According to reports in the Daily Mail, Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been the subject of a £25m bid from Premier League rivals Chelsea.
The Gunners midfielder has been heavily linked with a move away from the club this summer as he has just one year remaining on his contract and is yet to show any indication that he is willing to extend his stay at the Emirates.
The north London outfit could risk losing him for nothing in 2018 if they refuse to cash in on the 23-year-old now, but despite that the Daily Mail says that they have rebuffed the Blues’ initial approach for the England international, who has excelled in the right and left wing-back roles at the end of last season and beginning of this.
Arsenal supporters were quick to have their say on the rumour via social media and while some would be willing to let the versatile star leave, others believe that they must demand a larger fee than £25m in the current climate of inflated transfer prices.
Although defensive frailties will still be a concern for Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool take huge confidence into their Premier League clash with Arsenal this weekend after obliterating Hoffenheim in Champions League qualifying on Wednesday night.
The Reds cruised to a 3-0 lead over the German outfit at Anfield, Emre Can bagging the first brace of his career and Mohamed Salah tucking away a rebound from a Georginio Wijnaldum shot, before a more even remainder of the match pushed the scores to 4-2.
Roberto Firmino grabbed the final goal for the home side when Jordan Henderson capitalised on a loose touch from a defender, charging through clear on goal before passing to the 15-cap Brazilian for a simple finish.
And our poll suggests Liverpool fans feel that goal was well-deserved. We asked Reds fans earlier this week to choose their Man of the Match from the 4-2 win and it was the 5 foot 11 forward who claimed a whopping 66% of the vote.
According to reports in The Telegraph, England manager Gareth Southgate partly influenced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s decision to reject a move to Chelsea and join Liverpool instead last week.
The Blues had agreed a £35m fee with Arsenal to sign the 23-year-old midfielder, but The Telegraph says the former Southampton man decided to turn down a move to the Premier League holders in favour of joining Jurgen Klopp’s men after speaking with Southgate.
It is likely that the Three Lions boss told Oxlade-Chamberlain that he was likely to play more regularly and in his favoured central midfield position at Anfield, and an improvement is certainly needed after the BBC’s chief football writer Phil McNulty only gave him a 4/10 rating for his performance against Slovakia on Monday.
Chelsea supporters were quick to have their say on the story via social media, and many decided to praise Southgate as they believe that he has done them a favour.
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has paid tribute to Alvaro Morata after the forward scored his third Premier League goal for the club in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Leicester City.
Morata was criticised for missing a penalty in the Community Shield with Arsenal last month, but the Spaniard has netted in three of his team’s four league matches since then.
Conte, however, has said that the most pleasing aspect of Morata’s early-season form is seeing the 24-year-old link with his teammates in the final third of the field.
Conte told Chelsea’s official website:
“It’s a good day for Alvaro. It’s always important for a striker to score but for me it’s very important to see he is improving and he is more involved in our football.
“That’s the most important thing. If he scores I am very happy and I am pleased for the player.”
Morata came close to leaving Real Madrid for Manchester United in the summer, but Jose Mourinho’s side instead moved for Romelu Lukaku.
Morata is expected to make his Champions League debut for Chelsea when the Blues open their group-stage campaign at home to Azerbaijani outfit Qarabag on Tuesday night.
In-form Aston Villa play host to bottom-of-the-table Bolton Wanderers in the Championship at Villa Park on Saturday, and Villa fans are in confident mood ahead of the clash.
After winning just one of their opening seven league fixtures this season, Steve Bruce’s men have shown a huge improvement in recent weeks and have now won their last three, including Tuesday night’s 4-0 thrashing of Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium.
Now the Midlands outfit welcome Phil Parkinson’s side to Villa Park and they will be the overwhelming favourites to take all three points, with the Trotters yet to taste victory after taking just two points from their opening 10 games.
Aston Villa supporters were quick to have their say ahead of the match via social media, and while some say they are “expecting a comfortable win”, others say they “haven’t felt so confident heading towards a game in ages”.
According to reports on ClubCall, Leeds United are weighing up a January loan move for out-of-favour Huddersfield Town left-back Scott Malone, and Whites fans have been quick to have their say on the rumour.
The 26-year-old only joined the Terriers during the summer from Fulham but he has found first team opportunities hard to come by after only featuring for 56 minutes in the Premier League, and ClubCall suggests that he could leave on a temporary basis in the New Year in order to get more regular playing time.
The report adds that Leeds are keen on Malone, and it would be no surprise given Thomas Christiansen has already used Vurnon Anita, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Gaetano Berardi in the position this season and perhaps is yet to decide who is his best option there.
