Transfer news LIVE: Arsenal keen on €100m Moussa Diaby and Newcastle want Chelsea trio

William Saliba insists he is “so happy” at Arsenal as contract talks continue behind the scenes of an increasingly convincing Premier League title bid.

The Gunners sit eight points clear at the summit following a 2-0 derby win at Tottenham on Sunday.

A Hugo Lloris own goal and long-range strike from captain Martin Odegaard secured Arsenal’s first-ever win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and moved them further ahead at the top of the table.

France international Saliba has played a large part in the club’s upturn in fortunes having made his debut at the start of the season following three loan spells away from north London.

Such has been the level of his performances that he is expected to sign a new deal with Arsenal and he is ready to let the talks rumble on in the background as Mikel Arteta’s side strive for glory.

Thirty-eight points. It used to be the sum total of Newcastle’s ambitions for a season in the dog days of Mike Ashley’s reign. It was enough to secure them their Premier League status.

Thirty-eight points. It is Newcastle’s return in the first half of this season. If even the most rudimentary of maths shows it is an average of two per game, it promises to bring them Champions League football. Or, to put it in terms that were more familiar until recently, they are safe from relegation with 19 games to go.

If they are, in effect, twice as good as they used to be with roughly half a new team, and six players who predated their takeover and subsequent spending spree started the win over Fulham, there are other examples of the exponential improvement that threatens to carry them into the European elite.

The 38 points Newcastle have from 19 games is more than three times as many as the 11 they had taken at this stage last season. The 11 goals they have conceded is barely more than a quarter of the 42 they had let in by this point 12 months ago. Eddie Howe’s language tends to be unremarkable, but the numbers are.

Graham Potter punched the air at full-time following his side’s narrow 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace. It seemed a fair reaction, given the pressure cooker that is Chelsea at the moment following a winless 2023 up to now.

A worsening injury crisis, big money deals and even bigger contracts have been thrown into a boiling, bubbling pot of new ownership, struggling coach and discontented fans.

Saturday’s win saw all of these issues unfold and more in a bizarre, frustrating and nervous afternoon of football.

The late, great Gianluca Vialli was honoured with a montage of his finest moments and a minute’s applause before the game, with his son and club legends venturing onto the pitch to pay tribute. The current Chelsea players, meanwhile, wore shirts bearing the Italian’s name before kick-off.

Chelsea have confirmed the signing of Mykhailo Mudryk, with the deal expected to be worth €100m (£88.7m) overall.

Mudryk, 22, has signed an eight-and-a-half year contract at Stamford Bridge and becomes Chelsea’s fifth January signing, with the Ukrainian attacker following striker David Datro Fofana, centre-back Benoit Badiashile, Brazilian attacking midfielder Andrey Santos and the on-loan Joao Felix to west London.

Arsenal had been pushing to sign Mudryk and were confident of getting a deal done until recently, when Chelsea upped the ante to offer Shakhtar Donetsk a bigger fee than the Gunners - and doubled the wages on offer to Mudryk himself.

After an effervescent Arsenal win where another Antonio Conte eruption might have been expected, the Tottenham Hotspur manager instead took a different view.

“With the performance, I’m not disappointed,” the Italian said. “We knew the game would be difficult. Arsenal are very strong, and tonight showed they deserve to be top of the league. In my opinion, Arsenal and Manchester City are the only two teams that can fight for the league this season.”

Mikel Arteta meanwhile came as close as he has to publicly acknowledging that prospect, by talking about how it will still likely take over 90 points to claim the title. With a return of 2.6 points per game after this 2-0 victory, Arsenal are currently on course for 99.

Bruno Fernandes believes Marcus Rashford is one of the best footballers in the world and thinks he will improve again.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has branded Rashford “unstoppable” as he has gone on the best goalscoring run of his career and Fernandes, who also struck in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Manchester City, agrees.

Rashford has struck in every match since the World Cup and has equalled a United club record by scoring in nine successive games at Old Trafford.

And Fernandes said: “He’s always been unstoppable but he wasn’t getting his goals, his rewards. He’s always been like this. The thing is now the ball is going in, he’s getting his goals, he’s getting his rewards for the effort he’s been giving for the team.”

Former Brighton midfielder Enock Mwepu is undergoing tests in hospital after being taken ill in his native Zambia, the Premier League club has said.

In October, Mwepu was forced to retire from football at the age of 24 after being diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening heart condition.

The Zambia international had fallen ill on a flight to meet up with his national team-mates and spent time in hospital in Mali before returning to Brighton, where tests revealed the hereditary condition.

In a statement published on their website on Sunday, Brighton said: “The club can provide the following update on Enock Mwepu, in response to media reports.

Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur was marred in the moments after the full-time whistle as a supporter from the home side appeared to try and kick Gunners goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

The Premier League leaders picked up a well-deserved three points thanks to an own goal by Hugo Lloris and a strike from Martin Odegaard.

But it was the post-match scenes which were the big talking point, as the player of the match was seemingly assaulted, just days after the police chief warned supporters must respect the boundaries of the pitch as banning orders rise.

Television cameras clearly showed the fan jumping up on the advertising hoardings to stand and aim a kick at the stopper as he walked away from a clash with Spurs attacker Richarlison moments earlier, towards his water bottle behind the goal.

Celtic have accepted an offer from Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds for striker Giorgos Giakoumakis.

Sky Sports News reports that the initial fee is £3m for the Greece international who is looking to leave Celtic in search of more regular first team football.

However, Giakouamakis has strong interest from Atlanta United and is weighing up his options. He came on as a substitute and scored in Celtic’s 2-0 League Cup semi-final win over Kilmarnock at the weekend.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admits his under-performing side will have to go back to basics in order to solve their current problems.

A sixth Premier League defeat of the season at Brighton has left the Reds 10 points adrift of the top four but, with an FA Cup replay at Wolves to face on Tuesday, there is little time to correct the issues.

But Klopp said the thing they had to be was more difficult to beat.

“The issues we had in that game were obvious,” he said. “In the end, these are football problems and you solve them with football and to play better football than we did at Brighton should not be too difficult.

“We have to be more compact. The pitch looks too big when we are defending. You have to go back to basics and from there you can make steps.”