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Many will remember Xabi Alonso tearing it up for Real Madrid and Spain, but it was with Liverpool where he first made himself known to a wider audience.

The Reds signed the midfielder in 2004 for £10.5m. From that point, he would go on to make 210 appearances in all competitions for the Anfield outfit, racking up 18 goals and nine assists during that time. Not only that, he started the match against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final, scoring as the Merseyside club won on penalties.

Now retired from football, there has been a report linking him to Manchester City, with him being touted to replace Mikel Arteta as part of Pep Guardiola’s backroom staff. This news has been shared on the Empire of the Kop Twitter page, and it is fair to say it has not gone down too well with Liverpool supporters.

They have taken to the social media platform to share their thoughts, and you can see some of the best comments below.

Let us know what you think!

Many Leeds United fans have been debating who is the best player they have had since they dropped out of the Premier League, with many opting to select Spanish midfielder Pablo Hernandez.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side are on the verge of gaining promotion to the Premier League after an absence of 17 years away from England’s top flight (BBC Sport).

Having struggled over the years to gain promotion, Leeds came extremely close to top flight football last season after reaching the play-offs, but a defeat to Derby County saw those hopes ended.

This term, Bielsa has guided his side to the top of the Championship league table, sitting one point ahead of West Bromwich Albion and they are therefore very much on course to gain an automatic promotion place.

One of the key performers in Leeds’ side this term has been Pablo Hernandez. The Spaniard has firmly established himself over the last few seasons as one of the Yorkshire’s club’s best and most reliable players, contributing with 33 goals over his 148 appearances.

Looking back over the Whites’ time in the Championship, a number of players spring to mind when thinking of ones that have had the most impact, including the likes of Jermaine Beckford and Luciano Becchio – who both impressed at the club.

Asked by Twitter account @allday_leeds, fans have replied with various different players who they feel have performed well during their time away from the Premier League, but Hernandez appears to be the most popular choice.

Missing football!? There’s still plenty of Leeds discussion going on in the Vital Leeds Forum! Click here to get involved!

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

It’s fair to say that one of Leeds United’s best players is Pablo Hernandez.

The Spaniard has won the club’s Player of the Year award for the past two seasons, and it’s no coincidence that Leeds’ frontline have struggled for goals while he’s been out with injury this term.

Aged 34, the midfielder is unfortunately in the twilight of his career, and despite the Whites signing a £15m man in his position last summer they may still have to look for a replacement in the near future.

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Replacement needs lining up

With Hernandez well into his 30s and his contract expiring at the end of the season, Leeds certainly need a strategy for when their talisman hangs up his boots.

The former Spain international provides an element of class that no other player in the team really has, and it’ll be hard to replace that, but it’s certainly a necessary move that United need to make.

Marcelo Bielsa does have another player he can call upon in that position, but he’s certainly not a like for like replacement for the ex-Swansea City man.

Costa not the man

Unfortunately for the Yorkshire outfit, Helder Costa isn’t the man to fill the Spaniard’s boots.

The Portuguese winger isn’t the creative force that Hernandez is, and when he eventually calls it a day on his career the 25-year-old won’t be able to provide the creativity that his senior teammate provides.

Indeed, the 34-year-old’s strengths lie in his ability to unlock a defence and the 2.4 key passes he completes per game are vital to Leeds’ attacks, but that element is lost when Costa is playing in his absence as he makes just 0.5 key passes per match – that’s despite now starting on a regular basis.

To add another worrying factor, Bielsa has stated in the past that the £10.8m-rated Wolves loanee is struggling to replicate his fellow winger, suggesting he doesn’t drift off the wing to provide support in a central area.

When Hernandez goes, Leeds will either have to adapt their style to be more suited to a player of Costa’s ilk or find another man who can bring what the midfielder provides.

Arsenal face Vitoria de Guimaraes in the Europa League on Wednesday, as they look to maintain their perfect record in the competition.

With the Gunners topping the table, having beaten the Portuguese opposition in their last encounter, coming from behind to win 3-2, there could be 10 changes made to the team that drew with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Here, we try to to predict Unai Emery’s starting XI for the game:

Emiliano Martinez has started all five of Arsenal’s cup games so far this season, so it seems natural that he will stay between the sticks for this game.

Sead Kolasinac has been replaced in the team by Kieran Tierney in the last two league games, so he could come in to play in the Europa League for the first time since facing Eintracht Frankfurt in the opener, while Shkodran Mustafi and Rob Holding can expect to keep their place from the last European tie.

Hector Bellerin is still working his way into the Arsenal team, having played both of the most recent Europa League games, but is still yet to feature in the league, so a start against Vitoria would be useful for that progression.

Lucas Torreira is the only player who started against Wolves to feature in this lineup, with the Uruguayan having started all three Europa League games so far this campaign.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Joe Willock have also had regular involvement in European competition this season, with the latter already having scored twice.

Nicolas Pepe has come off the bench three times in the Europa League this campaign, with his brace in the reverse fixture against Vitoria being his best Arsenal moment to date, so he could be started to give him a boost.

Bukayo Saka has only featured once in the Europa League this season, but it was some showing he gave, getting a goal and two assists in the 3-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt, so with the 18-year-old not having started either of the last two Premier League games, it could be worth putting him in again.

Gabriel Martinelli has taken the cup competitions by storm since joining the Gunners, scoring seven goals in four appearances, so it seems likely he will be given the chance to build on that.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Aston Villa recorded back-to-back victories for the first time this season by defeating Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 last weekend.

Dean Smith needed late heroics from Matt Targett as the left-back slotted home in the 94th minute to send the west Midlands club up to 12th in the league table.

Now they head to Manchester looking to continue their rich vein of form, but it will be no easy test as City are the reigning champions after all.

Aston Villa’s summer signings’ performances so far this season are rated in the video below…

They have faltered in recent times, losing to Norwich City and Wolves, meaning they are currently six points off league leaders Liverpool.

For all of their riches of talent from Raheem Sterling to Kevin De Bruyne, there’s still one area that Villa can exploit.

On the Chalkboard

Pep Guardiola has suffered a bit of an injury crisis in defence since the season started with Aymeric Laporte expected to be out for an extended period following knee surgery.

John Stones was even injured at one point while Nicolas Otamendi just can’t be trusted, forcing the Spanish boss into playing two defensive midfielders in central defence.

Against Atalanta in midweek, the two-time Premier League winner saw his problems get even worse as Rodri, one of the two drafted in to play centre-back, picked up a hamstring injury.

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Therefore, it seems likely that Fernandinho and Stones will be the partnership this afternoon, and that’s undoubtedly a recipe for disaster – the Englishman has been thrown into the deep end having only just returned himself, and the 34-year-old is hardly a natural defender.

This is where Wesley can pounce – he’s in fantastic form right now so he can be a massive nuisance to that makeshift backline.

Villa’s club-record man has netted four goals in seven matches while over the last two games alone, the 22-year-old has managed eight shots on goal.

His rugged nature, which could prove vital this weekend, has seen him win four aerial duels in the same time frame, per WhoScored.

If he keeps this up at the Etihad Stadium, then he may well hold the keys to Villa returning back to the Midlands with some sort of result.

West Ham United were clearly outplayed by Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.

The Toffees won 2-0 and, although they only had 4% more possession than their opponents, they still managed 10 shots on target to their opponents’ four. It is now four matches without a victory for the Hammers after their 2-0 win against Manchester United at the London Stadium.

Watch West Ham United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Manuel Pellegrini and co were without Lukasz Fabianski due to injury, with the Poland international normally being the first-choice goalkeeper when available. He was replaced once again in the starting XI by Roberto, who has played in each of the last three league matches. He was kept very busy by Marco Silva’s men.

