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West Ham United forward Andre Ayew will be the programme cover star of their crucial clash against Swansea City at the London Stadium on Saturday.

The Ghana international joined the Irons from the Welsh side for £20m last summer, but he has struggled to make an impression because of injury, a lack of form and time away at the African Cup of Nations at the start of 2017, scoring four goals in 18 Premier League matches this term.

With the Hammers having lost their last five league matches and in danger of being sucked further into the relegation scrap – they are just five points ahead of the 18th-placed Swans ahead of the match this weekend – they need a victory in order to relieve the pressure on manager Slaven Bilic.

Irons supporters were quick to have their say on the post with some asking if the 27-year-old was actually planning to turn up, but others wanted him to play.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction to the post…

It rarely fails to be anything other than a very special day on the football calendar as two teams progress to a domestic final and the very real prospect of realising a lifelong dream while the other – 22 individuals – lie dejected on the turf, staring at the blue sky, and cursing the cruel fates.The FA Cup semi-final weekend is Shakespeare masquerading as sport. It is death or glory with little in between. It is engrossing for neutrals and utterly nerve-wracking for supporters with a vested interest.Down the years these pair of fixtures has given us incredible drama, mind-blowing goals, and heart-breaking sights and so ahead of this weekend’s Wembley encounters – and thoroughly spoilt for choice – we look at six such occasions that should always be included on the highlights reel.I’m now away to get me suit measured

Paul Gascoigne’s fizzing, curling set-piece that left David Seaman flailing at thin air in 1991 is a semi-final moment of genius that not only won a north London derby but left an audience of millions spell-bound.

His all-too-brief post-match interview wasn’t too shabby either, as unhinged ecstasy was blurted out in the most Geordie-est of accents ever committed to screen.

Compare and contrast to the generic ‘I’m just pleased for the lads’ fare we’re treated to today.

Giggs’ run and rug

In a smidgeon under ten seconds flat Ryan Giggs slalomed through a beleaguered Arsenal defence and perfectly encapsulated a long and distinguished career of tearing sides apart. It was an exhilarating and typically adventurous run that concluded a momentous clash between England’s two best teams, a clash that had already afforded us a missed penalty, a red card for Roy Keane, and a long-range wonder-loop from David Beckham. This, though, was something else entirely.

For a smidgeon under two seconds flat, Giggs was a god. That was until he decided to take his shirt off and expose the Axminster carpet where his chest should be.

In that instant thousands of young women recalled the brooding Welshman staring back at them from a poster on their teenage bedroom wall. And they shuddered.

The passion and the gory

We Brits love seeing a bit of claret spilled down a jersey. In a pie chart representing ‘pashun’ in the modern game it’s a highly-valued thin sliver surrounded by a thick wedge of players who adorn gloves in a mild breeze.

In 1978 West Brom defender John Wile took this passion to extremes when he clashed heads with Ipswich’s Brian Talbot at Highbury and copious amounts of the red stuff began pouring down his shirt. Think Terry Butcher for England in 1989, then treble it.

Even when bandaged up he still resembled a doomed hero in a war film about to pass on his final message to a sweetheart back home. But would Wile come off? Would he hell!

Ipswich won the game 3-1. Life is quite patently unfair at times.

Home-grown Hewitt the hero

Even from the distance of twenty years its hard not to feel Chesterfield were well and truly robbed of an incredible final appearance back in 1997. Already they had secured household status across the land having beaten Bristol City, Bolton, Nottingham Forest, and Wrexham to reach a famous semi-final at Old Trafford against Bryan Robson’s Middlesbrough.

Now they were on the cusp of making it to Wembley with Boro 2-1 down and a man short following the sending off of Vladimir Kinder. With just 21 minutes remaining the Spirites increased their lead only for the referee to wrongly insist the ball hadn’t crossed the line and the injustice was soon compounded when the top flight side staged a late turn-around.

Only seconds remained in extra time when Jamie Hewitt – born and bred in Chesterfield – flighted home a dramatic equaliser that sent anyone living outside of Teeside utterly doolally.

Case cracks it

After eight successful years at Anfield Jimmy Case moved to Brighton in 1981 as part of the deal that took Mark Lawrenson the other way, but if anyone expected the midfield dervish to settle into semi-retirement they obviously didn’t know his character.

The tigerish midfielder forged a partnership with Tony Grealish that had ankles trembling in pure fear and in ’83 the duo hauled the Seagulls on a tremendous cup run that ended with a final replay to Manchester United.

It was in the semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday though that the seasoned veteran really cracked it, the ball that is, from fully 35 yards.

Pick that one out.

