Transfer news LIVE: Everton sack Frank Lampard, Chelsea want Fernandez and Kane could stay at Tottenham

Nine months ago Frank Lampard was bouncing on the roof of an executive box at Goodison Park. Now he has been dismissed with only goal difference keeping Everton off the foot of the Premier League. Lampard’s sacking had taken on an air of inevitability. Farhad Moshiri had argued that Everton’s previous managers were dismissed as much by the fans as by him.

Lampard, however, was fired by results: for 11 defeats in 14 games, for the poorest record in the Premier League over the last three months, for the lowest points total in 20 games in their history. He was not hounded out; just dismissed in a bid to preserve their top-flight status.

Lampard exits with the lowest win percentage of any permanent Everton manager since Mike Walker; in the Premier League, he took 35 points from 38 games, the equivalent of a full season, scoring just 34 goals. Yet he also goes with the sense that it wasn’t all his fault. The context and culture rendered it a difficult job; briefly he flourished, and ultimately he floundered.

If there is a lot of back and forth in the media about Harry Kane, it only reflects his mindset. The Tottenham Hotspur striker is again at the point where he is considering his future.

How could he not? He is going to be 30 in July and will at that point have just a year left on his contract, with the prospect of winning a major club trophy highly unlikely.

Kane will be in a far stronger position than he was in the summer of 2021, which was the last time he agitated.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy simply wouldn’t give in at that point, but he won’t have anything like the same hand now, and not just because of the danger of losing his best asset for nothing in 2024. Kane wanted to go after Euro 2020 but his mood did shift when Antonio Conte came in as manager, and the team went on a run that took them to a relatively unlikely Champions League place.

There was a conviction reminiscent of the Mauricio Pochettino period again. There was ambition. Kane was delighted to be working with one of the best managers in the game, and there was tentative hope he would even sign a new deal.

It’s just as well for his options that didn’t happen.

Declan Rice is leaning towards joining Arsenal this summer because of the prospect of playing for Mikel Arteta, who has drawn up plans for the West Ham midfielder, according to The Guardian.

The paper says Arsenal have made the 24-year-old their top transfer target and are increasingly confident of beating Chelsea to his signature.

Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta has advised new signing Mykhailo Mudryk not to allow his price tag to stifle his ability to express himself on the field.

The 22-year-old made his debut in the goalless draw against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, his first action since November, following his move from Shakhtar Donetsk in a deal which could be worth £89million.

That figure potentially makes the Ukraine international Chelsea’s second-biggest transfer purchase after Romelu Lukaku but Azpilicueta has urged the player to ignore the numbers around the deal.

Antonio Conte has told his Tottenham players to rediscover their nasty streak in an attempt to get their season back on track.

Spurs slumped to a third defeat in four Premier League games on Thursday when they lost 4-2 at Manchester City.

Inconsistency has blighted Tottenham in recent months and another loss at Fulham on Monday would see them drop to sixth in the table.

This form is in contrast to their strong finish to last season where Conte’s men won eight of their last 11 league fixtures, keeping six clean sheets along the way, to pip Arsenal to Champions League qualification.

Throw away your plastic clappers – there is no need for an artificial atmosphere at Arsenal these days. This is the Emirates and the sound you can hear is that of the Premier League leaders hitting the front, firmly now, as title favourites. At the end of an absorbing and dramatic win against Manchester United it was only the bitter chill that reminded you this was January and not April or May.

There was the sight of exhausted bodies strewn on the turf. After Eddie Nkietah and Oleksandr Zinchenko collapsed, Bukayo Saka wheeled away and roared, as Martin Odegaard and Granit Xhaka lapped the pitch.

Mikel Arteta’s side are pushing into new ground; this young team are responding to the pressures they are only just discovering. So, too, is the Emirates. Gone are the days of the crowd here living on the edge of doom; there is resilience to this side and while Arsenal’s season has been typified by fast, attacking starts, it has been so far matched by their collective ability to respond to adversity.

Mikel Arteta hailed Arsenal’s first half of the Premier League season as “extraordinary” following their last-gasp victory over Manchester United which moved them five points clear at the summit.

The Gunners ran out 3-2 winners following Eddie Nketiah’s late effort but, despite their lead at the top of the table, Arteta insists closest challengers Manchester City remain the standard bearers.

Marcus Rashford had put United ahead only for Nketiah to equalise and Bukayo Saka to put Arsenal ahead.

The visitors hit back through Lisandro Martinez’s first goal for the club before Nketiah flicked home a stray Martin Odegaard shot in the closing stages.

The win moved Arsenal on to 50 points from their opening 19 games of the campaign – a record for the club at this stage of the season – eclipsing even Arsene Wenger’s invincibles by five points.

Liverpool have recalled defender Rhys Williams from his loan spell at Blackpool as potential cover for any transfer activity.

With senior centre-back Virgil Van Dijk sidelined by a hamstring problem until the middle of next month the club are keen to ensure they are not left short of options.

Nat Phillips is currently fifth choice, behind Van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, and has made only five appearances this season but it is understood he is attracting interest ahead of the window closing having previously had loans at Stuttgart and Bournemouth.

As a result 21-year-old Williams has returned from Blackpool, where he made 17 appearances, to cover all eventualities.

The Football Association has appealed against the ban imposed on former Crawley boss John Yems.

An independent regulatory panel banned Yems until June 2024 after he admitted one charge and was found guilty of 11 others relating to comments that referenced either ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, religion, belief or gender between 2019 and 2022.

The FA had been pushing for a two-year ban, and said last week it “fundamentally disagreed” with the panel’s findings that this was not a case of “conscious racism”.

Defender Jan Bednarek has been recalled from his loan spell at Aston Villa by Southampton.

The 26-year-old Poland international moved to Villa Park in the summer but made just four appearances.

He has now returned to St Mary’s to help Nathan Jones’ squad as they battle against relegation from the Premier League.

Bednarek has played 153 times for the Saints since joining from Lech Poznan in 2017.