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Crystal Palace have had a quiet transfer window so far, but have been heavily linked to one particular player from Patrick Vieira’s former club this January, but it looks like there has been a blow to those plans.

What’s the word?

Mikel Arteta took to his pre-match press conference ahead of the FA Cup clash against Liverpool to respond to rumours that Eddie Nketiah could be on the move this January.

The Arsenal manager simply told the media:

“The situation is that Eddie is our player and he’s going to stay here with us.”

The 22-year-old forward has been linked with a move away from the club as he enters the last six months of his contract, with both Brighton and Crystal Palace said to be interested in signing him during this window.

However, with Arteta’s response, they could now have to wait and battle to get the striker on a free in the summer.

Vieira will be gutted

This news will be a blow to Vieira’s transfer window plans, as the club is rumoured to potentially be losing Jean-Philippe Mateta this January, with an impending recall from his parent club, Mainz, amid interest from Saint Etienne.

That led to Nketiah being speculated as the player to become his replacement and fill the position.

The setback comes as former Palace manager, Roy Hodgson confirmed that the youngster has been a “long term interest” for the London club when he spoke on Sky Sports Transfer Show last Friday evening:

“He’s a player that’s been on the radar for a number of years let alone months,” said the former England boss.

“He’s a player who I know everyone at the club admires very much and I think he’s the right type of player that Patrick [Vieira] might be interested in – a forward of his type.

“I can imagine him being exactly the type of player that Patrick Vieira would like because he’d know a lot about him because I’m sure his contacts at Arsenal are still very good. He’ll know a lot about him as a person as well.”

Nketiah has not signed a new contract with Arsenal yet, despite having less than six months on his current one, which could be a blessing in disguise for the Eagles.

They could save their money this January and sign the striker on a free transfer in a matter of months, thus, taking the pressure off the Palace manager and the team if they can hold onto Mateta at Selhurst Park for the rest of the season.

That said, the Eagles boss will still be gutted at not getting the chance to acquire him this winter as Nketiah’s tally of five goals in just three EFL Cup outings shows he’s a man in form this term.

In other news: Crystal Palace targeting January swoop for Marseille striker Bamba Dieng

An update has emerged regarding interest from Newcastle United in Stoke forward Tyrese Campbell.

What’s the talk?

According to The Sun, the Magpies are preparing a £20m bid to send to the Potters at the start of the January transfer window.

The report claims that Eddie Howe has been impressed by the young attacker’s form for Stoke and wants to make him his first signing at St James’ Park.

Fans would love him

Newcastle must ensure that they can get a deal over the line for Campbell, as the supporters would surely love to see him at St James’ Park.

He is a talented young, homegrown, attacker with potential who could excite the Toon Army. At the age of 21, he has plenty of time on his hands to develop, and supporters may love to have a player at the club with room for growth instead of a veteran who is in his final few years of playing.

Since the start of the 2019/20 campaign, Campbell has produced 17 goals and seven assists for Stoke in 33 Championship starts. He has averaged a goal every 1.94 games in the second tier, whilst also popping up with assists for his teammates. In total, his tally for the club stands at an impressive 20 strikes.

Last year, Potters boss Michael O’Neill lauded the 21-year-old as a ‘great finisher’ and claimed that defenders are frightened of him. He said: “Tyrese is a great finisher. If you are a good finisher you have to get in the positions and he did that today.

“He’s not looked the same since he came back, but today he was excellent and did a lot of good work. He is a young player who is still developing. When he is in that mood, defenders are frightened at this level. It’s nice he got the two goals, but he has to keep going now.”

This shows how much talent the £6.6k-per-week gem has and why he could be an excellent signing for Newcastle in January. He has proven that he can make a big impact in the final third in the Championship and Howe could attempt to coach him into translating that form over to the top flight.

Given his young age, he could have the potential to grow into a Premier League player, and joining in January could give him five months to adjust to life at the top level before kicking on next season. Fans would love to see him progress and develop over time at St James’ Park, and his form for Stoke suggests that he has the raw talent required to do as such.

AND in other news, “Among leading NUFC targets”: David Ornstein drops transfer update which will excite fans…

Leeds United suffered a devastating 7-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Premier League on Tuesday night, as Pep Guardiola’s side ran riot at the Etihad.

The Whites found themselves three goals down by the break, before City continued their onslaught in the second-half, and while a number of players weren’t up to scratch for Marcelo Bielsa, Junior Firpo in particular struggled more than most.

The Spaniard had the unenviable task of trying to stop the likes of Riyad Mahrez and co from wreaking havoc, and the summer signing just didn’t look at the races at all.

As per Sofascore, he won just one out of his four total duels on the night, while also making no tackles or interceptions and being dribbled past once too.

