Are there any players who are better at scoring free-kicks than James Ward-Prowse in the Premier League?

The Southampton midfielder backed up his stunning set-piece effort at Old Trafford earlier on this month with an equally impressive strike against Tottenham Hotspur last Saturday.

Ward-Prowse’s goal against Spurs secured a vital three points for a Saints side who are currently sixteenth in the league standings, two points clear of Cardiff City who currently occupy the relegation places alongside Huddersfield Town and Fulham.

The 24 year-old’s form since the turn of the year has been very impressive as he has scored six goals in 10 appearances for Ralph Hassenhuttl’s side with his contribution earning crucial victories over the likes of Everton and Leicester City in January.

Ward-Prowse’s supreme level of fitness has been a major reason behind the effectiveness of Southampton’s midfield under their Austrian coach.

According to Sky Sports, no other player in the Premier League has covered more ground than the play-maker in 2019 (123.7km) with the closest challenger being Burnley’s Jack Cork with a distance covered of 122.9km.

The form of the Portsmouth-born star had led to calls for him to be part of the England squad for the national team’s fixtures upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Montenegro at the end of March.

However, Gareth Southgate decided instead to opt for the likes of Declan Rice, Jordan Henderson and Ruben Loftus-Cheek for his midfield options leaving Ward-Prowse having to continue his wait for a second cap after being given his debut in 2017.

England’s loss could be Southampton’s gain as international fixtures can often see players pick up knocks which leaves their club sides worse off. By not being considered for selection by the Three Lions, Ward-Prowse can now focus totally on helping his side avoid relegation by preparing for the Saints’ fixture against Brighton & Hove Albion on March 30th.

A victory for Hassenhuttl’s side at the Amex Stadium could see them edge ever closer to Premier League survival, preserving their top-flight status for another campaign.

What do you think Saints fans? Should Ward-Prowse have been called up for England? How big is the midfielder’s influence on your team’s recent successes? Let us know below.

[ad_pod ]West Ham United slumped to a miserable 2-0 defeat against Everton at the London Stadium on Saturday, and attacker Marko Arnautovic was the target of many fans’ frustrations having been booed when he was substituted off in the second half.The Austria international was once a hero among the Irons faithful, but it simply doesn’t appear to be the case anymore – you only have to look at what they have been saying on Twitter after the latest defeat to see this is the case.

Ever since the stories linking him with a move to China during the January transfer window, the relationship between him and the supporters was always going to be a strained one – even if he was handed a new contract.

A man who has impressed and scored 19 goals in 60 appearances in all competitions for the east London outfit just hasn’t been the same player in recent weeks, and since the 2-2 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion on January 2 he has gone eight Premier League outings without a goal or an assist.

Despite that and the fact he has suffered from a few injury niggles, he has still started the club’s previous two top flight fixtures, including against the Toffees, having been preferred ahead of Javier Hernandez.

To be fair it was an off day for a number of his teammates too, but Arnautovic hardly put in a showing that proved he really cares about West Ham football club like he has often said that he does previously.

Service may have been light, but the fact that he failed to win a single aerial duel or make a key pass given the magic we have seen from the 29-year-old at times during his Hammers career is a worry.

The fact he was jeered off by some tells you all you need to know, and Manuel Pellegrini needs to wake up and smell the coffee too – the sooner he realises the Austrian doesn’t deserve to be in the starting XI, the better.

Newcastle United finally seem to be back on track for a strong end to the Premier League. Despite the difficulties, Rafa and his men have come through the pain of the Championship all the way up to what looks like a side that can hold their own in the Premier League once again. 

It’s not the same as the glory days, but Newcastle United fans will be happy to see that their club is FINALLY beginning to take a turn in the right direction.

Indeed, with Rafa at the helm and finally looking as though there will be some serious backing in the summer after the winter arrival of Miguel Almiron, we look at a couple of smart moves Newcastle have made during their rough climb back up to the Geordie standard.

Dwight Gayle 

Signing from Crystal Palace back in 2016, for a fee of around £10m Dwight Gayle was brought in to get Newcastle out of the Championship as soon as possible. Well, scoring 23 goals in the league did just that and the English striker went down as a Newcastle hero during the gruelling Championship season.

Perhaps not Premier League quality, the 28-year-old completed his only task of getting the Toon Army back to the top flight, making him worth every penny.

Martin Dubravka 

Initially signing on a loan deal back in January 2018, Dubravka quickly became an integral part of the Newcastle survival squad.

Prior to his arrival at St. James’, no one had ever heard of the 30-year-old Slovakian, and many fans must have wondered if the board were just signing him as a trial for next season in the Championship.

Despite all the doubt, he came in and kept a clean sheet in his first appearance in a 1-0 win against Manchester United.

Now that’s how you get your name out there!

Signing a permanent deal in the summer, Dubravka has shown time and time again, just why he was bought in to help the defensive troubles that Newcastle are prone to having.

