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By their high standards, the beginning of the 2019/20 season has not really been so rosy for Barcelona.

Needless to say, they are used to winning on a consistent basis yet, so far, they’ve only tasted victory once in the first three fixtures of the new campaign. And Ernesto Valverde has also had some problems when picking his preferred lineup.

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Of course, a big part of that was also caused by various injuries that somewhat messed with his plans.

Earlier this week AS claimed that Barcelona officials are optimistic that both Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi can feature in the clash, while a post on the club’s official Twitter page showing the former back on the training pitch has provided reason to suggest he’s pushing for a start. No such luck for Messi, it seems.

With all of that being said, here’s the predicted starting XI for Barcelona in a match that William Hill has them as favourites:

The goalkeeper spot picks itself as there is no chance that we’re going to see anyone else in that position other than Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The same can be said for almost the entire backline.

Jordi Alba, Clement Lenglet and Gerard Pique are definite starters and have been for quite a long time. The only question mark is the right-back position but Nelson Semedo has started every game so far and it’s fair to assume he’ll start the next one as well despite a pretty poor showing in the clash against Osasuna.

The midfield and forward lines are exactly where the situation gets a bit more tricky. Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong pick themselves and we’re bound to see them both play on Saturday. The third spot, however, is still a mystery.

But given how good he was in the last game and how he completely changed Barcelona’s fortunes back then in Pamplona, we’re going to go out on a limb and say Valverde starts Arthur Melo alongside the Dutchman and the Spaniard.

Finally, the front three. Antoine Griezmann and Carles Perez will surely start since both Messi and Ousmane Dembele are still missing. But the question remains: will Valverde actually play Suarez straight after recovering from injury?

And while the question of whether he actually should is a story for another time, leaving the Uruguayan on the bench seems rather unlikely for the Ant, so we’re slotting him into the starting XI and using our Totesports promo code 2019 for him as first scorer, pushing Griezmann to the left.

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Jonny Evans helped Leicester City record a 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in Saturday’s Premier League clash at the King Power Stadium.

According to WhoScored, the 31-year-old won two aerial duels and four tackles during his 90 minutes on the field.

Whilst James Maddison’s wonderful winner late on took the majority of the attention, a number of Leicester fans were keen to pay tribute to Northern Ireland international Evans.

The Foxes sold arguably their best centre-back during the summer with Harry Maguire completing an £80m switch to Manchester United.

Evans is in his second season with the club following a 2018 switch from West Bromwich Albion, and it is worth remembering that he played 198 times for Man United earlier in this career – including 131 outings in the Premier League.

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The Leicester fans absolutely loved his performance against an off-colour Spurs on Saturday afternoon – and a selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets… 

England picked up their third straight win in their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign on Saturday evening.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane led the line wearing the captain’s armband, and he put in an exceptional performance, netting a hat-trick as well as providing the assist for Raheem Sterling’s goal.

Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate named a pretty experienced line-up that saw the likes of James Maddison, Jadon Sancho, and Mason Mount all on the bench, though the latter two did feature in the second half.

Marcus Rashford was deployed in a wing role and found himself involved in two of England’s four goals, but the statistics show the Manchester United ace’s performance still left room for improvement going forward – especially if he’s to continue playing out wide.

The 21-year-old played the full 90 minutes on the left side of midfield and had a key part to play, including winning one of the two spot-kicks which Kane dispatched ever so coolly and applying the pass before Kane’s low-cross assist for Sterling’s strike.

But at other times in the match, Rashford lacked in terms of both being a goal threat and being a provider.

He managed zero key passes and zero accurate crosses whilst just 40% of his dribbles were a success, per WhoScored. That isn’t fantastic for a winger, considering he should be one of the pivotal attacking outlets in England’s game – whether that be whipping in crosses for Spurs’ star man or cutting in and becoming a danger in his own right.

Rashford also managed just one shot on target which was 20% of his total efforts at goal, and he was also dispossessed twice – the joint-most of any player in the entire match.

He’ll have to do better on Tuesday night against Kosovo if selected out wide once again, and a goal would certainly help his claims ahead of next summer’s competition.

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Neil Lennon has stated Scott Sinclair could leave Celtic before the English transfer window closes tonight, having been left out of the squad for the CFR Cluj Champions League tie.

What’s the story?

