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Celtic clawed their way back to winning ways after their meeting with Motherwell saw them pull off a convincing 4-1 win in the Scottish Premiership. Mohamed Elyounoussi was on song with a delightful hat-trick, taking his season total up to ten goals and four assists for the season so far. Olivier Ntcham rounded off the afternoon with his goal just before full-time.

The victory on the road initially closed the gap between them and Rangers in the table, but another win for Steven Gerrard stretches the deficit to nine points once again. The Hoops have two games in-hand over their arch rivals, but they must ensure they’re winning every match that comes their way if they want to lift another league trophy.

Unless they do this, they run the very high risk of losing key players like Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer. Should the latter search for pastures new, Celtic will be left extremely vulnerable at the back.

Celtic must do what they can to keep Ajer

This season has been far from a standard Celtic season. They have fallen out of favour of winning this campaign’s Premiership title and are rock bottom of their Europa League group. The Bhoys have been hammered by injuries and positive cases of coronavirus, which have set them back a great deal. Ajer has been one player missing from the squad as of late.

Neil Lennon’s side fell to a hefty 4-1 defeat to Sparta Prague in their recent European fixture, but bounced back to deliver the same scoreline to Motherwell with Ajer back in the starting lineup.

The 22-year-old has attracted a lot of attention over the summer as elite sides looked to bolster their defensive options. Celtic slapped a £20million price tag on the Norwegian after the likes of AC Milan and Leicester City registered interest in him.

Indeed, he was paid a huge compliment by Neil McCann who labelled him “Cafu-like” during a performance against Hearts last summer.

His solid performances across the backline plus his eye for a goal made him a very attractive target. Whilst Celtic will be able to invest the £20million in their struggling attack, losing Ajer would leave a huge gaping hole in their defence and Lennon must buck up his side’s form if he wants to keep the powerhouse at Celtic Park.

In other news, Celtic made huge mistake by not snapping up Joe Hart when they had the chance…

Having slipped to a frustrating draw against Livingston last time out, Steven Gerrard’s Rangers bounced back to winning ways with a 1-0 win over Kilmarnock on Saturday afternoon.

And after providing an impressive 15 assists across all competitions last season, and picking up one each in his last two games, James Tavernier would surely have fancied his chances against doing the same at the weekend.

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And whilst he did eventually set up Ryan Kent for Rangers’ second, it was arguably his poorest display in a Rangers shirt in this new campaign. As per Sofascore, he provided just two accurate crosses all game, attempted no dribbles whatsoever, and lost possession 16 times – only two of his teammates conceded more.

After seeing his performance against Kilmarnock, Rangers fans took to Twitter to share their reactions.

A couple of Rangers fans simply insisted that Tavernier looked “non-existent”, and that there was “no urgency”.

It’s safe to say the Rangers skipper didn’t enjoy the greatest of afternoons on Saturday.

The right-back really struggled as an attacking threat, and that just increased the pressure on his teammates to start fashioning out chances. The stats sheet may say that the 28-year-old picked up his third league assist of the season, but that simply doesn’t tell the full story.

Gerrard will be hoping that Tavernier simply had an off day.

Schalke 04’s midfielder Weston McKennie seems to be a really wanted man at the moment. The recent reports from 90min say that the 21-year-old talent is currently being chased by five different Premier League clubs.

Of course, given his young age and potential, this doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. Among the clubs mentioned are also Aston Villa but if the same source is to be believed, they will face tough competition in Everton, Southampton, Newcastle United and West Ham United.

The Saints seemed to be the first ones on the scene, looking for a replacement for Pierre-Emile Højbjerg after the player’s move to Tottenham Hotspur but now that the other four clubs have seen their attempt, they are all interested as well.

Schalke were previously said to be looking to get at least £22.5m for their in-demand midfielder but with so many different suitors potentially knocking on their door, that could indeed spark a bidding war.

Villa, for one, can’t exactly afford to splash too much in the ongoing summer transfer window so Dean Smith will have to approach this wisely. Of course, this is true for practically every club out there but if the German outfit succeed in bumping McKennie’s price tag significantly, this could quickly turn into a much too expensive venture for the Villains.

