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Wolves have now been offered the chance to sign a club’s mainstay star, and one who Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur are allegedly in talks for ahead of the looming January window.

Wolves decide to back Gary O'Neil despite 'El Sackico' loss on Monday

Their clash with West Ham on Monday, dubbed the ‘El Sackico’, was seen by many as a crucial game to determine the immediate futures of both O’Neil and Julen Lopetegui.

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With João Gomes suspended, Gary O’Neil should pick Hwang Hee-chan to complete his front three agains Ipswich on Saturday.

1 ByBen Gray Dec 14, 2024

However, despite Wolves’ boss subsequently losing the clash in east London, chairman Jeff Shi and the club’s board have decided to carry on backing O’Neil – as they look to address other problems like squad balance.

“Understand Gary O’Neil retains the backing of Wolves’ board following the loss to West Ham,” wrote GiveMeSport reporter Ben Jacobs on X, formerly Twitter, early this week.

“Chair Jeff Shi wants to support O’Neil. Wolves’ leadership team doesn’t attribute this season’s challenges to the head coach and are committed to providing him with the necessary tools to turn form around. This includes having a productive January.

West Ham 2-1 Wolves

Everton 4-0 Wolves

Wolves 2-4 Bournemouth

Fulham 1-4 Wolves

Wolves 2-0 Southampton

“Wolves are believed to be actively addressing other issues, including squad balance, and believe results can be turned around. Wolves’ leadership remain calm and will draw on previous experiences to try and get this season on track. Also no chance star players depart in January. Wolves not open to a mid-season Matheus Cunha exit.”

With O’Neil’s future secure for now, the club’s owners must find another way to galvanise his squad, and January appears like a solid solution.

The winter window represents a chance to strengthen in key areas, as Wolves look to avoid the Premier League drop zone and maintain their top flight status.

O’Neil himself has suggested that Wolves’ hierarchy are prepared to dip their toes into the winter transfer market, which comes as good news for supporters ahead of a crucial rest of this campaign.

Targets keep emerging for Wolves as the window opens for business in just over a fortnight, and one player now being mentioned is Getafe centre-back Omar Alderete.

Wolves offered chance to sign Getafe star Omar Alderete by agents

According to The Boot Room, Wolves have been offered Alderete by intermediaries, alongside other Premier League sides, as the Paraguay international potentially looks to seal a dream move to England.

This comes amid other claims that Tottenham are already in talks to sign Alderete, with Ange Postecoglou currently dealing with an injury crisis of his own and having just one natural senior centre-back available right now.

The player’s release clause stands at around £13 million, which could be deemed a bargain considering he’s made more blocks and clearances on average than any other player in Getafe’s squad this season (WhoScored).

Arsenal v Manchester United is one of the biggest grudge matches in English football.

A fixture often filled with heated exchanges, late tackles and plenty of drama, the two have met hundreds of times, with each Premier League still showing remnants of when their rivalry was at its fiercest.

A decent chunk of those meetings have been in the FA Cup.

Arsenal and United both have rich histories in the competition – especially when they’re paired together. Here, we’ve recalled the seven best FA Cup clashes between them.

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1 ByRoss Kilvington May 12, 2025 7 Man Utd 4-0 Arsenal (2008) Red Devils batter much-changed title rivals

Arsenal were on course for a first league title in four years when they met United in the fifth round of the 2007/08 FA Cup, and as such, manager Arsene Wenger opted to rest a host of first-team players. It proved to be a poor decision by the Frenchman.

To nobody’s surprise, the likes of Justin Hoyte, Armand Traore and Nicklas Bendtner couldn’t keep up with United, who ran out as comprehensive 4-0 winners thanks to a brace from Darren Fletcher and goals from Wayne Rooney and Nani.

Arsenal’s season began to unravel soon after. They went on to win just one of their next eight games in the Premier League as their title hopes slipped through their hands and into United’s, who went on to be crowned champions.

6 Arsenal 0-1 Man Utd (2004) Scholes strike defeats Invincibles at Villa Park

Arsenal were in the midst of an unbeaten league season and on an 18-match unbeaten run in the FA Cup when they took on United at Villa Park in the semi-finals in 2003/04.

