Liverpool

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Liverpool assistant boss Pep Lijnders not giving much away on Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah's chances of playing in the Carabao Cup final: "Dominik [Szoboszlai] Darwin and Mo we really have to see. We have two more days. We have today's session, tomorrow's session and then we will check if they can be there. It would be great [if they could play] to be honest."

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Pep Ljinders has just shuffled into the press room at Liverpool's training ground and taken his seat in front of the assembled media.

We'll have the latest from the assistant Reds boss on Liverpool's injury situation, and the availability of Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez for the Carabao Cup final, any second now.

Newcastle United

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe started his news conference by addressing the impact - or lack of it - that the expected departure of sporting director Dan Ashworth to Manchester United has had on his players: "In terms of the day-to-day running of the football club then not at all. This has happened away from the players and the training ground, so it has been business as usual for us, it has been a normal week."

Alex Howell
BBC Sport

Chelsea right-back Malo Gusto has been one of the standout players for the club this season.

The 20-year-old was signed in January 2023 for £31m before returning to Lyon on loan for the rest of last season.

Questions were asked whether Gusto would get the game time he needed at Chelsea as Reece James, now Chelsea captain, plays in the same position.

However, James has struggled with injury this campaign and Gusto has played 25 times so far in the 2023-24 campaign.

The France International was widely praised for his performance away at Man City last week against Jeremy Doku.

Chelsea play Liverpool in the final of the Carabao Cup on Sunday and Gusto realises what it could mean for the team.

"It's a big opportunity. After this game, it's not finished but we have to win this trophy for us and for the fans because they are waiting a lot for this team because we are young but this trophy, it can be important for everyone for the rest of the season and the club." Gusto said.

BBC Sport has a dedicated Chelsea page packed with news, analysis and fan views - get it here

Liverpool or Chelsea? Which team will come out on top in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday?

Here, Planet Premier League pundit and ex-Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas discusses the differing approaches of Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and the Blues' Mauricio Pochettino.

Have a listen and tell us what you think - thumbs up if you think Liverpool will lift the trophy, thumbs down if you think Chelsea will have the edge.

Mandeep Sanghera
BBC Sport

Liverpool’s injury situation has given some of their youngsters a chance and haven’t they taken it.

Centre-back Jarrell Quansah, 21, and right-back Conor Bradley, 20, have led the way, while 19-year-old’s Bobby Clark and James McConnell have played their part.

Jayden Danns, 18, came on for his senior debut in the midweek win against Luton Town and helped set up Liverpool’s fourth, which was scored by 20-year-old Harvey Elliott.

Will they get a chance to add a Wembley appearance against Chelsea in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final to their exploits?

That might be more clear when Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders speaks to the media at 10:00GMT.

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There was plenty of controversy when these two sides met at St James' Park in November, including fury towards the VAR from Arsenal over Newcastle's winner. That might mean there is an edge to this game, from the start.

Arsenal were disappointing in their defeat by Porto on Wednesday, which surprised me a little, but Porto really disrupted them.

Newcastle may well try to do the same thing but I am expecting the Gunners to bounce back. They were excellent when I watched them beat Burnley last week and the Magpies concede too many goals. including eight in their past three games, so I think Arsenal will find a way through.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

Read the rest of Chris Sutton's predictions for the weekend here...

OK, so we asked whether we can expect a goal fest at Emirates Stadium, based on Arsenal's form in the Premier League and Newcastle's defensive problems. But recent matches between these two sides suggest otherwise:

• Arsenal are unbeaten in their past 11 Premier League home games against Newcastle, with last season’s goalless draw ending a 10-game winning run. Their last defeat against the Magpies was in November 2010.
• Having won 1-0 at St James’ Park in the reverse fixture in November, Newcastle are looking to complete the Premier League double against Arsenal for just the second time, previously doing so in 1994-95.
• Arsenal have failed to score in three of their past four league games against Newcastle, as many as they had in their previous 27. However, the Gunners' 30 Premier League clean sheets against the Magpies is the most any side has kept against another in the competition.
• Ayoze Perez was the last Newcastle player to score an away league goal against Arsenal (December 2014), with the Magpies failing to convert any of their 63 attempts on goal at Emirates Stadium since. The Gunners have kept seven consecutive home clean sheets against the Magpies. They’ve never kept eight successive shutouts on home soil against an opponent in their league history.

Alex Howell
BBC Sport

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Chelsea have been without captain Reece James for most of this season with injury but Malo Gusto's performance's have meant the Blues haven't missed James as much as they might have done previously.

When Gusto signed for the club it wasn't clear where he would fit into the team but the 20-year-old always believed he would make it into the first XI.

"I come here to play. With Reece or without Reece I think it’s not good for the team as Reece is the captain and it’s not good for everyone in the club," Gusto said.

"But me, I have to be ready and take every chance.

"I’m ready to play everywhere and play every time and that’s what I do every time. I wasn’t thinking about what could happen. I just wanted to take my chance."

Gusto added: "If I can play, I play. I’ve stayed focus on my football. I work every day to become better, to improve. That’s what I do."

Think you know your Premier League players?

See if you can name this current or former footballer from the clues we've given you.

In fact, you can have an extra clue on us. The footballer in question was capped 39 times by his country.

Take the daily mystery player quiz here...

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Get ready for a flurry of news conferences to preview this weekend's Premier League matches, plus the Carabao Cup final.

First up we will hear from Newcastle manager Eddie Howe before his side's trip to Arsenal on Saturday, with Mikel Arteta's news conference coming up shortly after that.

It will be a 20:00 GMT kick-off for the Magpies at Emirates Stadium - the last of six Premier League matches on Saturday.

