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An arbitrator has dropped an inside claim on Michael Beloff amid the pending takeover court case between Newcastle United and the Premier League.

Beloff is in line to chair the three-man arbitration panel that will attempt to sort out the ongoing legal disputes between the two parties over the failed takeover of the St. James’ Park faithful by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) group.

Jeffrey Benz, who is an arbitrator and has sat on a number of different CAS arbitration panels with Beloff, has since dropped some interesting insight to The Chronicle on what can be expected of him:

“In cases, Michael comes to a conclusion pretty quickly. He will consider all the evidence before reaching that conclusion and he is not afraid of sharing his views with his fellow arbitrators.

“At the same time, if people disagree with him, he will listen and has been known to be persuaded and change his position. He has copious experience running successful arbitration proceedings.”

Newcastle takeover hope?

Despite the best efforts of the North East club in trying to remove Beloff from the panel due to suspected bias, what can be gathered from Benz’s comments is that the case may not be prolonged but also that he is very careful when it comes to his final decision.

The Tyneside club will want a decision as quick as possible so that it can give them enough time to prepare for what may or may not be a takeover at the Magpies.

However, they will also want that decision to be the right one and will of course hope that Beloff and his panel rule in their favour come the end of the hearing.

Nonetheless, it is interesting to hear how he goes about his business and certainly a positive that those fears of bias may have been quashed.

In other news, find out who Lee Ryder has confirmed the Toon are close to signing here!

West Brom’s survival bid took a drastic turn for the worst on Tuesday night as they were beaten by rock-bottom Sheffield United.

It leaves Sam Allardyce’s men some nine points away from safety, and ultimately, one point against the two sides above and below them is simply not good enough and could suggest that the writing may already be on the wall.

And it’s hardly a surprise given the performances of some of his current players, they’re simply letting him down in these crucial games. None more so than young defender Dara O’Shea.

The 21-year-old has been deployed at centre-back and right-back this season without settling on a true position, which tells you that Big Sam likes him enough to keep him among the starting XI despite some questionable performances – not least against the likes of West Ham and Arsenal in recent weeks.

Once again, he struggled to deal with top-flight opposition, and that’s a worrying sign given the Blades are not just below them in the table but also one of only two teams the Baggies have actually beaten.

In terms of overall performance, the Irishman graded as Albion’s worst defender with a 6.5 rating on SofaScore, and when delving into the numbers deeper, it’s easy to see why.

O’Shea lost possession more than anyone else on the pitch (23 times), meaning he was sloppy and wasteful in giving the ball back to the opposition. Indeed, he lost the ball once every 3.9 minutes and once every 2.5 touches (59 total).

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/west-brom-deadline-day-latest-news-transfer-rumours-and-more” title=”Deadline day is here: Read the latest West Brom news, transfer rumours and more!”]

He was also hugely lightweight in his battles, allowing match-winner Jayden Bogle in frequently along that right flank. O’Shea won 55% of his duels, including just twice on the ground, which only shows how the Blades wing-back dominated him.

In addition to his inability to keep hold of possession, O’Shea was diabolical with his passing, managing to make only 54% of his passes – the worst of any Albion outfield player, via SofaScore.

It begs the question to just why skipper Jake Livermore received so much flak on social media when evidently, it’s that leaky backline that’s causing their downfall again. No team across Europe has conceded as many goals as West Brom.

As BirminghamLive’s Joseph Chapman said in his post-match ratings, O’Shea ‘lost a crucial duel which United scored their winner from,’ and that’s perhaps why they lost such a vital encounter.

The calamitous O’Shea badly let his manager down with such a weak display and that’ll surely have Big Sam pondering his place going into the weekend.

Livermore may be the fans’ scapegoat, but it was Albion’s defender who looked completely out of sorts on Tuesday night.

AND in other news, West Brom eye bargain deal as Big Sam reveals “good news”…

After a hugely disappointing defeat to the Premier League’s bottom side in midweek, there are big questions that Aston Villa manager Dean Smith will have to answer before his side take on Wolves on Saturday evening.

Villa were consigned to a damaging loss by Sheffield United thanks to a goal from David McGoldrick, and in truth they never looked like hurting the Blades – they managed just four shots on target in the entire match.

While Bertrand Traore was hardly the biggest culprit in Villa’s defeat, and did come up with a couple of promising moments including a weaving run, the Burkina Faso international has just looked short of form in recent weeks.

From mid-December to mid-January, the summer signing from Lyon went on a run of four goals and one assist in just six Premier League games, but it has since been downhill from there.

The next eight games have resulted in just one goal and one assist, and with Trezeguet really pushing for a recall to the starting line-up after making his full return to fitness from injury, surely enough is enough when it comes to Traore.

