Sevilla midfielder Steven N’Zonzi has been linked with a move to Arsenal in recent months, and with Gunners boss Arsene Wenger splashing out on strikers Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the last two transfer windows, fans of the club could barely be happier about their side’s pursuit of the holding midfielder – who is rated at £27m by transfermarkt.com.
In our poll yesterday, a massive 80% of Arsenal fans thought that the Gunners should swoop for the Frenchman, and it’s easy to see why they come down so heavily on one side of the argument.
The north London side are currently struggling to find an answer to their leaky defence, but a more solid defensive midfield presence could be just what they’re looking for.
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Current central midfielders Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey are both attack-minded midfielders, and besides, both have been struggling with injuries this season.
N’Zonzi also has Premier League experience with Blackburn Rovers and Stoke, so would adapt quickly to the physical English style of play.
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Manchester United supporters are ready to protest against the Glazer family if the club fail to sign world-class players before the transfer window closes at the end of the month, Daily Mail reports.
The Red Devils are facing a threat from their own fans who have become extremely angry at the Glazer family’s lack of investment in the rebuilding the squad.
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After the appointment of new boss Louis van Gaal supporters were expecting an influx of players this summer, especially after executive chairman Ed Woodward claimed they are willing to break the bank for star names.
However with only 10 days left in the transfer market, United’s only main signings have been £28million midfielder Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao and £30million Southampton left-back Luke Shaw.
The supporters are therefore furious that heading into the new campaign, United have still yet to resolve their transfers when they were led to believe that most of the key targets would have been brought to the club before the season kicked off last weekend.
And after another dismal performance in the Premier League – losing 2-1 to Swansea at Old Trafford – social media has been swarmed by #GlazerOut messages.
“United supporters worldwide have hit out in huge numbers against the Glazer family’s ownership of Manchester United via Twitter and Facebook,” said Sean Bones, member of the Man United Supporters’ Trust.
“It’s obviously something that will be a huge concern to the current sponsors who have invested a lot of money in Manchester United as a brand.
“There will be a lot of attention to see how the New York Stock Exchange views the negative reaction by supporters in terms of the Glazers’ handling of United.”
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Man United are currently linked with moves for Argentine duo Marcos Rojo and Angel Di Maria, who they are hoping to sign before September 1st.
Chelsea need to pick up three points in Saturday’s lunch-time kick-off against West Ham to keep in touch with the league’s pacesetters.
Rafa Benitez’s side travel to Upton Park on the back of two consecutive draws and now find themselves seven points behind league leaders Manchester United and six behind second-placed Manchester City.
Chelsea’s poor form of late – they haven’t won in the league since beating Tottenham 4 – 2 on October 20 – has coincided with a distinct lack of goals, with the Blues firing blanks in their two most recent fixtures against Manchester City and Fulham. It is somewhat disturbing that Fernando Torres remains Chelsea’s joint top-scorer in the league this season, given it seems the Spaniard has been lacking touch in front of goal ever since his arrival at Stamford Bridge in January 2011.
Benitez’s return to the Premier League as a manager was seen as a ploy to reinvigorate Torres, but we are yet to see any of the flair that made him such an explosive player under his current boss at Liverpool. Torres’ last league goal came way back on October 6 at home against Norwich, but don’t expect the underrated West Ham defence to hand the 28-year-old any gifts in this fierce London derby.
West Ham have been one of the surprise packets this season and enter this clash in 10th place on the table with five victories – Chelsea have only two more – and a total of 19 points. The Hammers went down 1-0 to Manchester United during the week, but can take some confidence from that effort on the road. Robin van Persie gave United the lead after just 33 seconds and West Ham were more than just resilient for the remainder of the encounter and could have easily come away with a point.
Only four teams – Chelsea being one of them – have conceded less goals than West Ham in the league this season, but scoring them has also been a problem for Sam Allardyce’s side. West Ham have found the back of the net just 16 times this campaign, with five of those coming from the evergreen Kevin Nolan and Mark Noble the next best with two.
While all the stats point to a tight and low-scoring encounter, it is worth noting Chelsea’s recent good record at the ground. Chelsea were 3-1 winners in their most recent visit to Upton Park in September 2011, while West Ham can’t boast a home league victory over their London rivals since the 2002-2003 season.
West Ham’s form under Allardyce has seen them lose just once at home this season and that was way back on October 6 when they were beaten 3-1 by Arsenal.
Chelsea will be determined to put in a good performance in East London, but a draw seems the most likely result.
Prediction: West Ham 1 – 1 Chelsea
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Tottenham fans are absolutely loving Kieran Trippier’s World Cup showing, as the England wing back has been one of the summer’s standout performers.
At the start of last season, fans were split over who should take the helm at right back in North London.
Serge Aurier was an exciting new signing, with bags of pace and power to go with his hefty £23m price tag. He also had experience playing on huge stages like Champions League knockout games, something Trippier didn’t have.
The former PSG man was tipped by most fans to take over from Trippier, although Pochettino’s style typically requires two full backs to rotate throughout the season anyway, due to the sheer amount of work they put in bombing down the wing.
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There can’t be too many fans backing Aurier for the starting spot now though, as Trippier has been simply sensational in both of England’s World Cup wins.
The 27 year-old has played at right wing back in front of a back three, something Pochettino has himself experimented with on plenty of occasions.
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The more advanced position seems to be getting the best out of the ex-Burnley man, as only one player in the entire tournament had more key passes than him after two rounds of matches – Belgium playmaker Kevin De Bruyne.
Fans are heaping praise on their flying full back, and you can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…
According to reports in the Daily Mail, Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Victor Wanyama is being monitored by Premier League rivals Liverpool, and Spurs fans have been quick to have their say on the rumour.
