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Knowing their defensive record, Arsenal needed a miracle to keep out an inform Manchester United side on Sunday.

The miracle turned out to be Bernd Leno. While his performance was no David De Gea at the Emirates last season in terms of glamour, it was just as effective. The German ‘keeper stayed strong and left the Red Devils scratching their heads with his heroics.

Leno was exposed to heavy pressure from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men, who wanted to make to make it 10 away wins in a row at his expense. However, the German would not let that happen. He displayed admirable accuracy and concentration throughout the half, tracking the shots impeccably and making smart saves to deny United.

The way he latched onto Romelu Lukaku after the striker glided past him in the first half was quite unexpected. He denied the Belgian twice in the second half, once scurrying off his line to clear danger and later making a pin-point save from him with his feet.

He laid his authority right from the beginning and wouldn’t be bullied by United’s strikers. Leno ended up making four crucial saves to keep the Gunners afloat to go onto win the game quite comfortably at the end.

With another stunning display, Leno’s finally turning into the world-class goalkeeper Arsenal expected from Bayer Leverkusen. The German’s enjoying hot form and if Petr Cech’s given the nod ahead of him against Rennes on Thursday, nobody but Unai Emery will be to blame for the consequences.

Arsenal fans, are you pleased with Leno’s development at the club? Join the discussion by commenting below…

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Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has conceded that he has a selection dilemma ahead of Sunday’s huge Championship clash against Birmingham City.

Villa thumped Derby County 4-0 in the Championship last weekend and will be looking to put another three points on the board against their bitter rivals.

John McGinn is available for Villa once again having served a two-game ban, but Smith has admitted that he is considering selecting the same XI that started against the Rams.

Smith told Club TV, via Villa’s official website:

“At half-time on Saturday we were in the coaches room looking at some clips to show the players before we went into the dressing room.

“One of our analysts showed me our second goal, and the movement and quality of it. I thought straight away, ‘bloody hell, it’s going to be hard to get John McGinn back in this team’.

“But it’s nice to have that problem again. We haven’t had it for a while.”

Villa beat Celtic to the signature of McGinn ahead of the 2018-19 campaign, with the Scot arriving from Hibernian.

The 24-year-old has been in fine form for his Championship club this season, scoring twice and registering eight assists in 30 appearances in the second tier of English football.

As it stands, Smith’s side are 11th in the Championship table, two points off eighth-placed Birmingham ahead of the clash at St Andrew’s.

Manchester City’s Phil Foden scored twice as his team beat Newport County 4-1 in the FA Cup on Saturday and he shouldn’t be worried that he’s yet to make a Premier League start for the champions.

The Stockport-born City fan has made eight appearances in the league so far this season totalling 106 minutes, and most would say that’s simply not good enough for a youngster hoping to become one of Europe’s greatest players. However, last season he played less than 50 minutes of first-team league football, so there’s clearly a progression.

He’s still 18-years-old and for a player to be playing any Premier League minutes at that age is impressive and difficult to achieve. Now apply that thinking to Manchester City, who have one the most gifted squads in world football and it puts the difficulty of the task facing him into perspective.

Would he good enough to play first-team minutes for another Premier League club like David Brooks has done at Bournemouth? Yes. But that doesn’t mean he should leave City in search of instant game time. Foden wants to play at the highest level, and to learn how to get there, he needs to be surrounded by the highest quality players.

Game time is important and it’s a valid point that two of England’s top players Dele Alli and Harry Kane learned their trade in lower divisions, but at City if you get sent out on loan, you very rarely return. The gulf in quality is so much that playing in another team may not even reach the levels of City’s training ground sessions.

Pep Guardiola is arguably the best coach in the world and he’s repeatedly said he wants him to stay at the club. If you’re Phil Foden it’d be hard to turn around and request a move away from your boyhood club and a manager, particularly this manager, who has a plan for your future. If Guardiola didn’t believe in him, he’d have been sent out on loan, but he does and so Foden is right to trust his coach.

At the moment Foden’s doing the right thing. Taking his opportunities when they come and learning from some of the world’s best players while doing so. If he continues to trust Guardiola and perform to the ability the club believe he can, he will become a regular within the next few seasons.

Do you think Phil Foden should seek a loan move to get more game time?

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Wolves are into the FA Cup quarter-finals. A hard-fought victory over Bristol City last time out earned the Midlands outfit safe passage into the last eight of the competition. From this point on, Nuno Espirito Santo and his squad ought to be eyeing up the potential glory that a successful cup run would bring.

Wolves’ return to the top flight has gone spectacularly well so far. The club currently find themselves in 7th place in the Premier League, with 26 games played. Survival is, of course, assured. Breaking into the top six is a distinct impossibility though, as Chelsea still hold an eleven point advantage in that regard.

At this stage of the season, other than the pride of securing the highest possible position at the end of the season, Wolves have little left to play for in the Premier League. Nuno’s side have come to the top flight, proved their quality and silenced their doubters. Now, the manager’s focus should be on making this campaign one that the Molineux faithful will never forget.

