{"id":554496,"date":"2026-04-28T05:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T05:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/554496\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T05:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T05:01:10","slug":"simons-suffers-acl-injury-gibbs-whites-amazing-form-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/554496\/","title":{"rendered":"Simons suffers ACL injury, Gibbs-White&#8217;s AMAZING form and more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Our daily round-up of the latest news from clubs and players across the Premier League<\/p>\n<p>Here is your daily briefing for the latest Premier League stories on Monday 27 April.<\/p>\n<p>Simons injury worsens Spurs\u2019 attacking void<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/clubs\/6\/tottenham-hotspur\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> have been dealt yet another major blow in their bid to avoid relegation with the news that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/493362\/xavi-simons\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Xavi Simons<\/a> has ruptured his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL).<\/p>\n<p>The Dutch playmaker went down in the second half of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/match\/2562234\/wolverhampton-wanderers-vs-tottenham-hotspur\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Spurs\u2019 crucial 1-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday<\/a>, their first Premier League victory of 2026. With surgery required, he will now miss the remainder of the season, and the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Spurs&#8217; win percentage has been broadly similar this season whether or not Simons starts (26.3 per cent) or does not start (20 per cent). <\/p>\n<p>However, he had looked somewhere near his best under Spurs&#8217; new head coach Roberto De Zerbi, finishing top of his team\u2019s rankings for goals and assists (two), shots (four) and dribbles attempted (four) in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/match\/2562224\/tottenham-hotspur-vs-brighton-and-hove-albion\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2-2 draw against Brighton &amp; Hove Albion<\/a>, which was Simons&#8217; last full match.<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/460842\/mohammed-kudus\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mohammed Kudus<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/172780\/james-maddison\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">James Maddison<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/445044\/dejan-kulusevski\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dejan Kulusevski<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/550839\/wilson-odobert\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wilson Odobert<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/154566\/dominic-solanke\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dominic Solanke<\/a> also on Spurs&#8217; extended list of injured players, Simons&#8217; absence adds to a major lack of creativity at De Zerbi&#8217;s disposal.<\/p>\n<p>How Gibbs-White became Premier League\u2019s form man<\/p>\n<p>By the turn of the year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/222531\/morgan-gibbs-white\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Morgan Gibbs-White<\/a> had scored only three Premier League goals. However, since 1 January, no player in the top flight has scored more than his 10.<\/p>\n<p>The real upturn has occurred since March, with Gibbs-White finding the net seven times in his past seven league outings.<\/p>\n<p>He has flourished under Vitor Pereira, who succeeded Sean Dyche as Forest&#8217;s head coach in mid-February and appears to have\u00a0 unlocked Gibbs-White&#8217;s attacking capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>Heat maps showing where Gibbs-White has been most active on the pitch in 2025\/26<\/p>\n<p>In a tactical shift midway through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/match\/2562223\/nottingham-forest-vs-burnley\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Forest\u2019s 4-1 win against Burnley<\/a> earlier this month, Gibbs-White shifted to the left of midfield. He promptly scored a hat-trick, and then added another goal to his tally in Friday&#8217;s 5-0 win at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/clubs\/56\/sunderland\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sunderland.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When the team is struggling in the game, a lot of players could prefer to hide themselves, they do not want the ball,&#8221; said Pereira. &#8220;But Morgan wants the ball, he wants the responsibility. He wants to score goals, he wants to assist.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea FA Cup win &#8216;brings confidence back&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/clubs\/8\/chelsea\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chelsea<\/a> interim manager Calum McFarlane admitted his side had to &#8220;break the momentum&#8221; in their FA Cup semi-final against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/clubs\/2\/leeds-united\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Leeds United<\/a> on Sunday, having failed to score in five consecutive Premier League defeats.<\/p>\n<p>A 1-0 win courtesy of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/448047\/enzo-fernandez\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Enzo Fernandez<\/a> header did just that, not only securing a shot at silverware in the final against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/clubs\/43\/manchester-city\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Manchester City<\/a>, but hopefully changing the entire feeling of the squad, according to McFarlane.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was important to break the momentum and the form that we were in,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There were times in the run that we\u2019ve had recently where you felt like things were going against you a bit.