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Newcastle fans have been discussing the probable sale of Aleksandar Mitrovic, and they can’t agree on a price tag for the Serbian.

Mitrovic showed exactly why so many fans rate him so highly on Friday, bullying the Switzerland defence all night in his side’s 2-1 loss.

The beastly striker grabbed the opening goal with a towering header, although Serbia eventually fell to goals from Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri.

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It seems like a matter of “when” rather than “if” Mitrovic leaves this summer, as the striker is not in Rafael Benitez’s plans for next season.

A report from the Chronicle said even the 23 year-old’s impressive showings thus far in Russia won’t be enough to change Rafa’s mind, and fans are now discussing how much they’d expect to receive in a potential sale.

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Fulham are the front-runners to land the striker, after he played a huge part in helping the Cottagers secure promotion, and forged a great connection with the Fulham boss, compatriot Slavisa Jokanovic.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

Most football fans will think that Sunday’s Carabao Cup final between Arsenal and Manchester City is the biggest game of the weekend, but there is also a huge match taking place in the North West of England on the same day.

Manchester United and Chelsea will go head to head in the Premier League, with three points separating the pair.

The Red Devils currently sit second in the table, while the Blues are third in the standings.

Both head into the clash on the back of Champions League outings, but one will probably be feeling more confident that the other.

Antonio Conte’s Chelsea side held their own against Barcelona in the first leg of their last-16 tie on Tuesday night in the form of a 1-1 draw.

United were in action earlier this evening, but they were largely reliant on goalkeeper David de Gea as they recorded a goalless draw with Sevilla.

Willian starred for Chelsea as he scored the opening goal before Lionel Messi found an equaliser for Barca at Stamford Bridge.

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The Brazilian has now scored three goals in his last two outings for the West London outfit, and he has warned United that a hat-trick is incoming.

The Daily Star quotes Willian as saying:

“It’s coming, it’s coming! I’m always ready to score goals. I think the hat-trick is coming soon. I just have to continue to do my job on the pitch. I almost had three against Barcelona and almost three against Hull City. We can stay at this level and go to Old Trafford and play another great game. We have to play in a similar way.”

Name: David Ospina

Country: Colombia

Club: Nice

Age: 25

International Caps: 48

Position: Goalkeeper

After Lukasz Fabianski’s defection to Swansea City, Arsenal are believed to be in the market for another goalkeeper this summer to provide competition for Wojciech Szczesny. On the back of his fine displays with Colombia, Ospina is the latest in a long list of names to be linked to the Gunners. The 25 year old managed a clean sheet in his country’s first knockout tie with Uruguay and will look to do the same against Brazil later this evening.

Despite signing a new deal fairly recently, Nice are reportedly willing to sell Ospina for as little as £3 million. Arsene Wenger is believed to have been monitoring the Colombian’s performances in Ligue 1 this season and will have undoubtedly been impressed by the goalkeeper’s displays in Brazil so far.

The French club’s stance becomes even more puzzling when the statistics are taken into consideration. With Ospina in the side, Nice conceded an average 0f 0.83 goals per game, a figure that ballooned to 2.22 in his absence. Standing at six feet tall, the 25 year old’s reflexes and mobility have helped the ‘keeper pull off a string of stunning saves for club and country in the last year.

Although James Rodriguez stole the show in Colombia’s 2-0 victory over Uruguay, Ospina performed a number of vital stops to keep the likes of Edinson Cavani and Cristian Rodriguez at bay. In his post-match interview, opposing manager Oscar Tabarez emphasised the 25 year old’s role in the match, stating “we had to take risks to reduce the deficit, but we came up against a ‘keeper who performed extraordinarily well.”

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However, in looking for a goalkeeper capable of handling the rigours of the Premier League,  Ospina’s relatively short stature will no doubt be of some concern to Wenger. In Ligue 1 at times this season, the Colombian was guilty of committing costly errors by charging off of his line at the wrong moments.

Nevertheless, Nice were certainly better with Ospina in their side and it is remarkable to read that they seem willing to part with the 25 year old’s services. Many believe that Wojciech Szczesny requires strong competition at the Emirates to keep him on his toes and the Colombian could be just the man to do that. For such a small fee, Wenger would be acquiring an international calibre goalkeeper that could easily replace the Pole as the number one at the Emirates next season.

Alan Pardew believes Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is able to handle the heat at Liverpool ahead of their Premier League clash this Sunday.

Former Swansea manager Rodgers has seen his side struggle since he took the helm, with the Merseyside club just managing two wins from nine games in the Premier League so far.

