After enduring a tough relegation fighting campaign last year, Crystal Palace needed to strengthen over the summer in order not to replicate that terrible campaign this year. 

Despite that, Palace only brought in four new players in Jordan Ayew, Vicente Guaita, Cheikhou Kouyate and Max Meyer during the transfer window and look like they could well be fighting relegation again this season. The south London club has only won two games this season and were held to a draw by Newcastle United in what was an incredibly drab game.

As is well reported, Palace are incredibly reliant on star man Wilfred Zaha who has scored three of the club’s four goals this season but was unable to get on the scoresheet yesterday and according to Roy Hodgson, the talented winger suffered a back problem in the pre-match warm-up yesterday and was not completely fit.

The Breakdown

The update should be worrying news for Crystal Palace fans ahead of their game against Bournemouth next weekend. While he did manage to play the game, it was quite clear that the Ivory Coast international wasn’t at his best and couldn’t help his team to win their first home game of the season.

Without Zaha, Palace pose no real attacking threat going forward and can’t rely on Andros Townsend or Christian Benteke to score their goals. Indeed, the latter seems completely unable to score and is seemingly shot of all confidence in front of goal.

Crystal Palace fans, what do you think? Let us know!

Middlesbrough’s campaign for Premier League promotion is on course, but they suffered a blip on Saturday.

Tony Pulis’s side have been in and around the top echelons of the Championship table for the past few weeks due to their results.

In 10 matches, Boro have been on the losing side just once, but they squandered the opportunity to move to the top of the table on Saturday afternoon.

Pulis took his team to the KCOM Stadium to take on a Hull City side that are lingering around the bottom three of the standings.

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Boro were favourites heading into the encounter despite being on away soil and they managed to go ahead thanks to a 51st-minute goal from Britt Assombalonga.

Hull drew level, though, thanks to a penalty from Jarrod Bowen and the visitors were unable to regain their lead.

After the final whistle, a handful of Boro fans took to Twitter to lambast the team for failing to move to the top.

As it stands, the club are third in the table, one point adrift of leaders West Bromwich Albion.

Chelsea’s attack has been a problem all season long, and so far, neither Olivier Giroud or Alvaro Morata have shown any sign that they’re going to be the players to sort things out.

Clearly, then, if Maurizio Sarri is going to achieve the goals that he’ll likely have at Stamford Bridge, namely a Premier League title challenge, he’s going to need to find a new striker that the club can rely on.

We recently asked fans whether Polish forward Krzysztof Piatek would be a good choice. The attacker has already bagged over 10 goals this season, and he’s impressed in front of goal. He bagged 4 goals in just 1 game in the Coppa Italia earlier this season.

Naturally, then, he clearly knows where the net is, and some Chelsea fans clearly think that he’d be a good fit. In response to our poll asking whether he’d be a good signing, a whopping 75% of polled Chelsea fans have revealed that they think he would be an ideal replacement for Alvaro Morata in the Chelsea attack.

For all of his ability on the ball, Morata simply hasn’t been able to find the net enough as of late, and that’s in stark contrast to Piatek. For Chelsea, then, the Genoa man may be a good choice.

At just 23-years-old, he’s only going to get better, and whilst he’s still inexperienced, he’s done everything right thus far. Time will, tell, though, if Chelsea fans get what they want.

Chelsea fans – thoughts?

Let us know below!

In Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson, Liverpool have two international captains in their starting back four, but it was the Dutchman who Reds fans wanted to see as their club captain after his goal helped the Netherlands to a 3-0 win over Germany.

The 27-year-old was named as his country’s captain by Ronald Koeman in March this year and has since scored twice, with both goals coming in impressive wins over Portugal and this against Germany. On Saturday, van Dijk opened the scoring on the half-hour mark after former Liverpool man Ryan Babel headed against the crossbar and the centre-back was there to nod the rebound into the almost empty net.

Former Manchester United winger Memphis Depay and van Dijk’s fellow Liverpool man Georginio Wijnaldum wrapped up the Nations League win late on for the Dutch, and many Liverpool fans were keen to see van Dijk take over the club captaincy from Jordan Henderson after his performance. Check out the best tweets below.

