Premier League news: Arteta welcomes throw-in coach, Moyes defends Barry | Football

1. Arsenal seek edge by signing throw-in guru

Mikel Arteta says Arsenal are looking to “improve every single area” following the Premier League leaders’ appointment of renowned throw-in coach Thomas Grønnemark.

The Dane, who spent five years at Liverpool under Jürgen Klopp and has also been employed by Brentford, confirmed on Tuesday that he has started working with Arsenal. “It’s out,” Grønnemark posted on social media alongside a picture of Arsenal’s training ground. “Yes, I coach Arsenal. Both in the Long, Fast and Clever throw-in. No more comments at the moment.”

Arsenal have scored more goals from set-pieces than any other team in Europe’s top-five leagues, with Ben White’s opener against Chelsea on Wednesday night in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final their 24th of the campaign. But while there has been marked increase in the frequency of Premier League goals coming from long throw-ins, with 18 already compared with 20 last season, Arsenal have still yet to score from one and Arteta revealed in December that Declan Rice has been working on developing the skill.

Arteta refused to elaborate on the decision to hire Grønnemark, only going as far saying he believes he could make the difference as Arsenal seek to be crowned champions for the first time since 2004. “We try to improve every single area,” said Arteta. “Every single margin that we possibly can to be a better team and anybody can help us. We have many experts, many people around trying to help us to become as good as we can.”

Statistics published by Opta this week show that the number of long throw-ins per match – defined as a throw that travels 20 metres or more – have risen from 1.52 last season to 3.97. That is more than double the amount of any of the previous 10 campaigns, with Brentford’s Michael Kayode the most prolific having taken exactly 100.

Meanwhile, Arteta dismissed reports of a bust-up between Rice and his assistant, Albert Stuivenberg, at half-time of the 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge in midweek, insisting that any issues between them are now “all sorted”.

Arsenal’s lead could be cut to three points by Manchester City if they can overcome Manchester United in the lunchtime derby at Old Trafford, with their trip to Nottingham Forest kicking off at tea time. Arteta is optimistic that his side can pick up where they left off against Chelsea. “I think we are building very good momentum and belief comes from performances and the level of consistency that we have shown throughout 32 games already this season and what we did at Stamford Bridge,” he said.

“It should help us to be very convinced that we have the ability to do that, but the reality is that you have to show it in every game and there’s still so much to happen, but we are glad that we are still alive in the four competitions.” Ed Aarons

2. Moyes needs faltering Barry to step up

David Moyes has defended Everton’s signing of Thierno Barry but admitted he has needed to take “a bit of a gamble” on some transfers for financial reasons.

Barry was signed for £27m from Villarreal last summer after Everton had negotiated down his €40m release clause, but took 17 games to score the first of his three goals for the club and has struggled to make an impact. The 23-year-old also had a weak penalty saved in last weekend’s FA Cup shootout defeat by Sunderland.

Moyes was asked whether the striker was signed by Everton’s new football leadership structure – which gives him the final say on transfers – or was a recommendation by the former director of football Kevin Thelwell. The manager replied: “It came from us. We paid £27m and that is not a lot of money for a centre-forward. We didn’t have £50m-£60m to buy a centre forward and we probably couldn’t have got one at that price because those ones wouldn’t have come to the club with us having no European football.

“We had to go early and we went for Thierno who had scored 14 or 15 goals in his first year in La Liga [it was 11 goals]. If we had waited until the second year and he had done the same then he probably wouldn’t have come to us or we couldn’t have got him at the cost he would have been. We need him to step up but he’s a first year in the Premier League from overseas so there is a bit of room to give him a wee bit of manoeuvre. Hopefully it will improve.”

Everton are looking to sign a striker and have inquired about a loan for Fenerbahce’s Youssef En-Nesyri. The Morocco international has several options.

Moyes insists Barry has the attributes to come good for Everton. “He’s got a physicality, he’s good in the air, he can run plenty, he helps us off the ball and his goals last year looked good enough to say that he’s going to continue that. And being young, a French under-21 international, there are a lot of good things about him in terms of potential.

“As a manager sometimes these are the decisions you have to take. Some of them are a little bit of a gamble and while we’ve not got the big funds we are probably in a position where we are having to take a bit of a risk with quite a few players.” Andy Hunter

3. Dyche seeks striker after Kalimuendo exit

Sean Dyche is seeking a striker in the transfer window since Nottingham Forest only have Igor Jesus available, with Chris Wood out following knee surgery and Arnaud Kalimuendo joining Eintracht Frankfurt on loan.

Dyche said before Saturday’s visit of the league leaders, Arsenal: “The obvious one is the striker area because we are a bit short there. The club felt it was a really good deal for Kalimuendo to go out. We are looking at various options to bring in. That’s the obvious one that jumps off the page. You’ve got to be ready for the shifting sands of the market.

“We’ve got to be proactive where we can be and reactive if things change. I think the club are well aware of that. I’ve had a good meeting from the owner all the way through the structure about what we think we’ve got and what we think we need. It’s aligning the right people and getting the deals done, which is often the hardest part – the actual process of getting the deal done and getting the player here.” PA Media

4. Silva wary of Calvert-Lewin threat

Marco Silva never had any doubts Dominic Calvert-Lewin could cut it in the Premier League. The 28-year-old is enjoying an impressive campaign for Leeds, having scored eight goals in his last nine appearances to help Daniel Farke’s side push themselves clear of the relegation zone. Calvert-Lewin played under Silva at Everton and will come up against his old manager when Leeds host Fulham at Elland Road on Saturday.

“It is not the first time he has performed at this level. When you talk about performing, he is a striker who can score in many different ways,” Silva said. “When you look through his career, when he is playing, the numbers are there. Game by game, he is getting better and showing he is a proven Premier League striker.”

Fulham head to Leeds looking to extend their own impressive six-match unbeaten run in all competitions, but Silva knows just what a tough task that will be against Farke’s rejuvenated team. “It is never easy to play there,” the Fulham manager said. “To play at Elland Road, we all know what it means – the home support is unbelievable and they make it hard for the opposition. They have been very strong at home, [but also] achieving results away from home as well. They have the quality, the organisation, the manager and the individual players.” PA Media

5. Nuno ‘cannot afford mistakes’ in window

Nuno Espírito Santo has told the West Ham outcasts James Ward-Prowse and Callum Wilson to “go and pursue their careers” after being frozen out at the London Stadium. Wilson has not featured in Nuno’s last two squads and the former Newcastle striker is understood to be in the process of cancelling his contract amid links with Celtic and Everton.

“We are working on both ins and outs,” said Nuno. “I feel that we need to rebalance our squad, so that means bringing more options to some positions, and finding solutions for the players who are not having so many minutes to go and pursue their careers. We are working very hard as a club to find the right players, in a very tricky transfer window. So, we have to make good decisions, and we cannot afford to make mistakes.”

Nuno has already brought in the strikers Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe at a combined cost of around £45m. Further evidence that the Portuguese coach is not in any imminent danger of the sack, even if West Ham are plunged deeper into relegation trouble with a defeat at Tottenham on Saturday, came when the club allowed him to appoint the veteran Spaniard Paco Jémez to his coaching staff.

“It’s one more person to help us. The coaching staff now has more numbers, which means more ideas and more energy,” said Nuno. “Paco is an experienced coach, and he’ll bring something new to the set-up.” PA Media

6. Iraola needs to plug leaky defence

Andoni Iraola admitted Bournemouth’s leaky defence away from home is giving him a headache. Bournemouth visit Brighton on Monday, having conceded 29 goals in 10 matches on their travels this season – the worst record in the Premier League. In their last three top-flight matches away from the Vitality Stadium, the Cherries have drawn 4-4 at Manchester United and 2-2 at Chelsea either side of being thrashed 4-1 at Brentford.

Iraola said: “It definitely concerns me. We are a team that scores a lot of goals and concedes a lot of goals. If you want to be a very good team you cannot concede the number of goals we are conceding. This is the main reason we have not been able to get the results we want lately because we have been scoring a lot of goals and not getting the results.

“It’s very difficult to do the things we do – to go to Chelsea and score two goals or Old Trafford and score four goals and not win. If you score two, three or four goals away, you should get more wins and we are not getting them because we are conceding goals. If we don’t improve this, it’s going to be difficult to get more wins.” PA Media