Sinclair missed last night’s 1-1 draw in Romania against Cluj in the Champions League qualifiers and could’ve played his last game for the Celts.

Lennon revealed that the 30-year-old wasn’t part of the squad due to his uncertain future, telling BBC Sport: “There’s a bit of interest, but nothing concrete at the minute. That might change over the next 24 hours.”

The winger has been linked to making a return to England in this window, with Premier League new-boys Sheffield United chasing his signature earlier in the window, per The Scottish Sun.

Time to go

That Sinclair is reportedly looking for pastures new away from Parkhead shouldn’t come as any great surprise.

And it might just be the best move for all parties concerned.

The former Chelsea man was prolific in his first season at Celtic, scoring 25 times and assisting 11 in his 50 appearances in the 2016/17 campaign. Worryingly, his returns have gone down season-by-season since and he’s seen younger stars race ahead of him in the pecking order.

Mikey Johnston and Lewis Morgan have both been preferred to the Englishman so far this season, with Johnston particularly impressing the supporters.

It already looks like it will be the 20-year-old’s position to lose and, with Morgan filling in during his absence it doesn’t look good for Sinclair at Parkhead this season.

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Similarly, the signing of Marian Shved will do little to give Sinclair hope of making a go of it again in Glasgow. The Ukrainian winger has been used sparingly as he gets accustomed to Lennon’s style of play but will be expected to make an impact this season.

With this competition for places not getting any easier for Sinclair, it would be wise for him to get out of Parkhead quickly as to avoid a similar lack of game time like he did at Manchester City.

It would also be just as useful to Celtic to move him on and allow the likes of Johnston, Morgan and Shved a chance in the coming campaign.

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Tottenham Hotspur won the 2019 Audi Cup courtesy of a penalty-shootout win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.

The two teams could not be separated over the 90 minutes, with a 2-2 draw meaning that penalties were required to decide the contest.

It was Spurs that triumphed 6-5 following a high-quality shootout, with Jerome Boateng’s miss for Bayern proving crucial.

The victory might well have come at a huge cost in terms of a defensive injury, though, with Juan Foyth having to leave the field in the latter stages.

After the match, Mauricio Pochettino revealed that the 21-year-old had picked up an ankle problem.

It remains to be seen whether the injury is a grade one sprain or one which could potentially keep him on the sidelines for an extended period.

A number of Tottenham fans have been on social media offering their views on the injury blow and a selection of their reaction is available to view below:

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[ad_pod ]Team photos can be tricky affairs – just ask former Roma man Ashley Cole.Out of all of the challenges footballers face when they step onto the pitch, standing in a line and smiling for the camera should rank as one of the most straightforward.But it seems the hours of midweek practise stars undertake, constantly vlogging their lives on social media for us all the gawp at like some form of digital zoo, is insufficient preparation for what apparently is the media equivalent of rotating your right foot and drawing a “6†with your right hand at the same time.Before Manchester United’s recent 1-0 win over Norwegian side Kristiansund, newbie Daniel James was the latest man to fall victim to a poorly coordinated snapshot.Positioned somewhere between Nemanja Matic and the car park, the baby faced forward was all smiles as he stood amongst a group of excited mascots, looking remarkably like someone who’d won the experience off the back of a cereal box.He tweeted: “Proud moment to walk out with the team yesterday as the club mascotâ€

Ah. Banter.

Jokes aside, can we just take a moment to analyse the rest of the squad photo.

Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial are at least ten yards wide of the group, while Jones and co are sporadically strewn around like a half toppled rack of bowling pins.

Contender for worst effort ever? We think so.

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

West Ham United have yet to receive a single bid for striker Jordan Hugill this summer, per ClaretandHugh.

What’s the word?

The club are attempting to shift some unwanted first-team stars this summer.

Indeed, Football FanCast understands that manager Manuel Pellegrini is looking to add to his promised transfer kitty of £30m in this transfer window.

West Ham have already spent £24m on Pablo Fornals and have also signed goalkeepers Roberto and David Martin.

Hugill, then, is one player who could be moved on, with Preston North End linked with a move to re-sign their former charge. However, no bids have yet been lodged, per ClaretandHugh, while midfielder Pedro Obiang has also yet to attract an offer.

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Ground to a halt

There has been precious little transfer activity at West Ham since the signing of Fornals.

Sources have told FFC that there is no movement, with no transfers close to completion, despite links with Celta Vigo striker Maxi Gomez.

That may be because of this report, with West Ham unable to trim their wage bill by offloading those deemed expendable, moves that would also increase the transfer kitty.

It is a worrying sign considering what the squad needs; the club only have two strikers currently, in Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic, while they also require depth in defensive midfield, with Declan Rice the only specialist option at the club.

Such incomings appear unlikely though, unless the likes of Hugill and Obiang are moved on swiftly.

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Leeds United sent scouts to watch Real Madrid’s Castilla team as they lost 2-0 to Cartagena on Sunday, according to La Verdad journalist Rubén Serrano.

The Whites’ most recent purchase from Los Blancos didn’t work out as planned, but it is clear that Victor Orta is trying to poach the best young talent from one of Spain’s superclubs.

Spanish cohort

With a Spaniard in charge of the transfers at Elland Road, it should come as no surprise that many of the Yorkshire club’s targets come from Orta’s homeland.

Of course, the director of football at Elland Road knows La Liga better than any other league in the world, and there are signs that a Spanish core is being built at Leeds United.

Ander Iturraspe and Rafa Mujica have already been linked during this window while Kiko Casilla, Pablo Hernandez and Samu Saiz are already at the club.

We have often seen teams be promoted from the Championship when they are built around one nationality. Norwich went up last year with a Germany-centric team, and Wolves went up the year before with a squad filled with Portuguese stars.

The Whites look to be attempting to follow this model once again but with Spanish players this time.

Be careful

Marcelo Bielsa’s side must be cautious when they are courting players from Real Madrid or Barcelona’s academies. For every Xavi or Lionel Messi, there’s a multitude of players who never hit the heights they are tipped for.

Bojan, Marcelo Djalo, Jese Rodriguez and Iago Falque are just a few names that have flopped in England after spending their formative years at one of the European giants’ academies.

Leeds could very easily find themselves overpaying for ‘the next big thing’ only for them to have a mediocre career and minimal impact in England.

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Loads of Manchester United fans have been reacting to an update on their right-back situation, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will reportedly target a new signing in that position.

According to ESPN, Solskjaer is prioritising signing a right-back this summer, but fans are taking issue with one part of the report.

While also claiming centre back Eric Bailly will be given a chance to earn his place under Solskjaer, the transfer update claims both Diogo Dalot and Ashley Young will be kept on board to compete with the new signing on the right.

Who is your club’s worst ever January signing? The Pl>ymaker FC squad have picked theirs in the video below and they didn’t disappoint…

Fans were fuming when reports suggested Young could be named the next captain of the club, and they’re baffled by the fact that Solskjaer seems intent on keeping the versatile veteran.

The 33 year-old was horrific in the collapse at the Camp Nou in the Champions League, and the Old Trafford faithful are desperate to see the back of him.

Young played 40 times in all competitions this season, and one has to think if he is anywhere close to that number in the next campaign then things have gone seriously wrong again.

Just take a look at the Twitter reactions down below…

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Mohamed Salah has hinted he would like Liverpool to sign Roma legend Daniele De Rossi, who played his last game for the Giallorossi last weekend.

What’s the story?

As reported by The Express, Salah has heaped praise on his former teammate and tipped him for a move to the Premier League: “He is one of the best of which I have played with. Good luck for the future.

“A future for him in the Premier League? It would be beautiful, but I don’t know if it’s possible.”

The Liverpool forward also said he would like to reunite with the midfield maestro: “It would be pleasing for me to play with him again, he is an optimal player.”

The Egyptian international clearly thinks the 35 year-old’s class and experience would be a welcome addition at Anfield, so should the Reds make a move?

The right mentality

It goes without saying that De Rossi would not disrupt the current pecking order in Liverpool’s midfield, with Fabinho the clear first choice in the defensive role while Jordan Henderson’s recent form makes him practically un-droppable in the more advanced spot.

However, the Italian international could be a handy addition purely for the strength of his character, which is something that Jurgen Klopp places great emphasis on.

The Reds have made a point of only signing players with the right mentality and work ethic since Klopp arrived, and De Rossi would fit right in.

He played 23 times in all competitions this season too, so could certainly play his part in cup competitions.

It would be quite a shock if the Reds do indeed decide to move for the soon-to-be free agent, but a short-term deal to add depth, experience and composure in the middle of the park all without spending a penny is a win in anyone’s book.