The tricky right winger just hasn’t delivered the goods over the past couple of months in terms of end product, and there’s only so many flashes of brilliance that Smith can accept.

An eye-catching run here and there isn’t enough to keep your place in a side and, coming after a dismal defeat to Sheffield United, the time has surely come for Smith to make a ruthless call on his big-money signing from last summer and drop him from the team.

The £17.5m-rated man could potentially do with just being taken out of the firing line for now, especially with Villa’s form in recent weeks being topsy-turvy to say the least – while they may have beaten Arsenal in their past six games, they’ve only picked up two wins in that run and have lost three times.

Traore could well be the fall guy for today.

Meanwhile, Villa could find a perfect strike partner for Ollie Watkins in this star…

When Chelsea set their eyes upon Arsenal’s team sheet at the Emirates on Saturday evening, they will have lit up.

They were missing a host of senior players including new summer signing Gabriel, their captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and former Blue, Willian.

However, if they took added confidence from that, it clearly didn’t show on the pitch.

This was arguably one of Chelsea’s worst displays of the season as they missed the chance to go second and suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat. Frank Lampard was understandably angry at full-time – this was a display that lacked quality, desire and urgency.

They were playing a team who hadn’t won in seven Premier League games so on paper, they should have come away with all three points. Instead, they were battered and bruised by a heavily improved Arsenal side.

One of the worst performers was Reece James, someone given a torrid afternoon by the rampant Kieran Tierney and Gabriel Martinelli.

Time and time again the full-back was beaten and caught out of position, eventually giving away a penalty after contentiously bringing down Tierney. It was a moment that summed up his game and it didn’t get better.

James is known for being a fabulous crosser but on this occasion, he was poor in attack too. The England international succeeded with just 12.5% of the balls he delivered into the area.

Furthermore, the 21-year-old conceded two fouls and lost possession a mammoth 17 times. To put things simply, this was a horrible outing for the youngster.

To make matters even worse, James failed to win any of the ground duels he contested, being bullied down Chelsea’s right-hand side.

It was a surprise that he wasn’t withdrawn at half-time but the defender did combine more nicely with Callum Hudson-Odoi when he was introduced at the break. Unfortunately for Lampard, it was too little too late.

James hasn’t done too much wrong this season but this performance has to draw questions about his place in the side. Cesar Azpilicueta may have lost a yard of pace, but he is still capable defensively.

The manager has some thinking to do.

According to a report by 90min, Liverpool are monitoring West Ham midfielder Declan Rice and if he were to join, he could be the perfect man to succeed Jordan Henderson in Jurgen Klopp’s side.

What’s the word?

According to 90min, Liverpool and Manchester City have joined the race to sign the Hammers midfielder, with West Ham reportedly willing to sell him for just £50 million, which is £30 million less than they demanded for him last summer when Chelsea were heavily interested.

Jordan Henderson’s heir?

Rice has established himself as one of the best young players in the Premier League in recent years and despite being just 22-years-old, he regularly captains West Ham’s team in the absence of Mark Noble.

The England international has made 130 appearances for the Hammers’ first-team now, contributing three goals and five assists in that time.

The former Chelsea youngster’s performances both last season and this season have been extremely consistent, averaging a 7.01 and 7.02 rating across for his appearances in the top-flight.

He has also shown himself to be adept at playing as a centre-back and a defensive midfielder, and given both Henderson and Fabinho have featured in defence for Klopp’s side so far this season, it seems as if he would be a good fit with the Merseyside club.

From a defensive perspective, Rice looks to already have the edge on Henderson, as he has averaged 1.8 tackles and 2 interceptions per game this season, compared to the Liverpool captain’s 1.3 tackles and 1.4 interceptions in the Premier League season.

Whilst the 30-year-old plays significantly more passes per game than Rice, this can be attributed to Liverpool’s style of play, and again, the West Ham man has a higher pass success rate and plays more key passes per game than Henderson.

Earlier this season, David Moyes was full of praise for his midfielder, saying:

“He is such an improved player. I really think he is doing a great job as a player and we are building up hope that he will be an outstanding captain.”

Therefore, Rice appears to have very similar attributes to Henderson, and whilst the former Sunderland man will have no intention of losing his starting spot at Liverpool anytime soon, if Michael Edwards were to bring him to Anfield, he could be the perfect man to succeed the Reds’ captain in the future.

And, in other news… Liverpool should swoop for “extraordinary” 20 y/o dubbed the new Neymar

After selling Diogo Jota in the summer, it looked as though Wolves’ ambitions had wilted somewhat.

