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We have been running a poll at the top of this page throughout the day, asking readers if they believed Premier League leaders Liverpool could be caught.

The poll has now closed and the numbers seem to be conclusive.

A total of 25,566 (63%) felt that Liverpool could be caught and the title race was far from over, with 14,840 (37%) believing it is already a done deal.

Arne Slot's side have an eight-point lead, which history suggests could well be enough, but with Manchester City visiting on Sunday the reticence is understandable.

A positive result to either side could change the outlook dramatically, or maybe sides like Arsenal, Chelsea, Brighton and others feel they still have a part to play too.

Sean: Do you think there should be an amnesty on PSR for teams coming into the PL, if they are financially OK? It appears increasingly likely the three promoted are the three relegated. Certainly struggling week in week out.

Hi, Sean. I can see the logic in what you are saying and there is an increasing concern about the gap in quality which means we will see more of the “three up three straight back down” situation. Anything that can help close that, especially if a club is sound financially, would be welcome.

Will it happen? I don’t think so.

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John: Afternoon Phil. Always like reading the Q&A feature on a Monday. Always think you give a fair and honest answer. I just wanted to know how you rate Martin Odegaard as a player and a captain. Now being an Arsenal fan I’m obviously biased and think he's excellent at both! Do you think he has the potential to be thought of as an Arsenal captain legend along with the likes of McLintock, Adams, O'Leary, Viera?

Thanks for the kind words, John. I rate Martin Odegaard very highly as an outstanding footballer and a fine leader, although I still feel he is growing into the captaincy and there is a lot more to come from him on both fronts.

If he can lift a trophy that will help as well, and I do think he has every chance of doing that at some point with this Arsenal team.

You’ve named some great captains there, including Double winners Tony Adams and the legendary Frank McLintock. If he gets anywhere near their achievements he will be ranked among the greats.

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Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

Leicester fans could not see beyond Steve Cooper's Nottingham Forest past, according to Matt Davis, vice chairman of the Foxes Trust.

The 44-year-old was dismissed on Sunday after just 157 days in charge having replaced Enzo Maresca in the summer.

It was his first role since leaving Forest in December after just over two years at the City Ground.

Cooper took them back to the Premier League for the first time in 23 years in 2022, keeping them up in 2022-23 before being replaced by Nuno Espirito Santo.

The ex-Swansea manager also accepts his relationship with the fans was not there because of his Forest background, sources have told BBC Sport, with Davis admitting it was a struggle from the start.

Davis said: "He would never win some fans over because of the Forest connection, others would give him less time because of the Forest connection and others didn’t think he had what it took.

"Events with Cooper had the focus and the vast majority of fans were pleased the decision was swiftly made.

"I couldn’t see it [success] coming with Cooper."

Alex Howell
BBC football news reporter

It would be fair to say that Crystal Palace's season has not gone to plan so far.

They have just one win in the Premier League and have had to deal with a number of injury issues to key players throughout the campaign.

However, the emergence of Justin Devenny has been a positive note to lift supporters in a tough time.

Devenny made an unexpected Premier League debut starting against Fulham before the international break earlier this month.

The 21-year-old impressed fans by coming into a team in difficult circumstances and holding his own.

Supporters of most clubs enjoy seeing young players coming through the ranks and Devenny is no different for the Palace fans, even though he joined the club in 2023 from from Scottish Championship side Airdrieonians.

He then backed up that impressive start to top level football with a goal against Aston Villa on Saturday, scoring on a quick Eagles counter-attack.

Devenny may find it hard at this stage in his career to hold down a starting first team spot when all of Palace's key men such as Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton return.

But he has done enough already to show that he can be called upon as a good squad player which will be pleasing to manager Oliver Glasner ahead of a busy fixture list in December and Janaury.

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Adam: Hi Phil, what do you think Southampton have to do to survive the season? And should Russell Martin stay or go?

Hello, Adam. Cutting out the crazy individual errors I witnessed against Liverpool at St. Mary’s yesterday would be a good start.

The unfortunate thing for Southampton is that so much of what I saw yesterday was good, only to be undermined needlessly.

And yes, I do think Russell Martin needs to tweak the style of playing out from the back. It was inviting trouble from the start against Liverpool. It is all very laudable but there has to be a time and a place, especially against Liverpool.

Obviously there is attention on Martin’s position and no top-flight team has ever stayed up after losing ten of their first 12 league games so the situation is very serious. Will the Saints board stick, or will they twist in a bid to survive?

I hope he does survive as he did take Southampton up, but his high-risk approach is easy prey to the best Premier League teams and there has to be some pragmatism when results are so bad.

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Singer and Ipswich Town minority shareholder Ed Sheeran has apologised after interrupting Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim's post match interview on Sky Sports following Sunday's 1-1 draw at Portman Road.

"Apologies if I offended Amorim yesterday, didn't actually realise he was being interviewed at the time, was popping to say hi and bye to Jamie [Redknapp]," Sheeran posted on his Instagram story.

"Obvz feel a bit of a (expletive) but life goes on. Great game though, congrats on all involved."

You can watch some of Pep Guardiola's press conference ahead of tomorrow's clash with Feyenoord in the Champions League at the Etihad Stadium here.

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What did Pep Guardiola have to say on Manchester City's five consecutive defeats, Kevin de Bruyne and the Belgian midfielder's recent injury.

Here are the top lines from the City boss' Champions League news conference:

• On his side's recent poor form: "Look at where we've come from. It's so difficult to defend the success we have had, that's why I'm so relaxed. That is why I want the commitment. Just being ourselves isn't enough, we have to show commitment every day."

• On Kevin De Bruyne and his recent injury: "When Kevin can train fully, he will give us something because he's unique. It would make no sense to see the opposite."
• On how to turn form around: "Prepare for the next game, try to beat them, which is Feyenoord. I don't know any other way. It's the same as winning seven games in a row? What should I change? Impossible. The players have played a lot of minutes, we have players who are injured. It's unusual. Just because this team won a lot, a lot, a lot for many, many, many years. I think in the situation, we have to go direct to our principles, change less more than ever."

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Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr will miss his side's Champions League game against Liverpool after sustaining a hamstring injury.

The Brazilian played the whole of Real Madrid's 3-0 La Liga win against Leganes on Sunday.

Madrid, who are 18th in the 36-team Champions League table, travel to Anfield on Wednesday to face table-topping Liverpool.

The La Liga club named a 19-man travelling squad for the trip to Merseyside and there was no place for Vinicius Jr after he suffered "an injury to the biceps femoris in his left leg".

According Spanish newspaper Marca,, external the Brazil international could be sidelined for around three weeks but Madrid are not commenting on the severity of the injury.

• Read the full story.

Barry, Bournemouth: A question for you on Dominic Calvert-Lewis’s lack of goals. Many pundits express sympathy for him and emphasise the style of football under Sean Dyche as a contributing factor in his poor return. Dean Ashton has now suggested “he is technically not good enough”, whilst many Evertonians point to his contract situation and injury record and question whether he is holding himself back in order to avoid another injury in the running down of his contract. Which opinion do you subscribe to, and do you think a club battling relegation can afford to carry a player who is seemingly not committed to the cause by running down their contract?

Morning, Barry. I think it is a combination of all of those things – although I would be very wary of suggesting any player is “holding himself back” to avoid injury. I think Calvert-Lewin’s attitude has always been good.

I think he is a striker, usually on his own, playing in a team that creates few chances and does not score many goals. Having watched Everton this season, there have been times when I have felt sympathy for him because of a lack of service while often being heavily outnumbered.

I do think there is some merit in the argument that he is not a clinical finisher. He never looks fully confident in one-on-one situations, the sort natural strikers normally lap up. Only Carlo Ancelotti seemed to be able to solve that one.

So, my view is he suffering from playing in a team that lacks creation but is now very short on confidence and surrounded by noise about his future. He has certainly shown no inclination to sign a new deal at Everton. Maybe his time at the club is simply coming to a natural close.

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Everton

Everton fans, look away now. Here are the club's Premier League fixtures for December:

• 01 Dec: Man Utd (a)
• 04 Dec: Wolves (h)
• 07 Dec: Liverpool (h)
• 14 Dec: Arsenal (a)
• 22 Dec: Chelsea (h)
• 26 Dec: Man City (a)
• 29 Dec: Nottm Forest (h)

Image source, Reuters

Graham: Phil, surely the end is nigh for Sean Dyche at Everton? Whilst I appreciate his work in the last couple of years, surely this season he's really under delivered the expectation of points against who we have played? He isn’t attacking enough and just too cautious with subs and tactics. I’m not expecting us to be prime Barcelona, but surely we should be mid-table comfortably by now given the fixtures?