تحدث لاعب مانشستر يونايتد برونو فرنانديز، عن فوز منتخب البرتغال على نظيره السويد مساء أمس في دوري الأمم الأوروبية.

وتلاقى المنتخبان في الجولة الرابعة من المجموعة الثالثة في المستوى الأول، حيث فازت البرتغال بثلاثة أهداف دون رد. أهداف مباراة البرتغال والسويد

وقال برونو فرنانديز، في تصريحات نشرها الموقع الرسمي للبطولة: “قدمنا مباراة رائعة، صنعنا العديد من الفرص وكان بإمكاننا تسجيل المزيد من الأهداف”.

وأضاف: “لقد لعبنا جيدًا ضد فريق منظم للغاية، قوي دفاعيًا ويعرف كيف يمتلك الكرة وعدواني للغاية، لقد كنا مستيقظين”.

وواصل: “كانت النتيجة تتحدث عن نفسها وكان الأداء جيدًا أيضًا”.

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According to De Telegraaf, Liverpool are interested in signing PSV Eindhoven sensation Steven Bergwijn, who is also attracting the interest from Manchester United, Tottenham, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan.

The Netherlands international has enjoyed an excellent personal campaign so far this season, netting 11 goals and recording 13 assists in both the Eredivisie and the Champions League.

Is Jurgen Klopp a “serial bottler”? The fan in the video below certainly thinks so…

PSV reportedly value the 21-year-old in excess of £30m, and any potential departure for the young forward could eclipse the record sum from a player exiting the Eredivisie – Memphis Depay’s £31m move to Manchester United is the current record.

Having said that, despite his enhancing reputation in the game, what are the potential consequences of Liverpool signing Bergwijn? Football Fancast takes a look…

A struggle to adapt to the Premier League

As we’ve seen in the past, some players have seriously struggled to adapt to the English game. Luuk de Jong, who was the Eredivisie top scorer in 2011/12 with 25 goals in 24 games, failed to net a single goal for Newcastle in the 2013/14 campaign.

Even the aforementioned Depay, who hit 22 league goals in 30 appearances for PSV before joining the Red Devils, managed to last just a season and a half at Old Trafford before leaving for Lyon – he was branded a flop having scored just seven goals for the club in total.

Liverpool already have enough players who fail to make an impact off the bench in most games, such as Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and occasionally Divock Origi, so the last thing they need is another ineffective player – especially for such a hefty sum.

Becomes an expensive bench player

Bergwijn is a vastly similar player to one of the Reds’ best players, Sadio Mane. Both forwards are right-footed, but prefer to be deployed out on the left flank where they can cut in and test the goalkeeper with their stronger foot.

Given the Senegalese’s form over the past two campaigns, coupled with his unerring ability to stay fit – Mane has missed only a handful of games on his way to netting 39 goals across the pas two seasons – Bergwijn would struggle to dislodge the 26-year-old.

Bergwijn could go down as a very expensive back-up option, with no real guarantees that he will perform in the little game-time that he would be afforded given Mane’s key player status at Anfield.

 Klopp could upset Liverpool’s rhythm in a bid to accommodate Bergwijn

Given the vast amount of top European clubs chasing Bergwijn’s signature, one would assume that Liverpool will have to give the young Dutchman assurances over his place in the team in order to fend off interest from elsewhere.

Couple that fact with the aforementioned point about Mane pretty much having the only position Bergwijn plays in nailed down as his own, Klopp may have to rotate things around and disrupt his dynamic attacking trio’s rhythm to accommodate Bergwijn.

Whilst depth is key, much of Mohamed Salah’s, Roberto Firmino’s and Mane’s effectiveness derive from the fact that they are constantly playing alongside each other, and have thus struck up a powerful relationship – Bergwijn’s arrival could potentially knock them out of their rhythm.

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It’s hard to remember another international break that provided as much positivity as the one just gone, with England dispensing of Czech Republic and Montenegro in domineering fashion by scoring five times in both of the Euro 2020 Qualifiers.

The performances alone have given the Fixture In Focus team plenty to sink their teeth into, the only disappointing distraction being the matter of racist chanting from Montenegro fans directed towards England’s Raheem Sterling, Calum Hudson-Odoi and Danny Rose.

But after dissecting the highs and lows of England’s impressive start to qualifying, host James Jones and #FIFpod regulars Christy Malyan and Chris McMullan turn their attentions to this week’s Fixture in Focus – Liverpool vs Tottenham.

This clash rarely disappoints, partaken by two sides who insist upon exciting and energetic brands of attacking football, and Sunday’s encounter has all the makings of another classic with Champions League qualification and the Premier League title both on the line.

This week’s agenda includes a warning for Declan Rice, questioning why football’s governing bodies aren’t doing more to prevent racism, looking at why Liverpool may be looking to offload Naby Keita and debating whether the stadium move will be a boost or a blow for Tottenham.

If you love what we do and don’t want to miss another episode, don’t forget to subscribe on your preferred podcast platform by clicking here.

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Oldham fans have taken to Twitter to react furiously after it was revealed that Paul Scholes had resigned from his position as the club’s manager.

The Manchester United legend was only appointed as the club’s new boss on the 11th February, but a number of reasons have led to him becoming unhappy at Boundary Park and consequently resigning, remarkably via WhatsApp.

Former Wigan & Fulham man, Jimmy Bullard recently showed that he’s still got it! Check out the video below…

Scholes oversaw just seven games as Oldham manager, winning one, but his position became untenable due to reported friction between himself and owner Abdallah Lemsagam.

The latter became Oldham owner in January 2018 and is now looking for his fifth manager already, with rumours aplenty about his constant overstepping of the line and interference in the day-to-day happenings at the club.

With the search for a new manager set to start once again, Oldham fans on Twitter are livid at their owner’s incompetence, and have let their feelings be known in no uncertain terms…

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Crystal Palace shocked the world when they made the trip up to the Etihad Stadium in December to play Manchester City and brought all three points back to south London in sensational fashion – the feat was all the more impressive considering the Eagles had lost their last two away games at the Premier League champions by a scoreline of 5-0.

Andros Townsend’s thunderbolt volley was one in a million and most surely believe that the result was, too, although Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas thinks that it wasn’t a fluke and that Roy Hodgson’s side will cause the frontrunners problems once again when they meet on April 14.

Summarising his predictions for both the Cityzen’s and title-rivals Liverpool’s run-ins, Nicholas had this to say:

“The game at Selhurst Park is slightly awkward as Palace can be dangerous. I can see City just getting through, but I have a question mark beside that one.”

Nicholas opted for a scoreline of 2-1 to City, although Palace, ever the bogey team of the top-six, will fancy themselves given the Boxing Day result and the stalemate played out – which the Eagles should have won – last time they visited SE25.

Did Gareth Southgate pick Kieran Trippier over “the best full-back propsect in the world”? Bhavs makes his case in the video below…

The pride of south London have endured a difficult couple of weeks having been bested by bitter rivals Brighton and then Watford in the FA Cup quarter-finals, although a solid performance – or even better, a win – against Pep Guardiola’s men would surely go a long way in redeeming Hodgson in the eyes of the Palace faithful.

Things are going very well at Manchester City because not many would have predicted that the Cityzens would still be in with a chance of securing the quadruple this late in the season. Well, aside from the fans reading this, I suppose. 

Indeed, for all the quality that is oozing throughout their team in every position, it doesn’t take away from the fact that achieving a four-trophy haul in one season is extremely rare – almost unprecedented – and would take a fantastic club and manager to do exactly that. So, with Pep Guardiola in-charge of a world-class group of footballers, it is no surprise really to see City striving to achieve great things this season.

As good as their current options might be, teams like Manchester City will also be looking to progress the talented players they have in their youth set-ups right now, in a bid to bring through the next generation. How nice does total domination of the footballing scene sound, Sky Blues?

Pretty good.

With a potential transfer ban as well, City may have no other option but to entrust the youth.

In one specific position that shouldn’t be a problem. Ederson has been a very reliable shot-stopper for City but every time Arijanet Muric has been called upon this season, he has also delivered.

Muric, (who is valued at £900k on Transfermarkt) came into the first-team set-up this season after Claudio Bravo sustained an injury at the very beginning of the campaign.

The 20-year-old, relatively unknown to every football fan, has impressed as a number two to Ederson, especially when he was the hero in City’s Carabao Cup progression – after saving two penalties against Leicester. After struggling to replace Joe Hart initially, the arrival of the aforementioned Brazilian and now the rapid rise of Muric will certainly be music to the ears of the City faithful.

And it should be to those making transfer decisions at the Etihad. Rather than move for another ‘keeper, putting their trust in the Kosovo international would save Sheikh Mansour millions in the market.

Claudio Bravo has one year left on his contract but instead of giving time to the 35-year-old, Muric must continue to be trusted in cup competitions and whenever else called upon by Pep Guardiola.

Manchester City fans, how impressed have you been by Muric? Join the discussion by commenting below… 

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Leeds United fans on Twitter are still incensed with the EFL despite Pablo Hernandez earning a spot in Team of the Week.

Hernandez netted a brace to rescue victory for Leeds against Millwall on Saturday which was enough to earn him a spot in this week’s team.

Leeds fans are still furious about the fact Hernandez didn’t make the Team of the Season which was announced by the EFL late last month.

The Spaniard was overlooked in favour of Jarrod Bowen, Oliver Norwood and Leeds teammate Kalvin Phillips but Leeds fans haven’t stopped vocalising their outrage at his omission.

Hernandez has scored 12 and provided 11 assists in the Championship this season as Leeds look for a return to the Premier League after a 15-year absence.

Rather than being happy that their man was included in EFL’s latest edition of Team of the Week, Leeds fans took this opportunity to remind the league that they forgot to put him in the more prestigious Team of the Season.

Here’s what Leeds fans had to say on Twitter…