Liverpool enter the international break top of the Premier League table after four games.

Jurgen Klopp significantly strengthened his squad during the summer window adding Naby Keita, Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri and Alisson Becker to his team. The Reds have made an excellent start to the new campaign picking up wins against West Ham, Crystal Palace, Brighton and Leicester. Klopp will be hoping their form continues against Tottenham following the international break.

Fresh from the news of Jordan Henderson’s contract extension, the Anfield faithful were dealt a huge blow with the news that Adam Lallana had suffered a groin injury while on international duty with England. The 30-year-old was restricted to just one Premier League start last season after being plagued with problems throughout the campaign. Following another spell on the sidelines, Klopp would be wise to source a replacement in January.

The perfect alternative could be Flamengo wonderkid – Lucas Paqueta. Valued at £13.5m by Transfermarkt, the 21-year-old is considered one of the brightest prospects emerging from Brazil and has been tipped to follow Gabriel Jesus in moving to the Premier League. Paqueta has netted six goals for his side this season, and his impressive form earned him a call-up to the Brazilian national team.

Paqueta is an intelligent, tricky playmaker who would be an excellent replacement for Lallana. Not only would his creative ability be a welcome boost to the Liverpool engine room, but the youngster would also fit perfectly into Klopp’s pressing system, evidenced by his terrific work-rate shown here. (https://twitter.com/Mobyhaque1/status/1036578086521851905)

He could be the final piece of the puzzle in the Liverpool midfield.

Liverpool fans, thoughts?

Tottenham supporters have been pretty quiet in recent times after seeing their team suffer their first defeat of the Premier League season just prior to the two-week break for internationals.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men went into their most recent clash with Watford off the back of victories over Newcastle United, Fulham, and Manchester United in their opening three matches, and thus having made a very fast start to the campaign. And in taking the lead at Vicarage Road through an Abdoulaye Doucoure own goal, the North Londoners looked on course for a fourth straight win, only for headers from Troy Deeney and Craig Cathcart to seal all three points for Javi Gracia’s Hornets.

As such, there have been many despondent Spurs fans up and down the country in recent times, several of whom have taken to Twitter recently to express their irritation at seeing attacker Son Heung-min play for South Korea in a friendly against Chile on Tuesday.

And given the amount of football the £45 million-rated ace (as per Transfermarkt) has played in the last few months, those Spurs supporters are absolutely justified to be frustrated with the lack of rest the 26-year-old is getting.

Ultimately, the South Korea international played a hugely important role in Pochettino’s side last season in netting 18 goals and laying on 11 assists in all competitions for Tottenham, 12 goals and six assists of which coming in their run to third place in the Premier League.

Thus, it was clear that the South Korea star was a vital part of the squad at the North London club and as such went into this summer’s World Cup in fine form, although he was unable to help his country out of the group stages in Russia, despite playing his part in a famous victory over Germany.

And a matter of weeks later saw Son named in the South Korea squad for the Asian Games, which the 26-year-old helped his country win by beating Japan 2-1 in the Gold Medal match at the start of this month – as such, he has been playing football pretty much non-stop since this time last year.

Add in two recent friendlies for South Korea, in beating Costa Rica on Friday before drawing with Chile earlier today, and the attacker simply hasn’t been able to have much of a rest and certainly not much of a pre-season ahead of the 2018/19 campaign – that is likely to be a problem for Pochettino and Tottenham as the season wears on.

Clearly, Son is an important player for Spurs such have been his efforts in years gone by, but to go into this season with little pre-season and 12 months of continuous football, it’s going to be difficult for him to produce the goods once again – by not playing either of South Korea’s recent friendlies would have at least given him some time to prepare by returning to Spurs.

As such, those Spurs fans are absolutely spot on to suggest that he deserves a rest, and that his game time needs managing in the coming weeks if the 26-year-old is to be able to produce the goods in Pochettino’s side this season.

Tottenham fans… what do you think? Let us know!

Leeds United’s compelling opening to the season has given the supporters plenty of reason to be optimistic about their chances of clinching promotion, but Patrick Bamford’s injury setback has threatened to dampen that optimism. 

