Manchester United

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim spoke to the media on Wednesday before his side's Europa League game at Viktoria Plzen later.

Amorim confirmed that Tyrell Malacia will start having recently returned from a long injury lay-off.

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Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou on returning to Glasgow and the reception he expects to receive from Rangers fans: "I think you know what kind of reception I will get. I loved it, it was a different experience, mixed. The first one we lost and then the next one when there was only 5/600 in the building we won and that was pretty special.

"I've enjoyed all the games against Rangers, all the derbies, they are big games here in Scotland and usually very significant games. I enjoyed them all.

"I don't know if it brings out more of me. I'm like everyone else I like a bit of love now and then but once you experience football in empty stadiums, you realise how meaningless it is. I felt through that whole covid period it was meaningless.

"As much as it could be hostile, that's what we love about the game, that's what brings it to life."

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Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou on how he will deal with a lack of central defenders for tonight's game against Rangers: "I have to get creative. I think Archie [Gray] is probably the one for us at the moment that we need to try and get to fill in there. Him and Radu [Dragusin], they're the two main defenders. We've still got five or six games to navigate, so we may have to get creative at at some point and deal with it in a different way."

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Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou faced Rangers 11 times during his two-year stint at Celtic.

He won six of those contests, drew twice and lost three times.

Postecoglou's record at Ibrox, however, isn't as impressive. The Aussie has tasted victory there only once in his four trips having lost on two occasions, recording one draw.

Rangers and Tottenham are separated by just goal difference going into this evening's match at Ibrox Stadium.

Both teams have a record of three wins, one draw and one defeat after their opening five matches.

The two sides have also conceded the exact same number of goals (six) but the Scottish side sit one place higher in eighth having scored 12 goals to Spurs' 10.

A win for either side could see them jump to as high as second in the league table.

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Tom Lawrence and Rabbi Matondo are still out for Rangers, but winger Oscar Cortes is fit for the first time since September, though can only play limited minutes.

Midfielder Ianis Hagi and striker Danilo are both ineligible having not been registered in Rangers' Europa League squad.

Tottenham will be without first-choice centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven through injury, which means 18-year-old Archie Gray, usually a full-back or midfielder, is likely start in the heart of defence.

Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and Richarlison are still out but Rodrigo Bentancur is available because his ban for using a racial slur only applies to domestic matches.

Rangers

Rangers manager Philippe Clement has challenged his players to produce "a special night" when they face Tottenham in the Europa League at Ibrox.

"Everything can be bridged in one night," Clement said.

"I had the luck, and it's not only luck, it's also a lot of hard work, to have as a player and as a manager several nights of those that the gap was amazingly big. And those are also the best nights.

"If you then perform and you get the results, those are also the nights that you remember all of your life. Those are also the moments that, as a player, you remember your team-mates really well.

"The moments of success, the moment of doing something special. So in that way, I hope the players can give themselves and as a team a special night."

Newcastle United

When fit, Callum Wilson scores goals. Staying fit has always been his problem, however.

Last season Wilson missed 25 games for Newcastle through injury or illness, after a stellar campaign in 2022-23 when the 32-year-old scored 18 Premier League goals.

His struggles have continued this year with a back injury keeping him out of 14 games on the bounce.

Wilson still managed 10 goals in 26 games last season, with his last goal for Newcastle coming against Burnley in May.

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Jay, Liverpool fan: Re Simon; 10:38 Pep obviously wasn't happier to work with Alvarez and Cancelo more than Haaland seeing as he let them both go without a fuss. Make no mistake about it, Pep decides who comes and goes at City. He's gone with Haaland and it's worked up until the start of November. And he'll get it working again.

Newcastle United

Newcastle forward Callum Wilson has confirmed on social media that he suffered a "little step backwards" in his recovery back to full fitness.

The 32-year-old has made just four substitute appearances for the Magpies this season because of a back injury, last coming on in Saturday's 4-2 defeat by Brentford.

"Despite all the hard work I've put in pushing to get back to full fitness, I need to take a little step backwards unfortunately guys," Wilson posted on social media.

"Frustrating as it is for everyone out there waiting for my return and to be able to help the team, these shortcomings also upset and frustrate me more than anybody else.

