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With Giovanni Leoni side-lined with a suspected ACL injury, Liverpool manager Arne Slot's options look extremely limited at centre-back until January at the earliest.

Aside from the first choice pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, the Reds only have Joe Gomez as a true senior option to step in.

Rhys Williams, who spent last season on loan at League Two side Morecambe is the only other "natural" centre-back on the books.

Andy Robertson and Wataru Endo have both filled in at centre-back on the odd occasion while star midfielder Ryan Gravenberch could also drop back if needs must.

Sami Mokbel
BBC Sport Senior football correspondent

Liverpool defender Giovanni Leoni faces months on the sidelines after suffering a suspected anterior cruciate ligament injury on his debut.

The 18-year-old played 81 minutes of Tuesday's 2-1 Carabao Cup third-round win over Southampton before going off with the injury.

Leoni, who joined the Reds in August from Parma for a fee of £26m plus add-ons, has since had tests on his left knee.

Sources have indicated the centre-back has damaged his ACL, which would probably rule him out for most - if not all - of the rest of the season.

"I want to sincerely thank every single person who has shown me support in this difficult moment," Leoni wrote on Instagram.

"It wasn't the debut I had always dreamed of, but I will give everything to be back playing in this magical stadium as soon as possible. Thank you so much!"

Wayne Rooney
Former Man Utd striker on The Wayne Rooney Show

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Sometimes you have the emotion of football - sometimes when you score a goal you do get carried away and he's probably forgot he was on a yellow card I'd imagine.

But it's silly if you're on a yellow card and you take your top off. All the players know you get booked for taking your top off.

He's doing really well and it's probably a shootout for him and [Alexander] Isak to play and he's giving Isak the chance to come in and try and take his place because at the minute, he's scoring goals and he's in a good place so I'm sure he'll be devastated.

Don't you think that's refreshing?

We've criticised teams for not playing strong teams and not wanting to really compete in the League Cup. You've got a player who's playing really well, he's just come into Liverpool, scoring goals and he's showing that passion and emotion of scoring a late goal in the League Cup.

I think that's quite refreshing really, from where the Carabao Cup competitions have been in recent years.

I'm not defending it because it is silly, but I'm saying what we've seen over recent years with VAR and players scoring goals and waiting to celebrate and stuff, I think it's actually refreshing to see someone celebrating a goal.

He's been caught up in the emotion of scoring a goal and he'll probably regret it now, but I still think it's nice when you see that raw emotion when someone scores a goal.

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A reminder that Liverpool will be without forward Hugo Ekitike for the trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The 23-year-old was sent off in Tuesday's Carabao Cup victory over Southampton after he was handed a second yellow card for taking his shirt off when celebrating his goal.

Ekitike has five goals in eight appearances for the Reds since his summer move from Eintracht Frankfurt.

It means record-signing Alexander Isak will likely get the nod from the start at Selhurst Park.

After Fabian Hurzeler, it's Eddie Howe at half past before Liverpool boss Arne Slot is up at 09:45 BST.

The champions face a tough away game at Crystal Palace tomorrow afternoon...

Brighton & Hove Albion

And we're off!

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler is the first manager up this morning and he's talking to the media this very moment.

We'll have quotes from him for you shortly.

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With the summer arrivals of Yoane Wissa and record signing Nick Woltemade, William Osula almost left Newcastle over the summer.

His deadline day move to Eintracht Frankfurt collapsed at the last moment after Newcastle's Saudi owners intervened when the Bundesliga side walked back on a deal that was virtually agreed.

Despite Wissa's injury and Anthony Gordon's suspension, Osula has been limited to appearances from the bench in the Premier League - except 90 minutes in the goalless draw at Leeds United.

But after a goal against Liverpool earlier in the season, the Dane scored a brace against Bradford City in Wednesday's 4-1 win and perhaps sent a reminder to Eddie Howe of just what he can do.

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Newcastle have been one of the teams that Mikel Arteta has struggled against in recent years.

The two teams played each other four times last season, with Newcastle coming out on top three times - including in both legs of their Carabao Cup semi-final.

Arsenal have not won in their last three visits to St James' Park with their most recent victory coming at the end of the 2022-23 season.

Newcastle's win at St James' park in May 2022 all but cost Arsenal a spot in the Champions League the following season as Arteta's side finished fifth.

