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According to The Mail Online, Crystal Palace are interested in signing Everton’s James McCarthy on loan before the end of the transfer window. 

The article also explains that Palace manager Roy Hodgson is keen to add reinforcements in the midfield at Selhurst Park, and the Republic of Ireland international seems like a great option given how out of favour he is at Goodison Park this season under Marco Silva.

McCarthy is yet to play a game for The Toffees in the Premier League this season, and would surely be keen on a move away to help his career. Moreover, Crystal Palace would be the perfect place to do this.

The Eagles’ midfield currently comprises of Luka Milivojević, Cheikhou Kouyaté and James McArthur. While the Serbian’s place seems guaranteed under Hodgson, McCarthy has a great chance to fight for one of the other two spots.

Why this would be such a good move is that Crystal Palace are currently in a worse position than Everton, so are more likely to play than the 28-year-old, but are not playing that badly. The Eagles have already beaten Man City this season in the league, pushed Liverpool all the way and recently beat Tottenham in the FA Cup. He would not be joining a horror-show of a club, and could, therefore, impress his parent club. Their performance against Spurs also showed that they are defensively resolute, meaning McCarthy has a great platform to impress.

This is a move that must happen if McCarthy does not want to waste his career.

Sunderland play host to Ipswich Town on Saturday at the Stadium of Light as they attempt to end a run of three straight defeats in League One.

It was recently reported that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is unhappy with the club’s management at this current juncture and the pressure is mounting on Lee Johnson to turn things around in the coming matches.

Their last performance did little to help matters as they lost on penalties to Bradford after a 1-1 draw in normal time in the EFL Trophy. They were also dumped out of the FA Cup at home to Mansfield for the second season in a row at the start of the month.

How many changes will Johnson make to the team? Here is our predicted XI…

We are predicting that he will make seven alterations to the side from the Bradford game, with Carl Winchester, Dennis Cirkin, Tom Flanagan, Callum Doyle, Aiden McGeady, Dan Neil and Ross Stewart all coming in.

Hoffmann could keep his place between the sticks, but we are predicting an entirely new back four to the one which faced Bradford. Flanagan and Doyle missed out due to international duty, with the pair now available to return, whilst Winchester and Cirkin could come in for Lynden Gooch and Kenton Richardson.

We recently published an article explaining why Gooch has let Johnson down this season and that is part of the reason why he should be axed from the side, along with him playing out of position at left-back. Meanwhile, Richardson did not do enough against Bradford to warrant another start, as he lost possession a whopping 27 times that night.

In midfield, Dan Neil could come in for Harrison Sohna. The youngster received a SofaScore rating of 6.6 as he won two of his four duels in the match against the Bantams, whilst Neil has averaged a rating of 6.86 in League One this season and chipped in with one goal and five assists.

Finally, Stewart and McGeady could replace Leon Dajaku and Elliot Embleton, with Nathan Broadhead being moved into a wide right position following his goal against Bradford.

Stewart has 10 goals in 15 League One matches this season and has shown that he has the ability to be a match-winner for the Black Cats, which is why he could be relied upon from the start at centre-forward. McGeady has two goals and four assists in 12 league appearances and has averaged a superb rating of 7.11, making a strong argument for his place in the team today.

AND in other news, Possession lost 135x: Sunderland lightweight with zero goals has let Johnson down badly…

There is no doubt that West Brom and Valerien Ismael will be looking to add quality to their team in the January transfer window, as they endeavour on a battle in the second half of the season to climb into one of the automatic promotion spots.

Although Albion are maintaining their ability to dominate inside the Championship as they currently sit fourth in the table, their lack of goals and poor finishing is costing them valuable points and catching up on them in the league table.

They go into their game on Saturday having not won in their last four fixtures, scoring once almost a month ago against Middlesbrough.

This lack of firepower has added huge speculation surrounding West Brom, the January transfer window and which forwards they could attract to join the club and save their season before they fall any further.

What’s the word?

According to the Daily Mail, Jamie Paterson has now had his name thrown into the mix of strikers, wingers and forwards on the Baggies’ list of potential signings.

Paterson has also only signed a one year contract with Swansea this season, so West Brom could also get the player at a cut price in the January transfer window, which will surely only add to the attraction to snap up the forward.

Saving their season

The 29-year-old is currently at Swansea, after moving to the Welsh side from Bristol City and has been performing impressively in his time with the team, scoring eight goals and registering four assists in 20 appearances so far this season.

Because of that, he’s earned rave reviews, particularly from a former teammate in Lloyd Kelly who said:

“He’s got the quality of a top player.”

“And obviously the form that he’s in at the moment is good for him.”

Paterson is definitely proving he has the ability to finish and also assist his teammates with his current 12 involvements making him an ideal fit for West Brom due to their current goal drought and complete lack of finishing. For example, they’ve had a shocking 61 shots and 0 goals in their last three games.