However, the Newcastle boss thinks Rodgers can manage this pressure, and that he is having difficulty creating his vision because of a lack of “tools”.

He said to BBC Newcastle: “I think Brendan can deal with it. He didn’t get the tools he needed and if you’re going to create the vision he wants, you’ve got to have the tools. As I understand it, he’s a striker short. If he didn’t want the big fella (Carroll), which we know because we were involved, then he should have had a replacement.”

Liverpool have had many issues with strikers this season, with Fabio Borini injured, whilst sending Andy Carroll off on loan to West Ham.

Pardew worked with Rodgers when they were youth coaches for Reading. He has said that he envisaged Rodgers coaching rather than going into management.

He said: “We were both confident in our own ways, but I genuinely thought he would be a coach rather than a manager. He has a natural association with the coaching ground, and those who watch Being Liverpool would sense that, he’s sort of evolved into a manager more so. I always felt I was the other type, and I actually did think of Brendan as a coach at a few of my other clubs but he’s found his own route and fair play to him.”

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Newcastle have had just one Anfield win in the Premier League since 1992.

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According to an exclusive report in The Sun on Sunday, Southampton are on the brink of securing a deal for Norwich City attacking midfielder James Maddison after seeing a bid worth more than £20m accepted.

What’s the word, then?

Well, The Sun on Sunday says that Saints have had an offer accepted for the highly-rated 21-year-old, who has been targeted by a string of Premier League clubs including Everton and Leicester City.

The Sun on Sunday says that sources close to the Canaries say that the south coast outfit’s manager Mark Hughes now has permission to speak to the England U21 international, who won the Championship club’s 2017/18 Player of the Season award, and convince him to move to St Mary’s.

The report adds that Maddison could be a replacement for Sofiane Boufal, who looks set to join either Marseille or Nice in France having had an altercation with Hughes and then been excluded from the first team following the loss against Chelsea back in April.

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How did Maddison do last season?

He was outstanding.

The 21-year-old scored eight goals and provided a further 14 assists in 44 league games for Norwich, but he brings far more to the table than simply goals and assists.

The England U21 star is comfortable on the ball and impressive in tight situations, and according to WhoScored.com he successfully completed 104 of the 154 dribbles he attempted, while he made a remarkable 124 key passes.

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Would he be a good Southampton signing?

He certainly would be, and their most exciting since they brought Sadio Mane to St Mary’s from Red Bull Salzburg in 2014.

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Like the Senegal international, Maddison brings a huge threat in the final third and has the touch and ability to get forward that will excite Saints supporters, who are split on a potential club-record deal for another Championship star, and that is something that is much needed after two successive disappointing campaigns.

The fact that he is also good on set-pieces is another bonus, and he would surely significantly boost a team that only scored 37 goals in 38 Premier League matches last term.

Tottenham Hotspur managed to come from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Juventus in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday night.

Gonzalo Higuain scored twice – once from the penalty spot – inside the first nine minutes of the encounter in Turin.

Spurs were able to recover from the shock, though, as Harry Kane pulled a goal back and Christian Eriksen later secured an equaliser.

The result has put Mauricio Pochettino’s team in a good position heading into the second leg at Wembley, especially as they have two away goals to their name.

There was one crack on the surface, though, and it was centred around Serge Aurier.

The right-back had a mixed performance, and he made some rash decisions that were costly.

After Kane gave Spurs some hope with a goal, Aurier was in danger of helping Juve to a 3-1 lead when he gave away a penalty by lunging in on Douglas Costa.

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The 25-year-old, though, breathed a sigh of relief when Higuain missed the target, but he later received a yellow card, which means that he will be suspended for the second leg.

Some Tottenham fans were not best pleased with Aurier’s performance.

Fans tend to joke amongst each other about supporters of certain teams being a little casual when it comes to knowing the history. This is perceived to be the case with some of the bigger teams in the Premier League, who have fanbases spanning several continents, but is it actually true? Knowing a football team inside out can take time, especially for younger fans without memories stretching back several decades.

What it can do is help when trying to impress fans, but how much do fans tend to know. Using all teams currently in the Premier League as an example, it seems that a few supporters should know a little more than they do right now. A quiz asked how well do you know your team, with 10 different questions spanning every facet of the club. The test by Ladbrokes caught quite a few out.

Ignorant Canaries?

Right at the foot of the knowledge table are Norwich City, who aren’t out of trouble on it just yet. Supporters of the East Anglian side have, on average, scored a miserable four out of ten in the quiz, perhaps showing that their knowledge of the club’s history doesn’t go too far back. In total, less than one third of their fans who took the quiz got at least six correct answers.

