All posts by h79snht.top

Liverpool fans looking for striker transfer talk, Fichajes.netÂhave dropped a bomb of a rumour today in the shape of Liverpool being keen on Alexandre Lacazette, Luan Vieira, Inaki Williams, Mauro Icardi and Saido Berahino as Jurgen Klopp searches for a new attacking player.

What’s the story?

With a patchy record involving transfer rumours, Fichajes are not the most widely respected of sources, but they have, over the years, made a few claims that have come to fruition, and some Reds will surely hope what they’ve said falls into the fact pile and not the fiction one this time.

Being a Spanish outlet, they lead with the Merseysiders’ ‘interest’ in Athletic Bilbao’s speedy winger-come-striker Williams, but the bulk of their article interestingly surrounds Lacazette. The Lyon man was heavily linked with a Premier LeagueÂduring the last summer, but after much-publicised interest from West Ham and Arsenal, he remained in Ligue 1.

They speculate that the player, who has netted ten goals in ten league matches this season, is open to a move next year, and with his current side looking off course in terms of Champions League qualification, they may struggle to fend off interest for another transfer window.

As well as the aforementioned duo, Fichajes claim Inter Milan’s controversial Argentine Icardi, Luan Vieira of Gremio and, perhaps most intriguingly, West Brom’s Berahino are targets.

Liverpool’s background interest in the players…

It remains unclear what concrete information Fichajes have, but their claims are somewhat backed up by previous links:

Lacazette: Liverpool were aligned with Lacazette during the summer just gone and were even supposedly chasing him in 2015.

Williams: There have been numerous links between the Anfield side and the speedy attacker, with claims as recent as October from Don Balon doing the rounds.

Icardi: There are fewer direct recent rumours surrounding Liverpool and the Argentine, but he was mooted as a replacement for Luis Suarez in 2014.

Berahino: As is the case for most English giants, Liverpool have been linked with the Burundi-born forward.

Luan: A mooted summer target and one that will supposedly be available during the winter for £26m.

Why now?

All of this comes in the wake of Daniel Sturridge and his continued Liverpool woes. The MirrorÂclaimed on TuesdayÂthat the striker is considering a January move away from the club amid interest from West Ham and Stoke, and although he’s a hugely talented forward,Ârumours of him not being an ideal fit for the Klopp philosophy have circulated for some time.

Indeed, he’s been left on the bench for the bulk of the league leaders’ impressive run of late and was even pictured looking rather cheesed off during Reds’ 2-1 win over West Brom…

Even though he’s largely been used as a back-up option, Klopp cannot afford to let Sturridge leave without a replacement lined up, especially with Sadio Mane set to jet off to the Africa Cup of Nations in the New Year and Danny IngsÂexpected to miss the remainder of the season with a nasty knee injury.

Can we believe Fichajes?

At this stage it’s hard to judge. Although this could be a case of joining all of the dots, there are enough background rumblings to suggest at least two of the five are serious targets for the club, and amid Sturridge’s situation, another player may be needed this winter. We’ll just have to wait and see…

[ad_pod id=’playwire’ align=’center’]

Nottingham Forest host Championship leaders Newcastle United at the City Ground on Friday night looking to record their third successive league win.

Before their consecutive victories, Forest were lying in 20th position in the table just two points above the relegation zone, but they have now extended that gap to four points.

An impressive 2-0 success against Ipswich Town at Portman Road was followed up by a 5-2 thrashing of Barnsley at Oakwell, and Philippe Montanier’s men now sit just seven points from the play-off positions and have a squad brimming with confidence.

The prospect of facing Rafa Benitez’s side would have been daunting one prior to last weekend, after the Magpies had won nine league matches in a row, but they were brought back down to earth with a 1-0 home loss to Blackburn Rovers.

Here is FootballFanCast’s Nottingham Forest XI to beat the Championship title favourites on Friday…

GK: Vladimir Stojkovic

The Serbian stopper moved to the City Ground from Maccabi Haifa in the summer but the 33-year-old had failed to keep a clean sheet in the Championship until the 2-0 win at Ipswich a fortnight ago.

Stojkovic will certainly haven taken some confidence from not conceding at Portman Road and he will be looking to add to that shutout in the coming weeks as Forest aim to move up towards the right end of the table.

