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Salman and Khawaja expect spin to assume greater importance in Sydney as the Test goes on

Danyal Rasool04-Jan-2024Perhaps the scorecard doesn’t quite do justice to the opportunity Pakistan have here at the SCG in this final Test. Of the 47 fairly routine overs that were sent down on a grey second day in Sydney, there was one ball that provided Pakistan a faint glimpse into what a good third day might look like. And all things good that come through here run through the man who bowled it.In the 25th over, Agha Salman landed one on leg stump around a good length that ragged from the surface – drifting in, and then bouncing and spinning away – to take David Warner’s outside edge. Babar Azam, at first slip now shortly after debutant Saim Ayub had put a catch down there, grasped onto it. What was deemed a lifeless pitch at the start of the day suddenly brimmed with possibility, especially when Salman was operating from one end.”For spinners, there is help if you put the ball in the right areas, there is assistance, and there will be more as the Test match goes on,” Salman said at the press conference. “You just have to bowl in the right areas as much as you can and I was trying to do that. Sajid [Khan] was getting some turn as well but the drift I was getting was greater.”Related

• Pakistan snare Warner, Khawaja on rain-hit second day

• Not again! Saim Ayub adds to Pakistan's first slip woes

And that is where any improvement from Pakistan could give them a boost. It is perhaps not especially flattering for Sajid Khan that the man specifically flown in from the other side of the world and thrust into the side struggled to be more effective with some of the basics of spin bowling than Salman. Salman may officially be an allrounder but for much of his Test career, has been viewed as a useful lower middle-order batter.It is not a definition he agrees with, and over these three days, he has the chance to make a strong argument to that effect. “I always think of myself as an allrounder but this series I got more opportunities and people saw more of me bowl. But I always think I’m an allrounder and want to play as an allrounder.”Salman’s demonstrative celebration when he took that wicket perhaps also illustrates how live the visiting side feels this game is. When Babar held on to that catch – just about – Salman leapt into the air in a mixture of joy and the release of pent-up celebration, players who had spent the last hour in resigned dejection perking up animatedly.”Davey’s a big wicket,” he said. “Whenever you get him out, he’s a massive wicket. At that time, we needed a wicket. It was a reaction to getting a big player out.”There was both praise and encouragement from the other side of the aisle, too. Usman Khawaja called it “a ripper of a ball”, and, having grown up on these wickets, suggested he wouldn’t be surprised if spin continued to assume greater importance as the Test goes on.That is particularly encouraging for Pakistan because it suggests a return to the sort of traditional SCG pitches that have had a reputation for helping spin bowlers out. More recent Test matches haven’t quite played out that way, with the strip holding firm and spinners getting limited assistance – that Nathan Lyon averages over 40 here is perhaps the best illustration of that. Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill bowled in tandem with success, and when Pakistan last played a Test here in 2017, Australia lined up with Steven O’Keefe and Hilton Cartwright in Lyon’s absence.Going further back, Pakistan’s last win in Australia came here at the SCG in 1995, with Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed combining for 11 wickets. Khawaja suggested this pitch was more of a throwback to several years ago rather than a repeat of the more recent surfaces at this ground.”This is as close to an SCG pitch that I grew up playing on,” Khawaja said. “It used to be quite a slow wicket once the ball lost its shine and and it spun a bit, with balls staying low. If we keep getting play on to, I expect it to deteriorate, it’s already taking turn. I think it’s a very good wicket.”If it can continue to provide Salman the kind of assistance he got to break the opening partnership, Pakistan might agree.

Worcestershire batters enjoy productive return to business on first day of season in Oxford

Paul Edwards24-Mar-2022
“Take thermals to The Parks,” said Scyld Berry when told of my plans. It was, of course, shrewd advice, the sort one might expect from a former editor of . I anticipated a cutting wind and reckoned that my thickest flannel shirt would be only one of four layers I’d need. Round the boundary, fanatics would be declaring that they hadn’t missed the first day’s cricket on this ground since Vic Marks was up and they were damned if a bit of frost was going to stop them now. Fielders would be wearing bobble hats and praying the ball wouldn’t come to them. Jokes would feature the prospect of double pneumonia. The whole shebang was first cousin to inevitable. For what manner of loon plans to cover a cricket match before the clocks have gone forward?But the only foolishness is my assumption. As Worcestershire’s players and coaches watch Gareth Roderick tuck Hugo Whitlock’s first ball of the match backward of square for a single none is wearing anything more protective than a sweater or a tracksuit top; hardly any are hypnotised by their mobile phones. “One out of one!” Brett D’Oliveira exclaimed having won the toss and the visitors’ new skipper then scurries across to move the sightscreen. The temperature must be in the low sixties. Already some of the daffodils in Balliol’s back quad are going over and the magnolias in The Parks are in riot. The Crêpes O Mania van is doing good business, although nothing like the killing it will make in the afternoon session. No one has known a March like this in Oxford. My binoculars fall apart inside the first hour’s play; perhaps they can’t believe their lenses.Roderick and Taylor Cornall, Worcestershire’s almost new recruit from Lancashire, put on 114 in 27.3 overs for the first wicket before Roderick chips Toby Greatwood to Karan Parmar at midwicket. Lunch is taken nine balls later. The morning’s play has been watched by around a hundred spectators. The more conservatively dressed are occupying the benches, one of which is named after Martin Donnelly, the New Zealand left-hander whose batting used to empty the lecture halls here just after the war. The more unconventional groups are on the east side of The Parks. Among them have been Japanese visitors, some looking bemused, others entranced. Perhaps they thought cricket is England’s answer to the tea ceremony. They may be right.Oxford University’s players are on a pre-season tour to Barbados, so this UCCE team is composed entirely of Oxford Brookes students. Their fielding in the first two sessions is particularly keen but their errors are expensive. On 38 Cornall’s edged drive flies more or less unhindered between the wicketkeeper Joe Millard and first slip Whitlock. The Worcestershire opener will go on to make 84 before Millard redeems himself off the home skipper, Chris McBride.Jack Haynes made a hundred in Worcestershire’s university warm-up•PA Images via Getty ImagesRather more seriously, when he has made 23 Jack Haynes nicks the slow left-armer, Connor Haddow, to first slip, where Joe Gordon just fails to pouch the chance. A few balls later Haynes drives the spinner just over a leaping McBride at mid-off. They will be more or less his last errors before Haddow bowls him off the inside edge just before the close. By then Worcestershire’s finest current young batter will have offered us drives through the covers and mid-on, although he will stroke only six fours in his hundred, and ten in his final tally of 127.Cornall is dismissed just after 2.30pm and we hear our first “Let’s go bang-bang” of the season. It is like spring’s first cuckoo and similarly misleading. For Haynes and D’Oliveira will put on 120 either side of tea, and in the evening session Worcestershire’s expected dominance is plain on a pitch that is an absolute credit to groundsman John Buddington, a Sunderland lad who arrived at The Parks via Tunbridge Wells and Horsham. Buddington is clearly a good egg and his work exemplifies the important point that although the universities’ matches may have lost first-class status, they still offer valuable preparation and are taken seriously. The counties would not play them otherwise.And yet none of this would be quite so memorable or strangely blessed had not our afternoon been enriched by the 200 or so good-natured students, presumably from Brookes, who gathered on that sunlit eastern boundary and cheered more or less everything their friends did. Every appeal was supported by a chorus; every decent stop was applauded. There was a chorus of “Jerusalem” and for once it did not sound like brain-dead nationalism. There were other songs, too: there is, should you be in any doubt about the matter, only one Joe Gordon. To do a circuit or three was to be revived after a bleak close-season by the bugger-it exuberance of youth. Yes, there were many beer cans and plenty of wine bottles. Indeed, chuck in a few tents and a lot of mud and you had cricket’s answer to the Glastonbury Festival. Even Worcestershire’s players savoured the show. One wonders if any of them have had such an enjoyable first day of the season.By seven o’clock, though, Oxford was in near darkness. The cranes that currently compete with cupolas in this enchanted city were obscured, as were the Ukrainian flags that fly from college towers, residents’ windows and Blackwell’s bookshop. Even in this place, where one can so easily be seduced by memories of say, snowy Decembers, present concerns cannot be avoided. But as it happens, the clocks’ going forward was of little consequence. The one on the front of the famous pavilion in The Parks had not been put back in October, presumably on the sound basis that very few people would look at it outside the cricket season. And the suggestion that Oxford has its own way of reckoning time might not have surprised the spectators on the ground this balmy March. For at least one of them, Jack Haynes will always be driving the ball through the covers and there will always be a low door in the wall.

