Newcastle United face a tough final few months of the season as they fight to retain their Premier League status.Rafael Benitez guided the team back to the top flight from the Championship in the 2016-17 campaign in dominating fashion.However, since retuning to the elite league, things have not been smooth sailing.As it stands, the Magpies sit in 13th place but just two points above the relegation zone.Up front is where the team have struggled the most as they have netted just 20 league goals, with Dwight Gayle and Joselu top scorers on three each.Due to the poor figures, some fans reacted optimistically when young forward Ivan Toney returned to the club from his loan spell at Wigan Athletic.
The 21-year-old joined the Latics in the summer and scored six goals in 28 appearances in all competitions.
There have been rumours on social media that the youngster will be loaned out again for the rest of the season, but some fans would prefer him to stay.
Newcastle United are absolutely desperate to sign a new goalkeeper this month.
Neither Rob Elliot nor Karl Darlow has seriously impressed between the sticks this season, and it is not a surprise that head coach Rafael Benitez wants a new number one.
Slovakian international Martin Dubravka is the latest name being linked with a move to St James’ Park, but it is thought that Benitez’s leading target could be Napoli stopper Pepe Reina.
Reina might be 35, but he has plenty of experience when it comes to Premier League football, and might well relish the chance to link up with Benitez once again.
The Spaniard, who is valued at £1.8m by transfermarkt.co.uk, is still the number one with his Italian club, however, which would surely make any deal very complicated for Newcastle.
The news has been filtering around social media over the last 48 hours or so, and Newcastle fans have now had their say on the reported interest.
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It would be fair to say that not many are taking the reports seriously due to the current uncertainty surrounding the ownership of the club.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be found below:
What is going to happen to Olivier Giroud in the final moments of the January transfer window?
The Frenchman is surely on his way out of Arsenal as the Gunners close on a deal for Borussia Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Giroud has been linked with a move to Dortmund as part of the Aubameyang deal, but Chelsea have also been credited with an interest in the powerful frontman.
Giroud has struggled for regular action this season, but the striker has still managed seven goals in 25 appearances in all competitions.
It is also worth noting that the 31-year-old has netted 73 Premier League goals in 179 appearances, which is a very strong record when considering that a lot of those came off the bench.
Liverpool are a touch short in the final third after sending Daniel Sturridge on loan to West Bromwich Albion, and the Merseyside club’s supporters have called on the powers-that-be to launch a late move for Giroud ahead of Wednesday night’s deadline.
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A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
Thursday evening’s Europa League clash with Ostersund hardly seems like the perfect tonic to pick Arsenal’s players up after a disappointing defeat in the north London derby last weekend, but it should be.
The second tier European competition remains the Gunners’ best hope of Champions League football next season, emulating Manchester United’s success in the competition last season to take their place in the group stages of the main event next year.
It may well seem like the consolation prize that Arsenal didn’t really want this year, but their failures in the league make it simply a must-win tournament if they’re to get back into the competition they really want to be in next season – barring an incredible Premier League run between now and the end of the campaign.
It remains to be seen what sort of side the Gunners will put out, however, which will affect the Europa League betting. So far this campaign, Arsene Wenger has fielded a weakened side in each of his Europa League encounters, but Arsenal did still manage to top their group and qualify to the knockout rounds. Given the importance of the competition to Arsenal this season, you’d expect a change in that policy during the next phase of the tournament, but the French manager’s stubbornness is one of football’s great monuments, and it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise if a somewhat second string side started the game on Thursday evening.
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That said, the arrival of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang may have brought in reinforcements, but the Gabon international will be cup-tied in the Europa League. This would, in other circumstances, mean a chance for the Alexandre Lacazette to shine and win back his place. But his injury only makes the Gunners’ January transfer business look slightly off when it comes to their European commitments: with Lacazette now out with a knee injury, and both Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott shipped out of the club, their new record signing’s cup-tied status now seems like a bigger blow than it might otherwise have been.
Aubameyang hasn’t played in the Europa League this season, but his former club Borussia Dortmund were knocked out of the Champions League after finishing third in Tottenham Hotspur’s group, and because the German giants are now a club competing in the same tournament as Arsenal, he will not be able to feature for his new club in Europe this season.
