Sunderland

Sunderland manager Regis le Bris on the important role Granit Xhaka played in their win at Chelsea last weekend: "To be competitive at that level you need to own the performance on the pitch. For that reason, Granit helps a lot because he can manage different elements on the pitch. He's not alone but he leads by example and gives this faith and hope.

"When we play away against Chelsea he believes we can win and he shows it. He tells it - in the dressing room and everywhere. So you want to believe that it's possible, you want to follow him. So he's important for that as well."

West Ham United

West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo on the fitness of Konstantinos Mavropanos: "He has started the fitness program. He has had his first session on the grass so expect a couple of weeks more before he is totally available."

On other team news: "Oliver Scarles went into surgery yesterday and it went well but he is going to be out for a while. He won't totally stop because he will be doing some kind of conditioning. Niclas Fullkrug is still out. We still aren't totally sure when [he will be back] but he has started already on the grass. He isn't totally with the group so we expect it will be fast."

Some of the quotes from this afternoon's many news conferences are starting to come in.

Let's start with West Ham as boss Nuno Espirito Santo goes in search of his first win as the Hammers host Newcastle on Sunday.

Chris Wood, Dilane Bakwa, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ola Aina remain unavailable for Nottingham Forest.

Wood could return from a knee injury in time to face Leeds United next weekend.

Back-up goalkeeper Angus Gunn is out after damaging knee ligaments during training.

Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez has returned to full training following nine months out with a knee injury, although he is not in contention to travel to the City Ground.

Harry Maguire is a doubt after missing the 4-2 win against Brighton last weekend because of a knock and Leny Yoro could once again deputise.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport Manchester United reporter

Manchester United new boy Senne Lammens says he is not scared of the weight placed on his shoulders in taking on one of the most scrutinised roles in the modern game.

Only recently, head coach Ruben Amorim spoke about the 'massive' pressure exerted on any United goalkeeper in the modern, digital age.

At 23, with just one full season of senior football behind him, Lammens could be forgiven for feeling the heat more than most, especially as United's hierarchy blocked Amorim's desire to bring in World Cup-winner Emiliano Martinez from Aston Villa on transfer deadline day.

Yet, speaking exclusively to BBC Sport in his first external interview before United's Premier League trip to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Lammens did not give the impression of someone affected by self-doubt.

"Of course, you hear from other people there is a lot of pressure coming here and playing for this team," said the Belgian.

"But I welcome that. Firstly, it is nice you can play for such a big team. There should be a lot of pressure - I'm not really scared of it."

Image source, Getty Images

Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche says he has to be "realistic" about the club's recent goalscoring troubles and that he and his staff "haven't got magic dust".

Despite finding the net five times in three Europa League matches, Forest are on a run of just one goal in seven Premier League matches - stretching across Ange Postecoglou's short tenure back to Nuno Espirito Santo's final game in charge in August.

"It's certainly a big challenge," Dyche told BBC Radio Nottingham's Colin Fray.

"I'm very experienced nowadays in the Premier League and so are my staff, but we haven't got magic dust.

"You can't just suddenly make people score lots of goals. What you are doing is trying to form a style of play that creates more chances and better chances and then it inevitably comes down to someone putting it in the net."

This - it seems - is the season of the set piece.

The Premier League debates are more about dead balls than ever before, with some sides enjoying immense success from corner kicks, throw ins or well-worked free-kicks.

What fine timing then for BBC Sport to launch a column with former manager Tony Pulis, a man who seemed to finely extract the fine margins from the game.

You can take in Tony's column on set pieces here

Jordan Butler
BBC Sport

Liverpool suffered only four Premier League defeats in the entirety of last season and two of those came after they had already clinched the title.

This weekend they could lose five league matches in a row for the first time since September 1953.

A midweek League Cup loss to Crystal Palace lowered the tone at Anfield even further, although Arne Slot decided to name eight teenagers in his match-day squad and rest the majority of his preferred Premier League team.

Strangely, the visit of in-form Aston Villa might be the necessary tonic for Slot’s ailing side.

Liverpool have won six of their last seven league clashes with Villa at Anfield, drawing the other.

They’ve also lost just once to the Midlands side in 15 Premier League meetings, drawing three and winning 11.

Liverpool

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has backtracked on his comments following his side's defeat to Crystal Palace on Wednesday saying his squad "misses nothing".

After the match, the Dutchman said maybe his youthful and inexperienced selection "gives a little bit of insight" into the squad depth he is working with.

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport football news reporter

Wolves are on the brink of matching last season's wretched start.

