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Liverpool remain interested in West Ham United star Jarrod Bowen, with the club still following his development at the London Stadium this season.

What’s the story?

The Athletic have claimed that, following their summer interest, the Reds have continued to monitor the winger’s progress as they contemplate making a new signing out wide.

He was superb vs Liverpool

During his time at Hull City, Bowen was labelled an “unplayable” attacker by his then-manager Grant McCann, and he lived up to that billing and more with a superb individual display in the 3-2 victory over Liverpool back in November.

He set up two goals on the day as West Ham ended the Reds’ impressive unbeaten run, and his underlying stats were equally impressive.

As per Sofascore, he provided two key passes (the joint-most of any Hammer), while he created two official big chances too – the only player to do so in the game.

That’s not to mention he led the team in the number of crosses he put in, was tied second for successful dribbles, and was fouled the second most of any player too – the kind of exciting display which had Andy Robertson tied up in knots.

The Scotland international finished the game with no shots or crosses whatsoever (the mark of someone who had been pinned back for the entire match), made no tackles or interceptions, and won just the one duel over the course of the 90 minutes.

Writing in his post-match player ratings for The Liverpool Echo, Ian Doyle gave him a four, saying: “Plenty of overlapping down the left flank but delivery first half was inconsistent and had an absolute stinker second half.”

In fact, speaking before the game in his pre-match press conference, Klopp himself said: “I like Bowen a lot. He made his way up from Hull and took not too long to show exactly what kind of player he can be in the Premier League. He made big steps.”

He has scored six goals and provided nine assists in just 22 appearances in the Premier League, while he ranks as the Hammers’ best performing player with an average WhoScored match rating of 7.27.

The £31.5m-rated star could be a superb signing for Klopp’s side.

Meanwhile, James Pearce has dropped a Liverpool transfer update…

Lots of Wolves fans have been blown away as news emerged involving Carl Ikeme.

As per the club’s official website, the 35-year-old was part of a selection of goalkeepers including Jose Sa and John Ruddy who helped to run a workshop to teach all of the ‘keepers in Wolves’ different age groups about their trade.

Of course, Ikeme is a legendary figure at Molineux, having had his number one shirt number retired from 2018 following his leukaemia diagnosis, until Sa took it this season, .

On the pitch, he made came through the club’s academy.

Given how his football career ended, and considering his status as a fan favourite at Wolves, many supporters were unsurprisingly left blown away by his renewed involvement with the club.

Wolves fans on Ikeme news

These Wolves fans were left blown away by the news as it was shared on Twitter:

“This is a brilliant picture”

Credit: @LouisGutto2000

“Wow, what a amazing photo”

Credit: @NormWolves1877

“Great to see the big man back at Wolves passing on his wealth of experience!!”

Credit: @WWFC09

“Fantastic”

Credit: @cork1973

“Love this..”

Credit: @heighwaykaren

“What a picture, absolute class”

Credit: @BallyJNR

In other news, find out which news involving these loan players has left many Wolves fans buzzing

Taking to Twitter, Daily Express journalist and transfer reporter Ryan Taylor has shared a promising update on Tottenham Hotspur’s pursuit of Fiorentina star Dusan Vlahovic.

The Lowdown: Spurs chase Vlahovic…

Spurs’ managing director Fabio Paratici has had his eye on the 21-year-old ever since the summer window.

Indeed, as explained by The Telegraph, Vlahovic was one of Tottenham’s striking targets at the time as they eyed alternative options to star striker Harry Kane.

Those links have continued well into the latter part of 2021 and especially after Antonio Conte’s arrival in north London, with La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness) going as far as to say that Spurs have already held pre-transfer window meetings with La Viola chiefs.

Sharing more news on Vlahovic, Daily Express reporter Taylor has dropped a promising claim on Twitter.

The Latest: Spurs ‘serious’…

As explained by Taylor, sharing what he’s heard, Tottenham are the only Premier League club who are ‘serious’ about signing the striker in what could be a boost for Conte.

“From my understanding, Tottenham only PL club serious about signing Dušan Vlahović at this stage following background talks last summer,” the journalist said on social media.

“Nothing in the Arsenal links at the moment. Same with Man City but both could enter race.”

The Verdict: Get it done…

Going by this update, it appears that Tottenham’s only real competition for Vlahovic comes from abroad.

