If Arsenal sign Sami Khedira from Real Madrid in January they can win the Premier League title, according to former Gunners star Perry Groves.
The Gunners are rumoured to be one of a host of clubs – including Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City – chasing the 27-year-old midfielder.
Khedira helped Germany to World Cup glory earlier this year, but he is believed to be available for just £10m this January with his contract at Real due to expire when the season ends.
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Arsenal are rumoured to be a club the rangy ace would be willing to join, with various reports suggesting that he’s open to a deal in the New Year to link up with Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski at the Emirates Stadium.
And Groves believes that if Arsene Wenger makes the move, his old side could go on to become champion of England:
“They need to strengthen that defensive midfield area and the one that stands out in my mind is Khedira,” he told the London Evening Standard. “He would be perfect for them.
“Khedira knows that role. He has the physicality and a great passing range. His attitude is good with a great winning mentality and it wouldn’t take him too long to settle because he would have his three German team-mates with him [Ozil, Mertesacker and Podolski].
“He would give Arsenal something different. A lot of their midfield players are very similar, very technically gifted players but Khedira will win the ball back to allow others to go and play. He’s proved he can handle life at a massive club and he could fit straight in.
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“If they can get to within six or seven points by the time the January transfer window opens and then sign Khedira, they could win it.”
The first Football League Cup hat-trick was scored at the very start of the opening competition, in October 1960 when Burnley won 4-0 away to Cardiff. Apart from being unique for that reason it’s all the more curious because the scorer of that historic treble, Gordon Harris, was a midfield player or to be more accurate because of the era, an inside-forward.
The most recent treble was scored by Theo Walcott as Arsenal registered the most famous comeback in the history of the competition to beat Reading in that 12 goal thriller in this season’s Capital One Cup in October.
In more than 50 years between there have been a few more hat-tricks, and more, but only one double treble.
Click on Robbie Fowler to see the full countdown of League Cup hat-tricks
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The Leeds United fans in the Transfer Tavern are feeling excited by the new era under Marcelo Bielsa which promises to be characterised by eccentricity and exuberance, but a recent report from Italy should give them genuine cause for concern about their club’s strategy in the transfer market.
The Breakdown
According to the highly-respected Sky Sports journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Leeds are locked in negotiations with Carpi over a €1.8 million deal for the Nigerian striker Jerry Mbakogu. The Whites have been consistently linked with Mbakogu since the turn of the year, but history suggests that their 25-year-old target is not the man to solve their problems.
Carpi finished the previous Serie B season slap bang in the middle of the table in 11th place with a goal difference of -14 – a fact which illuminates their lack of potency in-front of goal.
Mbakogu was a key part of the Italian side’s struggle to find the back of the net as he notched just 6 goals from 26 appearances, losing his place in the starting eleven towards the end of the season as a consequence of his modest record.
With these statistics in mind, it’s no wonder that Carpi are willing to allow Mbakogu to depart the club for such a measly fee this summer, and their apparent willingness to sell should ring a few alarm bells at Elland Road.
Despite the natural appeal of a cut-price transfer fee, Andrea Radrizzani and Bielsa need to rethink their approach to the hunt for a new striker and hone in on what’s really important: a player with a proven track-record to consistently find the back of the net.
Considering both the quality and competitiveness of Serie B is a level below that of the Championship, signing Mbakogu represents a sideways move at best, and there’s no doubt he would struggle to adapt to the intensity of English football.
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Bielsa’s activity in the transfer market this summer will play a pivotal role in determining his success in masterminding a revolution at a club which is crying out for a long-awaited return to the top-flight, so he must be shrewder with his choices and abandon the proposed move to sign Mbakogu before he makes his first major mistake at Leeds.
Tottenham Hotspur play host to Rochdale in the two clubs’ FA Cup fifth round replay at Wembley on Wednesday night following their 2-2 draw earlier at Spotland earlier this month, and Spurs fans have begged manager Mauricio Pochettino not to start striker Fernando Llorente, rated at £7.2m by Transfermarkt, up top.
