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Arsenal could hand Danny Welbeck a new contract despite his injury woes, per the Daily Mirror, with his current deal expiring this summer.

What’s the word?

Welbeck has played just eight times in the Premier League this season, with his last appearance coming against Liverpool in November, when he lasted just nine minutes.

An ankle injury has ruled him out of the remainder of the campaign but the Mirror claim that he is making good progress in his rehabilitation.

The club are, therefore, considering offering him a fresh deal.

Welbeck is reportedly being eyed by a number of Premier League clubs as a potential free transfer, with West Ham United, Newcastle United and Everton all said to be interested.

Arsenal’s contract offer, were it to be forthcoming, would include a lower basic wage, the report claims, while he would want to play on a consistent basis.

Aaron Ramsey is already set to leave the club on a free transfer this summer, with a move to Juventus already arranged, and it remains to be seen if Welbeck will ultimately follow his lead.

A farce of a transfer strategy

If this is the way that Emery is meant to refresh his attack then fans need to be deeply concerned.

Welbeck is not really good enough for Arsenal when he is fully fit. His goalscoring record – 32 goals in 126 games – equates to roughly one in every four and Unai Emery needs better than that.

But it has been widely reported that the money for a squad overhaul does not really exist.

Thus, one can sort of understand the idea of extending the stay of the former Manchester United man, but it smacks of desperation, of poor planning and of budgetary constraints.

The Mirror claim that he was expected to leave in November but now, here we are, with Arsenal giving serious consideration to offering an average player with a woeful injury record a new deal, just to save face amid the farce of Ramsey’s exit.

It is fair to ask exactly what has gone wrong in north London; we can only feel sympathy for Emery, who is being asked to do his job with one hand tied behind his back.

It started as a 3-4-3, it turned into a 4-4-2, and it ended in a mess.

Unai Emery’s Arsenal has an identity crisis to the most literal degree as the Gunners, who have been under new management for nearly a year, a still a side who don’t look to have a set formation, and when you’re going for Champions League football that kind of mentality is criminal.

And against Everton, the level of tactical incompetence was out on full display as the Gunners shifted formation twice during the game and failed to make either system work against a Toffees side who have done a good job at crumbling to pieces against the big sides this season.

It is clear that Emery’s end goal for Arsenal is to get them to play in a 4-2-3-1 formation with fullbacks who love to bomb forward and wingers who can act as inside-forwards, but with the current crop of players, that system just isn’t possible.

Barely any wingers, full-backs who can go forward but are weak defensively and having not one but two world-class strikers has meant Emery has had to tweak with not only Arsenal are set up but where players play.

We have seen Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Sead Kolasinac play as a left-midfielder and Granit Xhaka play both centre back and left-back this season to compliment for not only tactical goals for Emery but to cover injuries, which are a constant problem for Arsenal.

Going into next season, Emery needs to have a clear plan of what formation the club should be playing and who is playing where. Arsenal can’t afford another season of testing and seeing what does and doesn’t work.

The time for a primary formation is now, and if Emery is still unable to find an ideal system for his players, Arsenal will suffer in the long run.

Arsenal fans, what formation should Emery play? Let us know!

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Alasdair Gold, Football.London’s Tottenham Hotspur correspondent took the time to sit down with Football FanCast on Saturday, ahead of the Spurs Legends clash with their Inter Milan counterparts.

He gave us the rundown on the new stadium, Spurs’ transfer plans and his prediction for the Champions League quarter-final clash with Manchester City.

Take a look below…

After all the delays over the move, you must have been excited to finally get here…

“I’ve been doing video updates around the ground, walking around it, metaphorically banging on windows, trying to get in. They’re very good, they put on a little press tour just before the test event, a couple of days before and we got to see it and it was one of those moments of exhaling and saying ‘it was worth it’ because it is phenomenal. It is phenomenal on the outside but actually, when you’re inside you appreciate the scale of it.”

You can see it from two miles up Seven Sisters…

“That’s such a difference. White Hart Lane was such a tucked away ground and that was part of its appeal, that you’d walk around the corner and see a stadium there. Whereas this place, you come out of Seven Sisters, you can see the top of it. It’s a landmark, really. That’s what they wanted to create and they have.”

The South Stand in particular looks amazing…

“Yeah, when that’s full, the noise is going to be ridiculous. They’ve signed it in such a way, they’re very keen to say that the guy who does U2 concerts has done the acoustics so it’ll be louder than any other football ground. For the last test event, the Under-18 match with 30,000 or so, for every goal, the cheers rolled around the ground. Even a half-full stadium was almost deafening. 62,000 will sound very, very loud, it’ll be fantastic.”

