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Sheffield United’s hopes of signing Ryan Gauld this summer have taken a blow after it was revealed that SC Farense have triggered an extension in his contract, meaning he won’t be available on a free transfer as initially thought.

According to TEAMtalk, a number of Premier League and Championship clubs including Sheffield United are considering a move for the former Dundee United youngster this summer.

It had appeared as if the 25-year-old would be free to join any interested side on a Bosman transfer but it has been reported by Portuguese news outlet O Jogo that SC Farense had an option to extend his contract by another year, which they have unsurprisingly triggered ahead of the summer.

However, it still seems extremely likely that Gauld will depart considering Farense were relegated from the Portuguese top-flight this season, with the report from O Jogo suggesting that his release clause is just €4m (£3.5m).

Gauld moved from Dundee United to Sporting Lisbon when he was 18-years-old and whilst things wouldn’t work out for the youngster at Estadio José Alvalade, as he made just five appearances, he has emphasised his quality during his time with Farense.

In 71 appearances for the Lions of Faro, the Scottish midfielder has contributed  20 goals and 12 assists, so it is easy to see why he is attracting interest from the Premier League.

His performances this season were particularly impressive, as he managed nine goals and seven assists in 33 league appearances, helping him earn a superb 7.19 rating from WhoScored.

Given that Sheffield United were the lowest scorers in the Premier League this season with a shocking 20 goals in 38 league fixtures, it is clear that they will need to add some serious attacking quality this summer if they want to secure an immediate return to the top-flight and Gauld could have been the perfect link between midfield and attack.

Unfortunately, now that the “fantastic” 25-year-old is not available on a free transfer, it will be much harder for Blades sporting director Jan van Winckel to do a deal for Gauld this summer, which is a big blow to their hopes of improving the squad ahead of next season.

And, in other news… Sheffield United handed huge boost with “shining light”, Blades fans will be buzzing

Marcus Rashford has been left puzzled by one of his attribute ratings on EAFC 24, with the Manchester United forward asking: “Am I that bad?!”

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• England star posted personal bests last season
• Overall rating in EA video game has risen
• Still has room from improvement

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Overall, the England international forward has seen his base card rise from 83 to 85 – with a personal-best goal return of 30 efforts last season ensuring that he continues to head in the right direction. There are, however, some areas of his game that require improvement.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Rashford was asked while filming with the to guess his defensive ability rating from FIFA 23. He optimistically went with 68 and said after being informed that it was in fact 41: “41?! Am I that bad?!” When taking a shot at this year’s score, he got his prediction spot on when adding: “42, I am shocked with this one, I can't lie.”

• WHAT THEY SAID

  The 25-year-old Old Trafford academy graduate was slightly happier with some of his other marks. On being rated at 90 on the pace front, Rashford said of being ahead of his club colleagues: “I think I'm probably the fastest.” He has secured upgrades for shooting, pace, physicality, passing and dribbling, but said of being bumped up from 82 to 86 on the shooting front: “I am going to have a word with them.”

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  WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

  Rashford opened his goal account for 2023-24 last time out in United’s 3-1 defeat at Arsenal and will be hoping to get his first effort of the campaign on home soil when the Red Devils return to Premier League action against Brighton on Saturday.

The Manchester United shot-stopper came up with a huge save late on to ensure the European champions won their opener in Australia

European champions England kicked off their Women's World Cup campaign on Saturday in what proved to be a tricky opening encounter with Haiti, the Caribbean nation causing lots of problems despite the Lionesses winning 1-0.

Georgia Stanway's penalty was the difference in an entertaining game, one she had to take twice for it to count. There were plenty of chances for England aside from that, too, but none of which were taken.

It's rare that a title contender produces a world-class performance in their first game – just look at Australia's victory by the same scoreline or the United States' surprisingly low-scoring triumph over Vietnam. But there were concerns for England in this match.

That said, there were also positives for head coach Sarina Wiegman to take, and a thrilling performance from a particularly exciting young player on the opposing team, too.

GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane…

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  WINNER: Georgia Stanway

  England's best player on the night, it was fitting that Stanway proved to be the match-winner. No one created more chances than the Bayern Munich star, whose passing around the edge of the penalty area was as excellent as her crossing into the box.

