Liverpool were in lethal form on Tuesday night against Huddersfield Town, beating them 3-0 away from home in the English Premier League.
The Reds needed to win to put distance between themselves and fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who have a difficult match against Manchester United tonight.
While players like Emre Can, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino stole the headlines for their goalscoring contributions, it was also a big night for the Liverpool defence.
It was the first clean sheet for Jurgen Klopp’s side since Boxing Day and perhaps surprisingly it came without new star signing Virgil van Dijk, who was on the bench, replaced by Dejan Lovren.
Supporters praised Lovren’s performance after the match and are now calling on the Croatian international to partner his new teammate ahead of Joel Matip.
Is a Lovren and van Dijk partnership the way forward to provide defensive stability in the coming weeks and months?
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According to the reliable @ExWHUemployee on his Twitter account, West Ham United are getting closer to an agreement to sign Anderlecht midfielder Leander Dendoncker before the January transfer window closes, and Irons fans have been quick to have their say on the news.
The east London outfit are already on the verge of bringing Inter Milan midfielder Joao Mario to the club on loan with a view to a permanent move in the summer, but it appears as though manager David Moyes wants to add another player in the centre of the park.
The Hammers have been heavily linked with a move for Dendoncker – who can play as a defensive midfielder or as a centre-back – throughout this month, and it appears they are finally making progress on bringing the 22-year-old to the Premier League.
West Ham supporters took to social media to give their thoughts on the latest update, and while one said the Belgian is “just what we need”, another said “let’s hope it happens”.
Tottenham Hotspur will be heading into this weekend with plenty of confidence having beaten Manchester United in midweek.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men outplayed the Red Devils at Wembley, eventually claiming a 2-0 victory, but the scoreline could have been much larger.
The North London outfit have a tough run of games coming up, including a showdown against Liverpool at Anfield this Sunday.
Following that fixture, Spurs will take on Newport County in an FA Cup replay and then North London rivals Arsenal in the league.
The difficult schedule continues as Tottenham play Juventus in the first leg of a last-16 clash in the Champions League.
To round off a busy month, Pochettino’s team will face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
The fans have every right to feel confident about the upcoming fixtures given that the team are unbeaten in nine games in all competitions.
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Even though their opponents could provide a stern test, it seems that the majority of Tottenham supporters think that they are in for a good few weeks on the pitch.
Sometimes young footballers just look the part, and that’s certainly the case with Ainsley Maitland-Niles. The 20-year-old is always so composed and comfortable on the ball that it becomes easy to forget this is still only his first full campaign as a member of Arsenal’s senior squad, yesterday’s 3-0 win over Ostersund marking his 20th appearance across all competitions this season.
And although the Swedish side hardly provided the most formidable opposition, yesterday evening was another occasion in which the promising Englishman looked so calm, confident and natural. While he didn’t play a direct hand in any of Arsenal’s goals, the platform Maitland-Niles and Mohamed Elneny provided in central midfield was crucial to maintaining the Gunners’ dominance over their Europa League opponents.
Asserting authority over the engine room in an exceptionally busy and holistic display, Maitland-Niles recorded the second-most tackles, interceptions, dribbles and touches of the ball of any Arsenal player against Ostersund, while creating one chance and completing 94% of his passes. That’s an impressive impact for any 20-year-old to have on any game at senior level, and especially on a European stage, regardless of Ostersund’s questionable quality.
It wasn’t a perfect performance from Maitland-Niles though; he was dispossessed the most times of any player on the pitch, four, and frequently winning balls in dangerous areas almost allowed the home side to claw their way back into the match after the Gunners scored twice early on. It was a timely reminder that although the youngster is an incredibly exciting prospect, he can still be a little naive at times.
But perhaps the ultimate question lingering over Maitland-Niles – who Transfermarkt value at £4.5million – is what kind of player he actually is. In recent years, we’ve seen countless promising Arsenal youngsters struggle to fulfil their potential upon being caught between more than one position – Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain being the obvious examples – and in his short Gunners career he’s already been fielded as a central midfielder, a wing-back, a full-back and a defensive midfielder, while some would argue he should be playing much further forward.
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So, in a bid to ensure Maitland-Niles doesn’t endure a similar path to Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott, which position should Arsene Wenger stick with? Let us know by voting below…
It would be fair to say that Robert Snodgrass failed to make his mark at West Ham United last season.