That Bamford has hardly featured in Leeds United’s opening fixtures this season is the only consolation the club can take from his 4 month setback. Kemar Roofe has been excellent at the spearhead of the attack to the extent in which Bielsa has predominantly used the £10 million man as an impact substitute.

Leeds have managed to race into top spot without needing to start Bamford, but a dip in form or injury to Roofe would now leave Leeds in an incredibly undesirable situation.

With Bamford out injured for such an extended period of time Bielsa needs to begin pondering how his team could line-up if Roofe is also ruled out.

Bielsa has two youngsters to chose from in Tyler Roberts and Jack Clarke but their lack of experience at senior level is a legitimate cause for concern, so the Argentine may be forced to deploy a more experienced attacking player at centre-forward or even as a false-nine.

And one player who he would be wise to consider through the middle is Ezgjan Alioski after he bagged 2 goals for Macedonia during the international break against Gibraltar and Armenia.

Alisoki (valued at £3.6 million by Transfermarkt) is one of the club’s most dangerous attacking outlets and his best work arrives in the final-third when he manages to evade the linesman’s flag.

A natural left-winger by trade who prefers to go down the line onto his favoured left-foot, Alioski is unproven at centre-forward but his goal-scoring exploits this week suggest he is an option worth considering if Roofe is unavailable.

Whether he would be more comfortable operating as a classic number nine or in a slightly deeper position is a matter for Bielsa to discuss with the Macedonia international, but there’s no doubt he possesses the skill set to do a job in either role.

With a lack of senior options in attack Bielsa will need to maintain a pragmatic mindset throughout Bamford’s absence and turning to Alioski as a solution to the problem may well be in Leeds’ best interests if they reach crisis point.

Leeds fans – thoughts on Alioski at centre-forward? Let us know below!

Swansea have made a solid, if unspectacular, start to their Championship campaign. 

The Swans currently sit in seventh place with three wins, two draws, and one loss from their opening six games in the league.

After suffering relegation from the Premier League last season, their squad has largely been ransacked by other clubs, creaming off the club’s best players. But the Welsh outfit have been able to keep hold of some stars that make up the bare bones of their squad that featured in England’s top division.

One of those men that manager Graham Potter has been able to keep hold of is striker Wilfried Bony. The Ivorian re-signed at the Liberty Stadium at the beginning of last season from Man City, but could only manage eight starts in total due to injury.

The 29-year-old (valued at £9m on Transfermarkt.co.uk) is still recovering from the knee injury that he sustained in February this year, but Potter recently gave positive signs that the striker may return in the coming months.

This would be an immeasurable boost to Swansea, and can rifle them towards the top of the table, providing they can keep Bony fit. However, as history suggests, that is much easier said than done. The striker has been blighted with injuries his whole career, and that has seriously affected his chances of playing for a big team since he left Man City.

Perhaps that is why Swansea were able to keep hold of the Ivorian over the summer, as a club would not want to invest in a player that is so injury prone.

But when Bony is firing, he is one of the most powerful and lethal strikers in England, the greatest challenge, however, is keeping him healthy.

FootballFanCast.com’s Performance in Numbers coverage is brought to you by 5p0rtz. Try 5p0rtz’s Beat the Streak Predictor and you could win £1million! Click here to play.

Theo Walcott returned to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday in an Everton side that were looking to bounce back from their 3-1 defeat to West Ham the previous weekend. Unfortunately for Toffees fans though, Walcott’s old Arsenal habits also returned against his former side.

The Englishman has been in fine form so far this season, netting two goals and providing one assist in Everton’s first six Premier League games, and with he and Richarlison on either wing Marco Silva’s side certainly carry an attacking threat to be wary of.

In the first half on Sunday, it looked like it would be a long day for the Arsenal defence, who struggled to cope with the two Everton wingers.

Richarlison, who returned from a three-match ban after being sent off against Bournemouth, looked dangerous as he brought a number of saves from Gunners keeper Petr Cech and peppered the Arsenal goal with shots.

The £40m Brazilian was impressive in the first 45 minutes, as was Walcott who had a pass accuracy of 94 per cent throughout the game with two key passes, and it looked as though Everton could be on course to take all three points back up to Merseyside if they could just break the deadlock.

