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

Eddie Nketiah’s late winner against Manchester United saw Arsenal open up a five-point gap at the top of the Premier League.

At the midway point of their season, the Gunners have amassed 50 points and are in a strong position to lift the title for the first time since 2004.

However, there is a long way to go for Mikel Arteta to replicate the achievements of Arsene Wenger and win the Premier League as Arsenal boss and here, the PA news agency looks at the tests that await his young team.

Jesse Marsch maintained his mantra that Leeds United are building momentum after being held 0-0 by Brentford on Sunday.

A much-needed three points eluded Leeds at Elland Road as a frustrating afternoon saw their winless Premier League run extended to six matches.

Leeds’ two-point buffer between themselves and the bottom three before the weekend’s fixtures has been cut to one.

But after his side largely dominated against Thomas Frank’s high-flying Bees, Marsch insisted all the signs are pointing to an improved run of results.

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe insists reaching a semi-final “isn’t enough” as his side prepare to face Southampton in the Carabao Cup.

A win against Leicester saw the Magpies reach their first League Cup semi-final for 47 years to set up a clash against the Saints, who dumped Manchester City out of the competition.

The Magpies will travel to the south coast for the first leg on Tuesday, where they are aiming to edge closer to their first piece of domestic silverware in nearly 68 years and Howe believes just reaching the final four is not enough.

Everton are searching for their eighth permanent manager in seven years after the sacking of Frank Lampard.

Whomever is appointed has a tough task ahead of them to drag a woefully out-of-form team out of the Premier League bottom three with the club facing a second-successive relegation battle.

Here is what the new boss will have to address in a very short space of time.

A fans group which organised a protest against Everton’s board has called for owner Farhad Moshiri to “take radical steps to stop the rot”.

The billionaire is looking for an eighth permanent manager in almost seven years since taking control at Goodison Park.

A protest has already taken place against the existing members of the board remaining in position and another is planned at the club’s next home game against Premier League leaders Arsenal on February 4.

However, Lampard’s departure has prompted the NSNOW group, which is being backed by more than 67 fan and social media groups plus 21 official supporter clubs, to make another plea to Moshiri.

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.

Lorient are holding out for a package worth €30m for West Ham target Terem Moffi, as Marseille are now challenging the Premier League club for the forward’s signing.

The Independent has been told that Lorient have already rejected two bids for the 23-year-old from West Ham, and three from OGC Nice.

All were considerably short of the French club’s valuation. Marseille haven’t yet made a formal offer, but entered talks on Monday morning.

Lorient feel they can maximise their income on a player who has 12 goals in 18 Ligue 1 games this season, such is the interest in the forward

Sean Dyche is the favourite to become the next Everton manager following the sacking of Frank Lampard.

Lampard was removed from the role with the team 19th in the Premier League table, having won only once in their past 12 league games.

Fans have become increasingly angry in recent weeks, with most of their frustrations targeted at the club’s board after years of heavy investment in the playing squad with little to show on the pitch.

But it is the manager who has paid the price, with Lampard departing Goodison Park after less than 12 months at the helm.

Dyche has been out of work since he was sacked by Burnley last April following a successful decade at the club. The 51-year-old has significant experience navigating the Premier League’s relegation fight, and knows some of Everton’s squad well have managed former Burnley players James Tarkowski, Michael Keane and Dwight McNeil.

Frank Lampard has been sacked by Everton with the club second bottom of the Premier League, the PA news agency understands.

Just over a year after ending Rafael Benitez’s ill-fated 200-day stay, owner Farhad Moshiri has fired his sixth manager in just under seven years since taking over.

Lampard paid the price for a run of nine defeats in 12 league matches which has left the club embroiled in a second successive relegation battle.

Only 10 days ago Moshiri offered public backing for his manager but hugely-damaging defeats to fellow strugglers Southampton and West Ham have forced a change.

Wolves have completed the signing of Craig Dawson from West Ham.

The centre-back seals a return to the Midlands having spent a large chunk of his playing career at West Brom before moving to London in 2019.

Dawson joins Wolves for a £3.3million fee after weeks of speculation, which saw West Ham boss David Moyes critical of Julen Lopetegui’s side for allegedly making their interest in the defender public earlier this month.

One-time Great Britain player Dawson has not been signed in time to feature in Sunday’s trip to Manchester City but has agreed a two-and-a-half-year deal, the Molineux outfit announced.