It’s Palace on Wednesday. Andros Townsend first goal?

“That’s what everyone’s dreading, isn’t it? Cutting in on his right foot and banging it in, that would be so horrific, it really would. It’d be the worst way to kick off the new stadium. You’d hope not. Pochettino has made this big deal about how the stadium will give special energy to the team, a bit like White Hart Lane in its final year. Even the Under-18s.

“You could just tell there was a buzz about them, I know they’re young kids playing on a big stage but the crowd kind of carried them along and they never really had that at Wembley. It’s a bigger capacity but it never really felt like home. It was a big cavernous stadium, towards the end, the numbers were dropping and dropping. You’d think, with Spurs back here, it’s going to be packed. It was carnage, people trying to get tickets. It’s going to be so noisy and it’ll be so hyped up, you’d think that would get Spurs there because, yes, an Andros Townsend 1-0 winner would be a horrific way to open the stadium.”

That is the expectation, the Spurs gallows humour…

“Oh, absolutely, you can’t be a Tottenham Hotspur fan and expect the best. It doesn’t work like that, there’s always going to be some spanners in the works. Andros Townsend may be that spanner! He’s certainly not a spanner but he was very good in the FA Cup, he didn’t celebrate, I’m sure there’s a part of him that doesn’t want to be the guy that does that in the first game. It’s up to Spurs to stop him doing it. They’ve got to sort the defence out, which hasn’t been that great the last couple of months.”

If it can’t cope vs Palace, then they might not have much of a chance against Man City…

“That’s putting it lightly. They’ll get absolutely stuffed by City if they’re anything like they have been in recent games. He’s got some decisions to make, Poch. This season, he’s flipped and flapped between a back three and a back four and I don’t think that’s helped the team.

“Last year, he may have been weirdly helped, if that’s such a way of describing Toby Alderweireld’s injury, but Alderweireld’s injury meant he had to play Jan Vertonghen and Davinson Sanchez. They formed a very solid partnership and they knew what each other were doing and when it went to a back three, it was purely Eric Dier coming back into that back three. It was very settled.

“This year, he looks like a man who is thinking ‘I have to play Alderweireld, because he’s class’ but it’s now giving him an issue with Sanchez, who Pochettino absolutely adores, so he’s now got a thing of ‘I really want to play a back three but I can’t do it every match’ and it’s messy. You can see it in the goals conceded tally. I think it’s almost double what it ended up as last season.”

Surely there will be some sort of deal this summer to help out the defence?

“You’d think so. I think right-back has been a bit of a mess. It’s a bit like Trippier hasn’t been able to get down from that peak of that World Cup semi-final free-kick. He’s not creating enough anymore and you don’t want to use the term ‘believing his own hype’ but a lot of fans have been saying that. Serge Aurier hasn’t been the player Spurs thought they were buying. It was always a gamble but he hasn’t been an upgrade. If he could have put his personal issues aside, actually, as a player, he’d be a real upgrade. He just hasn’t done it, he’s too inconsistent in defending.

“Kyle Walker-Peters, everyone wants him to get a chance, but when he has had a chance, apart from Bournemouth, he really hasn’t taken it. It might see him go out on loan, I think right-back is the area for me. Left-back, I think he’s quite happy with. Danny Rose has shown signs of being more like the old Danny Rose but I don’t think enough. He’s still not doing enough in the final third for me and if you’re playing with wing-backs, they have to do that.

“Ben Davies is just mister dependable. He’s not creating as much as he did last year; I think last year he created more than any other defender in the Premier League, I remember that stat at one point last year. He’s just the guy that you bring in if you want to shore things up. It needs something there, it needs a bit of excitement, it’d be nice to have someone who’s been there and done it, too, with a bit of experience in that full-back area.”

Gareth Bale’s available!

“Well, if they’ve got £650,000 a week, I’m sure they can do it! That’s what he’s supposed to earn and I think that’s before tax in Spain. It’s a very romantic notion, Bale and Modric, another one people are wanting, but it’s just not the Tottenham way right now.”

Are we talking more Aaron Wan-Bissaka or Max Aarons?

“Very much so, very much so. That’s the kind of players. British talent (is wanted) because they had a total mess with the foreign player limit last year. Michel Vorm, we’ll probably see leave, because that’s another foreign player signing they could make. I do wonder if it’s going to be a bit of a revamp this summer, I think they have to. There’s a positive to the stability they’ve had because it’s clearly given a foundation but they’ve never really kicked above it.