Failure to win at Fulham on Saturday will see them open with 10 winless games, mirroring their 2024-25 opening.

Victory over Southampton followed before a 4-1 win at Fulham produced a false dawn and Gary O'Neil was sacked after four more defeats.

Vitor Pereira, who replaced O'Neil in December, retains the backing of the Wolves hierarchy and the players remain onside but it is a run which cannot continue indefinitely without consequences.

Wolves are six points from the safety line and in danger of getting cut adrift if they cannot turn their season around quickly.

Jordan Butler
BBC Sport

Aston Villa are one of just two Premier League teams on a current run of four consecutive victories in the competition, along with league leaders Arsenal.

The upturn in Villa’s form is a complete contrast to their opponents on Saturday evening and if Unai Emery’s side take all three points then they would become just the second side in top-flight history to fail to win any of their first five games and then triumph in the next five in a row, following Preston North End in 1936.

A key protagonist in Villa’s mini mid-season revival has been right-back Matty Cash and the 28-year old has signed a new contract at the club until 2029.

The Polish international scored the only goal of the game against Manchester City last Sunday and is one of only four players to score twice from outside the box this season, along with Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo, Brighton striker Danny Welbeck and Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo.

“To be honest, I’ve always had a good shot, I’ve just never really shown it in games,” Cash said last weekend.

“This season it seems to be going my way and every time I get the ball on the edge of the box, I’ve got confidence and feel like I’m going to hit the target a lot of the time.”

Aston Villa are one of the form teams in the Premier League.

Unai Emery's side have won six of their last seven matches in all competitions, only losing away to Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League.

Villa face defending champions Liverpool on the back of a four-match winning run in the league and claimed victories at Tottenham (3rd) and home to Manchester City (5th) in their last two matches.

Image source, Getty Images

Five down on the Premier League news conference front but 11 (eleven!) more still to bring you this afternoon.

Seven of which get under way at the same time which is far from ideal but we will make it work.

Here's what's still to come:

• Andoni Iraola - 13:00
• Vitor Pereira - 13:00
• Thomas Frank - 13:00
• David Moyes - 13:30
• Keith Andrews - 13:30
• Marco Silva - 13:30
• Regis le Bris - 13:30
• Nuno Espirito Santo - 13:30
• Unai Emery - 13:30
• Oliver Glasner - 13:30
• Pep Guardiola - 14:00

Chelsea

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on Cole Palmer's expected return: "I told him at the breakfast canteen just then, I will say 'in one week you will be back' and he laughed.

"It’s exactly the same plan, wait and see."

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on both scoring and conceding a lot from set-pieces: "With set-pieces, you are always going to score a lot of goals and concede a lot of goals. The reason why is because when we concede, you are not strong enough. But in the end you are going to [score and concede] because they are actions that are so difficult to defend."

Chelsea

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on facing Spurs: "Tottenham are doing very good, they won the Europa League last season and started good this season. Because it's a derby it will for sure be a difficult game."

Why Spurs are so bad at home? "I don’t know. It’s a question for them."

Arsenal

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been speaking to the media this morning as he prepares his side to face Burnley on Saturday.

The Gunners currently sit four points clear at the top of the Premier League and title race chatter was firmly on the agenda.

Here are some of his top lines:

• Gabriel Martinelli remains out for the trip to Burnley while defender William Saliba is a doubt
• Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke could all return for the north London derby after the international break
• The Arsenal boss was asked about the difficulty choosing a starting eleven at the moment and what it means to manage the likes of Max Dowman and Andre Harriman-Annous
• Arsenal are not “unstoppable" - Arteta
• Finally, he was asked about the title race and how much it is discussed in the Arsenal camp

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football reporter

The debate around when Arsenal and Crystal Palace will play their Carabao Cup quarter-final match is continuing.

The Eagles are currently facing a severe fixture pile-up with the prospect of four matches in eight days after reaching the last eight of the competition.

Palace won 3-0 at Liverpool on Wednesday and have been drawn away to Arsenal in the week beginning 15 December.

Palace host Manchester City in the Premier League on 14 December, play KuPS at home in the Conference League on 18 December and travel to Leeds in the Premier League on 21 December.

BBC Sport has been told by sources that the dates under discussion are 16 or 23 December, with Christmas Eve (24 December) also an option.

It is understood that Arsenal's preference is to play the tie on 16 December.

The festive schedule is already extremely busy and representatives of both clubs will be aware of how crucial the recovery period is between games.

Image source, Getty Images