Of course, they still had a very promising squad, but selling one of their star men was a cause for concern.

Fortunately, Nuno Santo’s men have swatted away any remaining doubters this term and sit in seventh place.

On the chalkboard

One the main reasons Wolves have been so good this season is thanks to their dynamic midfield.

Leander Dendoncker has flirted with defence and attack, even being favoured over Ruben Neves against Arsenal.

He and Joao Moutinho were excellent in north London and in helping their side to beat the Gunners, it proved they don’t necessarily need Neves to play all the time.

The most consistent performer, however, has been the aforementioned Moutinho.

In 2020/21, he is completing passes at a rate of 87.5% while performing 2.2 successful tackles a match in the league.

He is the perfect deep-lying midfielder and lays the foundations from which Wolves attack.

His successor?

Wolves fans still get giddy when they talk about Moutinho playing for them. A player with 129 caps for Portugal to his name, he has been one of the stand out midfielders of the last decade.

However, at the age of 34, he is no spring chicken and Nuno will need to start thinking about how they can replace him in a few years time.

Well, the man to do so could be Bruno Jordao, someone Wolves have to unleash once he returns from his loan spell with Famalicao in Portugal.

The 22-year-old signed from Lazio last season but on his debut, he picked up a nasty ankle ligament injury that ruled him out for a succession of months.

Afforded the opportunity to gain regular minutes on loan, he is now thriving.

Described as a “superb technician”, he has shown evidence of being able to produce similar numbers to Moutinho in Famalicao’s midfield.

For instance, he is an assured passer and also knows how to intercept and defend well. In Liga NOS this season, Jordao has managed 1.4 tackles and 1.4 interceptions a game.

Speaking recently, he admitted: “Defensively I am aware of what is happening on the whole field during the whole game so I can position myself in a really good way and with the ball. My vision and my control and my shooting on the left side of the field can create good chances for the team to score. They are my best qualities.”

It’s safe to say that sounds a lot like Moutinho.

In other news, check out why Ruben Neves could become a headache for Wolves…

Manchester City continue to be linked with Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland and the 20-year-old wonderkid can be the man to solve a big problem for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

The Citizens look set to lose legendary striker Sergio Aguero in the summer when his contract expires, although injury problems in recent seasons have suggested that he is no longer the threat he once was.

City have kept faith in Gabriel Jesus in recent seasons, perhaps in the hope that the Brazilian could become Aguero’s natural successor, but his goal return this season, in particular, has been nowhere near good enough.

The 23-year-old has just three goals in 10 appearances in all competitions this season, whilst he has failed to find the back of the net in any of City’s last five games in the Premier League.

In the Citizens’ most recent game with West Bromwich Albion, in a game where Guardiola’s side created a whole host of chances, Jesus failed to register a single shot on target, which again emphasises his lack of predatory instinct.

Therefore, it could definitely be argued that City would be a lot more free-scoring if they were able to sign a natural goalscorer such as Haaland, as they are currently underperforming when it comes to the number of goals they have scored in relation to their ‘expected goal’ tally.

Since joining Dortmund from RB Salzburg, the Norwegian international has featured 32 times for the Black and Yellows, in which he has contributed an incredible 33 goals and six assists.

The prolific 20-year-old is likely to attract interest from the majority of Europe’s elite, but if City can secure his signing, he would surely help them become a lot more clinical in front of goal.

Haaland’s old teammate, Maximilian Wober, was full of praise for the young striker after he scored a hattrick on his Champions League debut back in 2019, saying:

“He is phenomenal. With his height, to be so nimble and have such command of the ball. It’s really hard to play against him in training – you just have to foul him. Once again he proved why he’s definitely going to become one of the best strikers in the world.”

Therefore, perhaps the £90 million rated star can be the man to bring an end to what has been something of a nightmare for Guardiola with Jesus at City in recent times, with the Brazilian nowhere near the level he needs to be when it comes to scoring goals for the Citizens.

And, in other news… 100% duels won: MCFC beast was Guardiola’s one positive vs WBA

Carlo Ancelotti must trust Anthony Gordon to fill the void created by James Rodriguez’s potential injury when Everton visit Southampton on Sunday.

The Blues look set to travel to the south coast without their sensational summer signing after boss Ancelotti confirmed the Colombian had sustained an issue early into last week’s Merseyside Derby during a collision with Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk.

Rodriguez has been a vital mainstay of the Toffees line-up since his arrival at Goodison Park, with Ancelotti calling on the playmaker to open each of his side’s five Premier League fixtures. The Italian’s trust has also been well placed, with the 29-year-old either scoring, assisting or pre-assisting 10 of Everton’s last 12 top-flight strikes.

