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Real Madrid fans have taken to Twitter to express their delight that Paris Saint-Germain superstars Kylian Mbappe and Neymar are set to miss the Champions League fixture between the two on Wednesday.

As reported by Marca, Mbappe will miss the clash due to a muscle injury picked up against Toulouse, whilst Neymar carries his three-game ban from last year’s campaign when he picked up a suspension after the Round of 16 knockout to Manchester United because of his comments about the refereeing.

Indeed, Los Blancos fans are rightfully so ecstatic that the two are set to miss out, as Neymar bagged 20 goals in 23 appearances last season, whilst Mbappe netted 37 times in 37 games.

The Brazilian is also no stranger to a goal against Madrid, scoring three goals in El Clasico’s in his Barcelona days, and recently, the 27-year-old scored a stunning injury-time winner against Strasbourg.

Elsewhere, fans have their own issues to deal with, as Sergio Ramos is suspended, whilst Luka Modric and Isco are both expected miss out through injury (as per Transfermarkt).

However, fans are at least buzzing to see the PSG stars absent, and here’s what they had to say…

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Sheffield Wednesday finally appointed a new boss over the weekend as Garry Monk was named as Steve Bruce’s successor nearly two months after he left the club.

The 40-year-old has a CV rife with managerial experience at Championship level having led Leeds, Middlesborough and Birmingham in the last four years.

He will have to wait until Sunday for his first match in charge as they face a trip to Huddersfield, who themselves will have a new man in the dugout with Lincoln City manager Danny Cowley taking the reins.

Monk took to Twitter following his appointment to share a few words, which has gone down well with much of the Hillsborough support.

Wednesday sit 11th in the table but have lost three of their last four Championship games which played a part in the new appointment. Former caretaker boss Lee Bullen has moved back down to the coaching team.

Several Owls supporters responded to Monk’s comments with one brandishing him the ‘Ginger Mourinho’ while another hoped he would be the man to take the club back to the promised land of the Premier League.

A further member of the Hillsborough faithful asked him to make himself a legend in south Yorkshire.

Here’s the best of the reaction…

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Darren Bent believes Everton’s Michael Keane can consider himself fortunate to have started for England given the array of defensive talent in the country.

What did he say?

Keane has impressed for Everton this season, continuing where he left off at the end of the last campaign to ensure Marco Silva’s side are now one of the most difficult to break down.

His own improvement has been reflected in the Toffees’ defensive performance across his last ten Premier League games, with only six goals conceded in that period, despite coming up against some of the league’s best.

Gareth Southgate seems to be impressed with what Keane has to offer. He handed him his England debut in 2017 when playing for Burnley and in 2019 the 26-year-old has so far featured in three out of five Three Lions matches.

Bent, however, holds a sightly different viewpoint. He was surprised Keane got the call to start against Bulgaria when Joe Gomez was in the squad, whom he regards as England’s best defender.

When questioned if Keane is lucky to have started for England, Bent told Football Insider: “Yeah, there’s a few – obviously he got the nod, him and Maguire. You’ve got John Stones, Tyrone Mings was on the bench, Tarkowski wasn’t in the squad.

“At the moment England seem to be really strong in certain areas. There’s another one I forgot about, Gomez at Liverpool, who should be starting. I think he’s their best defender; strong, powerful.”

Earned his place on merit

With John Stones omitted from the squad, Michael Keane is the most experienced defender Southgate can call upon other than Harry Maguire.

The Everton player has more caps than Gomez or Mings, and more Premier League appearances under his belt, not to mention two clean sheets so far this season.

Watch Everton Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Bent’s assessment is interesting given Keane’s positive performance against Bulgaria – as they only had four shots on Saturday – and he built-up a strong defensive partnership alongside Maguire.

However, moving forward it would be surprising if England’s back two remained with Maguire and Keane, as although they provide a strong physical presence and good ability on the ball. Their lack of pace would be a concern when playing against better opposition, with Gomez less likely to be exploited in that regard.

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[ad_pod ]While the rest of the footballing world is concerned with their latest results or the start of the new 2019/20 Premier League season, Arsenal star Hector Bellerin is facing some bigger fights.Recently, the Spaniard did an interview with BBC Sport’s David Ornstein and the duo discussed climate changes, the overall state of the planet and the dangers humans present to nature.Bellerin made sure to send the message across to as many people as possible as he posted the interview on his social media pages, including Twitter.

The Gunners defender was also called “climate-change warrior” as he tried his best to emphasise all that that is wrong with our current approach to nature and our planet.

He also stated how money should be secondary in our lives since, without the earth, there is also no money.

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As far as his footballing ventures go, Bellerin is still on the road to recovery from his latest injury he sustained back in January.

Arsenal, however, await the start of the new campaign against Newcastle at St. James’ Park on Sunday.

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Arsenal finally confirmed their first major signings of the summer when they announced deals to bring Dani Ceballos and William Saliba to the Emirates.

The two represent the club’s second and third signings of the window following the arrival of Gabriel Martinelli, the young Brazilian talent from Ituano.