United, seemingly incensed by their rivals’ good form, were up for a fight – and gave the Gunners just that.

After scoring the eventual winning goal in the 31st minute, Paul Scholes put in an awful challenge on Jose Antonio Reyes, which, while unpunished, left the Spaniard with ligament damage.

Roy Keane also got away with a number of questionable challenges, while Freddie Ljungberg broke his hand as the Gunners’ hopes of a famous treble were literally hacked short.

5 Man Utd 1-2 Arsenal (2015) Welbeck returns to dump United out

Just one day after Radamel Falcao completed a big-money loan move to United in September 2015, Danny Welbeck, a product of the Red Devils’ academy, left the club to join rivals Arsenal in a £16 million move.

“We let him go because of Falcao,” United manager Louis van Gaal said following his departure.

Six months later, Welbeck returned to Old Trafford for the first time and scored the winner, which he celebrated wildly, to steer Arsenal into the semi-finals of the FA Cup and end United’s realistic hopes of silverware for the season.

With Falcao left on the bench, United responded quickly to Nacho Monreal’s opener through Wayne Rooney, but imploded as Welbeck’s strike was followed by the sending-off of Angel Di Maria, who literally saw red after confronting referee Michael Oliver.

The Gunners then saw off Reading and Aston Villa to secure a second successive FA Cup triumph.

4 Arsenal 0-0 Man Utd (2005) Vieira seals tense final despite United domination

United completely dominated the 2005 FA Cup final, but it was Arsenal who prevailed as winners by way of penalties.

The Red Devils had four times as many shots as their opponents, eight times as many shots on target and 12 times as many corners, but couldn’t find a breakthrough, with Wayne Rooney coming closest when he hit the post in the 66th minute.

In the shootout, Paul Scholes saw his effort saved by Jens Lehmann, before Patrick Vieira stepped up to score the winning spot-kick with what was his last kick of a ball in an Arsenal shirt. Arsene Wenger conceded after the game that his side “were a bit lucky”.

3 Man Utd 0-2 Arsenal (2003) Giggs misses and Beckham booted as holders progress

Arsene Wenger rested Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp when Arsenal met United in the fifth round of the 2002/03 FA Cup, but it proved not to matter as replacements Francis Jeffers and Sylvain Wiltord proved too much for the Red Devils in what was a typically ill-tempered affair at Old Trafford.

After three yellow cards in the opening seven minutes, United had the chance to take the lead when Ryan Giggs ran through on goal and rounded Arsenal ‘keeper David Seaman. However, with an empty net, the Welshman put the ball over the bar.

The miss proved to be pivotal, as shortly after, midfielder Edu put the Gunners in front with a deflected free-kick before Wiltord doubled their advantage just after the break.

The aftermath of the game was then overshadowed by an extraordinary dressing room incident that left David Beckham requiring stitches courtesy of Sir Alex Ferguson’s flying boot.

Arsenal went on to win the trophy, beating Southampton 1-0 in the final.

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ByRoss Kilvington Nov 5, 2024 2 Arsenal 3-2 Man Utd (1979) The Five-minute Final ends in Gunners glory

The 1979 FA Cup final was decided in five minutes of pure, unadulterated chaos.

Arsenal had taken a 2-0 lead by half-time thanks to goals from Brian Talbot and Frank Stapleton, and with 86 minutes on the clock, looked set to avenge their loss to Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town in the previous year’s final.

However, United then inexplicably drew level, scoring twice in two minutes through Gordon McQueen and Sammy McIlroy, the latter of whom took advantage of some truly awful defending from the Gunners.

Almost as soon as McIlroy had finished celebrating, Alan Sunderland stole in at the back post to score the winner for the Gunners, clinching their first trophy in eight years. Utter madness.

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1 ByAlex Caple May 25, 2024 1 Arsenal 1-2 Man Utd (1999) Giggs wondergoal settles epic semi-final replay

In the last-ever FA Cup semi-final replay, the fixture got a fitting send-off in 1999 thanks to Arsenal and United, who gave us a game for ages at Villa Park.