Wise goes in two-footed

Diplomatically put, Dennis Wise was not the most popular of players unless he hustled and bustled for your club and then he was adored. Yup, he was one of them. A Robbie Savage. A Roy Keane lite.

But never let it be said that the diminutive scamp didn’t maximise what little he had and here, for Wimbledon’s winner against Luton in 1988 to set up the Crazy Gang’s beating of the Culture Club in the final, is a perfect example.

It was not unknown for Wise to go in two-footed. In this instance it was to ensure his teeny legs reached a searching cross. Initiative, that.

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Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat at Manchester United in their last Premier League outing means that the gap from the league leaders to second-place Tottenham Hotspur in the table is just four points.

Chelsea will have the chance to stretch that lead to seven points when they welcome Southampton to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night, but anything other than a win would open the door for Tottenham to snatch the title away from their capital rivals.

Antonio Conte’s side have wobbled in the league in recent weeks, but they will enter the match full of confidence after knocking Tottenham out of the FA Cup in the semi-finals at the weekend.

Chelsea have already lost at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League this month, however, with Crystal Palace securing a 2-1 victory when they travelled to the league leaders on April 1.

Southampton, meanwhile, have eighth-place West Bromwich Albion in their sights as the Saints look to finish top of the ‘mini-league’ outside of the top seven.

On Tuesday afternoon, Chelsea’s supporters were out in full force on Twitter as they considered the importance of tonight’s fixture in the English capital.

With Wayne Rooney’s Old Trafford career seemingly coming to an end, Jose Mourinho will likely have to select a new captain for the 2017/18 campaign.

Indeed, although nobody can doubt the England skipper’s servitude to the club, he’s simply not the top-class force he was under Sir Alex Ferguson and has barely featured during the second half of the season, overtaken by the likes of Anthony Martial, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcus Rashford in the pecking order.

Who deserves to take the armband is certainly an interesting debate. Chris Smalling often served as match-day captain under Louis van Gaal, whilst Michael Carrick will be the most experienced member of Mourinho’s squad by quite some distance should he stay on next season.

But FootballFanCast’s Manchester United readers want to see a different player get the nod to lead the dressing room next season – feisty midfielder Ander Herrera. Indeed, according to our poll, a staggering 93% want the Spain international to be United’s next captain.

Herrera’s enjoying a fantastic season, scoring twice across all competitions whilst transforming himself from a passive playmaker into a ball-winning warrior, epitomising the Mourinho ethos. That change in approach has lead to two red cards, but clearly won over the United faithful.

According to reports from The Telegraph, Riyad Mahrez wants Leicester City to honour their agreement of allowing him to leave at the end of the season, having promised Claudio Ranieri one more year at the King Power Stadium after lifting the Premier League title last summer.

The Algerian international was one of the driving forces behind the Foxes’ shock title win, also winning the PFA Player of the Year award, but has struggled to replicate that form throughout 2016/17, notching up just six goals and three assists in the top flight.

Nonetheless, The Telegraph believe a number of top clubs will still be interested in the 26-year-old, not least including Arsenal and Tottenham – who are both reportedly on the lookout for a wide player.

Arsenal fans could be in particularly need of Mahrez’s services, which Leicester reportedly value at in excess of £30million, amid doubts over Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez’s futures in north London.

So, Arsenal fans, does your club need to beat Tottenham and any other potential suitors to Mahrez’s signature this summer? Let us know by voting below…

Last season, Deloitte dubbed it the £170million game. As Reading and Huddersfield prepare to face each other at Wembley on Monday in the 2016/17 Championship Play-off final, The Independent claim the ante has been upped to a staggering £290million.

Indeed, there is no question promotion to the Premier League, via the automatic spots or the Play-offs, is an exceptionally lucrative enterprise these days. The problem throughout Premier League history for clubs using the latter avenue, however, is that gains were only made in the short term. Perhaps unsurprisingly, of the three sides promoted each season, the Play-off winners average the shortest stay in the Premier League, 2.71 seasons compared to 3.67 for the runners-up and 3.95 for the second-tier champions.

During the eight seasons between 2003 and 2011, however, that trend veered to the extreme; only two playoff winners survived their first season in the top flight, only one survived their second season and three returned to the Championship after finishing rock bottom – not least including the infamous Derby County side that recorded the lowest ever points haul in Premier League history, just eleven, in 2007/08.

In that time, the Play-off final wasn’t so much a shot at the big-time as much as it was a chance to make up the numbers. Of course, the clubs involved certainly couldn’t turn up their noses at the increased revenue passed their way, and many have since returned to the Premier League through automatic promotion – something that may not have been possible without that financial windfall of prize money, television deals and parachute payments.

