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What promised to be a Premier League thriller between Leeds and Chelsea ended 0-0 at Elland Road, with Marcelo Bielsa’s side earning a rare draw.

The Whites were involved in only their second 0-0 stalemate of the league season, but things could have been different had some first half opportunities in particular go their way – most notably an effort from Tyler Roberts which struck the crossbar, with the same player having a goal ruled out for offside.

Given Chelsea’s imperious form under new manager Thomas Tuchel – the latest result seeing the Blues remain unbeaten under the German – a point is certainly a more than credible result.

One man who let Bielsa down, though, was Jack Harrison.

The Manchester City loanee was drafted back into the starting line-up in place of Helder Costa having been dropped to the bench in the last couple of weeks.

However, aside from one delicious cross early on, Harrison just couldn’t seem to get involved in the game, instead spending most of his time just trying to chase Chelsea down rather than offering anything note with the ball.

He had fewer than half the number of touches of goalkeeper Illan Meslier (23 to 50) and made far fewer passes (eight) than the Leeds shot-stopper (21) too, while he failed to provide a single key pass or have a shot on goal – the game just seemed to pass him by offensively, with much of his side’s best openings coming through Roberts.

While Harrison, to his credit, worked hard, he wasn’t his usual snappy self tracking back either – this season, he has averaged 1.6 tackles per game in the Premier League, but made none against the Blues this afternoon and also lost both of his duels.

Writing in his post-match player ratings for Leeds Live, Beren Cross gave him the Whites’ joint-lowest score of five, adding: “Another difficult afternoon for the loanee. One excellent cross which deserved to be buried, but anonymous otherwise.”

After being handed the chance to start, Harrison just couldn’t deliver on his opportunity, and that surely would have frustrated Bielsa.

After booking their passage into the last 16 of the Europa League on Wednesday night, Tottenham turn their attentions back towards the Premier League as they take on Burnley at home.

Jose Mourinho’s side suffered defeat last time out in the top-flight, falling to a 2-1 loss to London rivals West Ham. That game saw the Spurs boss make a couple of half-time changes to try and spark a comeback, and while it didn’t prove to be fruitful in the end, it did underline that one man simply has to be dropped: Erik Lamela.

The Argentine was one of those hooked at the interval at the London Stadium by the manager, with Gareth Bale coming on in his place. The Welshman was unlucky not to find himself on the score-sheet after striking a volley onto the crossbar, while it was his corner that saw Lucas Moura head home.

Lamela, on the other hand, delivered another disappointing display to add to his collection of below-par performances this season, with the West Ham game meaning that the £80k-a-week earning man has still yet to score or provide an assist in the Premier League this season – a truly woeful return for someone who has played out wide on the right and even as a number ten.

Former Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor delivered a scathing verdict on Lamela’s performances earlier this month, saying: “He’s not the same player he used to be, Lamela.

“When I watch him now, he doesn’t really get past anyone, he doesn’t score or assist. I think Jose Mourinho is just playing him because he’s annoyed at Gareth Bale. He’s just playing Lamela because he’s got nobody else to play. If Jose Mourinho is given a bit of money he will definitely get rid of Lamela.”

But, with Bale arguably producing his best 45 minutes in a Spurs shirt against West Ham last time out in the Premier League, and Mourinho himself claiming that the Welshman is in the best shape he’s been since joining the club, the time has surely come for the 31-year-old to get his chance in the starting line-up.

And that means making a ruthless call on Lamela and dropping him against the Clarets on Saturday afternoon. The fact is that the Argentine has been holding Spurs back with his lack of end product this season, and it’s about time Mourinho takes action.

Leicester hit a roadblock in the Premier League this afternoon as they were well beaten on home soil by Leeds United. The newly-promoted Whites made easy work of brushing aside the title hopefuls, despite their early opener.

Harvey Barnes put the Foxes ahead but Leeds responded immediately as just two minutes later, the visitors were on the scoresheet thanks to Stuart Dallas, with two more goals coming in the second half to put the game to bed.