So, Liverpool fans, would you have van Dijk as club-captain or should it stay with Jordan Henderson? Have your say by voting in the poll below.

According to a recent report from The Sun, defender Antonio Valencia could be set for a move away in the near future. The right back currently plays his football in the North West with Premier League giants Manchester United having made the move there back in 2009, in which time the 33-year-old has gone on to help the Red Devils win two Premier League titles.

Yet reports suggest that as per a clause in his current contract, which ends at the conclusion of the season, Valencia will be able to sign a pre-contract agreement with another club as early as March, and that should be of interest to Southampton manager Mark Hughes as he seeks to finally give right back Cedric Soares something to think about.

The Breakdown

Ultimately, Portugal international Cedric made the move to St Mary’s back in 2015 as a direct replacement for Nathaniel Clyne, who left for Liverpool that summer, and the 27-year-old has on the whole done a fine job down the right-hand-side for the South Coast outfit.

He has appeared 106 times for the Saints in the last three years or so and has been a regular in each of their past three Premier League seasons, with the lack of other options in the right back department giving Cedric a relatively easy ride in maintaining his starting role.

And while in the first few seasons the 27-year-old certainly deserved to keep his place with several impressive displays at right back, he wasn’t as consistent and as accomplished last season as Hughes’ men struggled to a 17th place finish – but the lack of competition at right back meant Cedric went on to play 32 times in the Premier League for the Saints.

Thus, one wonders whether the Euro 2016 World Cup winner is suffering from a lack of competition in that department, which is why Hughes should seek to raid United for right back Valencia, in a bid to give 27-year-old Cedric something to think about.

33-year-old Valencia may well be entering the twilight of his career but he still remains a hugely adept right back at Premier League level, earning 335 appearances in all competitions for United in the last nine years, helping them to two league titles as well as a whole host of other trophies.

In fact, the Ecuador international won the club’s Player of the Season award back in 2012 and has been named captain on a regular basis in the last few years to underline his influence on this United team – and in a backline that shipped just 28 goals in the league last term, he’s clearly doing something right.

And with ability offensively in taking defenders on and getting a cross in, alongside adeptness defensively in possessing the pace and strength needed to get the better of opposition wingers, Valencia could prove to be a huge asset to Southampton manager Hughes, both in terms of boosting that area of his squad, as well as giving Cedric something else to think about.

The Portuguese star hasn’t necessarily been at his best in the last 12 months or so, but Valencia’s arrival would surely force him to re-discover that form, as failure to do so would see him fall out of the starting eleven.

As such, Hughes should seek to lure the £7.2 million-rated United man (as per Transfermarkt) to the South Coast outfit in a bid to finally give Cedric something to think about.

Southampton fans… what do you think? Let us know!

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According to Football FanCast sources, Leicester City will sack Claude Puel if results do not improve in the coming weeks, and the Foxes are already in talks with former Everton manager Sam Allardyce to replace him.

The East Midlands side are currently sat in 10th place in the Premier League and have won four and lost four of their eight games so far this season after finishing ninth last time out.

However, the hierarchy at the club are clearly demanding more from their French boss during his second season at the helm, and discussions with Allardyce are already taking place.

The 63-year-old left Everton in May this year, but he could now be set to return to management for his third Premier League job since the end of his ill-fated spell in charge of England in 2016.

Since beginning his managerial career with Irish side Limerick in 1991, the Dudley-born boss has taken charge of over 1,000 matches with 12 different sides and has built a reputation for being able to quickly transform clubs when taking over during a season.

With Puel now fighting to save his job, Leicester travel to in-form Arsenal on Monday evening before welcoming West Ham to the King Power next week.

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With both situated in the lower echelons of the Premier League table, Southampton and Newcastle’s Premier League clash this Saturday already feels like an encounter of grave significance. If Cardiff and Huddersfield fill the bottom two places as expected, it could well be one of these two clubs that joins then in the drop zone come the end of May.

Accordingly, the 3pm at St. Mary’s qualifies as the first relegation six-pointer of the season, and these sides enter the fixture amid eerily similar form. While Saints are four points and five places better off in the Premier League table, both teams have scored six and conceded 14 so far this term.