David Beckham had given United the lead early on before Dennis Bergkamp levelled for Arsenal in the second half. After Roy Keane was sent for an early bath, Phil Neville then conceded a penalty in the 90th minute to hand the Gunners a chance to win the game.

But Peter Schmeichel saved Bergkamp’s spot kick and the tie went into extra-time, where Ryan Giggs would score the winner with one of the greatest FA Cup goals of all time, dribbling through four Arsenal defenders before slamming the ball into the roof of the net.

In 2019, Gary Neville described the match as the “best game of football I have ever played in.”

“It was the only time in a match where I ever smiled when I was playing – the only time I have done that in a pressure moment as it was enjoyable as well as exciting,” he said, adding: “You know when you just feel: ‘This is something special.'”

The best grudge matches in English football

These teams don’t need to share a postcode to hate each other…

ByBarney Lane Nov 27, 2024

India have been dealt a severe blow four days ahead of their ODI series against West Indies with seven members of their camp, including four players, testing positive for Covid-19. The players are Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad and the reserve fast bowler Navdeep Saini.The other three are members of the support staff: fielding coach T Dilip, security liaison officer B Lokesh and sports massage therapist Rajeev Kumar.While announcing the development in a media release late on Wednesday, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said the selectors had added opening batter Mayank Agarwal to the ODI squad.Related

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The BCCI said that all positive results emerged after the India squad had undergone three RT-PCR tests upon landing in Ahmedabad on January 31. Dhawan and Saini returned positive tests after the first round of testing on January 31. Dilip and Lokesh also tested positive on the same day. Gaikwad, who had cleared the January 31 test, returned a positive test the next day, while Iyer and Rajeev returned positive tests on Wednesday during the third round of testing.The India squad started to arrive in Ahmedabad at the end of last week while West Indies landed early on February 2. Both teams are staying at the same hotel, but on separate floors. As per the BCCI’s guidelines both India and West Indies have to serve a minimum of three days’ quarantine in their hotel rooms before breaking out for training. India were scheduled to start training from Thursday while West Indies from second half on February 4.All members of the Indian contingent, the BCCI said, had been asked to take a PCR test before they travelled to Ahmedabad. All the seven members who tested positive will now isolate in Ahmedabad. As per the guidelines issued by Indian government, any person testing positive needs to isolate for minimum of seven days.The ODI series is set to be played behind closed doors, with India currently experiencing a third wave of the pandemic. India recorded over 160,000 fresh cases on Tuesday, with the state of Gujarat, where Ahmedabad is located, reporting over 8000 of them.Dhawan, Iyer and Gaikwad will now most likely miss the three-match ODI series, which will be played on February 6, 8 and 11. But the three batters will aim to be back for the T20I leg of the series. The T20Is will be played in Kolkata on February 16, 18 and 20.Vice-captain KL Rahul has not yet joined the India squad and is set to miss the first ODI in order to attend his sister’s wedding. This means India will have only five batters from the original squad to choose from for the first ODI: captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant and allrounder Deepak Hooda. Agarwal is likely to arrive in Ahmedabad on Thursday, which means he could slot into the XI for the first ODI, immediately after completing his three-day quarantine.

Ajaz Patel is in no hurry to go through the notifications on his phone after he became only the third man in the history of Test cricket to take all 10 wickets in an innings. He might have been born in the chaotic city of Mumbai, but Ajaz is a proper New Zealander now. Revealing ice running through his veins, Ajaz said, “I might leave them for quarantine for when I get back home.”

Watch live cricket on ESPN+ in the US

India vs New Zealand is available in the US on ESPN+. You can subscribe to ESPN+ and tune in to highlights of day two of the 2nd Test in English or in Hindi.