The north London outfit signed the centre-forward, who celebrated his 33rd birthday earlier this week, from Swansea City during the summer following an impressive debut campaign in the Premier League, but he has struggled playing back-up to Harry Kane.
The Spaniard has scored just two goals in 26 appearances in all competitions for Pochettino’s men and he has none in four outings in the FA Cup this term, despite starting all of their fixtures against lower league opposition in AFC Wimbledon, Newport County and Rochdale.
Tottenham supporters have been quick to have their say on Llorente ahead of the clash in the capital on Wednesday, and while one said “Llorente can’t start another match”, another said “I can start and play better than Llorente”.
Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…
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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger remained firm on his decision to field an inexperience defence, but revealed that his injury struck back-line finally took its toll on the squad following his side’s 2-1 lost against Southampton in the Capital One Cup, Skysports.
The loss saw the Gunners get knocked out of the domestic competition for the first time in 12 years as an on-form Saints squad registered there first ever win at the Emirates.
Wenger refrained from blaming his defenders as he believes his opponents were the better side and deserved their win.
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“It’s disappointing because we had a good start and we made two unneeded errors on the two goals – and big ones,” he said.
“We lacked a bit of experience at the back, but overall they did well. We gave a lot and it’s frustrating not to be able to score in the second half.
“When you look at the amount of possession we had, we have to give credit to Southampton, they played well and were well organised.
“They abused a bit the fouls in the middle of the park, but they are a good side and they played well tonight. Overall it is frustrating because we gave a lot.”
The French boss decided to field Hector Bellerin, Calum Chambers, Issac Hayden, and Francis Coquelin in the back four, in order to allow his first-team players to get back to full fitness.
“We are a bit short, yes, because of the injuries we have,” Wenger added.
“You sit there and think: (Kieran) Gibbs had a little hamstring problem and we could not play him, (Per) Mertesacker is a bit on the edge, and then we have no choice.
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“I think if we lost the game tonight, it’s not because of Hayden, not because of Chambers and not because of Coquelin. You have to be realistic.”
Chelsea are still waiting for their first goal under Rafael Benitez after drawing another blank to draw against Fulham at Stamford Bridge.
The Spaniard’s first game in charge after taking over the reins from Roberto Di Matteo ended in a stalemate with Manchester City on Sunday and the Blues once again failed in front of goal against their West London rivals.
Cottagers boss Martin Jol will be the happier of either managers as his side avoided a third consecutive Premier League defeat, but have one just once in their last nine games and slipped into the bottom half of the table.
Benitez’s debut in the dugout against City attracted the ire of home supporters, who chanted in support of predecessor Di Matteo, and he was again the subject of abuse from the stands.
It made for a hostile atmosphere on Kings Road as the hosts struggled to locate the fluency and attacking flair that saw them head the table during the early part of the campaign.
Fernando Torres’ scuffed effort from Cesar Azpilcueta’s cross proved to be the best opportunity of a colourless, incident free first half that saw the visitors barely threaten Petr Cech at the other end.
They did create one of the games few clear cut chances after the break but John Arne Riise failed make the right connection to take full advantage of Giorgos Karagounis’ superb through ball in the 56th minute.
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Juan Mata was thrown on just past the hour but even he couldn’t provide the inspiration for the home side that would unlock a stern Fulham back line that repelled attack after attack in the second half.
Chelsea have now dropped seven points off the championship pace and Benitez now has the unenviable task of arresting six-game winless slump.
West Ham are negotiating with exciting youngster Declan Rice over a new contract, as covered by Sky Sports.
Rice was a stand-out performer in a tumultuous season for the London club. A measured defender with the ability to play out from the back, many expect to see Rice become an integral part of the new West Ham side under Manuel Pellegrini.
