It is a refreshing change to see a pretty full Premier League calendar this Saturday. Manchester United and Arsenal appear to have home bankers in which both can strengthen their position at the top of the Premier League table. Elsewhere Manchester City and Tottenham both face tough away trips to test their title credentials; while West Ham won’t welcome the tough trip to Goodison Park as they look to drag themselves away from the bottom of the table.
In the papers this morning there have been a mixed bag of stories that include Arsene Wenger eyes the quadruple; Liverpool continue to attract top players, while Gerard Houllier hits back at Sunderland critics.
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Spurs and West Ham make final bids for Olympic Stadium – Guardian
Uefa considers calendar overhaul – Daily Telegraph
Liverpool attract top players – Comolli- Independent
Arsene tells stars: Go and win the lot – Sun
Houllier hits back at Bent criticisms – Guardian
Giggs: I’ll play on next season – Sun
Spurs target Rossi is available for £16.5m – Independent
Grant ready to take Joe Cole ‘home’ on loan – Mirror
Brady: Grant chaos made us stronger – Guardian
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Giggs plans to extend Manchester United contract – Independent
As Martin O’Neill prepares to get stuck into his Sunderland squad, the Stadium of Light rumour mill is in full swing with a host of names being linked with a move to the North East.
It’s an exciting time for Black Cats supporters as they debate the merits of potential new recruits and attempt to predict O’Neill’s targets, despite the Northern Irishman keeping his cards typically close to his chest. While a number of fresh faces could well be lining up in Red and White next season, their places in the side must be vacated by members of the current squad and as such many of O’Neill’s troops could find themselves surplus to requirements this summer.
With the club reportedly chasing at least two new strikers, defensive reinforcements and some speedy wingers, they must free up space in a side brimming with talented squad players. As well as finding the room to accommodate any new signings, the club must also consider the financial implications of their recruitment drive and freeing up wages while recouping as much of their outlay as possible is of paramount importance if they’re to maintain their sustainability.
It’s time to take a look at the 10 players who could be surplus to O’Neill’s requirements this summer as he looks to stamp his authority and mould his team into European challengers.
Click on Connor Wickham to unveil the 10
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With Man United finally giving up in their pursuit to sign Wesley Sneijder it is clear that Fergie believes this current squad is certainly good enough to retain their title this coming season. The fringe players have certainly stepped up in pre-season and given the United boss some genuine food for thought.
At FFC this week we have seen a mixed bag of Manchester United blogs that includes no respite for United’s punch bag; Fergie set to save millions, while Hernandez provides a welcome throwback from the past.
We also look at the best Manchester United articles around the web this week.
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A burgeoning talent set to save Fergie millions?
A welcome headache for Sir Alex Ferguson
No respite for Manchester United’s punching bag
Are Manchester United really better off?
Win or lose, this time it matters for Manchester United
Have United’s rivals got what it takes to knock them off their perch?
Javier Hernandez – a throwback from the past
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Best of WEB
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United’s New Signing Could Hold The Key To Champions League Success – Red Flag Flying High
Reds’ vibrancy points to a flexible future – United Rant
Friendly competition for positions foretells a bright future – The Busby Way
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Fans Should Know That They Know As Much As The Players Do – United Religion
Manchester United ‘Pull Plug On Wesley Sneijder Deal’ – Red Flag Flying High
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Click on Miss Blasi below to see her in all her glory
Having already played more than half of the Premier League season, Football FanCast wants to know who YOU think should win the PFA award.
Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney won the award last year due to a stunning season of football, scoring an astonishing 26 goals and assisting 6 times in the Premier League alone – allowing the former Everton striker to scoop both the PFA and Football Writers’ awards last term.
However, this year it is Rooney’s counter-part Dimitar Berbatov who has been in a fine run of form with 19 goals so far this season, scoring 3 hat-tricks and five goals alone in their 7-1 drubbing of Allardyce’s Blackburn Rovers. A hat-trick against biggest rivals Liverpool back in September showed the world of his undistinguishable class, knocking in a strong contender for the goal of the season.
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Tottenham’s Gareth Bale has been outstanding since emerging into Redknapp’s starting XI in 2009, and has shown his true ability, adapting fantastically to his newly assigned left wing – scoring 7 goals and providing 3 assists in the domestic league. Bale has emerged into a strong footballer over a short period of time, and has been essential to Tottenham’s success in both the Premier and Champions League – making a fool of Inter’s world class Maicon all at the same time of course. A hat-trick against Inter Milan when losing 4-0 really does show the Welshman’s talent.
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Continue to the NEXT PAGE for more contenders…
Bale’s team-mate Rafael van der Vaart has also largely impressed, and has been a pivotal factor alongside Bale in pushing Tottenham to properly challenge for the domestic title in over 53 years. Since joining from Real Madrid for a reduced fee of £8million in the summer, VDV has been a revelation to the club, leading the attack with 9 goals and six assists and could prove to be one of Tottenham’s most impactful signings of all time. The Dutchman has already gained both heart and support from the Spurs fans, but will eye to finish high on what has already been a fantastic season for the 27-year-old. A two-goal tally against Aston Villa in both October and December are probably his best displays.
