Arsenal have been linked with a deadline day move for Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, reports the Guardian.
Arsene Wenger is looking to replace Robin Van Persie, and has not been encouraged by the fact his side have been held to consecutive goaless draws in their opening two Premier League matches.
Bosnian striker Dzeko is currently fourth choice striker at Manchester City behind Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli.
Despite mainly featuring as a substitute last season, Dzeko still managed to bag 14 Premier league goals, including the crucial equaliser on the last day of the season against QPR as Manchester City clinched the title in unbelievable fashion.
Wenger is tempted to test City’s resolve and launch a bid before the window shuts. If succesful, Dzeko would become the third new striker to arrive at the Emirates this summer, following the arrivals of Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud.
It is thought Wenger is prepared to offer as much as £18 million for the City number 10 as he looks to solve his goalscoring problems.
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Roberto Mancini may be tempted to cash in on the striker as he prepares to do his own deadline day business. The City manager has been surprisingly quiet in the transfer market this summer, with Jack Rodwell becoming the only new addition to his championship-winning squad.
It is believed that QPR midfielder Samba Diakite has returned home to France in a bid to fight against depression, The Daily Mail state.
The Mali international spent the second half of last season on loan at Loftus Road and sealed a permanent deal to Mark Hughes’ men in the summer worth £3.5 million.
However, the African battler was not in the match-day squad for the R’s last fixture against Manchester City, with no explanation for the player’s omission given by the London club.
However, it is thought that Hughes is aware of the problem and sent Diakite back to France to sort things out, with a ten-day leave of absence allowed by the Welsh trainer.
Despite this, Diakite has been absent from the club for 13 days now and there is no indication whether he will return for QPR’s next Premier League game against Chelsea a week on Saturday or what timescales are involved.
Diakite’s case if verified would add to a long list of football suffering from depression.
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The gaping hole in Arsenal’s trophy cabinet since 2005 has been the cause of much concern for the Gunners supporters who, along with the press, continue to talk of an ongoing crisis. Fans of sides lower down the leagues can only smile wryly when a ‘crisis’ means only qualifying for the Champions League year in, year out, indeed even the Liverpool fans may begin to wish their club was in a similar position.
Regardless of whether you believe in the crisis talk surrounding the Emirates, there’s no doubt that results haven’t been quite up to scratch in comparison to the early Arsene Wenger years. The Gunners built their legacy, even before the Frenchman took over, on a solid brick wall at the back, with Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn, Tony Adams and Steve Bould/Martin Keown forming an impenetrable block in front of David Seaman. Clean sheets became common place and ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’ was the chant heard ringing out round Highbury. Things are quite different now as the names Sebastien Squillaci, Per Mertesacker and Johan Djourou are enough to send shivers down the spine of any Arsenal fan. Rather than put his faith in the youth players as he usually would, Wenger has been out and bought centre backs to try and stop the rot, but the likes of Squillaci and Mertesacker merely made the situation worse.
There is one youth prospect in the ranks that could potentially provide a solution to Arsenal’s defensive woes. Ignasi Miquel has followed a similar route to North London as Cesc Fabregas, starting in the Barcelona academy before sealing a move to England, albeit with a spell at UE Cornella in between. The 19-year-old is perfectly adept at playing either centre back or left back, and considering that the Gunners have struggled for consistency down their left flank, it could well be in that position that Miquel makes his first team breakthrough.
He made his debut against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, playing the full 90 minutes in both the initial 1-1 draw and then the replay, marking his progression from raw prospect to talented youngster in a rise that saw him made reserve team captain along the way. Last season saw Miquel become a regular in the League Cup campaign that ended in the fifth round, but he also made his league debut for the Gunners, coming on as a substitute in a baptism of fire against Liverpool in August, a game that Arsenal lost 2-0. The young Spanish defender coped well, but suffered the misfortune of being at fault for one of the goals by kicking the ball into Aaron Ramsey’s chest before it ballooned into the net for a costly own goal. It was a difficult time for the youngsters in the Arsenal setup as numerous individuals made their debuts at the beginning of last year, especially considering Wenger’s men produced some poor form and also got trounced 8-2 at Old Trafford, ensuring the Frenchman quickly realised his young troopers weren’t quite ready for action. Although Miquel made his Champions League debut against Olympiacos, his appearances became more sporadic as the year wore on, but he did make his first Premier League start in January, featuring at left back in the 3-2 defeat to Swansea.
Miquel himself has praised the influence of former Gunners favourite Steve Bould, who has taken over as Wenger’s assistant this summer, and certainly the defence looks much better, as Arsenal are yet to concede this season. With Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny forming an ever-improving partnership in the heart of defence, Miquel will struggle for game time at centre back and he faces significant competition for the left back spot as well, with Kieran Gibbs and Andre Santos ahead of him in the queue for a first team slot. Miquel was linked with a move to Brighton on loan and given Wenger’s past record with youth players, a temporary move away seems most likely.
Miquel is clearly a talented defender with his ability to nip in front of his opponent and grab an interception and as you’d expect from a man playing under Arsene Wenger, he’s extremely comfortable on the ball. His positional sense needs some work and a lack of pace could be an issue in the future, but better defenders than Miquel have overcome their lack of speed off the mark. Arsenal fought off competition from the likes of Manchester United and Valencia to secure his signature as a mere 16-year-old, while his performances for the Spanish U19 side, who won the 2011 European Championship, won’t have escaped the attentions of those at home.
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He may have been released by Barcelona as a youngster, but Arsenal fans will hoping that Miquel doesn’t follow the same route as Fabregas and return to the Nou Camp in a full circle career move. Undoubtedly, Miquel has the potential to make it to the top at the Emirates and it will be interesting to watch his development over the next couple of years.
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Jose Enrique is officially the number one celebrity FIFA 13 player after defeating 15 of the biggest names in sport and entertainment to be crowned the first ever winner of the FIFA 13 Celebrity Cup.
The A-list tournament saw Premier League stars, chart-topping musicians and Olympians battle it out to celebrate the launch of EA SPORTS FIFA 13.
The Liverpool defender beat England’s number one Joe Hart, Manchester United star Phil Jones and Norwich City’s Elliott Bennett to win the inaugural FIFA 13 Celebrity Cup. Enrique didn’t concede a single goal throughout the tournament and defeated Josh Franceschi of You Me At Six, one-nil in the final.
See below for highlights of the tournament, including Jose Enrique’s attempt at scoring with his goalkeeper against England number one Joe Hart!
[youtube 9KTWk2raYh8]
First Round results:
Greg Rutherford (Olympian) 2-0 John Ruddy (Norwich City) Ashley Young (Man United) 4-0 Andy Hopkins (The Enemy) Josh Franceschi (You Me At Six) 2-0 Louis Smith (Olympian) Chris Smalling (Man United) 1-0 Micah Richards (Man City) Bradley Johnson (Norwich City) 1-0 Cameron Jerome (Stoke City) Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors) 0-5 Elliot Bennett (Norwich City) Joe Hart (Man City) 0-5 Jose Enrique (Liverpool) Phil Jones (Man United) 3-1 Tom Cleverley (Man United)
Quarter Finals results:
Rutherford 1-0 Young Franceschi 0 (p) – 0 Smalling Johnson 0 – 0 (p) Bennett Enrique 1-0 Jones
Semi-Finals:
Rutherford 1-3 Franceschi Bennett 0-1 Enrique
Final:
Enrique 1-0 Franceschi
EA SPORTS FIFA 13 is available on all formats including iOs now from all good retailers including www.GAME.co.uk.
England’s clash with Poland in World Cup qualifying has been postponed until Wednesday, after heavy rain meant that the Warsaw pitch was unplayable on Tuesday.
Roy Hodgson’s men were due to face the eastern European side on Tuesday, but poor weather conditions halted play, with the Poles opting not to close the stadium’s roof.
The England manager is glad that the game will still be played this week, but did not want to comment on whether the roof should have been closed earlier or not.
“That’s something I can’t answer, it’s not as easy as that,” Sky Sports quote Hodgson as saying when asked about the roof.
“You have to speak to the Polish authorities and go through all the rigmarole that might be necessary for them to close the roof.
“But I hope they will get it closed as quickly as possible and start to do some work on the pitch because right now the pitch is in a very poor condition.
“The water is now lying on the surface and it’s going to need a bit of attention if it’s going to be playable on Wednesday afternoon.
“I think it was the only decision that could be made. There’re no other possibilities. You can’t find dates at international level. The dates that are available are all taken up so you can’t just suddenly decide we’ll play it another time.
“What you have to do is to try to organise to get the game played as quickly as possible. We’ll have to go back to the hotel. We’re disappointed.
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“We prepared well for this start tonight as no doubt the Poles have too, but now we’ve got to do it all over again and hopefully we’ll be as prepared as we were tonight,” he concluded.
Paul Lambert will take on his mentor Martin O’Neill as Aston Villa travel to the Stadium of Light to take on Sunderland on Saturday.
Both sides are in need of Premier League points, especially Villa who sit just one point above the bottom three having picked up just six points from their opening nine games.
Both sides go into the game following mixed results in the Capital One Cup in midweek. Villa made the quarter finals after scraping past Swindon, whilst Sunderland were dumped out by North East rivals Middlesbrough.
Both teams picked up a draw in their last Premier League outing, whilst both the fixtures between the sides last season ended in draws.
Aston Villa will welcome Joe Bennett back from a one-match ban, whilst Sunderland will leave it late to assess the fitness of Carlos Cuellar, who is hoping to play against his former club.
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Arsenal have increased their interest in Crystal Palace ace Wilfried Zaha with the club sending a scout to watch the club over the weekend, according to the Daily Mail.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger sent chief scout Steve Rowley to watch Zaha as Palace emerged with a 2-1 victory from the King Power Stadium against Leicester City.
The marksman has been in fine form this season already netting four goals and put in another stellar performance to secure victory on Saturday.
The Eagles have managed to fend off any interest so far for the player, which intensified towards the end of the summer transfer window.
A whole host of Premier League teams including, Tottenham and Manchester City have maintained an interest in the star, with the club not set to let him go on the cheap.
Wenger is believed to be taking a closer look at the transfer market with his charges struggling in their last three outings against Norwich, Schalke and QPR respectively.
The England U21 star played both outings against Serbia for the U21 side in their European championships qualifier, and with Walcott still in on-going discussions over a new contract, Arsenal are keeping a close eye on developments.
Palace Chairman Steve Parish said only just last week that he believed it would take a figure of around £20million to steal the star away from the club’s grasp.
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The South London club are still firmly in the promotion chase sitting in 4th place despite recently losing their manager Dougie Freedman to Bolton.
Oscar Wilde once said, “Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.” For a man who died in 1900, he seemed to have an uncanny ability to predict the future of terrible Premier League jerseys.
Throughout the history of the league, there have been some gaudy, ill-fitting and downright nauseating home and away kits.
In the case of the 20 on show here, the sole focus of their design seems to be distracting the opposition. In the case of Manchester United’s famous grey strip, however, it only distracted themselves.
Like art, not everyone will be in agreement, but as you flick from jersey to jersey, remember that players had to wear these and fans actually paid money for them. Sunglasses at the ready—it’s about to get bright and colourful.
Click on Arsenal’s shocker from 95 to get the ball rolling
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Reading midfielder Danny Guthrie has apologised to the club for his refusal to play in their Premier League clash with Sunderland.
The Royals’ manager Brian McDermott confirmed after the game that the 25-year-old made the decision not to join up with the rest of the squad as they slipped to a 3-0 defeat.
Guthrie has since been fined two-weeks’ wages for his actions, and said sorry to the club and their fans:
“I hold my hands up and apologise. It’s something that we will deal with internally,” he is quoted by the Reading Post.
“There’s no problem with anyone. I have my reasons for what happened, it shouldn’t have happened, but it did. My head just wasn’t right.”
The ex-Newcastle man went on to insist that he is happy at the Madejski Stadium and not considering moving on in January:
“I love being at this club – I just want to play football,
“I’ve never had problems anywhere I have been and I just want to get back to playing football.
“This is a very rare situation for me.”
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Guthrie began his career with Manchester United, before switching to Liverpool as a youth player.
After making just a handful of appearances for the Reds, he moved on to Newcastle, where he became a key first-team player.
He moved to reading during the summer as part of McDermott’s plan to keep the club in the Premier League.
Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva believes that he is close to returning to full fitness.
The Brazilian missed almost the entire 2011/12 Premier League season due to knee ligament damage, and has been out of action for the most part of the current campaign with a thigh injury.
He made his comeback for the Reds earlier this month, but has looked a little short of his best as the club continue to struggle.
Lucas feels that he is not far from reaching peak fitness, and believes that the hectic Christmas fixture schedule will help:
“After a long time out and two difficult injuries, I’m just very happy to be back,” he told Liverpool’s official website.
“I’m still progressing in terms of fitness, confidence and strength but I will get there again. I just need to be patient and when I get back to 100 per cent fitness and the level I was at before, the better it will be for myself and the team.
“In terms of fitness, I’m very close to being 100 per cent but it’s just a question of time and games, to be honest.
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“It’s very hard to predict how long it will take to get back to my best but I can see an improvement every week, especially in the training sessions.
“I’m starting to feel sharper and better every day so I try to take that into the games. It’s important to play well at this crucial time over Christmas, especially because we have a lot of games.”