West Ham have the option of triggering a further year on his existing deal, but feel that his performances this season have warranted an increase in wage and responsibility for the 19-year old.
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Even with the purchase of French centre-back Issa Diop, securing the future of one of the hottest prospects to come out of the West Ham academy in years should be at the top of Pellegrini’s wishlist.
Here’s a quick look at how the news of the negotiations went down with West Ham fans on social media…
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”255853″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch West Ham’s opening fixtures for the 201819 Premier League season”]
It’s fair to say that even though Everton found themselves in a difficult situation in November with caretaker boss David Unsworth struggling after Ronald Koeman had been sacked the previous month, there weren’t too many Toffees supporters that would have been keen on the idea of Sam Allardyce taking charge.
The Merseyside outfit looked to be in serious danger of suffering relegation from the Premier League for the first time since the inauguration of the division in 1992, and the 63-year-old is renowned with never suffering demotion to the Championship despite managing the likes of Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United and Newcastle United during his career.
Unfortunately for the former England boss, he is also regularly tarnished with the brush of playing unattractive, long ball football, and that is something that would have influenced Everton fans when it was announced that Allardyce was going to take the reins just prior to their clash against fellow strugglers West Ham United at Goodison Park on November 29.
The Toffees came into the clash on the back of a successive 5-1 and 4-1 defeats against Atalanta and Southampton, and they were lying just two points above the relegation zone and with just 12 points from their 13 top flight fixtures.
They also had the second worst goal difference in the division of minus 15 at the time and Allardyce would have been tasked with not only turning results around, but also to stop the side leaking goals.
Unsworth oversaw a brilliant 4-0 success against the Irons, before the 63-year-old took the helm for the first time when they hosted Huddersfield Town just three days later.
A 2-0 victory against the Terriers certainly got him off to a positive start, and he quickly tightened up the defence and started getting the points on the board that the Merseyside outfit desperately needed.
Allardyce and Everton took 12 points from his first six Premier League matches in charge, and it was needed to keep the Goodison Park faithful on side.
However, things started to go sour – and the Toffees fans certainly didn’t need any excuse to turn on the 63-year-old – at the end of 2017 when they were beaten 2-1 by Bournemouth.
Three successive defeats followed – including a 4-0 loss against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley – and Allardyce suggested that they needed to be “more boring” after the huge reverse in the capital.
That remark outraged Everton fans given that their side had only had one shot on target in their opening three games of 2018, and while they took seven points from their next three home games they were also beaten 5-1 by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
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They currently lie in ninth position and eight points above the relegation zone, but it would be hard to argue that the Merseyside outfit have made significant progress under Allardyce in overall terms.
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The January addition of Cenk Tosun hasn’t paid off so far with the player struggling with the pace of the Premier League and the English weather, he failed to sign a left-back when it looked as though it should have been their January priority, while Ademola Lookman left on loan after struggling to get first-team starts and summer arrival Davy Klaassen has failed to get a look in.
That said, Everton are just two points adrift of seventh-place Burnley and if results go their way in the final 11 top flight fixtures of the campaign, they remain on course to secure the position as the best of the rest outside of the top six clubs.
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If Allardyce does that it would certainly be an impressive achievement given the disastrous start the club made to the season, and the 63-year-old would deserve a full summer to sign his own players and work with the team during pre-season in preparation of making an ambitious tilt for the top six positions next term.
It would be a controversial choice for the supporters, but Allardyce must get the opportunity to try and take the club forward if he leads Everton to the highest possible finish it looks as though they can secure in remaining 11 fixtures – seventh.
A lot of bad press is given to Wayne Rooney, sometimes unfairly and the player has a lot of people saying he is over rated and does not deserve to be England captain.
The player had shown a lot of early promise in his career after making a big impact for his boyhood team Everton as a sixteen year old. He was playing some outstanding football from the word go and scored a lot of important goals for the Merseyside club, including a whopper of a goal against Arsenal for which I think he went down in history for. After only two season at Everton, scoring fifteen goals in sixty seven appearances, he was signed by Manchester United for a £25.6million transfer fee.
He had a promising start to his career at Manchester United and justified the move becoming United’s top scorer that season with eleven goals. He started to get a bit of a reputation for the wrong reasons however, with his bad temper and poor discipline becoming a regular feature in the newspapers and a and attitude was clearly visible at times like when he was needlessly sent off in September 2005 against Villareal in a game which ended goalless, when he was booked he sarcastically applauded the referee and bagged himself a second yellow. It seemed the youngster, for all the talent and promise he had, it was over shadowed by his silly behaviour and bad attitude, coming across as a bit of a wild child who was in serious need of piping down and being tamed by the mighty Sir Alex Ferguson.
His international career followed suit in similar fashion, with some promising goals and good play from the forward being marred by a shoddy disciplinary record and more bad press in the papers.
The most famous scandal was of course about his apparent taste for ;mature’ women with a story breaking that he had sexual relations with an elderly prostitute. He sadly became a bit of a laughing stock and people started to lose patience with the player who would continue to get himself in trouble on and off the pitch. What followed was a goalless period in the 2006/2007 season where he went ten games without scoring, until hitting the back of the net three times against Bolton to earn himself a two year contract extension.
For me, I think that a combination of bad press (some of it justified) and his previously poor attitude has earned the new England captain a bad name, more attention is focused on him as a person than as a player. But not only that, he has failed to perform for his country in recent years as a goal scorer and he hasn’t really been that great for his club either. But I think that he is most definitely NOT over rated. The guy has a bag full of talent; that much was obvious from the word go when he was at Everton and scoring top drawer goals, providing vital assists for his team mates, and he has continued to play like that throughout his career with some truly memorable goals being bagged in the process.
The general consensus is that Rooney is used in the wrong way as a player. He is consistently played in the number ten role behind a striker, and at times by Fergie he would be used on the wing. Both England and United are missing out on the best of Wayne because he isn’t used in the way he should be used, which is as natural number nine. He played in that role for Everton and he would hassle and bully defenders, win headers and get himself on the scoresheet regularly.
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He is one of the best strikers in the game in that role and I would go as far as comparing him to Alan Shearer, who played that role superbly throughout his entire career as a player. Rooney is not utilised in that way these days and, despite glimpses of his genius, we do not see him living up to his full potential . As a result, he is classed as over rated by many and continues to get a lot of stick by fans and pundits alike.
Rooney will lead England out tonight against Switzerland in the Euro 2016 qualifier. Let’s hope Hodgson has read this and plays him as a number nine tonight.
Former Arsenal midfielder Robert Pires insists that Wenger needs to find a balance within his team, and start to make cup success a top priority.
The Frenchman spent six years in North London where winning trophies was synonymous with the club as he played his part in two Premier League titles and three FA Cup wins.
Pires was keen to point out that Wenger was the focal point of the football club and that Arsenal need to trust that he will be keep delivering.
“Arsenal goes with Wenger like Wenger goes with Arsenal – you can’t have one without the other,” the 39-year-old told talkSPORT.
“That said, the results this season have simply not been good enough.
“But you can’t forget Arsenal have high expectations because of Arsene Wenger. He has done such a good job over all these years. You cannot forget what he has done for the club and neither should the chairman.
“It’s unfair to compare what we did between 2000 and 2006 – we had a great team, a great mix of English, Spanish, Brazilian and French players. But now a lot has changed. The club’s philosophy seems different.”
Wenger has publicly stated that he believes the importance of achieving Champions League qualification is an essential commodity and one which is underrated by supporters.
However, Pires insists the fans needs to see a palpable return for their support.
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“The most important thing for fans and players is winning titles, be it the FA Cup, the League Cup or the Champions League,” he added.
“It’s been years without a trophy and I know that is very frustrating for Wenger. That should be the number one priority this year.”