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Fulham manager Marco Silva will put sentiment to one side as he returns to Goodison Park for what could be the last time this weekend.

The Portuguese spent a little more than 18 months in charge of Everton from 2018-19 – taking them to eighth in the Premier League, a finish they have not matched since – and still retains an affection for a stadium the club are soon to leave.

The Toffees are due to move into their new arena at Bramley Moore Dock at the start of next season after 133 years at Goodison. Yet that is not Silva’s concern on Saturday as he bids to get Fulham back to winning ways after successive defeats to Manchester City and Aston Villa either side of the international break.

Silva said in a press conference: “It was an honour to manage a club like Everton. I’m not the first or last, for sure, to say that because when you are there, you can feel how it’s a big club, how they have a massive fan base.

“It’s a historic (stadium), an old school one as well and there’s something special around the place. You can feel it. As a home manager, you can feel it more because it’s week-in, week-out. Even when you go there playing away you can feel it as well. It’s a special place to play.

“Now I am a manager in different colours. We know it’s going to be a tough game but we have to explore what we want to explore and be aware of where they are strong. We are capable of getting the three points and, of course, that’s what we want.” PA

Have Swindon Town appointed Holloway simply on the basis that he’s from the west country and therefore knows his way around the nearby roads and the local Tesco? Who can say. Will Swindon Town be box office news during the 61-year-old managerial spell? Almost certainly.

Thanks John. I’ll start with this: Ian Holloway is back in business at Swindon Town – who saw that coming?

“I’m delighted to be back working in football after a period out of the game as I wanted to get back into it if the right opportunity arose which, with this opportunity, I feel is the perfect fit for me,” said Holloway, who has signed a deal until the end of the season. “Conversations happened very quickly and both sides were very keen to get the deal done and of course, I was delighted to engage with a club like Swindon Town, a club of whom I know a lot about due to my location and knowledge of the local area.”

And with that, I shall hand over to Dom Booth, somewhere in the vicinity of the A6.

Here’s the kiss of death for Russell Martin, being patronised by Pep Guardiola as Manchester City play Southampton on Saturday.

Pep: “He will have success sooner or later. Normally when you change your thoughts and ideas then the players will notice and know you’re not a believer.

“It is one of our jobs to convince the players we are in a good way. It is impossible to train them in something if you show you’re not believing.

“I always have a lot of respect for Championship promoted teams. I don’t know how we can complain sometimes [about the fixture schedule] because look at how many games the Championship teams play.”

“They have the courage to play and are brave with the ball. Wolves were at the bottom and we struggled to win.”

Here’s Erik ten Hag after that draw in Istanbul.

Kári Tulinius gets in touch: “While I’ll admit that I find Mourinho’s antics, at times, entertaining, I abhor the side of him that feels it okay to bully other, less powerful people. He abuses his status to ruin people’s days, and in some cases careers. I hated it when he did it to Anders Frisk, Eva Carneiro and many others, and I hope UEFA comes down on him like a ton of bricks for his criticism of Clement Turpin.”

No Son for Spurs against Crystal Palace:

Ange: “Sonny’s still not right, still not feeling 100%. He won’t train today, so he’s unlikely for this weekend and we’ll see after that.”

Jacob Steinberg has the lowdown on West Ham’s troubled season.

So much has to change and the question is whether Lopetegui can inspire. There is alarm at board level. There is a sense that a buck-passing operation is under way. Steidten was involved in bringing Lopetegui to David Sullivan, West Ham’s biggest shareholder, but it is interesting that reports in Germany have suggested the former Dortmund manager Edin Terzic is being lined up if results do not improve.

José Mourinho hasn’t lost it. Not in press conferences, anyway.

Here’s a good stat. Perhaps the Chelsea PA system should play Young Hearts, Run Free when they play Newcastle on Sunday.

Your MLS playoff guide here from our writers. Remember, Messi and Becks will already be at the Fifa Club World Cup jamboree.

Slot on Arsenal: “We all know that taking points from your competitor and nobody knows in this early stage who is going to be your biggest competitor but I think we all know Arsenal will be one of them. Dropping points against them or winning points against them, that is always important.”

No Diogo Jota for Liverpool against Arsenal

Liverpool play at Arsenal on Sunday and Slot will be hoping for more of the same from recent matches, each seen out as a victory.

I think every game has its own story. Leizpig was a different period of rest, that is why maybe Leizpig were better at the end than us. Palace game – 1 or 2 transition moments for them and setpieces. Last game, Chelsea’s chance was a setpiece late on. I liked the last 6 mins of injury time in Leipzig when we constantly had the ball and those moments were not difficult. I am not worried but I prefer to see us dominate until the end but if we have to defend, we have a team who defend with 11.

Arne Slot has been talking about his Liverpool team’s great defensive record.

