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Sunderland boss Phil Parkinson must look to summer signing Dion Sanderson when he names his defence to face Portsmouth at the Stadium of Light this Saturday.

Kenny Jackett’s Fratton Park natives will be vying to maintain momentum in their early push for the play-off places this weekend, having claimed three wins in their last four games and eased past Gillingham 2-0 last time out.

The Black Cats are riding a strong wave of form themselves after an unbeaten start to the League One season, while boasting the third-tier’s best defensive record with just one goal shipped after six games.

Parkinson’s men were able to keep Crewe Alexandra at bay throughout their midweek clash despite having to name a makeshift defence, with Sunderland without Jordan Willis as a result of the foot injury which forced him off during the 2-0 win at Swindon.

Sanderson also sat out the Crewe affair as Parkinson felt the summer arrival needed longer to acclimatise having only trained with his new Black Cats teammates for the first time on Monday.

But now with a full week under his belt, Parkinson can feel easy about calling on Sanderson to face Portsmouth rather than risking Willis aggravating his injury after stating that the 26-year-old is still not fully fit on Friday.

Sanderson would prove a worthwhile candidate to face Portsmouth this weekend having fared strongly for Wolverhampton Wanderers in their EFL Trophy clash with Bradford, coming in his only senior appearance of the term before joining Sunderland on loan.

The 20-year-old managed to record six clearances, blocked one shot, made two interceptions and two tackles against the League Two opposition, while winning two of his four ground duels and playing 28 accurate passes, per SofaScore.

His performance was more than comparable to the form seen from Willis this term, with the 26-year-old recording an average 1.4 tackles, 3.0 clearances, 4.4 duels won, 25.4 accurate passes and 0.2 interceptions per game over his five appearances in the League One term thus far.

Sanderson was also fielded as the right-sided centre-half in a three-man defence, where Conor McLaughlin offered a futile display during the week to leave Parkinson surely considering changes at the back now that he has more options to turn too.

Former Sunderland boss Jack Ross was full of praise for McLaughlin when he welcomed the Northern Ireland international to the Stadium of Light last year.

“He brings quality and experience to a position that was of high-priority for us to have options in,” said Ross, via quotes by the Sunderland Echo. “I look forward to working with him over the course of the season.”

McLaughlin’s debut year did not go to plan, however, with the 29-year-old admitting earlier this month that he is determined to have a better campaign after doing himself an injustice.

“It was tough [last season],” the defender said, via quotes by the Chronicle. “I didn’t do myself justice when I did get a chance last year, so it was tough to take.

“But I was positive, kept working hard and hoped that I got my chance. If I want to stay in the team now then I need to play well, because there’s a lot of good players in the squad that can take your spot.”

Unfortunately, though, McLaughlin was the weakest link in Sunderland’s makeshift backline as they beat Crewe 1-0 on Tuesday night, with the natural right-back dropped in to cover for Willis’ injury.

McLaughlin failed to record any attempted tackles or aerial duels against David Artell’s side, per WhoScored, while his two clearances were insignificant alongside Bailey Wright’s seven.

AND in other news, Sunderland’s decision to sell a highly-rated prospect this summer is already appearing worse business than the sale of Josh Maja.

Key information about Bloomfield Road

Bloomfield Road was built in 1899 and is now the home of Blackpool FC. The ground is located in the city of Blackpool in Lancashire and was the 68th stadium in the country to host a Football League match.

Its current capacity stands at 16,220 and it has a pitch that measures 102m by 67m. The surface is covered with grass but there is no undersoil heating installed nor a running track surrounding it.

The record attendance of 38,098 was set during Blackpool’s clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 17 September 1955.

A history of Bloomfield Road

Bloomfield Road was constructed way back in 1899 and has been housing Blackpool ever since the club moved into the stadium in 1901. Before then, they were actually settled at two different grounds: Raikes Hall Gardens and Athletic Grounds.

It’s also interesting to note that Bloomfield Road was originally known as Gamble’s Field after the farmer who owned the land but was renamed shortly after Blackpool FC merged with South Shore F.C. in mid-December 1899 and then moved into the stadium, which was then owned by the latter team.

The first clash after the merger was on 23 December with the hosts beating a 10-man Horwich R.M.I 8-0. There was not much to see at the stadium back then with only a small wooden grandstand with about 300 places and a perimeter fence surrounding the pitch. Interestingly, Blackpool would move in and out of the ground in the following years, alternating between Raikes Hall Gardens and Bloomfield Road, until finally, at the start of the 1901/02 campaign, the latter would become their official home.

In the years and decades after that, the stadium would gradually improve, most notably boosting the capacity to over 20,000 by the time the mid-1920s arrived. In the 1930s, the club also erected the Spion Kop, adding more space and increasing the total figure to over 30,000. But most of the improvements in the 1920s were indeed prompted by the big fire of 1917 that destroyed the entire southern end along with the offices, a lot of silverware and documentation.

Still, after the 1920s and 1930s, the development stopped and wouldn’t resume until the 1950s when the East Paddock was extended. In the following decade, Bloomfield Road could host around 38,000 supporters but that figure would subsequently dip following the conversion of some areas into seating places and later due to safety requirements. Around that time, the Spion Kop was also partially covered..

As the new millennium approached, the ground deteriorated and was in dire need of renovation once again. Several initiatives were presented but it wouldn’t be until the early 2000s that big changes were undertaken.

The Spion Kop and West Stand were completely demolished and eventually replaced by new stands and in 2003 the East and South Stand followed suit. However, it would take the club until 2010 to finally replace the latter one while temporary structures were placed in the former and were then improved in 2011.

Around that time the pitch was also relaid and finally, in June 2019, Bloomfield Road came into the control of Simon Sadler, who bought a controlling 96.2% stake in Blackpool FC.

Tickets to watch Blackpool FC at Bloomfield Road

All tickets to watch Blackpool FC play at Bloomfield Road can be found and purchased on the club’s official website. The cheapest adult ticket in the standard area costs £20 while the most expensive ones in West Stand Blocks L & N are £28.

The club also offers season tickets for all of their fans. More information can be found on the aforementioned website.

Related links

https://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/ – Official website of Blackpool FC

https://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/tickets/ – Blackpool FC Ticket Office

There are not many worse situations than being a club in dire need of a revamp and a squad refresh and not having any money to do anything about it. At West Ham United, things may not be as bad or as critical as that but David Moyes also knows this absolutely has to be a busy summer transfer window for the Hammers.

But you also can’t exactly say that the London outfit are ready to splash the cash because, as it currently seems, there is not that much cash to splash at all. For that reason, we just might see a departure or two first that would make the incoming transfers possible in the first place.

According to the latest report from The Times, West Ham are looking to offload Jack Wilshere in the ongoing window so that they can primarily ease the wage bill that is also one of the issues at the club.

The same source claims the former Arsenal man is on around £100k-a-week and still has one final year left on his contract. However, the Hammers are not willing to wait that long.

If no offer arrives and no one decides to take the player off their hands, they just might buy that last year out.

The Times also go on to state that West Ham are even contemplating selling him for less than £100,000 a week and then potentially making up the difference in wages until June 30 next year when his contract officially comes to an end.

That way, they could ensure someone indeed does go ahead with the sale.

One way or the other, however, Wilshere is on his way out of the club.

Verdict

West Ham are adamant on making changes and Wilshere could indeed be one of the first sacrifices made for the upcoming 2020/21 Premier League campaign.

Another tough season is ahead and these are the kind of choices that will either make or break the Hammers’ journey forward. Moyes is doing the right thing but will it actually pay off?

Manchester United have made the first moves ahead of the 2020/21 Premier League season by completing the signing of Odion Ighalo.Â

Ever since he arrived on loan from Shanghai Shenhua at the start of the year, the Nigerian has impressed at the club he supported as a boy, scoring four goals in eight appearances so far. Ighalo has earned himself a contract extension off the back of these performances which will keep him at Old Trafford until 2021.

United were in the process of planning for a squad overhaul before the nationwide lockdown was imposed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (ESPN). Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to bring in a new crop of young talent and scouts have been monitoring the development of Barcelona forward Ansu Fati.

However, the Red Devils accept that Fati will remain at Barcelona, despite rumours of a £100m bid for the Spanish under-21 international.

This eye-watering figure will surely raise a few eyebrows, given his young age. The 17-year-old recently signed a new deal in December that will expire in 2022 and includes a release clause reportedly worth €170m (£152.73m).

The Spaniard is yet to be officially promoted to the first team as he is still technically registered with the Barca B team, although he has scored four goals in 16 games in La Liga this season (WhoScored).

As the transfer window approaches, Solskjaer has once again been linked to a number of expensive targets, including Borussia Dortmund star Jadon Sancho, who is unlikely to come cheap.

Unsurprisingly, loads of United fans slammed the club’s “rubbish” link to Fati, with one supporter blasting the “ridiculous” amount of money, while another branded him a “Messi wannabe” in reference to his famous teammate.

Scroll down through some of the scathing reactions so far…

United fans, should Ed Woodward sign Ansu Fati in the summer? Let us know down below!

Key information about Deepdale Stadium

Deepdale Stadium was built in 1875 and is now Preston North End’s safe haven. The ground is located in the Deepdale area of Preston in England, on a land that was once known as Deepdale Farm.

The stadium’s official capacity stands at 23,404 and has a pitch with the proportions of 100m x 70m. There is no running track surrounding the field and the surface has no undersoil heating installed as of right now.

So far, the record league attendance at Deepdale Stadium was set on 23 April 1938 when 42,684 supporters watched Preston North End square against Arsenal in the First Division.

A history of Deepdale Stadium

Needless to say, the Deepdale Stadium is dripping with history and significance since it is still recognised as the oldest professional footballing site in the world in continuous use. And Preston North End have been loyal to their ground since it was erected back in 1875 and leased by the club’s members. At first, however, it would only be used for cricket and rugby.

Deepdale Stadium hosted its first league match on 8 September 1888 as Preston smashed the visiting locals, Burnley, 5-2. In the 1890s, the club built the West Stand Paddock that ran along the touchline and that would stand for almost 100 years before it was demolished in the 1990s. But at the turn of the century and especially in the 1920s, football was booming in Preston and the club had to further expand to accommodate the ever-surging crowds.

Numerous improvements ensued as the Spion Kop was built and the West Paddock extended to meet the Kop end. Following that, the pitch was removed so they could construct the Town End, which was completed in 1928, but, unfortunately, only to be destroyed by a huge fire five years into the future and subsequently had to be rebuilt.

In 1934, the Pavilion Stand, a relatively small stand of two tiers with the changing rooms and some offices, was also constructed. It was around that time that Preston North End recorded their highest ever attendance with 42,684 watching their game against Arsenal in 1938.

After that, only smaller renovations were done as the club added a roof and even decided to put an artificial, plastic pitch in 1986 but that proved to be a highly disliked idea, resulting in Preston ripping it up in 1994, by which time it was already the last remaining plastic pitch in the English league.

Around that time, the club embarked on their biggest improvements to date, inspired by the Luigi Ferraris Stadium in Genoa. This would result in the entire reconstruction of Deepdale Stadium as the Sir Tom Finney Stand was built in place of the old main stand – it would also have press areas and restaurants – and was followed two years later by the new Bill Shankly Kop, located behind the goal.

In 2001, the Alan Kelly Town End replaced the Town End terrace and some years later, in 2008, a 25-metre screen was also erected on the roof of the Bill Shankly Kop. Finally, the old ‘Pavilion’ stand was replaced by the ‘Invincibles Pavilion’ in the 2008/09 campaign, as tribute to their invincible season from 1888/89.

The stadium is now an all-seater with a capacity of 23,404.

Tickets to watch Preston North End at Deepdale Stadium

All the tickets to watch Preston North End at Deepdale Stadium can be found on the club’s official website. The price varies on multiple factors but the most expensive adult ticket in the Premium section costs £30.

Season tickets and half-season tickets are also available and Preston North End offer discounts for the disabled as well as youngsters wanting to watch some of their very first games of football. All information can be found on the aforementioned site.

Related links

https://www.pnefc.net/ – Official website of Preston North End

Hands up if you had forgotten about Timothy Fosu-Mensah.

The Dutchman has been on the books at Manchester United for a long time now but has failed to really establish himself as a key part of the first-team since making a real breakthrough when Louis van Gaal was still in charge.

Speaking after a clash against Everton back in 2016 in which Fosu-Mensah replaced Marcos Rojo and delivered the cross for Anthony Martial’s winner, Van Gaal lauded the defender for seizing his opportunity.

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He said: “I think Rojo has a problem with his jet-leg. I said also to Timothy that you have to take profit of it, and when a player is doing that then that is also a little bit of luck for the manager. But I think every credit is with the player, for Timothy, and not for the manager.”

Under the former United boss, Fosu-Mensah played ten times, and then when Jose Mourinho came into the Old Trafford dugout, he also featured sporadically too, getting onto the pitch on 11 occasions.

But the £6.3m-rated ace has seen his progress hindered by injuries, not least by the cruciate ligament problem he suffered whilst on loan at Fulham last season – according to Transfermarkt, after making his return to action only in January 2020, he had missed 271 days of action, or 60 total games to be precise.

Defence is arguably the one area in which the Red Devils are seemingly well-stocked, with centre-back seeing a whole host of options being available for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the likes of Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly, Axel Tuanzebe and Phil Jones, amongst others. And then, if you consider Fosu-Mensah’s ability to play at full-back too, he has Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Diogo Dalot, Brandon Williams and Luke Shaw all ahead of him in the pecking order.

The path simply isn’t there for the Dutchman to really genuinely stake his claim in the first-team, and it’s exactly why United should cut their losses on the versatile ace. He may have promised big things after bursting onto the scene a few years ago, but he hasn’t shown why he is worthy of a place in the squad for next season.

Meanwhile, Man Utd are set to battle their Premier League rivals over this star.

Many Aston Villa fans have heaped heavy praise on club captain Jack Grealish after news emerged of a £200k gesture he has made to the NHS.

The young attacking midfielder was in the press for all the wrong reasons as the United Kingdom went into lockdown due to the recent pandemic in March, flouting advice by attending a house party.

The 24-year-old has since apologised via a video link, but a recent raffling of a match worn Villa shirt has now gained him some plaudits, seeing him donate the money to the NHS.

The shirt gained £55,000 as fans of the club and the midfielder bidded for the item, whilst Grealish also handed his two-week fine of £150,000 for his lockdown rule break, straight to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Grealish’s future at Villa is not yet known after being linked with a move to both Manchester United and Everton.

Whilst the midfielder could leave the Midlands based club this summer, Villa’s own future is not yet known, sitting 19th in the Premier League as things stand.

Reacting to the former England U21 international’s gesture via @PreeceObserver, fans handed Grealish a response…

Villa fans, will Jack Grealish stay at the club beyond the summer? Let us know below…

Liverpool fans have been clashing with a number of England fans on Twitter as Three Lions supporters ripped into Trent Alexander-Arnold after his performance against Kosovo.

Fans of the national team didn’t hold back in their criticism of the right-back as they slammed him for his underwhelming showing against the eastern European outfit.

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Below is a selection of tweets about Alexander-Arnold’s performance on Sunday evening.

Understandably, Liverpool supporters didn’t take too kindly to seeing their young star criticised in this way on Twitter.

The Anfield faithful banded together to jump to the defence of the 21-year-old as they fired back claiming that their man is the best right-back in the world.

It was quite endearing to see Reds fans defending their man.

Even though his performance against Kosovo wasn’t his best, it didn’t warrant such a fiery response from England fans.

Here’s what the Anfield faithful have been saying on social media…

Leeds United are certainly banking on promotion this campaign, and failure to do so could have financial repercussions based on the numbers revealed by The Athletic’s Phil Hay in a recent appearance on a podcast…

What’s been said?

The west Yorkshire outfit are sat top of the Championship standings with only nine games remaining, but the current season is on hold for the foreseeable future, which has put the idea of going up or even clinching the title in doubt for the time being.

And given Hay’s revelation, it could be a costly and unfortunate consequence should the EFL decide to void the season, but ultimately, there’s still plenty of time for such a decision to be made.

Speaking to his Athletic colleagues Mark Chapman and David Ornstein on their podcast, Hay said:

“This is a pretty exceptional crisis and 100% unforeseen, but it’s not a secret at Leeds that Radrizzani has to put in around about £1m per month to pay for costs and to cover expenses and without that, they’d be in financial difficulty.

“I mean, the wage bill has almost doubled on his watch and he came in in 2017, and they have a huge turnover by Championship standards – it’s up around £40m-45m and they think they can get it over £50m which I know in the context of the Premier League doesn’t sound like a lot of cash but it is a very successful and slick financial operation at Leeds.

“Despite that, the wage bill is kicking up to around 80-85% of turnover and when you’re in that position, you’re always going to work at a loss, particularly outside of the Premier League.”

Phil Hay on The Ornstein and Chapman podcast.

Gambling on promotion

The figures mentioned by the ever-reliable United scribe are rather alarming – the chairman is pumping in serious cash – £1m per month, which has to amount to around £10m per season given the players’ contracts run until June and that they’d usually be back in for training by August.

No wonder the players, management and coaching staff have all agreed to defer some of their wages in order to help cash flow and allow others at the club their full pay.

Call yourself a Leeds expert? How much did each of these January signings cost?

Leeds’ wage bill takes up the majority of their turnover, hardly a surprise after the club agreed a £2.5m deal to land Jean-Kevin Augustin on loan in January with the RB Leipzig frontman on £35k-a-week, according to Football Insider.

Helder Costa is on similar figures, as per Spotrac, at around £32.5k-a-week whilst also costing them £15m in transfer fees.

Clinching a manager of Marcelo Bielsa’s calibre won’t have come cheap either, so Leeds are certainly taking a huge gamble on promotion and this situation puts all of that at great risk.

AND in other news, Andrea Radrizzani tweet has Leeds fans talking…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Lucas Moura has to be in the Tottenham Hotspur team.

The Brazil international has made just three starts in the Premier League this season and has completed the 90 minutes twice, in the opening game of the season against Aston Villa and the third against Newcastle United.

He started against Olympiacos in the Champions League, scoring in the first half of the 2-2 draw, but was substituted off in the 76th minute, while he played just 19 minutes in the 7-2 thumping at the hands of Bayern Munich. Lucas was on the bench against Red Star Belgrade.

And all of this is really rather puzzling.

The 27-year-old, of course, enjoyed an exceptional season in 2018/19, netting 15 goals in all competitions, including that famous hat-trick against Ajax in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final.

Following Harry Kane’s return to fitness, he was benched for the final in Madrid, playing just 24 minutes as a sub, though he did put pen to paper on a new contract in the summer.

One would think, then, that he was at least promised a fair few minutes this term.

The fact is, though, that he has played just 86 of them across the last three games, losses against Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion and a draw with Watford.

With Spurs in something of a rut, it is bizarre at best and mismanagement at worst to leave Lucas on the bench consistently.

Even in his short appearances this season, Lucas has scored once, assisted one more, registered 1.6 shots per game, 0.6 key passes and 1.3 dribbles, per WhoScored.

He is a pacey, explosive presence and, as evidenced last season, he can produce magic from nothing.

The only other options on the right of the attack are Christian Eriksen, who played there against Liverpool, and Erik Lamela. The former endured a torrid time against the Reds, proving that if he is going to be effective, he has to be deployed through the middle, while Lamela is injured once again. Since being at Spurs, the Argentine has missed a total of 85 games through injury.

Lucas, then, is the reliable, assured option. He is motivated – he has one over on Eriksen after committing his future to the club – while he is not made of glass, either.

As Spurs look to come out of their rut, reverting to two goalscoring wingers in Son Heung-Min and Lucas would go a long way to making their attack look all the more dangerous.

Leaving him on the bench does nobody any favours at all.