ASTON VILLA have parted ways with manager Dean Smith after a run of five defeats on the spin.
Meanwhile, Brazilian superstar Neymar reached the landmark of 400 career goals as PSG overcame Bordeaux 3-2 on Saturday night.
The striker now has an impressive 88 goals in 126 appearances for the Ligue 1 giants, as well as 70 international strikes to his name.
Back in the Premier League, Daniel Farke watched Norwich beat Brentford for their first win of the campaign – but the German was axed just hours after the victory.
And Newcastle were watched on by Eddie Howe as they drew 1-1 with Brighton in an exciting late kick-off at the Amex.
We’ve also the very latest from Chelsea who are eyeing a swoop for Attila Szalai in January.
Get all the latest football news, updates and transfer gossip below…
THAT’S A BIT ROUD
Olivier Giroud believes that Karim Benzema’s France return at Euro 2020 caused an ‘imbalance’ in the team.
Giroud, 35, led the line for Didier Deschamps’ side as they won the World Cup in 2018 during Benzema’s international exile.
But Les Bleus boss Deschamps decided to bring the Real Madrid striker back into the fold, with Giroud losing his place in the process.
The AC Milan forward stressed that he has no personal issues with Benzema – but doesn’t believe that his return was a success during the Euros.
He told L’Equipe: “I found out [about Benzema’s return] when the coach announced it,.
“It was Deschamps’ will. I understand it, but I would have liked to have been warned sooner.
“I have nothing against Karim, but his return to the national team created a tactical imbalance and in our way of playing.
“It was something evident in some games, which luckily could be fixed quickly, as could be seen in the Nations League. However, it took time.
“I had no problems with Karim at the European Championship. He has changed and evolved. We ate every day at the same table.”
THE MORE THE MER-RIER
Liverpool have identified former Newcastle midfielder Mikel Merino as an alternative transfer to Jude Bellingham, reports say.
The 25-year-old Real Sociedad ace is enjoying his football in Spain.
The Reds are planning for the future, with key midfield names such as Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcantara and James Milner all in their 30s.
And according to Fichajes.net, Liverpool are interested in Merino because of his ‘versatility and dominant physique’.
The Spaniard also covers a lot of ground, something Klopp likes his players to be able to do.
Borussia Dortmund’s Bellingham was another name on the list, but the youngster could prove impossible to sign due to his price.
NOT PHILING IT
Barcelona reportedly refused to play Philippe Coutinho against Celta Vigo because of his ‘poor attitude’ during his warm-up.
The Brazilian was summoned from the bench and looked set to replace the injured Ansu Fati but was eventually snubbed by stand-in boss Sergi Barjuan.
Fati went down injured just before half-time and Barjuan signalled to the former Liverpool man to get ready.
But the cameras caught the 29-year-old’s somewhat lackadaisical approach to the warm-up which angered his temporary boss, according to Sport.
The Spanish outlet described Coutinho’s approach as ‘excessive laziness’ as he slumped down the line.
And it certainly didn’t do him any favours as he ended up remaining on the bench for the rest of the game.
Alejandro Balde came on to replace Fati instead.
FINALLY COMPENSATED
Ajax have reportedly reached a settlement with Abdelhak Nouri’s family after his tragic collapse four years ago.
The former midfielder, 24, suffered brain damage and requires 24/7 care after he suffered a cardiac arrest in a friendly match against Werder Bremen.
As a result, Nouri’s family had been in talks with Ajax and the club’s lawyers over a compensation package.
But after that produced no results the family was forced to open an arbitration case.
That has now been closed after the family finally reached an agreement with Ajax, report Dutch outlet NOS.
The compensation agreement has reportedly taken into account the costs of Nouri’s care, the loss of his earning capacity and compensation for immaterial damage in the form of compensation.
SHEV OPTION
Serie A strugglers Genoa have appointed former Ukraine coach Andriy Shevchenko as their manager on a deal until 2024.
The 45-year-old former AC Milan and Chelsea striker replaces Davide Ballardini who was sacked on Saturday.