When the World Series begins this week, all eyes will be on designated hitter and pitcher Shohei Ohtani and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who were both crowned MVP after their team's victories in the championship series and are the faces of the Dodgers and Blue Jays.

Ohtani is coming off arguably the greatest baseball game ever played, when he hit three home runs and pitched six scoreless innings while striking out 10 to lead his team back to the World Series. Guerrero is also heading to the World Series after an impressive performance in the American League championship series, where he recorded 10 hits, six runs, three home runs and three RBIs.

Ohtani and Guerrero are unsurprisingly the favorites to take home the World Series MVP award. Along with them, reigning World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, George Springer, Blake Snell, Teoscar Hernández, Mookie Betts, Alejandro Kirk, Daulton Varsho and Will Smith make up the rest of the top-10 favorites to win the award.

While a star often does claim the World Series MVP, sometimes an unexpected hero shines on the biggest stage and walks away with the award, whether it's Steve Pearce for the 2018 Red Sox or David Freese of the 2011 Cardinals.

Before the World Series begins, here's a look at four dark horse World Series MVP candidates, or who could become the Pearce or Freese of this year's World Series.

Tommy Edman, Dodgers INF

If Los Angeles's top stars have a quiet World Series, don't be surprised if Edman comes through during the series. Edman already has some experience winning an unexpected MVP award after becoming the Dodgers' NLCS MVP in 2024. In that six-game series, the midseason acquisition recorded 11 hits, five runs, a home run and 11 RBIs, including four RBIs in the final game to help clinch the series.

Edman has been strong this postseason once again, hitting .286 and recording 10 hits, three runs, two home runs and six RBIs through nine games, with half of those hits and RBIs coming during his team's NLCS victory over the Brewers.

Enrique "Kiké" Hernández, Dodgers INF

Outside of Edman, Enrique "Kiké" Hernández is another under-the-radar candidate that could claim the World Series MVP if Los Angeles wins the championship. Through 10 playoff games this year for the Dodgers, Hernández has batted .306 and put up 11 hits, seven and four RBIs. He has yet to hit his first home run this postseason.

Hernández has been known for his postseason heroics in the past—most notably when he sent Los Angeles to the World Series with a three-run home run performance in Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS.Hernández also boasts loads of experience on MLB's biggest stage. In four previous World Series appearances, he has combined for 11 hits, seven runs, one home run and six RBIs.

Ernie Clement, Blue Jays 3B

Ernie Clement is playing in the postseason for the first time in his career, but is second on Toronto in hits so far this postseason, tallying 18 hits along with 10 runs, one home run and seven RBIs while hitting .429 through 11 games. Over the course of the regular season, he finished fourth on the team in hits.

Clement has hit just a combined 10 home runs through the 2025 regular season and postseason. To have a shot at MVP, he'd likely need to either increase his typical home run total, or record a home run or two in a crucial part of the series.

Nathan Lukes, Blue Jays RF

Like Clement, Lukes is making his first World Series appearance in his first postseason. Lukes, who made his debut for the Blue Jays in 2023, is coming off a strong performance in the ALCS in which he recorded nine hits, three runs and two RBIs. He's batting .333 this postseason, and recorded hits in six of the seven games during the ALCS.

Similar to Clement, Lukes likely would need a crucially-timed home run or to increase his usual amount for a series shot at winning the World Series MVP, but if the stars don't pull through, he'd be a sneaky candidate to claim the award.

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank will be delighted with where the team is currently at, after moving up to third in the Premier League table on Sunday.

