FootyChatter.com

Premier League news conferences taking place with Arne Slot speaking on Friday morning Liverpool are in the scrap for a Champions League place - they're currently sixth and host struggling West Ham on Saturday Slot says he expects Florian Wirtz to miss the match but Jeremie Frimpong is available - he says he 'honestly doesn't know' when Wirtz will return Later, we'll hear from Eddie Howe, Andoni Iraola, Pep Guardiola, Michael Carrick, Mikel Arteta and others before the weekend's action Also, follow the Champions League (11: 00 BST), Europa League (12: 00) and Conference League (13: 00) draws here Written by Charlotte Coates, Adwaidh Rajan, George Booth & Ailsa Cowen. Newcastle v Everton (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Newcastle United Newcastle boss Eddie Howe on Bruno Guimaraes' injury update: "I have had some good contact with Bruno. He seems very positive with his injury and how he feels. He has done a lot of work. He is being well

looked after as well. We hope that he can come back and give us a push at the

back end of the season. We have to treat his injury carefully. " On Lewis Miley's injury update: "We have just been advised with Lewis to be careful with this

injury. It was a dead leg, a knock. There was some muscle disruption. He has

had a couple of injections and I think he has one more to come. I think we’re

waiting for a couple of weeks for Lewis. We are being careful to get him back

in a good place. " Click 'Get Involved' to have your say It's hard with young players, especially making a debut at 16/17. Trying to keep your longevity when playing a demanding position like winger is difficult. Ngumoha is class and I say that as a rival. He shouldn't play whole games yet. He needs preserving. Sterling is a good example why. Harry, Manchester It's hard to decide whether Ngumoha should be starting in matches ahead of Gakpo. Don't get me wrong, he has all the talent, ability and confidence you want in a winger, but he's still a teenager and is somebody we can't risk injuring. Chiesa could play on the left instead. Jack, Liverpool fan Newcastle v Everton (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Newcastle United Newcastle boss Eddie Howe on Tino Livramento's injury update: "I think Tino will be early March. We still think he is

on track for that. He has been training, not with us, but separately running for

a period time. "When he comes back, he will be in a good place. I don't think it

is too long to wait. " On Jacob Ramsey's injury update: "We hope that he will train today - fingers crossed for

tomorrow. " We're all done with Liverpool boss Arne Slot now, so it's time to move on to Newcastle's Eddie Howe. Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool manager Arne Slot on Hugo Ekitike's heading ability: "It's true that when I played a long time ago, we probably had a ball hanging on a rope and we headed it to work on the technique. It's isolated and not used now. "We are noticing this as Hugo is so we try to work on it. Not every day but it's a part of his game and he also wants to develop because he could have scored a few more goals. Being 22 or 23 years old, it's normal there are parts of your games you can improve. " Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool manager Arne Slot on his team's slow starts: "It's never the approach. If you would look back, we never drop into a low block which so many teams in the Premier League do. We try to press for 90 minutes as high as possible and we try to create with the ball. But it's difficult against sides who play a certain style. "It's never down to our approach. I remember when I had to play at Anfield previously, I would 100% ask my players to slow the game down and get the fans not behind the team. Take your time in throw-ins and set-pieces, slow the fans down and that is what other teams try to do as well, which is completely fair. So it is on us to find the moments to create. It's harder to do when the other team is totally fit than when it is after 70 minutes when they are more tired. " Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool More from Liverpool manager Arne Slot on Rio Ngumoha: "It's something special for a 17-year-old to be hyped the way he is. There's a lot of talks about him because we can all see the talent. But he is handling the situation very well. "It is a big compliment to him and his parents, who have raised him. He is down to earth, works really hard and keeps going. He doesn't lose his head because of positive pundits' feedback and you need that to make the next steps because if you start to believe you are special after one or two feedbacks, you don't get to the level you want to. "He knows what he needs to improve but we have to keep his special quality - that's beating players one-on-one. It's not that it has to work 10/10 times but it's important he keeps trying because there are not many in modern football who can take people on one-on-one and it works a lot of times. That's something special an we want to take good care of him. We have a lot of belief in how special he is. " Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool manager Arne Slot on Rio Ngumoha: " Data says Rio has only played 90 minutes in the Premier League. To be more realistic, or to tell the truth, you see his playing time has improved massively over the last few weeks and that is because he has developed and became a better player. "It's always positive that people are talking about him because he is doing really well. I would like people to talk about every player we have on bench like that because then they do really well when coming on. "It's another example of a player that someone want to see more and more. It's all due to the fact he does well when he comes in. The highlight was against Nottingham Forest and his one-on-one action. But he had a few other moments he did as well which we talk about. That is part of the development of the player and I really like where he is now in his development. If he stays fit more minutes will come in the future. " Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool manager Arne Slot on why Milos Kerkez was taken off against Nottingham Forest in the final minutes: "He was completely fit and he played 80 minutes and we had to defend a lot in the first half and we needed fresh legs. If I can make changes in every position, I will do so. Milos played an OK game and he is available for tomorrow. " Click 'Get Involved' to have your say Played far too many poor halves of football Mr Slot. Liverpool should be fighting for the title and not scrambling for 4th and 16 points behind top. Slot picks the tactics and sets the tempo so it is all his fault. Michael, Liverpool Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool manager Arne Slot on the competitiveness of the Premier League: "Data tells you sometimes something that is right and sometimes you can manipulate it. But I cannot say we haven't struggled against the promoted sides like Burnley and Leeds United. So we understand at this moment how difficult winning games in general is, regardless of where the position is in league table. "But that is not only for us. I watch plenty of games of the opposition and I can tell you we are not the only team that sometimes plays a half like we played against Nottingham Forest. "It's also the quality you face and you have to give credit to Forest for the way they played. That is the new reality in Premier League for the last few years. Before that, it was more obvious which were the top teams and they would beat others. Maybe it's about all the money in the league and these teams have owners who can spend. " Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool manager Arne Slot on goalkeeper Alisson Becker: "In an ideal world you don't need your goalkeeper because you defend so well.

But the important thing for us is if we do, we have an outstanding one. He has been here seven years now and also we not only have one good keeper, we also have Giorgi Mamardashvili too, another who could be the number one. "Before he was there, we had Caoimhin Kelleher but Allisson has always been the number one and that tells you how good he is if he can keep Mamardashvili and Kelleher behind him. " Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool boss Arne Slot says the Reds have "full belief in how special" Rio Ngumoha is, as fans want to see the 17-year-old play more. Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool boss Arne Slot says Rio Ngumoha has been hyped all of his career and he's "handling it well". He adds the 17-year-old is "down to earth and wants to improve". Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool boss Arne Slot says Hugo Ekitike is trying and wants to develop his heading after missing a number of chances with his head. He adds it's normal to have parts of the game to improve at the age of 22 and 23. Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool boss Arne Slot says you never see the Reds dropping into a low block and they try to press for 90 minutes. He adds that you usually see the second half being more open as a result of tired legs. Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool More from Liverpool manager Arne Slot on Mohamed Salah's form: "We are used to [Salah] scoring a lot of goals - I think that's the biggest difference in his performances right now. But we also know, even in my time, it has happened. I've had questions about Mo not scoring for three or four games but I know he always scores again in the end.

That's the challenge he and we have at the moment. "He is not our only attacker who doesn't score as much as we are used to. It is not that the focus should be all on him, Hugo [Ekitike] and Cody [Gakpo] haven't scored that many goals recently as well, so it is a team thing. But we keep clean sheets, so we don't need to score as many. Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool manager Arne Slot on Mohamed Salah's goal drought in the Premier League: "He has set his own standards and they are so, so, so high that the moment he doesn't score for a few games, people are immediately surprised, so that is the big compliment he can get. "For me it was only three games ago he had an assist and a goal against a Premier League side, Brighton, a very good team, in the FA Cup. So that is the reality. You can change data and say it's no goal in nine league games and that is the standard he set. " Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool manager Arne Slot was asked about the minutes Rio Ngumoha has played this season. He said his playing time has improved massively over the last few weeks because he "developed and became a better player". Liverpool v West Ham (Sat, 15: 00 GMT) Liverpool Liverpool boss Arne Slot says they understand how difficult it is to win games at any level in the Premier League. He says Liverpool are not the only team to play a poor half of football. Copyright © 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.