Consequently, the striker could definitely be somebody who saves their season and pushes them towards promotion.

It isn’t certain what the exact plans are for West Brom going forward, and if they will add players to their squad in the upcoming transfer window at all remains to be seen. However, Ismael will have to inject something into Albion, to get the side back into contention for promotion.

West Brom face sixth-placed Coventry City at the weekend and will be desperate to take three points from the game, as a loss could see them fall further down the Championship table to as low as seventh.

In other news: Valerien Ismael could be sacked before Christmas

West Ham United are currently in the middle of a quite wonderful season.

A trophy might not be on the horizon for David Moyes’ side but they have made enormous progression under the Scot who has steered them to a top-five position.

A defeat to Arsenal ensured they slipped out of the top four over Christmas but judging by the club’s wretched injury crisis, they have done well to even remain in the conversation for Champions League football.

The Hammers are currently without the likes Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna while Aaron Cresswell has had his issues too.

The left-back’s absence from the Irons squad has opened up a space in the team that Arthur Masuaku has grasped with both hands, at least until now.

He scored a fluke goal against Chelsea a few weeks back but on Thursday night vs Spurs, demonstrated why he’s such an expendable asset for Moyes.

During that context, Masuaku struggled significantly, so much so that he was described as “terrible” by one Irons analysis account on social media.

Indeed, it’s simple to see why that’s the case as the raw stats don’t paint him in a very pleasing light.

As the Hammers crashed out of the Carabao Cup to Antonio Conte’s team, it was Masuaku who let them down during the 2-1 loss to Tottenham.

Clashes between these two sides should be a meaningful derby but it was understandable that as we drove closer to Christmas, the match was going to have less riding on it than normal.

Despite that, Masuaku very much showed that if a certain Santa Claus was a West Ham fan, very few presents would be coming his way.

During the contest, the full-back was extremely poor in possession, surrendering the ball on no fewer than 23 occasions.

Someone with his offensive threat will always lose the ball more often but it was a concern that he performed very few positive actions in the game, completing just 50% of his dribbles and failing with an enormous eight crosses – a failure rate of 88.9%.

Furthermore, Masuaku was only successful in winning 2/5 of his aerial contests.

All of that saw the defender somehow still earn a respectable SofaScore rating of 7.1, worse than Nikola Vlasic whose uninspiring time at the London Stadium was summed up this week.

He claimed an assist for Jarrod Bowen’s strike but that came from the attacker’s scuffed shot, rather than trying anything productive for his teammates.

As such, it would be a wise idea for Moyes and his coaching staff to not only axe Vlasic from the team, but immediately jettison the club’s stand-in left-back too.

Cresswell cannot return soon enough.

AND in other news, ExWHUemployee drops big injury update that will have West Ham fans buzzing…

Many Everton fans have been left buzzing over some manager news involving Jose Mourinho.

As per Italian football journalist and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, the former Tottenham Hotspur manager will not leave Roma this season, and the vacant job at Goodison Park is currently ‘not in his plans’.

Sky Sports broke on Tuesday evening that Mourinho was ‘under consideration’ to become the next permanent boss on Merseyside following the departure of Rafa Benitez, with Duncan Ferguson only in temporary charge for now.

However, it looks as if it is very unlikely that he would take the job with the Toffees given his desire to stay at Roma, meaning that the board will now have to look at other candidates.

Of course, Mourinho has succeeded in English football, winning the Premier League title no fewer than three times with Chelsea, but he is arguably not the manager he once was, having left both Spurs and Manchester United midway through campaigns while outside of the UEFA Champions League places.

Blues supporters may not like his pragmatic style of play either, and so it is no surprise to see them feeling as if they have dodged a bullet.

Everton fans on Mourinho manager news

These Evertonians buzzed as the manager news was shared on Twitter:

“Fantastic”

Credit: @EvertoniaMatt

“Best news I’ve heard. Now tell me Lampard got lost on the M25 driving up to his ‘interview'”

Credit: @Tw1ttr1

“Happy days”

Credit: @Pablo_Beezo

“Thank heavens for that.”

Credit: @owendeasha

“Panic over”

Credit: @Day89

“Siuuuuuu”

Credit: @blue_toffees

In other news, find out what other manager update has EFC fans buzzing here!

Celtic are willing to let Vasilis Barkas leave Parkhead either on a temporary or permanent basis in the January transfer window.

What’s the latest?

That’s according to a claim made by Anthony Joseph, with the Sky Sports journalist revealing in a post on Twitter that, following his exclusion from Ange Postecoglou’s matchday squad against Real Betis on Thursday evening, the 27-year-old goalkeeper does not appear to have a future in Glasgow.