Last five at St James' Park:

• Newcastle 2-0 Arsenal, February 2025
• Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal, November 2024
• Newcastle 1-0 Arsenal, November 2023
• Newcastle 0-2 Arsenal, May 2023
• Newcastle 2-0 Arsenal, May 2022

Ciaran Kelly
BBC Sport reporter at St James' Park

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Eddie Howe’s first game on the touchline as Newcastle United head coach was against Arsenal nearly four years ago. A lot has changed since then.

Whereas Arsenal enjoyed a relatively comfortable afternoon that day, the vast majority of games since have been anything but for Mikel Arteta’s side, who have only won three of the last nine meetings.

These games tend to be feisty and I’d expect Sunday’s match at St James’ Park to be a real battle.

After making seven changes midweek, Howe has a handful of genuine selection dilemmas following the 4-1 win against Bradford City.

Does Jacob Murphy replace Anthony Elanga? Will Kieran Trippier come back in? Does a natural right footer like Malick Thiaw get the nod over Sven Botman at centre-back?

Or could the Newcastle head coach even switch to a back five again after the system worked well when these teams last met at St James’ in the Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg?

Expect Howe to give little away when he sits down for his news conference this morning.

Saturday

• Brentford v Manchester United (12:30)
• Chelsea v Brighton (15:00)
• Crystal Palace v Liverpool (15:00)
• Leeds v Bournemouth (15:00)
• Man City v Burnley (15:00)
• Nottingham Forest v Sunderland (17:30)
• Tottenham v Wolves (20:00)

Sunday

• Aston Villa v Fulham (14:00)
• Newcastle v Arsenal (16:30)

Monday

• Everton v West Ham (20:00)

Just the 16 (SIXTEEN) Premier League manager news conferences today. Here's who is up and when...

• 09:00: Brighton - Fabian Hurzeler
• 09:30: Newcastle - Eddie Howe
• 09:45: Liverpool - Arne Slot
• 10:15: Bournemouth - Andoni Iraola
• 11:00: Chelsea - Enzo Maresca
• 12:00: Arsenal - Mikel Arteta
• 12:30: Manchester City - Pep Guardiola
• 13:00: Wolves - Vitor Pereira
• 13:30: Tottenham - Thomas Frank
• 13:30: Brentford - Keith Andrews
• 13:30: Crystal Palace - Oliver Glasner
• 13:30: Fulham - Marco Silva
• 13:30: Everton - David Moyes
• 13:30: Nottingham Forest - Ange Postecoglou
• 13:30: West Ham - Graham Potter
• 14:15: Manchester United - Ruben Amorim

All times BST.

Right then, let's turn our attention back to the Premier League.

A day of managers talking awaits with Fabian Hurzeler kicking things off at 09:00 BST.

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland at Ibrox

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Russell Martin was left, once again, to reap the whirlwind of those Rangers supporters who remained until the end.

Around 12,000 tickets went unsold - a reflection of a deepening apathy. The boos, now as much a part of the match-day experience as Broxi Bear, were heard again.

The chants demanding the manager's head were cranked up for the umpteenth time. It was grim. The cameras panned to the directors' box, where chairman Andrew Cavenagh and chief executive Patrick Stewart stood stony-faced.

A penny for Cavenagh's thoughts. The Rangers fans would cough up a lot more than that for an audience with the man, for a chance to air their views by way of a venting of the spleen.

Cavenagh has made it known that he's behind his manager, but it's just not credible to think that he has no doubts about what he's seeing. And it's unimaginable that he has no concerns about the way his - and other people's - money has been spent.

Is any single part of Rangers' operation working? Not really. Quality of play, results, recruitment, relationship with supporters - nothing is functioning.

You are correct, of course, Rob. How could I forget Harvey Elliott's goal? Turns out I'd have been useless at that pub quiz even if there had been sports questions...

Rangers head coach Russell Martin: "I'm frustrated. The red card changed a lot, but I'm proud of the players in the second half.

"I asked them to be really aggressive after the sending off, not just try and defend for 45 minutes. Genk didn't cut us open, we weren't defending relentlessly.

"The longer the game goes on, if we actually dominate the ball, we create a lot more. We'll get there.

"We had 10 men for a long time, I think Jack [Butland] only had two saves to make in the second half. I thought we had some really good performances."