Surrounded by disappointing performances, it seems the 33-year-old Spaniard was one of the few who came out of the match with any respect in the eyes of the London outfit’s supporters. They took to Twitter to share their thoughts, and you can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

There’s a new way to spell ‘formidable’ and it is: ‘A-n-d-r-e-w R-o-b-e-r-t-s-o-n’ (sorry).The Scotland left-back has made something of a name for himself in recent years as being a clinical creator, alongside his good friend and full-back counterpart, Trent Alexander-Arnold, but it seems he’s turning his talents to goalscoring now as well.Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Last season, the pair combined to create 23 goals in the Premier League (Robertson with 11 and Alexander-Arnold with 12). To put things into perspective, that’s more in one season than Manchester United attacking midfielder Jesse Lingard has produced in 117 appearances. Are they really good or is he just extremely poor? We’ll let you decide.

Aside from having Jurgen Klopp frothing at the mouth to keep them motivated on matchday, the pair seem to have devised an extra incentive amongst themselves in the form of an internal ‘who can create the most’ competition (or something with a punchier line).

And it seems Alexander-Arnold has found the perfect way of stopping his friend from winning…

Some Southampton fans have taken to Twitter to deliver their verdicts on Angus Gunn, after a concerning stat about the goalkeeper was brought to light.

The England Under-21 international has conceded the second-most goals out of any glovesman in the Premier League so far this season, allowing 15 strikes to go beyond him – the only keeper to concede more is Watford’s Ben Foster, who was in between the sticks for Watford when Manchester City beat the Hornets 8-0.

Gunn – who we recently identified as one of two players who needs to step up – has made a mistake in each of the Saints’ last three games.

The 23-year-old came charging out of his goal for no reason against Bournemouth, allowing Callum Wilson to nip in and score, before letting Tanguy Ndombele’s shot to go straight past him in Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Southampton.

Gunn then came rushing off his line again against Chelsea, allowing Tammy Abraham to lob him and open the scoring for Chelsea in the 4-1 rout over Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men.

As a result of his poor form, some Southampton fans on Twitter have shared their thoughts on the former Norwich man…

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Down the years, Arsene Wenger has mentioned a host of players he tried to sign during his reign as Arsenal manager.

Looking down the list, it is full of some of the greatest talent to play in Europe in the last 20 years. Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, N’Golo Kante, Gareth Bale and Yaya Toure are just a few of the stars who could have made a move to north London according to the Frenchman himself.

Now, he has revealed he was close to signing the biggest name of them all: Lionel Messi.

“They have the bigger mentality” – Spurs fans come to blows after the North London Derby in the video below…

He told beIN Sports, via Marca, about his attempts to sign the Argentina international when he took Cesc Fabregas to the Premier League, and he said that there were even discussions in regards to the five-time Ballon d’Or winner. However, Barcelona were unwilling to sell, with Wenger saying he was “untouchable”.

Unsurprisingly, the comments have made their way to the eyes of the Gunners supporters, and they have been busy responding.

They have taken to Twitter to share their thoughts, and you can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

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كشف نجم يوفنتوس ويستون ماكيني عن ميزة مشاهدة كريستيانو رونالدو في التدريبات، وأشار إلى أنه لم يسمع عن دوري أبطال أوروبا عندما كان طفلاً.

انتقل لاعب خط الوسط الأمريكي إلى يوفنتوس من شالكة الألماني على سبيل الإعارة في البداية، ثم تم تفعيل خيار شرائه بشكل دائم.

وقال ماكيني لصحيفة “نيويورك تايمز”: “بعض زملائي في الفريق لا يصدقون إلى أي مدى وصلوا، وأنهم يلعبون في دوري الأبطال، أعتقد أنه عندما كنت صغيرًا، لم أسمع قط بدوري الأبطال”.

طالع تشكيل يوفنتوس ضد بورتو في دوري أبطال أوروبا

وأضاف بشأن كريستيانو رونالدو: “كنت جالسًا مع ألفارو موراتا بعد التدريب ذات يوم، كنا فقط نشاهده وهو يتدرب على ركلاته الحرة”.

وأتم: “والتفتنا لبعضنا البعض وقلنا ياله من امتياز، لمجرد أن نكون قادرين على القيام بذلك، أن نشاهده يسدد الركلات الحرة واحدة تلو الأخرى”.