Football news and talking points:
Alan Pardew latest, Gary Neville's Arsenal fury
and Premier League top four
(February 26 2018)
After another eventful weekend in the world of football, we take a look at the top stories dominating Monday's headlines.
Alan Pardew's West Brom lifeline
West Brom have opted to stick with manager Alan Pardew for now, and he will be in charge for Saturday’s game against Watford, according to reports.
It is understood the team's performance at Vicarage Road at the weekend could be key in deciding whether Pardew remains in charge for the rest of the season.
Pardew has won just one of his 14 Premier League games since taking over at The Hawthorns in November. Defeat at home to Huddersfield on Saturday left the club seven points adrift at the bottom.
Meanwhile, in managerial news elsewhere, Grant McCann left Sky Bet League One side Peterborough on Sunday and current caretaker David Oldfield is favourite to be his replacement.
Gary Neville’s Carabao Cup rant
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville was highly critical of Arsenal's "spineless" display as they were crushed 3-0 in the Carabao Cup final by Manchester City.
Neville, working as a commentator for Sky Sports, labelled Shkodran Mustafi's positioning for Sergio Aguero's opener as "pathetic" and then aimed fire at Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil.
"Ramsey. Xhaka. Ozil. You're walking on a football pitch at Wembley," he said.
"Why are you walking? You're a disgrace. An absolute disgrace.
"I don't even want to talk about them because they've been an absolute disgrace. Ramsey and Xhaka walking on a football pitch. Absolutely spineless."
He added: "I don't even like the football anymore. The last bastion has gone. Liverpool play better, Tottenham play better - there's three or four teams that play better football than them now.
"This is a dark, dark day - the team have just not shown up."
Arsene Wenger’s League Cup wait goes on
Gunners boss Wenger was aiming to become only the eighth manager to win all three top-flight trophies by lifting his first League Cup.
While he has often used this competition to blood youngsters, resulting in plenty of early exits, he has now reached three finals - 2007, 2011 and 2018 - without success.
Arsenal have not lifted the trophy since beating Sheffield Wednesday in the 1993 final. With constant speculation about the 68-year-old's future and the fact he is the second oldest manager in the Premier League, it remains to be seen how many more opportunities he will have.
Top four race: Tottenham leapfrog Chelsea
Wins for Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham boosted their hopes of a top-four finish as Chelsea dropped to fifth with ten games to go.
Jose Mourinho’s Red Devils went back to second with a 2-1 win over Chelsea, after Liverpool’s 3-1 win over West Ham kept the Merseysiders in the running for a second-placed finish.
Tottenham are now fourth and two points ahead of Chelsea, while sixth-place Arsenal are nine adrift of their north London rivals with a game in hand – v Man City on Thursday.
Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery is hopeful Neymar's injury is "nothing serious" after the Brazil superstar left his side's 3-0 win over Marseille on a stretcher.
Neymar brilliantly set up PSG's third goal for Edinson Cavani but later rolled his ankle and was forced off in clear discomfort with around 15 minutes remaining - leaving PSG with 10 men, having just sent on their final substitute Julian Draxler.
Emery told the Ligue 1 leaders' official website: "We showed that this game is special for us and the result was positive - a clear 3-0 win.
"The injury to Neymar was the only black mark. We hope it is nothing serious, we will wait for the scans."
PSG's Champions League round of 16 second leg with Real Madrid takes place on March 6 at Parc des Princes.