“Unfortunately, James had a problem during the game [against Liverpool],” Ancelotti told EvertonTV.

“He had a mistimed tackle with Virgil van Dijk at the beginning of the game and I think he will not be available for the game against Southampton.”

Should the suspected issue sideline Rodriguez and force Ancelotti into altering his favoured starting line-up, the Italian must look to award Gordon his Premier League season debut having been impressed by what the 19-year-old has offered during his appearances in the Carabao Cup.

Gordon has also displayed his enthusiasm to play in the top-flight to Ancelotti, who noted last month how the young talent banged on his door after being overlooked during the opening weeks of the league campaign.

“He wanted an explanation and so I explained to him the squad is really competitive and sometimes it can happen that the players are not involved,” Ancelotti said, via quotes by the Liverpool Echo.

“But this doesn’t mean I don’t believe in them. I believe, and so he had the opportunity against Salford to show us his quality, he took the opportunity because he played really well.”

“I love, I love this. It means they are really interested to do a proper job,” the former Real Madrid coach added when asked about Gordon coming to see him.

Ancelotti has plenty of reasons why Gordon’s performances in the Carabao Cup should excite both the Everton coaching staff but also their supporters, while displaying the potential he can bring to the Premier League during any time without Rodriguez.

Over his time on the field against Salford and Fleetwood Town, Gordon has created a remarkable average 5.5 chances per game with 3.5 shots and 2.0 key balls, while making 1.5 successful dribbles with a 50 per cent success rate and winning 5.0 of his ground duels, per SofaScore.

His output led Gordon to record two assists in the Second Round clash with Salford before creating Alex Iwobi’s Third Round strike away to Fleetwood to put Everton into a 3-1 lead.

The more he plays, the better Gordon will become and further push on from the exciting talent David Unsworth hailed him for being during the winger’s time in the Toffees’ Under 23s.

“[Everton fans] should get excited about him,” Unsworth said, via quotes by the Liverpool Echo following Gordon’s first-team breakthrough during Project Restart.

“But it is our job to give him the information, day-to-day, week-to-week, game-by-game and month-by-month to ensure he fulfils his potential because what we’ve got at the moment is a young, exciting player with bags and bags of potential who we feel has a great chance of being a Premier League footballer.”

AND in other news, Everton are yet to open talks with a key club figure who’s set to be out of contract next summer.

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former footballer Carlton Palmer has made a major claim on Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl.

The Austrian manager’s side have enjoyed a superb start to the 2020/21 Premier League campaign, currently sitting in fourth position in the Premier League.

The South Coast side have bounced back superbly after losing their first three games in all competitions this season, picking up excellent wins against Everton and Aston Villa, as well as a superb 3-3 draw against Chelsea.

However, Palmer still seemed to think that the 53-year-old has room for improvement with the Saints, as he told FFC:

“The boy at Southampton, I still think he’s got a lot to prove. He’s done well so far.”

The Saints showed a sign of things to come with their form in the Premier League following the restart last season, with Che Adams and Danny Ings in particular impressing, and their form this season has also been superb.

Since being appointed in December of 2018, the former RB Leipzig manager has taken charge of 78 matches at the Saints, in which he has won 31, drawn 16 and lost 31, resulting in a PPM of 1.40 (per Transfermarkt).

The Southampton board were certainly justified in their decision to keep faith in Hasenhuttl last season when things were not going the Austrian’s way as although it was for less than a day, the Saints’ win against Newcastle United recently took them top of the Premier League table for the first time in their history (per BBC Sport).

It will be interesting to see if Hasenhuttl can take Southampton to another level and keep them challenging at the top of the table, although they may struggle to keep hold of him if recent reports linking him to the Manchester United job are to be believed.

Many Everton fans have been lauding Wilfried Zaha as The Times have reported that Crystal Palace are prepared for his possible departure along with Christian Benteke, while also holding an interest in signing Said Benrahma, Odsonne Edouard and Ismaila Sarr in the summer transfer window.

Indeed, Zaha has been linked with a move away to Goodison Park and reportedly wants to join up with Carlo Ancelotti.

The 27-year old is a man that could get Toffees off of their feet, averaging a relatively impressive 4.3 dribbles and 1.6 shots per game in the Premier League in the 2019/20 season, according to Whoscored.

Zaha has been a key figure for Roy Hodgson’s team in the top flight, scoring 37 goals and making a further 38 assists in a total of 202 matches over the last seven consecutive terms, as per Transfermarkt.

These EFC supporters lauded the Ivory Coast international on Twitter, with one Blue even claiming that he is a ‘match winner:’

Evertonians, would Zaha be a good signing? Comment below!