Another set of fans who didn’t fare too well are Stoke City supporters. The Potters, who look to be close to achieving Premier League safety following a solid win over Hull City last weekend, saw 3% of fans come away without getting a single question right. Less than a quarter of their fans got more than 6/10, which is surprising given their support at the Britannia Stadium is pretty vociferous.

Proud Palace

Among the other low scorers are West Bromwich Albion. Although not a single Baggies fan scored zero, two-thirds of their fans failed to get more than 5/10, which is surprising. However, not all of the smaller clubs’ support fared so badly, with Crystal Palace fans proving to be pretty sharp when it comes to knowing their team.

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12% of Palace fans scored 10/10. An astonishing 72% of their fans came away having scored at least 6/10. Also, 16% of Hull City fans managed to get all their questions right, which shows that smaller teams’ fans have plenty to draw on, as do the bigger clubs, but it’s Southampton who sit at the top of the table.

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Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas has lamented his side’s performance on Saturday as they crashed to an embarrassing defeat to Wigan at White Hart Lane yesterday, reports talkSPORT.

Spurs went into the match on the back of a rich vein of form having won five of their previous six Premier League matches, but a disappointing display meant Wigan left North London as deserved victors.

The Portuguese boss faced anger from home fans after he substituted Jermaine Defoe and he was the first to admit that the performance was way below the level he expects from his side.

‘We didn’t manage to keep the ball or pass well. We couldn’t recognise ourselves today.

‘Wigan were superior. Our chances weren’t clear cut. There are various reasons why we played like this.

‘The opponents were sharp and aggressive. We kept making mistakes. We played more with the heart rather than the head.”

Wigan’s Ben Watson punished Spurs day off driving home from close range after Brad Friedel had flapped at a Shaun Maloney corner. The home support was further incensed just after the goal when AVB took off leading scorer Defoe to bring on Emmanuel Adebayor.

However he explained the decision to the striker and insisted that he understand the fans complaints.

“We understand that they can show their frustrations, “the 35-year-old said.

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“We don’t do things to punish them or for the fans to show revolt. We do things for the benefit of the team.

“They want the win, but we want the win as much as them. We respect them.”

According to reports in The Mirror, Southampton manager Mark Hughes wants to sign Barcelona attacker Paco Alcacer, who was also a target for previous Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino, according to a report in The Sun in October 2017.

What’s the word, then?

Well, The Mirror says that Alcacer wants to leave the La Liga champions after two seasons where he has found his first-team opportunities restricted, and Hughes is keen to bring the Spaniard to St Mary’s to strengthen his frontline.

The 24-year-old joined Barca in a £30m deal in 2016 after scoring 29 goals in two seasons for Valencia previously, but he has failed to hit the same form for the Catalan giants.

Hughes’ men are certainly in need of a boost to their firepower given the Saints, who should sign a 6ft 4in England international once Chelsea complete a £45m deal, only netted 37 times in their 38 Premier League matches last term, as they narrowly avoided relegation to the Championship with a 17th-place finish.

How did Alcacer do during the 2017/18 campaign?

It was another tough campaign for the attacker, who once again found himself behind the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele in the pecking order.

The 24-year-old only made 23 appearances in all competitions – playing just 693 minutes of La Liga football – but he still scored seven goals and provided a further four assists, scoring a goal on average every 142 minutes in total.

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Would he be a good signing for Southampton?

He certainly could be, yes.

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The centre-forward showed during his time with Valencia that he can both score and create, and while his time with Barcelona hasn’t been hugely impressive in terms of the number of goals and assists he has recorded, the fact that he is making an impact when he does play is certainly eye-catching.

The fact that the La Liga giants bought him in the first place shows how good the 24-year-old is and can be, and there is no doubt that it would be a huge coup for Saints if they could bring the £30m man to St Mary’s.

Despite a minority of fans criticizing his efforts in recent years, it is safe to say that Mesut Ozil is the brightest talent in the Arsenal squad.

His stunning form of late has garnered him much praise, especially in the league victory over Crystal Palace and Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win over Chelsea.

The German, who is valued at £45million by Transfermarkt, has now become the key man as Arsenal look to close the gap on the Premier League’s top four.

However, the seemingly interminable conversations about a new contract for the 29-year-old continue.

Ozil has just six months remaining on his current deal and there have been no signs of an extension agreement being reached.

However, with the arrival of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and possible addition of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang certainly improving the talent pool in Arsenal’s squad, Ozil could be persuaded to sign a new contract in North London.

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Following the victory over Chelsea, Arsenal fans took to Twitter to plead with the club to agree a contract extension with Ozil as soon as possible.