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Liverpool youngster Lloyd Jones extends Blackpool loan

Liverpool youngster Lloyd Jones has extended his loan deal with Blackpool until the end of the season.

The Reds' Under-21 captain, 19, joined the League One club on a short-term youth loan last month.

However, after playing in all of their pre-season friendlies, the Seasiders have decided to keep the defender for a longer spell.

"I'm very excited for the season coming up, there's lots of games and hopefully lots of experience to be gained as well," he told Blackpool's official website.

Jones, who has been capped by England at Under-20 level, was loaned to Cheltenham Town and Accrington Stanley last season.

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José Mourinho says disagreements with Abramovich in the past at Chelsea

We had some interferences and a bit of a disagreement with some ideas’ 
• Mourinho expects usual suspects to compete for Premier League title

José Mourinho says his disagreements with Roman Abramovich are in the past and that he is ready to fight for his fourth Premier League title starting this weekend.

In his first spell at Chelsea, starting in 2004, Mourinho won the league in his first two seasons, only to fall out with the club’s Russian owner and leave in September 2007.

He returned two years ago, finishing third in his first season and then winning the title again in May. “In my first period, my personal relationship [with Abramovich] was very good [but] professionally we had some interferences and a bit of a disagreement with some ideas,” Mourinho told Sky Sports News.

“In this moment we don’t have this problem. When I left Real Madrid to come here, Mr Abramovich asked me to fight for titles. In my first season we were almost there, in my second season we did it and in my third season if you are close, you can always do it.”

Chelsea are aiming to become the first team to retain the title since Manchester United in 2009 and Mourinho believes it will be the usual clubs challenging them.

“The top five are the top five, and why not a club like Tottenham to get in there?” he said. “But in the end history plays a part and investment plays a part. Chelsea [were] four times champion in the last decade. Arsenal are a fantastic club with great players. Liverpool have amazing investment.

“Man City is a squad to love and a club with two Premier Leagues in the last four or five years. And Man United with everything – the history, the players, the investment. So everybody will be there.”

The champions begin their defence of the title with a home game against Swansea City on Saturday and their first away game is against Manchester City, last season’s runners-up, on Sunday week.

Guardiola questions Schweinsteiger’s fitness after Manchester United move

Guardiola: ‘During the last three years he was never in a good condition’
• Manchester United’s £15m signing made only 82 starts in four seasons

Pep Guardiola has cast a doubt on Manchester United’s new midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger by saying his former player was never fully fit over the last three seasons.

The Bayern Munich manager said the 31-year-old Schweinsteiger can only be a success at the Premier League club if he can shake off his injury problems.

“When he does not have injury problems, I am completely convinced he will do very well at Manchester United,” Guardiola said. “He is a top, top player. Unfortunately, during the last three years he was never in good condition. He is going to play really good there [at United]. I really hope that is going to happen.”

Schweinsteiger managed only 82 starts in the last four seasons with Bayern Munich and the club’s honorary president, Franz Beckenbauer, recently suggested that the midfielder would struggle with the physical demands of the Premier League, hinting he would have been better suited to the MLS.

In reponse, Schweinsteiger said: “I don’t know when Beckenbauer moved to America [to New York Comsos at 32]. It is a challenge for me. I feel very good. I had last year the thing with my knee after the World Cup which was very intensive for me and I had a break at October.

“But from that time on I had no injury, I was fit and felt fit at the end. Of course sometimes when you are getting older you need a little more time for recovery, maybe half a day more than 20-year-old players, so that’s normal. But I think I have a lot of experience, especially of the big matches, and that is an advantage always.”

Schweinsteiger, a World Cup winner with Germany last summer who spent 17 years at Bayern, has been plagued by ankle and knee injuries throughout his career.

Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain rejects Roy Keane’s selfies criticism

Keane claimed too many Arsenal players are interested in selfies 
• Oxlade-Chamberlain says squad are serious about winning trophies

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has rejected Roy Keane’s claim that Arsenal cannot win the Premier League because too many of their players are “interested in selfies” and care more about how they look than securing victories.

Oxlade-Chamberlain said Arsenal’s Community Shield win over Chelsea had put down a marker for the season, as his side aim to improve on third place in the Premier League behind José Mourinho’s side and Manchester City. He struck the only goal of the game at Wembley and said the squad are the most confident he had been involved with at the club.

Asked about Keane’s weekend remarks regarding selfies, Oxlade-Chamberlain, 21, said: “It’s a new era, isn’t it? Some people do it, some don’t. We’re serious about winning trophies. Personally, and I can speak for the rest of the squad, we’ve been serious every single year I’ve been at the club about winning trophies.

“You can see that on the pitch. A lot of people don’t see when we lose and go through tough times how upset and disappointed we are. We’ve always wanted to win trophies and in the last years we’ve won a few. This season we want to go that one better.”

The England international described the belief in Arsenal’s squad as being the strongest since he joined in 2011. “We’ve all been together a good number of years, we’ve shared two consecutive successes in the FA Cup and we’ve had the highs and the nice feeling from that. That always helps. As a team we’ve suffered some upsets as well and I think we’ve grown from that and learned.

“It was what we needed against a good Chelsea outfit after the season they had last year. It’s important for us to come into these fixtures and lay down good foundations and good markers. I’m glad we did that at Wembley.

“It does help the confidence and that belief and faith going into that next fixture against them. Against any of the teams at the top of the table, that helps but it is a long season and it is very early doors. We can’t get too carried away with that but it is a good end to our pre-season which has gone really well.”

After Arsenal’s victory – their fifth out of five pre-season matches and one which ended a run of 13 matches without a win for Arsène Wenger against Mourinho – Oxlade-Chamberlain emphasised the need for results against the top sides: “José is a fantastic manager. He’s shown that over a number of years and he puts out great sides – he’s got great tactics.

“It’s important we can compete with those teams and we’ve always got to try to go one better and win. We managed to do that this time and that’s good but we can’t get carried away. I’m sure we’re going to have a few more fierce competitions and fierce games against them this season.”

In a quiet summer for incoming transfers at the Emirates, Arsène Wengerrecruited Petr Cech from the champions and the goalkeeper put in an impressive performance against his former club. Yet Oxlade-Chamberlain said Cech offers more than just stability between the sticks. “The addition of Petr Cech will certainly help us, he’s a quality player. He is an individual and a character who has won things – that’s another one with the winning mentality getting in our squad and it can only help us.”

The forward hopes a mixture of luck and hard work can bring a more consistent season, after a combination of hamstring and groin injuries restricted him to 17 league appearances in 2014-15.

He said: “I feel good. You know what football is like – you can never speak too soon, so I take each game as it comes. I’m putting in the work off the pitch and fitness gives you the platform and allows you to do the things you want to do. So, fingers crossed I have better luck this season.

“The medical and fitness teams have been really good, not just for me but all the boys through pre-season. I believe we’re all at a good level physically. We’re not 100% there yet – that comes a few weeks into the season but they’ve done a really good job on us and I feel good. Fingers crossed we stay in good nick and it gives us a good chance for the season.”