However, in the second half the Gunners turned up the wick and the Everton wingers were pinned back. Then just before the hour mark Frenchman Alexandre Lacazette put Arsenal 1-0 up with a fantastic strike after working the ball back onto his right-foot in the box.

Three minutes later, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put the result beyond doubt after Arsenal won the ball back in the Everton half and their quick transition left the Toffees with no chance to get back, although the Gabonese striker looked to be offside as he put the ball into the net.

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Like his passing stats, Walcott’s defensive work was not always the best during his time under Arsene Wenger, but the 29-year-old made an impressive three tackles on Sunday. A couple of the habits that haunted his career in North London did reappear though that maybe we haven’t seen since his move to Everton in January earlier this year.

Walcott’s four unsuccessful touches were a throwback to times where as a young striker or winger his first touch would often let him down. In fact, with the score at 0-0 in the first-half, if his touch from Gylfi Sigurdsson’s through ball was better then he would have given Cech no chance to come out and stop his shot.

This was a potentially game-changing moment and the former England international will be disappointed that he couldn’t produce the goods against his old side. If he and Richarlison start firing again soon though, Everton shouldn’t have too much to worry about this season.

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Rangers’ four-game unbeaten run has come to an end following a shock loss at the weekend.

Steven Gerrard’s side were beaten 1-0 by Livingston, who achieved promotion to the Scottish Premiership just last season.

Dolly Menga caused the damage for the Gers as he scored in the 34th minute at the Tony Macaroni Arena.

Rangers were unable to bounce back, and in truth, never really looked like they would find the breakthrough.

James Tavernier, who was awarded the captain’s armband by Gerrard in pre-season, has featured in all seven of the club’s league matches.

The 26-year-old has netted three goals so far, which takes his overall tally up to 31.

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Unfortunately for the right-back he failed to impress at the weekend and, as a result, fans were quick to criticise.

Some suggested that the captaincy should be stripped from Tavernier, who has been part of the fold at Ibrox since 2015.

Others were just unhappy that he struggled to influence the fixture.

FootballFanCast.com’s Fixture In Focus coverage is brought to you by 5p0rtz. Try 5p0rtz’s Beat the Streak Predictor and you could win £1million! Click here to play.

Only one club was capable of beating Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on more than one occasion last season and that was Liverpool. The Reds triumphed over the Citizens in the Premier League and in both legs of their Champions League tie. This time around, the reigning champions will be keen to ensure that they come away from Anfield with all three points.

On the chalkboard

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Last season, Klopp’s celebrated Gegenpressing system – which sees his side operate an intense, relentless high press and seek to break on the counter with numbers and speed – proved to be City’s undoing. However, a method of negotiating the challenges that Liverpool pose could lay in Chelsea’s recent encounters with the Reds.

The Blues have knocked Liverpool out of the Carabao Cup this season and were only a last gasp Daniel Sturridge screamer away from earning another victory over Klopp’s men days later. One way in which they sought to neutralise Liverpool’s swashbuckling attack was by taking a firm control of the midfield and cutting off the attackers’ supply lines.

City have midfielders of the requisite quality to repeat this trick. Also, in their centre-back options such as Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi, they possess defenders with enough on-the-ball-ability to be able to play around Liverpool’s high press.

City also had these attributes last season though, when they fell to defeat to Liverpool. Therefore, Guardiola must make further changes to the way his side approach the fixture this time around.

The difference

A key aspect of City’s forward play is their attacking full-backs. Guardiola would be wise to curb his full-backs’ aggressive instincts for this match in acknowledgement of the potent threat that Liverpool’s front three pose.

Further, Fernandinho, at the base of City’s midfield, ought to adopt a man-marking role that sees him take James Milner out of the game. Liverpool are hugely reliant upon the 32-year-old’s ability to link the play between midfield and attack. Diminishing Milner’s influence would upset Liverpool’s rhythm and allow City to gain the ascendancy.

Following Aston Villa’s collapse against Preston in the Championship on Tuesday night and the club’s overall lacklustre start to the season, Steve Bruce was removed from the Villa Park dugout.

Aston Villa currently sit in 13th place with 15 points and, while that has not been deemed acceptable by both supporters and the club’s hierarchy, performances as well as results has cost the the 57-year-old his job.

