Frank Lampard is speaking with the media and unsurprisingly his future is one of the big talking points. Asked whether it is difficult to hear other managers being discussed as successors to him:

“I don’t listen to it. It’s only everywhere if you scroll through social media or something like that – I don’t do that. I’m not stupid. I know what the pressures are that come with managing a top football club but I can only do my job so it doesn’t matter to me.”

The North and South divisions have been suspended for two weeks.

One of the most beautiful own goals.

Manchester United Women sign Maria Thorisdottir of Norway from Chelsea.

There will be a fair amount of football this weekend.

For those who missed it, Zinedine Zidane’s coronavirus diagnosis was preceded by one of Real Madrid’s worst losses in recent times.

Mikel Arteta says he will not be loaning out Calum Chambers, who continues to look for consistent playing time since returning to full fitness after rupturing his ACL:

“I don’t think that is going to happen. I am really happy with Calum. He has gone through a really difficult period. He has worked so hard.”

“He has looked really good in the last few weeks in training. He is not even thinking about his knee right now. We want to give him minutes when we can because he is a player that we believe in.”

via PA.

Ben Fisher spoke with Doncaster’s Andy Butler, who combines playing for the men’s team with managing the women’s team.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is back in training after suffering from a hamstring injury. He has not played since Everton lost to West Ham on January 1st.

Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo says that Marcal has undergone abdominal surgery after injuring himself against Tottenham last month.

“First, he has to be free of pain, then we will start integrating and getting his fitness levels again. There will be some more weeks in front of him yet. It was in the game against Tottenham, he had a slip on his left leg, he felt a really strong pain in the abdominal area, so that required treatment and an operation to solve the problem.”

via wolves.co.uk

All the best to Zinedine Zidane.

To the surprise of nobody, Brighton manager Graham Potter hopes that his team will approach the coming fixtures one match at a time. Brighton face Blackpool in the FA Cup tomorrow.

“We’ve got to get into a mentality just to focus on the next match and try to win the next match, which is Blackpool,” he said.

“We did that against Newport. We picked the team that we thought was going to be the right team to play against Newport, some of those guys played against Manchester City (three days later), quite a few of them did.

“We know we need to be at our best, we know we need a bit of luck, and we have to play well to go through against Blackpool, it’s as simple as that.

“As soon as you start looking too far ahead, you cause yourself a problem.

“We will try to pick a team that can give us a good chance to win the game – that’s what we want to do, to win the game and go through.”

(via PA)

Mick McCarthy is close to being named the new manager of Cardiff City and a deal is expected to be confirmed in the coming days. From PA:

McCarthy, the former Republic of Ireland, Sunderland and Wolves boss, will succeed Neil Harris, who left the club on Thursday after suffering six straight defeats.

The 61-year-old parted company with APOEL on January 6 after just nine games and two months with the Cypriot champions.

McCarthy’s previous job was his second spell with the Republic, which ended last April after the coronavirus pandemic caused the Euro 2020 play-offs to be postponed and Stephen Kenny replaced him.

His last post in club management was a six-year spell at Ipswich between 2012 and 2018.

Cardiff’s hierarchy have turned to the experienced McCarthy after slipping to 15th place in the Sky Bet Championship, closer to the relegation zone than the play-off places which they are 13 points adrift of.

Chorley FC are 9th in National League North, with 6 losses so far this season. Their route to tonight’s FA Cup fourth round meeting with Wolves:

Round one: Wigan 2-3 Chorley

Round two: Peterborough 1-2 Chorley

Round three: Chorley 2-0 Derby

Two League One scalps and a Championship upset. Be careful, Wolves.

According to Jacob Steinberg, West Ham intend to reward David Moyes with a new contract at the end of the season.

Spare a thought for poor Alex Rúnarsson, whose one terrible performance against Manchester City was enough for Arsenal to quietly seek out a No 2 goalkeeper.

Arsenal sign Brighton goalkeeper Maty Ryan on loan until the end of the season. It is fair to say that this one went slightly under the radar.

Thirty five years ago, Chorley scuppered first division Wolves 3-0 in the FA Cup first round. There is no complacency from Nuno Espírito Santo today:

“We don’t have to go much further back, recent history in football tells you – especially in this competition – things can happen. We have to be aware of the responsibility we have.

“We will approach it exactly the same as any game, with the search for detail. The difference of the divisions doesn’t show you the game so we have to compete and play.

“We are going to find a pitch which is not in the best condition, we know an effort has been made to preserve the pitch but with the weather conditions it will be very difficult to play football on. We have to adapt.

“The next game is always the opportunity to improve on what you did wrong before.”

(via PA)

No regrets for Dean Smith after he was charged by the FA for using abusive/ insulting language after Aston Villa conceded against Manchester City due to a controversial goal that was not deemed to be offside. Here is how he previously described his comments before:

“I got a yellow card [from Moss] for saying I think you’ve had juggling balls for Christmas. What I said for the red card doesn’t need to be censored, it wasn’t swearing. He came over and said I’m interpreting the laws of the game, and I said you should’ve done that earlier in the game.”

Not ideal.

Mikel Arteta had some empathetic words for Frank Lampard:

“I have known Frank for a few years and I spent some time with him and I would like the club to support him and give him a chance,” he said.

“He has huge experience as a player, he is an icon over there and he has done some really good things.

“You need time, and something we have not had in this calendar year is time to work on anything.”

Derby County player Jordon Ibe says that he is suffering from depression. From his statement on Instagram yesterday evening:

“I want to apologise to all my fans around the world. I’ve found myself in a dark place, due to suffering with depression. It’s no scheme for the media or to have my name in your mouths, I just find things hard truly. I appreciate all the love and messages from everyone. Times are hard in general due to this pandemic…

I have the full support from my family and Derby County football club. I will fix myself and this situation, which I’m 100 per cent committed to. Not only for my family, close friends or my beauteous daughter but for me.

Much love to every single person.”

Despite currently having eight players unavailable due to injury, Ralph Hasenhuttl was in a confident mood ahead of two fixtures against Arsenal in four days. (via PA)

“I’d prefer winning both to be honest, if it’s possible we’ll do it, but I know it’s tough,” he said.

“Yes, we have the chance to I think. On our day we can beat any team in the league, we’ve shown this, especially at home.

“I think this is the goal we have. Yes, tough like always, but not impossible.”

Will Smallbone, Nathan Tella, Michael Obafemi, Oriol Romeu, Mohammed Salisum Moussa Djenepo, Jannik Vestergaard and Nathan Redmond are all injured for Southampton.

Another big loan deal to watch out for.

Fikayo Tomori heads to Serie A leaders AC Milan on loan with an option to buy.

Nick Ames spoke with Andy Preece and Irfan Kawri, assistant manager and coach of Chorley. Their team square off against Nuno Espírito Santo’s Wolves tonight. It will be a rare match between teams with senior Black and south Asian staff in the technical area.

There is already plenty to read this morning. Here are 10 things to look out for this weekend.

Hello! As the weekend approaches once more, welcome to another Friday countdown. For the next few days, the leagues will take a back seat as the FA Cup fourth round beckons.

Tonight will see Wolves travel to Lancashire to face National League North side Chorley. Tomorrow’s games include Southampton versus Arsenal, Brighton against Blackpool and Manchester City at Cheltenham.

On Sunday, Chelsea will host Luton Town, Fulham will face Burnley, Leicester will travel to Brentford and, of course, Manchester United square off against Liverpool at Old Trafford.

In this strange, unique year, we have already seen ample cup upsets, both in England and abroad. Let’s see what this round brings.