According to talkSPORT, West Ham and West Brom are in discussion regarding a swap deal which would see Nacer Chadli moving to the London Stadium, in exchange for Andre Ayew.

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West Ham and West Brom may well be on the verge of a sensational swap deal, with Andre Ayew heading to Birmingham and Nacer Chadli heading to London.

The Belgian has been surprisingly left out of West Brom’s pre-season trip to Austria and reports of a bust up with manager Tony Pulis emerged. The 27-year-old is unlikely to be a Baggies player for much longer and, with West Brom desperate to land Andre Ayew, talks of a swap deal between West Brom and West Ham are escalating.

How good was Chadli last season?

Chadli had an impressive, if a little understated first season at the Hawthorns. The Belgian featured 32 times in all competitions for the Baggies, netting 5 times and providing as many assists.

While the 27-year-old certainly injected some much needed flair into an often difficult to watch West Brom side, he failed to deliver in big games and seemed rather uninterested toward the end of the season.

Would Chadli be a good signing for West Ham?

This is a tough one. Chadli, who is valued at £13.3million by Transfermarkt could certainly create some balance in the team, providing some width on the left to mirror Michail Antonio’s dominance on the right flank.

However, his performances were comparable with Andre Ayew’s last season and a swap deal would represent less of an upgrade and more of a gamble for the Hammers.

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An abject season in which relegation was inevitable, almost from the word go, seems like a strange place to find an enduring memory, so perhaps that’s why this one doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.

Fulham haven’t been back in the Premier League since they lost more games, conceded more goals and had the worst goal difference of any team in the 2013/14 edition of the competition. It was a season where Martin Jol, Rene Meulensteen and Felix Magath all had a go at managing the Cottagers, and where Ray Wilkins and Alan Curbishley were also brought in to wait in the wings, seemingly in case of an extra collapse.

A 6-0 defeat away to Hull City was a particular low: all six goals were conceded in the second half, and Tom Huddlestone – who hadn’t scored in two-and-a-half years – actually celebrated by having his hair cut on the side of the pitch, after he pledged not to get it cut until he scored again.

It’s little wonder that a club which left itself in such a mess couldn’t bounce back from the Championship and is still languishing there four years later. But Fulham did play their part in one of the most remarkable weekends in football’s modern history, one that took place that very season.

It was October and the campaign was still young – the eighth round of fixtures was taking place – and although the Cottagers were already struggling after winning just two of their first seven games, they travelled the relatively short distance to the south of the capital to face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on a Monday night on the back of a thoroughly entertaining Premier League weekend. Fulham were hoping to get their year back on track and drag themselves out of a potential relegation battle.

There was only one 0-0 draw in that round of games (perhaps predictably, Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion shared those points), and Jack Wilshere finished off a thrillingly intricate Arsenal move, scoring a goal everyone remembers. BBC’s Match of the Day voted it goal of the season and it remains probably the high water mark of the Arsenal midfielder’s career.

But, depending on your taste, it wasn’t even the best goal of the weekend. And Aaron Ramsey would tell you that it wasn’t even the only wondergoal of the game.

Those goals, too, shared a weekend with three of the most memorable goals in recent times. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s backheeled volley against Bastia in France’s Ligue 1 and Stephanie Roche’s famous wonderstrike in Ireland’s Women’s National League were both scored on the same day.

Roche’s goal even shot her to fleeting international fame and won her a spot on the Puskas award shortlist, while Ibrahimovic’s goal didn’t make it off the long-list. Wilshere’s goal wasn’t even nominated at all. Roche’s strike came second, narrowly losing out to James Rodriguez’s volley for Colombia against Uruguay in the 2014 World Cup.

But all that was decided months later. In the Premier League’s eighth matchday, there was still one final game to play – Palace Fulham – and one final goal for the Puskas list.

