Europa League last-16 draw, weekend team news and more – live!

Aston Villa: Dean Smith has revealed that Jack Grealish will miss out on Villa’s match against Leeds United at Elland Road tomorrow evening as he recovers from a leg injury. Villa’s star was also absent for his side’s defeat at the hands of Leicester City last weekend, prompting a subsequernt storm in a teacup after Leicester got wind of his injury when several Aston Villa players removed Greealish from their Fantasy Football teams.

Speaking to the press yesterday, Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa said he hoped Grealish would be fit for the encounter, despite the threat he poses. “He is a great player who can unbalance you,” he said. “But I always prefer that opponents have their best players available because even if that fortifies a team, and makes them more scary to face, it’s also a stimulus for us to face such players, to try to neutralise them.”

Rangers’s season gets better and better

With their coronation as Scottish champions a formality, Rangers spanked five past Royal Antwerp to make it to the last 16 of the Europa League for the second consecutive season. “We wanted to be very bold and we picked two very aggressive, ambitious teams,” said a very proud Rangers manager, Steven Gerrard. “The players deserve all the plaudits that will come their way.” Ewan M urray was at Ibrox for the Guardian.

Manchester United held but breeze through

Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side were held at Old Trafford by Real Sociedad, but the four first leg goals they scored without reply were more than enough to see them through to the next round of the Europa League. Jamie Jackson was at Old Trafford for the Guardian …

Arsenal leave it late

Arsenal put their fans through the wringer, relying on a late goal from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to send them through to the last 16 of the Europa League. Bukayo Saka was the hero, picking out his team-mate with a sublime cross to the far post, putting the ball on a plate for Aubameyang in the 87th minute.

Leicester City go out with a whimper

Brendan Rodgers has taken full responsibility for his side’s strangely flat performance against Slavia Prague last night, when goals from Lukas Provod and Abdallah Sima tsent the Czech team into the last 16.

“It’s my responsibility,” he said. “I pick the team to try to get the result and that clearly didn’t work as well as I would have liked.

“We’ve changed the team often enough because we’ve carried injuries all year, so we’ve had to be able to do that. The players returning from injury, especially Ricardo and Barnesy, they’ve been playing non-stop and we had to find a way to freshen up the team.

“I would still expect us to do better but when you’re missing the players we are, that’s going to affect the quality of your game.

“There are no excuses. It’s my responsibility. I pick the team and the set-up. It wasn’t to be. The best team won.”

Jordan Henderson

The big news this morning is that Liverpool’s skipper is recuperating after surgery to repair his groin injury and will be sidelined for six to eight weeks. Having been forced off the pitch during last weekend’s Merseyside derby, Henderson joins the very long list of Liverpool’s lame and halt, and will miss as many as 10 Liverpool matches, as well as three England games. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Greetings and welcome to our rolling blog covering all the news that’s fit to print (and plenty more that may not be) as we look forward to another hectic weekend of football action. We’ll bring you top content from various managerial press conferences, keep you posted on any big developments and bring you a blow-by-blow account of the Europa League Round of 16 draw from the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland at noon (GMT). Leicester City are out following their surprise defeat to Slavia Prague, but Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Manchester United and Rangers are all in the upturned Uefa hat.