It was a weak performance from Leicester as a whole, but Brendan Rodgers must be particularly disappointed with centre-back Wesley Fofana.

Fofana stats vs Leeds

Patrick Bamford is undoubtedly one of the Premier League’s most clinical strikers. His goal and two assists this afternoon took his season tally up to ten goals and three assists in 19 appearances, as per Transfermarkt.

However, he can be silenced. Before playing Leicester, he was on a three-game goal drought and had struggled to make an impact against Spurs, Brighton and Newcastle. But today, he clearly had his shooting boots on.

Fofana was unable to deal with the Englishman’s threat and contributed to the poor defensive display from the Foxes. According to Sofascore, the £30million summer signing completed just 68% of his attempted passes and had fewer touches (37) than goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel (42). Fofana also completed more clearances against Everton (4) compared to today’s performance of just two.

These are not great stats for a centre-back who has been solid in his previous appearances. For example, in his last game against Everton, he took 105 touches and was confident in completing 85 of his 96 attempted passes.

Whilst it won’t warrant him being dropped for the next match against Fulham, Rodgers will be more than aware that this wasn’t a performance of Fofana’s usual calibre, both with and without the ball.

In other news, Exclusive: Rob Lee tips James Justin for big England future…

Everton’s Premier League match with Aston Villa being postponed will come as an unlucky break for Abdoulaye Doucoure.

According to The Guardian, the Birmingham-based outfit were hopeful of seeing the game, originally scheduled for Sunday, delayed as Dean Smith’s entire squad is currently in self-isolation after nine players and backroom staff tested positive for Covid-19.

The outbreak forced Villa to name a team consisting of Under 23 and Under 18 players for their FA Cup clash with Liverpool at the weekend, and are not due to have their senior figures available again until Sunday at the earliest.

Villa were said to be concerned about the prospect of heading straight into a top-flight clash with Everton having not trained for almost two weeks, though delaying the match will mean the claret and blue side will have played three fewer fixtures than some clubs.

The Premier League opting to delay Everton’s trip to Villa Park will be a frustrating late decision for Carlo Ancelotti and his side, who were looking to move back inside the top-four places with a win after Manchester City’s 1-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion on Wednesday night demoted them to fifth.

Everton are also enjoying a strong run of form in the top-flight, with the Blues’ 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham United on New Year’s Day their sole loss in seven league fixtures.

Doucoure, who earns £75,000-a-week according to Spotrac, will be dealt a personal blow by the postponement, too, having been set to miss the West Midlands affair through suspension after being shown a fifth yellow card of the campaign during his side’s 2-1 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this month.

Being given an additional week’s rest would have come as a lucky break for Doucoure had he not been suspended, as Ancelotti has begun to worry that the 28-year-old is being overused having playing the full 90 minutes in 10 of the Toffees’ last 11 Premier League fixtures.

“He is a key player, it was a fantastic signing in the summer,” said Ancelotti. “He is a fantastic guy and fantastic professional. I think he deserves to rest.”

The Villa fixture being postponed will instead see Doucoure sit out Everton’s home game with Leicester City on January 27, in a crunch fixture for the Toffees as they are currently competing with the Foxes for a Champions League spot.

Brendan Rodgers’ King Power Stadium natives currently sit above Ancelotti’s side on goal difference alone, having scored just three times more than Everton after the opening 17 games.

Ancelotti will likely have preferred to see Doucoure miss the Villa game with Smith’s men not match sharp and being without a league win since Boxing Day, while Leicester are unbeaten in four games and have lost just once on the road all season.

Doucoure has also been an instrumental figure on the pitch for Ancelotti, with the midfielder offering the third-most passes (862) by any Everton player in Premier League fixtures – only defenders Michael Keane (1064) and Yerry Mina (960) see more of the ball, per WhoScored.

The former Watford ace has also offered the fourth-most key passes (12) and fifth-most shots (13), showing the offensive threat Ancelotti will now lack against a Leicester side who give up the fourth-least efforts on goal when away from home with 10.4 allowed a game.