RWB: Eric Lichaj

Philippe Montanier’s preference for the majority of the season has been to play the 3-5-2 formation with wing-backs, and Lichaj is certainly his first choice on the right side.

The American defender actually missed last weekend’s 5-2 win against Barnsley because of a calf problem, and Forest’s French manager will be hoping that the 28-year-old is fit to return to the starting line-up in place of Michael Mancienne for the visit of the leaders.

CB: Matt Mills

With Forest likely to come up against Aleksandar Mitrovic or Dwight Gayle – or possibly both – on Friday night, they will need a centre-back with experience and quality, so Mills is ideal.

The former Bolton and Reading defender has made 17 appearances in all competitions this term with just one of those outings ending with a clean sheet.

He might need another if the Reds are to take anything against the Championship leaders.

CB: Damien Perquis

The France-born Polish defender was another player that arrived at the City Ground in the summer, and the 32-year-old has been almost ever-present in Forest’s backline.

As well as showing his defensive abilities alongside Mills and Joe Worrall at the heart of the defence, Perquis has also demonstrated that he can be a threat at the other end of the pitch too – he scored goals against Leeds United and Blackburn Rovers earlier this season.

CB: Joe Worrall

The 19-year-old starlet is the latest young breakthrough star at Forest and after making his full debut for the club in the 2-0 defeat at Reading in October, Worrall has started the following three matches and was part of the defence that picked up a rare clean sheet in the 2-0 win at Ipswich.

His impressive and mature performances haven’t gone unnoticed either with Everton and Stoke both reportedly eyeing a move for the young centre-back.

LWB: Danny Fox

If he was fit, Daniel Pinillos would be first choice at left wing-back but the Spaniard has endured a torrid time since joining Forest in the summer of 2015 – he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in December 2015 and despite making his return against Ipswich last month, he is once again on the sidelines with a knee problem.

It means that Fox should get the nod and the left-sided player certainly impressed going forward at Barnsley, setting up striker Apostolos Vellios for his goal.

CM: Pajtim Kasami

Because of his appearances in the Premier League and Europa League for Fulham, Kasami is certainly one of those players that you think might be older than he actually is.

The 24-year-old has been one of the consistent starters in the Forest midfield this season and he may just be in for his toughest battle yet when he could come up against the likes of Jonjo Shelvey, Mohamed Diame and Jack Colback on Friday night.

DM: Thomas Lam

The 22-year-old midfielder certainly had an interesting start to his Nottingham Forest career as he scored a goal on his league debut in the 4-3 win against Burton Albion.

Incredibly, Lam then netted the winner in a triumph by the same scoreline against Wigan a fortnight later, but he then spent a spell out of the side until Chris Cohen suffered an injury that has brought him back in, and he has impressed in the holding midfield role since.

CM: Henri Lansbury

The Forest captain continues to be one of the biggest influences on his side and when he creates and plays well, the team usually does, too.

The 26-year-old comes into this clash against the Championship leaders brimming with confidence after he netted a hat-trick in the 5-2 win against Barnsley last weekend, and the former Arsenal man will be keen provide the same goal threat to cause Newcastle similar problems at the City Ground.

AM: Ben Osborn

The 22-year-old is another of Forest’s impressive young stars and the attacking midfielder scored his first goal of the season in the thrashing of Barnsley last week.

Osborn has been ever-present for the Reds in the Championship this season and like centre-back Worrall, he is also said to be attracting interest from Premier League clubs following some impressive performances. He will want to put in another against Newcastle as Forest look to make it three wins in a row.

ST: Britt Assombalonga

Forest have suffered a number of serious injury blows in recent seasons and one of the biggest was losing Assombalonga to a knee injury for more than a year.

The striker was fully fit to start the current season and despite enduring a slight injury-hit campaign, the 23-year-old has scored six goals in eight appearances including both in the 2-0 win at Ipswich.

Montanier will certainly be hoping that Assombalonga, who missed the trip to Barnsley with a hamstring problem, is fit enough to start on Friday.

Ronald Koeman has dismissed reports linking him with the managerial job at Barcelona, stating that he is fully focused on Everton.