90min, however, claim the 21-year-old’s priority is to move to the Premier League so there is hope but it might come with a cost.

Verdict

McKennie believes his time at Schalke has come to an end and following a disappointing 12th place finish to the 2019/20 campaign, he wants to move to greener pastures. However, Smith has to decide whether the 21-year-old really is his priority.

Villa have struggled defensively throughout the previous campaign and while McKennie might be a bet for the future, there seem to be more pressing matters that need to be attended at the club.

Aston Villa fans have reacted to a report claiming that manager Dean Smith will remain in charge until the end of the season.

The Midlands based side sit in the bottom three of the Premier League and have their top flight status very much hanging in the balance.

A poor restart to the 2019/2020 campaign after the pandemic has Villa struggling and the 1-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend further enhanced their problems on the pitch.

With such poor form, Smith’s time in charge of the club has been questioned, despite helping the Villa Park outfit to promotion from the Championship play-offs last season.

Despite those question marks, Villa have reportedly handed Smith a vote of confidence and will stick with him until the end of the season.

Fans have now reacted to that news which was relayed by journalist John Percy of The Telegraph and shared via Twitter account @villareport. It seems that opinion is split, some think it is the right decision to keep him, probably due to the fact he got them promoted and that there is barely any of the season left. However others aren’t as keen, likely due to their lowly league position…

Do you think Villa are right to stick with Dean Smith until the end of the season? Let us know in the comments section below…

According to The Guardian, West Ham are looking to offload Manuel Lanzini this summer with David Moyes left “unconvinced” by his side’s attackers.

What’s the word?

After finishing in 16th in the Premier League table and just five points above the drop zone, the Hammers will no doubt be keen to make some significant changes this summer ahead of the new campaign in September.

And as per The Guardian, both Lanzini and Felipe Anderson are two players who Moyes is trying to sell this summer in order to boost his club’s transfer budget, with £20m-valued Eberechi Eze of major interest to them.

Ending Lanzini’s misery

After an impressive first couple of seasons with the Hammers, Lanzini’s form has tailed off dramatically, particularly this season. The Argentina international didn’t score a single goal in the 2019/2020 campaign, and only came up with three assists in his 25 games across all competitions.

The man signed by Slaven Bilic, and hailed by the Croatian as a “top player”, just hasn’t hit the heights of his impressive season in 2016/2017, when he managed eight goals and two assists in the Premier League alone.

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The £14.4m-rated ace just hasn’t provided the same kind of creativity and goal threat needed from an attacking midfielder, averaging 1.3 key passes and one shot per game – in fact, his average Premier League match rating of 6.55 as per Whoscored, ranks him 18th amongst his teammates.

The Hammers must seize their chance to finally end his misery this summer.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.

Amidst a run of no wins in their previous nine games across all competitions, Arsenal got back into their old groove with an impressive comeback victory against West Ham on Monday night.

Snapshot

The Gunners have endured a miserable start to the season, with their Europa League defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt proving to be the end of Unai Emery’s tenure at the club. Club legend Freddie Ljungberg was named as interim head coach, but failed to see the proverbial new manager bounce in his opening two games in charge, drawing away at Norwich, before losing at home to Brighton.

And after going a goal down to West Ham courtesy of a deflected Angelo Ogbonna goal, Ljungberg may have been fearing the worst. But in a stirring second-half performance, the Gunners got back to winning ways thanks to strikes from Gabriel Martinelli, Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. But whilst the trio will no doubt take a lot of the credit for the win, Sead Kolasinac’s enforced introduction mid-way through the first-half proved to be decisive.

Off the bench

The fact that Kolasinac wasn’t even in the match-day squad at the beginning of the night makes his impressive performance all the more remarkable. The Bosnian was at London Stadium probably readying himself for a cold evening on the touch-line with his snood, but found himself onto the bench at the last moment thanks to Hector Bellerin’s late withdrawal from the warm-up. The 26-year-old would then be forced to come on for an injured Kieran Tierney in the first-half, and his arrival heralded a much-needed change in emphasis for the Gunners.

