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Liverpool fans love Mo Salah goal footage

Plenty of Liverpool supporters have been reacting to a video clip of Reds supporters celebrating Mohamed Salah’s incredible goal against Watford, which left some Kopites “in awe” of his brilliance.

Jurgen Klopp’s men were imperious on Saturday afternoon, destroying the Hornets at Vicarage Road and romping to a 5-0 victory. Roberto Firmino scored a hat-trick on the day and Sadio Mane also found the net, but the occasion once again belonged to Salah.

The 29-year-old registered a sublime assist for Mane’s goal before scoring a sensational solo effort in the second half, weaving in and out of tackles and firing into the net.

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It was the latest iconic Salah moment following on from his sublime strike against Manchester City a fortnight ago, and on Monday, Liverpool’s official Twitter account posted footage of Reds fans reacting to the goal in the away end.

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Liverpool fans love Salah goal footage

These Liverpool supporters took to Twitter to show their love for the video, as Salah continues to cement his reputation as arguably the best player in the world at the moment.

“What a video!!!!!”

Credit: @nevjamo

“Absolutely beautiful”

Credit: @aadel81

“Love this!”

Credit: @rab08lfc

“It was a joy to be a part of this, what a goal!”

Credit: @tedthered77

“In awe of Mo’s magic. Never ever forget this, Reds!”

Credit: @Eddie_250

“That second gasp! Then the release…pure joy!”

Credit: @dogdaddy_

In other news, some Liverpool fans are unhappy over one Reds injury update. Read more here.

Parish made a blunder over Benteke transfer

It’s not often Crystal Palace splash out on big-money signings, but when they have done in the past, it’s often been with rather underwhelming results.

According to Transfermarkt, the Eagles have only gone over the £25 million mark for a player on two occasions, with Liverpool benefitting from their at-best average recruitment on both occasions.

The first time that Palace’s chairman Steve Parish spent such a sum was on Christian Benteke after Jurgen Klopp immediately decided the Belgium international had no future under him at Anfield.

After scoring a highly respected total of 49 goals in 101 appearances during a three-year spell with Aston Villa, Benteke’s arrival at Selhurst Park was deemed a smart move at the time.

He had just endured a difficult season at Liverpool in 2015/16 where he started just 14 Premier League fixtures, but a healthy goal return of 10 strikes in all competitions indicated he was still capable of performing at the highest level.

That led to Parish stumping up a club-record £28m to prize Benteke away from Merseyside, yet the capital club have been left rather short-changed by the now 30-year-old’s returns.

In 151 outings for Palace, the target man has found the back of the net on just 33 occasions, highlighting his struggles since leaving Villa Park six years ago.

Benteke’s drastic drop-off in form has seen his market value drop to just £8.1m despite him still being in his prime years, something which may be a significant concern to the club’s hierarchy.

The £120,00o-per-week flop now has serious competition for his place following the arrival of fellow striker Odsonne Edouard, and the Frenchman’s brace last time out should consign Benteke to the bench for the foreseeable future.

And, in other news…Parish made big Palace mistake over £6.3m-rated wizard, he’s excelling this season 

Man City predicted XI to face Chelsea

Manchester City travel to Stamford Bridge today as they attempt to return to winning ways in the Premier League against Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea.

The Cityzens were held to a 0-0 draw by Southampton last weekend and Pep Guardiola could be looking for a strong response from his team against the Blues.

City beat Wycombe 6-1 in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night with a side consisting of numerous academy graduates, along with the likes of Phil Foden and Kevin de Bruyne.

How many changes will Pep make? Here is our predicted XI…

We are predicting that there will be seven changes to the side from midweek, with Ederson, Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Rodri and Jack Grealish all coming in.

In the defence, Ederson, Walker, Dias and Cancelo could all return to the team after watching on as City beat Wycombe. We also believe that Laporte will be reinstated to the starting XI after missing the last few games with a knock, taking Nathan Ake’s place at centre-back from the last Premier League match.

Laporte has played three league matches this season and averaged a sublime SofaScore rating of 7.57, with City conceding zero goals in those games. The Spaniard could be reintroduced against Chelsea to improve the visitors’ chances of stifling Romelu Lukaku.

Guardiola could stick with Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden after they managed two goals and two assists between them on Tuesday night. Rodri’s potential return to fitness could also see him move into the holding midfield role and be picked ahead of Fernandinho and Romeo Lavia, with the latter having played the full 90 minutes against Wycombe in midweek.

Finally, in attack we are predicting that Grealish will take up a position on the left wing ahead of Sterling. Ferran Torres and Riyad Mahrez managed three goals between them against Wycombe and could comprise two of the front three, whilst the summer signing from Aston Villa has started every league match this term and we do not believe that will change this weekend.

Sterling has one goal and zero assists in five Premier League matches this season and his lack of form in the top flight is why we are predicting that Guardiola will axe him from the starting line-up. He may instead be offered a chance to come off the bench and win his place back.

In other news: Man City wizard with seven key passes and 90 touches must have caught Pep’s eye against Wycombe

Celtic: Hoops monitoring Kerr Smith

Celtic, along with the likes of Crystal Palace and Leicester City, are monitoring Dundee United defender Kerr Smith, according to The Scottish Sun.

The Lowdown: Smith profiled

Smith is just 16 years of age and is under contract with his current employers for a further two years.

He’s made seven senior appearances for The Tangerines, two of which have come this season – he has been described as ‘fantastic’ by teammate Mark Connolly.

The Scot actually spent a week with Manchester United last year on trial, and it seems as if he could be on the move for good before the end of the month.

The Latest: Monday report

The Scottish Sun shared a story regarding Kerr on Monday lunchtime.

Within their report, they labelled Southampton as the frontrunners for the Scot and claimed that Celtic, Palace, Leeds and Leicester are all tracking the defender.

It seems as if the Hoops are weighing up a potential late swoop for Smith, even though they are also closing in on Shamrock Rovers defender Liam Scales in a deal worth £500,000.

The Scottish Sun are expecting the Dundee United board to move Smith on over the next six days.

The Verdict: Hjelde replacement?

Celtic look set to lose a young centre-back to Leeds in Leo Hjelde, so perhaps Smith could come in to replace the Norwegian going forward.

Smith is regarded as one of Scotland’s best young talents, so down the line, winning the race for the 16-year-old could turn out to be a real coup.

It seems as if Celtic will have to beat a number of Premier League clubs to his services, though, so it could be a big ask in the final days of the window.

In other news: ‘Great chance’ – 34 y/o feels £988k-p/y ace will be a Celtic player on Sep 1 after Romano claim. 

Newcastle offered Mariano Diaz

An update has emerged on Real Madrid attacker Mariano Diaz and it involves Newcastle United.

What’s the talk?

According to Jeunes Footeux, via TeamTalk, Real Madrid have offered Newcastle the chance to sign Mariano Diaz this summer.

The Magpies are said to be weighing up a swoop for the attacker, who has fallen out of favour at the Spanish club and as such, is now seeking a new club.

Imagine him and Wilson

Newcastle boss Steve Bruce must seal a deal for the forward this summer and take up the opportunity Real are giving them.

Goals were hard to come by in the Premier League last season and bringing in extra firepower could help to alleviate that particular issue.

Out of the players currently in the squad, Callum Wilson is the only one who managed more than four goals in the league. The ex-Bournemouth star was terrific as he plundered 12, with Joelinton’s four the next-highest after loanee Joe Willock’s eight, but the Arsenal man remains at The Emirates, for now at least.

Bruce lined up with a 4-4-2 on occasions last term with Joelinton and Wilson as a front two. However, four goals in 31 appearances (23 starts) is not an impressive return from the former.

This is why Mariano could come in and take his place in the side. Lyon assistant boss Gerald Baticle once labelled him as a real goalscorer, claiming that his first intention is always to shoot.

He told EuroSport, via GOAL:

“He’s a real goalscorer.”

“When others might want to make a pass, his first idea is to find an angle to shoot towards goal. All his play is in the centre towards goal.

“Of course, with his first touch, he has to raise his head more often to take in more information and make better choices. But in individual raids, he’s good because he’s capable of piercing the lines.”

His game time has been extremely limited at Real Madrid in recent seasons, but his goal-to-start ratio is excellent with six goals in nine starts across La Liga and the Champions League.

In his last season of playing regular football, he scored 18 goals in 30 Ligue 1 starts for Lyon, averaging a terrific WhoScored rating of 7.15.

This suggests that he could have the potential to arrive at St. James’ Park and score goals in the Premier League, as he has shown he can do it in Ligue 1 – another top league in Europe. It is difficult to say he is proven in La Liga and the Champions League, as the evidence is sparse, but the signs are there that he could have scored more goals if he had been given more chances from the start.

Therefore, bringing in Diaz could complete Newcastle’s attack and hand Wilson a competent partner at the top end of the pitch.

The Real Madrid man will just need to show that he can rediscover his Lyon form because his statistics for the French side dwarf anything Joelinton has been able to do in England.