Juventus and Paris-Saint Germain are two European heavyweights repeatedly linked with a move for the Serbia international alongside Spurs, but it’s safe to say that the lack of English competition comes as good news.

Scoring 21 goals over the 2020/21 Serie A season, Vlahovic has maintained his brilliant form into the current campaign, with 10 goals and an assist in 13 appearances (Transfermarkt).

While he may cost a pretty penny, with reports suggesting that Fiorentina could demand around €70m-€80m (£59.9m-£68.4m), the striker’s age and proven goalscoring pedigree mark him out as a really fruitful transfer target for Conte.

Indeed, judging by his goal return in recent months, he may well be worth the investment.

In other news: £116,000-per-week ‘monster’ now closer to signing for Spurs, find out more here.

Sunderland moved up to third in the League One table on Tuesday night as they thrashed Morecambe 5-0 at the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats were at their clinical best as they swept their opponents aside with ease, scoring two of their goals in the opening 17 minutes of the match.

Lee Johnson’s men are now two points off first place, currently held by Wigan, and two points behind second-placed Wycombe, who have played a game more than Sunderland.

Forget Broadhead

Nathan Broadhead scored two of the five goals and may take the plaudits for his fine performance, but another Black Cats star stole the show with a sublime showing on the night – Lynden Gooch.

The American winger was exceptional throughout the match and was pivotal to setting the tone with his direct running and ability on the ball.

He set up the first goal in the 13th minute with a sublime mazy run down the left wing, as he jinked past a number of challenges before firing the ball into Ross Stewart’s path for him to find the back of the net. Four minutes later, he produced a couple of stepovers to beat the full-back and clipped up a brilliant cross for Broadhead to find the corner of the goal.

On the ball, he was a threat all night down the flanks. As per SofaScore, he completed a whopping five dribbles, out of six attempts, and created three chances for his teammates – two of those resulting in the aforementioned assists for Broadhead and Stewart. He also completed three of his six long pass attempts and two crosses, whilst having 85 touches of the ball overall.

Gooch also competed out of possession. As per SofaScore, he won 60% of his ground duels (6/10) and made one clearance and one tackle. Given that Sunderland had 62% of the ball and he had little defensive work to do, this was a strong showing from him against the ball and shows that he can compete in physical battles to get the better of his opponents.

Therefore, the £5k-per-week wizard stole the show as he was able to win the majority of his battles off the ball and was a constant menace to the Morecambe defence on it. He was able to consistently cause problems for the opposition with his dribbling and chance creation, ultimately leading – directly – to two of the five goals and setting the tone for the night.

The games are coming thick and fast for Swansea City in the Championship at the moment, and Steve Cooper’s side are still in with a good chance of securing an automatic promotion spot this season, as they look to seal a return to the top-flight.

The Swans are currently just one point behind second-placed Watford, with two games in hand on the Hornets, and have the opportunity to overtake them when they face Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday evening.

Two goals from Andre Ayew, including another late penalty, secured the points against Middlesbrough last time out, although it wasn’t a top performance from the Swans.

A poor run of form has seen Tony Mowbray’s side drop down the table after they were pushing for a playoff spot earlier in the season, so Swansea should be looking to pick up maximum points when they make the trip to Ewood Park.

Here’s how Football FanCast expects Cooper to line his side up against Blackburn, with two changes from the side that started against Middlesbrough…

There’s one change in the defence from Cooper, as although Ryan Manning has done a decent job filling in at left wing-back recently, Jake Bidwell is perhaps likely to come back in for this one, especially after he won the late penalty as a substitute against Neil Warnock’s side.

The rest of the defence stays the same, although the Swans haven’t looked anywhere near as secure as they did earlier in the season, shipping nine goals in their last five games.

After deploying two attacking-midfielders against Middlesbrough, perhaps we will see Cooper revert to a 5-3-2 formation for this away trip, with Connor Hourihane dropping back into midfield alongside Jay Fulton and Matt Grimes.

This sees Korey Smith drop out, with Jamal Lowe restored to the lineup in the hope that he can rediscover his shooting boots at Ewood Park.

Leeds United had a noticeable name missing from the squad on Monday night in Pascal Struijk, and Phil Hay has revealed why he was not involved against West Ham United.

The latest on Struijk

The Athletic journalist spoke to Whites manager Marcelo Bielsa following the defeat at London Stadium and updated followers on Twitter that “Struijk had a knock”.

This is a worrying update from Bielsa

Struijk brings versatility to the squad and we saw this during a time when Diego Llorente and Robin Koch both suffered injuries (the latter is not back yet), as the young Dutchman provided Leeds with cover and showed he could do a job in the back line. He has also played in defensive midfield when Kalvin Phillips was injured (Transfermarkt).

In his 17 appearances in the Premier League this term, he has been a solid defensive-minded player as he has averaged two successful tackles, two interceptions and 2.7 clearances per game (WhoScored). His averages for the latter two metrics are beaten only by Liam Cooper among his team-mates (WhoScored).

Gerry McNamee from the LS11 podcast piled praise on Struijk a few weeks ago as he said: “I think with [Marcelo] Bielsa, you’ve got to earn your place back and we probably don’t mention him so much because he doesn’t put a foot wrong, his passing, his interceptions everything else in the last two games, he’s been excellent.”

With the Dutch youngster impressing so highly, it is worrying to hear Hay’s update about him having a knock, with no indication of the nature or duration of the injury. Hopefully it does not see him ruled out for a lengthy period.

In other news, one Leeds prospect has seen his good performances receive notable recognition – have a read here!

Alasdair Gold has dropped an update on the respective futures of Tottenham Hotspur midfielders Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso.

What’s the talk?

In a recent video posted on YouTube, the football.london journalist revealed that, with Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici planning an overhaul of the Tottenham squad this summer, the France and Argentina internationals are two players who look certain to be moved on at the end of the season.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-spurs-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-levy-conte-paratici-thfc” title= “Read the latest Spurs news!”]

Regarding Spurs’ potential outgoing transfers this summer, Gold said: “Ndombele and Lo Celso have to be moved on. Whether it’s selling them or whether it’s loaning them again, those are two players who – you’d think – are not going to be at Tottenham next season.”

Time’s up

While it is true that both Ndombele and Lo Celso have enjoyed something of a renascence since their loan moves to Olympique Lyon and Villarreal respectively, it is undeniable that, considering the sheer amount of money Tottenham spent on their signings, both players have been failures in north London.

Following Ndombele’s £63m signing back in 2019, the 25-year-old struggled to live up to his hefty price tag, something which was all too evident from his performances in the first half of Tottenham’s Premier League campaign this season.

Indeed, over his nine Premier League appearances this term, the £31.5m-rated France international scored one goal, registered one assist and created one big chance for his teammates, as well as made an average of a mere 0.1 interceptions, 1.1 tackles, 25.6 passes and won 3.6 duels per fixture.

These returns saw the £120k-per-week midfielder average a rather disastrous SofaScore match rating of a mere 6.58, ranking him as Tottenham’s third-worst player in the top flight.

Meanwhile, over Lo Celso’s own nine league outings this season, the £19.8m-rated Argentina international scored no goals, provided no assists and created two big chances for his teammates, as well as made an average of just 0.1 interceptions, 0.9 tackles, 13.9 passes and won 2.7 duels per game.

These returns saw the £100k-per-week midfielder average an extremely disappointing SofaScore match rating of 6.72, ranking him as Conte’s sixth-worst performer in the Premier League.

And, while the 26-year-old has offered Tottenham slightly more than Ndombele in previous campaigns, it is nevertheless undeniable that Lo Celso has also failed to live up to his £55m transfer fee.

As such, while Tottenham are unlikely to recoup anywhere near their £118m outlay from the potential sales of the two players this summer, finally moving the duo on permanently would nevertheless appear an extremely wise move by Paratici – if for nothing else but to free up roughly £220k of Spurs’ weekly wage budget – as the pair’s time in north London is well and truly up.

AND in other news: Bid made: Paratici in talks for Spurs’ 1st summer signing, no one’s “identical to him”

Like many others around the world, Manchester United experienced something akin to a wild ride during 2020.

The Red Devils didn’t get off to the best of starts and it seemed all hope was lost after they suffered two defeats and one draw in their first three fixtures of the year but they soon bounced back shortly after the arrival of Portuguese magnifico Bruno Fernandes.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had made Borussia Dortmund starlet Jadon Sancho his top transfer target in the summer but had to settle for Amad Diallo, Facundo Pellistri, Alex Telles and Donny van de Beek instead, although Ed Woodward should be given credit for signing former Paris-Saint Germain striker Edinson Cavani as a free agent, as it’s safe to say the 33-year-old has turned out to be a total revelation ever since he first set foot inside Old Trafford.

