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[ad_pod ]After an incredible start to the new 2019/20 Premier League season, Manchester United have just slightly slowed down and removed their foot from the gas pedal.The opening game was an extraordinary one.Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

The Red Devils hosted and demolished their big rivals, Chelsea, in front of the roaring crowd at Old Trafford, bagging four goals in the process. But the second clash, however, ended in a thrilling draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Marcus Rashford and Aaron Wan-Bissaka seem to believe Manchester United deserved more than just a point for their efforts.

They both quickly took to Twitter to share their disappointment with the fans.

Both players talked about the result and how it doesn’t really reflect their appetite or aspirations for the season.

If these tweets are anything to go by, it seems that the Red Devils are extremely hungry for success this year and they won’t settle for anything but a victory at the end of the day.

That will most likely be something manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will love to hear from his troops.

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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…

Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas wrote in his pre-match Watford prediction that he expects Everton to be “weak at the back” this season, and his comments only highlight where the Toffees went wrong during the summer transfer window.

What did he say?

Well, the Scot appears pretty uncertain what to expect from the Merseyside outfit in 2019/20 with their squad, but he made a general statement about how he sees their performances on the pitch panning out prior to their clash against the Hornets.

Nicholas told Sky Sports: “They went big in the market and invested up front. Have they got strikers yet? Is there anything in there that could spark them into life?

“They have given the manager every resource he could get. Where are they going to play Alex Iwobi? I see a team that is going to be creative but weak at the back.”

Everton added Andre Gomes, Jonas Lossl, Djibril Sidibe, Fabian Delph, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Alex Iwobi and Moise Kean to their squad before the deadline earlier this month.

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Nicholas’ comments ring true

Everton may have kept a clean sheet in their opening Premier League match of the campaign against Crystal Palace, but it doesn’t mean that the Sky Sports pundit’s fears won’t be realised moving forward.

The Toffees only have Michael Keane, Yerry Mina and Mason Holgate to pick from as senior centre-back options, with the versatile Gbamin potentially able to drop back if needed.

Mina impressed against the Eagles and drew plenty of praise from supporters on Twitter for his display, but he only made 13 top flight appearances last term having suffered a number of injury issues.

It is clearly a risk to rely on him in that regard, but that is what the Merseyside outfit have to do given they failed to bring in another centre-back before the window slammed shut.

They wanted to bring Kurt Zouma back following his successful loan spell in 2018/19, but according to The Daily Mail Frank Lampard announced his intentions to keep the Frenchman at Stamford Bridge.

At that point they really needed to find an alternative, but they failed to and they could easily find themselves in a bit of trouble unless Keane and Mina manage to be almost superhuman between now and the New Year.

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Tottenham Hotspur fans have lavished praise on Son Heung-min on the anniversary of his signing for the club.

He joined the club from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 in a deal that was worth around £22m, per BBC Sport, and he has since gone on to make 189 appearances for the north Londoners, scoring 67 goals and laying on 36 assists.

A flying winger who has thrived under Mauricio Pochettino, fans have taken to Son for his immense contributions to the way Spurs play, particularly his goalscoring exploits.

The South Korea international scored 20 goals in all competitions in 2018/19, including three across two legs against Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals.

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Of course, Son also scored the first Spurs goal at the club’s new stadium, netting a deflected strike against Crystal Palace.

And fans have taken to Twitter to wax lyrical about the forward.

Take a look at the best of the reaction below!

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Eddie Nketiah has taken well to life at Leeds so far.

In his first four games in all competitions, he has scored three goals, which is all you can ask for from your striker. He has also taken advantage of the starts offered by Marcelo Bielsa, scoring in both games when he was included from the beginning in the Carabao Cup.

However, he is yet to start in the Championship and has only featured twice in the league. He did score the winner against Brentford after being introduced from the bench, but clearly his manager at Elland Road does not feel he is yet ready to lead the line.

“They have the bigger mentality” – Spurs fans come to blows after the North London Derby in the video below…

That responsibility has been handed to Patrick Bamford and as such, that is who Nketiah will need to dislodge. So far this term, Bamford has hit the ground running, bagging four goals in six starts for the Yorkshire side as well as one assist. He has taken 3.7 shots a game.

Whilst it is hard to take too much from this season’s 58 minutes he has played, we can look at the England U21 international’s performances in the Europa League last season, where he started two matches. Across those two games, he had two shots per match, but averaged 4.5 dribbles.