Joseph went on to state that, in order for the club to give themselves the best possible chance of getting the Greece international off of their books this winter, they will be open to sanctioning a loan or permanent deal for the shot-stopper.

In his tweet, the journalist said: “I think it’s fair to say Celtic will also be open to a loan or permanent move for Vasilis Barkas next month – not in the squad [against Betis], suggests he’s no longer in the first-team plans.”

Fans will be delighted

Considering just how poor Barkas has been since making a £5m move to Parkhead back in the summer of 2020, reports that the club are hoping to part ways with the goalkeeper this January is sure to have left Celtic fans delighted.

Indeed, over his 15 Premiership appearances last season, the £2.52m-rated ‘keeper conceded an average of 0.7 goals and made just one save per game. These returns saw the 27-year-old earn a disappointing seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.79, ranking him as the Bhoys’ ninth-worst performer in the league.

This season, the ‘keeper has found his game-time even more limited, making just one first team appearance since Postecoglou’s appointment at the club in the summer – and that was way back in July.

As such, considering that Barkas is reported to be earning a whopping £20k-per-week at Parkhead, the club simply must do all they can to rid themselves of the goalkeeper in January. While the Hoops will more than likely make a substantial loss in selling him, his hefty weekly wage could easily be put to much better use by Postecoglou in the winter market.

In other news – “Heard similar rumours…”: Devlin drops behind-the-scenes Celtic claim which fans will love

A major update has emerged on Frank Lampard, regarding a potential move to Rangers to take over at Ibrox.

What’s the talk?

According to Record Sport, the Gers held talks with the 43-year-old over a potential deal and have now settled on a short-list of three candidates, which does not feature his name.

The report claims that the discussions with Lampard were brief, whilst he also reportedly spoke with Norwich prior to their appointment of Dean Smith earlier this week.

Delighted

It had recently been reported that Rangers were not looking at Lampard at all, but this update reveals that the club were considering a deal for him at one point and went as far as holding talks with the ex-Derby County head coach since Steven Gerrard’s departure.

Gers fans will be delighted that Ross Wilson ultimately made the decision not to progress the talks further, as he could have been a poor appointment by the club. Wilson made a big call to axe Lampard from the running and is now eyeing three other candidates and that could benefit them in the long run, as the 43-year-old’s C.V is unimpressive.

He finished sixth in the Championship in his first season with Derby, despite xG suggesting they should have finished 18th. Lampard was then handed the Chelsea job and finished fourth in his debut campaign before being sacked 19 Premier League games into the next term.

Following his exit from Stamford Bridge, Italian midfielder Jorginho provided a damning assessment on why he failed in the role. He said:

“Look, I’ll be really sincere here on Lampard. I believe, given he was a legend at the club, he skipped some steps necessary for learning before moving to a big club.

“He came to a club where he is a legend, without having experience at other clubs. I think he came too soon, skipped a few steps ahead and wasn’t ready for a job at this level, to be honest.”

This provides an insight from a player who worked under Lampard for 18 months and shows why fans will be delighted that Wilson has opted against bringing him to Ibrox. He has not won a single trophy as a manager and his dismal xG statistics at Derby, followed by his sacking at Chelsea, suggest that he has had an underwhelming coaching career to date.

Therefore, Rangers fans will be happy that he will not be coming to Glasgow to potentially fail in a third job, with Wilson now looking at other candidates.

AND in other news, Time’s up: GVB could become an instant hit at Rangers by axing £1.8m-rated dud…

Aston Villa are in advanced talks with Everton over the signing of left-back Lucas Digne, according to a report by The Athletic.

The Lowdown: Digne fallout with Benitez

The France international’s future has come under scrutiny this season following Everton’s poor run of form, which currently sees them sitting down in 15th position in the Premier League table.

Last month, it was reported that the full-back has publicly fallen out with Rafael Benitez, with the manager confirming that Digne has asked to leave the club. As a result, the Frenchman has not played a single minute of football since the Merseyside derby defeat on December 1.

The Latest: Villa in talks with Everton

According to a report by The Athletic, Aston Villa are in advanced talks with Everton over the signing of Digne.

Steven Gerrard had identified the former Barcelona man as his top target, with Villa keen on bolstering their options at full-back.  It is reported that the 28-year-old is seeking a move to a club already playing European football, or one with a serious chance of doing so next season.

Due to the recent arrival of former Premier League superstar Philippe Coutinho, Villa are confident that their exciting new project has convinced Digne to proceed with the move.

Previous interest from relegation-threatened Newcastle United was rejected by the left-back, with Chelsea also considering a swoop for the player following Ben Chilwell’s season-ending injury. However, Thomas Tuchel’s side only wanted a loan move, whereas Everton are more keen for a permanent deal to be done.