The Daily Mail says that the Reds, along with Manchester United and Chelsea, are all watching developments surrounding the 26-year-old closely as he has only been sparingly used by Mauricio Pochettino following his return from a knee injury at the start of 2018.
While the Kenya international has started all of the club’s three FA Cup ties since then, he has only been used from the substitutes’ bench in the English top flight and the Champions League, while he made an instant impact with a brilliant goal against Jurgen Klopp’s side at Anfield earlier this month.
Tottenham supporters took to social media to give their thoughts on the story, and while one described him as the “one player Poch won’t wanna lose”, another said it “would be a sideways move at best”.
Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…
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Mesut Ozil has been taken a lot of the stick for Arsenal’s various poor performances since the Premier League season got underway. However, with the German flourishing in his favoured No.10 position against Villa, Rambo didn’t exactly justify his inclusion over Jack Wilshere with several wayward passes and a lack of influence on proceedings.
Mesut Ozil is back
Maybe a slight exaggeration but the German international will certainly have silenced a few doubters with a goal, an assist and a Man of the Match performance. Arsene Wenger must surely realise that he has to play the German as a No.10 or not at all, right?
Danny Welbeck can be Arsenal’s main man
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It was always going to be vital for the striker to grab his first Arsenal goal quickly to avoid the doubts creeping in and the criticism. The former Manchester United striker showed a natural forward’s instincts with a tidy finish and Arsenal fans will be hoping for plenty more of those as the season progresses.
England striker Danny Welbeck was lucky enough to nab himself Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s shirt after the final whistle on Wednesday night, and now it is worth a small fortune.
The Swedish striker turned in a perfect performance scoring one of the greatest goals of all time along the way, to make Welbeck a cool £30,000 if he wanted to sell it right now.
The occasion of the first game in a new national stadium and the fact that it was against England has also increased the value of the shirt with memorabilia collectors everywhere wanting to get in on the action.
“Welbeck’s sitting on a small fortune,” Tom Rollett of Exclusive Memorabilia told The Sun.
“The shirt is of great interest to collectors because of the spectacular goal, the person wearing it and the fact the goal was against England and in a brand new stadium.
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“If it went to auction now while people are still talking about it, the top could get up to £30,000.”
Chancel Mbemba is seemingly on the verge of leaving Newcastle United, and the club’s supporters have been reacting to his potential departure.
Indeed, Mbemba is heading to Portuguese giants Porto in an £8m deal, as covered by The Mirror on Wednesday evening.
Mbemba moved to Newcastle from Anderlecht in the summer of 2015, and the 42-time Congo international made 33 Premier League appearances during his first season at the club.
The centre-back made just 12 Championship appearances during the 2016-17 season, however, before featuring on just 11 occasions last term.
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The 23-year-old is regarded as a talented defender by many people in the game, but Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez is seemingly not a fan.
Porto are believed to be on the verge of sealing a deal for Mbemba, and it would be fair to say that the Newcastle fans are not exactly over the moon with the news.
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Indeed, many of the supporters feel that the club will be made to regret the sale in the coming years as the defender goes onto bigger and better things.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:
Javier Mascherano spent three years at Liverpool before joining Barcelona in 2010.
The midfielder did not win any silverware with the Merseyside outfit, but he is regarded highly by the majority of fans at the club.
The Argentine went on to have a very successful career at Barcelona, winning 17 trophies, including four La Liga titles and two Champions League crowns.
In January, the 33-year-old ended a seven-and-a-half-year spell at the Camp Nou and joined Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune.
Today, Liverpool celebrated their former player by posting a tweet remaining fans that Mascherano signed for the club on this day 11 years ago.
The reaction to the tweet was largely mixed, with some fans praising their former midfielder, while others slammed the Argentine for abandoning the Reds.
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Some tweeted their disappointment that the club failed to replace Mascherano with another player of his calibre.
Liverpool are no strangers when it comes to dealing transfers with Barcelona as the club have sold Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho to the Spanish giants in recent years.
Marc Wilmots admitted that if it wasn’t for the untimely injury of Cristian Benteke, then Lille’s 19-year-old prodigy, Divock Origi, wouldn’t have stood a hope of making the Belgian squad. But two games into Belgium’s World Cup, and two impactful substitute appearances have got people talking about the young Belgian striker.
Spurs and Liverpool have been credited with interest in Origi, especially after his Lille future was put into serious doubt in January when he made clear he was looking elsewhere to secure more first-team football. According to the Daily Mail, Liverpool are likely to pip Tottenham to Origi’s signature, with an agreement to loan the Belgian back to Lille being the deal-breaker.
Origi’s lightning pace has been his most notable asset so far during his two cameo roles in Brazil. His impact has been even more astounding due to the underwhelming performances of Romelu Lukaku. Lukaku has been wholly ineffectual, looking laboured in his movement and unsure in his touch on the ball. Origi has been the opposite, with his energy and speed giving his midfielders the chance to put balls in behind defenders into the channels for him to chase down.
Following his match-winning goal against Russia in Belgium’s last World Cup match, Origi expressed his desire to follow in the footsteps of Benteke and Lukaku and play in the Premier League. Tottenham would seem an ideal destination. With Mauricio Pochettino’s willingness to give young players considerable amounts of playing time Origi would doubtless be given his chance. Add the lack of movement from Roberto Soldado and perennial inconsistence of Emmanuel Adebayor into the equation, and a move to Spurs would seem fitting.
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Origi has earned his chance to start in Belgium’s final group game against South Korea, and if he continues taking his opportunities, then a big Premier League move surely beckons.
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