JACK’S LITERALLY THE DIFFERENCE...

ASTON VILLA win 50 per cent of their matches when Jack Grealish is playing, and just 17 per cent without him. How does this equate to points? Well, even if Villa lost the other 50 per cent of their matches they would still have 57 points at the end of the season which, last year, would have taken them to eighth, above arsenal. a win total of 17 per cent, meanwhile, is slightly less than 20 points, leaving another 16 to be collected in draws to stay up, probably. so Grealish (above) is quite literally the difference between success and failure for Villa — and should be priced accordingly if sold in the summer.

JOSE MOURINHO’S position is said to be under threat at Tottenham and one potential successor is Julian Nagelsmann, who has done a fine job at RB Leipzig. Of course, had a Mourinho team performed as dismally as Leipzig did across two legs against Liverpool — or gone down 5-0 at Manchester United, where Mourinho won 6-1 earlier in the season — he would have been rubbished. There is a lot of green grass on the other side of football’s fences.

WEST HAM manager David moyes was furious at arsenal’s second goal on sunday. His player, Jarrod Bowen, felt he had been fouled and stopped the ball with his hands to take a free-kick. Jon moss disagreed and gave arsenal a free-kick for handball instead, which they took quickly and scored from the move.

there are lessons here. Firstly — you’re not the referee. You wouldn’t want his job and certainly not his salary. secondly, you’re not Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo tells the referee what to think and gets away with it. Lionel messi has that influence, too. Bowen does not and never will. so play to the whistle. It’s not fair but neither is life.

DARREN MOORE is a good manager. His first win at Sheffield Wednesday may have come at the fifth time of asking, but Barnsley are in the play-off places and last lost a league game on January 19. They were on a run of nine wins and a draw in 10 matches going into Saturday, so victory at oakwell was arguably the result of the weekend. What Moore now needs is time. Little about the present Sheffield Wednesday regime, however, suggests he gets it.