Here is your daily briefing for all the Premier League latest on Monday 16 March.
Injured James could miss weeks
Chelsea have been dealt a major blow to the remainder of their season, with news that Reece James has suffered a hamstring injury that “could” rule him out for weeks.
The club captain has been blighted by hamstring issues throughout his career, but has stayed largely injury free this campaign, signing a new contract last week, when he welcomed being “in a really good place” after “two or three years of struggles and setbacks”.
Ahead of his side’s bid to overturn a 5-2 UEFA Champions League last-16 deficit against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, Liam Rosenior was asked if the latest injury would rule James out for weeks. “It could be,” he said. “With a hamstring injury it is never great.
"For Reece, hopefully we can just get him scanned to find out the full extent and then we will know more. We know what an important player he is, what an important leader he is in the group.” Malo Gusto is also a doubt for the PSG game due to illness, but Estevao is back in training.
Man City have ‘nothing to lose’
Pep Guardiola knows his Manchester City team are down in their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie against Real Madrid, but he insists they are certainly not out.
Guardiola’s side host the 15-time European champions on Tuesday night attempting to overturn a 3-0 deficit from the first leg. “We have to try. What have we got to lose?” said Guardiola on Monday. “In this room, is there someone who will have a bet for us to come back against Madrid? No one. No way. Madrid never come back in history from 3-0 with 15 Champions Leagues. Never, ever. So, of course, it’s a tough result.”
Perhaps Guardiola will channel the comeback energy his players showed in their final Premier League game of the 2021/22 season when they went two goals down to Aston Villa before scoring three times in five late minutes to snatch the title by one point at the death. Never give up.
Can Fernandes break assists record?
Will this prove a record-breaking season for Bruno Fernandes? With two assists against Villa on Sunday, Fernandes took his Premier League season tally to 16, surpassing the 15 that David Beckham managed in 1999/00 to set a new highest total for a Manchester United player.
But things could get even better for Fernandes, who now sits just four away from the all-time Premier League record jointly held by Thierry Henry (2002/03) and Kevin De Bruyne (2019/20).
As the graphic below shows, Fernandes is well on track to achieve a new record, matching De Bruyne’s course for assists and far surpassing Henry’s at this stage, with the Arsenal man leaving it late in the campaign to provide goals.
But a word of warning: Mesut Ozil and Mohamed Salah are the only two players to have exceeded Fernandes’ current tally after fewer than 30 games and both eventually failed to hit 20 assists.
Ngumoha is an unrivalled dribbler
Arsenal’s Max Dowman may have stolen the headlines among Premier League teenagers over the weekend, but he was not the only precocious player to impress.
Making his first Premier League start for Liverpool, 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha’s seven successful dribbles was the highest in any top-flight fixture during Matchweek 30.
In fact, as this Sky Sports piece shows, it is eight years since any Liverpool player managed more, while only Iliman Ndiaye and Jeremy Doku have recorded a higher number in a Premier League game this campaign.
But neither could match Ngumoha’s 100 per cent success rate. “You can’t stop that lad in a one-on-one,” said Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports. “He looks so sharp.”
Mane’s meteoric rise
It has been a season short on joy at Wolverhampton Wanderers, but not even Mateus Mane could have envisaged the magnitude of his impact in a breakthrough campaign. Having not even made a Premier League matchday squad until early November, the 18-year-old has been undroppable since Christmas, making every Premier League starting line-up in a number of attacking roles.
Now, he has told his amazing story of growing up in Portugal, moving to Manchester aged eight, and progressing from grass-roots football to a Premier League club in less than a year. “I was thinking back to the beginning, how fast everything happened, how far I’d come, from nothing to being a first-team player,” he told the Wolves website.
“I'm not fully there, I’ve played a few games, but anything can happen, so I’ve got to keep my feet on the ground, keep humble, and not get carried away.”