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

Bukayo Saka endured a difficult night as Arsenal lost 1-0 to Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Monday.

On the chalkboard

The young winger played from the start as Unai Emery’s men blew the chance to move into third in the Premier League.

His most noticeable contribution perhaps came in the first half, as he burst into the box and appeared to be fouled by centre-back John Egan. Referee Mike Dean, however, saw differently and booked the 18-year-old for simulation.

Replays showed that there was no contact and Ian Wright claimed after the game that he was “waiting” to be touched by Egan so he could hit the deck.

Per WhoScored, the teenager had 42 touches of the ball and completed five dribbles but his final product was lacking.

Saka did not have a shot on goal, while his pass completion rate was just 70%.

He was also dispossessed once and failed to make a single tackle or win an aerial duel.

Needs help

Saka was ploughing something of a lone furrow on the left flank.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was the only man ahead of him and even he had just one shot on goal throughout the 90 minutes.

What Saka needs is a playmaker through which everything can be built; the winger could then get in behind, or choose to come short and collect the ball at the beginning of an attack.

As it is, he struggled against the Blades because he simply didn’t have the support he needed.

It is all very well completing dribbles but if you haven’t got anyone to pass to at the end, there is precious little point in even making the run.

Perhaps Alexandre Lacazette’s return to fitness will help; he could always be restored to the starting XI alongside Aubameyang, and having both on the field would give Saka two targets to hit instead of one.

One thing is for sure, though; he can ill-afford another performance like the one he put in on Monday.

According to 90min, Arsenal are at the head of the queue for Villarreal defender Pau Torres.

The 22-year-old spent last season on loan with Malaga in the second tier before becoming a key player for the Yellow Submarine in the early stages of the 2019/20 campaign – making eight La Liga appearances.

90min reports that Chelsea and Manchester City have both expressed an interest in the centre-back but Arsenal are said to be leading the race.

Torres, who is currently with the Spain squad on international duty, only signed a new five-year contract with the La Liga club at the start of the month.

However, 90min report that the deal includes a release clause of somewhere between £43.6m and £65.4m.

A selection of Arsenal fans have been on social media commenting on the transfer speculation, and there are a number of mixed views on the 6 ft 4 ace.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to German media outlet Bild, Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly interested in €50m-rated (£43m) Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Denis Zakaria, and he is the defensive midfielder they need to allow Harry Winks and Tanguy Ndombele to flourish.

What’s the word, then?

Well, Bild report that the current Bundesliga leaders feel that the Switzerland international is one of the players they could receive a club-record transfer fee for, with their current leader the €45m they got from Arsenal for Granit Xhaka.

Bild say that Monchengladbach feel they could get at least £43m for the 22-year-old, who is interesting a number of top European clubs.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Spurs are among those according to the story, along with Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan and Premier League rivals Manchester United.

As good as Wanyama pre-injury

The north London outfit have suffered without an out-and-out defensive midfielder in their team this season to protect the defence, with the likes of Winks, Ndombele and Moussa Sissoko playing in the deepest midfield roles –  the 10 goals they have conceded in their previous two fixtures is proof of that.

Mauricio Pochettino does have Victor Wanyama and Eric Dier available, but he clearly doesn’t trust them given their lack of minutes this season.

To be fair to the Argentine, the former was awful when he came on in the 2-1 defeat to Leicester City last month as his recent injury issues appear to have caught up with him, while the latter doesn’t look the same player that was such a mainstay in the starting XI during the early stages of the 47-year-old’s reign at Tottenham – his first Premier League start of the campaign was last time out against Brighton.

Buying Zakaria would allow the likes of Winks and Ndombele to flourish going forward though, as it is a role he is playing with his club right now.

The 22-year-old is the deepest of Monchengladbach’s central midfield trio – in a team that has only conceded six times in seven matches – and according to Bundesliga.com, he has a pass completion rate of 88% in the German flight this term.

A look back at his stats from this season and previous ones show he is more than on a par with Wanyama before he suffered his multiple injury issues with Spurs, as he averaged 2.5 tackles and 1.5 interceptions in the 2017/18 season, and 2.3 tackles and 1.4 interceptions this term, as per WhoScored.

Meanwhile, the Kenya international’s most consistent run in the starting XI came when Tottenham finished second in 2016-17, with his defensive stats standing at 2.5 tackles and 1.1 interceptions in 36 Premier League outings when Pochettino’s men only let in 26 goals.

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

Sheffield Wednesday face a second away trip in the space of just three days as the Championship is in action again this week.

The Owls will be looking to continue their fine form under Garry Monk having picked up seven points from a possible nine with their latest result coming up at the Riverside against one of his former teams on Saturday afternoon.

The south Yorkshire club were just too much for Middlesbrough as they ran out 4-1 winners thanks to goals from Adam Clayton (own goal), Dominic Iorfa, Adam Reach and Steven Fletcher.

Boro could only muster two shots on target in the entire match, one of which was the goal, but Monk must be careful as they’ll face a more potent strikeforce on Tuesday night.