AND in other news, Telegraph drop update on “terrific” £22m gem, that will leave NUFC fans on cloud nine…

Ashley Preece drops Villa update on Douglas Luiz

The Birmingham Mail’s Ashley Preece has dropped an Aston Villa update on Douglas Luiz that will be of major relief to Dean Smith.

What’s the story?

The midfielder was unavailable for Villa’s opening day defeat to Watford in the Premier League, with the manager confirming his absence ahead of the game.

He said: “Douglas will be coming back in on Monday, hopefully with his gold medal around his neck and he’ll get a good welcome from everybody. I’ve been really pleased with what he’s done at the Olympics and I’m proud of him.”

Now, Preece has delivered a major boost to Villa by confirming that Luiz has not been called up to the Brazil senior squad for next month’s international games, thus giving him a chance to rest a little longer.

He said: “Good news for #avfc: Douglas Luiz has been given some much-needed respite knowing Brazil coach Tite has left him out of next month’s WC qualifiers with Chile, Argentina & Peru. Brazil’s 25-man squad does feature as many as 6 fellow gold medal winners from Tokyo, incl Richarlison.”

Dean Smith will be buzzing

After his exploits with Brazil over the summer led to his country winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, it was always going to be the case that Luiz would struggle to make it back in time for the first game of the Premier League season.

Having played 33 out of the possible 38 Premier League games last term, Luiz was a cornerstone of a Villa midfield that saw them finish just outside of the top ten.

Seeing him then head to the Olympics and another summer of action would’ve left Smith anxious about the kind of toll that would put on Luiz’s body – that’s not to mention the fact he would miss pre-season and spend the first couple of weeks back just getting back up to fitness and potentially missing a few games too.

This extra rest gives the Brazilian some much-needed time to recuperate and recharge his batteries, and almost become his own version of pre-season, staying behind at Villa Park and no doubt doing some extra fitness work with the coaches.

Preece’s latest update is sure to have Smith buzzing.

Meanwhile, Gregg Evans has dropped an Aston Villa transfer update…

Evans let Adams down against Lincoln

Bradford suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time this season as they lost 3-0 to Lincoln in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday night.

This followed on from their 2-0 defeat to Leyton Orient in League Two at the weekend, which was their first loss of the league campaign.

Derek Adams’ team kicked off their League Two season with three wins and a draw in their first four matches, but have now lost two on the spin in all competitions.

Tom Hopper and Hakeeb Adelakun put Lincoln 2-0 up heading into half-time and Anthony Scully rounded off the scoring in the 49th minute with their third. Bradford were torn apart and had several underperforming players, but one – in particular – let Adams down with his performance – Gareth Evans.

The experienced midfielder has been there and done it in League Two and League One, but his vast pedigree at this level did not come through in his performance against Lincoln. He has 135 League One appearances and 366 in League Two under his belt throughout his career, but he was unable to showcase his class against the third-tier outfit.

Per SofaScore, Evans had the lowest rating out of all the outfield players for Bradford at 5.9. This suggests that, despite his experience, he was the worst outfield player on the pitch for the Bantams.

Defensively, the midfielder struggled badly. He lost a whopping 75% of his duels on the pitch, losing six of his eight battles with the opposition. He also failed to complete a single tackle, clearance, interception or block, which shows that he was not getting stuck in to help his side out, giving Lincoln an easy ride of things as they won the match comfortably.

Offensively, he had next to no impact. Per SofaScore, Evans created zero chances for his teammates from the attacking midfield position and lost possession of the ball 12 times. He also attempted three shots, with two being blocked and the other being off-target, with his one crossing attempt also failing to find a teammate.

Evans was basically a passenger in defence and attack, contributing to Bradford’s disappointing defeat at the end of the night.

Adams will surely be feeling let down that a player with Evans’ pedigree and experience of playing against this level of opposition was one of the worst-performing players on the park and he’ll be hoping that he can up his game in his next appearance.

Nottingham Forest dealt James Garner blow

Nottingham Forest have been dealt a blow in their bid to bring James Garner back to The City Ground this summer.

What’s the talk?

According to a report by Football Insider, Manchester United are planning to offer the 20-year-old a new contract at Old Trafford before loaning him out once again for the 2021/22 campaign, with multiple Championship clubs believed to be interested in the England U20 international.

However, The Sun recently reported that, despite Forest’s interest in securing a second loan deal for the midfielder this summer, Garner could actually be heading for a move to Sheffield United, with the Blades’ strong relationship with United mentioned as an important factor in the potential deal.

