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After struggling for goals last season in their return to the Premier League, it was no surprise to see Aston Villa splash the cash to bring in a new centre-forward in the summer transfer window.

Dean Smith’s side had managed just 41 goals in their 38 league games, with Jack Grealish their top-scorer with ten. Wesley, was Villa’s highest-scoring striker and he only netted six times in all competitions.

So when the Villans brought in Ollie Watkins from Championship side Brentford, the hope would have been that he could slowly adjust to life in the Premier League and then eventually prove to be a decent striker at this level.

And whilst his form has tailed off somewhat in the past few weeks, there’s no questioning that he’s been an absolute revelation for Smith.

Speaking earlier this season, The Athletic’s Gregg Evans waxed lyrical about the kind of transformation Villa have had thanks to Watkins’ arrival.

He said: “I really think he’s making a big difference actually, to Villa, I think that he’s given them a new dimension and his hold up play is great, he creates space for others and that’s helping the midfielders flourish.”

The £27m-rated machine has bagged eight goals in 19 games in all competitions, and showed himself to be a real big-game player already.

He scored a hat-trick in that memorable 7-2 thrashing of Premier League champions Liverpool, before following that up with a brace against Arsenal in a 3-0 win at the Emirates.

Given that Watkins had never tasted top-flight football before this season, there was a massive element of risk with the 25-year-old’s signing. But the English ace has confounded all expectations by taking to the Premier League like a duck to water.

And after he helped Villa to a superb 3-0 victory against Crystal Palace after being down to ten men, Smith raved: “I said to them at half-time in the dressing room, ‘There’s nobody I could choose out of the Premier League to lead the line with 10 men’ with Ollie Watkins. I thought he was outstanding today and the only thing missing was his goal.

“Listen, the numbers he produces in terms of his high-speed running and sprinting distances is incredible. The lads really appreciate the work he puts in.”

Villa struck transfer gold by signing Watkins in the summer.

Meanwhile, Villa must land this Scandinavian starlet…

After suffering a disappointing 3-2 defeat to Burnley last time out, Aston Villa will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they travel to St Mary’s to take on Southampton.

Dean Smith’s side will want to pick up some momentum as soon as possible as they search for a surprise European place this season, and face a Southampton side who are coming off the back of a timid loss of their own, losing 3-1 to Arsenal.

But whilst the Saints will look to Danny Ings for inspiration – the England international has been in fine form once again this season with seven goals in 14 Premier League games – Villa should be just as wary about Stuart Armstrong.

The Scotland international has looked in impressive form in recent weeks, and capped off a fine individual performance against Arsenal with a well-taken goal after a James Ward-Prowse corner.

His former boss at Celtic, Brendan Rodgers, raved about Armstrong’s abilities when the versatile ace made the move south of the border to join Southampton.

He said: “What sets him apart from a lot of midfield players is he has an instinct to arrive in the box and score. I think with that opportunity, with him being really aggressive, he can go and hopefully take that because we all know he can get goals.”

The £50k-a-week ace will no doubt fancy his chances of causing Matty Cash some problems down the Southampton left, after really making life difficult for Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin, who’s one of the quickest players in the Premier League.

And when you factor in the fact Cash arguably produced his worst performance in a Villa shirt since his summer arrival from Nottingham Forest against Burnley, Smith will surely be worried that the Saints’ in-form winger could cause his full-back yet more problems.

So whilst Ings might be Southampton’s star attraction, Villa must pay close attention to Armstrong on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, this Aston Villa star was Dean Smith’s only silver lining vs Burnley…

Manchester United have a chance to get back to winning ways when they take on West Ham at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side go head-to-head with the Hammers in the FA Cup tonight. United have only won one of their past four matches, thrashing Southampton 9-nil before being held to a six-goal thriller by Everton.

Eric Bailly remains a major injury doubt, whilst the Red Devils will be without Paul Pogba for the foreseeable future after the midfielder was injured during the draw with Everton.

Bearing this in mind, here is Football FanCast’s predicted starting line-up, which sees Solskjaer ring four changes from the thrilling 3-3 draw with the Toffees.

Solskjaer is set to hand Dean Henderson a rare start with the Englishman expected to replace David de Gea between the sticks, having kept four clean sheets in ten appearances across all competitions this season.

