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Arsenal are enjoying a fine run of form under Unai Emery’s guidance and have won their last eight matches across all competitions.

The Gunners have now found their feet under the Spaniard following a slow start to the season, which began with back-to-back defeats against Manchester City and Chelsea, and they have now got their campaign back on track.

Bold decisions have been made by the club though as it is widely understood Aaron Ramsey will not earn a new deal at the Emirates Stadium, leaving the Wales international set to leave in 2019 and putting Arsenal in the hunt for a replacement.

A host of names have already been linked with a move to North London and we asked fans which target they would like to see brought into the club.

A majority of 47% want Arsenal to sign Paris Saint-Germain’s contract rebel Adrien Rabiot, who French media outlet Le Parisien reported Arsene Wenger pulled out of a move for in 2016, who could be available on a free transfer at the end of the season, while 24% are keen for Emery to swoop for Napoli’s Piotr Zielinski.

Just 15% of supporters identified Monaco’s Youri Tielemans as a player they want to see brought in, with 14% keen to see Emery reunite with Sevilla’s Ever Banega.

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Petr Cech has consistently been one of Europe’s best goalkeepers for over a decade, and when Arsenal landed him, he fit the bill perfectly. Having been one of Chelsea’s main men for years, Cech chose to move on, and he impressed.

However, last season he began to slip up, and mistakes have cost Arsenal on a number of occasions over the years. Naturally, then, he needs to be replaced sooner, rather than later – as he’s costing the Gunners points at present. That’s why Bernd Leno was brought in.

At the moment, Unai Emery has often persisted with Cech, but Leno is clearly viewed as his successor, and if recent form is anything to go by, it’s only a matter of time until Cech slips up again.

At that point, then, it will be Leno’s opportunity to impress.

Mistakes were frequent between the sticks at the Emirates last season, and that was seriously problematic for Arsenal. The old adage when Cech moved to the Emirates was that he’d save Arsenal 10-15 points per season. The ironic thing now is that Leno has been brought to do just that over Cech – and once he’s settled and Emery gives him a chance, he may do just that.

He’s already bagged a few clean sheets in an Arsenal shirt, and that’s a testament to the start he’s made. He’ll only get better with time, too, and he looks like a consistent goalkeeper – exactly what Arsenal need.

When he was in the Bundesliga, Leno impressed with his shot-stopping and the control that he had in the box, and though Leverkusen weren’t always successful, the German was rarely at fault, and there is no denying that he’s been impressing amongst Europe’s best goalkeepers in recent years.

Once the transition from Cech to Leno is complete, you’d expect Leno to save the Gunners more than a few points in comparison to his rival.

According to the BBC, former Scotland captain Gary Caldwell has spun a different light on Celtic striker Leigh Griffith’s withdrawal from international duty. 

The 55-capped centre back has said that he himself regrets not pulling out of more squads, in an attempt to defend the striker.

The Celtic frontman came under a lot of criticism this week, with people calling his commitment to the national team into question. This is added to the many times that Griffith’s off field life has caused a stir amongst fans.

However, the fact that Caldwell said that playing for Scotland while not 100% actually hampered his playing career, and now later life, shows that Griffith’s may be wise for doing this. The Celtic man wanted to concentrate on his fitness, which is on the contrary to what people have thought about him. This isn’t a player that isn’t interested, it’s someone that has weighed up his options and believes that in the long term, sitting out may be best for him, Celtic and Scotland.

This is something that players should think about doing more often. It is unfair on the nation’s supporters to play when you’re not at your best physically, especially when there will be someone else waiting in the wings to take their chance.

Scotland face Israel in the UEFA Nations League, and Portugal in a friendly during the international break, and hope to build on their impressive display against Albania in their last fixture. That victory put them in a good position to do well in the Nations League, and manager Alex McLeish will hope that they can carry on their progress.

The problem with expressing an opinion on Twitter is that it is very unlikely that everyone will agree with it, and former Liverpool left-back Jim Beglin would have discovered that on Monday night.

The Irishman made a bold claim by predicting that Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk will be the best centre-back pairing in the Premier League, as long as both remain on top form.

The comment was made after watching Gomez put in a strong display at the back for England during the Three Lions’ 3-2 victory over Spain.

When Van Dijk joined Liverpool in January, the Dutchman vastly improved the team’s shaky defence.

The position alongside the former Southampton star was up for grabs, with Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip thought to be the main contenders.

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However, this season manager Jurgen Klopp has shifted Gomez to centre-back from right-back and he has looked very comfortable with Van Dijk at his side.

The tweet posted by Beglin was well received by most Liverpool fans, but supporters of rival clubs could not help but mock.

Arsenal is all Mesut Ozil has to focus on after his international exile, and he certainly put in a performance to make Joachim Low jealous against Leicester.

The creative midfielder had an extended rest, after making himself no longer available to international duty meant no national team call up for UEFA Nations League defeats to the Netherlands and France.

A bonus week off certainly helped as Ozil – who Transfermarkt currently value at £40.5million – shone on Monday night at the Emirates Stadium, leading to a standing ovation when the German was substituted on 80 minutes for Aaron Ramsey.

Across the game, the 30-year-old produced key passes to his teammates and was involved in all three of the Gunners’ goals, netting one for himself and assisting Aubameyang’s second of the night.

While Bellerin was credited with the assist for the Gabonese striker’s first, just two minutes after coming off the bench, Ozil opened the space for the pacey right-back to break behind the Leicester backline with a perfectly weighted through ball straight between the Foxes defenders.

The playmaker returning to form not only earned Arsenal’s number 10 a standing ovation at the match, but also the admiration of supporters with fans quick to praise Ozil on Twitter…

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It has not been the easiest of seasons for Jose Mourinho at Manchester United as the team are way off the pace in the Premier League title race, and the performances on the pitch have been less than desirable.

One major problem that has been highlighted throughout the campaign so far is the weakness of United’s defence.

Throughout the summer transfer window the Red Devils were linked to numerous high-profile centre-backs, but a deal was never struck.

Mourinho has had to make do with Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Victor Lindelof, while arguably their best defender Eric Bailly has had to settle for a spot on the bench.

Ironically, a player who United let go in 2015 could be an ideal transfer candidate.

Michael Keane came through the North-West outfit’s academy and ended up permanently leaving the club to join Burnley following five first-team appearances, where he spent two seasons before signing for Everton last year.

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The England international initially struggled to find his feet at Goodison Park and he was plagued by some injury problems.

Now, though, he is arguably playing his best football in an Everton shirt as he has linked up well with centre-back partner Kurt Zouma under new manager Marco Silva.

As the infographic shows, the 25-year-old has improved his awareness having cut out opponents’ play on numerous occasions.

Keane has not administered many tackles in his eight Premier League outings, but he has a high success rate of winning them.

Plus, his passing accuracy is in a much better state, making him look like the player who attracted so much attention at Burnley.

Mourinho would solve United’s biggest problem this season by bringing the Toffees ace back to Old Trafford, but whether Keane would be willing to return is another story.

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The Gunners’ miraculous win streak has brought a feel good factor to the Emirates Stadium, as Arsenal found their feet under a new boss and a fighting spirit to put to bed games they may have lost under Arsene Wenger.

That fighting spirit saw Arsenal come out stronger in the second half in almost every game this season to turn things around and pick up all three points – leading to a near-club record unbeaten run featuring 11 back to back wins.

But it is worrying when you have to constantly turn things around, having only gone in at the break with a lead four times under Unai Emery, against Vorskla, Brentford, Qarabag and most recently Blackpool on Wednesday night.

What do those games have in common? All four are cup ties. Arsenal are yet to lead at the break in the Premier League. Sure, its fine to go in behind and believe you can turn things around, but the teams they have so far been able to flip the script on are sides they are expected to beat.

In last weekend’s draw at Selhurst Park, the game that ended the Islington club’s winning run, it resurrected fierce concerns in the Arsenal defence with the attack unable to do enough to mask the fragility at the back.

Even before the visiting Reds fell behind to a first half stoppage time penalty, a Palace offence that had struggled massively for goals were by far playing the sharpest of the two teams, despite what form would have suggested.

Arsenal could easily have found themselves with a mountain to climb as the hosts had a total of five shots luckily go wide or hit the post. Wilfried Zaha’s effort after 14 minutes would have been the opener had the winger not drilled his shot against the post just a minute before Palace linked a silky string of passes together only for Andros Townsend to fire wide of Bernd Leno’s goal.

The so claimed defensively -obsessed mind of the manager is clearly yet to solve the fundamental problems Arsenal face with their current crop of centre-backs, if it is even possible for the Spaniard to do so.

Shkodran Mustafi has been a recurring worry at the heart of Arsenal’s defence ever since the north London club spent a staggering £35million for the German’s services back in the summer of 2016.

The fee was at the time the third-highest move for a defender in world football, only beaten by PSG’s acquisition of David Luiz and Manchester City’s move for John Stones.

Since then, error after error after error came the way of a centre-half who appears to live up to the name of his hometown, Bad Hersfeld.

The 6 foot centre-back who graduated from Everton’s academy can easily be pinpointed as a key reason fpr why the Gunners dropped so many points away from home in the post-New Year period of last season that saw Wenger see out his final campaign with a single away win in 2018.

It would take too long to mention every horrific error the German has made since his move to the Emirates Stadium but go back to the Carabao Cup Final at Wembley in February and you see what the German is all about.

As the season’s end neared, Mustafi’s mental laziness continued to be prevalent against Southampton and Newcastle, where in back-to-back games he failed to track the striker, leading to Shane Long scoring after a quick dart to the near post and Ayoze Perez doing the same just seven days later.

Then we come to last weekend, when the Red Army fell witness to the German’s latest lapse in judgement as he needlessly slid for the ball inside his own six yard box, seemingly unaware Cheikhou Kouyate was running in from behind. The outcome, a stonewall penalty that Luka Milivojevic duly converted.

When Arsenal come up against Liverpool on Saturday evening, if the 26-year-old has another brain lapse for even a second, things will get ugly. Liverpool have one of the finest attacking line-ups in Europe through Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, together carrying the burden of scoring all the goals.

You saw it against Palace, and against nearly every side they have faced this season at some point, that when the opposition takes it to Arsenal, mistakes will be made somewhere and opportunities come freely.

If Granit Xhaka is again playing as a makeshift left-back after thigh injuries ruled both Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac out of recent games, the Premier League may as well just give Liverpool the points before a ball is even kicked.

The 26-year-old is a holding midfielder who struggles to deal with his defensive responsibilities. Bringing the likes of Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi to the club was meant to take the focus off the Swiss international but that simply cannot be when he is playing out of position.

There is an argument for Emery to adopt three at the back at the Emirates on Saturday to reduce the pressure on Xhaka in a makeshift role but that is not how the Spaniard has been working hard to make Arsenal better.

Hopefully the midfielder will have at least learnt from his costly error against Crystal Palace that ultimately resulted in both sides taking a point from the tie, when all he needed to do was stand his ground as Zaha looked to buy his side a second penalty of the game with some quick footwork and a heavy touch.

If Arsenal’s defence doesn’t finally stand up to be counted this weekend, a Liverpool win is the only possible outcome.

Steven Gerrard’s Rangers stormed to an impressive 7-1 victory at Ibrox on Sunday, demolishing Motherwell in Scottish Premiership action.

With the match poised at 1-1-, the visitors had a man sent off and Rangers took full advantage, scoring a brilliant five goals in the second half alone.