Luis Enrique’s position at Camp Nou has become a talking point over the last few days, with speculation emerging that he could leave at the end of the season.

Italian publication Sportitalia recently claimed that Barca chiefs have already contacted Koeman about potentially taking over in the near future.

Of course, the Dutchman is no stranger to the Spanish giants as he spent six years at the club during his playing career and later worked within the coaching staff for two years alongside Louis van Gaal.

[ad_pod id=’now-tv’ align=’centre’]

Koeman has only been in charge of Everton for less than seven months, and it appears that he has no intention of entertaining an offer from Barcelona just yet. He told reporters:

“That is not important at the moment. My name is always linked with Barcelona. I’m not in Barcelona, I’m in Everton.

“The reason I signed is because of the project we have here. We need time, but we want to grow on and off the pitch.”

The Toffees currently sit seventh in the Premier League table after picking 30 points from 20 games.

Koeman’s team have won just eight of their top-flight fixtures so far this season having lost six and drawn six.

It has been a mixed campaign, with the Merseyside outfit 11 points adrift of the top five.

[ad_pod id=’playwire’ align=’center’]

Manchester vs. Merseyside, as it was dubbed by Sky Sports, was all teed up to be dominated by United vs. Liverpool in the late kick-off, but it was instead Everton’s mauling of Manchester City that grabbed the headlines. The Toffees were simply stunning at Goodison Park, and although we all knew Pep Guardiola’s Citizens had weaknesses, the way Ronald Koeman’s team exploited them was as ruthless as it was impressive.

[ad_pod id=’now-tv’ align=’centre’]

The match was, arguably, Ross Barkley’s best of the season and the attacking midfielder was been quite rightly praised heavily between the final whistle and now. But we were more impressed with Tom Davies, who was making just his second start in league action for Everton. The 18-year-old kept things ticking over in midfield alongside Gareth Barry and may well give his manager a selection headache with new signing Morgan Schneiderlin now in the mix.

As the numbers show, Davies was heavily involved in the centre of the pitch and played the full 90 minutes, despite being one of the most inexperienced players involved. The teenager had 49 touches of the ball, played 32 passes, made two dribbles and weighed in defensively with two interceptions. He also showed his attacking intent with one shot following a superb piece of skill, which resulted in a goal.

We’re expecting to see a lot more of Davies between now and the end of the season!

[ad_pod id=’playwire’ align=’center’]

Brighton are currently flying high in the Championship and, although there was somewhat of a surprise defeat last weekend away at Preston, they are many pundits’ favourites to not only get automatic promotion to the top-flight, but perhaps even win the division outright.

With Brighton fans suffering three play-off disappointments in the past four seasons, the hope will be that come May this will be the season in which the Seagulls finally make the step up to the Premier League. At the halfway stage of the season, they look in a strong position to do so, but that was also the case 12 months ago in a season that ultimately ended in heartbreak

They, of course, went on to miss out on promotion by the smallest of margins with Middlesbrough going up instead by virtue of goals scored, and what made that even more agonising is the fact that the two sides met at the Riverside Stadium on the final day of the season with the game ending in a very frustrating draw for Chris Hughton’s outfit.

The former Newcastle manager will want to make sure that history does not repeat itself this time around, and to make sure of that then he may well feel that a few reinforcements are required in a bid to get them over the promotion line.

So, let’s now look at THREE players who could be on their way to the Brighton before the close of the window…

Jason Lowe

One player who has grabbed the attention of the Brighton scouts of late is Jason Lowe of fellow Championship side Blackburn Rovers. The versatile 25-year-old is being tracked by a number of clubs and what makes his possible transfer all the more appealing is the fact that Lowe is out of contract at the end of the season.

The question now is whether or not clubs are prepared to play the waiting game until the summer to acquire the services of Lowe on a free transfer or whether they feel it would be best to hurry the move along by making a bid in the current transfer window. With the Rovers ace refusing to sign a new deal, Blackburn may well be forced to sell this month so as to avoid seeing him leave the club for nothing.

The former England U-21 international has been an ever-present and an all-important feature for Owen Coyle’s side as they bid to beat the drop down to League One, so should he leave this month then it would obviously deal Blackburn’s survival hopes a massive blow, but at the same time could also enhance Brighton’s chances of promotion.