While the energy was there again, Firpo just couldn’t keep his composure at times, committing the most amount of fouls of any player on the pitch.

In possession, the former Real Betis man didn’t offer too much either, registering fewer touches even than goalkeeper Illan Meslier, and providing no crosses.

And, writing in his post-match player ratings for Leeds Live, Beren Cross gave him a four, saying: “Some clumsy challenges and predictably his fifth yellow card of the season, but was at the heart of some of the best, if few, attacking moves Leeds built.”

That sentiment was echoed by The Yorkshire Evening Post’s Graham Smyth, who gave him a three and added: “Struggled to contain Mahrez, picked up a booking and had to walk a tightrope against world class attackers.”

With that yellow card, Firpo will now be missing from action against Arsenal at the weekend, and that has given Bielsa a major headache about how he will go about replacing him, particularly with Pascal Struijk out too.

It was just a nightmare display for both player and club.

Meanwhile, Leeds United are eyeing this Uruguayan star…

Everton’s forward line is one of their most talked-about areas of the team, with a number of talented attackers who represent their countries at international level too.

The injury crisis at Everton has had an adverse effect on the attacking prowess of the side, with both Dominic Calvert Lewin and Richarlison suffering with injuries during the last few months.

Richarlison has now become available for selection after returning from injury, although the Brazilian international was left out of his international squad, he should be available for selection and back to full fitness ahead of the clash with the Premier League Champions today.

One player that did play a big part in his international team during the break, was Anthony Gordon.

The 20-year-old made his debut for England U21s last week in an impressive performance, scoring two goals in 11 minutes for the side.

Rafa Benitez had given the £4.5m-rated gem a first-team start just before the break against Tottenham Hotspur, which will surely have given the young winger a boost in confidence for his international debut.

Gordon has been making waves for a while now, with David Unsworth holding him in particularly high esteem. He once told The Athletic: “His balance sprinting with the ball and his balance going past people is something you don’t see every day. He’s got unbelievable pace and he’s a Scouser too, so he’s tough.”

The Spanish manager has also spoken highly about the young forward, and has remarked on his development and involvement in the team this season;

“Obviously he needs more experience because he is still quite young, but the progress of any young player starts in the head.”

“If he has the right attitude and approach he can be a better player. If you have the talent and quality like he has – and the right approach like he has – you can be better and better.

Gordon can offer fantastic speed in build-up phases of play and these attributes could really work well if he establishes an attacking partnership with Andros Townsend, who currently rotates in the attacking third as either a ten or a winger.

Townsend offers experience and clinical play going forward, offering up five goals and three assists this term. He could really help with developing Gordon’s game in the long run with an opportunity for the Everton prodigy to nail down his positioning and discipline with an experienced attacking partner to work with this season.

Everton are away to Manchester City this afternoon and Gordon will be hoping to take part in causing an upset to steal the three points and climb back into the top half of the table. If he can link up with Townsend effectively, they should be well placed to cause the Citizens issues in defence.

In other news: Jordan Pickford must find England form for Everton…

Antonio Conte could make one of his first major mistakes at Tottenham Hotspur after an intriguing claim emerged this week…

What’s the word?

According to football.london reporter Alasdair Gold, Spurs centre-back Joe Rodon is believed to be growing frustrated by his lack of game time, having failed to break into the starting lineup under any of Jose Mourinho, Nuno Santo or the recently-appointed Italian.

And as a result of his lack of minutes, he is one player who could look to depart Hotspur Way in January.

“Rodon has played more times for Wales than for Spurs and he is believed to be growing frustrated with his lack of game time,” he claimed in a recent Q&A with supporters.

“The centre-back is understood to be open to a loan move in January in order to get time on the pitch but much could depend on whether Spurs bring in a new centre-back, particularly if Cristian Romero’s injury proves to be serious.”

Since then, the reliable journalist has revealed that top-flight rivals are huge fans of the Wales international. “I think Brighton like him a lot. Whether Brighton look to bring him in, I think four, five months at a team like Brighton, or any team – I’d say he needs Premier League now – would be big,” he added, via his YouTube channel.

Conte catastrophe

This would be quite an error from Conte, who as Gold also states, has only started Rodon twice – the second of which saw him last just 54 minutes on the pitch before being replaced.

The 6 foot 4 colossus has never put a foot wrong since joining in an £11m deal from Swansea City over a year ago.

“You look at Rio Ferdinand and John Terry and there are elements of both in Rodon’s game,” once claimed Sky Sports pundit Andy Hinchcliffe, whilst he led the squad for interceptions per 90 minutes (2.6) last season and had the best passing accuracy bar Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, too.

[snack-amp-story url = “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/tottenham-hotspur-latest-team-injury-team-news-updates-transfers-gossip-rumours-antonio-conte-thfc” title=”Read the latest Spurs news, transfer updates and much, much more!”]