The attacker joined the Hammers from Hull City in January 2017, but failed to score in 15 Premier League appearances in the second half of the 2016-17 season.
Snodgrass was sent on loan to Aston Villa in the latter stages of the summer transfer window, and the Scotland international has been excellent for Steve Bruce’s side this term.
Indeed, he has scored eight times and registered nine assists in 29 Championship appearances for a team that have ambitions of returning to the top flight.
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Snodgrass, who is valued at £6.3m by transfermarkt.co.uk, registered a goal and an assist in Villa’s 4-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend, which led to a West Ham Twitter account discussing the Scot.
As expected, the West Ham fans responded in their numbers, with many insisting that Snodgrass has found his level in the Championship.
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That said, there were those that claimed the attacker should be given another chance to impress for the Hammers.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below.
Leeds fans have been reacting on Twitter after the club bravely (or stupidly) wished out of form goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald a happy birthday.
The 28 year-old keeper was signed from Werder Bremen last summer with high hopes, despite conceding 64 goals in 34 games in his final season with the Bundesliga outfit.
His Leeds career has gown considerably downhill since Christmas, and his form has pretty much encapsulated the state of the club as a whole.
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His misery was compiled in the 3-0 defeat to Middlesbrough earlier this month. The German stopper was slow to react to the first goal, before allowing a second to squirm under him, and was just generally nervous all night.
He has since lost his place to youngster Bailey Peacock-Farrell, and doesn’t look like getting it back any time soon.
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This morning, the club wished Wiedwald a happy 28th birthday, and the responses are as expected. Most fans have taken the chance to ridicule the German, and some even responded to the tweet with genuine pity, which is just about as bad as it gets.
Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…
Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Watford on Sunday was key and not just for Arsene Wenger, who is able to keep the vultures from his door for a little while longer.
The shutout was also Petr Cech’s 200th in his Premier League career, the most of any player in the division’s history and fittingly, it was preserved by a penalty save from the former Chelsea man as he kept out Troy Deeney – who had scored one past him in the reverse fixture this season.
Cech – who is valued at £5.4m by Transfermarkt – had been stuck on 199 since the 1-0 win over Newcastle United in December but Arsenal’s much-publicised defensive frailties had prevented him from reaching the milestone sooner than he did.
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It proved to be worth the wait as he reached his double century in style and Arsenal fans certainly enjoyed having something to celebrate; it’s a rare moment of relief in a season that has seen the pressure on Arsene Wenger increase to unprecedented levels as the Gunners look set for a second consecutive season of finishing outside the top four.
That meant their fans were keen to let Cech know just how pleased they were to see him make it 200-up and we’ve had a look at the best of the reaction…
There can be little debate that Arsenal have underperformed in terms of their league form this season and the Europa League is now their only viable route back to Europe’s top table next time around.
Although the Gunners could well do what Manchester United did last season and win the continent’s second competition, their domestic away form has undermined the club’s Premier League campaign.
The voices of dissent against Arsene Wenger’s continued employment are growing ever louder but of course his players must take their fair share of the responsibility for their continued underachievement.
With that in mind, we’ve run the numbers to see which players individually have the best win percentage at the Emirates Stadium.
These might well be the players Wenger needs to rely on more as among the top five, there are certainly some players who would not be the first name on the team-sheet every week.
Read on to see who came out on top…
Lacazette’s Arsenal career to date has been strange. When Wenger smashed the club’s transfer record to sign his countryman from Lyon, it felt like a signal of intent.
It hasn’t worked out like that and it’s almost as if Lacazette isn’t trusted by his manager, who has already brought in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to take his place in the side.
It always felt that he got a raw deal from Wenger and Lacazette’s win percentage only serves to back that up.
Ozil signing a new contract is the highlight of Arsenal’s season so far and it will likely remain that way unless they win the Europa League.
After the departure of Alexis Sanchez, retaining the World Cup winner was imperative and his win percentage backs that up.
For a man who is accused of going missing when he is most needed, this is a decent riposte.
Ramsey and Monreal have both missed chunks of the season through injury but are among Wenger’s most reliable performers. The stats bear that out.
They both have weaknesses; Monreal is not physical or imposing enough to play as a centre-half and lacks the pace of a modern elite left-back while Ramsey is prone to defensive lapses which hamper his ability to play in a midfield duo.
