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Arsenal have a lot of work to do if they want to secure Champions League football this season, something that at the moment seems unlikely. 

Unlikely, mainly due to the incredible form of Manchester United, who have come surging up the table and hence damaged Arsenal’s top four chances.

Unai Emery, though, will hope for a strong end to the season and knows that anything can be possible with the strong group of players he has available to him.

Though seeing as a high-place finish in the Premier League has again been hard to come by, the former PSG boss will surely look to spend some money during the summer transfer window to improve their chances next season.

Ideally, Arsenal would want proven stars but if that isn’t possible, recruiting up-and-coming talents would also be a good strategy.

An example of the kind of calibre Arsenal may look into signing is Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon.

Sessegnon, (who is valued at £31.5 million on Transfermarkt) remains a raved about youngster, who has all the potential to succeed in the Premier League and football as a whole.

The left-sided player, like the rest of his team-mates, has found making the jump from Championship football to the Premier League is hard.

The 18-year-old missed just one Championship game the season they were promoted as he went on to score 16 goals.

This season, Sessegnon has two goals and five assists to his name so far, which may not seem a lot but his talent is obvious for all to see.

With Nacho Monreal not getting any younger and Sead Kolasinac failing to deliver consistency, Ryan Sessegnon could fit in very nicely deployed in a left wing-back position.

Do you agree… Let us know!

Tottenham fans didn’t have the best of times yesterday against Arsenal. The Lilywhites fell to a 1-1 draw at home to the Gunners at Wembley, and it could have been worse had Hugo Lloris not stepped up with a late penalty save. However, for the opening goal from Aaron Ramsey, the fans were far from pleased with Harry Kane’s sloppiness at the other end.

North London derbies are always massive games of football and the fans are always way more up for them than any other game. Harry Kane may have brought up a record yesterday when he bagged from the penalty spot, becoming the all-time leading goalscorer in North London derbies, however, before that the fans weren’t happy with their #10 for the way he lost the ball to start Arsenal’s counter-attack.

After Kane was caught in possession the Gunners sprung their trap. The ball found its way to Alexandre Lacazette who found a wonderful pass to Aaron Ramsey, despite a blunder from Davinson Sanchez, and from there the rest was history. It was far from a good goal to concede and the Lilywhites were very quick to jump on Harry Kane’s back for his areas.

You can read the Lilywhites’ thoughts on Kane here:

The Lilywhites weren’t happy with Kane at all when they shipped the opening goal, yet the fans forgave him when he bagged from the spot.

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According to Football Insider, Aston Villa are lining up a summer move for £5m-rated Queens Park Rangers centre-back Toni Leistner – and his arrival could well bring an end to Tommy Elphick’s Villa Park career.

What’s the word, then?

Well, Football Insider report that the Midlands outfit have made strengthening their central defensive options their priority at the end of the season, as they have conceded the most goals (53 in 35 games) in the top half of the Championship.

Football Insider report that the German’s form has brought him to the attention of a number of clubs, including Villa and Cardiff City, after taking to English football like a duck to water following his move to Loftus Road from his home country last summer.

The report adds that while QPR would naturally be reluctant to lose the 28-year-old, who was Steve McClaren’s first signing and is now club captain, an offer of £5m could tempt them seeing as they brought him to west London for nothing.

Bad news for Elphick

It certainly would be.

The 31-year-old has only just worked his way back into the first-team plans at Villa Park having fallen out of favour under Steve Bruce and spending the first-half of the campaign on loan at Hull City, although the rejuvenated former Bournemouth man will now be absent for the next four to five weeks through injury.

The experienced centre-back only has a few months remaining on his contract however, and the fact that the Championship club have James Chester already and would likely bring Leistner straight into the XI suggests their mind is already made up on Elphick’s future.

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Manchester City fans were left spellbound by Tanguy Ndombele’s latest impressive Lyon performance, against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League.

The 22-year-old is a rumoured target for Pep Guardiola in the summer, and City supporters took to Twitter following Wednesday night’s display to express both their admiration and their desire to see the France international plying his trade at the Etihad Stadium next season.

Ndombele may have not been able to stop his team exiting the Champions League in the round-of-16 stage by losing 5-1 at Camp Nou in the second leg after a 0-0 draw in the first, but he certainly caught the eye, mainly of Citizens.

This was thanks in part to statistics of 91 per cent pass completion, three completed dribbles and four tackles, not bad in a thrashing against your own side.

It was clear from that mauling that Ndombele “deserves a better team” as one supporter stated, while others demanded that the club “break the bank immediately” and not only look at but complete the move now for the 22-year-old who was a “beast against Barcelona.”

Check out more of what the Sky Blues fans had to say about the central midfielder’s showing as we look at some of their best reactive Tweets, below…

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According to The Mirror, Manchester United are set to beat Juventus and Barcelona to the signing of Toby Alderweireld from Tottenham in the summer for a fee of just £26m.

What’s the word, then?

Well, Spurs took up the option to extend the Belgian’s contract by one more year back in January, although that decision activated a £25m release clause included in the contract.

Understandably, that news alerted some of Europe’s top clubs, who will surely be keeping a close eye on developments throughout the summer with the clause set to come into play during the final two weeks of the window.

Watch the video below to find out what Jesse Lingard is like off the pitch in the latest Match Of The Bae with Emma Conybeare…

Alderweireld will have just one year remaining on his contract come the summer, and with the 30-year-old reluctant to sign a new deal, Spurs have no option other than to sell the former Ajax man.

United should steer clear

It may be a controversial opinion, but the Red Devils should steer clear of Alderweireld and focus on a younger alternative.

Alderweireld is 30 years of age, and will most likely have just two or three years left at the top before his ability begins to decline, cracks start to develop in his game and injuries become more and more common.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has transformed the 20-time Premier League champions from a creaking outfit under Jose Mourinho, to a more dynamic, youthful side where the likes of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba are the main men – the Norwegian has also promoted the likes of Mason Greenwood, Tahith Chong and James Garner from the youth ranks into the first-team.

The former Cardiff manager has lost just two games since taking over at the end of December, and much of that has been down to his trust in youth.

Signing Alderweireld would give off somewhat of a Mourinho stench around Old Trafford yet again with the signing of another ageing star chasing big wages and for a fairly large fee.

The form of 24-year-old centre-back Victor Lindelof has also been a massive highlight in the current campaign, and finding him a defensive partner for the long-term should be the priority instead of signing Alderweireld.

[ad_pod ]Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Phil Hay has reaffirmed the fact that Leeds United’s defence was in disarray at full-time of their 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United on Saturday, after being challenged by a Whites fan on Twitter.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the automatic promotion hopefuls were beaten by their Yorkshire rivals at Elland Road at the weekend, and Hay tagged a story about defensive worries for Marcelo Bielsa using the word “disarray”.

That was because of goalkeeper Kiko Casilla seeing red late on, being replaced between the sticks by centre-back Pontus Jansson, who has also now picked up an injury that it has since been confirmed will keep him on the sidelines for three weeks.

One Leeds fans thought the club correspondent for the Yorkshire Evening Post had gone a little far with his thoughts, but the writer believes he is right.

Is he?

He certainly is.

The fact that the Whites have lost their goalkeeper and arguably their best defender for the clash against Millwall at Elland Road on March 30 is certainly a major blow.

That game is likely to be a battle where you want your best players on the pitch, and it is especially important for Leeds now they have slipped out of the top two following the Saturday reverse.

Bielsa will have to hope that Bailey Peacock-Farrell and either Gaetano Berardi or Kalvin Phillips step up against the Lions to keep the Yorkshire outfit in the hunt for the Premier League.

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On Friday Birmingham’s worst fears became reality with confirmation arriving that the club is set for a nine-point deduction for a breach of spending rules.

It’s news that is set to plummet the club into relegation trouble, moving them from 13th in the Championship to 18th. As a result, they will now sit just five points off the drop zone. The Blues had initially been in with an outside bet of making the playoffs but any chance of that has now been swiftly eradicated.

As expected, supporters of the club have been busy reacting to the news on Twitter as some noted that it wouldn’t be a normal campaign for the Midlands club if they weren’t embroiled in a relegation battle.

There were split opinions though as some shared frustration and were shocked, calling it garbage and that financial fair play was flawed. Others demanded to know what the deduction was actually for.

However, with it originally thought to be in the region of 12 points, some fans feel as though the outcome isn’t so bad.

The club were put under a transfer embargo last summer whilst the EFL looked into their breach of profitability and sustainability rules so it’s a case that has dragged on for an extensive period of time.

During the embargo, Birmingham signed Kristian Pedersen which is something that is unlikely to have helped their cause either.

Although they are set to be nine points worse off, supporters will take comfort in the fact that matters have finally come to a conclusion.

Here’s how some segments of the St Andrew’s faithful have reacted.

