 qualifiers, with a dislocated shoulder. After returning to action, Bellingham then picked up an ankle issue during the Champions League win over Napoli but has been training in the gym this week. Ancelotti moved to allay any fears over a serious setback, but accepts the club will monitor how Bellingham’s shoulder responds to on-going treatment alongside a hectic match schedule. “Bellingham is working on his own because he still has to recover from the ankle injury he had against Napoli. He has recovered well,” Ancelotti said. “The shoulder is something he has to look after to strengthen it on his own. He hasn’t had any problem to play, and every day that goes by, he is improving in that sense.” Pressed if Bellingham might need surgery, Ancelotti told the press conference: “Not right now. The shoulder is very particular. If it happens again or keeps happening, maybe, but we will see.” Football Daily has dropped, penned by yours truly. Do give it a read and subscribe and … yeah you know the rest. Manchester United say Victor Lindelöf and Marcus Rashford are both suffering from illness and are unlikely to feature against Bournemouth tomorrow. With Casemiro, Lisandro Martínez, Mason Mount, Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen all out injured as well, things aren’t getting any easier for Erik ten Hag. Lionesses captain Leah Williamson has been pictured back in Arsenal training today as she makes her long-awaited return from an ACL injury, which ruled her out of the World Cup. She’d previously been snapped doing some gym work and chatting to members of the squad, but now the comeback is well and truly on. This email from Kurt Perleberg poses an existential question … If the 3 o’clock blackout were to be lifted what should that time window be used for? I’m really not sure, Kurt. Maybe we could just bin the whole football thing and do something useful with our time? What have I just witnessed? Ahead of taking his in-form Bournemouth side to Manchester United tomorrow, Andoni Iraola reflected on captaining Athletic Bilbao to a 3-2 victory at Old Trafford in a famous 2012 Europa League tie, his only previous competitive visit to United. It’s probably one of the best days of my football career. You always remember these games. When I was at Rayo Vallecano, we played them at the start of last season. Even though it was a friendly, you don’t want to lose, you want to compete and do things well. “Points are involved tomorrow and we still need points. Even if we are doing well at the moment, our start to the season wasn’t so good so we’re still in a position where we need points. How he’d love a similar result 11 years on, this time as manager of the Cherries, who have never beaten United at Old Trafford. Against teams like us, let’s say in the second part of the standings, I think they have won every game except against Crystal Palace. We know the demands will be really high and there’s a reason we’ve never won there. A cracking interview with Leeds United’s latest academy hotshot, Archie Gray, here: Marcus Rashford could do worse than to emulate what Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire have done lately at Manchester United, Erik ten Hag said today. How was this 19 years ago? A beauty indeed. Saudi Arabia’s sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal has given an interview to BBC Sport in which he dismissed accusations of sportswashing and defended the country’s right to bid unopposed for the 2034 men’s World Cup despite concerns over human rights, restricted woman’s rights and the fact homosexuality is illegal in the kingdom. A lot of the people that accuse us of that haven’t been to Saudi, or seen what we are doing. Any country has room for improvement, no-one’s perfect. We acknowledge that and these events help us reform to a better future for everyone. Everyone’s welcome in the kingdom. Like any other nation we have rules and regulations that everyone should abide by and respect. When we come to the UK we respect the rules and regulations, whether we believe in them or not. Through the 85 events that we have had so far, we haven’t had any issues. Wolves’ sporting director Matt Hobbs has (kind of) clarified the situation around wing-back Jonny, who was banished from the club’s Compton Park base after a “training ground incident” but has now returned – albeit he will not be made available for first team selection. Hobbs said: “I’ve sat down with him, he’s apologised, and we have outlined the way forward. We had a conversation and have agreed that at least until the end of the January window he won’t be part of the first-team group. “He will still be training at the club and, if he chooses, he can play for the under-21s to keep up his match sharpness, and I think, knowing him, he’ll probably do that. “This is a guy who has been a great servant to the football club. One incident doesn’t define the role he’s played during the successful times and the man he is day to day around the place. Everybody has moments and that’s all it was, but we move forward for the wider group. “It’s not something Gary [O’Neil] has had to deal with, we’ve dealt with it as a club and allowed Gary to focus on getting the team ready for the important games coming up.” Guardiola: "We"ve been like a cat being stroked" Pep Guardiola used a rather odd feline analogy when discussing Manchester City’s form at today’s press conference. “As a manager I sometimes need that, I need that challenge,” he said. “I think for everyone it is good. I think it’s necessary to live that. “For a long time, we’ve lived like a cat [strokes head] and [known] how good we are. We need to say: ‘Guys this business – it’s terrible’. You are unbeatable and then, oh my God, you cannot win one game – from nothing. Maybe for myself first, I need that challenge to prove myself, that I’m a good manager, to help the players overcome that situation. “For the players it’s a good challenge to say: ‘Aston Villa were miles better than all of us, so imagine the other ones’.” Back on the Premier League press conference carousel now, and more from Roy Hodgson who says he regrets calling Crystal Palace fans “spoilt” after he and his players took an earful at Selhurst Park on Wednesday night. I am distressed by my comments and choice of word, which I bitterly regret. I think the fans have been very patient during this bad spell and they’ve not been spoilt. I can understand their frustration so I owe them an apology because they’ve been so good to me during my five years at the club. I would be devastated if they didn’t think I appreciated them. Everyone came to the game thinking we’d get some points on the board, so to have that hope taken away by a combination of things is hard. We didn’t play nearly as close as we wanted to do. But it’s gone now and we have to get over it. This is well worth your time; the latest column from our resident football owner who discusses Manchester United’s