AND in other news, Everton must refrain from making a knee-jerk decision to sign a £9m-rated target…

David Sullivan must sanction a January swoop for Burnley defender James Tarkowski amid renewed links to West Ham United.

What’s the word?

According to Eurosport, Premier League interest in Tarkowski is beginning to grow ahead of the mid-season window as the 28-year-old continues to overlook a new contract at Turf Moor.

Tarkowski has entered into the final 18-months of his current £50,000-per-week deal, but he is yet to put pen to paper, saying that the terms presented thus far have been “nowhere near what I was going to sign”.

Recent discussions between Tarkowski and the Clarets have moved the two parties closer to reaching an agreement as they strive to secure continuity to protect the club’s Premier League stability amid a potential takeover of the Lancashire outfit.

But West Ham, who saw a £30m offer turned down in the summer, and Leicester City, who also bid £30m, are now said to be joined by growing top-flight interest in the star centre-back who Burnley valued at £50m ahead of the current season.

Manchester United were understood to have also assessed the merits of a move for Tarkowski, who Irons legend Frank McAvennie believed would have been “perfect” for his former side in the summer.

Tarkowski ultimately remained at Turf Moor and has started all 11 of his Premier League outings, helping Sean Dyche’s side to keep five clean sheets as they battle to avoid relegation.

Winter rescue

West Ham will head into Christmas sat middle of the pack having held one of the top-flight’s better defensive records thus far, with Moyes’ men allowing the same number of goals (19) over 14 games as title-holders Liverpool and European chasers Everton.

Moyes has rarely sought to make changes to his backline with Angelo Ogbonna starting all of the Hammers’ Premier League fixtures to date, while Fabian Balbuena has missed just one of his side’s last 12 through a groin injury.

Issa Diop returned to the XI to replace Balbuena, yet he has seemingly lost Moyes’ full support with the 23-year-old returning to the bench at Chelsea, where he had watched the action for all bar 27 minutes since testing positive for coronavirus in September before facing Crystal Palace.

Moyes seemingly has a lack of belief in Craig Dawson too, who is yet to make his West Ham debut, but any concerns over a lack of depth can be removed entirely with a winter raid on Burnley for Tarkowski, who the former Man United boss would adore.

The 6ft brute is registering 2.1 successful tackles per Premier League appearance this term – only Vladimir Coufal (3.0) is winning more at the London Stadium – while penning 1.2 interceptions, 4.4 clearances and winning a mammoth 7.2 duels, with success in 70% of his aerial contests, per SofaScore.

Tarkowski is only dribbled past 0.4 times a game, too, while offering a threat in the opponent’s box with 1.8 shots and 0.4 key balls, allowing for West Ham to improve their already-stellar record for scoring from set-pieces with only Chelsea, Southampton and Everton netting more often.

AND in other news, West Ham are monitoring a £20k-p/w talent to resolve David Moyes’ “big” blow.

According to The Sun, Paul Pogba seems destined for the Manchester United exit after Mino Raiola’s latest outburst.

What’s the word?

Rarely a day goes by without Pogba facing questions about his future at Old Trafford amid links abroad. Pogba’s agent has now added fuel to the fire after claiming his client’s career with the club is over on the eve of United’s crucial Champions League clash with RB Leipzig on Tuesday night.

The outspoken Raiola declared that the Frenchman is unhappy at United and that it would be best for all parties involved if he is allowed to leave as soon as possible.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who has a strained relationship with Raiola, dismissed the agent’s fresh dig after the Red Devils were dumped out of the Champions League.

However, it’s claimed that the club’s hierarchy are ready to cut ties with Pogba once and for all, as they are prepared to accept a low asking price to find a buyer for the French World Cup winner.

Keep Pogba at all costs

Solskjaer favours the 4-2-3-1 formation, which utilises two holding midfielders, and if you take the 27-year-old out of the equation, then that system has shown signs of collapsing at any moment.