Robbie Keane

Brighton have also been eyeing a new striker in this transfer window to add to support for on loan returnee Glenn Murray and they might just be able to bring one of the Premier League’s most lethal ever finishers to the Amex Stadium: Robbie Keane. Keane is a free agent after leaving Major League Soccer outfit LA Galaxy and could well be the missing piece of the jigsaw when it comes to Brighton going up.

The Republic of Ireland idol, who has played for no fewer than six Premier League clubs during his career, has scored 126 top-flight goals – a tally that makes him the 13th highest Premier League goalscorer of all time – and he shows signs of slowing down just yet. Perhaps MLS is a much easier league in comparison, but the 36-year-old has shown that he still has that vital instinct for goals.

A return to the Premier League may elude him this month, but with Keane being available on a free transfer then he will undoubtedly still be in high demand, especially for the clubs aiming to secure promotion from the Championship. With Brighton falling short because of goals scored last season that is not something they will want to see happen again and the signature of Keane would go a long way to making sure that’s not the case two seasons in a row.

Glenn Murray

If they do not manage to succeed in acquiring the services of Keane then a smart bit of business they should definitely look to do is make the loan signing of current top scorer Glenn Murray a permanent one. Murray, who is on loan from Premier League side Bournemouth, is in his second spell with the Sussex-based club and it’s fair to say that he’s picked up from where he left off last time.

Murray left the club in slightly acrimonious circumstances back in 2011 with his departure to arch rivals Crystal Palace, but it seems that football fans have short memories as the 33-year-old is once again being heralded as a fans’ favourite on the South Coast. It’s his 14 goals in 22 Championship outings this season that have arguably gone some way to helping Brighton fans forget his departure to the Eagles.

After falling out of Eddie Howe’s plans at the Vitality Stadium towards the end of last season it was made clear that his future was elsewhere for the start of this one. Although Bournemouth cannot recall the player due to the terms of the loan agreement, such has been the impressive form of Murray during this campaign that Chris Hughton will now want to complete a deal to remove any doubts about the player’s future. It’s a move that, should it be completed this month, will be incredibly beneficial in Brighton’s push for promotion.

After suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of Manchester City on Wednesday, it was vitally important that West Ham bounced back on Saturday with a positive performance at the very least.

Hammers fans got that and more on their trip to Southampton where they saw their team pick up a massive 3-1 win over the Saints.

Goals from Andy Carroll, Pedro Obiang and Mark Noble gave the Irons victory with Southampton unable to deal with an accomplished team performance from Bilic’s men.

It was a win that saw West Ham leapfrog Southampton in the table and move into the top half, having been a point behind Claude Puel’s team heading into the fixture.

An exciting match from start to finish, there was plenty enjoy in the encounter.

Here are FIVE photos that summed up all the action…

Debut danger

This finish from new Saints signing Manolo Gabbiadini threatened to kickstart another dismal day for West Ham this season. It was beautiful effort, the Italian firing high and powerfully past Randolph right in the top corner of the goal.

If he can keep that up in the coming months then Puel will have made one of the best signings of the entire January transfer window.

Carroll can’t stop scoring

It’s now four in four for Andy Carroll and his smart finish past Fraser Forster was the result of good movement in behind the Saints defence, latching onto a lovely pass from Pedro Obiang.

Carroll is scoring all sorts of goals right now, these classic striking efforts, headers and even overhead bangers.

He is in tremendous form and has given West Ham an extra edge just when they needed it most with the departure of Dimtri Payet to Marseilles.

Obiang’s first

Pedro Obiang set up Carroll then scored his first ever West Ham goal with a powerful low effort that gave Fraser Forster no chance as is travelled through a crowded box into the corner of the net.

Goals obviously aren’t a big part of Obiang’s game but if he can produce finishes like that then maybe he should make a foray into the final third more often than he does currently from his defensive midfield position.

He’s been a key part of West Ham’s good performances this season and when he plays well then the Irons tend to as well.