takeover of sorts. Predictable tweet of the day comes to you via Mr Predictable, Richard Keys. Hodgson: "I felt like booing myself" in Palace loss Quote of the day comes to you via Roy, after Palace’s lacklustre 2-0 midweek loss. This season’s Premier League is throwing up some mouthwatering fixtures isn’t it? Aston Villa v Arsenal feels like one for the ages, so too does Tottenham v Newcastle. Everton v Chelsea won’t be a quiet night at the library either. Maybe it’s my own pre-Christmas hubris, but everything just feels fresh, tense and tough to call right now. What game are you most looking forward to? Email me if you like. It’s Friday afternoon, it’s quiz time and you can definitely beat my score of 9/15 on this: Manchester City manager Gareth Taylor is keen to see his side producing more of the same after the “relentless” display when they blew away Tottenham in the WSL. City followed up their 3-1 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford by hammering Tottenham 7-0. Asked at a press conference what he says to his players going into Saturday’s home clash with Aston Villa having seen them win like that last time, Taylor said with a smile: “Can we do it again?” He added: “We’ve been talking for a long time about potentially [getting] that kind of scoreline and being really emphatic. “Once we got that first goal we were really kind of relentless. Trying to recreate that is the hardest thing ... but we also know the only thing that’s stopping us from doing that is us.” Villa manager Carla Ward said about City: “They’re an unbelievable team, it’s going to be a tough game. They’re a team you don’t want to face off the back of their last two fixtures.” Pochettino: Cannot blame Chelsea fans for booing Mauricio Pochettino has come under some serious fire this week following Chelsea’s defeat to United and he’s addressed that in his press conference, including the flak he and his players took from fans after the game at Old Trafford. On fixing Chelsea: “It’s only a matter of time. Sometimes that is six months, sometimes a year, sometimes only a month. But we know what we’re doing will pay off. Fans react how they feel, we cannot blame them. If we’re not playing well, it’s normal that we’re criticised.” On Sean Dyche and Everton: “I think his teams are like Sean’s personality. Aggressive and brave, they can also play direct and it will be a massive challenge for us. If you want to perform in the Premier League you need to deal with this.” Marco Silva has revealed that the mercurial Adama Traoré is back in training after a hamstring injury and will be assessed as Fulham prepare to entertain West Ham on Sunday. He’s yet to start a league game since his summer move. Silva has been impressed with the form of Alex Iwobi, who scored two in Fulham’s 5-0 rout of Nottingham Forest in midweek: “He is a hard worker. I knew when we signed him, his energy and dynamic will help us.” Before that, kudos to Sky’s Bianca Westwood for this reponse to a former QPR and Man City player who shall remain nameless. Mauricio Pochettino and Marco Silva are among the Premier League managers next up on the presser rostrums. We’ll bring you what they’ve said next … There was some gushing praise for Luke Shaw from the Manchester United manager, too. He is a player others can build on, he gives belief and confidence to other players, teammates around him feel comfortable, he deals with situations, he will set up, take the initiative, create and strengthen the team. His presence, his personality, the skillset with physicality [is] so strong, technically very good. We are happy he is back on. Ten Hag: Rashford will return to form We’ll stick with Manchester United, given that Erik ten Hag is currently speaking to the media at Carrington, with no bans in place for this one. Here’s some snippets from the Dutchman: On Marcus Rashford’s poor form: “Rashford is an incredible, good player. You can’t do it with 11 players. He can’t play every game. He’s not in this moment in the form he was last year, but I am sure he will get there.” On a busy fixture schedule: “As manager, my coaches, with the rest of the staff, we always consider [rotating] but the next game is always the most important, especially in the Premier League where everyone is killing everyone.” Player and manager of the month awards Thanks Tom. I’ll start with this. No, there’s no need to adjust your screens, that really is the maligned Harry Maguire and the beleagured Erik ten Hag with the Premier League’s player and manager of the month awards for November. No surprise that Alejandro Garnacho got the goal of the month prize, of course. If you ignore the fact Manchester United lost badly on 29th October and 2nd December and that they shipped seven goals in two Champions League games in November, they actually had a good month: three games, three wins, three clean sheets. And that’s my short and sweet stint done. Dominic Booth will now guide you expertly through the afternoon. Bye. More emails: “When did Match Day 1 or whatever move across the Atlantic and become accepted, if not acceptable, in reference to the ‘Greatest League in the World’ (TM)?” thunders Richard Hurst. “Please can we put it in the (top)bin along with xG. And bah humbug to early Christmas decorations as well, whilst we’re at it.” I sort of like “top bin”, principally because it doesn’t really make any sense, though I suspect it’s an expression beloved of the sort of people who used to go on about “teckers” back in the Noughties. If in doubt, blame Tim Lovejoy. Never underestimate the capacity of football clubs to turn the simple pleasures of live fandom into a chore. “Last season I was able to spend some lovely afternoons at Prenton Park with my eldest watching LFC women play,” writes William Preston. “It’s a super way to spend some time and she absolutely loved going. What made it even more special was the players making time to speak to the crowd after the game and being happy to have photos taken, and sign things. “This season, however, if you aren’t a season ticket holder match day tickets are only available for the Kop (or Cow Shed) ends of the ground (behind thr goals). Being situated there means the great inclusivity and interaction bit is lost, which has really put us off going, because the views aren’t nearly as good as the other stand, especially for a 9 year old. The cost of a season ticket isn’t absurdly high, which is commendable, but the restriction on not being a holder does smart a little bit. In 22-23, LFC women averaged 2,500 spectators a game (if you exclude the derby game, which isn’t at Prenton Park), so there’s plenty capacity there, keeping in mind the current average attendance for the season is 2,000 (derby excluded). It seems a bit of a regressive move, to me, and puts off the more casual fans.” Want something to listen to while chomping on your lunch? The latest Football Weekly offering will enable you to do just that.