Guardiola's 'Hopeful' Guehi Campaign and Newcastle's Phantom Sack Decision

The football press has been working overtime to manufacture drama from Manchester City's latest League Cup progression, with particular focus on Pep Guardiola's Marc Guehi situation—all while managing to almost completely ignore the rather inconvenient matter of Eddie Howe and Newcastle.

The Great Guehi Demand That Wasn't

The Mirror got the ball rolling with headlines screaming about Guardiola making "demands" regarding Guehi's eligibility for the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal at Wembley. The only problem? A quick read of the actual quotes reveals the Manchester City boss deployed the word "hopefully" a staggering nine times. That's not exactly the language of ultimatums.

The Daily Mail, never one to resist a bit of theatrical punctuation, went with "BANS" to describe Guehi's ineligibility—as if the poor lad is serving a suspension rather than simply not being eligible under existing regulations. Sky Sports News eventually confirmed what most sensible observers already knew: the EFL won't be rewriting its rulebook to accommodate City's squad planning.

It was always a long shot, really—a hopeful flutter before January's transfer window rather than any serious expectation of rule changes.

Newcastle's Recurring Sack Decision Saga

Now for the genuinely baffling storyline: Newcastle supposedly "making a decision" on Eddie Howe's future following their Carabao Cup exit. This is the third such "decision" in recent months, according to various outlets.

SPORTbible led the charge with their quotation-mark spectacular—those little symbols that traditionally indicate you're, well, actually quoting someone. Except they weren't. The narrative appears to rest entirely on a lengthy talkSPORT interview with Newcastle CEO David Hopkinson that aired a few hours before the cup defeat that allegedly prompted the "decision."

The Evening Chronicle then reported that Hopkinson "hit back" at pundit comments 24 hours before those comments were actually made public. Teddy Sherwood, for the record, had actually praised Howe's work while criticising decision-makers at various clubs—hardly the scathing critique being suggested.

Luke Edwards in the Telegraph does note that Howe is "arguably one of the most secure managers in the Premier League," which rather undermines the entire sack-watch narrative that's been recycled since November and December.

And Now for Something Completely Irrelevant

The Express's most-read story this morning? Arsenal news about Ethan Nwaneri's "early exit" from Marseille as a teenager. That "early exit" was a half-time substitution. The teenager being "called out"? James Wilson, currently at Tottenham, formerly of Hearts. Nothing to do with Nwaneri whatsoever.

It's been a quiet news day, apparently.