Like most of Fulham’s season, things did not start well. After just seven minutes, Adrian Mariappa had put Palace ahead, and Fulham looked like they were about to sink to yet another defeat, this time in what looked like it could be a crunch relegation fixture.

But, unlike the rest of Fulham’s season, things suddenly turned themselves around.

When Sascha Riether saw Pajtim Kasami’s hand go up as the Swiss international made perhaps the most urgent and direct run of Fulham’s entire season, he sent what was really only a hopeful ball down the line. And when Kasami controlled it, there wasn’t any danger, either. How could there be? Kasami found himself on the edge of the box, in what would normally be a crossing position, but with no teammates in the box to aim for. He also had three defenders between him and any reasonable out-ball. After the pass, the run, and the control, Fulham had hit a dead end.

But there was still one option left open to him: he could try the sort of volley that only Marco van Basten had ever pulled off. So, not really an option then.

This wasn’t a glorious Netherlands generation managed by the legendary Rinus Michels playing in the final of the European Championships at the home of their bitter rivals West Germany. This was a Fulham side who would go on to lose each of their next six games, conceding 16 goals in the process and scoring just three. But this was a weekend of wondergoals, not logic. And for one night only, Kasami would play Van Basten to Fulham’s Holland, ripping apart Crystal Palace, scoring spectacular goals and winning 4-1. After that, though, they’d turn into a pumpkin and revert to type.

Like Wilshere’s goal, Kasami’s strike came just before the 20 minute mark, but unlike Arsenal’s, it wasn’t a team effort at all. It wasn’t intricately worked, and there was never a point when it became obvious that he’d score. It was just a piece of individual magic that not even three defenders and a goalkeeper could do anything about. They couldn’t have done anything about it even if they’d expected it.

But, also like Wilshere’s goal, it was only part of the story. It was a goal which overshadowed everything else, including a victory that Fulham should have been able to build upon to attempt a scramble to safety. It also overshadowed three more goals. One, in particular, from Steve Sidwell – the goal which finally put Fulham ahead just before half-time – which was a sensational strike in its own right, and worthy of much more praise than it got.

But neither of those strikes could stop the rot that had set into the club. Fulham were relegated to the Championship with a whimper, in the end, and still have yet to return. A similar story can be told of Wilshere, as injuries have laid waste to a talent that should have been leading Arsenal and England to glories.

That one weekend seemed to spawn a glut of defining moments for Wilshere, Arsenal and Fulham, and moments which perhaps weren’t reflective of what was to come in the future. But for one glorious weekend, football was treated to moments of magic on a scale rarely seem in such concentration and intensity – and regardless of what came next, that deserves to be remembered.

Leeds United have won both of their opening matches of the season against Bolton Wanderers and Port Vale – in the Championship and Carabao Cup respectively – as new manager Thomas Christiansen looks to lead the club back to the Premier League for the first time since 2004.

A 3-2 win against the Trotters was the ideal start to their league campaign while Samu Saiz – one of many summer arrivals – scored an impressive hat-trick against Port Vale at Elland Road on Wednesday night.

Christiansen has brought 10 players – including Vurnon Anita, Ezgjan Alioski and Pontus Jansson on a permanent deal – to the club this summer already with promotion the aim.

However, with those new faces comes even more competition for places and inevitably it could mean that some individuals will be moved on as they are deemed surplus to requirements.

Here are three first-team players Leeds need to offload before the end of the month…

Hadi Sacko

Of course, Leeds only signed Sacko on a permanent deal from Sporting Lisbon following a relatively successful loan spell at Elland Road last season, so we are not saying they should already sell him.

However, the 23-year-old may benefit from a loan move away in order to find some consistency with the winger coming under criticism from supporters following their 4-1 win against Port Vale on Wednesday night.

The winger struggled to make an impact against the League Two outfit and there were even some jeers from the home crowd when he was replaced in the 57th minute.