The Norwegian could have somewhat of a selection dilemma in defence with Bailly a major doubt and Victor Lindelof clearly struggling from a lingering back injury.

This means that Axel Tuanzebe could be given another chance to impress alongside club captain Harry Maguire in the heart of the defence, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka keeping his place at right-back.

Alex Telles could also come in for Luke Shaw, having been left on the bench for the last three Premier League games in a row.

Elsewhere on the pitch, Fred came off the bench to replace Pogba against Everton, and the Brazilian could be handed a starting berth next to Scott McTominay behind Bruno Fernandes in the advanced playmaker position.

Anthony Martial’s struggles in front of goal this season – he’s managed just four goals in the top-flight – means Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood are most likely to resume their roles on the wings with Edinson Cavani leading the line.

AND in other news, Ed Woodward must tie down Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes to new deal…

Ex-Liverpool defender Jose Enrique wants to see Curtis Jones line-up alongside Fabinho and Jordan Henderson at the back-end of this season, with Thiago dropping to the bench.

Jones netted his fourth goal of the season to give Liverpool the lead at Sheffield United on Sunday and his overall performance was hailed as ‘outstanding’ by Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher (via The Boot Room).

The local midfielder has made a meaningful first-team breakthrough this season, grabbing the opportunity presented to him by injuries with both hands.

He has started 11 Premier League matches and four of Liverpool’s six Champions League ties (via Transfermarkt).

Enrique explains his bold Jones call

“In our current formation, I like him on the left of the midfield three,” he wrote in his Empire of the Kop column.

“This way he can cut in and shoot with his right-foot. He also helps out Robbo defensively and opens spaces for other players.

“I’d love to see him with Fabinho holding and Hendo on the right at the end of the season – even though I also love Thiago – who I still think is better at no.6.”

Transfer Tavern verdict

There is no doubt that Jones has made enormous strides this season, but there is much more to come from Thiago.

In fact, when he played alongside Fabinho and Henderson away to Everton – in close to a full-strength Liverpool side – he was man of the match. This was a glimpse of what he will be able to do when the team regains its balance.

Fabinho, Henderson, Thiago will likely be the first-choice trio going forward, but Jones has climbed high enough in the pecking order to ensure he will still get plenty of minutes.

In other news, fans rule out Oxlade-Chamberlain turnaround!

Reports emerged earlier this week suggesting Wolves are interested in Club Brugge defender Odilon Kossounou.

Kossounou to Molineux?

The 20-year-old has caught the eye with the Belgian Jupiler League outfit, having accumulated over 3,000 minutes in 41 appearances.

Kossounou, who is valued at £7.2m by Transfermarkt, spent six months with the Swedish side Hammarby but despite only making nine appearances, this encouraged Brugge to make the move for him in 2019.

Hammarby’s sporting director has now responded to these reports as Liverpool, Inter Milan and Arsenal are also believed to be interested in his services. It appears the Swedish club’s chief is a big fan of the rising talent.

“No, I’m not surprised (about interest from big clubs) because I followed him when he was here,” he told Fotbollskanalen. “We have followed him down in Belgium and his progress at Club Brugge.”

Transfer Tavern Verdict

With Wolves having conceded 32 goals from 25 games this season, it is sensible for Nuno to look to the market for a new centre-back in the summer.

However, they face incredibly stiff competition to capture him and whether superagent Jorge Mendes can provide the pulling power to tempt the Ivorian centre-back to Molineux – remains to be seen.

It would be prudent for Nuno to compile a shortlist with several individuals for the role, with clubs expected to be cash-strapped due to the pandemic.

In other news, Wolves could capture European wonderkid for bargain six-figure sum next summer.

Dean Windass spoke exclusively with Football FanCast and hailed Sergio Aguero as a legend of Manchester City, even if he leaves this summer.

The Argentine is Manchester City’s all-time record goalscorer with 256 goals in all competitions and a staggering 180 in the Premier League.

Aguero scored the goal which won Man City their first-ever Premier League title with a 94th-minute strike against QPR in the famous 3-2 win on the final day of the 2011/12 season.

The striker joined City from Athletico Madrid in 2011 for just £36 million and has easily become one of the club’s most loved and talented players in their history.

Despite being 32-years-old, Pep Guardiola still relies on the striker when fit to be the talisman of the team and in doing so he keeps Gabriel Jesus out the side.

