SELECTION ALERT: SEAN DYCHE DISMISSES DOUGLAS LUIZ APPEARANCE CLAUSE AHEAD OF FULHAM CLASH
Sean Dyche insists he won't be pressured by Douglas Luiz's loan clause as Nottingham Forest battles a mounting midfield crisis.
Sean Dyche says his Nottingham Forest team picks won't be because of any clause in Douglas Luiz’s loan deal.
Luiz is spending the season at the City Ground on loan from Juventus. His deal has a condition where Forest would have to sign him for good in the summer, likely based on how many games he plays.
Right now, it doesn't look like Forest will hit that mark. Reports from Italy say Luiz needs to play at least 45 minutes in 15 Premier League games to trigger it. Club bosses are watching the situation, but Dyche is clear that he's not paying much attention to it. He'll keep picking Luiz when he thinks it's the right move for the team.
“Totally. I can manage the team how I want. The bosses have made that clear, especially when it comes to picking the team,” Dyche said before Monday’s game at Fulham.
“The contracts don't matter to me. Other people handle that.
“They let me do my job. We talk about the big stuff – players who might come or go, that kind of thing.
“I don’t need to know all the small print in the contracts. They let me focus on picking the players I think should be playing.”
Luiz has only started four games and come off the bench once for Forest in the Premier League. A hamstring injury has slowed him down, and he's still working to get back in shape. The goal is for him to play as well as he did when he was at Aston Villa.
The 27-year-old was great in the West Midlands. But his big move to Juve in 2024 didn’t go as planned. Still, there’s no argument about how good he is.
With Ibrahim Sangare away on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations and Ryan Yates out injured, Forest doesn't have many players in the middle of the pitch. Sangare has been starting a lot recently, so maybe Luiz will get a chance to play more now.
“It depends on him as much as us,” Dyche said about Luiz getting back to his best. “He knows that.
“He’s been around for a while and knows what he needs to do to play well. He is a very good player. We've all seen it.
“He seems to be enjoying his time here now. Hopefully, that continues.
“He was unlucky to get injured when we first got here. But he is talented.
“He’s getting used to how we do things, even though he's been out for a bit. He says he’s enjoying it here.
“He is a good player, and we want him to play when he’s ready. But we need to make sure he's in good shape. He's not quite there yet, but he's getting closer.”
AWONIYI DOUBLE LEAVES NOTTINGHAM FOREST ON THE VERGE OF PREMIER LEAGUE SAFETY
Nottingham Forest moved closer to safety with a 3-1 win over Chelsea, while West Ham fell into the relegation zone after Spurs won.
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Nottingham Forest came out of the weekend looking pretty safe after pulling off an impressive 3-1 win at Chelsea. They’re almost clear of the relegation mess. Tottenham’s big away win at Aston Villa shook things up too, and now West Ham are back in the bottom three, running out of time faster than ever.
Forest have stepped up just when they needed to, leaving West Ham and Tottenham behind with a string of solid performances. Honestly, no one saw this coming, especially since Vitor Pereira shuffled his lineup with eight changes, fresh off a Europa League win against Aston Villa.
Even so, Forest were ahead within 90 seconds, thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s quick strike. By the 15th minute, Igor Jesus calmly buried a penalty after Malo Gusto’s reckless foul in the box. Chelsea had a chance to get back in it, but Cole Palmer wasted a penalty right before the break after a scary head collision involving Jesse Derry.
Awoniyi doubled down and scored again early in the second half, pushing Forest six points ahead of West Ham with just three games left.
West Ham’s weekend started badly; they looked flat and lost to Brentford. Things got worse Sunday night when Tottenham pulled off their first back-to-back Premier League wins since August 2025, beating a heavily rotated Aston Villa side 2-1.
Forest is now out of West Ham’s reach, or almost. Tottenham’s still close enough for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team to worry, but with three tough games coming up, Spurs could stay up even without another win, unless West Ham digs deep and pulls off something unexpected before their home finale against Leeds.
Right now, Forest can practically taste safety. Spurs finally see a way out after weeks of struggle. As for West Ham, they’re left hoping for a miracle, a last-minute twist to dodge the drop.
CESC FABREGAS CONFIRMS INTEREST IN PREMIER LEAGUE RETURN AMID CHELSEA'S MANAGER SEARCH
As Chelsea searches for a new manager, Cesc Fabregas breaks his silence on his future at Como and his Premier League ambitions.
Cesc Fabregas recalls exactly how a conversation with Jose Mourinho prompted him to join Chelsea, despite having the opportunity to return to Arsenal.
After winning six trophies in just three seasons, the Spanish World Cup winner left Barcelona for the second time in 2014. That summer, Fabregas made a move back to the Premier League, signing with Chelsea for about €33 million.
He already knew English football well. Fabregas had arrived at Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona in 2003 and made 212 Premier League appearances for them. When he decided to leave Barcelona, Manchester City also wanted him, but Chelsea convinced him, mostly thanks to Mourinho.
Talking with talkSPORT’s Rory Jennings on YouTube, Fabregas laid out how it all happened. “Honestly, when I made up my mind to leave Barcelona, my first thought was just to go back to Arsenal. They had this buyback clause; they had two weeks to use it after I told them I was leaving. They knew about it but didn’t take it. That surprised me a little, but in the end, I had to think about my career. I was 27, at the peak of my career, and I wanted to continue performing and winning trophies. City and Chelsea were both options.
“But when Mourinho spoke to me, that was it. He showed me his plans for the team and told me about Diego Costa, Courtois, and Filipe Luis and how, with those guys, we’d win the league. He was right, by the way. We won both the Premier League and the Carling Cup.”
Fabregas wasted no time winning over Chelsea fans. On his debut at Burnley, he set up two goals, including a stunning assist for Andre Schurrle. He finished his first season at Chelsea with five goals and 24 assists, along with Premier League and League Cup medals.
Things dipped the next season. Fabregas got just 15 goal contributions, and Chelsea slipped all the way to tenth. But when Antonio Conte took charge in 2016-17, they bounced back, and Fabregas picked up another league title.
He added an FA Cup win in 2018, his second, after his earlier one with Arsenal, and left for Monaco a few months later. His last Chelsea match came in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest. When he got subbed off, he couldn’t hold back tears.
Chelsea supporters still sing about him; that “Oh, Fabregas is magic...” chant sticks around. And with his name in the conversation for a possible return, maybe they haven’t seen the last of him yet.
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