Yet, the Play-off winners were still very much the equivalent of journeymen boxers; paid to turn up, take a beating and fade back into obscurity without making a fuss or daring to upset the odds. It may have helped stabilise the long-term futures of certain clubs, but a year of being beaten to a pulp by the Premier League’s big boys was far from an enjoyable experience for the fans – something that must be on the minds of Huddersfield and Reading supporters looking beyond Monday’s Wembley showdown.

In terms of top-flight credentials, doubts inevitably linger over both sides. Huddersfield performed far beyond expectations this season to finish in fifth – a position that has lead to relegation after winning the Play-off for two of its last four proprietors.

Reading, meanwhile, although finishing in third, slowed down towards the end of the regular season and weren’t hugely convincing in the two semi-final legs against Fulham. Rather intriguingly, Reading could go up with the worst goals conceded tally in promotion history, whilst Huddersfield could make it to the Premier League with the worst ever goal difference.

Fortunately for Reading and Huddersfield fans, however, the dynamics have changed over the last six years. From the six Play-off winners, only one has finished bottom – QPR – three have survived and all three are still in the Premier League, including Swansea City who are now preparing for their seventh campaign in the lead division despite having no prior Premier League experience.

Likewise, those three all breached the 45-point mark in their first Premier League season, all finishing either tenth or eleventh. Even more good news for Reading and Huddersfield; they all ended the regular Championship season in either third or fifth place.

But the pattern goes much deeper than simply some arguably coincidental league standings. Over the last six seasons, Play-off winners  have actually outperformed their automatic promotion counterparts on the most-part, excepting the relegation ratio of 50%. On average, Play-off winners have finished with more points and in a higher league position despite spending less money. Furthermore and perhaps most crucially for the long-term ambitions of the Royals and the Terriers, they tend to stay longer in the top flight by an average of one season.

It dispels long-standing myths of Play-off clubs being at an inevitable disadvantage, because they move up to the top flight as theoretically weaker sides, have a shorter summer to prepare for the coming season and to bring in new signings, and accordingly struggle to attract a quality of player that may deem the automatically promoted clubs as less risky.

And looking at the three Play-off winners to survive compared to those who didn’t, there is a trend that particularly stands out – well-defined styles of play. Perhaps that’s a little flattering of a Crystal Palace side that was created by Dougie Freedman and looked rudderless in the top flight under Ian Holloway until Tony Pulis brought in a true identity.

But West Ham’s 2011/12 winners were already tailored to Sam Allardyce’s long-established philosophy when they returned to the Premier League, and Swansea City became one of the most ideologically-geared sides in the top flight, famed for their possession-based brand of football, after Brendan Rodgers took them up the year prior.

That can be seen in Reading and Huddersfield as well. Jaap Stam has implemented a typically Dutch possession game at the Madjeski Stadium, whilst David Wagner’s approach is straight out of the Borussia Dortmund school of thought – attacking verve combined with blood-and-thunder high pressing off the ball. In their own ways, both sides are incredibly distinctive in style.

Whereas the Play-off winners who went straight back down over the last six years all lacked that acute identity, on the most-part spending their way to the Premier League by hoping solid defensive organisation would make their expensively-acquired quality tell in the second tier, Reading and Huddersfield feel like real teams forged on genuine ideals. That’s not only what has taken them to this season’s Wembley showdown, but also what will be integral to achieving survival in the top flight.

If you were to look at where Manchester United needed reinforcements last season, centre-back may not have seemed like a top priority.

The Red Devils finished the season with just 29 goals conceded, second only to Spurs’ 26, and managed an impressive 16 clean sheets.

That doesn’t tell the full story however, as Jose Mourinho never really found his preferred centre-back pairing as his backline was ravaged by injuries. Over the course of the season, the Portuguese coach used seven different partnerships, never really sticking with one longer than a month.

The fact he rarely trusted his defenders also meant the team struggled at the other end of the pitch (they only managed 54 goals – one less than Bournemouth) as he was often forced to use more negative tactics to accommodate the shortcomings of his backline.

That’s probably the reason why Mourinho’s first foray into the transfer market hasn’t been a striker to replace the top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but another Swede, in towering centre-half Victor Lindelof.

On the face of it, the £30m man from Benfica has just been brought in to solidify the defence and partner Eric Bailly. But in reality, his role could be much more important than that.

It is instead the Swede’s ability to bring the ball out of defence and pick a pass that could prove to have a real impact on the United side.

The 22-year-old had the joint-best passing success rate of any centre-back in the Portuguese top flight with 90% and made an impressive five key passes from the back. Lindelof’s arrival could well have the same effect as another man who once moved from Benfica to the Premier League.

When David Luiz first arrived at Chelsea back in January 2011, he appeared to be blessed with footballing ability yet prone to lapses in concentration at the back.