Dortmund along with Atletico Madrid and Italian sides Napoli and Lazio are all considered the strongest teams Arsenal will have to beat if they are to win the competition this season, though none of those modern powerhouse names of European competition appear to be too bothered about the Europa League, with Atletico and Napoli in particular focusing much of their efforts on domestic form.
Lazio, too, might find themselves looking more to action in the league than in Europe. This season, Serie A’s top four sides will gain a Champions League place and as Lazio currently sit in fifth, just a point behind their bitter city rivals Roma, they will likely be fighting on more than one front.
Perhaps, then, that makes and Dortmund the most threatening side for Arsenal in this competition. The Germans have to face difficult and motivated opposition this week in Atalanta, the Italian side who helped knock Everton out in the group stages, and that should give a good indicator of just how seriously they are taking it: fielding a weakened side against a team they can’t take for granted would show the world just how much they care.
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Arsenal have to get through their own tie first, however. Ostersund, managed by Englishman, have risen through the leagues to get to their first ever European adventure and will be up for the challenge having drawn one of the world’s biggest teams.
The Gunners should have more than enough to wipe the floor with the Swedes in this tie, but they’ll have to take it seriously if they’re to progress: if there’s one thing that spells danger for Arsenal, it’s a highly-motivated underdog up against an arrogant and disinterested Wenger side.
While some of Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League rivals were focusing on upcoming European matches, the club’s star player Harry Kane took a break from his everyday commitments.
The England international rubbed shoulders with some of music’s elite as he attended the Brit Awards in London.
The 24-year-old presented an award with American songstress Camila Cabello during the star-studded night.
While on stage, in a painfully-scripted exchange, Kane joked with the ‘Havana’ popstar that he had always wanted to be a singer, while Cabello suggested that they should switch places and she would take to the football pitch.
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As expected, rival supporters, particularly those who have an allegiance to Arsenal, were quick to poke fun at the striker.
Kane can have the last laugh, though, because despite the fact that he is yet to pick up any silverware with Tottenham, he is in stellar form.
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The striker has scored 34 goals in all competitions this season, and is currently leading the way in the race for the Premier League golden boot as he has netted 23 times.
Former Everton defender Michael Ball has urged Sam Allardyce to select Davy Klaassen and Nikola Vlasic against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon.
The Toffees have lost three of their last four in the Premier League, with that run of form seeing the team drop into 11th position in the table.
There is huge pressure on the Merseyside club to bounce back against Brighton this weekend, and Ball believes that Allardyce should bring two players in from the cold.
Klaassen, who represented Everton’s Under-23 side on Monday night, has not appeared for the first team since the middle of September, whilst Vlasic has been left out of the squad for the club’s last five Premier League matches.
Ball has said that ‘the outcasts should be given an opportunity’, with the 38-year-old calling for two of the summer arrivals to be given the chance to impress.
Ball told the Liverpool Echo:
“There has been very little positivity from myself or other pundits nationally for a long time. Yes, we are getting points in home games but the performances have been nothing to write home about.
“So it is a big match for Big Sam. The players need to react. I want to see a settled team have a run of games and then if the players aren’t doing it, the outcasts should be given an opportunity.
“Why not throw Klaassen in there or Vlasic in there? They might give us a new lease of life because the players who have been getting selected aren’t doing the job.”
Everton have recorded eight home Premier League wins this season, but have managed just one victory on the road.
Former Tottenham Hotspur defender Graham Roberts has joined a number of supporters in slamming video assistant referees during the club’s FA Cup replay against Rochdale.The new system has been met with plenty of criticism since it began getting trialled in cup games.In the fifth-round replay at Wembley, the first half was full of controversy as Erik Lamela’s seventh-minute goal was ruled out by VAR.The decision caused play to be held up, but that was not the end of the problems as the system came into action to award Tottenham a penalty.https://video.footballfancast.com/video-2015/chattinshirt-1.mp4Mauricio Pochettino’s men were leading 1-0 at this point thanks to a goal from Son Heung-min, and the forward thought he had netted his second of the night, only for VAR to rule it out.Three minutes later, Rochdale equalised through Stephen Humphreys, leaving the tie evenly poised at half-time.Like many others, all Roberts could think about what the controversy caused by VAR.
