And a final word too from Garry Monk, who was reminded about Swansea's opening day win at Manchester United (the Swans beat United 2-1 in Louis van Gaal's first Premier League match).

"That feels like a long time ago," said Monk. "But it was a fantastic day and the pleasing thing for me is that we won the game on merit.

Image source, Getty Images

"We put in a great performance and it was a superb start to the season for us. But they [Man United] have changed a lot since then.

"They have climbed the table and are in a good position. They have world-class players and I'm sure they are going to go from strength to strength as the season progresses.

"They can mix it up and change their style of play accordingly. It is a massive challenge for us but we'll relish it."

And back to south London for a final snippet from Alan Pardew, who is asked what the key has been to turning around Crystal Palace's fortunes.

"By just putting some verve in the team," he says. "Also some structure about how we are going to try and achieve our goals.

Image source, Getty Images

"There is no point saying we need a certain amount of wins, we need a process to try and find a way to win and that's what we're aiming to do."

Palace have won three out of five games since Pardew was appointed.

Apart from centre-back Kyle Bartley - who is to undergo a knee operation which will rule him out for up to six weeks - Garry Monk reports a clean bill of health for the United game.

There's a wry smile from Monk as he's asked for his view on Sam Allardyce's recent comments about Man United being a 'long-ball' team.

"Variation in their play is one of their qualities," says Monk. If only big Sam had been that diplomatic.

Back at Selhurst Park, Alan Pardew is discussing how one-time Arsenal striker Marouane Chamakh has developed as a player since he joined the Eagles.

"Cham has grown in confidence and sometimes only games can do that for you," says Pardew.

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"Arsenal is a difficult club to break into. For players like Cham sometimes it is best to move away and find yourself and he has done that. He is a big asset for us."

Pardew is also glowing about Gunners' winger Alexis Sanchez in anticipation of Saturday's big game. "He has been a great [player] for the Premier League," he says.

"You want to see a focus and a determination from players who come here from abroad and he has done that. You have to admire the way he has attacked the Premier League."

Over to south Wales, where our colleagues at BBC Wales Sport are keeping us abreast of what Garry Monk is telling the media.

Image source, BBC Sport

"We probably haven't been as consistent with our standards as we'd like," says the Swans boss, whose team have won only one of their last six matches (though it was a pretty impressive win - 1-0 at Southampton).

Monk welcomes Gylfi Sigurdsson back from suspension to face Man United: "He's been an important player for us this season," adds the boss.

BBC Radio Manchester, external: Breaking - BBC Radio Manchester understands the Oldham manager Lee Johnson has been linked with the managerial vacancy at Barnsley.

Southampton boss Ronald Koeman has taken to Twitter, external. Some may call his post a tad gloating, we call it being a winner.

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Alan Pardew and Arsene Wenger have had their moments over the years.

Image source, Getty Images

But those hoping for a juicy quote - you know, something along the lines of 'I hate his flippin' guts' - were disappointed.

"Arsene has been a Premier League manager for more years than he can remember. He's a winner and so am I, so we are bound to clash at times. But it ends there," says Pardew.

"I am very thankful to him for loaning us Yaya Sanogo, and it's just a shame Yaya can't feature in this game.

"But Arsene and I are professional football managers. We want to win and on the sidelines on Saturday it will be exactly the same."

Alan Pardew has arrived and it's straight into talk about how he plans to get the better of high-flying Arsenal at Selhurst Park.

"The key to beating Arsenal is to be patient, to have enough attacking threat and to control some of the game, something we struggled with against Liverpool," says the Crystal Palace boss.

"They are in great form, but we're in decent form ourselves and it is at our place.

"Cazorla is probably their player of the season. He is pulling the strings and we need to take care of him.

"But Walcott, Welbeck, Sanchez - there are a number of options they have, so they are a difficult proposition.

"They've got a fight for the Champions League as much as we are fighting to stay up, and we will push them as much as they push us."

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Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana says he expects a mixed reaction on Sunday when he returns to Southampton for the first time since leaving St Mary's in a £25m move to Anfield last July.

"I'm not stupid enough to think the way I left didn't leave a sour taste in a few people's mouths," he told BBC Radio Solent.

"I regret the way I left. I regret bits and pieces of how it happened and it got nasty. It was sad the way it happened."

Norway's in-form Alexander Kristoff continued to impress in winning Thursday's third stage of the Tour of Oman in a bunch sprint.

The Katusha rider, who won three stages last week in Qatar, was followed home by Italian duo Andrea Guardini and Matteo Pelucchi at the end of the 158.5km ride around Al Mussanah Sports City.

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara retained the lead in the overall standings four seconds clear of Spain's Alejandro Valverde.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport chief F1 writer

"There has been a red flag in Barcelona, and two damaged cars are in the gravel at the same place, Turn Five - the Sauber of Felipe Nasr and Susie Wolff's Williams. It appears they may have collided somehow, but there is no news on that yet. We'll keep you updated."

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

"Ferrari's impressive pre-season testing form continues. The Italian team, fresh from their worst season for 21 years, set the pace on three of the four days of the first test in Jerez earlier this month and Kimi Raikkonen is again doing the business in Barcelona.

"Half an hour into the afternoon session on the first day, and the Finn was 1.29 seconds clear of the field, led by Sergio Perez's 2014 Force India. The big question is whether this is genuinely indicative of Ferrari's form, or of them running a different programme to the others.

"Ferrari do tend to run lighter on fuel in testing than their rivals, making them look artificially fast, and it seems hard to believe they could have made quite such a dramatic step forward. But be that as it may, these are eye-catching times."

New Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has made two new appointments to his backroom staff.

Former Norwich coach Mark Robson comes in as first-team coach while Seamus Brady joins as performance analyst.

Image source, AFP

Newcastle manager John Carver believes his side can cause a shock when they travel to Manchester City for Saturday's Premier League match.

"Man City have still got a chance [of the title] and they'll be looking for three points from this. But I would like to surprise them," he said.

"We went there in the League Cup and won 2-0 and thoroughly deserved the win. We will go there with confidence and won't park the bus. We have a game plan."

The former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has given his backing to Luis Figo's efforts to unseat Sepp Blatter as Fifa president.

"He is very clever, very talented, he's been involved in football for many years and I see him as a good President," said Calderon. "He is a person who could be a very, very good President of Fifa, no doubt".

We're asking what is your nomination for worst sporting kit of all time? Keep them coming to #myworstkit or the BBC Sport Facebook page, external.

Gavin Vargas: Newcastle United away kit, 97/98. Awful. Even the sponsor was off to the side. As difficult to understand as a Dalglish interview.

Alex Ray: Anyone remember this? 96/97, David Seaman.

Image source, Getty Images

No wonder he looks miserable.

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Having a bad day at work? Spare a thought for London Welsh.

Justin Burnell's Exiles are currently bottom of the Premiership table and, following 24 defeats from 24 matches in all competitions, they are on course - statistically speaking - to go down as the worst team in the history of English rugby's top flight.

Check out our piece looking at their nightmare season and how their players are coping with the pressure of a losing run.

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Miguel Angel Jimenez has expressed his disappointment at missing out to Darren Clarke on the Ryder Cup captaincy for 2016 and hinted his chance of the job may have gone.

"I am very happy for Darren," said the 51-year-old after his opening round in the Hero Indian Open. "He deserves to be the Ryder Cup captain as much as I do but I think it's a little disappointing not to be captain.

"I sent him a text last night just to say well done and that I know he will do a great job. If he needs anything from me when he is captain then all he has to do is call me."