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If you told a Wolves fan at the start of the season they’d be in with a realistic chance of securing European football in their first season back in the Premier League they would have probably laughed in your face.

However, that is the now a realistic aim for the club, who can qualify for the Europa League if they win the FA Cup. Another route into Europe would be by finishing seventh and hoping Manchester City win the FA Cup instead.

Reacting to what the permutations are on Twitter, supporters shared mixed opinions, as some sceptics are not overly enthused by the prospect of a season in Europe.

One individual claimed three summer qualifying rounds could wreck their season whilst another said they’d rather have a few more years in the Premier League to establish themselves before securing qualification.

But one fan was excited by the pulling power the club could have if they were competing in Europe.

At the moment, Nuno Santo’s men are flying high in the table, sitting seventh after being promoted last term.

It has been a magnificent season which has seen them earn plaudits aplenty and, of course, reach the semi-finals of a major domestic trophy.

Here’s the best of the discussion concerning the prospect of qualifying for Europe…

Former Whites boss David O’Leary wasn’t afraid of the transfer market between 1998 and 2002, and though his exuberant spending may have later financially crippled Leeds United, it gave birth to one of the finest players to ever grace Elland Road, Mark Viduka.

Simply put Mark Viduka was one of the best bits of business Leeds United and David O’Leary have done in recent memory. We say that not because he was a particularly cheap player – he arrived for a club record fee £6 million (as per the club’s official site) – rather the Australian was a great bit of transfer wizardry because he was an absolutely sensational player who provided plenty of priceless memories. You know, the kind neutrals tend to remember because they’re actually just very good at kicking a football.

After dominating the Scottish Premiership and scoring 27 goals for Celtic in the single season he played at Parkhead, O’Leary saw fit to release the beast from his Scottish confines onto the poor and unsuspecting Premier League. Alongside a young boy wonder, Alan Smith, Viduka collected 22 goals during his debut campaign, hoisting Leeds United into fourth position and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. Not to mention the utter madness that unfolded in November 2000 with the forward claiming all four goals in Leeds United’s 4-3 victory over Liverpool at Elland Road.

However, even some of the worst players can have random splurges of genius. It takes real talent to turn up over and over and perform at the highest level, which is exactly what the beast did during the 2001/02 campaign – collecting a cool 16 goals in all competitions, including a winner against the Gunners at their Highbury fortress.

Indeed, to spindle the same sort of footballing magic Viduka managed on such a consistent basis despite Leeds United slowly making their ill-fated descent toward Premier League relegation is truly remarkable, and the 11 League goals he bagged in his final year at Leeds proved to be some of the clubs last in topflight thanks to an ongoing absence.

Following Leeds’ drop, Viduka moved to Middlesbrough where he played a pivotal in their run-in to the 2006 UEFA Cup final, before retiring at Newcastle United.

What a player, what an icon and what a career.

Petulant child Benjamin Mendy has found himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons again thanks to more exasperating episodes of off-field antics.

As much as Benjamin Mendy was a lovable joker when he first arriving, brandishing his phone at any given opportunity to release a stream of semi-comical City related jokes into the world of social media, his novelty is rapidly wearing off, and the love fans once felt for him will understandably soon turn to frustration.

As per the Telegraph, Pep Guardiola has scrutinised Benjamin Mendy after the Manchester City defender was caught in a nightclub at 3:30am – hours before he was expected at training.

Understandably the Spaniard is unhappy with Mendy’s behaviour given just how much leeway the club have shown their resident clown, especially during the period of extended absence which has seen him don the blue shirt just once in almost five months.

Unfortunately, this is just another case in a long list of misdemeanours where Mendy has come under question, including a point in September when Guardiola had to publicly scold the Frenchman for turning up three hours late for treatment on an injury (as per the Telegraph).

After confirming he had made the training session in question, Guardiola admitted: “I would prefer him to go home earlier but I don’t control the players in that situation. They are old enough to know what they have to do. I’m not his father” – which is essentially a diplomatic way of saying ‘grow up’.

Manchester City simply cannot afford these kinds of events at the moment, especially from a player as influential in the changing room as Benjamin Mendy, and every little annoying moment like this plays into the hands of Liverpool.

Indeed, focus is the key now, with the club in line for a history quadruple, including the FA Cup, Champions League and Premier League title, and the left-back, who has contributed absolutely nothing so far this year, is the equivalent of someone doing the vacuuming whilst you’re trying to read the paper.

Manchester City fans, simple one: what are your thoughts on Benjamin Mendy? Let us know in the comments below…