That doesn’t appear to be something Bielsa will want too much of. The most frequent dribblers for the Whites this term are Jack Harrison and Pablo Hernandez, with just two each a match. Instead, Leeds have averaged 61.2% possession. That does not leave too much space for solo runs, but rather requires players to move the ball on quickly.

On the other hand, Bamford has not completed a single take-on in those six games, which is obviously lower than Nketiah’s 0.3 this term despite him not yet starting a league game. To feature more frequently this term, this is something that he will have to remove from his game. Should he do so, we can expect to see him more often at Elland Road.

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Let’s hope for Leeds’ sake that the England appearance will give Clarke a boost this season to help contribute towards their charge back into the Premier League.

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Wolves host Chelsea later this afternoon in their first match since the international break took main priority.

It possibly came at the worst time for Nuno Santo’s men having already played ten competitive matches, stretching to Armenia and back as well as heading to China before the season fully got underway.

Signs of fatigue were always going to creep in as Everton handed them their first defeat of the season last time out.

Now Chelsea come to town, a side who are still trying to find their feet under new boss Frank Lampard.

Just two points separate both teams at this early stage in the season, but what will prove to be the difference later on?

On the Chalkboard

Chelsea will be sweating on the fitness of Emerson Palmieri, who has quickly cemented himself as the number one option at left-back this season with a string of impressive performances.

He currently carries the highest average rating of anyone in the Blues side at 7.57, so he will be a huge miss if absent.

Have you heard the strangest chant in the Premier League yet? Hear it in the video below…

That means one of Maurizio Sarri’s favourites should come back into the fray – Marcos Alonso, who played 39 games last season.

He’s not exactly a popular figure amongst fans at Stamford Bridge and has found himself somewhat of an outcast since Lampard took charge.

His opposite number is likely to be the reborn Adama Traore, who is having a remarkable season in a new right wing-back role.

The 23-year-old’s explosive pace, power and trickery has the potential to leave the Spaniard in all sorts of knots and this is where the game could be won or lost.

Chelsea have the second leakiest defence in the Premier League having conceded nine goals from their four matches this season.

Nullifying the threat from Traore will undoubtedly stop that from being more.

The winger-turned-defender is averaging 2.7 dribbles per game and is fouled for the same number per match, via WhoScored.

Alonso was dribbled past 0.8 times last season and also conceded 0.9 fouls as an average per game, so that could suggest that Wolves’ wide man could garner some success.

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They are both very similar in the aerial battle while Traore will have to do better with his crossing in order to beat the left-back, as the graphic above per WhoScored demonstrates.

His form in the Europa League has produced three assists so if he can translate that into the league then he’s going to be a significant danger.

The battle between these two fellow countrymen could well be the defining factor this afternoon, especially if you consider Alonso may be off the pace after playing second fiddle.

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Manchester City are no longer interested in signing Real Madrid midfielder Isco and are now turning their attention to AC Milan’s Suso, as reported by Spanish media outlet El Desmarque.

According to El Desmarque, the Premier League champions are looking at Suso as a possible successor to David Silva, who is leaving the Etihad Stadium at the end of the season, and Manchester City-focused Twitter channel @City_Xtra conveyed the news to their followers.

Isco made just 11 La Liga starts for Real Madrid last season and the 27-year-old has had only 84 minutes of gametime in their first three matches of the current campaign.

Suso, who joined AC Milan from Liverpool in 2015, has made 131 Serie A appearances and the 25-year-old scored eight goals for the club last term, as well as providing 10 assists.

Manchester City have an even younger midfielder hoping to establish himself in the first team in 19-year-old Phil Foden, who has been given just three Premier League starts since making his debut in the competition in December 2017.

These Manchester City fans on Twitter would rather see the teenager integrated into the team:

Should Manchester City put more faith in Foden and disregard Isco and Suso entirely? Join in the discussion by commenting below!

Tottenham Hotspur may have detailed a positive injury update, without actually saying anything about it.

As noted by Football.London, Juan Foyth’s name was not mentioned on the latest injury report by the club ahead of their away trip to the King Power Stadium, where they will meet Leicester City in Saturday’s early kick-off.

The club revealed that Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso were the only two men to be unavailable for the Premier League encounter.

