Liverpool

Brent Pilnick
BBC Sport England

Image source, Rex Features

Miron Muslic says he has not had any time to think about Plymouth Argyle's forthcoming FA Cup tie against Premier League leaders Liverpool.

The Pilgrims will face the six times champions of Europe early next month after beating Brentford in the third round on Saturday.

Muslic, who was appointed late on Friday night, was in the stands for the victory and takes charge of his first game on Tuesday night when Argyle host fellow Championship strugglers Oxford United.

The Pilgrims are bottom of the second tier and parted company with head coach Wayne Rooney on 31 December.

The Liverpool tie will be Muslic's sixth game in charge, five of which are at Home Park.

"I'm not thinking about stuff like this," Muslic told BBC Sport when asked about Liverpool's visit.

"The last 72 hours has been so much for me and I've tried to maximize my attention towards the team.

"I tried maximise my attention towards the things I can immediately impact, and this is my team and Oxford and QPR next Saturday.

"Liverpool is far, far away. So when Liverpool is in front of us two days before I will jump in on Arne Slot and Liverpool for sure, but not before."

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Everton boss David Moyes has been speaking to the media before Wednesday's Premier League game against Aston Villa (kick-off 19:30 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Moyes confirmed Dwight McNeil is still unavailable with an "ongoing knee issue", Armando Broja is awaiting another scan and Dominic Calvert-Lewin trained on Monday so "should be OK" for the game on Wednesday.

• The returning Everton boss said he "did not expect the job to come up", but that the Toffees are "a different beast" and it was "too big an opportunity to turn down".

• On previous comments after leaving West Ham about not wanting to return to managing a team in a relegation fight: "Everton is different. A couple of weeks ago I didn't think Everton could be in a relegation battle, I thought they would be strong enough to get out of it. I've come into the seat now and I'm going to back that up and say we are going to be strong enough to get away from it. But, I'm not kidding myself, or anyone else, we will need everyone behind us."

• He said he has had "good conversations" with the new ownership, adding: "I have had privilege here to work under some great owners and people who have helped me. I've worked under people whose intentions were to build a better Everton. I think they did that, we did that in a period that wasn't easy either. This period is not going to be easy, but new ownership has big ideas and big hopes that they can make a big difference to the football club."

• On first priorities: "First priority is winning football matches. But there is other things of course, like building the club back up if possible. I don't think damage has been done by any managers but damage has been done through a long period of time. I had a great time here and I would love to be a part of making it better. The new stadium looks the business, it looks elite, now we need to get the elite players to give everyone something to shout about when we move."

• Moyes said that after his first training sessions with the team, they are "in good spirits" and that they "had a bit of laughter, bit of fun as well". He added: "When things aren't as good, you need to find ways of keeping chins up and things bright."

• The new boss also confirmed that under-18s manager Leighton Baines and his former staff at West Ham - Billy McKinlay and Alan Irvine - will be joining his coaching team as he wants to "try and work quickly with people I know and trust".

• He revealed there had been "three or four occasions" when he nearly returned to the club since leaving in 2013, but was now nervous coming back for the first time since his departure and feels "huge pressure" to keep them in the league.

• Moyes believes forward Calvert-Lewin "can be the one to make a big difference" but has told him he needs "goals off him straight away and he has to start delivering".

Listen to full commentary of Everton v Aston Villa from 19:30 GMT on Wednesday on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot says it "will be a very difficult challenge" for his side when they travel to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.

Forest are the only team to have beaten the Reds at home this season.

Rob Schofield
BBC Radio 5 Live football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

With Nottingham Forest and Liverpool separated by six points at the top of the Premier League table, their meeting at The City Ground on Tuesday has a throwback feel to it.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s the two clubs were locked in a tussle for all the major honours, with Brian Clough and Bob Paisley establishing a fierce rivalry.

Arne Slot joked that his press officer had briefed him 10 minutes before his press conference, admitting he "didn't know the exact years" but was aware Forest had been a big force in English football for a long period of time".

It is perhaps understandable considering the Dutchman was born merely months after Forest beat Liverpool to the old First Division title back in 1978, before going on to lift back-to-back European Cups.

The Liverpool manager explained how he is under no illusions of the threat this week's opponents pose now though, having recently watched back September's 1-0 defeat at Anfield – Liverpool's only loss in the Premier League this season – to assess what they could do differently.

He did not however miss the opportunity to point out that for as impressive as Forest have been, they have splashed the cash to be in title contention.

"Nuno is doing an incredible job," he said with a smile. "But if you look at the amount of money they've spent, its not a complete surprise how well they're doing this season."

Forest were deducted four points last season for breaching profit and sustainability rules. The club spent £142.8m when promoted in 2022 and had a modest off-season the following year, before an £88m outlay in the most recent summer.

Image source, Getty Images

Andy asked: With Sean Dyche seemingly saying he had taken the Everton squad as far as he could, is criticism of The Friedkin Group unfair? I'm not sure he left them with much choice.

Phil answered: I think the criticism of TFG is unfair in that if Sean Dyche felt he had taken Everton as far as he could (or perhaps this particular squad as far as he could) then they could not wait before acting as the current situation is very worrying.