“I think a bit of a revamp is probably needed, I think Poch needs to freshen things up for himself as well. He’s working with the same players he’s been working with since 2014, pretty much, on the whole. I think he’s got to freshen it up. The stadium will freshen things up but in terms of the squad, we will see. Obviously, Eriksen and Alderweireld could be out the door. It could be forced upon them anyway.”

Does the clause in Alderweireld’s contract now feel like a huge mistake?

“It was very un-Tottenham like, that clause. That was the weird thing about it. It was very un-Levy like. He (Alderweireld) put something on Instagram after the stadium training session saying ‘this place is amazing, it’s exceeded all my expectations’, so I asked Pochettino about that in the press conference. I didn’t name the player but I asked if the stadium could help convince players to sign new contracts and he was just like ‘nope’.

“He said it’s a lovely romantic notion and you and I would probably feel that way but he said there’s so much around the players, so many people who are so involved in the business side of it that it just doesn’t work like that anymore. You kind of have to feel he was talking about Alderweireld.

“There’s been a lot of background noise about deals that were offered and not taken and the fact that no deal has seemingly been offered in the last year or so. I think it’s a player who is coming towards the end of his time at Spurs which is tremendously sad because he’s a terrific player. But I suppose the flipside is £25million for a 30-year-old ends up not being the worst deal in the world. But it is Alderweireld.”

Could he bow out with the last hurrah of winning the Champions League?

“Yeah, I don’t think that’d keep him. It’d be more of an ‘I’ve done that now, let’s tick it off the list’. It would be a massive achievement if Spurs won the Champions League. It wouldn’t quite be Leicester winning the Premier League but it would be an amazing thing. In the players’ minds, they might think it was a one-off and wonder if they could do it again at this club. We’ll see, we’ll see. I think rebuilding is the aim of the summer.”

Is the new stadium going to play a key role against Man City in the Champions League?

“You’d hope so otherwise what was the point of it all. Getting it open before the end of the season is for nights like that. The fans are going to be so hyped up. The opening night is going to be noisy but that, with the Champions League anthem playing, the fans are going to be so on edge, in a good way. And it’s suddenly become a little bit harder for City. They came to Wembley earlier this season, it was just another match for them. This place, they will be coming into enemy territory. It’s got to play a role, it has to. Otherwise, Spurs are in trouble.”

Do they need to win the home leg?

“I think so, they have to go to the Etihad with something to hold onto instead of something to build on because we know, you know, I know it’s not the same level but we saw City against Fulham and it was just wave after wave of attacks and Spurs currently, I don’t feel they’re mentally strong enough to deal with that. We’ve seen a lot of examples where they would’ve drawn matches in the past but they’ve conceded another straight away, they’re not there mentally this season. I worry about going to the Etihad with something like a 1-1, I don’t think that’s enough.”

تحدث أحمد حجازي لاعب اتحاد جدة السعودي عن انضمامه للأخير بعد إتمام صفقة الإعارة من وست بروميتش الإنجليزي لمدة موسم.

وكان اتحاد جدة السعودي قد أعلن عن التعاقد مع أحمد حجازي لمدة موسم واحد على سبيل الإعارة طالع التفاصيل من هنا.

وقال أحمد حجازي في تصريحات تلفزيونية عبر قناة “إس بي سي” السعودية: “انتقالي من الدوري الإنجليزي لا يقلل من قوة الدوري السعودي لأنه قوي، وتجربة جديدة بالنسبة لي، وأتمنى التوفيق لي وللفريق وهذا الأهم”.

وعن ما سيضيفه لنادي الاتحاد والعكس، أجاب: “هو موضوع متبادل وسأحاول تقديم كل ما لدي لإفادة النادي وإسعاد جماهيره وأنقل له خبراتي خلال مشواري”.

وتابع: “الاتحاد إضافة لأي لاعب نظرًا لشعبيته وتاريخه والبطولات التي حصل عليها، وانتقالي على سبيل الإعارة وليس بشكل كامل، وهو أمر كان بين الناديين”.

طالع | كشف كواليس توتر العلاقة بين بيليتش ووست بروميتش بسبب أحمد حجازي

وأردف: “كل المباريات مهمة ولكن الديربي أمام الأهلي يحظى باهتمام جماهيري بشكل أكبر”.

وبسؤاله من الذي يعجبك في الدوري السعودي كفرق ولاعبين؟، أوضح: “الدوري السعودي يضم أندية كبيرة ولاعبين محترفين على أعلى مستوى حتى المحليين، والأندية السعودية لها تاريخ كبير في البطولة الآسيوية، قوة الدوري السعودي تشجع أي أحد ينضم له بعد رحلة احتراف”.