Jesus was signed to be the heir to Aguero’s throne, however, it hasn’t gone to plan for the Brazillian as he’s been unable to show good enough form to dislodge Aguero as the main man at the Etihad.

There have been rumours that City’s leading goal scorer will depart for pastures new as he enters the twilight years of his career after giving his best years to City and helping them become a dominant force in the Premier League.

Dean Windass exclusively told Football FanCast that he believes Aguero has given his all to City, but Jesus would not believe to leave the same legacy.

He said: “He’s not past his sell-by date but I think he’s done enough for Man City to walk away as a legend.

“Jesus can’t walk away as a legend. They’ll say he was a great player, I’m not saying he isn’t a great player because he is, but not in the same bracket as Aguero.

“So, when Aguero leaves the club, like Vincent Kompany, he’ll leave as a legend.”

Aguero, who reportedly earns £230,000-a-week, has been at the Etihad for 10 years now and will turn 33-years old later in June. It may be the right way for both to part ways, especially if City can win the league and their first-ever Champions League.

After David Silva left last year without saying goodbye to the fans in person City will be desperate for fans to get back into stadiums to give their best every striker a good send-off.

Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has confirmed that long-term absentee Robin Koch has returned from injury and is ready to make his comeback to Premier League action.

Speaking ahead of Leeds’ clash against Chelsea on Saturday afternoon, Bielsa confirmed: “Jamie Shackleton is available now, Robin Koch also, Gaetano Berardi also. The players not available are Pablo Hernandez, Adam Forshaw and Pascal Struijk.”

The return of the £17m-rated Koch is particularly significant given that he started the first 11 Premier League games of his Leeds career, with Bielsa clearly already taking to the German newcomer.

Since then, the likes of Struijk and Luke Ayling have had to do jobs at centre-back given the injury problems suffered by the likes of Liam Cooper and Diego Llorente as well, so it really has been a makeshift back-line for the Whites for a large part of this campaign.

Vincenzo Grifo, Koch’s former teammate at Freiburg, waxed lyrical about his ability to The Athletic, saying: “He’s very vocal at the back and he loves to have the game in front of him. He’s an outstanding organiser. His improvement is incredibly rapid, including in the national team, and he’s on a path to become a world-class player, a monster centre-back.”

Former Whites defender Tony Dorigo dubbed him the “rock” in Leeds’ central defence earlier in the season, and so it must have been seriously frustrating for Bielsa to be without one of his key personnel for so long.

His return to fitness will undoubtedly have Bielsa buzzing, and whether it’s coming on for one of Cooper or Llorente, or being a part of a back three, the added option will be music to the ears of the Leeds manager.

Meanwhile, Leeds should drop this £70k-a-week disaster against Chelsea…

Glasgow Rangers boss Steven Gerrard has suffered a fresh blow ahead of their crucial Europa League tie this evening…

What’s the latest?

Speaking ahead of kick-off, Gerrard confirmed that midfield favourite Ryan Jack would not be involved as the Scottish Premiership champions host Slavia Prague, even though he is seemingly close to a return to action. Jack missed the first-leg tie, but Gerrard said at the time that he could have played but that the Rangers staff chose not to risk him.

Scotland were keen to have Jack as part of their squad, which Steven Gerrard has spoken to Steve Clarke about, which suggests he is close to a return, but tonight’s game, unfortunately, comes too soon for Jack to feature in, suggesting he’s had a bit of a setback, given that he was seemingly fit to play last week.

Gerrard said, via the Daily Record:

“I had a chat with Steve Clarke and obviously that will remain private.

“We’ve been in touch over Ryan and a few other players for some time now but I’m not going to divulge what gets said in the conversation. I don’t think that’s fair or respectful.

“We will make a decision on the weekend when we need to but he is ruled out for tomorrow’s game.”

The 29-year-old missed last week’s 1-1 draw in the Czech Republic and is now a major doubt for the Old Firm derby this weekend.

Bad news for Gerrard

Even though they’ve secured their first title in ten years, this update will come as a major setback for Gerrard and Rangers.

Jack has emerged as a regular starter when fit, with 16 of his 19 league appearances coming from the off, whilst he also started the big group games against Standard Liege and Benfica.

In terms of central midfield options this season, the Scottish powerhouse tops the charts for average WhoScored rating (7.03) ahead of veteran Steven Davis (7.01), Glen Kamara (6.93), Scott Arfield (6.67) and Bongani Zungu (6.26), so evidently, he’s Gerrard’s best man when available.