Nevertheless, they both make the difference to the Gunners’ ability to get over the line and win a match.
Mustafi looked a top signing last season but this time around he has drawn ridicule, not least for his performance in the EFL Cup final debacle against Manchester City.
Yet, he is the Gunners defender with the best win percentage which may serve to outline his understated importance to the Arsenal back-line.
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Wenger finally spent big on a centre-half with Mustafi and these numbers maybe show he isn’t perfoming as badly as some might suspect.
Elneny is a proper defensive midfielder and it might be telling that he is at the top of this list.
He is not as aggressive as Granit Xhaha, as gifted as Jack Wilshere or as prolific as the aforementioned Ramsey but he is a basic holding midfield player who knows that his role is to protect the back four.
That may well be food for thought for Wenger as his side seem to win more often when Elneny is on the pitch…
According to the Manchester Evening News, Real Madrid are monitoring the situation of David De Gea as they look to freshen up their squad. The Los Blancos attempted to side the Spanish goal keeper in 2015 but the deal fell through at the last minute.
What’s the story?
David De Gea has been an extremely important player for Manchester United in the last five years and his stock has risen. He is arguably the best goalkeeper in the world and Real Madrid have been linked with him for years. MEN are reporting that the Spanish giants will attempt to sign him again this summer.
Madrid are also monitoring the situation of Antony Martial and Paul Pogba. According the the MEN, they have asked to be kept informed about the situation of these three players and are said to be willing to let Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric go the other way.
Madrid are aware of Man United admiration for these three players, who they have tried to sign before and are also aware of their need to bolster their midfield. Michael Carrick will be retiring this summer and Marouane Fellaini’s contract is up.
How big of a miss would De Gea be?
Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, Manchester United have struggled to challenge for trophies. A shining light through this period has been their goalkeeper.
De Gea ignored the early criticism he faced when he arrived at United and has gone on to become the most important members of the squad.
The Spaniard has saved United on a number of occasions and losing him would leave a huge hole which United will struggle to fill.
While second choice keeper Romero is an excellent keeper, he is not at the level of De Gea. The Spaniard is almost impossible to replace.
De Gea might be tempted to move to Madrid, where he is guaranteed Champions League football and trophies as well as return to his home city, Madrid. However, he was quoted in the Daily Express saying he will snub any offers from Madrid.
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Would a 3-way swap deal benefit United?
The news on MEN, suggests that Real Madrid will offer Bale, Modric and Kroos in exchange of De Gea, Pogba and Martial. Real Madrid would definitely get the better deal here.
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While Bale, Modric and Kroos would improve United’s midfield, the Red Devils would be losing three of the most influential and youngest players. Martial and Pogba are entering the peaks of their careers while Modric and Kroos are coming into the twilight of theirs.
Martial and Pogba have had mixed seasons at United but in glimpses have shown world class potential, something if nurtured could prove extremely successful in the long term for United.
Bale’s talent is undoubted but he has struggled with injuries since moving to Spain. A swap deal involving these players would only benefit Real Madrid and weaken United in the long term.
Arsenal have contacted Atletico Madrid regarding a swoop for midfielder Saul Niguez, according to AS.
What’s the story?
The North London outfit need to be busy in the transfer window this summer, and their main priorities should be recruiting a new defender, defensive midfielder and goalkeeper.
Fans have been coming up with their own transfer lists on social media, but not many have suggested that the latest target is a realistic one.
According to AS, Saul has emerged as an option for manager Arsene Wenger, with the Spanish publication claiming that contact has been made between the two clubs.
The report states that the Gunners have had a close eye on the midfielder for a while, but they could struggle to get a deal done as the 23-year-old is happy at Atletico.
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It is also believed that the midfielder’s release clause is set at a staggering £130m, and he still has eight years left on his contract.
Is it a distant dream?
It would be a huge shock if Arsenal managed to pull off a deal given the financial hit that they would take in doing so.
There is no denying that Saul would boost the team given that he can provide plenty of options for the team in midfield.
This season, the Spaniard has played the majority of his games – 25 in fact – in a central midfield position.
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He has also, though, featured out wide on both the left and the right, as well as in a more advanced role in the final third.
If Arsenal fail to win the Europa League, then they are unlikely to qualify for the Champions League via the domestic route as they are 13 points behind the top four.
It would be difficult for the club to convince Saul to sign without securing a place in the elite competition.