Not that he was not at home when he bowled at the Wankhede. He was about eight years old when his family moved to New Zealand. “To come back home to Mumbai and Wankhede and to be able to produce something like that is quite special,” Ajaz said. “I am thankful to god for blessing me with such an occasion in my cricketing journey.”Related

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• India dominate after Ajaz Patel claims historic 10-for

• How Ajaz Patel created history by bagging all 10 in an innings

Ajaz ended the first day on four wickets, and when leaving he had his eye on the stadium’s honours board. “I mean I knew leaving here last night there was still work to do,” he said. “I really really wanted to get my name on the honours board. I had no expectation of it going up in this fashion. It is very special and pretty cool. One of the first things I saw when I got off was my name is definitely going to be on the honours board now.”One of the first congratulatory tweets for him was from one of the two other men to have achieved this feat, Anil Kumble. “I definitely do remember [Kumble’s effort at Feroz Shah Kotla],” Ajaz said. “I have seen highlights of it as well many a time. To be in such an illustrious group is really really special. It was very cool to see his message and kind words. I am very very humbled and very very fortunate to be in such fine company.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

One of the stumbling blocks for Ajaz was Mayank Agarwal, whose one innings alone was worth 2.5 times New Zealand’s. “To score 150 out there in conditions that are pretty challenging for batting is pretty special,” Ajaz said. “My plan was simple: keep challenging him with good balls. As a batter he has got to front up every ball. As a bowler, I have to keep bowling my best ball. It was a long battle. Sometimes they take a lot longer than you like. He played a special knock as well. It was cool for me to finally get him. It was quite rewarding to be honest. It was a lot of hard work trying to get him out.”The final few moments of the 10-for left Ajaz nervous, especially as the last catch, a skier, wobbled on its way down. “We back Rachin [Ravindra] to be under that but I saw the ball wobble a bit while coming down so I was a bit nervous for a second, but Rachin took a brilliant catch,” Ajaz said. “I said to Neil Wagner who ran on just before the 10th wicket, I am more nervous now than I have been all game. It was pretty special. Knowing that you are going to achieve something special was quite unbelievable, and I am just ecstatic that I got to do it in Mumbai.”Personally I think one of the greatest cricketing days in my life. And it will probably always be.”

Eden Hazard might not have forged the career for himself over in Spain that all across the footballing landscape envisaged when he left Chelsea, but the west London club will forever remember their magician for his brilliance in the Premier League.

That’s how his football should be remembered. Awe-inspiring and ethereal, gliding through opponents with a balletic grace that few, such a scant few, have ever been able to produce. Lionel Messi is one of them, Diego Maradona another.

Hazard painted the Premier League with tricks and skills, goals and assists. His was a skillset that will forever imbue the Stamford Bridge pitch with his presence.

Chelsea needed to replace him after his £130m transfer to Real Madrid. An unenviable task. Luckily, they had a transfer ban and, thus, couldn’t.

When Chelsea sold Eden Hazard

That’s facetious, of course, but perhaps Chelsea’s inability to replace Hazard prevented them from splurging on any old player and instead allowed for a more calculated approach.

Maybe not, but say what you want, the likes of Timo Werner and Kai Havertz played vital roles in winning the Champions League, which is no small feat to be sure.

Hazard scored 110 goals and supplied 85 assists across 352 appearances for Chelsea, winning two Premier League and Europa League titles, the FA Cup and the League Cup, as well as being crowned the PFA Premier League Player of the Year for the 2014/15 campaign.

Chelsea might not have been able to replace their Belgian wizard externally, but they did have an internal option in Callum Hudson-Odoi who had been proclaimed Hazard’s second coming.

Callum Hudson-Odoi was supposed to be the next Hazard

In May 2019, former Chelsea defender David Luiz stated that Hudson-Odoi “has the talent one day to be like Eden”.

What praise, what confidence. It’s the kind of double-edged effusion that can hamper an up-and-coming prospect. Hudson-Odoi was indeed an electrifying talent when bursting onto the scene with Chelsea but he shouldered quite the burden, his rise coinciding with Hazard’s exit.

The English winger featured 126 times for Chelsea, scoring 16 goals and adding 21 assists, in an impressive start to life as a senior, his fleet-footed, dynamic ability translating seamlessly from the youth stage.