On the Chalkboard

Hull City might be languishing down in 16th position having won just two of their nine matches this season, but that doesn’t avoid the fact that two of their players have accounted for over 60% of their goals this season.

Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki have started all nine matches, scoring four goals each.

They seem to be the most likely threat to the Owls, who have kept just three clean sheets all season.

Between the two wingers, they’ve also racked up three assists as both average over one cross per match.

Their threat in front of goal is only emphasised when reading that they both have 3.4 shots per game meaning Wednesday goalkeeper Keiren Westwood could face nearly seven shots from this duo.

Watch Sheffield Wednesday Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Grosicki likes to cut in more and be a creative outlet as he achieves 2.2 key passes per game while Bowen tops the dribble charts with a similar number. The latter is someone who very much likes to drift inside and get a shot away too.

Both Liam Palmer and Moses Odubajo will need to be at the top of their game out wide to combat the threat on offer from these two Tigers. Perhaps showing them down the line instead of into a central area would be their best way of negating them.

If they fail to do so, Monk’s side could face a difficult evening.

Rangers went top of the Scottish Premiership on Sunday afternoon as they hammered Hamilton Academical 5-0 at Ibrox.

The Gers went into the game just around an hour after Celtic had lost at the Tony Macaroni Arena to Livingston and knew that a win would take them top of the league.

Some added pressure to a game they were already expected to win, then, but they dealt with it well and put away the visitors with real ease.

A Jermain Defoe hat-trick was the main reason for the win, but goals from defenders Borna Barisic and Connor Goldson helped add sheen to the victory.

Indeed, Goldson silenced a few critics with his display as he battered in a header from a James Tavernier cross for 2-0.

Here, then, is some of the reaction to the defender’s goal and performance on social media:

A fine win for the Gers and a good performance from the centre-half as we head into the international break.

Leeds United were knocked out of the Carabao Cup fourth round on Tuesday night by Arsenal thanks to goals from Calum Chambers and Eddie Nketiah.

Marcelo Bielsa chose a very strong starting line-up for the game, and would no doubt have been left very disappointed with how some of his first-team regulars performed, not least Tyler Roberts.

The Wales international has endured a nightmare start to the current campaign, with his latest shocker against the Gunners meaning he has now gone 12 games without a single goal or assist.

Against Arsenal, he was similarly ineffective, struggling to really get a hold of the ball and link up with the likes of Rodrigo and Dan James up top – in fact, he made just six successful passes in the entire time that he was on the pitch.

None of his three shots found the target, while he made no successful dribbles, and it was no surprise that Bielsa eventually hooked him for Joe Gelhardt just minutes into the second-half.

And, writing in his post-match player ratings, Leeds Live’s Beren Cross was particularly critical of him.

He said: “Not a whole lot fell for him, but another game with limited impact going forward from Roberts, who was hooked very swiftly after another failure to execute a promising opportunity with his back to goal and Arsenal out of shape.”

That feeling was shared by The Yorkshire Evening Post’s Graham Smyth, who added: “A couple of nice moments aside, didn’t take his chance again. Little surprise to see him withdrawn.”

Given Gelhardt is now seriously pushing for a place in the first-team, Roberts’ underwhelming display at the Emirates on Tuesday will have given Bielsa plenty of food for thought going forward.

Does the Leeds boss finally drop the underperforming Welshman, and give Gelhardt the chance to shine from the off.

Meanwhile, this Leeds star just embarrassed Bielsa vs Arsenal…

With Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side heading into Saturday’s fixture on the back of securing their first away win of the 2021/22 campaign last time out, the manager will have undoubtedly been hoping for more of the same when the Hoops made the trip to Fir Park today.

Goals either side of half-time from Jota and David Turnbull ensured that the 56-year-old would not be disappointed, with Celtic running out 2-0 winners against Graham Alexander’s Motherwell.

However, despite the win, Postecoglou may well be concerned about the performance of Kyogo Furuhashi, as the Japan international endured a pretty abject afternoon while leading the Celtic line.

Fewer touches than Hart

Having scored eight goals over 11 appearances in all competitions prior to the Motherwell game, Kyogo has already demonstrated since his summer move to Celtic that he is undoubtedly a forward capable of doing a job up front for the Bhoys.

However, while his below-par display on Saturday could perhaps be blamed on a lack of service, ultimately the statistics do not lie – and the 26-year-old’s performance from a statistical point of view do not make pretty reading for the striker.

Indeed, over his 82 minutes on the pitch, the £1.8m-rated man had just one shot at the Motherwell goal, only 16 touches of the ball – 27 fewer than Joe Hart between the Celtic sticks – and completed a mere seven passes, as per SofaScore.

The player who Postecoglou labelled a “positive” character also lost three of his five duels, won only one tackle and lost possession of the ball on five separate occasions.

These returns saw the Japan international earn a disappointing SofaScore match rating of 6.6, the lowest received by any Celtic player to start the game.