Confidence is low, form is even worse and the pressure’s certainly building, so who’ll come out on top in this one? We don’t have the powers to predict the result, but here’s everything you need to know ahead of Southampton vs Newcastle…

What History Tells Us

At first glance, there isn’t really much to choose between the teams from their previous 34 meetings in the Premier League. In fact, they’re separated by just three wins, one goal and one clean sheet all in Southampton’s favour, albeit the south coast outfit incurring two red cards to the Magpies’ none.

But there is one statistic here that really stands out – Newcastle’s abysmal record at St. Mary’s. From 17 ventures there to date, perhaps because it’s such a long trip across the country, Saturday’s visitors have left with all three points just once. Southampton, meanwhile, have failed to win just four of the remaining 16 encounters.

Managerial Head-to-Head

While Southampton may boast the better head-to-head record historically, the situation is completely flipped between the two dugouts. From their 13 skirmishes to date, across all clubs and competitions, Mark Hughes has managed to beat Rafa Benitez a mere once, compared to six victories in the Spaniard’s favour. That’s despite the differences in terms of goals and clean sheets being far less considerable, although the gap widens once again when looking at silverware – seven for Benitez, whereas the Welshman continues to wait for his first in club football.

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And while a large chunk of the record harks back to Benitez’s time at Liverpool when he was privy to a high-quality team, that was actually when Hughes recorded his only victory over the former Anfield boss, sealing a win for Blackburn back in 2006. In the seven meeting since, spanning combined spells with Manchester City, Newcastle and Stoke, Benitez has had Hughes’ number.

Referee Influence – Chris Kavanagh

Chris Kavanagh is one of the Premier League’s younger referees at the age of 33, which perhaps explains why there are some discrepancies in his returns so far this season. While he’s ranked decisively lower-mid table from the 17 referees to work in the top flight this term for fouls per match and fouls per tackle, he moves up into the top half for penalties and yellow cards – the decisions that can really decide games. Perhaps that will balance out as the season goes on, but his ranking for spot kicks is particularly high so both teams will need to be wary of how they behave in the box this weekend.

Kavanagh’s other curiosity is the high percentage of games he’s overseen this season that have ended in away wins, three from six. Only three referees to officiate more than one Premier League game in 2018/19 currently have a higher ratio.

Team News

Southampton enter this game with pretty much a clean bill of health – even slight doubt Mario Lemina is expected to start after jarring his knee – and after being surprisingly positive about the scoreless draw at Bournemouth last weekend, we’re expecting Hughes to stick with almost exactly the same lineup.

The only exception comes in attack as the Welsh gaffer continues to try and find a solution to his side’s profligacy. As Hughes himself mentioned in the buildup, Southampton are actually fifth for efforts at goal this season – they just haven’t been able to put them away with the exception of Danny Ings, the club’s top scorer in the Premier League on three goals.

So the crucial question is who partners the summer arrival from Liverpool. After failing to make any kind of impact against the Cherries last time out, we’re tipping Charlie Austin to be dropped for Shane Long. The Irishman isn’t amongst the goals either, but his ability to stretch defences should create the space Ings likes to occupy between the backline and the midfield.

It’s a similar story for Newcastle regarding starting XI changes, with just one anticipated at the tip of the attack. Joselu is by no means a popular figure on Tyneside but he’s the Magpies’ top scorer this season and should give much more of a presence than summer signing Yoshinori Muto, which will be of real importance away from home. In an ideal world, Salomon Rondon would be the man providing it, but he may only be fit enough to feature from the bench.

Elsewhere, Federico Fernandez looks set to continue partnering Jamaal Lascelles at the back, with Florian Lejeune a long-term absentee and Ciaran Clark only just coming back from a recent layoff.

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Chelsea’s squad is strong, but it certainly has been better in the past. Maurizio Sarri has a bit of a rebuilding job on his hands over the next year or two, with a few major signings still needed.

However, one man that is certainly not required is Aaron Ramsey. According to the Daily Star, the Welshman – who looks set to leave Arsenal at the end of the season – is a target of the Blues.

Fortunately, the publication reports that the club are having second thoughts about a move, and that’s absolutely right. Landing the 27-year-old would be a big mistake on the part of the Chelsea brass.