The timing was certainly unusual, a couple of hours before the FA Cup tie against Peterborough United, but we must assume negotiations over severance terms were taking place.

My view, stated many times here, was that Dyche was never going to be the manager taking Everton into their new stadium, but I'm sure in an ideal world TFG would have preferred to have made this decision at the end of the season, not three weeks into their reign.

In the end, circumstances forced their hand.

Katie Stafford
BBC Sport journalist

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been speaking to the media before Tuesday's Premier League game at Nottingham Forest (kick-off 20:00 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Joe Gomez remains "quite far away" from a return from injury, with Slot adding: "He will definitely not be training with the team yet."

• Meanwhile, Darwin Nunez will miss Tuesday's game through suspension but Diogo Jota "is ready to play 90 minutes" after a period of managing minutes.

• Slot said Wataru Endo, who came on as centre-back against Tottenham, "is a very important player in the team" and "always gives everything he has."

• On the academy players who have featured in cup competitions: "It is very important for every club but especially this club. This club has always brought talent through the ranks and it is nice to see a few having an impact in training sessions and in games. It gives a good energy in the training ground and team when they are doing well."

• Slot said "it is going to be a very difficult challenge" to get a result against Nottingham Forest as they are "definitely" capable of competing for the Premier League title.

• On the reverse fixture, Liverpool's only home defeat of the season: "To lose on that day was hard to take. Now, looking back and seeing where they are in the league, it is not such a shock result as it felt then. They had a good game plan and made us play a poor game. We have to do better. We have to look into the details."

• He said he expects "the atmosphere to be fired up from the start," so they will have to be switched on from the whistle to avoid giving the home crowd being any more vocal.

Follow all of Monday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Full commentary of Nottingham Forest v Liverpool from 20:00 GMT on Tuesday on BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's FA Cup game between Liverpool and Accrington Stanley.

Here are some of your comments:

Paul: Great to see some of the young boys get a break in the first team. I so wanted Nunez to score, but absolutely delighted for Federico Chiesa - may this be the first of many in Liverpool red.

Ian: Not a bad game. Liverpool rarely got into second gear. It was nice to see the youngsters having a run out and Chiesa looked lively. Darwin Nunez was disappointing again with one assist and a glaring chance hoofed over the bar, and Diogo Jota didn't do much either - he looked tired.

Sean: I thought Wataru Endo was our best player by far, especially when you consider he was playing centre-half instead of in midfield.

Jason: A solid, routine home win. More minutes for Jota, Harvey Elliott and Connor Bradley to sweep away comeback cobwebs. Result was never in doubt after Trent Alexander-Arnold's piledriver. I'm a big Chiesa fan - he showed his silky skills and proved his fitness. Not a starter yet, but certainly a high-impact sub at the very least. Massive credit to Accrington for a highly entertaining second half. They deserved a consolation goal, but I'm glad we kept a clean sheet. Finally, a special shoutout to Rio Ngumoha for his senior debut.

Edem: That was some performance. Chiesa and youngsters like Jayden Danns need more game time. I don't see why Nunez gets to play - he needs to leave the club, probably on loan.

Atalanta want to complete the January signing of 27-year-old Everton and England forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has been linked with a summer move to Newcastle United on a free transfer. (Sun, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Brent Pilnick
BBC Sport England

Image source, Getty Images

It is a dream tie in the FA Cup for Plymouth Argyle as Premier League leaders Liverpool are set to come to town next month.

The Pilgrims will be hoping they can go one better than the last time these two sides met in the third round eight years ago.

At Anfield Argyle held a young Liverpool side to a 0-0 draw as 9,000 members of the Green Army made the 293-mile trip to Merseyside.

It took one of the rarest of footballing feats - a Luca Leiva header - to separate the sides 1-0 in the replay at Home Park as Divock Origi had a penalty saved by Luke McCormick as the then-League Two side frustrated Jurgen Klopp's team.

Fast forward to 2025 and Argyle are bottom of the Championship and have just seen Wayne Rooney - hero of Liverpool's arch rivals Everton and Manchester United - leave his role as head coach.

It will be a first taste of FA Cup football for his replacement Miron Muslic and a first-ever away FA Cup tie for Klopp's successor Arne Slot.

Argyle may well be struggling in the league and have won just five times at Home Park in all competitions this season, but their tails will be up.

They upset Premier League opposition in the last round when they beat Brentford 1-0 and the squad will be keen to impress their new head coach.

Liverpool cannot afford to take the Pilgrims lightly in their quest to win trophies on four fronts.

The draw for the FA Cup fourth round has been made. Here is a list of all the ties involving Premier League teams in the order they were drawn.

Games will be played over the weekend of 8 February.

• Manchester United v Leicester

• Brighton v Chelsea

• Exeter v Nottingham Forest

• Coventry v Ipswich

• Blackburn v Wolves

• Mansfield/Wigan v Fulham

• Birmingham v Newcastle

• Plymouth v Liverpool

• Everton v Bournemouth

• Aston Villa v Tottenham

• Southampton v Burnley

• Leyton Orient/Derby v Manchester City

• Doncaster v Crystal Palace

See the full draw