VAN GIVES RIVALS CITY THE SWERVE
Hodgson urges rival fans to ‘behave well’ after weekend aggro WAGNER PLEADING FOR
VIRGIL VAN DIJK claims Liverpool are ignoring Manchester City in the title race.
Both sides have broken away from the chasing pack at the top of the Premier League and have matched each other stride for stride in recent weeks. Liverpool’s lastgasp derby win over Everton kept them two points behind the champions, but Van Dijk (above) says the Reds are only focused on themselves. The Dutch defender said: “There’s always pressure at the club, for Liverpool. That’s a good thing. “We don’t need to look to City. It’s good to stay close to them, but to win our games is the most important thing. We don’t need to think about them. They are doing an amazing job, but we need to look at ourselves.” ROY HODGSON has warned fans not to take football back to the “really bad times”, as Sussex Police promised an increased presence at the M23 derby.
Last season’s fixture between Brighton and Crystal Palace saw six arrests and around 150 away fans – some with tickets – refused entry to the Amex Stadium.
Sussex Police later had to apologise for claiming Eagles fans had brought “knives and knuckledusters”.
Last weekend’s derby clashes saw trouble in north London and Merseyside. But Hodgson, who first managed in English football in 1982, said the widespread condemnation of bad behaviour proved it is no longer acceptable – or normal.
“I’m expecting our fans to behave well and I’m expecting the Brighton fans to behave well,” said the former England manager. “Unfortunately, there is always going to be instances where some people don’t.
“But the major difference today, compared to the really bad times of crowd violence, where it was an everyday occurrence, is that people are very quick to jump in and condemn the behaviour and clubs are very quick to identify culprits and suspend culprits.
“I don’t know if there is so much more we can do than that, other than highlighting this is behaviour that has nothing to do with football. They are society-related not football-related.
“People who are racist may come to football too. It is good football is making it harder for them and singling them out BRIGHTON: CRYSTAL PALACE: REFEREE: HEAD2HEAD:
ODDS: much quicker.” Hodgson predicted a raucous atmosphere tonight as his Palace side, which has kept two clean sheets in their last two games, try to shackle former striker Glenn Murray.
But despite scoring only six goals in their seven away games so far, the Eagles boss claimed he was not looking for new forward options in January. “I am confident the goals will come, and I don’t know that someone else could come in and double our tally,” he added.
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Barry of Sussex Police said: “There will be an increased police presence around the ground, in the city and in neighbouring towns.
“Security within the ground remains the responsibility of the club, supported by us.” DAVID WAGNER has called on Callum Wilson to give Huddersfield a break tonight – by taking a breather from his deadly scoring record against them.
The Bournemouth striker (left) is on a hot streak, scoring on his England debut last month against the US and heading his fifth goal in seven league games against Manchester City on Saturday.
Wilson has a habit of making life a misery for Huddersfield too – he struck twice and missed a penalty against them on his Cherries debut in 2014 and netted a hat-trick last season as Wagner’s side were walloped 4-0 on the south coast. Huddersfield have climbed out of the bottom three.
But they suffered a setback on Saturday when they went down 2-1 at home to Brighton and lost striker Steve Mounie to a red card.
Now Wagner is hoping Wilson doesn’t make the Terriers’ week a whole lot worse.
The German coach said: “He is