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Arsenal’s Samir Nasri has been on prolific form all season, with 9 goals and a single assist. However it is not only the figures which count for the Gunners, as he has provided the creative spark that Arsenal have so desperately needed in Cesc Fabregas’s absence. Nasri continued his form on nicely for his country, playing a central role in France’s 2-1 victory over England at Wembley last year.
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Continue to the NEXT PAGE for more contenders…
Blackpool’s Charlie Adam has recently been of intense media speculation since the winter transfer window opened, with the Seasiders receiving bids from both Liverpool and Aston Villa. Adam has been without a doubt Blackpool’s player of the season so far, providing sensational performances and acting as Holloway’s Xabi Alonso – central to set-pieces and the general assister of the side. The former Rangers midfielder helped the Blackpool to promotion last season and remains the club’s best asset, but may have set his sights on Anfield after handing a transfer request this week.
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Manchester City’s controversial captain Carlos Tevez has been nominated for the award, due to his prolific goal-scoring form all season. With 14 goals and 5 assists in the Premier League, Tevez has notoriously lead City into seriously challenging for the title and bringing silverware to Eastlands. Despite a mid-season wobble, declaring that he wanted to leave Manchester because he missed his family and was homesick – Tevez answered his critics the way every footballer should: with a leading performance on the pitch. Despite not scoring a hat-trick yet this season, the Argentine has scored twice on five separate occasions.
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Vote in the poll below for the player YOU think should take home the Player of the Year award.
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Follow me on Twitter for fantastic features and the latest updates on the PFA awards!
Real Madrid are ready to take the initiative in the race to sign Tottenham’s star playmaker Luka Modric, and will make a £30 million bid in coming days according to The Daily Mail.
The Croatia international’s future at White Hart Lane is unsure after the side missed out on Champions League football, and with his nation now eliminated from Euro 2012 it is expected that the transfer talks will commence.
Modric was pursued by Chelsea last summer but Spurs held firm and rejected approaches from their Premier League neighbours, however Manchester United are thought to be serious suitors of the midfielder this time round.
However, Jose Mourinho’s Madrid team are looking to strengthen their Primera Division squad, and it is believed that the Santiago Bernabeu chief has told the club to make a bid for Modric.
With Spurs reluctant to part with their star man, a sale to a foreign side would be preferred over selling Modric to any of their Premier League rivals.
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As football fans around the country brace themselves for the start of the Premier League season, FFC wanted to point you in the direct of the NEW ESPN Goals App that is now available for you to download for FREE.
This ultimate Barclays Premier league app includes live scores, video highlights and clips of every goal* for all 380 games – within just minutes of it taking place.
The essential football app for fans of the Barclays Premier League will feature: Video of goals and match action from every Barclays Premier League match all season long Live scores and match stats Fixtures and results from around the league Additional video including match previews and weekend round-ups Video alerts: Alerts for goal videos, match highlight clips and Weekend roundup clips.
Can you afford not to have this app on your phone – Click here to find out more!
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* Goals footage is near-live with goals available shortly after being scored except for footage from matches on Saturday from 3pm, this is due to UEFA restrictions. Footage from these matches is available from approximately 5.15pm Saturday
Holger Osieck admitted Australia could have lost their Asian Cup match to Bahrain were it not for goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.The Socceroos beat the Gulf nation 1-0 in Doha on Tuesday thanks to a long-range effort from Mile Jedinak, but it was a number of clutch saves from the Fulham custodian at the other end which kept Bahrain scoreless and propelled Australia to the top of Group C.
“We know the quality that Mark has to offer to the team and I’m happy to have him there,” Osieck said.
“He had an excellent performance and made some good saves, especially in the second half.”
“He kept us in the game and we must give him credit.”
Australia remain undefeated in the tournament after a 4-0 win over India and a battling 1-1 draw with South Korea earlier in the group stage, and Tuesday’s result means Osieck’s side will face the runners-up from Group D in the quarter finals, with either Iraq or North Korea the likely opponents.
“It was our target to go to the quarter-finals and I’m glad to achieve the target,” Osieck said.
“We have seen in other games that there are quality teams and I’m happy to be still in the competition.”
“All the teams are good and whoever we are going to play against, the match is going to be tough.”
“It doesn’t matter who we play because there is great deal of quality in the group but we must be ready and play our own game.”
Australia do have some personnel issues, with Jason Culina, Luke Wilkshire and David Carney all missing from Tuesday’ match due to injury, while Brett Emerton picked up his second yellow card of the tournament against Bahrain and will miss the quarter-final.
Bahrain coach Salman Sharida was pleased with his side’s performance despite the loss, and said they deserved more out of the match.
“We have had a good performance tonight and we were the better side as we controlled the game and we were organised,” Sharida said.
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“We got into the Australian area a lot but we missed a lot of chances. Missing chances in such a game is not acceptable as we wanted to get the three points but we played against an experienced side who have a lot of good players.”
“Australia and Korea Republic are strong teams and they are in a good position in Asian football.”
“We have had some difficult situations in the team but the players showed a good performance in the matches that we had.”
Theo Walcott is a major doubt for England’s decisive Euro 2012 Group D game against Ukraine on Tuesday after he picked up a knock in training.
The Arsenal man impressed when he came off the bench against Sweden on Friday by scoring one and setting up another, which give the Three Lions a 3-2 victory.
England boss Roy Hodgson has revealed that Walcott could well miss the game against Oleg Blokhin’s men after pulling up in training.
“Unfortunately he had a slight setback in training,” Hodgson said.
“He felt the hamstring that kept him out for so long at the end of the season and which we were slightly concerned about when he came to us,” The Telegraph quote Hodgson as saying.
“We have been lucky nothing has occurred with that but in a little training session today we had to take the precaution of taking him from the field because he felt some tightness there.
“Whether he is a real contender for a starting position will depend upon what the medical people can tell me and how much guarantee they can give me that if I do start him he won’t be leaving the field after five minutes, forcing us to have 13 men rather than the 14 I would rather count on,” he confessed.
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Yesterday it was announced that Aston Villa have agreed a £9.5m fee with Wigan Athletic for Charles N’Zogbia and the 25-year-old is set travel down to Villa Park to discuss personal terms today.
The French international who was last capped in 2010, will be a straight forward replacement on the left wing for the recently departed Stuart Downing and will become McLeish’s second summer signing after capturing N’Zogbia’s former Newcastle teammate Shay Given from Man City last week.
McLeish has long been an admirer of N’Zogbia and actually came within a whisker of signing him last summer for his former club Birmingham City but the deal collapsed at the 11th hour as they couldn’t agree personal terms. So although a fee has now been agreed it is still not 100% that he will be joining the club. However if as expected he does agree terms this week, McLeish will be hoping that he will be a suitable replacement for Downing and Young who had started to build up a potent attacking force alongside Darren Bent last season.
Villa have so far raised over £40 million from player sales this summer and N’Zogbia will be a major part of a new look Aston Villa side with the Alan Hutton and Scott Parker two other possible arrivals at Villa Park. Although he has experienced controversy in the past especially at Newcastle, I can see McLeish being disciplined with the winger and he will make sure the Villa fans only see N’Zogbia’s good side.
Interestingly he is actually classed as a home-grown player after being affiliated with an English club since the age of 18 when he brought over by Newcastle from Le Havre and will count as one of the eight players home-grown players needed in Villa’s 25-man-squad. This make it even more of a transfer bargain as everyone has seen that English players are moving at overinflated transfer fees partly due to this rule.
With Downing and Young sold, Villa were looking for a player that can create threats to the opposition and would also be responsible for set-pieces. In N’Zogbia they have this player as he is known for his match-winning ability, his excellent all round play and is one of the most exciting players to watch in the Premier League. He can also operate on either flank or as an attacking midfielder so it is understandable why Villa have snapped him up.
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It will be a new challenge for N’Zogbia who was influential in keeping the Latics in the Premier League last season and his two goals against West Ham in the penultimate game of the season all but secured their survival. Dave Whelan recently said of his prized asset: “I have always said for £10 million he is an absolute snip, if Stewart Downing can change hands for £20 million I don’t know what Charles is worth.”
He contributed with ten goals and seven assists for the Latics last season which is not too different to Downing’s total of seven goals and nine assists and this shows what a good deal Villa are getting with a reported £10.5 million difference in transfer fees.
With only 12 months left on his contract Wigan are getting a decent price for the winger but in terms of Downing’s move, it is still relatively cheap. He will only improve at a bigger club and in the right environment so N’Zogbia could be worth a lot more in the future. Downing’s £20m price tag was over-inflated by the fact he still had four years left on his contract at Villa Park but Villa fans must feel they are the end of a very good deal.
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Villa fans would have been saddened to see their player of the year Downing leave after his impressive form last season but I feel they are getting a more than adequate replacement in N’Zogbia. He has a similar goal scoring record, has the ability to change a game and is signing at a very reasonable price. The rebuilding has begun and securing N’Zogbia’s signature would be a great way to kick-start it.
Do you agree? Do you think N’Zogbia is the right man to replace Downing? Follow me on twitter @aidanmccartney
Steven Pienaar has said speculation surrounding his future will not affect his current form.
The South Africa international has been strongly linked with a move away for weeks, with Tottenham looking the most likely destination for the 28-year-old.
The Toffees are still trying to persuade Pienaar to sign a new contract but time is running out.
Everton have already hinted they would rather sell him in January rather than lose him for nothing when his contract expires.
When asked whether he would still be on Merseyside come the end of the season Pienaar told Sky Sports: "No comment."
The winger did go on to say that he knew nothing of the apparent link with Tottenham, claiming it was all media speculation at this point in time.
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"I was also told this by one of my team-mates, so I don't know what is going on.
"The media in England is quite big and everyone can say what they want. I am just happy at Everton and I want to focus on my game."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email