"I will, and I am doing everything in my power to rediscover the best version of myself and finally get off this emotional rollercoaster, which I'm hoping 2025 will bring.

"Appreciate the patience, love and support from all those closest that know how hard I really work and how professional I always am. Callum."

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Chief operating officer at PGMOL, Howard Webb, during the latest instalment of "Match Officials Mic'd Up," discussing Moises Caidedo's challenge on Tottenham's Pape Sarr:

"I think a yellow card should have been shown. Caicedo received no disciplinary sanction for that action. I think his actions are reckless. I know there was talk about the possibility of this being a red card. Some people felt it was. It's not a red card for me. This is a situation where Moises Caicedo goes to swing to kick a ball, which is kicked away from him by Pape Sarr.

"That swinging action continues into the leg of Sarr. You'll see the foot comes through. It comes off really quickly, back on to the ground. Slow motion can sometimes distort reality. When you watch it at full speed, it hits the shin and comes down into the ground. For me, that's reckless. It's not serious foul play because it's not excessive force. It doesn't endanger the safety of Pape Sarr."

Yes, there will be a new play-off draw for that, Phil. Teams 9th-16th are seeded and will have the return leg at home.

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Chief operating officer at PGMOL, Howard Webb, on the latest instalment of "Match Officials Mic'd Up," discussing Jack Stephen's red card for pulling Marc Cucurella's hair:

"In terms of hair pulling, there is an accepted position whereby when you tug somebody's hair, you get sent off. It's seen as violent conduct, maybe just a touch of the hair would be negligible. So that wouldn't be. But as soon as you start tugging people's hair, then you are almost certainly going to get sent off for violent conduct because it's more than negligible contact.

"It just crosses that line of acceptable behaviour on the field of play. If you start pulling people's hair, there's absolutely no reason to do that. People don't want to see that happening. And therefore players understand. In most circumstances, it will be seen as more than negligible contact when you start tugging hair, and you're going to get a red card. And, I can't imagine that Jack Stephens will make that mistake again."

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Chief operating officer at PGMOL, Howard Webb, on the latest instalment of "Match Officials Mic'd Up," discussing Tom Cairney's red card for 'serious foul play' on Dejan Kulusevski:

"There are some similarities, [with the Moises Caicedo foul], some differences as well. So in this situation Tom Cairney’s studs come in to the back of Kulusevski’s calf. And it stays there, it stays high. He ends up with all of his body weight going through. The other foot comes up. It causes that almost twisting of the ankle as well.

"So a really dangerous tackle misread on the field by the referee, who's looking from behind. Sometimes it's not so easy to see things from behind. He gives a yellow. And it's a good example of VAR coming in to rectify a very clear and obvious error in the referee's call. And a good example of serious foul play endangering the safety of the opponent."

Right, so what next?

Well, it's a Thursday, so that means the start of this week's Premier League news conferences.

We have the managers from Fulham, Ipswich, Leicester, Nottingham Forest, Southampton and Everton to bring you today, starting from around 13:30 GMT.

Before that, we will try to get through some of the latest football news, then a little later on will start the build-up to this evening's Europa League and Conference League ties.

Remember, Chelsea's game in Astana kicks off at 15:30 GMT, so not long to wait now for some more live action.

OK, our collective brain hurts, lets watch some football while we give the little grey cells a rest...

Click here to watch the highlights of this week's Champions League ties.

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In theory, yes.

First and second are paired, then third and fourth, fifth and sixth, seventh and eighth.

So it's an advantage finishing in the top two, rather than first.

That's because first or second will face one of the two teams who make it out of the play-offs involving teams who finish 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th.

Wouldn't it be fairer for first or second to play 24th?

Maybe, maybe not. Uefa's theory here is the team finishing 24th will be paired with 23rd and face whoever finishes ninth or 10th, so they could well be eliminated before it gets to the round when the top eight enter.

The really strange element to this draw is that the team that finishes 24th in the league phase, so the final qualifier, could face a side that finishes seventh or eighth in the last 16.

It's complicated, I know, but feel free to crunch the numbers to see what might be the worst/best-case scenario for your team and get in touch with your calculations...