واختتم: “استقبال الجماهير شىء أسعدني جدًا وأتمنى أن يدعموا النادي، وهذا أهم شىء بالنسبة للفريق في الفترة الحالية، وأتمنى إعادة الاتحاد لوضعه الطبيعي”.

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Leeds fans have been showing their nerves on Twitter after Phil Hay shared his thoughts on the promotion race with Sheffield United.

The Whites are back in control in the race for second with the Blades after Chris Wilder’s men dropped points at St Andrew’s on Wednesday night.

This is the third time the tide has turned in the title race in recent weeks with both Yorkshire clubs unable to gain any long-term advantage over the other.

Whilst many neutrals are loving the drama of the promotion race Leeds fans are hating it as it takes over their lives for the final weeks of the season.

Prominent Leeds United journalist Phil Hay tweeted “You’ve got to love this. Fantastic scrap for second. Title is gone, Norwich will win that, but can’t see anything other than a cigarette paper between Leeds and Sheff Utd.”

The Yorkshire Evening post journalist is seemingly enjoying the final few weeks of the season whilst supporters are feeling the opposite as they just want it over and done with.

Leeds fans struggled to echo Hay’s sentiment of loving the battle for Premier League football as their nerves can’t handle the prospect of Leeds missing out on promotion after coming so close.

Here’s what Leeds fans have been saying on Twitter…

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Sheffield United are interested in signing Chelsea midfielder Kasey Palmer according to The Sun (April 30, page 50).

The Blades have recently secured their promotion to the Premier League but are still searching for bargains as The Sun report that a potential deal for Palmer would cost just £4 million.

Untested in the top flight

Kasey Palmer has spent the majority of his young career out on loan in the Championship. The 22-year-old has enjoyed successful loan spells at Huddersfield, Derby, Blackburn and Bristol City.

The midfielder is currently on loan at Ashton Gate, but with his future at Stamford Bridge looking bleak he may be looking for a way out.

Palmer rejoined Huddersfield on loan upon their promotion the Premier League however he only made four appearances in the top flight during his time at the Terriers.

If Chris Wilder is to move for the midfielder, then it would be a significant risk as he is an unknown quantity in the at that level.

If the manager is to rely on him to play a crucial part in keeping the Blades in the division next year, then he is taking a considerable risk.

Staying domestic

The Yorkshire club went into this season with a squad filled with British and Irish personnel thus not a single foreign player appeared during their promotion campaign.

With the only rumoured signings so far being Palmer, Gary Madine and Dean Henderson, it seems that the Blades want to keep up with their policy of keeping their squad filled with domestically-based footballers.

It has been a successful strategy thus far for the Blades as they have achieved two promotions in three seasons with individuals who have proven that they are capable of performing well in the English leagues.

Be sure to check out the incredible story of the man who rose from a Tanzanian refugee camp to become one of Australia’s biggest football stars in the video below…

However, the Premier League is a different animal, and if Wilder is to stick to his policy of not signing foreign players, he must at least move towards making signings who have experience in the top flight.

كشفت صحيفة “ماركا” الإسبانية، عن وجود حالة إيجابية، مصابة بـ فيروس كورونا، من بين صفوف لاعبي ريال مدريد الإسباني، قبل مواجهة إنتر ميلان.

ريال مدريد يعاني من غيابات عديدة في صفوف الفريق بسبب إصابات مختلفة، أبرزها مركز الظهير الأيمن، وغياب كارفخال وناتش وأودريزولا، وأخيرًا فاسكيز.

طالع أيضًا.. غياب وحيد في بداية استعدادات ريال مدريد لمباراة إنتر ميلان في دوري أبطال أوروبا

صحيفة “ماركا” الإسبانية، أكدت بأن الاتحاد الأوروبي قام بعمل مسحة PCR، اختبار فيروس كورونا قبل 48 ساعة من مواجهة إنتر ميلان يوم الثلاثاء المقبل، ضمن الجولة الثالثة من دور المجموعات ببطولة دوري أبطال أوروبا.

وبعد عمل الاختبار الأول حسب البروتوكول الذي ينص عليه الاتحاد الأوروبي، تم اكتشاف حالة من بين لاعبي ريال مدريد، ولكن دون الكشف عن اسمه.

وأشارت الصحيفة إلى أن الاتحاد الأوروبي يطلب مسحتين قبل المباراة، ومن المفترض أن يتم اجراء مسحة غدًا الاثنين، وينتظر النادي الملكي نتيجتها، وفي حالة تحوّل نتيجة اللاعب المصاب إلى سلبية قبل 6 ساعات من المباراة يمكن أن يشارك.

جدير بالذكر، أن فريق ريال مدريد ب، لم يلعب مباراته اليوم في الدوري الإسباني للشباب، بسبب اكتشاف 3 حالات في صفوف النادي الملكي.

If any team is planning to take Wilfried Zaha out of Crystal Palace this summer, it is not going to be easy for them.

According to the Daily Mail, the south London club will demand a staggering £80m fee for their star man.

And should one outfit be willing to pay that, then they will look to Jack Grealish and Ademola Lookman as potential replacements, the same outlet reports.

Struggling to break into Everton’s starting XI, a transfer to a side like Crystal Palace could be a good move.

And from the Eagles’ perspective, it is not hard to see why they would want the 21-year-old.

Quick and a capable dribbler, with his direct style of play, Lookman looks an ideal fit for the 4-4-2 formation Roy Hodgson often goes with.

The England U21 international alone, though, will not be enough to make up for the loss of Zaha.

Arriving with another creative attacker like Grealish would obviously lighten the blow but, if not, Crystal Palace could find themselves in big trouble next season.

For as good as Lookman is, asking the Everton man to instantly deliver and replicate Zaha’s impact might be a bit too much.

Considering his talent and potential, Lookman is certainly worth bringing in. But if the Eagles are going to be without their Ivorian talisman, then the ex-Charlton winger’s arrival has to come alongside another attacker and a goalscorer.

Crystal Palace fans, do you want to see Lookman arrive at Selhurst Park? Join the discussion by commenting below.

As Liverpool were close to experiencing a bitter case of déjà vu, an unlikely hero rose up to save them against Southampton.

While Mohamed Salah’s stunningly cool finish claimed most of the accolades, it was captain Jordan Henderson’s introduction which helped the Reds get out their predictable shell. Who’d have thought that a couple of years ago? Jordan Henderson coming on to change a game.

Indeed, it was Henderson and not James Milner who made the bigger impact and effectively helped them sail through a win. Not only did the skipper play the ball forward for Salah to score the winner, he embodied Jurgen Klopp’s philosophy by pegging his team forward to score another one.

When the Reds could’ve put men back to see out their result, Henderson urged his side to keep playing the Klopp’s heavy-metal style. In such resulted in a sweet goal, his first of the campaign.

It couldn’t have come at a better time.

He might not be as electric as Liverpool’s front-three, not as assertive as Virgil Van Dijk or as classy as some other midfielders, yet Henderson understands what it takes to succeed, protecting his side from danger and often using his surprising creativity to good use. Despite often being under the hammer it seems in terms of fan opinion, he’s risen up multiple times to inspire his side this season.

With a tackling success of 89%, having made 136 ball recoveries and averaging 52+ passes per game (stats via Premier League), he’s acted in the shadows to help them maintain dominance.

Henderson might not be a popular captain, but the way he’s led Liverpool into breaking the shackles of adversity is something to even make Steven Gerrard proud. Kenny Dalglish, the man who signed him for £20m back in 2011, claimed he was a ‘maintstay’ back in 2015 and, finally, it looks like that prediction is really coming true.

Yes, he’s played a lot of games since then and dons the infamous armband at Anfield but, right now, Henderson is making a top-level difference.

Liverpool fans, have you been impressed with Henderson’s contribution as captain? Join the discussion by commenting below…

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West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice has proven himself as one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League this season, but he was certainly shown up against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Monday night.

On the chalkboard

It was always going to be a hard task for the Irons in west London given they had lost two of their previous three top flight fixtures, and it proved to be the case.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini started Rice alongside Mark Noble in a 4-2-3-1 system, with the former expected to protect the backline – as he has done on so many occasions throughout the current campaign.

The 20-year-old has excelled in that role time and time again with his ability to intercept and win the ball back, but it was a different story against Maurizio Sarri’s men as he was overrun and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in particular ran rings around him in the opening 45 minutes.

Tables have turned

Rice has had his praises sung constantly and received an England call-up this term, whereas Loftus-Cheek has found first-team starts hard to come by for the Blues.

Perhaps their respective fortunes are beginning to change now though, with the former hardly impressing against a big team on this occasion given he has been linked with moves to Manchester City and Manchester United.

While the 23-year-old does play in a more advanced position than his fellow Three Lions man, he showed a couple aspects of his game that if the Irons starlet took on, would allow him to reach the next level.

He used his strength, power and work rate when on the ball to create problems for his opponents, and it is something that Rice probably doesn’t utilise enough.

He certainly has the height and muscle to do this, but for whatever reason he tends to play it safe – perhaps no surprise given his age.

The youngster is clearly a great player in the making but by no means the finished article, and if he looks at his international teammate’s display on Monday he may just get there.