Callum Hudson-Odoi: Premier League Career by Season
Season	Club	Apps (starts)	Goals	Assists
2024/25	Nott’m Forest	7 (5)	1	0
2023/24	Nott’m Forest	29 (20)	8	1
2022/23	Chelsea	–	–	–
2021/22	Chelsea	15 (11)	1	2
2020/21	Chelsea	23 (10)	2	3
2019/20	Chelsea	22 (7)	1	5
2018/19	Chelsea	10 (4)	0	1
2017/18	Chelsea	2 (0)	0	0
Stats via Transfermarkt

The bleak truth is that the 23-year-old suffered a knee injury toward the end of the 2018/19 season that severely disrupted his progress. It’s an unfortunate tale of setbacks that ultimately proved his undoing at Stamford Bridge, with his petered-out finish to life in London leading to a £3.5m sale to Nottingham Forest in 2023.

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It’s all the more poignant when considering Bayern Munich once wanted his signature and had even seen a £70m bid rejected by the Blues for his signing in 2020, which seems remarkable in hindsight.

Few Blues fans (even considering that celebration) will be unhappy to see him doing well after a testing start to life as a professional, but the fact that he was cashed in for a paltry return merely emphasises what might have been, the perfect homegrown Hazard successor to fire Chelsea back to the top.

Hudson-Odoi was clearly one of the finest young talents that English football had to offer, but despite being the jewel of Cobham’s packed academy, fell heavily by the wayside.

He’s resurrected his Premier League career with Forest, but, frankly, it doesn’t look likely that he will capture and sustain the form that would put him back into conversations concerning Hazard-esque quality.

Tuchel really liked him: Chelsea have already sold Palmer's dream teammate

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Aaron Finch has insisted that Australia are “a very good team in T20 international cricket” despite their eight-wicket hammering against England in Dubai on Saturday night, but he recognised that the scale of their defeat – with 50 balls to spare – leaves them with two “must-wins” against Bangladesh and West Indies in their last two Super 12s fixtures.Australia opted to revert to the six-batter, five-bowler strategy that they had ditched on the eve of the T20 World Cup, bringing Ashton Agar back into the side in place of Mitchell Marsh, but Finch was immediately left rueing the decision as he watched wickets fall around him. Australia slipped to 21 for 4 and then 51 for 5, and despite a late flurry taking them to 125 all out, then watched England knock the runs off two wickets down inside 12 overs.”It was just one of those nights,” Finch said. “Davey [David Warner] got a decent one early, Smithy [Steven Smith] toe-ended one and Maxi [Glenn Maxwell] missed a pick-up off his pads which you’d generally expect him to hit. That can happen in the powerplay when you’re looking to be aggressive. [We were] just blown away.”They completely dominated us from the start. Any time you go a handful down in the powerplay… every time we felt like we started to get a partnership together, we just kept losing a wicket and it just meant we had to sit in longer, try and get a total of 150, and see if that would be competitive. As it was, we probably needed a few more.

Watch highlights on ESPN+

If you are in the USA, watch the Australia vs England highlights on ESPN+ here in English, and here in Hindi

“It wasn’t too long ago that we were No. 1 in the world. I still think we’re a very good team in T20 international cricket. Everyone’s got their own opinion so that doesn’t really matter; what really matters is results. If you think that we’re a really ordinary side, that’s okay.”Finch explained that the decision to restore Agar to the side owed to the fact Australia saw him as “a really good match-up for England”, given their openers’ relative struggles against left-arm orthodox spin and his previous success against them (he took five wickets and conceded 7.83 runs an over on their tour there last year).Related

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“Clearly when you go three down in the powerplay, it’s not an ideal scenario when you go in with that structured team,” Finch said. “The reason Agar was in there was that we felt he was a really good match-up for England.”His ability to bowl in the powerplay and through the middle overs in the past against England has been really good so we just felt that was the way to go tonight. It was not a reflection on how Mitch has been going at all – it was purely just a match-up thing for this game. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get the job done.”I think obviously in the powerplay, they bowled very well, put us on the back foot, and we were under pressure to try and get to a competitive total. All credit to England, in that powerplay, the way that they squeezed us, kept taking wickets… when you go in with six specialist batters, that is going to leave you a little bit short at times.”Australia may need to win both of their remaining Super 12s games to ensure qualification after the hit to their net run-rate, with games against Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday and West Indies in Abu Dhabi on Saturday to come – both of whom beat Australia in their recent T20I series. Finch said that the squad would have a couple of days off after a short turnaround following their win against Sri Lanka, and acknowledged that they could not afford another off-night.”The boys deserve a couple of days off,” he said. “We’ll recharge the batteries, have a couple of strong days of training and then be back into it: I’m not concerned about carrying baggage into a different game against a totally different opposition.”They’re definitely must-wins. Our net run-rate took a hammering tonight so we’re going to have to be at our best. Bangladesh are a very, very good side and so are the West Indies – a lot of firepower in their team, a lot of experience. It’s must-win from now on – but we’re looking forward to it.”