The Verdict: Big blow for Everton

The Frenchman has established himself as one of the best left-backs in the Premier League since his arrival at Everton, with his strong crossing ability often paying dividends for the Toffees, as demonstrated by his haul of 18 league assists on Merseyside.

Having slipped down the international pecking order, Digne will likely be glad to seal his exit from Goodison Park, as he will be desperate for regular first team football ahead of the 2022 World Cup in a bid to regain his left-back spot in the France side from Theo Hernandez.

His impending departure will be a sad sight for Everton fans, as the left-back solidified himself as a fan favourite during his time at the club. Also, former Toffees manager Carlo Ancelotti once described the 28-year-old as ‘one of the best in Europe’, so don’t be surprise if you see Blues supporters in dismay if Digne secures a move to Aston Villa.

In other news: Everton now prioritising ‘exceptional’ £9m-rated beast as third January signing

Tottenham Hotspur are gaining momentum in the race to finish in the top four of the Premier League this season, and Antonio Conte will no doubt fancy his team’s chances of doing so.

The north Londoners take on Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday evening, and while the Italian may be reluctant to make too many changes, if indeed any, he may consider bringing in Sergio Reguilon to offer a more natural balance on the left-hand side.

The Spaniard’s absence saw Matt Doherty operate on that flank in the 5-1 win over Newcastle United last week, with Emerson Royal playing on the right as the duo both ended up on the scoresheet in a comprehensive performance.

However, Conte offered a very encouraging update on Reguilon ahead of Spurs’ game against Villa on Saturday.

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Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the 52-year-old said: “No new injuries, two good news because Ryan Sessegnon and Sergio Reguilon they had the training session with us.”

The Spaniard had been a permanent fixture in Tottenham’s line-up for the majority of the Premier League season, playing 23 matches in the top flight, scoring two goals and providing three assists in that time, even coming off the bench to find the net against Everton recently.

The 25-year-old’s ability to get forward is something that Conte has actively encouraged, with the left-back talking about the kind of job that the Spurs boss wants him to do.

Reguilon said: “I’ve never played five at the back before. I have to learn quickly. The gaffer has told me he wants me to be solid in defence but at the same moment I have to arrive in the box, help the strikers, score goals, give assists. Now I have more of a chance to score goals and give assists. So let’s work.”

Hailed as a “complete player” by his former Sevilla boss Julen Lopetegui, the Spaniard’s return could leave Villa’s defence terrified, particularly with his pace to get in behind. Steven Gerrard’s side are in a bad run of form lately with three defeats on the spin, and they won’t fancy coming up against a speedster like Reguilon who is constantly trying to maraud forward.

Restoring the £80k-per-week earner to the Spurs starting XI could be an inspired change by Conte this weekend.

AND in other news: Conte can form “dangerous” duo as Spurs plot bids for £156m pair who “really get along”

Everton are experiencing one of their worst ever seasons in the Premier League, currently battling relegation and suffering numerous injuries throughout the season, and now it could be the final straw for one of the players as speculation builds on an exit this summer for one of the fan favourites.

What’s the word?

Transfer insider and journalist Dean Jones has revealed that Richarlison could be set for a move to the south, with rumours circulating about a potential move to the Emirates to join Mikel Arteta’s side this summer.

Jones told GIVEMESPORT;

“I know that Richarlison is one player being pushed in their direction at the moment and I know that is one that has probably got legs.”

Lampard will be furious

Everton have a serious challenge ahead of them in terms of securing their safety in the Premier League next season in the remaining games of 2021/22, and the constant media distractions surrounding key player’s futures in the team will surely leave Frank Lampard furious as he attempts to keep the focus of the team on finishing the season with top-flight football confirmed.

Richarlison has become an important player for the Toffees since he joined back in 2018 and the Brazilian has gone from strength to strength, which has clearly now been recognised by some of the biggest clubs in the country, with Manchester United also reportedly interested in the goal machine.

The 24-year-old has scored 47 goals and delivered 12 assists in his time at Goodison Park, with a goal involvement in every 2.4 of his 142 appearances, becoming one of the most prolific threats at the club thanks to his attacking partnership with Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Thus, losing him this summer could be an absolute nightmare for Lampard.

On the other hand, Everton are in desperate need to start recouping the huge amounts of money that Farhad Moshiri has been recklessly spending over the last six years. The club has recorded the highest financial loss out of all Premier League clubs over the last three years (£372.6m) according to new data reported by chief sports writer for The Times, Martyn Zeigler.

Selling Richarlison for a good profit could be one of the best opportunities the club has to get back on track amid financial troubles. It would undoubtedly be considered an option for the powers at Everton ahead of the summer and will be even more likely if they lose their Premier League status next season.

In other news: Lampard may have found Everton’s new Rooney in “top quality” £7.2m-rated “boy wonder”