The Villans will now begin their search for a successor with Daily Telegraph journalist and Aston Villa supporter Matt Law hinting at Paulo Fonseca being a potential target for the club, despite the currentÂShakhtar Donetsk boss having no interest in moving to the Championship.

In English football, Aston Villa will always be seen as a giant of a club, but their status as a second division outfit is damaging their appeal.

The acquisitions of Tammy Abraham , Yannick Bolasie, John Terry and Robert Snodgrass — all Premier League quality players — over the last two summer transfer windows shows the Midlands club still have a lot of pulling power, or at least compared to others in the division.

However, if things do not change quickly, any potential snub from Fonseca is unlikely to be the last.

Take a look at Matt Law’s full take on Fonseca and the Aston Villa manager vacancy below…

It’s fair to say that, other than perhaps Paul Pogba, David De Gea is the single most important player at Old Trafford. There was a spell a few years ago in which the Spaniard was arguably the one player preventing the Red Devils from dropping far down the table.

He’s consistently been one of Europe’s best goalkeepers, and for Man Utd, he’s indispensable at present.

The Spaniard’s contractual situation, then, is a real concern for the club. His contract looks set to remain in place until the end of next season, but according to the Telegraph, anything beyond that is uncertain – with De Gea not yet convinced by the project at Old Trafford.

ESPN have since reported that the club are apparently relaxed about the situation, but it’s hard to see why. The Red Devils’ brass must recognise what they’ve got in De Gea, and they need to see that it would be a disaster if he were to leave.

After all, they don’t come much better than De Gea. He’s undoubtedly one of if not the single best shot-stopper in Europe, with the Spaniard often able to pull off unstoppable saves when players are 1-on-1 with him.

He had a tough time during his early days at Man Utd, but he quickly developed and turned into the player that he is today, and he’s only grown in confidence and quality over the years.

Between the aforementioned shot-stopping and the aerial dominance, technical ability and consistency that he shows every single week, it’s fair to say that whoever was brought in to replace De Gea would be a downgrade if he were to leave.

Chelsea were in a similar situation with Thibaut Courtois over the summer, and the Belgian ended up leaving for Real Madrid. Man Utd simply cannot afford to endure a similar situation. Losing him on a free next season would be awful, given his likely huge transfer value, and so this is a lose/lose situation for the club at present – unless they can convince him to extend.

Man Utd fans – thoughts?

Let us know below!

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Tottenham are desperate for a player who can both support Harry Kane and make a difference when Kane is fit, and bringing Memphis Depay back to the Premier League could be the perfect solution.

What’s the story?

Mauricio Pochettino has tried and failed to find an adequate deputy for Kane, as the moves for Vincent Janssen and Fernando Llorente both turned out to be complete failures.

Kane has picked up ankle injuries in the second half of each of the last two seasons, so failure to take some pressure off the talisman could be fatal.

The major problem is that not many great players want to play second fiddle to a nailed on starter, which is why Depay makes perfect sense.

The flying Dutchman has transformed his career playing as a central striker for Lyon, but could also play on the wing for Tottenham, meaning he wouldn’t just warm the bench when Kane is fit.

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Would he be a good signing?

Fans may remember Depay from his time at Manchester United, though his time at Old Trafford wasn’t very memorable. The 24 year-old scored just two Premier League goals in 33 appearances for the Red Devils, and left after just two seasons with the club.

His move to Lyon has been a huge success though, scoring 25 times in 62 Ligue 1 games. The speedy Dutchman’s mixture of strength, balance, speed, skill and a rocket of a right foot make him almost impossible to defend against, something Germany found out last week as he dominated Netherlands’ 3-0 win.

Depay has scored 12 times in 41 Netherlands caps, but has truly become the star of the show for the Oranje since the appointment of Ronald Koeman.

Tottenham will deeply regret not finding some proper support for Kane, and the Depay’s speed and strength make him a perfect fit for the Premier League while his versatility would allow Pochettino to use him in various positions.

The former Manchester United flop is a more mature player now, and with a point to prove could set the Premier League alight.

So, Tottenham fans, would you like to see a move for Memphis Depay? Let us know your thoughts by voting in the poll below…