تمكن فريق مانشستر سيتي من تسجيل الهدف الثاني أمام بليموث أرجايل، في المباراة الجارية بينهما الآن، ضمن منافسات كأس الاتحاد الإنجليزي.

ويلتقي فريق مانشستر سيتي مع بليموث أرجايل، على ملعب الاتحاد، في دور الـ16 من بطولة كأس الاتحاد الإنجليزي.

طالع | مباشر بالفيديو.. مباراة مانشستر سيتي وبليموث في كأس الاتحاد الإنجليزي

وكان نيكو أوريلي قد سجل هدف التعادل بعد تنفيذ دي بروين ركلة حرة لتصل الكرة إلى أوريلي ليسددها برأسه في شباك الخصم في الدقيقة 46.

وجاء هدف بليموث الأول، عن طريق لاعبه ماكسيم تالوفيروف في الدقيقة 38، برأسية من داخل منطقة الجزاء بعد ركنية نفذت من الجانب الأيسر.

الهدف الثاني لصالح مانشستر سيتي جاء بعد ركلة ركنية من فيل فودين، وصلت الكرة إلى أوريلي الذي سددها برأسه في الشباك، ليسجل الهدف الثاني له ولفريقه وسط اعتراض من بليموث، لوجود خطأ من أوريلي قبل تسجيله الهدف، ولكن تقنية الفيديو أكدت صحته. هدف مانشستر سيتي الثاني أمام بليموث في كأس الاتحاد الإنجليزي

وكان مانشستر سيتي تأهل إلى دور الـ16 من كأس الاتحاد الإنجليزي، عقب فوزه على ليتون أورينت بنتيجة 2/1.

بينما جاء تأهل بليموث إلى الدور ذاته، بعد أن فاز بهدف دون رد على ليفربول.

The pair have been given a chance to push for England Test selection

Matt Roller15-Jul-2021James Bracey and Haseeb Hameed will be given the chance to stake their case for inclusion in England’s Test squad after being named in a County Select XI to play India in a three-day match at Chester-le-Street next week.Bracey did not make an impact in his maiden Test series against New Zealand in June, making scores of 0, 0 and 8 and struggling with the gloves as a stand-in wicketkeeper following Ben Foakes’ injury. But he has been around the England squad for the last year and remains under consideration as a back-up top-order batter, not least with Ollie Pope an injury doubt for the first Test against India.ESPNcricinfo LtdHameed, meanwhile, has not played Test cricket since his maiden series against India in 2016-17, when he made 219 runs in six innings as a 19-year-old opener. His form nosedived over the next three seasons playing for Lancashire, but he has been much more successful since joining Nottinghamshire ahead of the 2020 season, where he has averaged 42.43 in first-class cricket. He was an unused squad member for the New Zealand series.The 14-man squad will be captained by Warwickshire’s Will Rhodes, and is comprised of players who were not signed for the inaugural season of the Hundred and were made available by their counties. The three Warwickshire players involved will miss the opening game of the Royal London Cup against Hampshire. According to an ECB statement, the squad will “bridge into a team environment and undergo Covid testing before being cleared to play”.Related

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Top-order batters Jake Libby (Worcestershire) and Rob Yates (Warwickshire), Nottinghamshire allrounders Liam Patterson-White and Lyndon James, seamers Ethan Bamber (Middlesex), Zak Chappell (Nottinghamshire) and Craig Miles (Warwickshire), and the Sussex offspinner Jack Carson are all included. There are also three teenagers in the squad who are yet to make their first-class debuts: Leicestershire’s Rehan Ahmed, Lancashire’s Tom Aspinwall, and Somerset’s James Rew.The County Select XI will be coached by Richard Dawson, England’s elite performance pathway coach, and will be staged behind closed doors from July 20-22. The fixture was confirmed on Wednesday night following India’s request for a warm-up match ahead of the Test series, which starts on August 4 at Trent Bridge.