Mark Noble’s dubious goal

Mark Noble will claim every bit of his second half free-kick which bamboozled Fraser Forster after taking a heavy deflection off of an opposition player. It may even end up being one for the mysterious Dubious Goals Committee. He doesn’t score many, it was only his third of the season so he’ll definitely want it to go down as his in the end!

Nevertheless, Noble was architect of the goal and it marked a fine performance from the Hammers captain.

Bilic’s boys march on

Once in danger of slipping into a relegation battle, West Ham United are now well clear of all that nonsense and move up to 9th place in the table with Saturday’s win.

They’ll now be interested in closing the gap on West Bromwich Albion who sit five points ahead of them in eighth. They have a great chance to start that process next week when they host the Baggies at the London Stadium.

The Hammers now have three wins in their last four Premier Leagues with only that blip against the talented Manchester City blighting their recent record.

Bilic has his boys playing with confidence again and they look to be united in achieving their ambitions this season. If the Croatian manager can keep up the progress then they’ll be in a great position to have a better season next term.

Arsenal’s win over Hull City came at a vital time for Arsene Wenger. On the back of two successive defeats, the Gunners boss was under pressure to turn things around amid constant media speculation he may not be at the Emirates much longer.

Thankfully for Wenger his players’ quality shone through on Saturday, producing a professional if not entirely convincing performance to see off a spirited Tigers team.

An Alexis Sanchez brace won the game and that’s star power that keeps Arsenal going even when not are their best.

The club now face a daunting trip to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday but that win on Saturday will at least give them a much needed confidence boost.

For Hull there were plenty of positives and their fans must fancy their chances of surviving relegation if progress continues under Silva.

These are the FIVE lessons we learned during the ninety minutes…

Sanchez can’t stop, won’t stop…

With another two goals, Alexis Sanchez moved clear as the Premier League’s top scorer this season so far. He now has 17 Premier League goals this term, part of a 19 goal total in all competitions. With a further 11 assists directly contributing to Gunners goals, it’s clear he is by far Arsenal’s most important player this season.

He can’t be stopped, against most teams anyway, and looks motivated enough to continue scoring in the months to come. The Chilean striker could be the difference between a top four position and also-ran obscurity.

Hull are a tough nut to crack

Hull’s performance probably deserved a goal at least. They were excellent across the ninety minutes and on this showing you’d fancy them to haul themselves out of the relegation zone over the next thirteen Premier League matches.

Tough to break down, unlucky with refereeing decisions and effective on the counter-attack, they pushed Arsenal all the way and on another day potentially could have come away with something.

Life is good under Marco Silva and he’s inspired them to a higher level from where they were before he took over.

Arsenal will always bounce back

No matter how bad things seem at the Emirates, Arsenal will always bounce back. That’s not a lesson we learned today, but one we were reminded of.

Down the years they’ve shown an impressive resilience in adversity. They only seem to falter when things are actually going well, as we’ve seen over the last six weeks.

You wouldn’t bet against them dropping out of the top four because of this and despite falling away in the title race, Arsenal fans can at least be grateful they will always find a way to pick up results, even through blips and inconsistency.

Better needed for Bayern

The way the likes Lazar Markovic cut open Arsenal at times across the ninety minutes will have been concerning for fans who had one eye on their upcoming match with Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

As we know, Bayern take no prisoners, especially in the UEFA Champions League and their direct and dynamic attacking style is a big threat to Arsenal’s defence.

Improvement and a massive performance is required or they’ll be facing a Last 16 exit. Can the Gunners produce a big game showing against the Bundesliga leaders or will they wilt under the pressure of an elite team playing at home?

Pressure eased, for now…

All in all, the pressure has been eased on Arsene Wenger, at least for now. The future is still uncertain for the Arsenal boss but in truth, only a massive collapse and extended run of bad defeats were going to oust him from the job before the end of the season.

As it is, he at least has some breathing room in the Premier League. With massive matches ahead in other competitions it doesn’t get much easier, even against non-league giant killers Sutton United next weekend, with potential banana skins littering the road ahead.

Can he still deliver significant silverware this season?

According to Spanish outlet Diario Gol, Chelsea have made an offer of £34 million for Real Madrid forward Alvaro Morata as they look to bolster their squad ahead of a likely return to the Champions League.

What’s the word?