In this era of ‘big 6’ dominance, has finishing 7th become as good as winning a trophy? The Pl>ymaker FC squad have their say in the video below…

Wolves have won four FA Cups in their history, their last triumph coming in 1960. To repeat that feat this season would be a truly historic moment for the club. It will be a huge challenge to pull this off, but this season represents as good a chance as they’ll likely ever get.

After tonight’s clash between Manchester United and Chelsea, four of the so-called ‘big six’ will have already been eliminated. Championship clubs Millwall and Swansea City are still in the competition, whilst Brighton, Watford and Crystal Palace are all below Wolves in the Premier League table. If Wolves were to draw any of these sides, then they’d be the favourites to reach the semi-finals – and from there they’ll be desperate to make it to the big day at Wembley itself. 

Wolves are an outfit with lofty ambitions. In the summer of 2018, The Times reported that the club have set themselves the goal of winning the Premier League title within seven years. Their spending in recent transfer windows suggests that they’re serious about achieving that goal. An FA Cup triumph this time around would be a huge statement, and perhaps would convince everyone else that Wolves mean business with their seven-year plan too. 

Nuno doesn’t have a huge squad to call upon. According to Transfermarkt’s stats, only 18 players have featured for Wolves in the Premier League so far this season – comfortably the least of any side in the division. With his ranks already spread so thin, Nuno’s decision to prioritise the FA Cup could come at the cost of their league form.

However, that would be a trade-off worth making. For any manager, especially a newly-promoted one, to sacrifice the Premier League in favour of chasing a domestic trophy is a bold move. It is testament to the good work done by Wolves so far this season though that Nuno is able to make that call with relatively little risk.

The courage to take that step, and to put everything they have left to give this season into the pursuit of FA Cup glory, could be what takes Wolves’ season from being impressive to incredible and cement their place in the history books. After all, aside from Wigan and Portsmouth, they’d be the FA Cup’s first non-Big-Six winners since Everton in 1995.

Andre Gomes made his long-awaited return from injury during Everton’s 3-2 loss against Arsenal, which he posted about on Instagram after the game.

Having suffered a horrific ankle injury against Tottenham Hotspur, the Portuguese midfielder missed a total of 15 Premier League matches, which seems like a short period of time given the nature of the initial issue.

There will have been plenty of joy about seeing him back on the pitch, especially as he didn’t look fazed, putting a hard tackle in on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

He was congratulated by many in the comments, with Yannick Bolasie one of those celebrating his return to the pitch, something he may be hoping to do himself for Everton.

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Indeed, the 30-year-old who is currently on loan at Sporting Lisbon, could be set to return to Goodison Park this summer, with Portuguese media outlet Record, via Sport Witness, reporting earlier this month that his loan club are unlikely to take up the permanent option they have to sign the former Crystal Palace attacker.

The winger has shown that he can be useful player, scoring twice and adding a further five assists across the Europa League and Liga NOS, so will be hoping he can turn things around if he does want to secure a permanent move to Sporting.

Gomes’ original Instagram post, as well as Bolasie’s comment, can be seen below:

Meanwhile, one Everton man was slated by fans after the loss against Arsenal.

Sunderland still have a couple of areas to work on despite securing all three points in their last League One fixture, as things are still far from perfect.

The Black Cats are still in with a good chance of securing promotion to the Championship in the current campaign, but this will only happen if a number of the club’s star players continue to step up their game.

Indeed, the player who holds the key to Sunderland’s promotion hopes is Aiden McGeady. Sunderland managed to secure the services of the winger for just £250,000 back in 2017.

It’s safe to say that the Republic of Ireland international is enjoying one of the best seasons in his career as he continues to excel at the Stadium of Light, with eight goals and six assists to his name.

McGeady has been the source of all things brilliant in the final third for the Black Cats over the past couple of months, as his ability to create and thread the final pass was a big reason behind Josh Maja’s success.

One of the biggest challenges for Sunderland will be to replicate their form in front of goal without Maja in the side, so the winger will play a huge part in providing the likes of Will Grigg, Charlie Wyke and Kaziah Sterling with countless amounts of opportunities, as well as chipping in with his own goals and assists.

He was even given the captain’s armband for a couple of games last month, so his leadership qualities and experience will also come in handy from here on in, as the Black Cats have a number of young players in their ranks.

Sunderland fans – thoughts on Aiden McGeady this season? 

Everton supporters have been pretty satisfied in recent times after seeing their side pick up a credible draw in the Premier League at the weekend.

Marco Silva’s men went into their clash with unbeaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge having beaten Brighton in their preceding league encounter, and thus full of confidence ahead of their trip to the capital. And the Toffees came away from West London with a hard-earned point following a 0-0 draw with Maurizio Sarri’s Blues, a result which kept the Merseysiders ninth in the Premier League table.