Speaking about the situation last week, the 40-year-old revealed he was “upset” by the injury and reinforced Jack’s influence to the side. He added: “He’s so important to us.”

Admittedly, he’s vital to Rangers’ fortunes – for creativity in the middle, there’s no one better as he’s managed one key pass per game, which is more than the aforementioned quartet of alternative options, whilst 1.1 tackles and 1.1 interceptions per match suggest he’s just as prominent defensively – only Davis betters such returns, via WhoScored.

It is this ability to read the game and snuff out any danger which could prove to be a big miss on the night, especially in such a huge fixture.

Ex-Gers star Thomas Buffel recently compared him to Barry Ferguson, which is high praise indeed. He told The Sun: “His consistency levels are incredible and he is the one player the manager can always rely on. He really reminds me of Barry — and that is the highest compliment I can pay him.”

If Gerrard’s side loses tonight, then their European dream is over for another season and their chances of finding a way past the Czech champions will be all that more harder without the industrious Jack pulling the strings in the engine room.

AND in other news, Bye-bye Kent: Rangers must swoop for magical 18-goal gem, he’s made 109 dribbles…

A number of Liverpool fans have been reacting negatively to training ground footage which emerged over the weekend.

The Reds are in the middle of a 20-day break without a game, having won 1-0 away to Wolves last Monday night.

With Jurgen Klopp’s men no longer in the FA Cup, and with an international break to come next week, they won’t play again until the meeting with Arsenal. The date and time for that match hasn’t yet been confirmed, but it appears likely to be Saturday April 3rd, due to their Champions League clash with Real Madrid the following Tuesday.

[freshpress-quiz id=“313155″]

Liverpool have been working hard on the training ground despite their lack of action, looking to find some freshness and confidence after a hugely disappointing campaign.

On Saturday, training footage emerged of a number of players competing in a football tennis game, with the likes of Andy Robertson, Thiago and Mohamed Salah involved, among others.

Liverpool fans react to training ground footage

While the video is both highly entertaining and impressive, some fans believe it is bordering on reckless, highlighting the risk of injury through playing it amid the backdrop of a campaign which has seen the Reds lose a number of key players to long-term setbacks.

Here are some of the standout reactions on Twitter, with negativity the order of the day.

“Watch someone get injured from this lol”

Credit: @LFCPierre18

“This is why we have injuries”

Credit: @EliasYusuff

“Injuries man injuries!!!! What the hell you doing!?!?!”

Credit: @Theman_shaq

“Stop trying to kill our players”

Credit: @lfcsonny

“We wonder why our players get injured”

Credit: @LFCRosser

“Then Thiago got injured…”

Credit: @kandill86

In other news, Liverpool are eyeing up a move for a striker with an amazing international record this summer. Read about it here.

Former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie revealed his bewilderment over his ex-club’s links to Sheffield United midfielder Sander Berge in an exclusive interview with Football FanCast.

Last month, it was reported that Villa are keeping an eye on Berge, with the 23-year-old likely to be available this summer due to Sheffield United’s likely relegation to the Championship.

Hendrie, however, is not too keen on the idea of the Midlands club bringing in Berge, believing manager Dean Smith already has enough midfielders of a similar profile.

Discussing the speculation surrounding Villa and Berge, Hendrie told FFC:

“He’s not one for me. I’m a bit baffled that they’re throwing another midfielder into the equation of that sort of calibre. Me personally, I’d like to see a creative player. I’d like to see someone in the wide areas.

“But Berge for me, I’m not saying he’s not a good player, I just don’t see where he’s going to fit the bill in that midfield area. I just feel that you can buy so many players and it can congest that area and then all of a sudden, you’re not getting the best out of certain players.”

Indeed, Villa are hardly light when it comes to the midfield positions, especially after signing Morgan Sanson from Marseille back in the January transfer window.

As well as the Frenchman, Smith also has the likes of John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Marvelous Nakamba available for selection, making it hard to see where Berge would fit in.

The Villans, however, are not as blessed when it comes to forward options. While Ollie Watkins has certainly done well this season, scoring 10 league goals so far, the English striker has not had much competition or cover, with Brazilian Wesley still out of action following the serious knee injury he picked up last term.