After the recent disappointment in the UEFA Europa League, it was the perfect way to bounce back, especially since rivals Celtic and Hearts both dropped points this weekend.

The Gers are now just two points behind Brendan Rodgers’ league leaders.

One of the big talking points coming out of the match was the performance of Gareth McAuley, who came on at half-time for the struggling youngster Nikola Katic.

The veteran’s composure and leadership was immediately apparent, with many fans now feeling like the defence may have hit a turning point and improve in the weeks and months to come.

These supporters took to Twitter to share their thoughts on his performance and what it may mean going forward…

Frank Lampard has found plenty of success in the loan market during his spell as Derby County manager.

The former England international was handed his first managerial job by the Rams in the summer and quickly got to work strengthening the squad. Lampard secured loan deals for both Harry Wilson and Mason Mount from Liverpool and Chelsea respectively, and both youngsters have developed into crucial players so far. When the January transfer window reopens, Lampard should again dip into the loan market for players who could give the Rams a welcome boost in the New Year.

One man who should be on his shortlist is Chelsea wonderkid – Ethan Ampadu.

Valued at £4.5m by Transfermarkt, the defender is highly regarded at Stamford Bridge and has been touted as one of the most promising youngsters in their academy. Ampadu joined from Exeter last summer and quickly rose the ranks to earn the chance to train with the first-team under Maurizio Sarri. The 17-year-old became the first player born in the 2000’s to wear the famous blue shirt and Lampard should aim to bring him to Pride Park.

With first-team chances still limited in London, regular football in the Championship could do wonders for his development. Ampadu is a top defender who is comfortable with the ball at his feet and working with Lampard would be a dream. The defender, who has been capped four times by the Wales national team, will be buoyed by the success of both Mount and Wilson which could tempt him into a move.

This move would benefit both parties and should be a no-brainer.

Derby County fans, thoughts?

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Birmingham City ace Jacques Maghoma is back in training ahead of Sunday’s Second City derby with Aston Villa, as the Birmingham Mail pick up on his Instagram stories.

What’s the news?

The Blues had been agonising over the international break, not knowing if the 31-year-old would be able to return to first team action in time for the Birmingham derby.

The attacking midfielder had featured in each of the opening 14 Championship games, but was forced off just before the break against Reading with an ankle injury.

Garry Monk’s men were able to soldier on to win 2-1, thanks to goals by Gary Gardner and Lukas Jutkiewicz, but could not call on the wide-man against Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County or Hull City.

While no official word has come out of the club, Maghoma took to social media on Tuesday and shared a post on his Instagram story – simply captioned: “Let’s go out and run”.

Check out Playmaker FC’s Joe Street’s unfiltered take on Wayne Rooney’s England legacy in the video below…

Big boost for Birmingham

With Maghoma appearing to have confirmed his return for the club, Monk will have peace of mind plotting who he should call on for the left wing slot against Aston Villa.

The city rivals go into the affair tied on 24 points, but the claret and blue outfit are ahead thanks to a marginally superior goal difference – Dean Smith’s side have conceded three more than Monk’s, but scored four more too.

Having the 19-cap DR Congo international to call on again will allow the Blue’s 39-year-old head coach to switch Connor Mahoney over to the right-hand side, having stood in for Maghoma while he watched on from the stands.

Why move Mahoney over?

Mahoney may be needed on the right wing for the Second City derby as first-team regular Jota also spent the international break in the physio’s room.

The 27-year-old Spaniard had complained he was suffering from a hip injury against Hull last time out, forcing Monk to replace his star winger after 24 minutes.

Up until that point, the 5 foot 11 right-sided midfielder had featured for the full 90 on 11 occasions – never coming off prior to the 75th minute.

Starting in each Championship game saw Jota tally a key pass every 39.4 minutes and a dribble every 27.3.

Have your say on Maghoma and Jota’s involvement in our poll below…