That skill set should make him a seamless fit for Conte’s system as he’s evidently a trustworthy ball-playing option, especially one that plays regularly for his country.

Furthermore, the 52-year-old is without key summer signing Cristian Romero for an indefinite amount of time, so who knows when the Argentina international will return.

Another injury to his back-three could seriously harm the squad, even more so if Rodon is allowed to leave in January when in reality, he has the merits to be starting every week.

Earlier in the year, the 24-year-old defender was dubbed “flawless” and a “special player” for his Wales displays by journalist Ian Mitchelmore, and it’s surely a case of getting him to that standard in the Premier League.

Both Eric Dier and Davinson Sanchez, who are likely to start, were part of Spurs’ defensive problems last season and Conte has even opted for full-back Ben Davies in the middle too.

It just does not make sense to offload the £18m-rated Rodon in January and doing so could hand the former Chelsea boss his first grave mistake in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium dugout.

AND in other news, Spurs unlikely to land key transfer target liked by Conte in January…

A number of Aston Villa supporters have criticised Ollie Watkins’ ineffective performance against Arsenal in his side’s 3-1 defeat on Friday night.

Dean Smith’s side produced a lifeless showing at the Emirates, as they were deservedly beaten by the Gunners.

Thomas Partey gave Mikel Arteta’s men the lead and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s penalty on the stroke of half-time doubled the hosts’ advantage.

The game was effectively ended as a contest when Emile Smith Rowe added a third in the second half, and while Jacob Ramsey scored a wonderful consolation, there was very little to celebrate from a Villa perspective.

One player who really struggled all evening was Watkins, with the striker failing to complete a dribble or play a single key pass during the game, making 14 fewer successful passes than his own goalkeeper, Emi Martinez.

Villa fans lambast Watkins display

The 25-year-old’s performance didn’t go unnoticed by these Villa fans on Twitter, who took to the social media platform to lay into him.

“Watkins is doing nothing. AGAIN!”

Credit: @razorrudd

“Tyrone is slow, sloppy and arrogant. The same system doesn’t work against every opponent. Our midfield looks tired and out of ideas. Watkins is bang out of form. We have a very good squad but absolutely no identity”

Credit: @JosephBrimson

“Wouldn’t mind seeing the back of Watkins for the right price tbh”

Credit: @avfcdvd

“Watkins’ work rate has dropped off massively and you take that from his game you are left with a distinctly average player”

Credit: @dicktonksy

“Watkins looks defeated this season. Buendia must be better than what we’ve seen, right? With the personnel in the squad it’s blindingly obvious that there is only space for 1 striker in Villa’s best team. Worrying how Villa now ship goals like 19/20 when 20/21 they were “

Credit: @BannisterMonty

“Watkins. Where is our Ollie? Totally lost this season. Bailey. Changes the game for us. Ramsey. Energy. Buendia. Struggled this evening. Axel. Doesn’t work in a back 3. Targett. Poor & left flanks empty. Smith. Caught out and stubborn. Needs to improve. Quick.”

Credit: @amc89avfc

In other news, another Villa player’s performance against Arsenal was also criticised. Find out who it is here.

Crystal Palace will cut Jean-Philippe Mateta’s Selhurst Park loan spell short in the New Year, according to The Sun.

And, as to be expected, a number of Palace fans have been giving their thoughts to the transfer news on social media.

The Eagles brought in the Frenchman back in January from Mainz on an 18-month loan deal with an option to buy.

However, things haven’t worked out under both Roy Hodgson and Patrick Vieira, with the 24-year-old making just 10 appearances for the club, only two of which have come this season.

Alan Nixon of The Sun shared a story at the weekend, suggesting Vieira will clear a decision for Mateta to leave the club in the next window.

Doing so would give Vieira space to land an extra forward in the New Year, while also getting Mateta’s salary off Palace’s books.

Palace fans react

@cpfc_xtra relayed The Sun’s report regarding Mateta on Sunday afternoon. This is what some Palace fans had to say in reply, with one labelling it as ‘sad’.

“That’s shocking news, said no palace fan ever!”

Credit: @cmburns76

“Is this even true? Keen to see more of him after that Brighton goal”

Credit: @JOG25779189

“We’ll always have the Brighton goal. Sad still”

Credit: @Bunds_

“Dike, come on down?”

Credit: @CPFCSanDiego

“Shame, but Roy knew early on he wasn’t good enough.”

Credit: @michael03407099

“Free up a loan for January”

Credit: @AJThoma64729546

In other news: ‘This is nuts’ – Lots of CPFC fans buzz at ‘incredible’ off-field update. 

Many Aston Villa fans have slammed the performance of Tyrone Mings in their Premier League game with Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon.