Newcastle have gone four league games unbeaten since their 3-2 defeat at home to Manchester City on 13 January.

But Howe's side have been struggling defensively, conceding nine goals in that run, including a 4-4 draw at home to Luton, while they also shared four goals in a draw with Bournemouth at St James' Park last time out.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have rattled in 21 goals in a five-game winning streak in the Premier League, so can we expect a goal fest at the Emirates?

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Some useful stuff from BBC Sport's Simon Stone on the wider impact of today's European draws.

A reminder that five British teams will learn their last-16 opponents when the draws for the Europa League and Europa Conference League take place.

Liverpool, West Ham, Brighton and Rangers are in the Europa League draw, which takes place from 11:00 GMT.

Aston Villa are in the Europa Conference League draw from 12:00.

All five clubs are seeded, which means they will be away for the first leg on Thursday, 7 March and at home for the second leg on 14 March.

Read all you need to know about today's European draws here...

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

England is in a strong position to gain a fifth Champions League qualification slot in next season’s expanded competition ahead of today’s last-16 draws for the Europa League and Europa Conference League.

Although England remains third in the overall country co-efficient list, behind Italy and Germany, the surprise elimination of Eintracht Frankfurt from the Europa Conference League means there are only five Bundesliga sides left in European competition, compared to England’s six, with three of those in the Champions League, where it is tougher to gain ranking points.

France are fourth in the table but had three sides eliminated last night alone, with Spain, who now have five of its initial eight European qualifiers still involved, fifth.

England was unable to gain any ranking points this week as it had no side involved in the play-offs.

England and Italy both have four teams involved in today’s draws.

Conference League

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Meanwhile, in the Europa Conference League knockout round there were a couple of minor upsets as teams from La Liga and the Bundesliga were knocked out last night.

Again, no British teams involved but doubtless supporters of clubs involved in the last 16 will be eyeing up some potential European away trips. Jordan Henderson was not involved for Ajax as they squeaked through with a 2-1 away over Bodo Glimt.

Bodo Glimt 1-2 Ajax (Agg 3-4)

Dinamo Zagreb 1-1 Real Betis (Agg 2-1)

Ludogorets Razgrad 0-1 Servette (Agg 0-1)

Eintracht Frankfurt 1-2 Union Saint-Gilloise (Agg 3-4)

Ferencvaros 0-1 Olympiakos (Agg 0-2)

Legia Warsaw 0-3 Molde (Agg 2-6)

Slovan Bratislava 0-1 Sturm Graz (Agg 1-5)

You can read a round-up from last night's action here...

Mandeep Sanghera
BBC Sport

You can expect plenty of chat about injuries when Liverpool assistant boss Pep Lijnders chats to the media from about 10:00 GMT.

The Reds had 11 players out in midweek when they came back from 1-0 down to beat Luton Town 4-1 but how many will be back to face Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday?

The ones missing against the Hatters were Thiago Alcantara, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Stefan Bajcetic, Alisson Becker, Ben Doak, Curtis Jones, Diogo Jota, Joel Matip, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai.

That’s not a bad side in itself and Salah, Nunez and Szoboszlai appear to be the ones most likely to stand a chance of returning.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said he is taking things “day-by-day” in preparation for the Wembley showpiece so we’ll see where we’re at with Lijnders later.

Europa League

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There were no British teams involved in Europa League action last night but fans of those sides still left in the competition will have had an eye on which clubs progressed from the knockout round.

Roma beat Feyenoord 4-2 on penalties. With the tie locked at 2-2 after 120 minutes - both legs having finished 1-1 - keeper Mile Svilar saved two spot kicks as Roma won the shootout 4-2.

The full results from last night are below:

Qarabag 2-3 Sporting Braga (Agg 6-5)

Rennes 3-2 AC Milan (Agg 3-5)

Freiburg 3-2 Lens (Agg 3-2)

Toulouse 0-0 Benfica (Agg 1-2)

Marseille 3-1 Shakhtar Donetsk (Agg 5-3)

Roma 1-1 Feyenoord (Agg 2-2. Roma won 4-2 on penalties)

Sparta Prague 4-1 Galatasaray (Agg 6-4)

Sporting Lisbon 1-1 Young Boys (Agg 4-2)

You can read a round-up from last night's matches here...

Metro

Image source, Metro

The Metro carries quotes from Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo who says victory in the Carabao Cup final over Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday will give the Reds "the energy needed" for the big games in the "final weeks of Jurgen Klopp's reign" at Anfield.

The Daily Telegraph

Image source, Daily Telegraph

Slim pickings football wise on the front page of the Daily Telegraph's sports section but there is a tease to a story on the inside pages about Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo's "revolution" at the City Ground. It gives an insight into the work ethic of the man. The paper reports that "Nuno’s days have been very long. On the day before his appointment was announced,he studied previous games from the season until 4am, reporting to the training ground four hours later".

The I

Image source, The I

The i also lead with a Manchester United story on the front page of their sports section centred on redevelopments for the club's Old Trafford ground. The paper says UK Government sources have told them that they will not use "use taxpayer money to pay for Manchester United to build a new stadium". Sir Jim Ratcliffe insisted that “there has to be a conversation with the national government” about using taxpayer funds to build a venue that could also act as a national stadium for the north. However, the paper "understands the UK Government is not likely to entertain the idea of funding the stadium".

The Daily Express

Image source, Daily Express

In addition to a story about Erik ten Hag's future the back page of the Daily Express also carries a story with some quotes from Everton manager Sean Dyche. According to the paper the Blues boss has lamented the "psychological impact" of the uncertainty of their 10 points deduction getting to his players.