Two reasons we don’t concede a lot. Most games, we dominated and controlled for large parts, so that helps if you have the ball but I also like if we have difficult parts of the game then the work rate is incredible not to concede. If you combine that with Virgil and Ibou [Konaté] and the two goalkeepers we’ve used, these elements are why we haven’t conceded so much. Quansah and Gomez too we are in a good place with centre-backs.

Never change, José. And he won’t, you know.

Suits reshuffle at Arsenal.

Darren Fletcher has been charged with misconduct: that’s the Manchester United coach, not the TV commentator. The FA charges relate to last week’s Brentford game.

Ian Graham was one of the laptop gurus behind Liverpool’s success in the Klopp era, as director of research. Here he details one of the signings that laid that success, and signed before Klopp was Liverpool manager.

Some strong words from Russell Martin, who takes his Southampton side to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Many feared the end was nigh for Martin after the loss to Leicester, but he has come out fighting.

“Perception and reality are often very far apart in football. A lot of people made up that it was ‘do or die’ against Leicester City and that I would be sacked if we lost. To the point where I got asked about my job after the game, because in this industry you’re just allowed to ask about people’s jobs all the time,” Martin said.

“I’m here. I have a really good relationship with the owners. We’re trying to build and grow something, build on what we’ve done over the last 15 or 16 months. And I’ll continue to do that to the best of my ability, with the same love and care that I have in the time that I’ve been here, the same will to improve and the same work ethic.

“So until I’m told otherwise, I will do that. We’ve got a really good, honest and open relationship. I want more points, they want more points. Should we have had more points? Yes. I think if the performances and data suggested much differently, if it wasn’t what it was, then maybe it’s different conversations. But I feel nothing but support from them right now and it won’t impact my job either way.”

Here’s what to look out for in the top flight this weekend …

John Brewin will be here shortly to take up the reins. I’ve got to pop off for a bit.

Sean Dyche, Marco Silva and Andoni Iraola are among the Premier League managers who have been addressing the press this morning. He’ll run through what they’ve said (if they’ve said anything interesting) and I’ll be back on a bit later. Grab yourself a coffee.

Elsewhere in Europe’s secondary competition:

Ipswich looking to emulate Brentford? They could do a lot worse. And Kieran McKenna believes Brentford are a model for promoted clubs to copy in the Premier League, while insisting Ipswich have had a different route to the top light.

Under manager Thomas Frank, the Bees secured promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 2021 and finished ninth in the table the following year. Now in their fourth season, Brentford sit 13th in the league and come up against newly-promoted Ipswich on Saturday afternoon.

The Tractor Boys enjoyed back-to-back promotions to reach the top-flight for the first time in 22 years and while McKenna stressed that Ipswich are on their own path, he believes Brentford can be seen as a good example for newly-promoted clubs to learn from.

They’ve got their own model, I think everyone’s model is different, but there’s no doubt that they’ve done a fantastic job as a club and Thomas has done a fantastic job as a manager and the coaching staff with him.

I think different clubs have their own context, of course there’s things that Brentford have done well that we can take some inspiration from. On the other hand, their journey is different than ours, the season before they got promoted, they lost in the play-off final. They had a couple of years pushing at the very top of the Championship.

By the time they arrived in the Premier League, to be honest, they’re probably pretty much had their Premier League team already set.

They’ve had their own journey, our journey is very different to that with the speed of the ascent that we’ve made, but there’s no doubt they’ve done some things very well and any newly-promoted club can look at some of the things they’ve done and see it as an example.

Last night was a recall to vintage José Mourinho, wasn’t it?

There was something knowing in his box office rage against the referee, Clement Turpin, as well as his post and pre-match press conferences, in the full knowledge that millions of eyes would be on him and Fenerbahce given it was Manchester United and this iteration of Manchester United, manager under fire and all that. Mou even made a plea to return to the Premier League one day.

The contrast to Erik ten Hag’s far more placid and rather forgettable interviews couldn’t have been starker.

“I think the best thing I have to do when I leave Fenerbahce I go to a club that doesn’t play in Uefa competitions,” said Mourinho with a wink. “So if any club in ­England at the bottom of the table needs a manager in the next two years, I’m ready to go. I don’t want to say anything else – we played ­absolutely fantastic against a team that is far more superior.”

Never change, José.

Lazio player reports racist abuse

Also in the world of football this weekend, in a lovely twist of narrative, England’s women play Germany at Wembley tonight.

The friendly clash is the first meeting between the sides since the Euro 2022 final and comes JUST DAYS after England’s men’s side appointed a German, Thomas Tuchel, as manager. Of course, the Lionesses have had an overseas manager for some time and she’s done rather well.

Leah Williamson has been speaking some sense, as usual, about the situation.

Williamson said: “You can’t pick and choose when it suits us [to have a foreign coach], just based on the result. We’ve had great times with Sarina, I think she’s an honorary Brit now anyway. I know that we’ve all been very happy with Sarina.”

Preamble