Not to be outdone by all of the new signings, Marcus Rashford was awarded a MBE for his services to vulnerable children across the UK during the coronavirus pandemic, and the 23-year-old forward finished the year as the club’s top scorer for the 2020/21 season across all competitions.

United currently sit second in the Premier League, with three points between them and league leaders Liverpool, although they still have a game in-hand over their bitter arch-rivals.

Who knows where United will end up at the end of the season, but there’s one thing for sure, that shouldn’t take anything away from what has been another step in the right direction. How well can you remember United’s 2020? Try your hand and test yourself to the very limit with Football FanCast’s Big Fat Quiz of 2020!

West Ham United will be looking to continue their late-season push to qualify for a European berth when they welcome Everton to the London Stadium this afternoon.

Last time out, David Moyes’ side came from behind to defeat Burnley thanks to a brace from the returning Michail Antonio, and those three points have put them in a very strong position to feature in UEFA competition in 2021/22.

The Irons could maintain the pressure on capital rivals Chelsea and keep their opposition at bay with another victory here, so it will be interesting to see what sort of line up the 58-year-old deploys.

Here’s the XI we’re predicting, along with the latest team and injury news…

Moyes could make just three changes from the side that tasted victory on Monday night, with a pair of first-choice starters in line to return from injury.

Antonio got through the full 90 minutes unscathed and should be fine to feature once again. He could be joined in the team by returning defender Angelo Ogbonna, who missed the trip to Burnley with a hamstring problem, and Declan Rice, who could be a surprise starter having missed their last five outings.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-latest-west-ham-news-transfer-rumours-and-the-latest-gossip-moyes-gsb-london-stadium” title= “Read the latest West Ham news, transfer rumours, gossip and more!”]

ExWHUemployee claimed that the 32-year-old “should be back”, whilst Moyes said he was “hoping to have” the England international available ahead of kick-off in his pre-match press conference, so that’s an encouraging sign.

Ogbonna should come straight back in for Issa Diop, with Manuel Lanzini likely to face the chop in midfield. It means we may see a back four of Aaron Cresswell, Craig Dawson, Vladimir Coufal and the Italian, in front of Lukasz Fabianski.

In midfield, Rice would be likely to join Tomas Soucek, with loan sensation Jesse Lingard and Pablo Fornals keeping their places, although we could see Said Benrahma drop to the bench despite the £18m-rated star’s impressive showing at Turf Moor.

Jarrod Bowen would be the obvious replacement for the Algerian in attack after the 24-year-old was axed against Burnley.

AND in other news, 63 mins, 0 goals in 2021: GSB played a blinder with WHU call on £13m-rated “nightmare”…

After really tearing into his players following a dismal 2-1 defeat to St Mirren last time out, Neil Lennon will be hoping to have inspired a reaction in his Celtic players when they take on Kilmarnock tonight.

The Hoops slumped to an awful home defeat at the weekend, with Lennon making it clear just how much of a disappointment it was.

Asked if his players were letting him down, he said: “Honestly, at this minute I think yes, they are. And they have done for quite a while this season. Too many of them have been insipid this season, to say the least. Whatever walk of life you are in, you need to have a form of professional pride. Especially at a club like this.”

That outburst may just be the sign that Lennon appears to have gotten fed up with some of his under-performing senior stars, and as such, it could well be a moment for some new faces to come into the team.

With that in mind, below is a look at how Celtic might line up when they travel to Kilmarnock for their Scottish Premiership clash.

In goal, Scott Bain should keep his place after coming into the starting line-up for Vasilis Barkas last time out.

The defence could see some key personnel changes, however, with new signing Jonjoe Kenny in line to make his debut at right-back, and Stephen Welsh surely now pushing for an opportunity in the side – it would only be his third start in the league this season.

In midfield, Mohamed Elyounoussi could be the one man to drop out, with Ryan Christie making his return to the team after being dropped from the line-up for the clash against Hamilton a week ago.

And after Leigh Griffiths’ dismal showing against St Mirren that eventually saw him hooked at half-time, Lennon may look to bring in Albian Ajeti to partner Odsonne Edouard up front.

If Ajeti does make the line-up, then it would be a rare chance to impress from the off for him, with the 23-year-old not starting a game in the league since November.

Predicted XI: Bain; Kenny, Ajer, Welsh, Taylor; Soro, McGregor, Christie, Turnbull; Edouard, Ajeti.