He returned to Stamford Bridge last summer after a spell as Paris Saint-Germain and was one of the key performers for Antonio Conte’s side as they lifted the title.

The Italian’s decision to play three at the back allowed Luiz to break forward and get involved with the attack, safe in the knowledge he had Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill covering him.

Having a defender who is good with the ball at this feet seems to be in vogue at the moment, as we’ve also seen with Toby Alderweireld at Spurs and Virgil Van Dijk at Southampton.

While he is by no means a poor defender, Lindelof’s time in Portugal showed the youngster currently needs a strong defensive partner to help him out. Thankfully, in Eric Bailly, he seems to have just that.

The Ivorian enjoyed an immense first season at Old Trafford and should allow the Swede to push forward on occasion to try and start an attack.

It may even signify a change to a three-man defence for United – something they may not want to hear after its failure in the early days of Louis van Gaal.

Unlike back in 2014 when the Dutchman arrived however, having a trio in defence seems to be catching on.

Chelsea famously won the league after switching to 3-4-3, while the likes of Arsenal, Spurs and occasionally Manchester City had success with similar formations.

Mourinho even experimented with it in both legs against Rostov in the Europa League, although with mixed success.

Once Marcus Rojo has recovered from injury it will be interesting to see if Mourinho alters his formation to fit his side.

In the meantime, United could have an elegant ball-player next to a warrior in defence – something they’ve not seen since the days of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

A very exciting prospect indeed.

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ESPN pundit Steve Nicol believes that Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho is a better player than his Tottenham Hotspur counterpart Christian Eriksen.

Both players tend to position themselves in the number 10 role for their respective clubs, but one certainly had a better season.

Eriksen scored 13 goals and provided 23 assists in 48 appearances in all competitions for Spurs, and in doing that helped his team finish second in the Premier League.

As for Coutinho, he had a spell on the sidelines with injury during the winter months, which restricted him to 36 appearances in total, and in that time scored 14 goals and made nine others.

It is clear that the Brazilian is a key figure in Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team, and his quality attracted rumours of a possible move to Barcelona.

Nicol, who played for the Reds between 1981 and 1994, knows who he would rather have in his team out of Coutinho and Eriksen.

He told ESPN:

“The last time I heard I didn’t hear Christian Eriksen being mentioned in the same breath as Barcelona. As good as Christian Eriksen is you’re taking Coutinho over Eriksen every day of the week.”

Plenty of Everton fans have been eagerly awaiting news regarding the club’s pursuit of Malaga forward Sandro Ramirez.

Earlier this month, the Daily Mail reported that the Toffees had concluded a deal for the 21-year-old and that a medical had already been carried out.

The publication went on to say that the Merseyside outfit triggered a £5.2m release clause in Ramirez’s contract.

However, the club are yet to announce the transfer, which has poured doubt over the proposed move.

A spanner was thrown into the works when Marca reported earlier this week that Real Madrid have been keeping tabs on the forward, who has been impressing for Spain at the Under-21 European Championships in Poland.

Northern Football Correspondent for The Times, Paul Joyce has put Everton fans at ease by claiming on his Twitter page that Ramirez will become an Everton player.

He also revealed that there is not a release clause in the young forward’s deal that has been agreed with the Toffees.

As expected, the journalist’s tweet was met with delight from supporters.

As reported by The Daily Mirror, Tottenham Hotspur are hoping to complete a deal for Everton midfield Ross Barkley this week, but only if the Toffees reduce their valuation of him.

What’s the story?

While their Premier League rivals around them have already strengthened significantly this summer, Tottenham Hotspur have yet to spend a penny, opting to take a more measured approach to their summer recruitment.

That could be about to change though with The Mirror reporting that the club are hoping to conclude a deal for Everton attacking talent Ross Barkley before they leave for their pre-season tour of the USA later this week.

There is a stumbling block though and that’s Everton’s valuation. The paper say the Toffees are holding out for as much as £50m for Barkley while Spurs are only willing to pay between £20m and £30m.

That’s quite a ways apart but, as we know, Daniel Levy is a canny operator and you wouldn’t put it past him to get the deal done.

Worth it?

When utilised properly last term, Ross Barkley was a very effective talent for Everton. In all competitions he scored six goals, assisting eight more. His most effective position appeared to be when he was deployed on the right flank although he does have the versatility to play both centrally and deeper in the heart of midfield.

With power, pace and ambition, he ticks plenty of boxes for Spurs and in truth, in today’s market, £50m doesn’t too absurd. Still, Spurs may feel other targets represent better value and since they aren’t in desperate need of reinforcements, they can easily walk away from the deal if the price is not right.

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