Hello, Graham. Totally agree about this season. Everton had a decent opening run of fixtures, so two wins from 12 games is very disappointing – as has been the standard and style of football. It has all been very sub-standard.

You can sense the growing frustration and discontent among Everton fans at what they are watching.

As I have said before here, I do not see Sean Dyche as Everton manager next season. Prospective new owner Dan Friedkin will surely want his own manager in charge and Dyche’s contract is up at the end of the season.

Will a decision be made earlier? Few things to consider here.

Who, at present, would actually make that decision while Everton wait for the Friedkin takeover to be cleared?

Who would take the job with new owners possibly only weeks away?

I think the scenario the new owners would like is for Dyche to somehow keep Everton relatively safe to survive in the Premier League going into the new stadium next season, then make a change.

I can only see a potential change if Everton suddenly look in dire danger of going down – and they do have a very tough run of fixtures coming up.

The mood does appear to have changed over the last few weeks, however, so Dyche needs wins very quickly.

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Manchester City fit-again midfielder Kevin De Bruyne spoke to the media this lunchtime before Tuesday's Champions League tie at home to Feyenoord.

Here is the best of what he said:

• On his future, with his current City contract expiring this summer: "I honestly don't know. At the start of the season, I knew talks would happen but then the thing [injury] happened in Brentford. I put it all to the side. I'm not too worried. I'm fine. I'm happy, I just want to play good football again and the future, we'll see." De Bruyne added that Pep Guardiola's contract extension may help influence his own contract.

• On the team's recent form: "There's always been a time where we meet, a crisis meeting or two every year. When there's a great season, that happens at some point. At this moment in time, we don't need another one."
• On the mental struggles of his recent injury: "This has been the most frustrating injury. When I was out for five or six months, I knew that was the case. This time, I didn't know how long it would take to get better."

Image source, Getty Images

Pete, Kent: Hi Phil. Can this weekend’s win against Man City mark the end of Spurs' spell of inconsistency? To me, it seemed the most complete performance of the season all over the pitch.

Hi, Pete. We could spend days debating this couldn’t we?

We see Spurs thrash Manchester City and Manchester United away, then lose to Ipswich Town at home. It must drive manager Ange Postecoglou and their supporters to distraction.

We saw again on Saturday just how good Spurs can be. They completely outclassed Manchester City, but we have seen before this can be followed by the total opposite.

Can they be consistent is the question only they can answer! All I can say is that if Spurs do not take self-belief from Saturday they will not take it from anywhere.

Ben: Hi Phil, are Spurs getting sufficient credit for accounting for two of Manchester City's five defeats, including beating them at home for the first time in 53 games? Or do we wait until we see how they do against Fulham on Sunday?

Hello, Ben. I think they did get great credit - and rightly so - because they were magnificent. They outclassed Manchester City.

I think you have to accept City losing again, and at home, in such a fashion is always going to be headline news, but I do think Spurs’ display was given credit.

The key now, as you say, is getting the consistency that has eluded them under Ange Postecoglou.

Image source, Getty Images

Reports about the future of Alexander Isak lead today's BBC Sport gossip column:

Chelsea have joined Arsenal in the race for Alexander Isak - but Newcastle United will demand at least £115m for their 25-year-old Swedish striker. (Teamtalk), external

• Read the full gossip column

andrewsneill on X: With Botman not too far from being back, is central defence still the priority for Newcastle in the January transfer window? Given PSR, I presume it’s likely only one position will be significantly strengthened?

I don’t think Newcastle will be making a host of signings in January but it will be interesting to see if they revisit the deal for Crystal Palace’s England defender Marc Guehi, who they tried so hard to sign in the summer.

I think we have to be careful talking about Botman because, although he is such a fine player, he has had a couple of very serious injuries over the last couple of seasons. I would think Newcastle would want to ease him back very steadily.

My own view is that Newcastle should target quality cover for striker Alexander Isak, as we saw earlier this season how they struggled for goals when he was injured.

Image source, Getty Images

Belgian midfielder Kevin de Bruyne finished his news conference by answering the final few questions in Dutch.

It is always so impressive to hear someone drift seamlessly from one language into another, and to our eternal shame that we do not possess the same linguistic fluency to be able to translate for you.

Hopefully we will be able to find a trustworthy translation at some point today, but for now we will move back to Phil McNulty's question and answer session...