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think we hit the post three times against Man Utd [when Chelsea lost 1-0] and you just feel like, &#8216;is this going to change?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[Winning] changes the feeling of the group and brings confidence back. If we can put that sort of performance in, we will win more than we lose.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea currently sit eighth in the Premier League table, with four games remaining as they look to secure a European spot.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal\u2019s marathon midfield duo<\/p>\n<p>All eyes were on the streets of London on Sunday, when Kenya\u2019s Sabastian Sawe became the first man to run a marathon in under two hours in a competitive race.<\/p>\n<p>But, just a day earlier, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/clubs\/3\/arsenal\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arsenal&#8217;<\/a>s midfield maestro pair continued their epic running shift in the north of the city as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/match\/2562226\/arsenal-vs-newcastle-united\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mikel Arteta&#8217;s side beat Newcastle United 1-0 <\/a>to regain their place at the top of the Premier League table.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/481655\/martin-zubimendi\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Martin Zubimendi<\/a> has started every league game this season, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/204480\/declan-rice\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Declan Rice<\/a> missing just one. Between them, they have completed a combined 711.7 kilometres in the Premier League, which equates to 16.8 marathons.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Arsenal were represented in the London Marathon by former players <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/events\/hall-of-fame\/inductees\/tony-adams\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tony Adams<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/41792\/aaron-ramsey\/career\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aaron Ramsey<\/a>. Premier League Hall of Fame inductee Adams completed the 26.2 miles in just over six hours (6:21.17), while Ramsey clocked an impressive 3:00.30, weeks after announcing his playing retirement.<\/p>\n<p>Gary Neville: Premier League is Arsenal\u2019s best silverware chance<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal are still firmly in the hunt for a historic double, sitting top of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/tables\/premier-league\/2025-26\/all-matchweeks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Premier League table<\/a> with a three-point lead over Man City and preparing for Wednesday\u2019s first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final at Atletico Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>The Gunners are unbeaten in Europe this season but eight-time Premier League winner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.premierleague.com\/en\/players\/1807\/gary-neville\/overview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gary Neville<\/a> believes they stand a better chance of domestic glory than they do of triumphing in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A lot of these [Arsenal] players don\u2019t know how to win a Champions League, but they\u2019ve been so close in the title race and they\u2019ll be so desperate not to fall short in that,&#8221; he said on The Gary Neville Podcast.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I do think that Mikel Arteta has to go for every single game and not prioritise any over the other. But he knows that the Premier League is the one that\u2019s easier to win than the Champions League right now.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think there are better teams in there than them in the Champions League and it\u2019s a cup competition. They\u2019ve got three games left [in Europe] and they\u2019ve only got four left in the league, so you could argue that it\u2019s easy to win both [trophies].<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But I don\u2019t see them getting past Atletico Madrid or [in the final] the other teams in the semi-finals, though I do see them having a chance with the league.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Battle for Premier League promotion<\/p>\n<p>Into the final week of the Championship season, the race is on to see who will join Coventry City in the Premier League next season.<\/p>\n<p>Frank Lampard\u2019s Coventry side followed up their recent title-sealing victory by beating playoff hopefuls Wrexham 3-1 on Sunday, but four teams remain in the hunt for the second automatic promotion spot.<\/p>\n<p>Southampton host Ipswich Town on Tuesday night in a fixture that could have huge implications for two sides relegated from the top flight last season.<\/p>\n<p>Victory for Ipswich would ensure second place (barring an inconceivable goal difference swing), while Southampton must win to keep their automatic promotion hopes alive.<\/p>\n<p>Millwall and Middlesbrough will be watching intently, hoping they get a shot at promotion glory on the final day of Championship action this Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The three sides that do not gain automatic promotion are already guaranteed play-off places alongside one of Wrexham, Hull City and Derby County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our daily round-up of the latest news from clubs and players across the Premier League Here is your&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,1602,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-554496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-text","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}