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Wolves return to Premier League action after having the best part of two weeks off due to the international break as they host a struggling Southampton side at Molineux on Saturday.

Just before the players set off for national team duty, Wolves pulled off a shock in beating reigning champions Manchester City to make it three straight victories in all competitions.

Meanwhile, the Saints have suffered three straight defeats, conceding nine in the process, which sees them sit in a precarious 17th position.

Are Gareth Southgate’s Aston Villa roots the reason behind the Wolves player in the video below being overlooked?…

They are tied on points with Everton, who occupy that final relegation spot.

Ahead of this weekend’s game, several Wolves fans have been raving about their striker Raul Jimenez on social media.

One supporter claimed the 28-year-old was better than England captain Harry Kane while another added that he was ‘simply the best.’

Jimenez has scored two goals and provided two assists in their eight Premier League matches so far this campaign.

A further member of the old gold faithful believed the Mexican was a future legend at Wolves with one more fan labelling him ‘different class.’

Here’s the best of the reaction:

Leeds United will aim to get their promotion push back on track when they host Birmingham City on Saturday, and the battle between two specific players could be pivotal in determining the outcome of this Championship clash.

Birmingham’s Lukas Jutkiewicz will be aiming to add to the three goals he has scored across all competitions so far this season, but the 30-year-old will be facing off against a Leeds side who, despite sitting fifth, have conceded the lowest number of goals (7) of any side in the division.

An interesting battle that could be set to take place at Elland Road is that of Jutkiewicz against Leeds’ Gaetano Berardi, who at 5 ft 10 could be in for a difficult afternoon against the towering presence that the striker will provide for Pep Clotet’s side.

On average, Jutkiewicz – standing at 6ft 1 – has contested for 15.4 aerial duels every league game this season, winning 8. His dominant aerial presence is likely to cause Leeds trouble at the back, especially considering Berardi’s inferior height and the Whites’ troubles at the back from set plays. 

Marcelo Bielsa admitted earlier this season that he still has concerns over the Whites’ ability to defend set-pieces, despite their impressive defensive record after 11 games of the current campaign.

Birmingham will go within a point of Leeds if they claim all three points on Saturday, and the battle between Jutkiewicz and Berardi could be extremely important in determining the victor of this important clash – especially given the Whites’ frailties regarding set-pieces.

With just one win in their last four Championship fixtures, this is an extremely important game for Leeds’ manager Bielsa and the Argentinian will be looking to get the club’s promotion push back on track.

It’s clear who the danger man is for Birmingham and Clotet may well use his aerial weapon to exploit Berardi. The winner of this individual battle could go a long way to determining the outcome of Saturday’s clash.

According to Football Insider, Leeds United are looking into the prospect of signing Nathan Ferguson from West Brom.

The Whites have apparently begun building a dossier around the Baggies full-back.

While Ferguson has impressed this term, with Slaven Bilic stating that he has an extremely bright future, it’s up for debate as to whether or not this would be a good signing for Leeds.

Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The Whites may lack depth in some areas of their squad, but they’re absolutely stacked at full-back.

The 19-year-old can play on either the right of the left, but he’d have to compete with seasoned Championship veterans such as Ezgjan Alioski, Barry Douglas, Stuart Dallas and Luke Ayling in order to get a spot.

There are positives and negatives in this move for Leeds, and our writers gave their opinion on whether or not it’d be a good move.

Billy Meyers

“Despite the fact that Leeds already have a fair few full-backs, Nathan Ferguson is an exciting prospect who Marcelo Bielsa should not pass up the opportunity to sign.

“The West Brom wonderkid can play in both full-back positions – something that could prove invaluable over the course of a season with injuries and what not – while his value will presumably soar year-by-year seeing as he is a young English talent.

“It is telling that Tottenham are interested in Ferguson as well, with another Premier League side in Crystal Palace also keeping tabs on the youngster, so if there is even a glimmer of a chance for Leeds to get him, then they should jump at it.”

Lewis Blain

“Nathan Ferguson has been nothing short of a revelation for Slaven Bilic and West Brom this season. The Croatian took a gamble on promoting him in pre-season and it’s paid off – in more ways than you may think too.

“For the U23s, he was primarily a centre-back, but he began his senior Baggies career on the right-hand side of the defence, picking up the Man of the Match award in front of the Sky Sports cameras against Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest. That was merely a sign of what was to come.

“He has since filled in at left-back in Kieran Gibbs’ absence and has done well enough to keep the former Arsenal man out of the starting XI entirely. It is this sort of versatility that would make him an incredible signing for any team, Leeds included.

“Given he has been linked to a few European giants in Atletico Madrid and Juventus this week, I can’t see him swapping the Hawthorns for Yorkshire any time soon, if ever. It is also reported that he will sign an extension at Albion, so that would put pay to any form of exit in the foreseeable future.”