The Blues are flying at the moment and are looking pretty nailed on to win the Premier League title this season.

Indeed, a Champions League campaign next season looks set to happen, too, and Antonio Conte and his men will be keen to make a decent impact in that competition.

You do feel, though, that they need extra options in attack at the moment, with only Diego Costa as their reliable source of goals. Morata, then, looks like a logical move, and the Spanish forward could be up for a move himself.

He’s found it hard to keep a spot in the Real Madrid side under Zinedine Zidane and if a side like Chelsea come calling – given their evident need for a forward – it could be on the cards

The right move?

It really does depend on which Morata turns up at Stamford Bridge but you’d think he would do a decent job.

He’s certainly talented when he gets a run in the team and when he was at Juventus he enjoyed his best days playing regularly and contributing well to their attacking play.

He can switch off, though – and particularly has done at Madrid at times – but that could be attributed to the fact he’s never really had an idea of whether he’s staying in the side for long or not.

All things considered, then, at £34 million it’s just about a risk worth taking for the men from west London.

[ad_pod id=’playwire’ align=’center’]

Leeds United will be looking to keep their automatic promotion hopes alive when they host an in-form Queens Park Rangers at Elland Road on Saturday.

Garry Monk’s men looked set to make it three consecutive victories in the Championship on Tuesday night as they led Fulham 1-0 in injury time at Craven Cottage, but a late Tom Cairney strike meant that the Whites only returned to Yorkshire with a point.

The draw means that United sit nine points behind second-placed Brighton and Hove Albion with 10 matches of the season remaining, and they will need to get back to winning ways at Elland Road this weekend if they are to have any chance of closing that gap.

That certainly won’t be an easy task though, with Ian Holloway’s side coming into the fixture in fine form themselves.

Tuesday’s 2-1 success against Barnsley at Loftus Road was their fourth in their last five matches, with their attacking players in particular looking rather potent right now.

Here are THREE in-form QPR players that Leeds need to be wary of on Saturday…

Idrissa Sylla

The summer signing from Anderlecht is QPR’s top goalscorer in the Championship this season with eight league goals, and with five of those coming away from home, the Guinea attacker will come into the clash at Elland Road full of confidence.

The former Anderlecht striker netted in his side’s 2-1 win against Barnsley at Loftus Road on Tuesday night, and with four league goals in his last nine outings, the 26-year-old could pose a serious threat to Leeds’ backline on Saturday.

Yeni Ngbakoto

Despite the fact a large amount of his QPR appearances this season have come from the substitutes’ bench Ngbakoto has been one of his side’s key players in recent weeks.

After becoming out of favour at the start of Ian Holloway’s return to the club, the 25-year-old forward has made a positive impression more recently.

He scored a brilliant free-kick in the 4-1 win against Birmingham City at St Andrew’s last month, while he netted one and created another after coming off the bench in Rangers’ 2-1 success against Cardiff City at Loftus Road last weekend.

Matt Smith

The towering striker joined QPR from London rivals Fulham during the January transfer window, and he has made an impressive start to his career at Loftus Road.

Smith has netted two goals in his first seven appearances for the Championship outfit – including scoring in the wins against Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic – and his height, strength and finishing ability could cause a big problem for Leeds’ trusty defensive duo – Pontus Jansson and Kyle Bartley – this weekend.

New Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha has put the cat amongst the pigeons in Scottish football already and he hasn’t even been in the job for 48 hours.

Taking his first press conference yesterday, he was reported to have said that the Ibrox club boast the best squad in Scotland.

It’s a bold claim considering his new side are currently 33 points behind league leaders Celtic and 8 points behind second-placed Aberdeen.

Nevertheless, it’s certainly a confident position to take and Rangers fans are hopeful that he’s the man that can start to close that gap on Celtic over the next 12 months.

After their draw at Celtic Park on Sunday, there’s a new found confidence amongst Gers supporters and that will be key in the tail-end of the season.

For opposition supporters the comments were rather comical, with fans from all teams in disbelief that the new Ibrox boss would make such comments.

They took to Twitter to share their thoughts on it all…

[ad_pod id=’Shoot-Xmas-Survey’ align=’left’]

[ad_pod id=’playwire’ align=’center’]