  She was denied by an excellent save first up from the spot, but her second penalty attempt showed coolness and composure that was crucial to the Lionesses getting the result. She put in her shift defensively, too.

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  LOSER: Millie Bright

  This was Millie Bright's first official match since March, a knee injury having ended her season with Chelsea early, and it was evident in her performance. She had the chance to shake some of that rust off in a behind-closed-doors friendly with Canada last week, but with roll-on, roll-off subs used, and no media watching, there's no info on how much the England skipper actually played.

  Sadly for her, that rust was on show still in Brisbane, with her misjudging the ball several times and caught out of position at others to allow Haiti some opportunities.

  She and her team will hope that is all the cobwebs gone now, with the Lionesses' next game, against Denmark, anticipated to be their toughest of the group stage.

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  WINNER: Jess Carter

  While Bright struggled next to her, Jess Carter played well at centre-back having got the nod to be her partner while Alex Greenwood played on the left. She completed all but four of her 102 passes attempted, came out on top in both of her tackles, made four clearances and won possession back on seven occasions.

  It was a very strong outing on her World Cup debut, with the Chelsea defender more than justifying her place in the starting XI.

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  LOSER: Ella Toone

  England continue to have a problem in the No.10 role, with Ella Toone once again not at her best in this game. She rarely picked up the pockets of space in front of the defence, instead dropping into deeper or wider positions that meant the Lionesses didn't have someone dedicated to pulling those strings in that dangerous area.

  It was surprising that she played the 90 minutes with Lauren James having impressed in the position against Portugal earlier this month, but perhaps Wiegman was trying to let her find her rhythm. Sadly, though, she didn't and the coach will surely be pondering what to do in that area from here on out.

Everything you need to know about French superstar Antoine Griezmann!

Antoine Griezmann is a French professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for La Liga club Atletico Madrid and the France national team.

Born on March 21, 1991, in Mâcon, France, Griezmann is widely regarded as one of the best attackers in the world. He has dazzled football fans over the years thanks to his instinctive finishing, playmaking ability, range of passing, work-rate, and creativity on the pitch.

He began his football journey at a young age, joining the youth academy of his local club, UF Mâcon. His potential caught the attention of scouts, and at the age of 13, he moved to Spain to join the renowned youth academy of Real Sociedad. It was here that Griezmann honed his skills and developed his unique playing style.

Griezmann worked his way up the ranks and made his La Liga debut in the 2009/10 season. He quickly established himself as a key player, showcasing his technical abilities, vision, and goal-scoring instincts. His breakthrough season came in the 2013-2014 campaign when he scored 16 league goals and helped Sociedad secure a Champions League qualification spot.

His performances drew attention from top clubs, and in 2014, he joined Atletico Madrid for a reported fee of €30 million after a famous phone call from head coach Diego Simeone. Griezmann flourished and became a central figure in Atletico's success.

During his first stint at Atletico, Griezmann won several trophies, including the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup. His most notable achievement came in the 2015-2016 season when he helped Atletico reach the UEFA Champions League final, scoring a crucial goal against Real Madrid. Although Atletico fell short in the final, Griezmann's performances earned him the tournament's Golden Boot as the top scorer.

In 2019, he made a high-profile move to Barcelona, joining the Catalan giants in a €120 million deal. However, he failed to live up to expectations, scoring just 22 goals in 74 La Liga games for the Catalan club.

After three turbulent years at Camp Nou, he returned to Wanda Metropolitano on loan last season, which was made permanent by Atleti at the start of the current season as he has rediscovered his confidence and peak form back under Simeone.

As for his exploits on the international stage, he made his debut for the French national team in 2014 and has since become an integral part of the squad. He played a crucial role in France's journey to the final of the 2016 UEFA European Championship, where they narrowly lost to Portugal. In the tournament, he won the Golden Boot as the top scorer and was also named the Player of the Tournament.

However, the pinnacle of Griezmann's international career came in 2018 when he played a vital role in France's FIFA World Cup triumph. Griezmann's performances earned him the Silver Ball as the tournament's second-best player and also shone as arguably the best French player after Kylian Mbappe at the recent 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where he helped them reach the final.

Here are 13 fun facts about Griezmann you need to know!

• Nicknamed as 'The Little Prince' 🤴

  Griezmann is nicknamed "The Little Prince" because of his diminutive stature, exceptional playmaking skills, and intelligent footballing brain. He stands at a modest height of 5 ft 9in, which is relatively short for a professional footballer. However, Griezmann's small size does not stop him from being one of the best players in the world.

  The nickname is also a reference to the famous French novel of the same name by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The novel narrates the story of a young prince who travels to different planets in search of knowledge and wisdom. Griezmann has said that he likes the character of the Little Prince, and he sees himself as a kind of "little prince" on the pitch. Thus, the moniker is a fitting one.

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• Difficult start in French Football

  Griezmann struggled to get his first opportunity in the world of football, as scouts in France considered him too small and skinny to make it through to the professional game. Lyon, Saint-Étienne, Metz, Auxerre, Sochaux and Montpellier all scouted him, but none were willing to take him in.

  Thankfully, Real Sociedad’s French scout Eric Olhats saw the youngster and his supreme technical skills that he was offered a chance to join an elite academy.

  The teenager had to move to continue his football development and even stayed with Olhats during his initial years at the Basque club's academy after making the move to northern Spain.

  Had things gone differently, he could have been playing for PSG or Lyon but well, Ligue 1's loss was La Liga's gain as he has gone on to represent several Spanish giants throughout his career so far.

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  Pavel Nedved, one of his favourite players

  Griezmann, like all young football fans, had many idols growing up, but none more so than Pavel Nedvd, whose poster he had on his wall. As a youngster, he even used to copy the Czech maestro’s hairstyle. Among his other childhood heroes were Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane, Sonny Anderson – with whom he was famously photographed as a kid – and David Beckham.

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• Lyon is his boyhood club ❤️

  Lyon is a city that holds special memories for the current Atletico Madrid star, who grew up in the town of Macon, near Lyon. He was an Olympique Lyonnais supporter as a kid and often visited the Stade de Gerland to support the club. However, Lyon rejected to enroll the youngster into their academy due to his height. Needless to say, it was a painful experience for the boyhood OL fan.

  Ironically, one of his first big breakout moments came against his boyhood club French side when OL locked horns with Real Sociedad in a Champions League qualifier in 2013. Griezmann scored a spectacular bicycle kick in the away leg as Real Sociedad won the tie 4-0.

  He would also score a wonderful brace for France in Lyon during Euro 2016 and won the 2017/18 Europa League final in the city with Atletico Madrid, scoring twice in a 3-0 victory over OL's rivals Marseille.

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith has suffered another blow ahead of the transfer window as fresh news emerges from Bodymoor Heath.

What’s the story?

Reports earlier this week had suggested that recruitment chief Rob Mackenzie was set to make the move to Bristol City, and now Villa are heading for further upheaval among the transfer committee.

Football Insider claimed that the Premier League club are planning to sack two members of their recruitment team, with long-term scouts Mick Brown and Alan Wood set to be offloaded amid a “major revamp behind the scenes”.

The report added that “Villa’s expected decision to part with senior duo Brown and Wood is a surprise given their experience and the esteem in which they are held in the industry”.

Dean Smith will be fuming

After hearing the news that Mackenzie was set to make his departure from Villa Park, and now facing up to the prospect of seeing two of his club’s most respected scouts also being let go, Smith must be fuming.

The Midlands club have just three Premier League games remaining before the end of the Premier League season, and yet here they are making some major changes to their core backroom staff right before the start of the transfer window.

More than anything, it’s the timing of these decisions which raises the most questions. Could Villa have not been more proactive and made these changes and decisions a few weeks or even months ago, knowing that this was the route they were going to embark upon going forward?

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/villa-dean-smith-transfer-gossip-rumours-news-premier-league-buendia-berge-mcneil-trezeguet-villa-park” title=”Read the latest Villa transfer rumours and news!”]

Instead, they’ve left it all very late, and they face starting the transfer window with things up in the air. Like most if not all managers up and down the country, Smith will surely want his club’s business to get done early so that he can work with new players during pre-season and get them up and running ahead of the 2021/22 Premier League season.

Instead, Villa have suffered a setback with the culling of their recruitment team, and the pressure is very much on the remaining parties involved in the transfer process to get their act together and vindicate the decision from the club’s hierarchy.

Meanwhile, this Villa player was shocking against Everton…

The Frenchman continues to torment English opposition, opening the scoring in his side's 2-0 win over Chelsea at the Santiago Bernabeu

Karim Benzema just loves playing against Premier League clubs.

The French forward opened the scoring in Real Madrid's 2-0 win over Chelsea on Wednesday night, meaning his last 11 goals in the Champions League have all come against English opposition. Imagine how many he'd score if he was playing against the likes of Wesley Fofana and Ben Chilwell on a weekly basis!

Vinicius Junior would run riot, too, in fairness. The winger danced through the Blues' back-line all evening and it was his shot which allowed Benzema to open the scoring, and his pass which Marco Asensio whipped into the bottom corner to seal victory for the home side.

This quarter-final tie is not yet over, of course. Chelsea could yet turn things around in the second leg at Stamford Bridge but that appears highly unlikely right now for two reasons: firstly, the Blues' abject form; and secondly, the continued presence of Benzema up front!

Below, GOAL runs through the winners and losers from another great night for the Ballon d'Or holder, who has now netted 20 goals against Premier League clubs in continental competition (only Lionel Messi has more!)…

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  WINNER: Karim Benzema

  He was always going to score, wasn’t he? Chelsea made it rather easy for Benzema to break the deadlock, but his positioning to create the tap-in opportunity should not be ignored. The French forward simply ghosted into the box, and was entirely unmarked as he turned the ball into an empty net.

  Benzema was equally effective for the remainder of the contest, working in tandem with Vinicius to terrorise the Chelsea backline. He could’ve perhaps had a second in stoppage time, but will still be satisfied with his opener. And besides, he'll get another chance to add to his impressive haul against Premier League clubs when these two sides meet again in west London next week…

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  LOSER: Joao Felix's finishing

  How Chelsea would dearly love to have a No.9 of the quality of Benzema. The club's clueless new owners have spent a record-breaking amount of money since taking over last year and yet they've not got a single reliable goalscorer.

  After all, anybody who was expecting loan signing Joao Felix to score freely for Chelsea was obviously deluding themselves. The Portuguese has never been prolific, neither for club nor country.

  But nobody could have foreseen that his finishing would be this poor. When big chances have presented themselves, particularly in the Champions League, Felix has fluffed his lines time and time again. At this stage, it's not even surprising.

  What shocking about his failure to score after being put clean through on goal early on was the dreadful lack of pace which allowed Eder Militao to catch up with him. Felix may have plenty of technical qualities but one really does wonder what top club would be willing to take the forward of Atletico Madrid's hands at the end of the season.

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  WINNER: Vinicius Junior

  Vinicius seems to do this every game these days. The winger tormented Wesley Fofana for 90 minutes, twisting Chelsea’s centre-back inside out with a series of cuts, feints and stopovers.

  His neat run in behind led to the Madrid opener, while his electric pace stretched play for Los Blancos. He was good at keeping the ball here, too, and made the right decision more often than not.

  That was exactly the case for Madrid’s second, when the winger fed a wide open Marco Asensio, who curled one into the bottom corner from outside the box. He tried to force it later on, and clearly wanted a much-deserved goal. But it was an absolutely tireless showing from a player that is somehow still getting better.

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  LOSER: Wesley Fofana

  Chelsea have overpaid for an awful lot of players this season but giving Leicester nearly £70 million for Wesley Fofana looks like a particularly dreadful deal. The centre-back's potential is obvious but he Frenchman is nothing like the finished article, as we saw once again at the Bernabeu.

  Now, as outlined above, Vinicius Junior is capable of destroying even the most experienced of defenders but the easy with which he repeatedly breezed by Fofana was staggering. The one positive for the former Leicester City man is that he managed to stay on the pitch after picking up a booking inside five minutes, although that was mainly because he failed to get anywhere near the Brazilian thereafter.

The €70 million signing from Fiorentina hasn't scored in Serie A since February and there is now talk that he could be sold this summer…

Dusan Vlahovic has always had the utmost respect for Erling Haaland. He's long studied the movement of a No.9 he calls "a goal machine".

However, Vlahovic has never viewed Haaland solely as a role model, he also sees the Norwegian as a peer, firmly believing that there is little to choose between the pair in terms of talent and technique.

Right now, though, the Manchester City ace is operating in an entirely different stratosphere to the Serbian striker.

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On Tuesday, Haaland set a new record for most goals in a season across all competitions for a Premier League player (45) – and we've not even reached the middle of April.

Vlahovic, meanwhile, is by no means certain to start for Juventus in their Europa League quarter-final clash with Sporting CP for two reasons.

Firstly, he has a minor ankle injury. Secondly, and far more importantly, he is enduring the worst drought of his Serie A career, having failed to score in his last eight games – seven of which he started.

His rotten run of form has, unsurprisingly, become a major talking point in Turin, and beyond.

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  'A foreign body in this Juventus'

  Indeed, Fiorentina president Rocco Commisso couldn't resist sticking the boot into his former forward while speaking recently at an economics event in Florence.

  “We paid €15 million combined for Arthur Cabral and Luka Jovic and they have already scored 20 goals in the three competitions we play in," Commisso boasted in his speech.

  "Vlahovic, on the other hand, has scored 10 goals in Turin, two of which were penalties. He has exactly half [the number of goals] of our two forwards. And amidst all of this, we earned €70m.

  "The Cabral-Jovic deal was excellent for us, unlike the Juventus deal for Vlahovic."

  It's difficult to disagree, as the gap has only grown since Commisso took to the stage. Cabral and Jovic are now up to 24 goals between them, while Vlahovic has only added one in the interim – another penalty, which is indicative of his struggle to integrate himself into Massimiliano Allegri's team.

  Some three months after his arrival in Turin, Fabio Licari wrote in the , "The best No.9 in the league is still a foreign body in this Juve."

  The situation hasn't improved over the past year either; if anything, Vlahovic looks more isolated, and more out of place, than ever before. And some pundits are not in the least bit surprised.

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  'Juventus will not change with Allegri'

  Antonio Cassano may have a lot of crazy opinions but, to his credit, he did say just days after Vlahovic's move from Fiorentina to Juve had been confirmed that the attacker had got his choice of club "sensationally wrong".

  "Juventus will not change with Allegri, neither next year nor in 10 years," the former Italy international warned on .

  It was a valid point because even last season there were legitimate concerns over whether Vlahovic was really suited to his new coach's style of play.

  He had flourished at Fiorentina playing under Beppe Iachini, Cesare Pandelli and Vincenzo Italiano – three coaches with admittedly different styles, but far more expansive footballing philosophies than the painfully pragmatic Allegri.

  The hope was that Juve might adopt a more attacking approach this season. When Vlahovic arrived in Turin, the team was sitting seventh in the table and Allegri adopted, successfully, a win-at-all-costs mentality to secure a Champions League berth.

  This year was meant to be different, particularly for Vlahovic, but Allegri has once again prioritised points over pretty play, and one can understand why, to a degree at least.

  Firstly, Juve have been hindered by injuries, particularly to the likes of Paul Pogba and Federico Chiesa, two players who would have undoubtedly made a world of difference to Juve's offensive output if fully fit.

  Secondly, the 15-point penalty deduction the club received has forced Allegri's hand somewhat.

  He needs to get Juve as high up the table as possible and, at a club where 'winning is the only thing that counts', it doesn't really matter how.

  Ugly wins have once again become the order of the day at Juve.

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  'There was criticism for Cristiano when he arrived'

  That is, of course, little consolation to Vlahovic, who has cut an increasingly frustrated figure on the field. Off it, meanwhile, he has deleted his Instagram account – and not for the first time.

  Vlahovic has taken a break from social media on at least two previous occasions when he was copping a lot of flak for his performances.

  "There was criticism for Cristiano Ronaldo when he arrived," Allegri pointed out on the eve of the Sporting game. "Dusan will find the goal again, he is 22 years old and has also improved technically.

  "Throughout your career. there are moments when things go less well for you. You must remain serene… Dusan has very specific characteristics and it's not like he's any less strong now than when he arrived."

  The numbers would suggest otherwise, though.

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  'Vlahovic just needs to stay calm'

  In his final 18 months at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, he scored 41 times in just 65 games in all competitions, averaging a goal every 126.7 minutes.

  At Juve, that figure has fallen to 199.8. He's now converting just half of the big chances coming his way – down from 65 per cent at Fiorentina. His overall shot conversion and shooting accuracy have also fallen.

  "Vlahovic just needs to stay calm," Allegri argued during an interview with . "Every now and then, he uses up too much energy, so he has to just take it easy.

  "Once he is able to learn that game management, he will be less hasty when the ball arrives and more clinical in finishing.

  "Let's not forget he’s only been at Juventus for a year, he is doing well and has everything it takes to improve."

  Certainly, his potential remains obvious, but one wonders if he will realise it under Allegri.

Former Everton striker Marcus Bent has exclusively told Football FanCast that Bernard will leave the Toffees this summer.

The Brazilian was a regular for former manager Marco Silva during his first 18 months at Goodison Park following his free transfer move from Shakhtar Donetsk, but he has slipped down the pecking since the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti.

In fact, Bernard has started just 11 Premier League games under the Italian, only three of which have come this season.

His lack of opportunities have led to speculation surrounding his future, with ex-Manchester City and West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini reportedly keen on bringing him to Real Betis to play in La Liga.

Bernard has just over 12 months remaining on his current Everton deal, and Bent informed Football FanCast that he has heard that the attacker will be moved on this summer:

“They’re basically saying that he just doesn’t have the physicality for the Premier League. He’s technical, but not physical enough, so that’s why they’re going to offload him this summer.

“Some players will play in a team with physical players or the smaller not as physical players and he’s very technical.

“So he needs someone alongside him to take the blows and punches for him to progress.”

Southampton fans were livid with the performance of Takumi Minamino during their 1-1 draw with Leicester City on Friday night.

The Saints picked up a point against Champions League chasers Leicester despite being down to 10 men for much of the match when Jannik Vestergaard was sent off early on. James Ward-Prowse even gave the St. Mary’s Stadium outfit the lead from the penalty spot before Jonny Evans equalised in the second half.

However, despite the positive result, the fans were far from happy with the performance of £10.8m-valued Japan international Minamino (Transfermarkt). He completed a poor 58% of his attempted passes, while he won just three out of 11 duels (SofaScore). Liverpool have spoken to Ralph Hasenhuttl and co about Minamino’s lack of playing time (Hampshire Live), but they can hardly complain based on this performance.

The Southampton fans were far from happy with the former Red Bull Salzburg forward, and they took to social media platform Twitter to share their thoughts on his display.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about Minamino below

“can he send Minamino off and do us a favour?? He might be our worst loan signing ever and we had Taider!”

Credit: @SaintStu19

“Minamino isn’t actually that good is he, would prefer to see Moussa play tbh”

Credit: @jamiepang

“Minamino offering nothing at present”

Credit: @jase1962

“Minamino clearly has talent going forward but his off the ball work rate is shocking. It’s no surprise that Klopp sent him out on loan”

Credit: @miserygutscoop

“Well no because Minamino and Redmond did absolutely nothing and didn’t have any effect on the result.”

Credit: @sfc_kristian

“Minamino 7?? He was awful!!”

Credit: @PhilWiseman1979

In other news, Southampton fans are gutted at this Hasenhuttl reveal.

The Gunners produced another fantastic display to beat their arch-rivals 2-0 and move eight points clear of champions Manchester City.

Arsenal opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League table with a dominant victory against Spurs in the north London derby.

Mikel Arteta's side took full advantage of Manchester City's defeat at Manchester United 24 hours earlier, cruising past their local rivals to claim a first league win at Tottenham since 2014.

It was superb display from the visitors, who went in front when Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris palmed Bukayo Saka's cross into his own net after just 14 minutes.

And then they took full control when captain Martin Odegaard drilled in his eighth goal of the season to double the lead before the interval.

Tottenham were woeful, with Harry Kane left frustrated in his attempt to become his club's all-time record goalscorer. Kane went into the game one goal behind Jimmy Greaves' longstanding record, but was kept largely quiet throughout – with Aaron Ramsdale denying him twice when he did get a sight of goal.

Frustrations got the better of the home side after the final whistle, with Richarlison hitting out at Ramsdale before a supporter jumped onto the advertising hoardings and aimed a kick at the Arsenal keeper.

It was an ugly incident that will no doubt lead to an investigation by the Football Association and the police, but Arsenal will not worry about that as they continue to set the pace in the title chase.

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  The Winners

  Winner: Oleksandr Zinchenko

  The Ukrainian was exceptional for Arsenal, causing Tottenham all sorts of problems with his quality and movement. As he always does in Arteta's 4-3-3 system, he drifted inside from the left-back position whenever Arsenal were in possession, consistently causing an overload in the central midfield area which allowed the visitors to control the majority of the game. This was a game that perfectly highlighted why Zinchenko is now preferred to Kieran Tierney when he's fit.

  Winner: Martin Odegaard

  It's getting hard to find the superlatives to describe Arsenal's captain, who enjoyed another superb performance for the league leaders. Fresh from picking up the Premier League's player of the month award for December, Odegaard was pulling the strings again in the final third, especially in the first half when Arsenal were so dominant. His goal was expertly taken and takes his tally for the season to eight. He is also the first Arsenal club captain to score an away goal in a north London derby since Patrick Vieira in 2004. Not bad company to keep.

  Winner: Aaron Ramsdale

  When Arsenal needed their goalkeeper, he delivered. His save in the first half to deny Son Heung-Min was huge as it came moments after Arsenal had got themselves in front and then he produced a vital stop just before half-time to deny Kane a goal that would have given the hosts a huge boost going into the interval. It was a similar story from Ramsdale in the second half, with the Gunners keeper making more big stops from Kane and Ryan Sessegnon.

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  The Losers

  Loser: Hugo Lloris

  The Spurs goalkeeper made a huge error to gift Arsenal the opening goal which allowed them to take such a foothold in the game. Bukayo Saka's cross might have taken a slight deflection off Ryan Sessegnon, but that is no excuse for Lloris, who managed to palm the cross into his own net. He did make amends with a fine save to deny Eddie Nketiah in the second half, but that error to hand Arsenal the early advantage was absolutely crucial.

  Loser: Mykhailo Mudryk

  The Ukrainian has been keeping a close eye on Arsenal's games in recent weeks, so it would be no surprise if he was watching from somewhere inside Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Mudryk may have just got himself a huge contract at Chelsea, but it's tough to imagine he would not have seen this Arsenal performance and not been slightly envious at being unable to play a part in Mikel Arteta's increasingly impressive project in north London.

  Loser: Antonio Conte

  This was another big game Conte has failed to win and another game that highlighted how far off Tottenham are from the top teams in the Premier League this season. Conte talks at length about his desire for new additions, but the fact is Tottenham have spent a lot of money since the Italian was appointed, and they do not seem to be getting any better. Conte continues to set his team up negatively which is something you can get away with if you win trophies, but if you don't then it gets increasingly difficult to justify.

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  Arsenal Ratings: Defence

  Aaron Ramsdale (9/10):

  Excellent save to deny Son in the first half and Kane after the interval. Solid.

  Ben White (8/10):

  Linked up really well with Saka, was always providing an overlap.

  William Saliba (8/10):

  Best he's been since the World Cup.

  Gabriel Magalhaes (8/10):

  Continued his excellent recent form.

  Oleksandr Zinchenko (9/10):

  Was all over the pitch. Superb performance.

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  Midfield

  Thomas Partey (8/10):

  Pulled the strings from deep. Outrageous volley that hit the post.

  Granit Xhaka (7/10):

  Another fine display. Tottenham struggled to pick him up.

  Martin Odegaard (9/10):

  Brilliant performance, capped with another goal.