Thus, there have been many satisfied Evertonians up and down the country in recent times, although many took to Twitter prior to the game to slate Silva’s decision to keep faith with Theo Walcott, what with the Englishman not enjoying a particularly great run of form.

And after another testing afternoon against Chelsea on Sunday, those Everton fans are so right to suggest that the £110,000-a-week ace (as per Spotrac) seriously needs to up his game, and fast.

Ultimately, the 29-year-old made the move to Goodison Park back in January of this year after seeing things go stale at Arsenal, what with the England international mustering just six Premier League appearances for the Gunners in the first half of last season.

Yet the winger sought to get his career going again by moving to Everton, and it looked like a very good decision from Walcott given he scored three and laid on three assists in 14 league appearances last term, thus helping Sam Allardyce’s side move away from Premier League danger to the dizzy heights of eighth place.

And he even started this term well under Silva with two goals and an assist in his opening three matches, yet things have gone downhill fast for the ex-Arsenal star given he has since failed to net in the Premier League for the Toffees, nine games on from his goal in their 2-2 draw at Bournemouth.

And with just one assist to his name in that time, Walcott is clearly struggling for form in the final third of the pitch, with the winger perhaps getting away with it somewhat given the fine run of form the Toffees are on, having lost just one of their last six league games.

Nonetheless, with Richarlison leading the line brilliantly and Bernard slowly but surely getting to grips with English football, the 29-year-old is going to come under-threat for his place in the starting eleven – Ademola Lookman and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were both on the bench on Sunday to suggest that they are firmly in Silva’s thinking.

At the moment though, the ball does appear to be in Walcott’s court, and if the Englishman can rediscover his early season form, he’ll surely retain his place in the starting line-up.

But given his struggles in recent times, as evidenced by the frustration among some Everton fans, he needs to up his game quickly to remain a feature in Silva’s starting eleven.

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

Aston Villa have already stamped their authority on the Championship this season as Steve Bruce continues to work wonders at Villa Park. 

Indeed, the Villains have now managed to bring in a number of players despite their financial troubles towards the start of the summer. And, it now looks as if they’re eyeing a swoop for an impressive Premier League forward, as according to Birmingham Live, Aston Villa are tracking Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham.

The villains are believed to be keen on signing Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham on loan.

And, it’s understood that the 20-year-old has been top of the list all summer for Villa.

Villa reportedly have one eye on the future, and are targeting young players this month who they believe could sign permanently if promotion is achieved.

Although, Chelsea are also said to be weighing up interest from Italy and the Netherlands.

THE VERDICT: 

Aston Villa have shown that they’re not afraid to make bold decisions under new ownership so far this summer as they managed to fend off Tottenham’s advances for Jack Grealish. And, it now looks as if they’re set to swoop for Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham, who featured in the Premier League for Swansea City last season.

Things are definitely on the up for the Villains as they continue to seek the type of quality that could take them up to the Premier League this season. And, with Bruce eyeing younger players that he could possibly secure on a permanent deal if they win promotion, it shows a lot of ambition.

Newcastle United relinquished their lead twice against Southampton at St Mary’s on Sunday, but it was not hugely detrimental.

Rafael Benitez’s men sit ninth in the Premier League table and have recorded three wins, two draws and three defeats so far.

The Magpies have only suffered a loss once in their last six league matches and are unbeaten in two.

On Sunday, the North-East outfit had a handful of opportunities to nab all three points, but a penalty converted by Manolo Gabbiadini resulted in a 2-2 draw on away soil.

Isaac Hayden put Newcastle ahead inside the first 20 minutes of the game when he struck from the edge of the box to send the ball into the bottom corner.

Unfortunately for the midfielder, his goal did not contribute to a victory, but after he tweeted his post-match thoughts, the fans filled his timeline with plaudits.

Next up for Newcastle is a home clash against Crystal Palace at St James’ Park.

Sky Sports pundit Phil Neville says Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has “carried” the team this season after he scored one and assisted another in their 3-0 win against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.

The 35-year-old has now netted 17 Premier League goals this term and they have helped his side stay just four points behind fourth-placed Manchester City as they look to qualify for the Champions League.

His opener was typically brilliant as he held off Billy Jones on the edge of the penalty area, before swivelling and sending a curling effort into the far corner past the outstretched arms of Jordan Pickford.

Ibrahimovic then assisted substitute Marcus Rashford late on with a well-timed pass, and he has impressed former Red Devils star Neville.

Following the victory, he told Sky Sports: “He has carried them, he really has.

“The goals he has scored, his attitude on the pitch. Jose keeps rotating the team, but he never rotates Zlatan, who plays in every single minute of every single game.

“They will need him to keep scoring goals from now until the end of the season.”

The Swede has already influenced Jose Mourinho’s men to EFL Cup success after scoring twice in the final against Southampton in February, and he will be looking to help them progress to the next stage of the Europa League when they face Anderlecht in the quarter-finals on Thursday.