The 28-year-old started in Dean Smith’s defence alongside Kortney Hause and Ezri Konsa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and was culpable of some poor defending for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s opening goal.

The England defender was easily pulled out of position in the build-up and later allowed the Denmark international space and time to slot the ball past Emiliano Martinez and put Nuno Espirito Santo’s side ahead.

As per SofaScore, Mings lost seven of his 16 duels, relinquished possession 17 times, was dribbled past twice and recorded a meagre 67% passing accuracy.

His performance against Spurs comes as a surprise as the Villa captain was instrumental in the recent wins over Everton and Manchester United as they kept clean sheets in both, with the 28-year-old delivering a particularly excellent display against the Toffees.

Aston Villa fans slam Mings’ performance

These Villa fans slammed Mings on Twitter over his performance, with one going as far to claim that the defender had a “stinker” this afternoon.

“If Mings made half of the mistakes for any other club he would have been gone by now”

Credit: @MasonUTFV

“Mings and Ramsey having a shocker.”

Credit: @agentvilla

“Mings is having an absolute stinker so far”

Credit: @jacckkoo1

“Mings out, Botman in”

Credit: @AVFCEnthusiast

“Mings it’s time to go”

Credit: @AstakzR_V2

“If Mings played for any other club he’d be benched immediately”

Credit: @YoungArevalo

In other news, these Villa fans have reacted to red-list update involving their players. Find out more here

Tottenham Hotspur sit top of Group G on goal difference as they return to UEFA Europa Conference League action later this evening.

Nuno Santo and his side will be looking to make it four straight wins in all competitions when they head to the Netherlands to face Vitesse at the GelreDome.

The Portuguese is expected to ring the changes, keeping in mind their Premier League clash with West Ham United on Sunday afternoon, so not all of Spurs’ first-team stars will make the trip.

One player who shouldn’t travel is centre-back Cristian Romero, who narrowly made it back from South America to face Newcastle United at the weekend.

He started and played the full 90 minutes as the Lilywhites defeated the Magpies 3-2 at St James’ Park but you could tell that his preparation for the match was far from ideal, thus he should remain in England and be rested for tonight’s encounter.

During the match, the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick described the 23-year-old defender as “unsurprisingly very shaky”, whilst football.london’s Alasdair Gold made note of his blunder for the home side to open the scoring.

Romero was beaten far too easily by Callum Wilson just minutes into the game and he never really recovered, not that it was his fault for his selection.

Just a couple of days earlier, he featured for Argentina in their win over Peru in Buenos Aires, he then had to fly back on a private jet along with Spurs’ other three players who had been on international duty in the continent, only just making it back on Saturday – one day earlier.

Meanwhile, as per SofaScore, the £31.5m-rated colossus was dribbled past three times, the second-most in the match, whilst he also lost possession 13 times and made just 49 of his 60 passing attempts, only proving that he was sloppy and a little sluggish on the afternoon.

He should remain in Nuno’s first-choice XI, however, he could probably do with sitting this one out in order to be fresh for this weekend’s London derby.

This decision could be hugely beneficial heading into Sunday.

AND in other news, £27m-rated “freak of a talent” facing fight to save Spurs career amid latest Nuno call…

After an injury blow sustained in the 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace at the weekend, Tottenham Hotspur boss Nuno Espirito Santo has confirmed more news on defender Eric Dier.

The Lowdown: Dier limps off…

The England international picked up a ‘really bad dead leg’ at Selhurst Park last weekend according to reliable reporter Alasdair Gold, prompting Nuno to replace him with Joe Rodon just 12 minutes into the encounter (BBC).

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Since then, Spurs have been sweating on the fitness of Dier as they also prepare for a mouth-watering London derby clash at the weekend against fierce rivals Chelsea.

Now, Nuno has confirmed some news on the 27-year-old ahead of tonight’s Europa Conference League clash with Rennes.

The Latest: Nuno confirms team news…

Speaking to football.london, Nuno has come out and revealed that Dier did not travel with the squad to France and will miss this evening’s group stage encounter as a result.

“I can tell you the players that did not travel,” the Portuguese explained to the press.

“Son did not travel, Dier did not travel and Sessegnon did not travel. That’s the team news.”

The Verdict: Blow for Spurs?

While it is currently unconfirmed whether the 45-cap ace will be fit for Chelsea, Spurs will certainly be hoping so judging by his start to the season.

He has been called ‘excellent’ for his campaign so far by figures in the media and even managed a nomination for August’s Premier League Player of the Month award.

Of course, with the international break wreaking havoc on Nuno’s options in the heart of defence, Dier’s return as soon as possible could be absolutely crucial.

In other news: ‘Very worrying’, ‘Disgraceful’…Many Tottenham fans blast what ‘clueless’ man did vs Palace, find out more here.