Leeds supporters took to social media to give their thoughts on the rumour, and while some said they “hope there’s some truth in it”, others are more pessimistic and believe it’s “not going to happen”.
While it was never confirmed in the press, it would certainly seem as though former Southampton manager Claude Puel wasn’t popular with a number of the players because of his often negative style of play, and that was perhaps shown by the fact that James Ward-Prowse and Oriol Romeu were the only ones to publicly thank him following his departure in June.
One of the aims for executive director Les Reed in the summer therefore would have been to select not only a good coach, but one that would get on well with the players in order to try and better the eighth-place finish the south coast outfit secured last season.
Mauricio Pellegrino was appointed as Puel’s successor following the usual interview process, and the Argentine arrived at St Mary’s after leading newly-promoted Alaves to a ninth-place finish in La Liga, as well as the Copa del Rey final, in his only season in charge.
Already, the majority of the Saints players seem happier than they were at points last season, with Ryan Bertrand and Virgil van Dijk both looking committed to the cause in recent matches despite the fact that they were both heavily linked with moves away from the club during the summer – we all know the latter in particular was keen to go.
While players like Sofiane Boufal and new addition Wesley Hoedt may not be happy right now as they find themselves on the substitutes’ bench rather than in the starting line-up, that issue is natural in any large Premier League squad and they will be fighting for their place in the side.
Pellegrino may be popular with the players but there is something that is letting Southampton down right now, and that is his tactics.
One of the 43-year-old’s biggest issues when he took the reins was to sort out the team’s goalscoring issues after they netted just 41 times in their 38 Premier League matches last season.
That clearly isn’t good enough if the club wants to be in contention to qualify for European football again this term, and they certainly haven’t got off to the best of starts this term to try and rectify that problem.
While the opening day goalless draw against Swansea City was perhaps one of those days seeing as his team had 29 efforts on goal, the 3-2 success against West Ham United that followed was certainly fortunate.
Saints were leading 2-0 against 10 men before being pegged back to 2-2, and the Irons were the better team before Charlie Austin’s last-gasp penalty.
That match was certainly an early indication of the naivety in Pellegrino’s methods, and the fact that he was out-thought by Marco Silva in the 2-0 home defeat to Watford in September also showed that the former Alaves man still has plenty to learn.
The south coast outfit have tended to favour getting the ball out wide to the full-backs or wingers before crossing it into the box so far this term, but with many of those not being good enough and the lack of a real target man – or goalscorer when Shane Long is on the pitch – in the penalty area when they are, it certainly hasn’t proved to be a fruitful tactic and there needs to be more variation in the final third to boost that disappointing goal tally.
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The sign of a good manager is learning from your mistakes and making changes, but the jury is still out on whether the 43-year-old has the ability and confidence to do that.
While Southampton did beat a poor Crystal Palace side 1-0, they then took just one point from three matches against Stoke City, Manchester United and Newcastle United, with the loss against the former looking particularly poor given their current spot in the Premier League table.
Saints’ most likely goalscorer, arguably, Manolo Gabbiadini found himself on the substitutes’ bench in two of those three matches, while Boufal was for all three despite the XI often including too many ‘safe’ rather than attacking players.
Despite the latter making a positive impression off of the bench against the Potters – he helped set up the equaliser – and an encouraging cameo against the Magpies, the Moroccan once again failed to make the starting line-up against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday even though Nathan Redmond was dropped and Dusan Tadic is clearly out of form.
While the south coast outfit were always on top against the Baggies, you never really saw them scoring and it was only an incredible piece of solo magic from Boufal that finally found the breakthrough.
Now I think that goal and impact would see the majority of Premier League managers select the 24-year-old in the starting line-up against Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday, but I am generally unsure whether Pellegrino will do that.
He seems to be the kind of cautious coach that would keep the attacker on the substitutes’ bench as he knows he can make an impression from there, rather than giving him a go from the beginning of the game.
Anthony Martial may not be a guaranteed starter under Jose Mourinho, but the Frenchman undertakes an important role in Manchester United’s squad.
In fact, no player has provided more goals or assists as a substitute in the Premier League so far this season, with four strikes and two set-ups respectively.
He’s almost becoming Mourinho’s equivalent of United’s legendary super-sub Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, something that was evident on Saturday as the 21-year-old came on from the bench to bag a huge winner against title rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
But there’s still a feeling that Mourinho needs to keep such a talented young player onside by issuing him adequate minutes, or else face the prospect of leaving him disillusioned – and potentially seeking pastures new come the end of the season.
Manchester United host Benfica tonight at Old Trafford looking to continue their perfect record in the Champions League. So, would you start Martial against the Portuguese outfit, or continue the tactic of letting him impact from the bench?