Rather understandably perhaps, the north London side seemed lacking in confidence and almost afraid to commit too many forward. It was telling that in the time he was on the pitch Tierney didn’t manage a single successful dribble. The Gunners were more worried about their defensive responsibilities rather than trying to push men forward. But in Kolasinac, Ljungberg’s side had a presence on the pitch whose first thought was always to give Martinelli an overlapping option, and it was no surprise to see the £18m-rated man provide the assist for the crucial equaliser.

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As per Sofascore, Kolasinac would finish the game with one successful dribble, one key pass, one big chance created, and one accurate cross. Not to mention that assist too. Arsenal were in dire need of someone to stand up and take responsibility and leadership for the side. And in their marauding left-back, they got exactly that.

Meanwhile, Arsenal appointing this man who helped mastermind a humiliation of Tottenham would be a smart move.

Loads of Tottenham fans have reacted to a post from the club’s official account showing footage of Son Heung-min giving an interview at Enfield. 

Son spoke extensively about his military service and how it feels to be back training with his teammates. Spurs shared a clip on Twitter, with the caption “I’ve missed the guys. When I came back, I couldn’t stop smiling, like always!”

Last month, the South Korean returned to training for the first time since the nationwide lockdown began after completing national service with his home country. He impressed army officers and finished at the top of his class (Daily Mail).

As Son was ruled out with a broken arm in February, there is no doubt his return will give Jose Mourinho’s side a massive boost.

Indeed, the 27-year-old is the club’s second-highest goalscorer at the time of writing, only a goal behind star striker Harry Kane, and he has provided more assists than the England international up until now (BBC).

He has scored nine goals and created seven assists in the Premier League, taking three shots per game, averaging 1.4 key passes and attempting 2.3 dribbles on average (via WhoScored).

Unsurprisingly, lots of Spurs supporters gushed over Son’s latest “amazing” interview on social media, with one fan dubbing the video “fantastic”.

Scroll down through some of the glowing reactions so far…

Tottenham fans, are you excited to see Sonny back on the pitch? Let us know down below!

In the world of football, great success brings attention, and such a spotlight can often cause worry and speculation amongst a fanbase. Wolverhampton Wanderers better get used to it.

Last season the west Midlanders achieved their best standing in the Premier League with a seventh-place finish, which meant they qualified for Europe for the first time in nearly 40 years.

Now, they appear to be going under the radar to achieve further greatness – Wolves practically have one foot in the Europa League group stages while they currently occupy a top five berth in the league.

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This has all occurred under the impressive stewardship of manager Nuno Santo, but such exploits will, at some stage, lead to much bigger clubs sniffing around the Portuguese chief.

Tottenham Hotspur sacked Mauricio Pochettino last week, and fears were quickly halted when Spurs appointed Jose Mourinho almost instantly.

However, their north London rivals could follow suit as pressure builds on their boss Unai Emery.

Former Gunners striker Paul Merson added fuel to the fire by suggesting that the club should pursue the instrumental Wolves man, which has left several members of the Molineux faithful discussing what lies ahead in the near future.

On Soccer Saturday (via Football London), Merson said: “I like the manager. I think they’re fortunate to have this manager, Wolves. I don’t mean that disrespectfully. I think he could manage one of the top six teams, no worries at all. I’d take him at Arsenal tomorrow morning.”

These very comments have sparked mass debate on Twitter, with some fans playing down any thought of that happening while others desperately hoped that Nuno would never leave the club anytime soon.

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One supporter claimed that the sky was the limit for the 45-year-old at Wolves as he can create his own legacy, also believing that a club like Arsenal do not deserve him.

Another fan said he would be absolutely devastated if the manager were to switch Molineux for the Emirates while a further member of the old gold crowd wrote off any chance of it happening as Wolves are on such an upward trajectory in comparison to Arsenal.