Why being the away goalkeeper at Leeds is the toughest job in football in the video below…

Vijievan Jeevathayalan

“At just 19-years-old, Nathan Ferguson has the world at his feet at the moment. A full-back flying high at West Brom this season, Leeds would do well to poach him away from their Championship rivals.

“The teenager is in the mould of Manchester United’s £50m man Aaron Wan-Bissaka, in that he is incredibly strong defensively – this campaign, he has averaged 2.6 tackles and 1.2 interceptions per game.

“Whilst Marcelo Bielsa’s side may be well-stocked in his position, getting a promising prospect with the best years ahead of him seems like shrewd business. Getting Ferguson on the cheap – his contract expires at the end of the season – would be a major coup for a team looking to get back to the big-time.”

Charles Jones

“Nathan Ferguson would be a fantastic addition to any squad in the Championship, and the fact that teams such as Juventus and Atletico Madrid have looked at him tells you everything you need to know about the full-back.

“However, unfortunately, I think that Ferguson is a case of the right player at the wrong time.

“Leeds already have enough good full-backs to see them through this term, and despite the fact that Ferguson is out of contract this summer he will still cost quite a lot.

“The Baggies are also pushing for promotion so they won’t want to let him go cheaply, and if United signed him on a pre-contract they would still have to pay compensation, and with Fulham demanding £7m for Harvey Elliott after he joined Liverpool, the Whites could end up forking out millions of pounds for the youngster.

“Those funds would be better invested in other areas of Marcelo Bielsa’s squad, so I’d have to say that this isn’t the correct move for Leeds right now.”

Leeds United fans on Twitter are buzzing after Phil Hay tweeted to confirm that Liam Cooper and Jamie Shackleton are back fit after their injuries.The Scot is back sooner than expected as it was claimed that he would be out for six weeks after picking up an injury against West Brom earlier this month.Watch Leeds United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Leeds’ defence has been average since he was ruled out, conceding twice to Millwall and also against Preston, but his return will undoubtedly be a big boost to the entire team.

With Adam Forshaw also struggling with injury, Jamie Shackleton has been a big miss as Marcelo Bielsa has been forced to play Stuart Dallas out of position in central midfield.

Whether or not either of these two returning stars are placed immediately into the starting XI on Saturday remains to be seen, but the fans are buzzing to hear that they’re back in contention.

Here’s what the Elland Road faithful have been saying on Twitter…

There’s thinking on your feet and there’s thinking with your heart.

Nottingham Forest managed to achieve both of them on Saturday after the Reading game was postponed.

Given that the call was made with less than three hours to go until kick-off, there were a few things that had to be reorganised on the day, one of them being all the food that had been made in preparation for the thousands of people that were supposed to descend on the City Ground.

Watch Nottingham Forest Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Instead of letting that food all go to waste, they decided to send the food to local charity Framework who are based in the north of the City.

The Reds and Framework already have a good relationship, with the two working together for the ‘Big Sleep Out’ later this month.

Forest fans were left in awe of the club’s act of generosity and took the opportunity to praise the club staff for their efforts and generosity.

Check out Matchday with Max’s latest Nottingham Forest vlog in the video below…

Here’s what they had to say on Twitter.

It just goes to show that there are still some good people in football

Neil Mellor made just 22 first-team appearances for Liverpool, managing six goals.

They are not exactly statistics of a player who should be well remembered, but a lot of the club’s fans still think about Mellor’s stunning goal against Arsenal.

Indeed, the former striker scored an absolute belter against the Gunners in November 2004, helping secure a 2-1 victory with the 90th-minute effort.

Mellor was eventually forced to retire in 2012 due to a knee injury, but the 37-year-old now regularly works as a pundit for Liverpool’s official television channel.

It was actually the Englishman’s birthday on Monday, and Liverpool’s official Twitter account were on hand with a special message for him.

Watch the moment Adam Lallana broke United hearts at Old Trafford in the video below…

That led to a number of the club’s fans taking to social media to comment on Mellor and indeed his long-range strike, which was, of course, attached to Liverpool’s birthday post.

A selection of the Twitter reaction is available to view below:

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…

Top of the table, but does he deserve to be there?

That’s the situation Jamie Vardy finds himself in right now as Leicester continue their fine start to the season. In fact, his position at the top of the table has got former Premier League forward Darren Bent well on board the Vardy hype train.

What’s he said?

Speaking on talkSPORT Drive on Monday, Bent said that Vardy is performing at such a high level that he should be considered up there as one of the most impressive forwards in the division.

This is what happens when you sing about Jamie Vardy’s wife…

He’s technically right

On a technical level, Bent has a point. As top scorer in the league, it’s easy to point to that and go ‘most goals, best player’, but being the greatest marksman in the league goes far beyond that.

