BBC
Scouts from Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona have been closely monitoring 21-year-old England and Newcastle defender Lewis Hall. (Caughtoffside), external
Manchester City could also sign Spain defender Pedro Porro, 26, for significantly less than his £80m valuation due to Tottenham's financial situation if they are relegated. (Football Insider), external
Sunderland are prepared to pay 15m euros (£12.9m) to sign Spanish midfielder Thiago Pitarch, 18, from Real Madrid. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external
Clubs in England and across Europe have made contact with Liverpool about the availability of 25-year-old Georgia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili. (Teamtalk), external
Tottenham are considering up to eight candidates to replace under-pressure manager Igor Tudor, with Sean Dyche, Mauricio Pochettino and Roberto de Zerbi among them. (Talksport), external
Crystal Palace are set to rival Leeds for Derby's 25-year-old United States forward Patrick Agyemang. (Football Insider), external
Chelsea could accelerate plans to sign French winger Rayane Messi, 18, from Strasbourg amid growing interest from Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Paris St-Germain. (Teamtalk)
The Athletic
West Ham’s new-found defensive solidity bodes well in struggle against the drop
Konstantinos Mavropanos was a rock for West Ham against Manchester City Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images
By Roshane Thomas
El Hadji Malick Diouf fell to the ground in relief, exhaustion gripped Konstantinos Mavropanos and Jean-Clair Todibo as they embraced, while Mateus Fernandes kicked the ball into the crowd like an excited kid as he wheeled away celebrating.
These joyful scenes were more akin to a victory, but a 1-1 draw against Premier League title chasers Manchester City felt just as precious for West Ham United. Further momentum had been generated in their fight against relegation. It felt like the team had climbed out of the drop zone for the first time since head coach Nuno Espirito Santo had hair.
Their occupancy of the bottom three had actually extended since November, but that changed on Saturday, albeit temporarily — they returned to the bottom three when Nottingham Forest drew 0-0 with Fulham on Sunday.
Given the level of opposition, West Ham showed great fighting spirit and determination to secure their point. Mavropanos, who headed in an equaliser from club captain Jarrod Bowen’s corner, took a whack to the face when blocking Erling Haaland’s strike on goal. The centre-back was initially dazed as he received treatment, but carried on playing.
Alongside Todibo and Axel Disasi, the Chelsea loanee, the defensive trio limited City’s attackers Haaland, Omar Marmoush and Antoine Semenyo to one shot on target.
“It was a very good defensive performance,” Nuno said in his post-match press conference. “I would say it was heroic from our boys, but we have to recognise that nothing has changed. We have a long way to go, with a lot of hard work in front of us, and the boys know it. But it keeps the good atmosphere at Rush Green (the club’s training hub) to help us prepare for our next game (against Aston Villa).”
West Ham’s ability to withstand late pressure from City was admirable. It was as if Nuno’s side had carried an egg on a wooden spoon and had to maintain composure with the finishing line in sight. It is why the London Stadium faithful cheered every block and tackle in added time. The defensive organisation was vital to West Ham sealing a much-needed point.
It was a huge contrast to what had happened in the return fixture in December, where they lost 3-0 as Haaland scored twice and midfielder Tijjani Reijnders the other. Nuno fielded a back four of Ollie Scarles, Todibo, Max Kilman and Kyle Walker-Peters that day. The defensive options on the bench were academy prospect Ezra Mayers, Igor Julio — whose loan from Brighton & Hove Albion was terminated in January — and Mavropanos. The back four were low on confidence, part of a porous defence. They were too easy to play against.
That day City had 17 shots, with eight on target. Last Saturday, Pep Guardiola’s side attempted 24 shots, registering six on target. But West Ham’s resolute defence refused to surrender.
Since December, Todibo and Mavropanos have had a resurgence aided by Disasi’s arrival. The defence was once the weakest area of the field; that is no longer the case.
Axel Disasi keeps Omar Marmoush in checkRichard Pelham/Getty Images
“I think the performance was good and we played well defensively,” goalkeeper Mads Hermansen told The Athletic. “We could have controlled the game a little bit more on the ball in periods, but Man City is a great side, so it’s not always easy.
“When we talk defensive work, we start all the way from the top with being compact and showing them (the opposition) to the sides of the pitch. When it comes to duels in the box, I think we were extremely strong. We all know they have a great striker (in Haaland) and the defence dealt with it really well. It’s nice to keep any striker quiet so we were happy we did it for a lot of the game.
“We feel like we’ve been building confidence for some time now. Ever since we won in the FA Cup tie against QPR (a third-round tie in January), we’ve been able to turn it around. I think what’s most important is that we’ve turned our performances around, which has given us these points and this feeling of growing with confidence.
“At the end of the game, Mavropanos took one for the team. It was lovely.”
A dazed Konstantinos Mavropanos receives treatment Julian Finney/Getty Images
West Ham have only lost two of their last 12 games in all competitions. Nuno’s side were without in-form winger Crysencio Summerville, who sustained a calf injury in the FA Cup fifth-round win against Brentford. He attended the draw against City and was in good spirits as he greeted his team-mates post-match. The attacker is hoping to return to action against Aston Villa.
Aside from Summerville’s offensive abilities, Nuno will be hoping to lean on Hermansen’s experience of being in a relegation battle. The goalkeeper was part of the Leicester City side demoted to the second tier at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Hermansen does not want history to repeat itself.
“The general feeling of being below the line is not nice at all, but I think I learned to cope with that last season,” he said. “West Ham had a tough season last year as well — not where they wanted to be — but they were still not feeling the same way of being under the line. I try to keep pushing because nothing is given.
“We just focus on ourselves because there’s eight games to go, a lot of points to play for. How they (fellow relegation contenders Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur) feel in the other dressing rooms, we don’t know. We know we feel good, we know we’re going in the right direction as a team and that’s all that matters for us.”