Here’s what fans have been saying…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Former Leeds player Ben Parker has been remarking on the progress of Ryan Edmondson but his view of the player contrasts to what many fans think.

What did he say?

Edmondson is a player who has always shown a lot of promise for the various Leeds youth teams, and his form for the U23s this season means he may not be too far away from first-team selection. Last month, he’d scored three in three outings for Carlos Corberan’s team.

The 18-year-old has featured twice in the Championship previously but his goalscoring record for the U23s is making people stand up and take notice.

Parker is well aware of his talent but suggests that the club need to be patient, and allow him to continue developing as he has, as that will work out best for both parties in the long run.

Speaking on the LS11 podcast, he said:

“It’s always funny. People score in the under-23s and automatically, they’re getting pushed forward. I just think just let him continue doing what he’s doing.

“Again, great potential. He could play at the club for a number of years. There’s no point rushing these players through, just let them develop at their own rate. There’s one person that’ll know when he’s ready and that’s Bielsa. Let him continue scoring goals.”

Virtually impossible: Can you name the year all of these Leeds flops arrived at Elland Road?

Good enough for first-team?

Because of the quality he has shown this season fans have been quick to suggest that he deserves more minutes for the first-team, and therefore they will want as many people as possible advocating his inclusion, rather than what Parker is suggesting.

The Leeds striker is still young and has plenty of time to develop, but exposing him to first-team football can surely do him no harm, particularly because of the form Leeds are showing.

Bielsa’s side create numerous chances per game, enjoying an average of 17 shots per game this term, and that means that even with a youngster leading the line they are likely to create chances and score goals.

With that under consideration, there is an argument to suggest Edmondson could have an important role, and with only two senior strikers in the squad in Patrick Bamford and Eddie Nketiah, there could come a time where the youth prospect is needed.

As a result, it would be very useful to allow Edmondson to build up his experience as often as he can, and the more he trains and plays with the first-team, the greater his understanding will be of how the squad plays and what Bielsa expects.

In other Leeds news, there is another youngster currently in the squad who has the potential to help the club in the long-term.

Loads of Liverpool fans have been reacting on social media after Kenny Cunningham told Off The Ball that Fabinho is the weak link in Jurgen Klopp’s plans, and will likely struggle against Manchester City on Sunday.

Fabinho has been a key part of the German’s squad since moving to Merseyside in 2018, with the Brazilian included in 45 of his Premier League matchday squads following the midfielder’s summer switch from AS Monaco.

Cunningham, though, is not entirely convinced by the holding midfielder’s ability to control the defensive position, as the former Republic of Ireland international doubts Fabinho has all of the qualities needed to excel in the role.

“I’m not totally convinced about him in that holding midfield position,” Cunningham claimed. “We’re not arguing here if he’s a very good player or not, he is a very good player, but, as a purely defensive midfield player, going into this game against Manchester City you need a very specific skill set to deal with what David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne are going to bring.

“You’ve got be able to sense danger, slide across the pitch, make tackles, track runners and I don’t think that’s the strongest part of his game.

“For me, the first name on the teamsheet would be Jordan Henderson in that holding role. He has the best defensive mindset in that Liverpool midfield and it’s going to be needed.”

Liverpool fans have been fiercely rejecting Cunningham’s verdict, with one of the more frequent remarks shared being that the Reds are unbeaten in the Premier League whenever the 6 ft 2 midfielder has started.

Fabinho has featured in the opening line-up for 37 of his 38 English top-flight outings, winning 31 and drawing six while losing away to Manchester City last season having come off the bench.

The £100,000-per-week anchor has also averaged the most successful tackles per ninety minutes of any Liverpool central midfielder to have played more than once in the Premier League this season with 2.5 from 3.7 attempts, per WhoScored data.

He also ranks second to Henderson for interceptions with 1.4, and second to James Milner for successful aerial duels with 1.4 from 3.2 battles, as well as for accurate long passes with 5.2.

Here are some of the messages shared from supporters reacting to Cunningham’s comments…