Saliba’s transfer saga went on for most of the transfer window and their was reported interest from Tottenham Hotspur, who tried to lure the French centre-back to the white half of North London, but any advances were rejected for the proposal of joining Arsenal.

Watch Arsenal Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Ceballos himself was also subject to Spurs interest, and it looked at one point like the deal would go ahead, but late interest from the Gunners and Emery, according to the player himself, sealed his loan move from Real Madrid.

The club’s signings were presented to fans via social media with their own announcement videos, but the two player’s posted their own unveilings as well, with Ceballos’ video in particular putting a smile on the faces of the Arsenal faithful.

The video shows a silhouette of Ceballos trying on a shirt, thought to be symbolising Tottenham’s, before taking it off and unveiling himself in a red and white top instead. As you can imagine, Arsenal fans were loving the announcement on Twitter…

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

According to Sky Sports, Aston Villa are in pole position to sign Liverpool’s young winger Harry Wilson for a fee of £20m after manager Jurgen Klopp decided another loan spell wasn’t in their best interests – which has ruled potential suitors Newcastle United out of a deal.

What’s the word?

Villa boss Dean Smith has been on quite the spending spree this summer, bringing in ten new signings for well over £100m as they embark on their Premier League return following promotion via the Championship play-offs.

Wilson tasted defeat in that very final having been on loan at Derby County last season. The 22-year-old hugely impressed with 18 goals and six assists in 49 appearances for the Rams.

The Wales international has featured regularly for Klopp’s side this pre-season but it looks inevitable that things won’t extend into the regular season which begins in just over a week’s time as Liverpool start the 2019/20 campaign against Norwich.

Reports from Sky Sports suggest that the West Midlands club are the more likely destination for Wilson, who the free-spending Smith witnessed multiple times last season in the Championship. Villa were initially interested in him back in June.

Absolutely pointless

Wilson has certainly impressed during his youth career as well as in two of his three loan spells away from Anfield.

In 53 Championship appearances, the winger has netted 22 goals and provided seven assists for both Derby and Hull. His Premier League 2 returns are even more remarkable having scored 32 and assisted 14 goals in 60 matches.

Now appears to be the right time to leave the club from which he graduated – in order to pursue a regular first-team opportunity elsewhere, instead of constantly being sent out on loan as if he were a young Chelsea cast-off.

Villa’s continued interest in Wilson, however, is quite baffling. They’ve already re-signed Anwar El Ghazi following his successful loan spell last season and have also poached Jota from arch-rivals Birmingham City as well as securing the coup of Egypt star Trezeguet.

The Villans equally have promising winger Andre Green at the club who has dazzled in short spells this pre-season and was clearly in Smith’s thoughts following a recall from his loan at Portsmouth last term – he played 21 times in the Championship for Villa from January onwards.

That appears to be pretty healthy squad depth going into this upcoming Premier League campaign.

There’s no point spending for the sake of it – they could still do with a new goalkeeper as none of their current options have top-flight experience and potentially a striker to play behind club-record signing Wesley Moraes.

Villa are at risk of signing one too many players with Wilson potentially becoming their 11th addition this summer.

Regardless of how good he might be, they are at risk of repeating the failed exploits of Fulham who were relegated in April after they signed 12 new players for over £100m this time last year.

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

Victor Orta confirmed at a fans’ event, via Leeds Live, in Australia that Leeds United goalkeeper Kiko Casilla looks set to remain at Elland Road this season, and it could be another step towards some Whites fans performing a u-turn on the 32-year-old.

What’s the word, then?

When the Spaniard joined from Real Madrid in January, it would have been a natural reaction to expect him to be a strong and reliable presence between the sticks.

However, it didn’t quite work out like that with one of his worst moments coming in the second leg of the play-off semi-final defeat against Derby County, when a mix-up up at the back with Liam Cooper gifted the Rams a goal and a route back into the tie.

Many Leeds supporters on Twitter destroyed the 6 ft 3 man for his performance in that game, and others were delighted when he was linked with what would have been early exit this summer.

However, Orta confirmed on Wednesday that he is set to stay: “I can say Kiko Casilla prefers to stay in Leeds United than the first division in Spain. And, again, for me, I feel really proud.”

Another step in the right direction

Casilla committing his future to the Championship club is certainly a good sign that the stopper is ready to make amends for any mistakes last season.

The former Real man has already apologised to supporters before the pre-season friendly against York City, and now his latest decision should be another step towards getting some of the Elland Road faithful back on his side.

A fully confident Casilla could easily make a huge difference for Leeds in their promotion push next season, and if he can eradicate the errors from his game then the experience and quality that earned him a move to the Bernabeu in the first place should shine through.

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Lots of West Ham fans have taken to Twitter to respond after Sky Sports reported that Issa Diop is on Manchester United’s radar.

According to the report, the Red Devils are prepared to offer £45m plus a player in order to land the 22-year-old centre-back, who the Hammers signed just last summer in a £22m deal.

West Ham ruined Arsenal’s unbeaten record at the Emirates in 2007 and history repeated itself at the weekend. Spurs fans don’t take it well in the video below…

The Frenchman starred for the Irons last term and made 38 appearances across all competitions, scoring two goals.

Football.london’s West Ham correspondent Sam Inkersole revealed that the east Londoners will not entertain any talk of a Diop exit – it would certainly take a lot to bring the young defender to Old Trafford given how impressively he performed last term.

Former United boss Jose Mourinho singled out the former Toulouse man for praise when his side lost 3-1 to West Ham last season, so Diop is a player who United fans will already have witnessed the full force of.

Let’s see how the West Ham fans on Twitter responded to the transfer talk…

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Unai Emery has tried a plethora of different formations this season, but his favoured seems to be the 3-4-1-2 formation, a system that doesn’t work as successfully without Nacho Monreal.

The Chalkboard

Emery has played a 3-4-1-2 in victories against Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Napoli and Valencia and it seems the system covers all the bases of Arsenal’s strengths and papers over the cracks of their weaknesses.

Arsenal have no wingers, so the width is provided by their wing-backs Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Sead Kolasinac. The Gunners’ centre-backs have struggled so the inclusion of a third gives more protection. Emery’s side boast two wonderful forwards who both get to start in their favoured position, and they even have depth in the number 10 role, Mesut Ozil being their main man who can float and create with wide options and two strikers to target.

The Spanish coach’s preferred back three includes Nacho Monreal with club favourite Laurent Koscielny and summer signing Sokratis. Despite the other two being more renowned for defensive excellence, it’s the ex-Malaga man who’s so vital to ensuring Arsenal execute the system correctly, making it easier for his two partners to his right.

Balance and distribution

Monreal brings two key elements to the back-three system that allows the Gunners to play it as effectively as possible.

The first is his history as a left-back. Similar to Cesar Azpilicueta at Chelsea, both Spaniards have been converted to central roles in a back-three perhaps less for their stature and dominance and more for their intelligence and the balance they bring to the defence.

When the wing-backs get forward, it’s so vital that either side of the defence is covered by someone able to get across from centre-back, but also someone familiar with the role and positioning a defender needs to take up when protecting the channels.

One point separated City and Liverpool but twenty-five separated them from the rest! Fans discuss who could reduce the deficit next season in the video below?

Monreal’s understanding of what to do in these areas of the pitch allows Sead Kolasinac to attack far more comfortably knowing that there’s suitable defensive cover.

The second part to Monreal’s job is his distribution from the back. In modern football, we see holding midfielders become more and more gifted in possession as they’re expected to be more than ball-winners and start attacks from deep for their side. In the back-three Arsenal play, the Gunners don’t have this luxury as there is only a midfield two sitting ahead, so there’s no natural deep-lying playmaker.

This means Monreal, advantaged by being left-footed in that position, has the responsibility to step up into midfield and thread balls through to the pivot. He can do this confidently as the back three will have more defensive cover with the extra partner. The right and left centre-back are charged with the responsibility of beginning a phase of attacking play and using their intelligence and passing range to pick out players in space.

None of this can be done as effectively if the defender in question isn’t capable on the ball or has the intelligence to understand how to cover the areas vacated by marauding wing-backs. This is why Arsenal have looked a lot better defensively all season when Monreal has played as part of a three, rather than when opting for a more natural centre-back like Shokdran Mustafi to slot in at left centre-back instead.

يرى أسطورة منتخب هولندا، كلارينس سيدورف، أن غياب مواطنه ومدافع الفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي ليفربول، فيرجيل فان دايك، من الصعب تعويضه سواء مع الريدز أو الطواحين.

وتعرض فان دايك لإصابة قبل أسابيع بتمزق في أربطة الركبة بعد تدخل قوي من حارس إيفرتون، جوردان بيكفورد، في مباراة ديربي ميرسيسايد وسيحتاج لعلاج يستمر لمدة تتراوح بين 7 إلى 8 أشهر.

اقرأ أيضًا.. ميلان يثير قلق ليفربول بسبب بديل فان دايك

وعبر سيدورف عن رأيه في تصريحات لشبكة “Stats Perform News” في بلجيكا، وقال: “كنت حزينًا لتعرض فان دايك لمثل هذه الإصابة القوية”.

وتابع: “لكن اعتقد أن فيرجيل يركز في الوقت الحالي على العودة والتعافي من إصابته حتى يعود أقوى وأفضل من السابق”.

وأضاف: “نتمنى له التعافي التام وعودته إلى الملاعب لإظهار قدراته وموهبته الدفاعية، ولكن بالطبع غيابه مؤثر بشكل كبير على ليفربول ويجب على المدرب (يورجن كلوب) إيجاد حلول لتعويضه في خط الدفاع رغم صعوبة الأمر”.

وأتم تصريحاته: “لا يمكنك تعويض فان دايك بسهولة ولكن يمكنك إيجاد حلول جيدة للحفاظ على شكل الفريق وإحداث التوازن بين الدفاع والهجوم، خاصة وأن ليفربول يمتلك لاعبين يتمتعون بمستوى رائع، وأعتقد أن المنتخب الهولندي سيعاني مثلهم حتى يعود ويستعيد عافيته”.