The former Brentford boss inherited a team that finished 17th in the division under Ange Postecoglou last season, despite winning the Europa League, which makes their current form all the more impressive.

Spurs travelled to Merseyside to take on Everton at the Hill Dickinson stadium on Sunday in the Premier League, and came away from that match with a 3-0 win.

Central midfielder Micky van de Ven took his tally for the season to five goals with two strikes in the first half, before Pape Matar Sarr added a third late on by heading in from close-range after Richarlison nodded the ball back across goal.

You would often be hard-pressed to find many negatives from a 3-0 win away from home in the Premier League, but there were some for the Lilywhites on Sunday.

For example, there was another fairly underwhelming performance from summer signing Xavi Simons in the middle of the park, and he needs to step up for Spurs in the coming weeks and months.

Why Xavi Simons needs to step up for Spurs

The Europa League champions splashed out £52m to sign the Netherlands international from RB Leipzig, possibly with the intention of him replacing James Maddison, who suffered an ACL injury in pre-season.

It is easy to see why they were willing to splash the cash on the former Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona youngster, as he produced consistent quality in the Bundesliga in the last two seasons.

Xavi Simons (Bundesliga)	23/24	24/25
Appearances	32	25
xG	8.26	5.11
Goals	8	10
Big chances created	14	12
Key passes per game	2.5	2.0
Assists	11	7
Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, Simons racked up 18 goals and 26 ‘big chances’ created as an attacking midfielder or winger, proving that he can make a big impact in the final third.

However, the Dutchman has no goals and one assist, which came from a corner, in ten appearances in all competitions for Tottenham since his move to the club in the summer window.

Simons, as of yet, has been unable to translate his influence in the Bundesliga over to the Premier League. Whether that will come with more time and experience in England, it remains to be seen.

The 22-year-old attacking midfielder played 62 minutes against Everton on Sunday, per Sofascore, and came off the pitch without any shots on goal or any chances created to show for his efforts for the Lilywhites, which shows that it was an ineffective performances in the final third.

Along with his struggles in the Premier League, Simons also has no goals, one key pass, and no ‘big chances’ created in three appearances in the Championship for Tottenham this term.

This shows that he has been struggling domestically and on the continent stage, which will be a concern for supporters and Frank at this stage, as the Dutch star is clearly capable of much better than he is showing, given his output for Leipzig in his two full seasons in Germany.

In The Pipeline

Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.

With the £52m signing’s struggles at the top end of the pitch, though, it could be the right time for the Danish head coach to provide a young player with an opportunity to step up.

Luca Williams-Barnett made his first-team debut for the club in the League Cup in a 3-0 win against Doncaster Rovers, and he could emerge as a surprise upgrade on Simons.

Spurs travel to Tyneside to take on Newcastle United in the League Cup on Wednesday night, which could be the perfect opportunity to offer the teenage starlet a chance to shine.

Why Luca Williams-Barnett could be a Xavi Simons upgrade

The 17-year-old star’s form for the club at academy level this season suggests that he has the potential to be an exciting player for the first-team if he can make the step up.

As aforementioned, Simons has not stepped up to deliver goals and assists since his big-money move from Leipzig, with a goal contribution every ten matches on average so far.

Williams-Barnett, meanwhile, has scored eight goals and provided seven assists in 12 appearances in all competitions this season, including a three-minute cameo for the first-team, per Transfermarkt.

On top of his exceptional form in front of goal in the current campaign for Tottenham’s youth teams, the England U18 international also scored 20 goals in all competitions last season.

Luca Williams-Barnett	24/25	25/26
Appearances	23	12
Minutes	1857	894
Goals	20	8
Minutes per goal	93	112
Assists	12	7
Minutes per assist	155	128
Minutes per goal contribution	58	60
Stats via Transfermarkt

As you can see in the table above, Williams-Barnett has provided goals and assists on a consistent basis since the start of last season, averaging a goal or an assist every hour or so over the past 18 months.

U23 scout Antonio Mango went as far as to call him the “most underrated talent in English Academies”, which speaks to how impressed he has been with the Spurs youngster’s performances.

His talent has been recognised this season, though, as he won the Premier League 2 Player of the Month award for his displays at U21 level in September.

With all of this in mind, and the fact that his main position is as an attacking midfielder, it could be the right time for Frank to provide him with another chance to impress at first-team level after his debut against Doncaster last month.

Spurs have unearthed their new Vertonghen & it's not Van de Ven

Tottenham Hotspur may have found their next Jan Vertonghen, and it is not Micky van de Ven.

By
Dan Emery

Oct 27, 2025

He has shown unbelievable form and consistency for the academy team for more than a year, and his numbers at youth level suggest that he does have the potential to be an upgrade on the currently underperforming Xavi Simons, if he can make the step up.

MatériaMais Notícias

O Corinthians visita o Cianorte nesta quinta-feira (22), pela primeira fase da Copa do Brasil. A bola rola a partir das 20h (de Brasília), no Estádio Willie Davids, em Maringá, com transmissão do Prime Video (streaming).

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✅FICHA TÉCNICA
Cianorte x Corinthians
1ª rodada da Copa do Brasil

Data e horário: quinta-feira, 22 de fevereiro de 2024, às 20h (de Brasília)
Local: Estádio Willie Davids, em Maringá (PR)
Onde assistir: Prime Video

CIANORTE
Tiepo; Marlon Mykaion, Raphael, Matheus Guedes e Samuel Toscas; Adriano Jr, Juninho, Natham e Júnior Dutra; Vinícius Faria e Guilherme Beléa. Técnico: José Roberto Lucini.

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CORINTHIANS
Carlos Miguel; Matheus França, Félix Torres, Gustavo Henrique e Caetano; Raniele, Maycon e Rodrigo Garro; Romero, Wesley e Pedro Henrique. Técnico: Antonio Oliveira.

تعادل ليفربول مع سندرلاند بهدف لمثله حيث استمر الريدز في تقديم أداء مخيب للآمال، خلال اللقاء الذي جمع الفريقين على ملعب أنفيلد في الدوري الانجليزي.

وكان سندرلاند قد تفوق على ليفربول في بداية الشوط الثاني، قبل أن يتعادل فلوريان فيرتز لصالح الفريق المضيف بمجهود فردي وتسديدة رائعة اصطدمت بأحد مدافعي الفريق الخصم.

وتمكن الإيطالي فيدريكو كييزا من إنقاذ مرمى ليفربول من هدف ثاني لصالح سندرلاند بعد مراوغة أليسون بيكر عن طريق مهاجم الفريق الضيف ويلسون.

وعلق دانييل ستوريدج مهاجم ليفربول السابق الذي لعب إلى جانب محمد صلاح وفاز معه بدوري أبطال أوروبا 2019 ليقيم مستقبل الملك المصري.

أقرأ أيضاً.. ريدناب: محمد صلاح سيغادر ليفربول في يناير إلى أحد هذين الوجهتين بسبب سلوت

وقال ستوريدج في تصريحات لـ “سكاي سبورت” حول إذا كان صلاح سيغادر في يناير :”لا أحد يعلم ما سيحدث في كرة القدم لكنني أعتقد أن الأمر ليس كذلك”.

وأضاف: “هل يقدم أداء وفقاً لمستواه؟ لا لا يفعل، ولكن لا أحد غيره يقوم بذلك، يريد أن يكون سبب فوزهم، ولست متأكداً تماماً من أنه يجب التشكيك في لاعب كان سببا في فوزهم بالدوري الموسم الماضي”.

واختتم:” يؤلمني أن أرى صلاح بهذا الشكل، أستطيع أن أقول إنه غير سعيد وأنت لن تكون سعيداً لأنك معتاد على أن تكون اللاعب الرئيسي، هناك وقت يجب فيه اتخاذ قرار لكني لا أعتقد أننا وصلنا لمرحلة يجب فيها الاستغناء عنه، النادي وصلاح قادران على تغيير الوضع”.

Don't put any of the blame for the Washington Nationals' recent struggles on the coaching staff.

At least, that's the message Nationals manager Dave Martinez made clear following the team's 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins on Saturday, their seventh consecutive loss. So far this month, the Nationals are last in MLB in runs, on-base percentage and slug rate, and second-last in batting average and home runs.

When asked how much of the team's offensive struggle fall on players or coaching, Martinez immediately responded that the blame is never on the coaching. Instead, he emphasized how hard the coaching staff works, and that it's up to the players to play better.

"It's never on coaching," Martinez said Saturday. "Coaches work their assess off every single day. We're not going to finger point here and say it's on the coaches. It's never on the coaches. They work hard, the message is clear, all the work is done prior. Sometimes, they've got to go out there and play the game. It's always been about the players. Always."

Martinez continued: "I've played this game a long time. Never once have I blamed a coach for anything. … They gave us information and we used it. These guys understand what the game is. I never had such a group of coaches that work as hard as they do. … I know every coaching staff is like that. Sometimes you got to put the onus on the players. … We can't hit for them, we can't catch the ball for them, we can't pitch for them, we can't throw strikes for them. They gotta do that."

Martinez's comments stand out not only for their blunt nature, but because it's common for managers and coaches across many sports to take accountability for the team's errors, even if it's not their fault or fully their responsibility. Martinez took the complete opposite route, and instead put the onus on the players.

Though Martinez has seen success as the Nationals' manager—highlighted by winning the World Series in 2019—the team has had five straight losing seasons since that title victory and are on pace for another with a 30-40 record. Regardless of the players' performance day in and day out, he is hardly faultless for the Nationals' struggles over the last five years.

West Ham United midfielder Lucas Paqueta has made an admission about his future at the club amid repeated suggestions he could leave in January.

Paqueta’s time at West Ham has been intriguing to say the least, and fresh speculation has emerged recently about a potential winter exit from the London Stadium.

West Ham paid £51 million to secure his services in a club-record deal from Lyon three years ago, with the Brazilian quickly establishing himself as one of the Premier League’s most technically gifted playmakers in his debut season under David Moyes.

Paqueta helped the Hammers to a glorious Conference League triumph that year, their first major trophy since 1980 and first European trophy since 1965, but a spot-fixing scandal then began to overshadow his time at the London Stadium.

The 28-year-old was charged with four alleged breaches of FA rule E5.1 in May 2024, relating to matches involving West Ham, with allegations that he directly sought to influence matches by intentionally seeking to receive a card from the referee for influence of the betting market.

The investigation, which began in August 2023, cast a dark cloud over his future, with the FA once seeking a lifetime ban for him. Throughout the ordeal, West Ham stood firmly by their star man, and in July this year, he was finally cleared.

With that uncertain point of his career finally over, Paqueta got back to focusing on the pitch, and clubs also started taking an interest in the £150,000-per-week star.

West Ham’s results in the Premier League so far

Sunderland 3-0 West Ham

West Ham 1-5 Chelsea

Nottingham Forest 0-3 West Ham

West Ham 0-3 Tottenham

West Ham 1-2 Crystal Palace

Everton 1-1 West Ham

Arsenal 2-0 West Ham

West Ham 0-2 Brentford

Leeds 2-1 West Ham

West Ham 3-1 Newcastle

West Ham 3-2 Burnley

Aston Villa tried to sign Paqueta in the summer, but he ultimately chose to stay put and show loyalty to a side who backed him off the field.

However, credible reports are indicating that his long-term future could be away from Rush Green. The Times recently reported that Paqueta is keen to leave West Ham as early as next month, with Fabrizio Romano also backing up that the ex-Ligue 1 star’s exit is a realistic possibility.

Lucas Paqueta makes West Ham transfer admission and expects move to happen

Now, the player himself has come out to make a revelation of his own.

Speaking to Brazilian outlet Globo, as translated by Standard Sport, Paqueta says that he had a desire to return to Flamengo in the most recent summer window, and he expects that transfer to happen eventually due to his close ties with the club.

Paqueta’s current deal expires in 2027, and while Nuno Espirito Santo won’t want to lose him in January, a summer transfer certainly appears on the cards next year.

Unfortunately for chairman David Sullivan, by that point, the Irons wouldn’t be in a position to demand big money for the player with just one year remaining on his contract.

Flamengo’s best opportunity to strike a reunion could be next year, if a more illustrious European or Premier League big-hitter don’t move to entice him first.

With the Blades struggling near the bottom of the Championship, Chris Wilder is reportedly ready to axe as many as three Sheffield United players in the January transfer window.

Since losing at the final hurdle in the playoffs last season, Sheffield United have endured nothing short of a nightmare. They showed the door to Wilder in an attempt to commence a new era under Ruben Selles, only to rehire Wilder just months later. But the return of the veteran manager is yet to pay dividends.

The Blades sit as low as 23rd in the Championship. Only rivals Sheffield Wednesday, who entered administration and were handed a 12-point deduction, have earned less points than Wilder’s side. They are on a crash course from promotion favourites to shock relegation candidates.

Without a win in their last three games, the Blades play host to Queens Park Rangers in desperate need of all three points but may have to push on without No.1 goalkeeper Michael Cooper. The shot-stopper was forced off with injury against Coventry City last time out and Wilder has now confirmed that he’ll likely miss the QPR game this weekend.

It’s more frustrating news for the Sheffield United boss, who has already lost his patience with three players ahead of the January transfer window.

Wilder ready to axe three Sheffield United players

As reported by Football League World, Wilder is now ready to axe Louie Barry, Tyler Bindon and Ben Godfrey by sending them back to their parent clubs when January arrives. This means that all three could be going back to Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Atalanta respectively in what should come as no surprise given their game time.

Louie Barry

9

Tyler Bindon

5

Ben Godfrey

4

Barry has been the most disappointing of the three. Having starred on loan at Stockport County in League One last season – scoring 15 goals – there was plenty of hope that the Villa man would be ready for the Championship. That’s simply not been the case under Wilder, however.

That said, if those loan deals are cut short, Sheffield United should at least have room to welcome other, much-needed reinforcements.

On high alert in pursuit of the next generation of stars, Arsenal reportedly had scouts in place as a 17-year-old sensation smashed a Champions League record in midweek.

Gary Neville outlines key Arsenal title difference

Could this be Arsenal’s year at long last? Forever the bridesmaid and not the bride in recent years, Mikel Arteta looks likelier than ever to find himself walking down the aisle in May. The Gunners have been untouchable in recent weeks, having built on their impenetrable defensive record and set piece excellence to take the Premier League’s top spot.

With that top spot has, of course, come plenty of praise from the likes of Gary Neville. The former Manchester United right-back and Sky Sports pundit showered Arteta’s side with praise earlier this week, outlining the key difference between the Gunners and title challengers Liverpool.

Playing host to Crystal Palace this weekend, the champions-elect have the perfect opportunity to prove Neville right and keep hold of their Premier League lead.

Given how they dispatched of Atletico Madrid in midweek, the expectation at The Emirates will be three points in comfortable fashion this Sunday even if Crystal Palace have proved to be giant-killers as of late.

It’s not just on the pitch that Arsenal are looking for success, either. Sporting director Andrea Berta is already looking to build on a solid first summer at the helm by welcoming further reinforcements in 2026. His scouts were reportedly in attendance as a teenage sensation smashed a Champions League record in midweek.

Arsenal battling to sign Lennart Karl

As reported by Caught Offside, Arsenal scouts were spotted watching Lennart Karl on Wednesday as he became Bayern Munich’s youngest-ever Champions League goalscorer at 17-years-old and 242 days. Scoring from range in sensational fashion, the teenager broke the record previously set by Jamal Musiala.

With Berta battling the likes of Chelsea to sign what looks to be a future star, Arsenal could make a huge statement by securing his signature in 2026. Whether Bayern will allow anyone to even get close to their talented star remains to be seen, however.

Karl’s moment in the headlines has been coming since the summer, when he broke into Vincent Kompany’s first-team for the first time. Since then, it has been one step after another for the 17-year-old, before he tiptoed into shooting range against Club Brugge.

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The vision is clear for Arsenal, who could land one young winger to match their own rising star in Max Dowman. In one move, Berta may well secure the future of Arteta’s attack when the summer transfer window swings open.