International breaks are the most detested part of English football’s hectic calendar; the bloody thunder and relentless drama of the top flight unwillingly swapped for notoriously drab Three Lions performances; and even more so when hosting friendlies rather than qualifiers.
And yet, friendlies ahead of major tournaments continue to be billed as an integral instrument for national managers, a chance to further evaluate their squads, their tactics and whether any rank outsiders can force their way into selection reckoning by the time the summer comes around.
But for the Three Lions particularly, there is a greater significance. Trapped in a cycle of easing through qualifying groups packed with uncompetitive opposition before coming unstuck against heavyweights at the tournament itself, friendlies represent a rare opportunity for England to test themselves against the calibre of teams that usually eliminate them.
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That’s exactly why England face reigning world champions Germany on Friday, followed by five-time World Cup winners Brazil on Tuesday. England know they struggle eke out wins against European minnows, but there’s a feeling the dynamic nature of the personnel could see them fare significantly better against the kind of sides that will allow them more space on the counter-attack. That’s the hope, anyway.
Perhaps the resulting question for fans then, is what can we expect to learn international friendlies and whether they’re worth our Friday and Tuesday night viewing. Do warm-up friendlies ever tell us anything about England’s chances for the associated tournament, or are they little more than an FA money-spinner occasionally filling fans with false hope? Is there any correlation between England’s friendly results and tournament success, or should we pay them no attention at all?
The top ranking on the warm-up friendly mini-table is incredibly telling; England took five wins from seven friendlies heading into the Euro 2016, the most they’ve scheduled ahead of a European Championship campaign this millenium, including a shock 3-2 win over Die Mannschaft that created a ripple of genuine optimism.
But the tournament ended with arguably the most humiliating result in the national team’s history and Roy Hodgson’s immediate resignation; clearly, the seemingly thorough preparation didn’t have the desired effect. Likewise, England picked up just one win in five games in ahead of Euro 2004, ironically against Iceland, yet still recorded their second-highest finish to date at the European championship that summer.
That being said, there is somewhat of a pattern in that England’s best World Cup finish from the last three tournaments, the quarter-finals of 2006, immediately followed a series of friendlies that produced a perfect record of four wins from four, not to mention a supremely healthy goal difference of +10. They faced some decent opposition in those games as well, chiefly arch-rivals Argentina and a Uruguay side that would reach the playoffs of the following World Cup four years later.
Similarly, England’s worst tournament finish from the last six, the Group Stages of the 2014 World Cup, came after a warm-up campaign that saw England win just two games from six, also drawing two and losing two, with a goal difference of a mere +1. Even failing to score against Honduras during those games, while being dealt defeats by Chile and Germany, the warning signs were already there for England’s lack of progress in the tournament.
But in truth, this can never be a genuine science because there are simply too many variables; the quality of the Three Lions squads at the time, the competitiveness and motivation of the opposition, the number of players made unavailable through injury. That’s exactly why Gareth Southgate will be so frustrated heading into the next two games; six players, all but one of whom started the last round of Premier League fixtures and at least five of whom will be in England’s first XI next summer, have all pulled out of the latest squad for the biggest tests the Three Lions have faced in 18 months – and the biggest indicators of how they’ll fare at the World Cup in Russia.
In some senses though, Harry Winks, Dele Alli, Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson and Fabian Delph withdrawing themselves through injury is arguably justified by the lack of correlation. Why endure the extra burden of international friendlies, when they historically have such minimal impact on England’s successes when the tournaments come around? Of course, the result is never the ultimate motivation behind friendlies – but if the objective isn’t to win, how much can these players be expected to exert themselves anyway, just before the most hectic period of the Premier League schedule?
In any case, the warm-up friendly mini-league serves as a timely reminder to England fans; beating Germany and Brazil doesn’t give England any more or any less of a chance of upsetting the odds at next summer’s World Cup.
Leeds United are performing much more positively in the Championship following a run of seven defeats in nine matches.
At the weekend, the Whites secured a 2-0 victory over Barnsley on away soil, which moved them to eighth in the table, three points adrift of the playoff places.
While the senior team may be celebrating, the Under-18s have suffered disappointment by getting knocked out of the FA Youth Cup.
The youngsters faced Burnley away and were undone with just six minutes of normal time remaining when Jordan Cropper scored the only goal of the game to send the Clarets through.
Jack Clarke, who is one of Leeds’ promising youngsters, took to Twitter to post his reaction to the contest.
The reaction to his message was one of positivity, with many praising the effort of the young guns.
Some fans also tipped the teenager to make his way into the first team in due course.