Hughton will be fuming

Considering just how impressive Garner was for Forest last time out, should Chris Hughton miss out on re-signing the United starlet ahead of the new season, it would undoubtedly leave the 62-year-old fuming.

Indeed, over his 20 Championship appearances last season, the £3.6m-rated man scored four goals, as well as taking an average of 1.6 shots and making 1.1 key passes per game.

The man Fred dubbed an “incredible” player also impressed in more typical metrics for his position, making an average of two tackles, 1.7 interceptions and 1.2 clearances per match.

These returns saw the £16k-per-week midfielder earn an average WhoScored match rating of 6.98, ranking him as Hughton’s best performer in the second tier.

As such, with Hughton hoping to put together a side that is capable of much more than their mediocre Championship finish last season in their upcoming campaign, bringing last term’s best player back to Nottingham this summer would certainly appear to boost the 62-year-old’s chances of doing so.

However, with promotion hopefuls Sheffield United now looking to be leading the race for the youngster, the Forest manager may have to turn his attention regarding midfield additions in the summer transfer window elsewhere – something that would be a gutting outcome for the boss and fans of the Garibaldi alike.

In other news: NFFC dealt blow over £2.25m-rated ace dubbed “one of the best”, Murphy will be fuming

Expert on why Perraud arrival should worry Southampton fans

A French football expert fears Southampton’s first signing of the summer may struggle to adjust to the pace of the Premier League after a dip in form at the end of last season.

Romain Perraud, who has been monitored by Get French Football News features writer Adam White, has joined Saints after penning a four-year contract.

Perraud made 37 appearances for Stade Brest last season and also contributed three goals and seven assists as he added another attacking dimension to the French side.

The former France under-21 international full-back was named in France Football’s Ligue One team of the season and helped Brest to stave off relegation from the top flight by just one point.

However, Brest’s fall towards the dreaded drop coincided with Perraud’s loss of form in the second half of the season.

White feels the 23-year-old needs to improve his consistency levels if he is to make a name for himself in the Premier League.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, he said: “The only worry for Southampton fans is he was pretty average in the second half of the season as Brest dropped towards the relegation zone.

“I really like him as a player but the end to the season is a little bit of a worry.”

Ornstein: Arsenal duo staying this season

Two of Arsenal’s coveted midfielders are expected to remain at the Emirates Stadium this season despite speculation over their futures…

What’s the word?

The Athletic’s David Ornstein relayed a fresh update to supporters after Gunners boss Mikel Arteta played down reports linking Emile Smith Rowe to Aston Villa and Joe Willock with a return to Newcastle United.

“Without a question. Yes. He (Smith Rowe) will stay here. 100 per cent,” claimed the 39-year-old.

“Well, he (Willock) wasn’t involved today because he had a little groin issue. He trained yesterday really well but we didn’t want to risk him. Joe is part of our plans, he’s our player and in the time that he is here, we will try to make the most out of him. He had a great experience on loan. He was, I think one of the most important players for their survival.”

During the off-season so far, Villa have submitted two bids for the Croydon-born playmaker, which have both been rejected by the Arsenal hierarchy, whilst Steve Bruce has been keen to bring Willock back to St James’ Park after scoring eight goals on loan there last season.

Hale End talent

This will come as hugely exciting news for everyone associated with the North London giants.

Smith Rowe is one of Arteta’s most creative and dynamic options in the current squad. He can play on either flank and through the middle, and with no new no.10 signing in sight, he could benefit from further playing time next season.

The £36m-rated dynamo provided four goals and seven assists across all competitions in 2020/21 and topped the charts for key passes per league game (1.4), via WhoScored.

Arteta is clearly a massive fan, having dubbed him “extraordinary” back in January and after scoring in their pre-season opener this week, many fans are demanding that he sign a new contract, as revealed by football.london. They will be buzzing that he’s certainly here to stay in 2021/22.

Similarly, it’s positive news that Willock is in line for more game time and quite understandably too as both Dani Ceballos and Martin Odegaard have returned to Real Madrid, whilst Granit Xhaka is expected to join AS Roma this window.

After bagging eight goals from midfield in a poor Magpies side, the 21-year-old could be an intriguing weapon under the Spanish coach next term.

The presence of Smith Rowe and Willock in Arteta’s first-team is another fantastic sign for the Gunners’ Hale End academy, too.

This latest information, via Ornstein, should have many in N5 absolutely thrilled.

AND in other news, Fabrizio Romano drops exciting Arsenal transfer update…

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