Naturally, the most obvious reason comes in the form of what Chelsea already have. Between Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barley, the Blues have two of the Premier League’s most in-form midfielders, whilst Mateo Kovacic has also enjoyed a good start to the season so far. So, given that Ramsey would likely feature in that more advanced attacking role, there just isn’t space for him in the squad.

However, the reasons also go beyond that. His fitness record should certainly raise concern, with the Welshman only having made more than 27 league starts once during his time at Arsenal. Last year he made just 21, and many of those missed displays came through injury.

There’s also his history. He’s an Arsenal man, and he’d have a huge job to do to win over the Chelsea fans.

Furthermore, financially it’s also a deal that may not make sense. Sure, he’d be available on a free, but Alexis Sanchez moved to Man Utd on similar terms last year, and that’s worked out poorly. Sometimes, just because a player doesn’t require a big fee, that still doesn’t make them financially viable.

So, for Chelsea, a move just doesn’t make sense.

Thoughts?

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Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka says he already knows the central midfield pairing he will deploy when his side face Stoke City at the City Ground on Saturday, as quoted by The Nottingham Post.

The Reds currently lie sixth in the Championship standings going into the weekend’s fixtures, and they have also taken seven points from the previous nine available having beaten then league leaders Sheffield United 1-0 at home last Saturday.

With Jack Colback absent, Claudio Yacob got his first start and minutes on the pitch for the east Midlands outfit having signed on as a free agent back in September, and he impressed alongside Adlene Guedioura to give his Spanish boss a real selection dilemma against the Potters.

What did he say?

Speaking via The Nottingham Post, Karanka said:

“I know, already, who is going to play.

“After the game, if I play with Claudio and we win, nothing will be said. If we lose, people will say that I should have played Jack. If I pick Jack, and we lose, people will say I should not have played him – but I know this. It is an easy decision for me to make.

“He was working really hard and has been since he arrived here.

“When he got his chance he played really well.

“It was a difficult game, because Jack is an important player for us. But we did not miss Jack and we did not miss Foxy. That was the main thing. The players who played in their positions – Claudio and Michael (Dawson) were perfect.”

What do his comments really mean?

Well, despite Colback being a key player for Forest already this season, the quotes from the 45-year-old certainly hint that Yacob took his chance in the Newcastle loanee’s absence, and having shone against the league leaders he should keep his spot in the starting XI.

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Karanka alludes to the Premier League experience the former West Bromwich Albion man has, and that of course could be vital against a side like Stoke who have lots of decent players in their ranks – no matter what their league position may be.

With Yacob and Guedioura seemingly likely to keep their spots with Colback as back-up, 33-year-old Ben Watson looks to be in real trouble having already been an unused substitute in five of the club’s previous seven Championship fixtures.

With game time severely limited, he could find himself surplus to requirements in the New Year if the fine form of Yacob, Colback and Guedioura continues.

Crystal Palace slumped to yet another defeat at the weekend as Roy Hodgson’s side lost out to a Chelsea team that just had too much quality in the end. 

The south London side have now lost seven games in the league and but not for the terrible form of Newcastle, Southampton and Burnley, they would be further down the table.

Wilfried Zaha once again failed to score at the weekend and it’s becoming incredibly clear that if he isn’t at his best, Palace just simply don’t have a chance of winning. In what could be an interesting development, The Sun is reporting that Everton are interested in Aaron Wan-Bissaka and could include Ademola Lookman in a deal that would see the former Charlton man join Crystal Palace.

The Breakdown

Wan-Bissaka has been a star for Palace this season and has arguably been the club’s best player behind Zaha. Therefore, it may seem absurd that the club would let him leave but if they can lure Lookman south, they would have a player who could turn out to be a star for the club and one that could keep them in the league.

Lookman has found it hard to get into the Everton side even though he looked superb while playing for German side, RB Leipzig last season. The former Charlton man scored five goals in 11 games while also grabbing four assists.

He might not be the striker that the club needs but he could certainly lighten the load of Zaha and furthermore, Palace would be able to offer him guaranteed minutes.

What do you think Palace fans?