As such, while Postecoglou will certainly be delighted with another three points on the road, the performance of Kyogo could well be a cause for concern for the 56-year-old, as the striker badly let his manager down against Motherwell this afternoon.

In other news: Celtic’s “irresponsible” £3m flop has seen his value plummet, Lawwell had a shocker

Fabio Silva lined-up for Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Under-23s in Monday’s Premier League 2 clash with Sunderland.

The striker got on the scoresheet for James Collins’ side, but a Bill Harris hat-trick for the visitors saw them fall to defeat.

Limited involvement for Silva under Lage

Silva, a £35.6million addition in 2020, was an unused substitute in the senior team’s 1-0 win over Southampton at the weekend.

He’s played only 18 minutes of Premier League football since Bruno Lage took over from Nuno Espirito Santo.

The signing of Hwang Hee-chan from RB Leipzig appears to have pushed him further down the pecking order.

Both of Silva’s starts under the new boss have come in the Carabao Cup.

He able to notch two assists in the 4-0 rout of Championship strugglers Nottingham Forest last month.

It remains to be seen whether Wolves will look to loan out Silva for more regular game time when the January transfer window rolls around.

Fan feed Talking Wolves relayed the team news, and here’s what supporters made of it.

What did Wolves fans think of Silva’s Under-23 runout?

“Best place for him. Nowhere near a Premier League player. Waste of big money.”

Credit: @W4768721431

“Paid 35 million for him and the powers that be are playing in the under 23’s, he’s gonna improve. Send him on loan to a championship club and when he struggles there we know he will never make it in the prem”

Credit: @satsomboon

“He’ll be back playing in the Portuguese league soon. He’s just not good enough, not his fault we spent way too much on him”

Credit: @fle07tch

“About time he did too in all honesty – he needs playing time at a lower level to build his confidence rather than being pushed into the first team before he is really ready.”

Credit: @hrothgarwolf

“He needs to go out on loan to the Championship or even League One!”

Credit: @steviebee7

“Good, needs minutes”

Credit: @MOOKWOLF

In other news, fans were buzzing over this transfer rumour.

Many Everton fans have been left slamming the display of Ben Godfrey in their 3-0 away loss to Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday evening.

The former Norwich City defender had a torrid few minutes especially when Leon Bailey came on for the hosts, as he really struggled to contain the explosive winger, who managed to grab himself a stunning goal and an assist from a corner which was flicked into the net by Lucas Digne.

A centre-back by trade, Godfrey struggled to adapt to the right-back position all game, losing out on six of his duels, while also failing to record a single clearance or interception, and losing possession of the ball on no fewer than 15 separate occasions, the second-most out of any of his teammates (Sofascore).

Everton fans on Godfrey display

These members of the Goodison Park faithful slammed his performance on Twitter, with one Merseyside club supporter even going as far as to claim that he was ‘woeful’:

“Godfrey is having a stinker. Sorry, but he is”

Credit: @chriswatson187

“I am not sure I have seen a worse 10 minutes of defending from outside backs then I have seen from Everton here. Godfrey and Digne both WOEFUL on all three goals”

Credit: @G_KnowsSports

“Ben Godfrey was atrocious there like! Poor showing but lack of squad depth was gonna catch up with us as soon as we got a few injuries”

Credit: @JimLowrey3

“Ben Godfrey is not a right back, shocking shocking performance.”

Credit: @SimonMidi9790

“Ben Godfrey – Nightmare!”

Credit: @PaulClews2

“Ben Godfrey jogged to track back there that’s so poor”

Credit: @KClayFootball

In other news, find out what club news has Toffees buzzing here!

Chloe Kelly has been 'flying' in training ahead of the Lionesses' clash with Italy on Tuesday, as she looks to return to the team following a knock.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

• Kelly missed Austria clash on Friday with a knock
• But set to return for England vs Italy
• Boost for Lionesses as Kirby heads home

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Kelly missed England's emphatic 7-2 win over Austria on Friday because of a knock she picked up in training. However, Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman looks set to have the winger back available for the team's second fixture of this international break.

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  WHAT WIEGMAN SAID

  Asked about Kelly's fitness in her Monday press conference, Wiegman said: "She's good. She was flying in training so hopefully that's what she will do later on this morning and be ready for tomorrow."

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Kelly's return will be a boost for an England team that has just seen Fran Kirby leave the squad due to a minor injury. The Chelsea star was due to start against Austria on Friday but pulled out of the line-up in the warm-up due to irritation in her knee. Wiegman said on Monday that she wasn't expecting Kirby to have picked up "a bad injury", but that she has been sent back to her club because England didn't want to take any risks.

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  DID YOU KNOW?

  Only Arsenal's Victoria Pelova has registered more assists in the Women's Super League this season than Kelly, who has been in flying form at club level. The Man City star has been directly involved in nine goals in 14 WSL games to help the Cityzens sit level on points with leaders Chelsea at the top of the table.