Shevchenko led Ukraine to the quarter-finals of Euro 2020, where they were beaten 4-0 by England in Rome, but left his role in August.
Genoa are currently 18th in Serie A after 12 games, having picked up one win all season.
Shevchenko, who retired from playing in 2012, is Ukraine’s all-time record goalscorer with 48 goals in 111 games.
DEAN DONE
Dean Smith has been sacked by Aston Villa.
The Villans lost their fifth match in a row at Southampton on Friday night and sit 15th in the Premier League table, just two points above the relegation zone.
As revealed by SunSport, Denmark’s national coach Kasper Hjulmand is on their ‘watch list’ of replacements.
Lifelong fan Smith took over at Villa Park in October 2018 and earned promotion via the play-offs in his first season.
He then kept the club in the Premier League for two seasons but struggled to get his team finding form this season following the £100million sale of star man Jack Grealish.
The former captain, now at Manchester City, retweeted Villa’s five-minute highlights reel of Smith’s best bits at Villa Park and wrote: “No1 will ever compare – the real goat,” with a series of red and blue hearts.
CON HAPPY
Tottenham fans aren’t happy by Antonio Conte’s team selection for his first Premier League outing in charge of the North London club.
The Italian has named an unchanged starting XI to the Spurs side that narrowly overcame Vitesse in the Europa League on Thursday.
Reacting to the news of Conte’s first Premier League selection, one fan wrote: “Did he (Conte) not see what we saw on Thursday night… Dier and Davies.”
Another wrote: “(Japhet) Tanganga and Davinson (Sanchez) on the bench as well but we start Dier and Benjamin Davies.”
While one fumed: “The same terrible lineup (as) against Vitesse.”
TOFF ON
Everton have made three changes ahead of their clash against Tottenham today.
Anthony Gordon and Fabian Delph will both start for Everton against Tottenham Hotspur today.
The pair came off the bench in the defeat to Wolves on Monday night and helped lift a woeful performance.
Delph replaced Jean-Philippe Gbamin and helped the Blues hold some control in midfeld while Gordon almost grabbed a late equaliser in a lively performance.
Gbamin and Alex Iwobi are the players to make way.
Mason Holgate also drops to the bench as Lucas Digne returns to fitness and comes back in at left-back, with Ben Godfrey switching to centre-back.
EVERTON VS TOTTENHAM
Spurs have not beaten Everton at Goodison Park since they demolished them 6-2 in December 2018.
The Lilywhites have struggled for victories over Everton in recent years, with their only win coming in July 2020 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, the Toffees were thrashed 5-2 by Watford in their last home game and so will almost certainly be lacking confidence heading into this one.
GUARD OF HONOUR
Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City have never dominated a team like they did Manchester United on Saturday.
The 2-0 scoreline tells only part of the story with United having an embarrassing one touch in the opposition box in the second half.
City boss Guardiola said: “Maybe this was the game that we dominated for the most time. Except for 10 minutes of the second half, the other 80 minutes were absolutely under control.
“In some games we are good but not for as long as this.
“Maybe you are right, it is a game we controlled more specifically. We know each other better, we know the opponent better.”
JTWEETS
Chelsea legend John Terry wasted no time in dishing out a savage put-down to Manchester United fans after he joined Twitter on Saturday.
The Blues icon received plenty of stick from rival fans after signing up to the social media site, but was happy to have a bit of banter in return.
The pick of the bunch was a reply to a Man Utd fan who posted a picture of Terry crying after he missed a penalty against the Reds in the 2008 Champions League final shoot-out in Moscow.
MUFCFanZone shared the photo and wrote: “Welcome to the wonderful world of Twitter! #ThatNightInMoscow.”
And having seen United lose 2-0 at home to bitter rivals City on Saturday, Terry quipped back: “That’s the Man Utd fans after today and realising you’re five years away from catching Chelsea.”
LOOK WHO’S BACK
Middlesbrough have announced Chris Wilder as their new manager a DAY after sacking Neil Warnock.
The 54-year-old will take over from Warnock with immediate effect.
Warnock was sacked after Saturday’s 1-1 draw away at promotion hopefuls West Brom.
The former Sheffield United bosses team sit 14th in the second tier, but are just four points off the play-off places.
The Englishman guided Oxford out of the Conference in 2010 and won League Two with Northampton in 2016.
His most impressive managerial achievement is taking the Blades from League One to the Premier League.
KRO CHANCE
Arsenal Football Club is NOT for sale, according to director Josh Kroenke.
That is despite Spotify billionaire Daniel Ek’s £1.8BILLION bid which is still on the table.
Speaking to Sky ahead of the Gunners’ Emirates clash against Watford on Sunday, Kroenke said: “We get bids for the club all the time, from many different parties around the world and that speaks to the strength of the Arsenal.
“It’s a wonderful institution, Arsenal Football Club is a global brand and my only response to anything is: ‘The club is not for sale, we’re just getting started’.
“We’ve only really owned the club since 2018. We have a young manager, we have a young squad and we’re charting our path to the future.”
OH NO
Manchester United fans were left fuming after Bruno Fernandes’ Twitter account posted a photo of Arsenal players.
The Red Devils lost the Manchester derby on Saturday 2-0, turning in another poor performance leaving fans furious.
But fuel was added to the fire when Fernandes’ Twitter account – likely ran by the same social media manager as Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli – posted a pic of some Gunners stars with the caption ‘Gooood vibes’.
Martinelli’s Instagram had the exact same picture and caption.
One fan fumed: “Bruno Fernandes posting (now deleted) a picture of some Arsenal lads.
“I presume one of them is Portuguese and they share the same social media team. Either way this is a f***ing disaster.
“Never understand why these a*s don’t tweet themselves.”
Another said: “I’m beginning to hate him bro, this entire squads mentality reeks.”
PAUL THE OTHER ONE
Paul Scholes thinks that Manchester United can beat Chelsea – despite yesterday’s latest poor performance against rivals City.
The Red Devils were outclassed during their 2-0 defeat to Pep Guardiola’s side at Old Trafford.
Scholes, however, was nonplussed by the defeat – insisting that it’s nothing new – before tipping United to go and beat Thomas Tuchel’s league leaders later this month.
Appearing as a pundit on DAZN, he said: “Does anything change? Are we really surprised by United being short of City and Liverpool?
“I don’t think they’re massively short of Chelsea though.
“I think they could go and beat teams like Chelsea.
“And I think the same now is going to happen again – we’ll struggle against the big teams, we might go on a run now – beat all the teams we expect to and think we’re a good team again.”
TOON TALKS
Newcastle have opened talks to try and snap up England international Kieran Trippier, it’s claimed.
The Atletico Madrid player has been persistently linked with a return to the Premier League, and St James’ Park has emerged as a possible destination.
Spanish football expert Guillem Balague revealed that discussions have been taking place between the Magpies and the right-back’s representatives.
He told Radio 5Live: “I hear from Atletico Madrid that Newcastle are really interested in getting Trippier and they have started negotiations with his people.
“I am not sure if they will get him or not.”
TODAY’S FIXTURES
There’s four games on in the Premier League today, including a top four clash:
- Everton vs Tottenham – 2PM
- Leeds vs Leicester – 2PM
- Arsenal vs Watford – 2PM
- West Ham vs Liverpool – 4.30PM
SOCIAL STARS
Ronaldo is the most followed footballer on Facebook.
‘SHOULD WIN’
Arsenal legend Paul Merson says his former club ‘should be able to win’ against Norwich later today.
Merson does, however, highlight Watford’s strength on the counter attack.
Writing in his column for Sportskeeda, Merson said: “Arsenal are flying in the Premier League. They’re playing really well at the moment, but they need to be careful against Watford.
“Arsenal got great results against Leicester and Aston Villa, and they’re playing with plenty of pace and energy.
“Watford are a decent team on the counter and stunned Everton last week. Arsenal are building their team very well at the moment, and are nine games unbeaten now. They have a couple of hard matches after Watford, and going into their Liverpool game with a ten-match unbeaten streak would help the team.
“Arsenal had no points in their first three games and weren’t able to score a goal, while Tottenham were at the top of the Premier League table. Spurs have now sacked their manager, and Arsenal are flying – it’s a strange game, this.
“In four weeks’ time, Arsenal could well be battered by Liverpool and we’d be calling them flat-track bullies.
“But we have to give them credit where it’s due, and they are defeating teams that they should be putting away. Arsenal are looking good at the moment and should be able to win this game.”
WRECK IT RALF
Ralf Rangnick is interested in becoming Man Utd manager should Ole Gunnar Solskjaer get sacked, reports say.
According to Bild journalist Christian Falk, Rangnick would be interested in a move to Old Trafford.
The 63-year-old is well known for his role within the Red Bull network.
And he has had big influences on coaches such as Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann.
GOLDEN BOY
Barcelona’s Pedri will be a strong contender to pick up the Golden Boy award after playing over 70 games last term for club and country.
VIE-YING TO GET HIM
Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira wants to hijack Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s move to Italian high-fliers Napoli.
Vieira is a huge fan of the Cameroon midfielder, who is on loan from Fulham and one of the shock successes during Napoli’s sensational campaign.
The Eagles boss is still smarting that he failed to land Anguissa, 25, last summer when Serie A Napoli stepped in to take him and also offered an option to buy from Fulham.
However, Vieira hopes he can persuade his money men to go big next time and land the powerful all-action star.
Napoli will keep Anguissa for the season but Vieira is already looking to next summer and building his squad.
Fulham want around £20million for Anguissa but that fee may come down as he will have only a year left on his contract at Craven Cottage by next summer.
STRAK A DEAL
Newcastle want to sign Lazio keeper Thomas Strakosha when the winter window opens.
The Toon sent their top spy to watch Strakosha play in the Europa League last week.
Strakosha, 26 – who has 16 caps for Albania – can quit the Serie A side at the end of his contract next summer.
He has been with Lazio all his senior career but is looking for a new challenge.
Newcastle hope they can push through a quick switch by agreeing a pre-contract on January 1 and then offering Lazio a low price to land him immediately.
Strakosha wants to move because he has only played in Europa League games this season, while veteran Pepe Reina is the No 1 choice for the league.
The Magpies are in the hunt for a new keeper, with Barcelona shot-stopper Marc-Andre ter Stegen said to be on the radar.
Manchester United’s Dean Henderson has also been mentioned but even a loan would be costly.
NEY BOTHER
Neymar scored a brace tonight in a nervy 3-2 victory for PSG over Bordeaux, taking his career tally to 400 goals.
The Brazilian has an astonishing 70 goals in 115 appearances for his national team.
And tonight took his PSG tally to 88 goals in 126 appearances.
The Parisians were 3-0 up after an hour, but had a late scare as Bordeaux scored two late goals to take it right to the wire.
The win put PSG ten points clear at the top of Ligue 1 on 34 points from 13 games, ahead of closest rivals Lens on 24.
Neymar also dedicated his first goal against Bordeaux to 26-year-old Brazilian singer Marília Mendonça, who died in a plane crash on Friday.
Credit: Reuters BARCA DISASTER
Barcelona wonderkid Ansu Fati, 19, was substituted after 46 minutes during their 3-3 draw with Celta Vigo today due a hamstring injury.
The teenager, who has just signed a contract extension at the Nou Camp until 2026, had only just returned from a nine month spell on the sidelines.
In November of last year, the 18-year-old ruptured the internal meniscus of his left knee and he has since undergone four operations.
He returned to action at the end of September and has since scored three goals in five La Liga appearances.
He also scored the winner in their Champions League tie with Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday, but could now face another month on the sidelines.
Fati opened the scoring for Barca today and the Spanish giants were 3-0 up by half-time.
But Celta Vigo staged a late comeback and drew 3-3, thanks to a 96th minute equaliser from Iago Aspas.
Fati has also had to withdraw from the Spain national team squad for their upcoming fixtures and has been replaced by Espanol’s Raul de Tomas.
Credit: Getty
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