Christiansen already has the likes of Saiz, Aliosko, Kemar Roofe, Stuart Dallas and Pablo Hernandez that can play wide if needs be, and the Spanish manager may decide to loan the Frenchman out.

Toumani Diagouraga

Leeds supporters may have expected big things from the midfielder when he joined the club from Brentford in 2015, but he has struggled to make an impression at Elland Road.

In his first season with the Yorkshire outfit, the Frenchman failed to hold down a regular spot in the starting line-up and ended the campaign having made just 19 appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals.

If the 30-year-old defensive midfielder was hoping for a fresh start under Garry Monk last term he was sadly mistaken, and he made just one appearance for the Whites on the opening day before being loaned out to Ipswich Town in the second-half of the campaign.

Having failed to be a part of their pre-season or early season fixtures, Diagouraga is almost certain leave before the end of this month.

Souleymane Doukara

Like Antonsson, Doukara failed to make the matchday squad for either of the matches against Bolton and Port Vale in the last week and it seems likely that Leeds will look to offload him before the transfer window slams shut at the end of this month.

The 25-year-old – who can play as a centre-forward or out wide – was far from prolific last season as he scored just six goals in 34 Championship appearances, but he was another that found regular first-team minutes hard to come by because of the fine form of Wood.

The attacker faces even more competition following the Yorkshire outfit’s summer business and they could look to cash in on him in the next couple of weeks.

Do you agree, Leeds fans? Let us know below.

To label Riyad Mahrez one of the leading antagonists behind Leicester’s decline last season and the consequential sacking of Claudio Ranieri would be, perhaps, a little too severe.

After all, the Algerian international honoured the club that made him a title winner and one of the chief creative talents in the Premier League by promising them one more year when offers to leave were aplenty.

But his role in the Foxes’ plummet towards the relegation zone mimicked that of Eden Hazard at Chelsea the campaign prior. He’s Leicester’s talismanic attacker, the man relied upon to provide the cutting edge in a largely workaday team, but seemingly shied away from those responsibilities just when Leicester needed him most. Whether that was down to Mahrez, Ranieri’s tactics or simply Leicester losing form remains a matter of opinion.

But fast forward to a summer in which everything we know about the transfer market has seemingly been flipped on its head, and it’s Mahrez who is serving as a rare beacon of professionalism in the Premier League.

We can safely assume clubs of considerable stature are interested in the 26-year-old’s ability, in fact Roma have already made several offers, yet he’s started the season in superfluous form, inspiring his side to a valiant performance against Arsenal and a 2-0 win over newly promoted Brighton last weekend – notching up two assists in the process.

Of course, that’s exactly what you’d expect a player of Mahrez’s quality to do, but that’s precisely the point. Compare that to the situations of Philippe Coutinho at Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk at Southampton and Alexis Sanchez at Arsenal amid links with some of the biggest clubs in the Premier League and Europe. Not so coincidentally and incredibly inconveniently, all have declared themselves injured – one assumes until the transfer window closes.

Jonny Evans, Ross Barkley and Nahki Wells, although not directly accused, intriguingly fall into that category of injured, linked away and likely to move before the summer is over as well. Then there’s the small matter of Diego Costa, who has gone AWOL in Brazil after being informed of Chelsea’s intentions to sell him.

It’s hard to tell quite when this trend of began, although Gareth Bale deciding not to turn up to what would have been his final Tottenham training session in summer 2013 ahead of a world-record move to Real Madrid certainly stirred up a storm at the time. During the intermittent period, however, the practice has further evolved; players who haven’t even fully secured a move to another club are laying down sick notes for a considerably longer period, making themselves unavailable for selection for the start of the new Premier League season.

There are some reasons to justify that, highlighted by Bale four years ago. An actual injury could scupper a potential move, so it makes sense for both the player and the club to protect themselves to ensure the deal goals through. That also explains why Mahrez has been the reverse case this summer; unlike Coutinho, Sanchez and van Dijk, the Algerian still needs to fully convince after an incredibly underwhelming 2016/17.