Bukayo Saka is Arsenal’s attacking linchpin, having risen from the lower levels of Hale End to establish himself as one of football’s biggest talents.

Mikel Arteta deserves so much praise for resurrecting the Emirates Stadium and putting Arsenal back in contention for the biggest prizes in the game, though you can’t help but feel that had Saka not emerged, things wouldn’t have fallen into place just so.

Hailed as “one of the best players in the Premier League” by Plymouth Argyle manager Wayne Rooney, the England star has already scored a goal and posted four assists from as many matches in the Premier League this season as the Gunners aim to topple Manchester City on the throne.

Saka, aged 23, is one of the finest players to emerge from Arsenal’s academy, but he’s not the only one to make his mark under Arteta’s wing.

Premier League

174

48

39

Europa League

25

5

9

FA Cup

11

1

1

Champions League

10

4

4

Carabao Cup

9

1

2

Community Shield

2

0

2

Indeed, there was a fellow north Londoner who, not too long ago, carried the same prodigious potential as his friend, but Emile Smith Rowe no longer plays for Arsenal and dreams of becoming a superstar under Arteta’s guidance have faded away.

What was once said about Emile Smith Rowe

Smith Rowe, 24, made his senior debut for Arsenal at home in the Europa League against Vorskla Poltava in September 2018, scarcely one month into his 18th year. Incidentally, Saka also made his debut against the Ukrainian side, though his debut arrived two months later in the away fixture of the group phase.

A versatile, creative and cultured attacking midfielder, Smith Rowe has featured across a range of roles but is at his multi-talented best when deployed as a roaming number ten.

Blessed with crisp technical qualities and sharp intelligence, the Englishman was regarded as a playmaker who could have bloomed into the focal creative role in north London, even being praised by pundit Jamie Carragher in the past as the “best player in the league running with the ball at his feet”.

Arsenal’s resurgence of the past several years was swept forward by a tide of improvements. The transfer strategy was streamlined and the Spanish manager’s tactics dovetailed into the overarching vision. Now, Arsenal have finished second across the past two Premier League campaigns and pushed Pep Guardiola’s City to the brink on both occasions.

Smith Rowe, sadly, played nothing more than a bit-part role, with his glittering beginnings dulled by injuries and Arteta’s stylistic preferences, this latter issue had arisen from his fitness struggles, in fairness, precluding him from building the form and fluency to play a starring part.

23/24

13 (3)

0

2

22/23

12 (0)

0

2

21/22

33 (21)

10

2

20/21

20 (18)

2

4

19/20*

2 (1)

0

0

18/19*

0 (0)

0

0

The 2021/22 campaign was a year of significant strides for Arsenal. It ended in misery as a late-season slump pulled the club away from a top-four finish and handed Champions League football to arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur, but it was clear that something was being built.

Smith Rowe was instrumental, scoring ten top-flight goals and leading Danny Cowley, who coached him while on loan at Huddersfield Town, to remark that he “has potential to be world-class” and is “like Dennis Bergkamp but with pace”.

Having earned the nickname ‘the Croydon [Kevin] De Bruyne’ in his home borough, you’d have a decent understanding of the player’s quality without actually watching him play. But you must. It’s an artistic pleasure.

He plays with a sort of footballing poetic license, not stuck in one role but performing with unfettered freedom, gliding past defenders and wreaking chaos with sharp shooting and silky passing.

He carried the No. 10 embossed on the back of his shirt, like Bergkamp, one of his heroes. The retired Dutch maestro is one of the Premier League’s finest-ever forwards. A dignified and elegant player, Bergkamp’s close control and dribbling were truly first-class, capable of conjuring magical things at Highbury.

Smith Rowe will probably watch back at these past two years ruefully. He’s an immense talent and beloved by the Arsenal faithful, but he’s gained little from staying on the periphery of Arteta’s high-flying squad.