Although nothing has been confirmed, the fact that he has been left out of the most recent injury list appears to be a rather encouraging sign for Tottenham and one that will provide Mauricio Pochettino with a boost.

The right-back position has been a topic of debate in north London over the summer following Kieran Trippier’s move to Atletico Madrid and it seems the Argentine manager has not been afforded the time to work out who is his best option in the position.

Kyle Walker-Peters started the season as the first choice, although that may have only been because Foyth was unavailable through suspension and because of the injury he suffered whilst on pre-season duty (club’s official website).

Serge Aurier has recently been used because the 22-year-old Englishman has had to spend some time on the sidelines as well with a hamstring injury, although it appears he could be in contention to return as well.

However, if the 21-year-old South American is available, it would not be a surprise to see him in the side. Last season, he managed to record figures of 2.6 tackles, 0.8 interceptions and four clearances per game in the 12 fixtures he appeared in.

Indeed, there will, perhaps, be doubts about whether he will be fit enough to play though, as he has not played for a few months and could be saved until Spurs go up against Colchester United in the League Cup in midweek.

Regardless of whether he plays on Saturday against Leicester City or not, it would appear Tottenham could have Foyth available to them in the near future, which will surely be a boost to Pochettino’s side.

The defender excelled against Manchester City last season in the right-back position and won plaudits from both Jamie Redknapp (Sky Sports via The Boot Room) and Micky Hazard for his performance in the role.

Having three players available and competing for that position will be excellent news for Spurs, even if Aurier does not think he has any competition.

Tottenham fans, do you think Foyth will play against Leicester? Let us know your thoughts by sharing them in the comments section below!

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Jack Ross’ obsession with his side’s defensive issues is consuming him, and it’s doing the Black Cats more harm at the other end of the pitch.

Two, zero, five, five, five, six, zero, one. Those are the goals conceded by Bolton in their eight league games this season.

The Wanderers have the joint-worst defensive record in League One, averaging three goals conceded every game, but Ross’ side account for that disappointing one at the end of the list.

Now, while Coventry City and Oxford United should also feel rather ashamed of their blanks, Sunderland’s goalscoring issues are being caused by one thing, and that is the manager’s incessant desire to focus all his time and energy into something he seemingly has no clue how to fix.

After the 1-1 draw against Rotherham, what did the boss talk about in his post-match review? Clean sheets. A week later, after being booed off the pitch due to a 1-1 draw with struggling Bolton, what did he talk about? Clean sheets.

Maybe we missed a memo, but the last time we checked there are two parts to winning a football match. One is the thing Ross craves so very much, but the other is scoring goals, and that aspect of Sunderland’s game is now suffering. Even some fans have noticed it.

While earlier in the campaign the Black Cats were winning games comfortably due to their prowess at the other end – four separate 3-1 wins can attest to that – they are slowly but surely becoming more passive and negative in the pursuit of clean sheets.

And here’s the kicker – they don’t have one single clean sheet, and the manager is yet to change his formation or defensive system to try and change that.

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They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, and while the former St. Mirren boss has made some slight changes in his personnel, he rarely ever strays from his horrifically boring 4-2-3-1 formation.

Perhaps it’s a bit of a stretch to say his quest for a clean sheet is bordering on the insane, but there is no question it is eating away at him, and if he is not going to make any effort to alter his system then the least he could do is deploy his side with more freedom to make up for it at the other end, or shut up about it.

In a rather underwhelming start to the current campaign, Manchester United haven’t exactly had too much to shout about.

Mason Greenwood’s emergence onto the scene has arguably been the one bright spark, and after the game against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night, Brandon Williams may offer the Red Devils some hope for the future too.

The 19-year-old made his Europa League debut against the Dutch side, and in a largely poor team performance, was one of the rare individuals to come away with some credit.

The teenager registered a 90% pass accuracy on his 59 passes, and made two tackles over the course of the game. As per Sofascore, his 7.4 match rating was the third-highest of any United player.

After seeing the academy product’s display, United fans flooded to Twitter to share their thoughts about the latest youngster to make his mark on the first-team.

Many supporters of the Manchester side insisted Williams represented the only silver lining of the match, and praised his performance.

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Some Red Devils fans even suggested he is already better than Luke Shaw, and urged Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to give him a regular chance in the first-team.

Check out some of the reaction of United fans below: