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Chelsea are in fast-moving talks to offload a “very big” player in their squad, with his suitors apparently eager to get him tied up and over the line by the very start of January.

Chelsea prepare for Astana as Enzo Maresca confirms squad decision

The west Londoners are back in action this afternoon, as manager Enzo Maresca prepares his side to face off against Kazakhstani minnows Astana in the Conference League.

Chelsea set eye-watering Cole Palmer price tag as Real Madrid circle

The ex-Man City gem is fast becoming a Premier League superstar.

ByEmilio Galantini Dec 11, 2024

Chelsea have been allocated a bizarre kick-off time of 15:30 this afternoon due to time zones, with Kazakhstan being five hours ahead of the United Kingdom, so local supporters will watch the two teams play at around 20:30 in their region of the world.

Maresca also has to factor in their Premier League clash against Brentford on Sunday, and the Italian has vowed in his pre-match press conference to give as many players as possible a full 90 minutes each week, no matter what competition.

“We have a session this morning,” said Maresca on Chelsea’s line up against Astana in his pre-match press conference.

“The general decision [over the squad] is already there but we will see.

“Some of them will be here, some of them will fly with us. We try to manage in the same way we have done until today. We have many young players with us, the rest will be working.

“The target since we started the season is to allow all of them, no matter the competition, to play 90 minutes every week. Most of those who play tomorrow would have also played against Southampton last week. So we will try to keep them in the regular situation of playing 90 minutes every week. This is what we’re trying to do.”

Brentford (home)

December 15

Everton (away)

December 22

Fulham (home)

December 26

Ipswich Town (away)

December 30

Crystal Palace (away)

January 4

Youngster Josh Acheampong has attracted recent interest from Real Madrid amid disputes over a new Chelsea contract, but his omission from the squad has come to an end recently, as the club are apparently close to tying him down with an extension.

The 18-year-old is also likely to start against Astana this afternoon, confirms Maresca, which would be his second senior appearance of the season after a brief cameo in the Carabao Cup against Barrow.

A player who could also feature tonight is exit-linked midfielder Cesare Casadei, but according to Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, tonight could be one of his last games in Chelsea blue this season.

Chelsea in fast-moving talks over loaning Cesare Casadei to Monza

As per the outlet, via Sport Witness, Chelsea are in rapid negotiations over loaning Casadei to Monza, and the Serie A side are very keen to sign him by January 2, as they desperately look to bolster their midfield options.

Talks are said to be “moving quickly” and have been ongoing for several weeks, and the potential transfer is seen as a real win-win.

The 21-year-old, who worked with Maresca at Leicester, has featured regularly in cup competitions and attracted praise from Chelsea’s head coach – but this move would allow the player to garner more minutes in his homeland.

“This year, we are using him like a holding midfielder,” said Maresca on Casadei’s use for Chelsea in October.

“The reason why is because I think we go in the direction where the middle you need physical players. Cesare is very big, physically strong and helps us when we want to press. On the ball, he is improving a lot. Tonight he played one touch, so we are very happy. For him, it’s the same as the rest; many things he can do better but he is in the right direction.”

Dele Alli has hit back at his critics after being sent off on his Como debut and has vowed to "achieve greatness" with the Serie A side.

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Dele saw red on nightmare Como debutSpeaks out about sending offVows to achieve greatness in ItalyFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Como boss Cesc Fabregas handed Dele his Como debut on Saturday but saw the former Tottenham star sent off less than 10 minutes after coming on in a nightmare afternoon for the midfielder. Dele was shown a red card for a reckless challenge on Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fabregas was critical of his new signing after the match.

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Dele has had to be patient and wait for his chances at Como after arriving at the club back in December. He now faces more time on the sidelines due to suspension and has now explained what he was trying to do when he came on at San Siro.

WHAT DELE SAID

He told the club's media: "It was definitely a special feeling just because I know the journey. I'd been obviously focused on the game and trying to help the team. We were 2-1 down, so I wanted to go out there, I wanted to help, to score or help the team score, just play a part and turn the result around. For me it was clear what I was trying to do, it was a tactical foul, a tactical yellow, no malice or force, or recklessness in the challenge. You see the pictures after the game of my stud on his calf but there was no force or anything. If you pause the image of course it looks bad."

DID YOU KNOW?

Dele has signed an 18-month contract with Como and is confident he can achieve success with the Serie A side despite a disappointing start. He added: "I hope to achieve a lot of things, trying to achieve greatness because I think that's what Como is destined for and I want to be a part of that."

West Ham United boss Julen Lopetegui has been clashing with one member of his squad behind-the-scenes on a consistent basis, with the under-fire Hammers manager now attempting to rebuild his relationship with the player.

West Ham prepare for Bournemouth after Julen Lopetegui wins 'El Sackico'

Lopetegui and Gary O’Neil were both involved in a battle of the tacticians when West Ham met Wolves on Monday, as the managerial duo fought to save their jobs in a clash dubbed the ‘El Sackico’.

Approach made as West Ham agree to let exit-chasing player leave in January

The Hammers are ready to offload.

ByEmilio Galantini Dec 12, 2024

The Irons reigned supreme with a narrow 2-1 win in east London, but despite the highly-anticipated P45 for either O’Neil or Lopetegui, depending on who lost the encounter, it turns out neither man was shown the exit door.

Wolves are set to give O’Neil more time to turn things around in the Molineux dugout, while West Ham’s board are against the idea of sacking Lopetegui for the time being (ExWHUemployee).

Match

Date

Opponent

Competition

Result

#17

09/12/2024

Wolves (H)

Premier League

2-1 win

#16

03/12/2024

Leicester City (A)

Premier League

3-1 loss

#15

30/11/2024

Arsenal (H)

Premier League

5-2 loss

#14

26/11/2024

Newcastle United (A)

Premier League

2-0 win

#13

09/11/2024

Everton (H)

Premier League

0-0 draw

#12

02/11/2024

Nottingham Forest (A)

Premier League

3-0 loss

#11

27/10/2024

Man United (H)

Premier League

2-1 win

#10

19/10/2024

Tottenham (A)

Premier League

4-1 loss

Attention has now turned to the latter side’s trip to face Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium next Monday, but pressure is still well and truly on Lopetegui, with a number of supporters still disenfranchised by West Ham’s performances as they call for their manager to depart.

West Ham held talks with Edin Terzic last week, among other managerial alternatives, and it is believed former Chelsea and Brighton boss Graham Potter is open to replacing Lopetegui on a short-term basis.

There have also been reports that Lopetegui had a recent bust-up with summer loan signing Jean-Clair Todibo, who West Ham have an obligation to buy for around £35 million, so things have been far from harmonious behind-closed-doors at Rush Green.

The Frenchman apparently came to blows with West Ham’s head coach at half-time of their 5-2 defeat at home to Arsenal (ExWHUemployee), following on from Lopetegui’s clashes with Mohammed Kudus earlier this season.

Julen Lopetegui not seeing "eye-to-eye" with Jean-Clair Todibo at West Ham

According to GiveMeSport, shedding more light on the situation, Lopetegui hasn’t been seeing “eye-to-eye” with Todibo at West Ham this season.

It is a tense relationship which the Hammers boss is apparently attempting to resolve behind-the-scenes, and it is believed the 24-year-old could be set for a recall to the starting eleven against Bournemouth next week, after missing Leicester with injury and being benched for their win over Wolves.

Todibo, for his part, has also been attempting to rectify his relationship with Lopetegui and is believed to be working hard on building a better rapport with the tactician – so both men are eager to work together positively moving forward.

Their reported bust-up during the Arsenal game started from concerns surrounding how Todibo would fit into Lopetegui’s future plans in a tactical sense, but it now appears the former Schalke starlet wants to put that to bed.

Yorkshire’s director of cricket “can’t wait” to have Root available for his county in coming weeks

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Apr-2022Darren Gough was “surprised” by the level of criticism Joe Root faced in his final months as England’s Test captain and “can’t wait” to have him available to play for Yorkshire in the coming weeks.Gough, who became Yorkshire’s director of cricket in December after Martyn Moxon was sacked, was speaking during the club’s first County Championship fixture this season against Gloucestershire in Bristol. He expects Root to play “two or three” games before England’s first Test of the summer against New Zealand and said he had kept in touch with him throughout the winter.”Realistically, with a bit of luck, I’d like to think we’d get him for two or three games before the Test series starts,” Gough said. “Whatever we get Joe Root for is a bonus. He loves playing for Yorkshire.”He’s been on messages and wished everybody luck before this game. That’s the sort of character he is. To get a player of his experience and brilliance – I can’t wait to have him back.Related

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“I’m sure he just wants to get back playing now that he’s got this [his resignation] out of the way. It might have been on his mind for the last month or so since he came back.”Gough said that while Root had “probably done the right thing” in stepping down, he was surprised to see the news break on Friday morning and insisted that he had done “a good job” throughout his five years in the role.”He’s come home, thought about the pluses and negatives and thought, ‘yep, it’s time to go now’. He’s probably thought that now’s the right time to step away, but I was surprised when I was over breakfast this morning and it popped up on the screen.”The problem is that one win in 17 is the one that goes against him, 27 Test victories, though. When you think about it, would you say he’s always had the best players available to him in that last 17 Test matches? I would say not.”I think Joe – and I’ve been in that dressing room environment in New Zealand – is hugely respected by every single player and coaching staff. And he was the perfect man for the job.”Darren Gough, Yorkshire’s interim managing director of cricket, watches players warm up in Bristol•Getty ImagesGough added that Root had fallen victim to English cricket’s blame game, and that he had been “a strong personality” and “a strong leader” who had been hampered by the absence of key players.”He’s had a lot of criticism,” Gough said. “I think what probably hurt him [is that] it’s come from a lot of guys who played the game and captained England as well – some of his closest mates.”I was surprised by the criticism; I think you have to look deeper than that. With everything that has been going on in English cricket, I don’t think you can blame the captain. Unfortunately, we’re always looking for someone to blame.”When you look back in the history of captains, what do we always say? ‘Well, he was a good captain because he won the Ashes or he wasn’t because he didn’t win the Ashes’. But the greatest captain I ever played under was Nasser Hussain, and he didn’t win the Ashes. You have to have the players, and you’re only as good as your players.”Asked if there was a better candidate available than Root, Gough said: “Not at the minute, I don’t think so. Obviously Ben Stokes is a terrific personality, and I would say he’s one of those natural leaders on the field. But unfortunately, he’s had this time out of the game, he’s got these injuries and his workload’s already through the roof. It’s a big decision if he takes it.”And some of the better candidates are not in the England team at this moment in time. They got dropped after the winter. It will be a very difficult choice with who they go for. The natural choice is Stokes – you go with the best player, don’t you? He’s the only one who is secure of a place, so there’s nowhere else to go.”

Brooks, King hit impressive fifties in win; debutant Nidamanuru impresses for Netherlands

ESPNcricinfo staff31-May-2022Shai Hope’s 11th ODI century studded West Indies’ domination in the first of three ODIs against Netherlands in Amstelveen. On a blustery Tuesday with sheets of rain that reduced the game to 45 overs per side, West Indies made light work of a 247 chase, as they got home with 11 balls to spare and seven wickets in hand. There were also bruising half-centuries from Shamarh Brooks and Brandon King to help West Indies along.The tone of the chase was set early as Hope and Brooks added 120 for the first wicket. While their approach wasn’t explosive, they reeled off enough runsto always stay ahead of the asking rate.Then there was a stutter when seam-bowling allrounder Logan van Beek picked up two wickets off successive deliveries. First, he sent back Brooks by taking an excellent return catch, and then had Nkrumah Bonner lbw with an inducker. When Nicholas Pooran, the captain, fell cheaply three overs later, Netherlands may have sniffed an outside chance of winning. But Hope and King extinguished any such hopes with an unbroken 116-run stand to seal the deal.Despite the loss, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Netherlands as they fought hard to construct an innings that centred on rookie opener Vikramjit Singh and the experienced Max O’Dowd. They added 63 in 12 overs to set a solid base. Then they had small contributions from every member of the top order, but without any substantial score. It wasn’t until Teja Nidamanuru, the 27-year-old allrounder, top-scored with 58 on debut that they managed to get to a respectable position.Nidamanuru faced just 51 balls and struck three fours and two sixes in his knock. This helped Netherlands post 240 for 7, which was then readjusted to 246 through the DLS method. As the chase went on, it became increasingly evident that they were well short.”I think we need to adapt a bit faster,” Hope said after the match. “Obviously, we have seen what they have got with both bat and ball. Hopefully, we can score a bit faster, just need to make sure we acclimatise ourselves to the conditions as quickly as we can and hopefully, get on early wickets to bowl and top them with the bat.”Despite the win, West Indies stay tenth, and outside the direct qualifying zone in the ODI Super League that serves to identify seven direct qualifiers – plus the hosts – for next year’s 50-overs World Cup in India. Netherlands are last, with just two wins in 11 matches so far.The second and third ODIs will take place on June 2 and June 4 respectively.

Aston Villa are understood to be in regular talks with an Italian club who are interested in landing one of their key players.

Aston Villa latest news

After a poor run that saw them win just once in nine games across all competitions, Aston Villa now seem to have rediscovered their best form. Unai Emery’s side have won four of their last five games in all competitions, most recently beating struggling Manchester City in the Premier League at the weekend.

Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers were both on the scoresheet in an impressive 2-1 victory, which manager Emery described as a “great day” at the office.

“Manchester City are a very difficult team and I think we played fantastic,” said the Spanish coach. “Every player, in the tactical structure, was fantastic, defensively and offensively. Their commitment to do everything we worked on before the match was very important.I think every player performed great. It was a really great day for the team and for individual players as well.”

Rogers, who was voted as the Man of the Match, said: “To a man, I thought we were outstanding, so I thought we deserved the win.”

Napoli readying new and improved Duran bid

Duran, Villa’s other scorer against City, has been the subject of intense interest from clubs all around Europe thanks to his scintillating displays this season. The Colombia international, who is rated at £80 million by Villa, has scored 12 goals in all competitions, including three in the Champions League – one of which was the only goal in Villa’s historic 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich.

FC Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester United are all understood to be keen on the former MLS hitman. However, it seems as if it’s Napoli who might be winning the race for his signature. According to Il Mattino, as per Sports Witness, the Italian club have already made a £29 million offer for Duran, which was rejected.

The publication states that Napoli, however, aren’t prepared to stop and have sent across “signals” to Villa that a second offer of £33 million will be made soon. Napoli are having constant and “frenetic” phone calls with NSWE about the 21-year-old, who they see as a potential replacement for Victor Osimhen. They are yet to get anywhere close to Villa’s price tag however.

Chelsea make contact over signing £63m striker likened to Victor Osimhen

The west Londoners are beginning to narrow down their shortlist.

ByEmilio Galantini Dec 20, 2024

Osimhen came close to joining Chelsea in the summer, but the proposed deal collapsed on deadline day, and he ended up joining Turkish side Galatasaray on-loan instead. Though he’s not expected to stay in Turkey beyond the end of the season, he is widely expected to leave Napoli, with Chelsea reportedly maintaining their interest in signing him.

Ex-Chelsea midfielder and Nigeria international John Obi-Mikel said in the summer that Osimhen “wanted” to move to Stamford Bridge.

A switch to a fall to spring schedule for MLS is being discussed in the buildup to the 2026 FIFA World Cup

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Garber and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani talk U.S. SoccerGarber shares MLS schedule change is a subject of discussionSays he has "big expectations" for USMNT at 2026 World CupFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

A change in the scheduling format for Major League Soccer – with a move to a fall-to-spring calendar – may be coming following the 2026 FIFA World Cup. MLS commissioner Don Garber spoke on the topic ahead of the 2024 MLS Cup final in Carson, California, saying that any change would be "complicated," but that the bodies around MLS and U.S. Soccer have "ongoing work" around a potential change.

Speaking at the Sports Business Journal's Business of Soccer conference this week, Garber – along with CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani – covered a plethora of American soccer topics, and the commissioner revisited the schedule change. Logical concerns about winter in the U.S., particularly with teams in the north such as Minnesota, Montreal, and Toronto – among others – were acknowledged, but a potential change is still on the table.

“Let’s just be obvious – having playoffs in May is probably better than having them in December, where we’re competing against college football and NFL football and lots of other things,” Garber said. “So we’re going to do the work… Nelson Rodriguez runs our competition group meeting with owners and chief soccer officers and chief business officers going through the math. And once we get through all that, we’ll then have to take it to that process of governance and figuring out whether it makes sense for the enterprise.”

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Although any change would not arrive until after the 2026 season, buildup to the 2026 World Cup has been a priority for both CONCACAF and MLS, with the tournament being hosted in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“We have this opportunity with our [USMNT] – as the women have been able to achieve with so many World Cup victories – to have it be entirely about sport,” said Garber. “You have to have that. If the U.S. team doesn’t do well, it certainly is going to be a disappointment because of the high expectations.”

Montagliani, meanwhile, said that CONCACAF as a whole has an expectation to perform in the event at a competitive level, in both the Group Stage and the knockout rounds.

“I expect eight of our countries to be in there – six direct and two playoff for them to come out of the group,” said Montagliani. “Two of them to get to the quarterfinal and one of them to get to minimally the semifinal.”

Amid some worries that North America may not be prepared to host the event, Garber shrugged off the notion.

“I don’t really worry much about that,” Garber said. “I’ve been in the event business for a really, really long time. The fear and loathing of what you have to do, and then all the challenges of ensuring you’re managing your plan always happen, but it always pulls off.”

DID YOU KNOW?

No CONCACAF nation has ever won the World Cup, and no team has ever made it past the quarterfinals. In 1970 and 1986, Mexico made it to the stage, as did the U.S. in 2002 and Costa Rica in 2014.

AFPWHAT NEXT?

Matchday 5 of the 2025 MLS season kicks off Saturday, while the USMNT report back to the pitch on Sunday in the the third-place match of the CONCACAF Nations League finals.

Mauricio Pochettino's men meanwhile take on Jesse Marsch's Canada in the contest.

Manchester United have reportedly set their asking price for winger Antony as they try to sell 10 squad players this summer.

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Man Utd set Antony asking priceReal Betis displays helping their causeWant to offload 10 players in the summerFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

According to the I paper, United are 'confident' they can sell Antony for £40 million ($51.7m) this summer after impressing on loan at Real Betis. The Brazilian has four goals and as many assists in 12 appearances and that has led to links that Atletico Madrid and Serie A teams are interested in signing him.

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Antony will go down as one of United's worst-ever signings but if they can recoup nearly half of £82m ($102m) they forked out for him in 2022, that may be more palatable to the club. Incidentally, the report adds he could be one of 10 players the Red Devils try to shift on at the end of the season in order to raise the funds head coach Ruben Amorim needs to overhaul his squad.

DID YOU KNOW?

The report adds that United are going to need to earn more than £100m ($129.4m) in player sales to give Amorim the tools he needs to drive lasting change at the Premier League giants.

Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT?

United will hope Antony, who scored just 12 goals and notched five assists for the Red Devils in 96 games, can continue his strong form and start a bidding war for his services in the summer transfer window.

Should Rohit miss the Test, Jasprit Bumrah will captain the team for the first time

Nagraj Gollapudi29-Jun-20224:04

Rohit has not yet been ruled out – Dravid

India captain Rohit Sharma is battling against the deadline to be available for the Edgbaston Test against England after testing positive for Covid-19 once again on Wednesday morning. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Rohit will undergo two further tests – one this evening and another on Thursday – before the Indian team management takes a final decision on his availability for the Test, which starts on Friday. Should Rohit miss the Test, Jasprit Bumrah will captain the side.Rohit, who tested positive on the second day of the warm-up match in Leicester last week, has been serving the five-day isolation as recommended by the UK government. Today was the fifth day, but Rohit was absent from India’s training session.”Rohit is being monitored by our medical team, he is not yet been ruled out,” head coach Rahul Dravid said. “Obviously, he needs to get the negative test to be available. So we will keep monitoring that, we’ve still got close to 36 hours to go. He will have a test later tonight and maybe one tomorrow morning as well. And then we’ll see.”Obviously, he’ll have to come out of that, and it’s really up to the medical team and sports science team to decide on that. We haven’t had a chance to see him, since he is in isolation. But we will keep monitoring the situation.”While there has been no official update from the BCCI on who will lead India in case Rohit doesn’t play in the Test, it is understood that Bumrah will take up the role. India didn’t nominate a vice-captain after KL Rahul, who was named Rohit’s deputy when the squad was picked in May, was ruled out having picked up a groin injury earlier this month.Bumrah was the vice-captain during India’s previous Test series, against Sri Lanka at home. He incidentally has never led in any form of cricket, so this will be his maiden captaincy stint. He will also become the first fast bowler to captain India since Kapil Dev.Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Sri Lanka series, Bumrah had said he would never “shy away” if he was given the opportunity to lead India. “If given an opportunity at any scenario, it would be an honour and I would never ever shy away from that, but it is something that I don’t go looking for,” Bumrah had said. Despite the lack of captaincy experience, Bumrah had said he remained confident of performing the leadership duties as he had grown in his role as a strike bowler both for India and at Mumbai Indians in the IPL.”Whatever role is asked of me, I would do it with the best ability. You are always a leader when you are a senior member of the team, so it’s just a post that comes with you. Basically, you try to help all the people in whatever capacity you can. Even in Mumbai Indians, you have got a lot of senior players but now I am one of the senior players as well, so you help the captain, you help everyone, you play the leadership role even when you are not asked to.”That’s how I look at it. I never want to [be the captain] just for personal satisfaction. It’s just a post, it’s just a name, you have to do your job and you have to help people in the best way you can.”‘We have got contingency plans’ – Dravid on captaincy scenario
If Bumrah walks out for the toss on Friday, he will be the eighth man to lead India since 2021. While Dravid agreed that is not the desired scenario, he felt that the coaching staff and players were well-equipped to handle that challenge.”It is what it is,” Dravid said. “When I took the job even I wouldn’t have predicted that there would have so many captains in the last six-seven months. That happens, right? In the times that we are living in, with Covid, there have been some unfortunate injuries to people. Even here, it is quite unfortunate what has happened to Rahul and Rohit in the last three weeks for us. And sometimes we’ve had to balance out the workloads of people. So it happens.”Of course, it is not something you envisage when you first start off, but if a situation arises then you react to that, you deal with that. And in spite of the number of captains we have had, we have played very good cricket over the last six to eight months. Yes, obviously the South Africa Test series was probably the one I would have liked to have won after going one-up. But even there I thought we were not outplayed, we were very close in a lot of those games. We had a few unfortunate injuries and some of our main players were probably not available for that Test series.”We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that we don’t have to deal with these situations, but they seem to come up and we have to react. We are not fazed by it. We are clear about our communication with people. We know what is going to happen over the next few days. If something happens, we have got contingency plans and, within our group, within our team, we know what’s happening. That’s really important for us.”

Newcastle United will travel to Manchester United later on today full to the brim with confidence, whilst the hosts will fear another defeat is on the cards after a torrid away outing to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Boxing Day.

The Magpies celebrated a comfortable 3-0 win over Aston Villa on the contrary, with another potential three points against an out-of-sorts Red Devils side meaning Eddie Howe’s men would have been victorious four times on spin in the Premier League.

There have been plenty of impressive performers for Newcastle over recent matches, with the attacking personnel, in particular, standing out as the Toon continue to be a captivating watch on their A-Game.

Standout Newcastle attackers

Of course, a logical place to start when discussing exceptional attackers for Howe’s side is Alexander Isak, as the deadly Swede has been in inspired form lately for his high-flying outfit.

He would even score a hat-trick against Ipswich Town when Newcastle dispatched the Tractor Boys with ease in a 4-0 win, whilst also getting in on the goalscoring act versus Villa last time out to extend his rampant team’s lead.

That simple tap-in finish against Unai Emery’s opponents has shot Isak’s Premier League goal tally for the season up to 11, with Jacob Murphy also loving life next to the clinical Scandinavian down the right wing.

Murphy has been a revelation in December for the Magpies, with a stunning three goals and four assists picked up this month more than helping his side pick up win after win across a congested run of fixtures.

But, in Anthony Gordon, Newcastle have one of their most daring players in the attacking positions away from both on-fire names mentioned, and a face Ruben Amorim wouldn’t say no to if he could add him to his low-on-confidence Red Devils group.

He would likely barge his way straight into the main XI based on Man United’s ongoing woes, with the ex-Everton attacker hopeful he can cause havoc at Old Trafford later on.

Gordon's heroics for Newcastle

Gordon would get his team up and running against the Villans last match with this sublime curled effort which took his own goal haul in the Premier League for this season to four strikes from 17 games.

Also helping himself to three assists, it’s no shock to see football pundit Troy Deeney label the electric winger as a “wonderful” asset to Newcastle recently, alongside also being a star that has bettered many a Man United player this campaign in terms of end product.

Player

Games played

Goals scored

Assists

Gordon

17

4

3

Amad Diallo

16

2

6

Alejandro Garnacho

17

3

1

Bruno Fernandes

18

4

5

Joshua Zirkzee

18

3

1

Marcus Rashford

15

4

1

Rasmus Hojlund

13

2

0

Stats by Sofascore

Only Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo can boast more goals and assists in league action than Gordon in the Man United attacking ranks, with both Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho – who mainly operate on his same trusty left-hand side – struggling to keep up with the Newcastle ace’s numbers away from others impressing.

Gordon will hope his rich vein of form against sides from Manchester continues into this away trip to the Theatre of Dreams, having netted a late penalty versus Manchester City earlier in the campaign to secure a share of the spoils for his side, alongside also boasting three career strikes in total against the Red Devils.

He will surely be confident he can bump that number up to four by the close of the Monday night contest as Man United’s lax defending once again becomes their own undoing.

Newcastle supporters won’t want to get too carried away, but with the attacking arsenal Howe can put out, any defence in the Premier League right now would be scared.

PSG now make Newcastle star their priority target; £83m move possible

One of Eddie Howe’s key players could be on the move…

2 ByDominic Lund Dec 29, 2024