It’s been down to him to put himself at the forefront of the shop window – Coutinho, van Dijk and Sanchez, on the other hand, have stowed away under the till, safe in the belief the right suiter will come to collect them at some point before the window slams shut.

However, Jurgen Klopp, Arsene Wenger and Mauricio Pellegrino cant’ be satisfied starting the season without key players, not knowing if they’ll ever play for the club again yet unable to reinvest the funds their departures would provide.

Essentially, that’s anywhere between £50million-£130million of talent being removed from Arsenal, Liverpool and Southampton’s matchday squads for the first two Premier League outings of the campaign. Even amid the current transfer window, that’s a lot of quality to start the season without.

The obvious criticism, aside from selection headaches and leaving managers in the lurch, is the distinct lack of professionalism and loyalty. The idea of honouring a contract has steadily corroded in football over the last decade – just look at how many players move a matter of months into signing five-year deals – but effectively going on strike is a worrying step into the extreme.

Of course, nobody can force a footballer to play against their will, but you’d expect those involved in a profession that pays so well, and especially Coutinho and van Dijk who were relatively anonymous before moving to their current clubs, to take it upon themselves to give something back to their managers, their clubs and their fans. Selfish, careerist instincts, however, have unfortunately taken over.

“It would have helped us this year (if the window shut when the season started). There is a phenomenon and then people go looking for solutions. It makes sense that when the season is starting, planning for the team is over. But I also understand that some things take a bit more time. The whole market has changed – the behaviour of people.

“It’s good to be with your whole team on the training pitch. The best thing is that the team stays together for four or five years but I know it’s quite naïve to say such a thing. I know the market has changed, it’s become very hectic, but we won’t take that as an excuse. We have a good team.”

That has lead more than one manager (including Klopp) to suggest the transfer window should close when the Premier League season starts, something the clubs in the division are now reported to be pushing for. While that may avoid some of the situations we’ve seen during the opening weeks of the season, however, rule changes have a knack of only creating new problems, and the real crux of the issue is the relentless increase of player power since the introduction of the Bosman ruling.

Players have been commodities in financial terms since the first ever transfer fee in the 19th century, but it’s now them rather than the clubs that can hold their value to ransom.

Seemingly irreversible, wantaway players will one way or another find strategies to force moves regardless of when the transfer window ends. The trend of going on strike, however, is a particularly unsavoury one.

The relationship between Danny Rose and a number of Tottenham Hotspur fans has somewhat soured since he publicly criticised the club.

Naturally, questions were raised about his future at the North London outfit, but he did not leave during the summer transfer window.

January could be a different story, however, after The Mirror reported that Manchester United are considering making a swoop for the left-back when the window reopens.

The report adds that the Red Devils may be willing to include Luke Shaw as part of a player-plus-cash deal.

Mauricio Pochettino is already well aware of Shaw’s ability having coached him at Southampton for a season.

The England international has struggled with injuries, though, and United manager Jose Mourinho publicly criticised the full-back’s fitness last season.

It is unclear whether Spurs would be interested in shaking hands on the deal, but at the age of 22, Shaw has the potential to fit into Pochettino’s young team.

Once the story emerged, fans gave their verdicts on social media.

Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish tweeted on Monday that he is close to a return to first team action following his injury, and Villa fans are delighted with the news.

The 22-year-old would have been hoping to make a massive impact for the Midlands outfit this season as they look to secure a return to the Premier League at the second attempt, but he was hospitalised during a pre-season game with Watford in July after his kidneys suffered a blow during a collision with Tom Cleverley.

Steve Bruce will be looking forward to the return of the talented attacker considering his team has won just two of their opening eight Championship fixtures this season, although one of those came on Saturday when they beat Barnsley 3-0 at Oakwell.

Aston Villa supporters were quick to respond to Grealish’s Twitter post via social media, with some saying ‘the club needs him’ and others saying they ‘want to see him play up top with Jonathan Kodjia’.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

The first few months of the new Premier League season certainly haven’t disappointed, with 173 goals scored and 193 points already claimed – mostly by the two clubs from Manchester. Much like the 2017/18 title race which is already hotting up, there can be only one winner of the PFA Bristol Street Motors Player of the Month Award – so here’s a look at the six nominees for August and September.

Romelu Lukaku

Second-place Manchester United have started the season with a near-perfect run, the only slip-up coming in the form of an away draw at Stoke City, and star striker Romelu Lukaku has unsurprisingly played a crucial role, netting seven times in as many fixtures for the Red Devils and grabbing an assist against former club Everton. That was achieved with a whopping 31 shots at goal in a potent few months for the Belgium international.

Alvaro Morata

Just one behind Lukaku in the Premier League scoring charts with six, Alvaro Morata has also started life at his new club in deadly fashion. The Spaniard’s strikes haven’t been spread out with the same consistency, however; he failed to find the net against three of Chelsea’s biggest divisional rivals in Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City, but made up for it with an emphatic hat-trick against Stoke at the Bet365 Stadium. Perhaps most impressively, Morata’s tally was achieved with just 13 shots on target, giving him a strike success rate of 46%.

David Silva

David Silva rarely relieves the acclaim he deserves but even by the Spain international’s usual standards his form has been exceptional so far this season, notching up six assists in seven appearances and averaging the second-most key passes per match, 3.3, of any player in the division. Four of those assists came in September alone as Manchester City enjoyed a perfect record of four wins from four games, with an aggregate scoreline of 17-0.

Kevin De Bruyne

He’s not quite been as prolific as Silva in terms of output but Kevin De Bruyne has been at the heart of City’s domineering run, orchestrating play from a slightly deeper midfield role yet still venturing forward enough to find three assists and one goal from seven appearances. That solitary strike came against Chelsea on Saturday, when the Belgian playmaker powered on from the engine room and unleashed a fierce shot into the bottom corner against his former club. All in all, De Bruyne has created a division-highest 24 chances this season, while winning nine tackles and taking 14 shots at goal.

Sergio Aguero

Sergio Aguero’s made one appearance less than the majority of his rival nominees this season, having missed last weekend due to injury. But the Argentine striker has still found time to notch up six goals and three assists in the top flight – including a hat-trick and an assist in a stunning 6-0 victory over Watford at Vicarage Road. In fact, all three of Aguero’s Premier League outings in September produced at least one goal and one assist.

Harry Kane

In stark contrast to a barren August in which he failed to score a single goal in any competition, September saw Harry Kane hit the net six times in a run of three braces that was only disrupted by a goalless display against Swansea City at Wembley. More than just his goals, however, it’s the way the Tottenham striker has taken the game to the opposition this season, especially away from home, that has stood out most, driving at defences with immense power and constantly threatening the space behind them. He’s quickly developing a reputation as the Premier League’s most frightening attacking prospect.

We’re just seven games into the new Premier League season and we’ve already seen Jose Mourinho select three options at left-back – Matteo Darmian, Daley Blind and Ashley Young.

The latter has proved the most successful thus far, grabbing one assist and looking particularly convincing when finding space to cross the ball on the overlap – as he did to great effect against Crystal Palace last time out.

But Manchester United face a much tougher test this weekend in the form of Liverpool as they travel to Anfield on Saturday for the latest instalment of the Northwest derby.

Although Sadio Mane is injured, Mohamed Salah has already shown what a dynamic threat he can be out wide this season and particularly from the right wing.

Although Young, who Transfermarkt value at £4.5million, adds much to United offensively, he’s not a natural defender, so the 49-cap Netherlands international or Darmian could be more appropriate options for what looks set to be a tricky afternoon on Merseyside.

So, Red Devils fans, who would you start at left-back this weekend? Let us know by voting below…

Tottenham will look to extend their seven-match unbeaten run in the Premier League when they face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday, and Spurs fans are divided on whether Mousa Dembele should start in midfield.

Mauricio Pochettino is already missing Harry Kane and Victor Wanyama for the trip north, and the Argentine boss could be tempted to start Dembele despite the fact that he has only recently returned from injury.

After sitting out six matches with an ankle problem the Belgium international played 18 minutes as a substitute in the 3-2 defeat against West Ham on Wednesday night, but he may face a battle to oust Eric Dier, Moussa Sissoko and Harry Winks from the starting line-up.

Tottenham supporters were quick to have their say on Dembele ahead of the clash at Old Trafford, and they were divided on whether he should make the team.

While some said he should be on the bench, others would start him if he is fully fit.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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One of the standout fixtures in the Championship this weekend comes when Leeds United play host to Sheffield United at Elland Road on Friday night in a hugely important Yorkshire derby.

Both clubs are well and truly in promotion race in the early stages of the season, with Thomas Christiansen’s men lying in fourth position in the standings.

The Whites were top of the table earlier in the campaign but four defeats in five matches saw them drop, before they picked up a vital 3-0 victory against fellow high-flyers Bristol City at Ashton Gate last Saturday.

They come up against a Blades side who are one place and four points above them in third, having won nine of their 13 league games this term.

The two sides will both know that they have the players that can make the difference on the night, and they will be looking to those individuals to make an impact in this crucial clash.

Here are four key on-pitch battles that will decide the derby between Leeds and Sheffield United…

Samu Saiz vs Paul Coutts

Leeds would have been hopeful that Saiz could hit the ground running when they signed him from La Liga 2 side SD Huesca during the summer, and that has certainly been the case.

The 26-year-old attacking midfielder has already scored eight goals and provided a further two assists in 13 appearances in all competitions for the Yorkshire outfit this season, and a brace against Bristol City last time out helped Thomas Christiansen’s men get back to winning ways.

The man tasked with preventing Saiz being a threat on Friday night will be Coutts, who has only missed one of his team’s Championship games this term – because of suspension.

Liam Cooper vs Billy Sharp

After scoring 30 goals to lead Sheffield United back to the Championship last season, the Blades would have been relying on Sharp to get the goals for them this season too.

The United captain certainly hasn’t let the club down either, and the 31-year-old has scored five goals in nine league games and he will be their main goal threat at Elland Road on Friday when he returns to face his former club.

The striker will come up against Leeds captain Cooper, who looks to have potentially established himself as the Yorkshire outfit’s first-choice centre-back this term despite getting sent off in first-half of the defeat to Cardiff City last month.

Pierre-Michel Lasogga vs Jack O’Connell

Following the departure of Chris Wood to Burnley in August, Thomas Christiansen would have been well aware that he needed to bring in a new striker that was able to score regularly as this level and he did that by bringing in Lasogga on loan from Hamburg.

The 25-year-old has already scored four goals and provided a further four assists in seven Championship appearances, and he will be Leeds’ main goal threat when Sheffield United visit Elland Road.

The man tasked with dealing with the tall German centre-forward will be O’Connell, who has been a key player in the Blades’ backline following a move from Brentford in 2016.

Matthew Pennington vs Leon Clarke

There would certainly have been a few raised eyebrows when Sheffield United signed Clarke from Bury in the summer of 2016, especially after he scored just one goal in his first 17 League One appearances for the club.

However, the 32-year-old netted six times in the Blades’ last six matches of their promotion-winning campaign and he has brought that form into the new season, where he has scored four times and provided two assists in 10 Championship games.

The experienced frontman is likely to come up against Pennington on Friday, with the Everton loanee looking to be above Pontus Jansson in the centre-back pecking order currently despite missing most of the campaign so far with an ankle injury he suffered on the opening day.

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