Vardy has got to the top of the goal-scoring charts by scoring against teams that you wouldn’t consider the biggest of opponents, like the hat trick against Southampton, or goals against Sheffield United, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United.

In their games against traditional ‘top six’ sides, Chelsea, Manchester United, Spurs and Liverpool he has failed to score so far this season.

This isn’t to say that Vardy is a ‘flat-track bully’, someone who only scores against the weaker sides, indeed far from it. He’s shown in the past that he’s more than capable of causing a stir against the bigger teams in the division, netting 23 in 43 against the top six as of February 2018.

However, we’re not talking about the past, we’re talking about the present and this season in particular.

That is what should be setting Vardy apart from the rest of the strikers in the division, his record against the perceived best the league has to offer, and so far he’s failed to deliver in those games.

The 32-year-old has plenty of time to make up for it though, so he’ll have the chance to prove that people like Bent are right, but if he can’t, then he might force people to re-evaluate just how useful he is.

Football fans have been reacting on social media after the Anfield outfit shared that Trent Alexander-Arnold had been named the 2019 Rising Star winner at the Northwest Football Awards ceremony, taking issue with the fact that the England international is already an established name.

Alexander-Arnold made his Reds first-team debut in October 2016 against Tottenham Hotspur in the EFL Cup, before making his Premier League bow that December away to Cardiff City.

The Liverpool-born defender then firmly established his role at Anfield in the 2017/18 campaign as he made 19 top-flight appearances, before going on to feature in 29 of the Merseyside club’s league games the following term.

Across his 29 Premier League appearances last season, Alexander-Arnold recorded 12 assists, which was the joint-third most in the division, only behind Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne and AFC Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser.

Alexander-Arnold also recorded 61 successful tackles, 35 interceptions, 62 clearances and 25 blocks, per WhoScored data, as Liverpool took the title fight to the final day of the season.

The 21-year-old demonstrated his offensive capabilities beyond his assists with 14 successful dribbles and a total of 48 key balls, of which 18 were marked as being long passes.

Alexander-Arnold swept to the Rising Star gong at the NWFA’s 2018 ceremony in a double triumph for Liverpool, too, as Niamh Charles claimed the women’s award.

The Reds right-back has made it back-to-back triumphs at the annual event, by beating competition from Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood, Chelsea’s Recce James, Fleetwood Town’s Ash Hunter and Rangers’ George Edmundson, among others.

But Liverpool supporters aren’t too happy about the ‘rising star’ label and understandably so – can a player really be dubbed a ‘rising star’ for two straight seasons?

Here are some of the messages shared after Alexander-Arnold swept the 2019 NWFA Rising Star award…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…

Just a week after producing a toothless display against Bournemouth, Anthony Martial made some dramatic improvements in his overall game against Brighton on Sunday afternoon.

The France international cut an isolated figure last time out, failing to connect the midfield and attack, and refusing to adapt his style to what Manchester United desperately needed. It undoubtedly would have been a major worry to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that his number nine simply couldn’t involve himself in the build-up play.

But against the Seagulls at the weekend, the 23-year-old appeared to learn some crucial lessons from the game before, and showed that he does indeed have more strings to his bow than just being a ruthless finisher in front of goal.

Where last weekend the £250k-a-week star didn’t provide a single key pass, this time it was arguably the dominant facet of his performance. The former AS Monaco man looked at his creative best, interchanging with his fellow forwards, and being remarkably unselfish when given the opportunity to cut the ball back or find his teammates in a better position.

His four key passes were the highest that any player on either side managed, and he was duly rewarded by picking up two assists by the end of the game. Martial also had ten more touches than he did against Bournemouth, and staggeringly went from a 6.6 match rating as per Sofascore (the joint-worst of any player who completed the full 90 minutes), to having the highest match rating of any player against Brighton (7.9).

It was truly chalk and cheese, and would have eased some of the legitimate concerns Solskjaer may have had over his star forward’s ability to lead the line in the long-term. Of course, this is just one game, and the true test will lie over the coming weeks and months, but what once looked like a major failing in his arsenal, appears to be something he does have tucked away in his locker.

Tottenham Hotspur are currently experiencing some tough times over in the Premier League.

The north London outfit are sitting in 14th place in the table and have just sacked Mauricio Pochettino, while there are no clear signs of an immediate fix for their problems.

And prior to the confirmation of Pochettino’s departure, The Daily Mail came out with some concrete names of mangers that could be chosen by Spurs as the Argentine’s successor.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below

One of them was Eddie Howe, the current Bournemouth coach. Having initially overseen their rise through the Football League, Howe has the Cherries in a respectable ninth place this season – albeit only two points ahead of Spurs.

But upon seeing this update, many Spurs fans simply couldn’t believe that he is even being considered for the gig as they feel he is simply not good enough.

They swarmed Twitter and social media with their replies, mostly in disbelief of this new update.

You can see some of their replies down in the tweets below: