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Alfredo Morelos scored his first goal in the Scottish Premiership since September to ensure Glasgow Rangers retained their 16-point lead at the top of the table with a 2-0 win away at St. Mirren going into Saturday’s Old Firm game.

Steven Gerrard’s side got off to a sluggish start before Kemar Roofe received a stroke of luck as his deflected effort sailed past helpless Mirren goalkeeper Jak Alnwick.

And Morelos capitalised on a mistake from Joe Shaughnessy to score his third league goal of the season in the first half to cap off what was a comfortable win in the end.

However, it wasn’t all rosy for Rangers, as Jim Goodwin’s side came close to scoring on several occasions, with Jonathan Obika having the better of the chances.

But the Gers’ defence prevailed, due in part to a defensive shift from Connor Goldson, who looked every inch the seasoned veteran as he kept Obika in his back pocket for most of the game.

While Morelos may have ended his goal drought stretching back to the 3-3 draw with Benfica in the Europa League, it was the performance of Goldson at the back that shouldn’t go unnoticed.

The 28-year-old has been in imperious form since the start of the season, as he scored a double against Celtic in the first Old Firm derby of the season, and had an absolutely monstrous game defensively against the Saints. The same can’t be said for Filip Helander but more on him later.

As per SofaScore, he was given a high grade of 7.6 out of ten for his efforts – he won six out of his seven duels overall (85%), made two tackles, blocked two shots, made a staggering seven clearances – more than any other player on the pitch including Morelos – and wasn’t dribbled past at all.

Comfortable at the back and confident in possession, Goldson looked great with the ball at his feet, provided 19 out of 24 passes (79%), only lost possession five times and produced three accurate long balls from nine attempts.

GlasgowLive awarded him with a similar rating of 8/10 and claimed he ‘kept Jon Obika under wraps on a comfortable afternoon’ while Rangers News seemed to agree, insisting ‘St. Mirren looked to pressure the Rangers star and stop him spraying passes forward but Goldson never let it affect his game as he enjoyed a successful night.’

With a clash with Celtic on the horizon, the timing couldn’t be better for Gerrard, who will be well aware his side will have to be at their very best if they are to beat the Bhoys for the second time this season.

Morelos got himself on the scoresheet with the weekend’s Old Firm fixture no doubt playing on his mind but the centre-back deserves immense credit for his defensive shift to ensure the Gers kept a fourth consecutive clean sheet in a row.

AND in other news, Steven Gerrard must drop Glasgow Rangers winger Ryan Kent after rapid decline in form…

Tottenham Hotspur secured their place in the knockout stages of the Europa League by drawing a six-goal thriller in Austria.

Jose Mourinho’s men twice took the lead and substitute Dele Alli’s 86th-minute penalty looked to be enough to seal it until Mamoudou Karamoko fired home in injury time to make it 3-3.

Both Gareth Bale and Heung-min Son got themselves on the scoresheet before being withdrawn with this weekend’s north London derby on the Special One’s mind.

Despite scoring three times, not all of Spurs’ attacking players were at the races against LASK Linz, particularly Lucas Moura, who was abysmal during his 65 minutes.

He was likely taken off because of his display rather than that being a sign of his potential selection on Sunday afternoon.

The £22.5m-rated Brazilian was lightweight in his battles, winning just two on the ground and two aerial, meaning he won only 36% of all duels attempted against the Bundesliga outfit, as per SofaScore.

He also was all over the place in terms of passing, making just nine of 14 touches (64%). An embarrassing number considering goalkeeper Joe Hart managed three more.

This was backed up by the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick, who claimed the wide man “frequently gave the ball away in the first half.”

Moura, who earns around £80k-per-week in N17, failed to record a single shot or cross from the left flank and even lost possession eight times.

The 28-year-old has not started in any of Spurs’ last four Premier League fixtures, being restricted to a total of 30 minutes from substitute appearances, and now he’s going to find it even tougher to break into the XI having let his manager down immensely with his display tonight.

Even in leaking three goals, £42m liability Davinson Sanchez was better, earning a rating of 6.9 compared to Moura’s 6.4. The Colombian colossus also enjoyed a better pass success rate (75%), won 87.5% of his duels and recorded eight clearances, via SofaScore.

In fact, only two players scored a worse rating than the struggling Ajax hero. It would be a surprise to see him involved from the off in a few days time.

AND in other news, 16 y/o record-breaker could become Levy’s biggest success since Harry Kane…

Glasgow Rangers dodged a bullet by not signing FC Nordsjaelland forward Isaac Atanga, after it emerged that Ross Wilson had expressed an interest in signing the former uncapped Ghana U20 international in the summer.

What was the story?

According to Ghanaian outlet Kickgh.com, Steven Gerrard’s side were interested in signing the right winger, who can also be deployed as a forward or on the left wing.

It’s claimed that the Gers had even held talks with the Tigers, although Atanga had also attracted attention from several top European clubs including Alaves, Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Feyenoord, meaning they would have had to battle it out to land the 20-year-old’s services.

Nordsjaelland had reportedly slapped a €9m (£8m) asking price on his head, which would have been a rather expensive pill for Rangers to swallow, as you are about to find out.

Worse than Brandon Barker!

The Ibrox outfit were ready to raid the Danish top flight for Atanga after he struck seven goals and supplied five assists in 35 games in all competitions last season.

Belgian side Brugge were also monitoring the one-time Gers target at one stage, but it appears they cooled their interest whilst Nordsjaelland rebuffed interest from elsewhere as they held firm on their initial asking price and a move failed to materialise in the summer.

However, Gerrard appears to have dodged a bullet, given Atanga’s struggles in the 2020/21 season so far. It’s fair to say that the goals have started to dry up for the young Ghanaian, as he has failed to find the back of the net in the Superligaen since the 1-1 draw with Odense BK back in September.

Meanwhile, Brandon Barker, who’s playing time has been limited in the Scottish Premiership (30% minutes) this season so far, and has mostly appeared as a substitute for that matter, has scored one goal in seven games in the top flight, via Transfermarkt.

By comparison, Atanga, who has featured regularly for the Tigers (72% minutes), has also only scored once in seven league appearances, although this shows that he has a far worse minutes-to-goals ratio than the 24-year-old at the time of writing.

Once praised for his “great start” by Flemming Pedersen last term, the attacking midfielder has struggled for consistency this season, as he started the first three fixtures in a row, before he was benched for the 4-1 win over FC Midtjylland, making a brief cameo as a substitute, which will give the Gers plenty of reasons why they must avoid him at all costs. After all, the last thing they need is another misfiring forward.

When you consider the fact that the £1.8m-rated ace is still largely unproven at the top levels of the game, you do have to wonder why Wilson was ever even interested in him in the first place.

AND in other news, Ross Wilson must reward Glasgow Rangers ace Glen Kamara with new contract…

Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish has opened up on what it’s like being the skipper of his boyhood club and his thoughts on signing a new five-year deal at Villa Park.

The 25-year-old was instrumental at the weekend as Dean Smith’s side thumped Premier League champions Liverpool 7-2, scoring twice and providing three assists during the 90 minutes in a sensational result at Villa Park.

Sunday’s game capped off what has been a wonderful few months for Grealish, having recently signed a new contract with Villa and being selected to play for England once again after making his Three Lions debut last month.

The club have also made moves in the transfer market, bringing in Chelsea’s Ross Barkley on loan until the end of the season to add strength in depth to the midfield.

Despite this, Grealish told Standard Sport that he doesn’t think about pressure at Villa negatively. “I think it’s a good thing to have and there is only one reason why you would have a lot of pressure on yourself,” he said.

“I always put a lot of pressure on myself to perform. Me being the captain, the local lad at Villa, there is a fair bit on me. This is all I’ve wanted to do my whole life.”

Grealish went on to talk about what he felt was best for him at this stage of his career, saying: “Staying at Villa was the best thing for me. I’ve had a lot of pressure. It is something that I thrive off and I enjoy.”

These comments could really please Villa fans. Grealish is not just another player in the first team that will come and go in a few years – he evidently adores this football club.

Being called up to play for the national team is the least that the Villa skipper deserves. The fact that he chose to stay in the Midlands, having been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United, is enough to delight the Villa Park faithful. This is the icing on the cake.

Villa head into the international break in an extraordinarily healthy position – unbeaten in the Premier League with a 100% record, beating last season’s champions and with their captain signing a new deal.

It’s a good time to be a Villa fan. With a long journey ahead of them this season, it will be interesting to see whether they can keep this up until May.

Villa fans, what are your thoughts on what Jack Grealish said? Join the conversation by commenting below…

West Ham United can greater frustrate Premier League rivals Burnley by reviving the east London outfit’s failed efforts to sign RC Strasbourg Alsace defender Mohamed Simakan.

What’s the word?

According to The Sun, Burnley are pushing manager Sean Dyche to make a £15million bid for Simakan after the Clarets’ team of scouts identified the 20-year-old as their favourite defensive target for the January window.

Dyche had been at loggerheads with the Burnley hierarchy and owner Mike Garlick over transfer targets this summer, which allowed West Ham and David Moyes to swoop in and sign Craig Dawson on loan from Watford.

Clarets chiefs continue to disagree with Dyche over the club’s targets approaching the January window, but could convince the manager to pursue Simakan after the Hammers and AC Milan failed in efforts to sign the defender this summer.

France Football, via Sport Witness, have claimed Strasbourg turned down a €17m (£15.3m) offer from West Ham that featured €3m (£2.7m) in add-ons to meet their €20m (£18m) valuation, but the Meinau Stadium side were greedy and convinced themselves that €30m (£27.1m) would be attainable.

Their decision to reject all offers having also snubbed a €15m (£13.5m) bid from Milan frustrated Simakan, as the 6 ft 1 talent was keen to test his hand in a new division and particularly felt that the Premier League would have been an ideal destination.

Moyes can greater frustrate Burnley

Having already frustrated Burnley boss Dyche by signing Dawson, West Ham can greater agitate the Turf Moor outfit by returning to Strasbourg in January in the hopes of signing Simakan as the Ligue 1 side’s form could spark a fire sale in order to gain as much value as possible.

Strasbourg have begun the 2020/21 campaign in almost the worst way imaginable with six defeats from seven games, leaving Thierry Laurey’s side just a point above the automatic relegation spots thanks to a solitary win over basement boys Dijon.

Laurey’s side and Dijon also share Ligue 1’s worst goal difference at minus-10, after Strasbourg conceded a division-high 16 goals in their opening fixtures to the six scored – marking the second-worst offence in the French top-flight behind Dijon’s four goals.

Simakan has done all he can to help inspire a turn of form at the Meinau Stadium with Ligue 1’s 12th-most ground duels won (28), 14th-most tackles (14) and 18th-most interceptions (13) and aerial duels won (14) by a defender thus far, per SofaScore. He has also recorded the most passes (327) and the highest number of accurate long balls (43) by a Strasbourg player.

His efforts with Strasbourg before the current campaign also inspired comparisons with Real Madrid icon Sergio Ramos, his teammate Raphael Varane and Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte by Field Insider.

They lauded Simakan highly due to the Marseille-born defender’s athletic qualities being of a similar style to that of Varane and Laporte, while his decision-making and abilities as a leader can help inspire and motivate teammates in any situation.

AND in other news, West Ham won’t be missing a £22.5m-rated man after his summer transfer after a forlorn debut with his new side.

Newcastle United managed to steal a point from Tottenham Hotspur in the final moments, when a handball call that has caused uproar gave Callum Wilson the chance to equalise, which he took.

However, there is one man on the team who should not have his performance overlooked by that moment: Karl Darlow.

The 29-year-old put in a superb display, making a total of 11 saves throughout the match, including a double stop that denied Harry Kane what would usually have been a certain goal.

One fan referred to him as “God-like”, and there were plenty of other superlatives used, while another fan referenced Magpies goalkeepers of the past.

Despite the 1-1 draw being a positive result, it was felt by one fan that the only positives from the game were the performances of Darlow and Joelinton.

Some Newcastle fans are already looking forward to what else Darlow can achieve, due to just how impressive his showing was.

The Englishman was in the team because of Martin Dubravka’s injury, but one fan has gone as far as to claim that he could usurp the 31-year-old with performances like that.

One has even claimed that he could eventually get ahead of the likes of Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope and Dean Henderson to become England’s number 1.

They may have continued their unbeaten streak, but Rangers will surely feel their 2-2 draw against Hibernian on Sunday was two dropped points.

The Gers enjoyed 70% of the possession at Easter Road, and took 12 more total shots than the home side (19-7). And yet, even despite the dominance, they couldn’t convert their opportunities in front of goal, and a couple of defensive lapses at the other end cost them big time.

Are you a massive Rangers fan? Know everything about the club? Well do you know your Gary Stevens from your Michael Ball? This quiz will separate the loyal from the fake…

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And whilst Ianis Hagi played a key part in Scott Arfield’s lovely team goal, the Romanian struggled to impose him on the game, and ended up losing six of his nine total duels.

After seeing his performance, Rangers fans took to Twitter to share their reactions about the attacker.

A couple of Rangers fans insisted Hagi was miles off the pace, and urged Gerrard during the game to take him off.

The 21-year-old has scored just the once in nine games for Rangers this season, and there’s no doubt Steven Gerrard’s side need a lot more from the talented Romanian.

Getting him to be consistent even during a game could be key to whether the Gers can finally lift the league title, and if he can add goals to his locker like his manager did, then the Ibrox side will fancy their chances of ending their long wait.

The impossible is slowly but surely turning into likely or even expected – Lionel Messi is set to leave Barcelona after almost 20 years of service and playing under the same banner his whole career. And Manchester City are waiting to take him to the Premier League.

The Argentine has now missed the initial pre-training tests at the camp and is likely to also miss Ronald Koeman’s first training session today as well. All of this certainly points towards an almost definite separation.

But Man City should also be really optimistic because according to Terry Gibson, Barcelona themselves would love nothing more than to actually sell the Argentine in the ongoing summer transfer window.

Here’s what he said for Sky Sports’ Transfer Talk podcast: “It’s a sign now that there is going to be a war between Barcelona and Messi. If you’re asking me what is going to happen eventually, I think Manchester City are the favourites now. But part of me thinks (Josep) Bartomeu and Ronald Koeman want to see Messi out of the door now.

“They want to eradicate his wage bill, Luis Suarez’s wage bill, the team needs rebuilding. If Barcelona can get the transfer fee from Manchester City, get Messi off the wage bill and try to pin the blame on Messi, that’s the outcome which suits Bartomeu, Ronald Koeman, and the outcome that will suit Manchester City.”

The Catalans have been struggling with their wage bill and do have enormous financial issues. Selling Messi, however weird that may sound, could potentially throw them a lifeline.

Of course, Pep Guardiola is just waiting for that to happen and then he’ll pull the trigger.

Verdict

There have been various different discussions of whether Messi would fit in at Man City. He’s 33 now and doesn’t exactly run too much and the Citizens are all about intensity, speed and aggression.

But are we really discussing whether adding the world’s best player to a team would indeed make that team better? It does seem like a no-brainer.

It has been a couple of years since Cenk Tosun first joined Everton in the January transfer window of 2018.

Of course, the road has been quite rocky but the Turkish international has managed to record 51 appearances for the Toffees, bagging ten goals and assisting one in the process as well. But now, according to a Turkish outlet Sporx (via Inside Football), the 29-year-old striker is a wanted man as Fenerbahce look to lure him back to the country.

Of course, before heading to the Premier League, Tosun was actually playing for Fenerbahce’s rivals, Besiktas, so this would certainly make for an interesting transfer should it really go through.

The same outlet, however, claims the Turkish outfit are actually looking for a replacement for Lazio linked Vedat Muriqi. If the player does move to Italy, they will certainly need someone to plug that hole and they have identified Everton’s ace to be the right man for the job.

Muriqi himself has been making headlines recently due to his excellent debut season in Turkey. He managed to score 15 goals and provide a total of six assists across 32 league games. For that reason, Tosun would indeed have some big shoes to fill should he really make the move in the end.

At the moment, the same source claims, the 29-year-old would indeed prefer to stay at Everton, seeing how there are two years left on his current contract, but Fenerbahce are hoping for a change of heart sooner rather than later.

Only time will tell though.

Verdict

Carlo Ancelotti does have some quality personnel upfront and maybe losing Tosun wouldn’t exactly be such a blow to the Toffees. Of course, it all depends on whether the price is right and whether they can then use that money to potentially strengthen elsewhere.

With the new season just around the corner and the Premier League as competitive as ever, even the slightest advantage can make all the difference in the world.

Aston Villa finally had something to cheer about on Sunday as they clung onto their hopes of retaining their Premier League status by picking up a valuable three points against Crystal Palace.

Their 2-0 win came courtesy of a Trezeguet brace, but it was another Egyptian who got the fanbase talking.

Indeed, Ahmed Elmohamady had a big impact coming into the team from right-back. The full-back had a hand in the first goal, nodding on a Conor Hourihane free-kick before his fellow countryman applied the finish at the far post.

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His attacking influence didn’t end their either, he was also a key creative force for the Villains, playing three key passes, the joint-highest of any player alongside Jack Grealish and Wilfried Zaha.

Understandably, the fans were full of praise for the full-back, and they took to social media to give him the credit he deserved.

Despite looking like one of Villa’s best players against Palace, the former Hull City man hasn’t been one of the first names on Dean Smith’s team sheet, playing just 58 minutes since the restart before completing a full 90 against the Eagles.

After his strong showing on Sunday, fans called for him to start more often.

With Villa still four points from safety, you can excuse some members of the fanbase being a little more pessimistic, and even though these supporters were thrilled with how Elmohamady played, they were left questioning why the manager wasn’t starting him more regularly.

It remains to be seen if the 32-year-old will be given more chances between now and the end of the season, but the Birmingham-based outfit need to be at their very best if they’re going to stay up, and if Elmohamady continues to play like this, their chances will improve exponentially.