As hard as it was, selling him this summer was probably the right decision.

Smith Rowe is reborn at Fulham

The best things in life are the most difficult to let go. But Fulham paid Arsenal an initial fee of £27m, rising to £34m with add-ons, for the one-cap England international. The Gunners’ club-record sale – ever – is the £35m transfer of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Liverpool in 2017.

And now he’s flying. Smith Rowe has only played five matches for the Cottagers in the Premier League so far but he’s scored twice and assisted another.

As per Sofascore, he’s completed 91% of his passes in the Premier League this term, also averaging 0.8 interceptions and 1.8 tackles per game, emphasising that technical skill and tenacity.

Will Arsenal ever see their former prospect playing at the Emirates in red once again? Who knows, but he has been promising throughout the opening weeks of the 2024/25 campaign and will only improve as the matches go by, building form and fluidness under Marco Silva.

Given that the club recouped some £27m for his sale despite having scarcely enjoyed his ability over the past few years, it can only be regarded as a successful move.

But Bergkamp 2.0 once promised so much, looked to be the future superstar at the nucleus of Arteta’s project. Given the regard Arsenal fans hold him in, there will be plenty of hope from north London that he reaches that lofty level, even if it’s not on the grass that the outfit had hoped for.

Arteta must axe 4/10 Arsenal ace earning as much as Raya & Gabriel combined

It’s time the experience ace moves on.

1 ByJack Salveson Holmes Sep 20, 2024

Real Madrid have sent employees to run the rule over an Arsenal star who they are considering a deal for, as Carlo Ancelotti's side cast their eye to the Premier League in search of proven talent.

Arsenal preparing for all-important north London derby against Tottenham

The north Londoners have an all-important derby clash against Tottenham awaiting them after the international break, and Mikel Arteta will be desperate to return to winning ways after being held by Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend.

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Kai Havertz's expertly taken chip over Bart Verbruggen in the Brighton net was later cancelled out by Joao Pedro's second-half strike in the second half, with the game finishing 1-1 and ending Arsenal's winning start to the new Premier League season.

"It was a very emotional afternoon, for sure," said Arteta on Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Brighton.

"We started the game really well, created three or four chances that we didn’t convert. After that we had a period with some issues, particularly with the ball and we lacked some dominance in that period. We then score a really good goal in a moment when we take advantage of the opponent. Then we go in at half-time, come back and we were really strong. Then the referee makes a decision that changes the course of the game. With 10 men, the team reacted unbelievably well, the stadium reacts unbelievably well and we should have won the game."

To make matters more complicated for Arteta and his coaching staff, star midfielder Declan Rice was controversially sent off for two bookable offences on the day, so he is set to miss Arsenal's trip to Spurs next weekend.

Arsenal's next five Premier League games

Date

Tottenham (away)

September 15

Man City (away)

September 22

Leicester City (home)

September 28

Southampton (home)

October 5

Bournemouth (away)

October 19

Arsenal will also be without summer signing Mikel Merino for nearly two months, following the Spaniard's shoulder injury. Merino fractured his deltoid in a collision with Gabriel Magalhaes during the Spaniard's first ever training session at London Colney, so it looks like Arteta will be pretty short in midfield.

There are even suggestions that Arteta could hand youngster Salah-Eddine Oulad M'hand his senior Arsenal debut against Tottenham as a result, while other reports state Havertz could be dropped into midfield so Raheem Sterling can play a false-nine role.

Real Madrid consider signing William Saliba from Arsenal

Whatever tactical tweaks Arteta is planning, one of the few certainties next weekend is that William Saliba will be playing a crucial role at the heart of his defence.

The Frenchman has starred since coming into the team on a regular basis at the beginning of 2022/2023, so much so that Real Madrid have been regularly linked with a move for Saliba.

The Boot Room and journalist Graeme Bailey have an update on this, and they write that Real are indeed considering a move for Saliba, sending their club scouts to watch over him during Arsenal's 2-0 win over Aston Villa – where the 23-year-old put in an excellent display.

The centre-back, who Bailey claims could fetch around £100 million in this current market, is firmly on Ancelotti's radar as they carry on keeping close tabs.