Because of the impending internationals there will be a break this weekend in the Premier League however two sides will play before the others return on February 12. Everton and Liverpool will clash in what will be a historic fixture - the very final Merseyside derby to take place at Goodison Park. League leaders Liverpool will be the favourites to win but much has changed within the Everton camp in the last three weeks.
For fans of the Toffees it is still quite something to see the one and only Scotsman David Moyes in the dugout. Here is a manager close to Evertonian hearts and one who last stayed 11 years with the club. Moyes is back and Everton have been near flawless since he returned. There were genuine concerns when Moyes arrived, the old saying 'never go back' spread like whispers amongst the faithful. But perhaps Moyes could not save a side who looked tight in defence but so very weak up front. When Moyes arrived Sean Dyche had churned out 17 points and the club had scored just 15 goals. Three weeks later Everton have scored 23 goals and now have 26 points. Under Moyes the Toffees have won just over 50% of Dyche's total points and have scored 55% of Dyche's total goals. Not even a month has passed. Dare to believe? Why not? Of course Moyes' first game ended in a home defeat 1-0 against Aston Villa, another loss and another game without scoring a goal. Nothing appeared to have changed and yet that was only from the outside, on the inside Moyes and his backroom staff were working overtime on a solution. Results have been immediate with a 3-2 victory over Tottenham, a 1-0 win away to Brighton and an excellent 4-0 win at home to Leicester. Wins and goals have been the order of the day and happiness and hope has been restored at the club. Goals were lacking and once Dominic Calvert Lewin was ruled out for a few weeks there would have been a concern but Beto looks like a different player already under Moyes and he is starting to score the goals too. This is a great period for Everton who could kill two birds with one stone in beating Liverpool to hurt their title hopes and take the club safer from relegation.
The winter transfer window is always an awkward moment for clubs, do you stick or twist? And if you twist you may end up with the wrong player and quickly be labelled panic buyers. In one sense perhaps this will befall the champions Manchester City. Only they can come out fighting in January and spend £180m on players after what has been a nightmare campaign for the club. Is this simply throwing money at the problem or will we see City have the strongest finish to the season? Only the best performance of all Premier League clubs will do from now until May for them given the money that has been splashed. Most clubs have had to make do with no changes which includes the top two sides. One has to wonder if Arsenal will pay the price for that when manager Mikel Arteta desperately needed a centre forward in light of injuries notably to Bukayo Saka. For Liverpool when you have Mohamed Salah then you need not look any further. Perhaps it's an interesting thought that if Arsenal had Salah the club's postings would surely be reversed right now.
Marcus Rashford has been all over the news for the wrong reasons. While Manchester United are raising ticket prices and slashing jobs, salaries and Christmas bonuses they have spent nearly £2 million in wages on a player that had been frozen out of the team by manager Ruben Amorim. Rashford has been loaned out to Aston Villa and it will be interesting to see how he fares at Villa Park. Will we see a born again Rashford with a point to prove or will he morph into Dele Alli mark 2?Money remains in a different galaxy in football because while Villa will pay 75% of Rashford's £365,000 a week wages United are still having to part with £100,000 per week. That is a figure that would have covered 5 admin staff's wages for an entire year before their jobs were ruthlessly cut by owner Jim Ratcliffe. Still that figure is a pittance to what Al Hilal will pay Brazilian Neymar. After two years and just 7 games played Neymar has left the Saudi club after an injury ravaged stay and joined boyhood club Santos. However, per his contract Al Hilal will have to pay Neymar a staggering £2m per week until the end of the season.
Finally Manchester United lost again, this time to Crystal Palace 2-0 at home although the chances of Ruben Amorim being sacked seem distant. Why? Well for one the highly rated manager has only been in charge for just over two months and is currently weeding out the team. Rashford is on loan to Aston Villa but probably will not return. Antony another failure has been loaned out to La Liga outfit Real Betis. Amorim would have preferred to have taken over at United at the end of this season and so he's finding it harder to turn things around at this stage. His predecessor Erik ten Hag was sacked with a 54% win rate Amorim is currently on 42%. But it is thought that there is an agreement to get this season over with and give Amorim a chance in a proper summer window where he is sure to clear out many more players. It's a sobering thought on one hand because it would be refreshing to see managers not being sacked for having a dreadful couple of months and in fact the same is being witnessed over at Tottenham. On the other hand judgement will be reserved on the qualities of Amorim and there has to be a huge question mark if he really is the right person for the job. Right now the less than great days of Jose Mourinho at United seem to be far and away the best ones since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and United remain in limbo and even in shades of the desperate side in the mid 1970s who finally fell on their sword and were relegated.
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