Mark Hughes has been brought in to save Southampton from relegation, with just eight games in which to do so.
If the Saints do drop into the Championship, it will be due to a lack of goals. Claude Puel was dismissed in the summer and one of the complaints was the boring style of football but the same problems persisted under Mauricio Pellegrino.
Southampton’s attack has been anaemic throughout this season and one of the main problems has been a lack of invention in the side.
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There are talented players in there and they haven’t taken responsibility at vital times but there is also no doubt that Pellegrino’s unambitious style and failure to motivate the players more than played its part.
Defensively, Southampton are okay but the reason they are staring relegation in the face is their worrying inability to score goals.
With that in mind, Football FanCast have looked over the numbers to find out who has created the most chances at St Mary’s this season…
Davis is a workmanlike, diligent and technically sound footballer but he has never been known for putting hatfuls of chances on a plate for his team-mates.
It shows how lacking in invention Southampton have been this season that he makes the top five in these rankings.
The understated Northern Ireland international – valued at £5.4m by Transfermarkt – has shown up some of his more expensively-recruited team-mates in this area so far this term.
Injury permitting, Bertrand should be heading off to the World Cup in Russia this summer and he will do so with ambitions on being Gareth Southgate’s first choice left-back.
He can get up and down that left flank and deliver with quality but probably shouldn’t be considered one of the most creative forces in this team.
Valued at £18m by Transfermarkt, he is one player who has maintained his standards this season, while others at St Mary’s have dropped theirs.
Ward-Prowse’s delivery from set-pieces largely contributes to his place on this list, but his energy and endeavour have often lifted a dour Saints midfield this season.
Consistency is still an issue but the fact he is laying on more chances for his team-mates than all but two others is a good sign.
Hughes will have to make him central to his plans.
Redmond was at the centre of that bizarre storm when Pep Guardiola intercepted him after the Saints had just lost 2-1 in stoppage time at the Etihad Stadium, of course.
He hasn’t been a regular fixture in the team, but his place so high up this list owes to the talent that the former Barcelona boss identified in him as the main source of frustration.
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Pep felt players like Redmond should be let off the leash to attack. We’ll see if Hughes does exactly that.
Tadic dips up and down within seasons and dips and down within matches.
He is a talented playmaker and will travel to Russia with Serbia this summer as a man hoping to make an impression on the world stage.
He has the ability to do that but doesn’t show it consistently enough for the Saints. Nevertheless, he comfortably creates the most chances at the club and Hughes will hoping to be able to call on that in the final eight games.
Arsenal have been slowing accruing something of a German influence in recent months, with a specific focus on Borussia Dortmund.
Sven Mislintat, the former Dortmund Head of Recruitment, was drafted in prior to a transfer window that saw the Gunners bring in high-earning duo Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, both of whom who have played for the club.
The Daily Star reported that the North London giants may well be in the hunt for another former Dortmund man in Barcelona starlet Ousmane Dembele, valued at £72m by Transfermarkt.
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The Frenchman only made his lucrative switch to the Nou Camp last summer and that is surely one of the reasons that Gunners fans are not buying the links at all.
The Catalans have returned to the top of La Liga this season and Dembele is clearly learning greatly from playing alongside Lionel Messi; Arsenal are currently sixth in the Premier League, relying on the Europa League to get into next season Champions League.
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Gunners supporters really are not on board with this one and we’ve taken a look at the best of the reaction…
With the amount of teams involved in the relegation battle this season, it has felt as if there has been a six-pointer in the bottom half every week.
That has not quite been the case but there is little doubting the importance of Southampton’s visit to the London Stadium to face West Ham United.
Just one place and two points separate the Saints and the Hammers so both sets of fans will be geared up for a long, tense afternoon that could well determine the destiny of their sides’ respective seasons.
After the well-documented chaos that marred the Hammers’ last league match – three weeks ago now – at home to Burnley, the Hammers will be hoping that there is a happier atmosphere surrounding this match.
A win would take them five points clear of their opponents and would go a long, long way to ensuring the club is still in the top flight next season.
That means David Moyes knew he had to get his team selection right and we’ve taken a closer look at the reaction to the Scotsman’s starting 11 which shows two changes from last time out but has not pleased the fans…
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