It’s no secret United have struggled at the back, as they have failed to keep a clean sheet since the turgid 1-0 win over West Brom at Old Trafford.

Pogba starred as the Red Devils fought back to beat West Ham, where they only conceded one goal, but came off the bench for the last 29′ minutes during the defeat to RB Leipzig, so it’s not a coincidence that Solskjaer’s side look more solid with the French international in the team.

His attacking contributions cannot go unnoticed, either, as he has scored one goal in his past two games in all competitions, whilst he tried in vain to alter the game against Julian Nagelsmann’s side earlier this week.

Besides Pogba, the only other options in Donny van de Beek, Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay have their critics, whilst Fred was suspended after he was shown a second yellow card against Paris Saint-Germain, and Bruno Fernandes is more suited to the advanced playmaker position.

Once described as an “outstanding talent” by Roy Keane, in 178 appearances for United, the £72m-rated Frenchman has scored 34 goals and supplied 35 assists, via Transfermarkt.

Ed Woodward simply cannot afford to cave into Raiola’s demands, as it’s unlikely anyone will be able to afford his colossal wages, given the current climate, and the board should do everything within their power to keep hold of the 6 ft 2 in colossus as he is one of the most important players in the squad, as it’s fair to say that they look awful when he’s absent.

Pogba certainly isn’t playing like he doesn’t want to be there, that’s for sure.

AND in other news, Manchester United must sanction swoop for Kieran Trippier in the summer…

Lots of Manchester United fans have been slamming the news that Amad Diallo still needs a work permit in order to play for the club.

According to Manchester Evening News, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team are still very much in the process of securing a work permit for the 18 year-old ahead of his scheduled move to the Old Trafford faithful in the January transfer window.

Diallo has shown the Man United fans what he is all about in training footage while on loan at Atalanta, and it seems as if he could be an exciting addition to the side for the rest of the 2020/21 term.

However, if a work permit is not sorted for him in time, then the winger will likely not be able to play for his new club this season.

Manchester United fan reaction to Diallo news

These Red Devils slammed the news about Diallo after reading about it on Twitter, with one Man Utd supporter even claiming that it is a ‘joke’:

In other news, find out which global star MUFC are interested in signing here!

Liverpool were able to secure their place in the knockout stages with a 1-0 win against Ajax in the Champions League on Tuesday night. However, the performance of captain Jordan Henderson may have Jurgen Klopp concerned.

A solitary goal from Curtis Jones proved to be the difference between the two sides on the evening, but the Eredivisie side looked threatening throughout the 90 minutes and were perhaps unfortunate to leave with nothing, with only a brilliant late save from Caoimhin Kelleher denying Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

Henderson made his first start for Liverpool since recovering from injury in the win although the stats suggest that he wasn’t his usual self against the Dutch giants.

As per SofaScore, the 30-year-old had just 56 touches of the ball during his time on the pitch and completed 36/44 passes, resulting in a pass accuracy rate of 82%.

Whilst his passing was fairly impressive, as he made three key passes against Erik ten Hag’s side, it was his defensive contribution that might have worried his German manager.

The England international made no tackles during the game, was dribbled past once and won zero of his four duels, suggesting that the Ajax players often had the better of the former Sunderland man.

Considering the lack of midfielders available in Klopp’s side at the moment, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner, Thiago and Naby Keita all sidelined, he will be relying on players such as Henderson to be at their best as we approach the busy Christmas period.

The former Borussia Dortmund boss was full of praise for his captain in January of this year, saying:

“He is exceptional; he is outstanding. Gini (Wijnaldum) and Hendo, especially, because they have had to play the biggest number of games this season.

“What they do is just incredible – absolutely incredible. I do not take that for granted for one second. If anybody who is with us still doesn’t see the quality of Jordan Henderson, then I cannot help them.

“Is Hendo the perfect football player? No. Do I know anybody who is? No. But is he unbelievably important to us? Yes.”

Therefore, Henderson will arguably have to perform a lot better than he did on Tuesday night in future matches, as the Reds attempt to retain the Premier League title, with their next match seeing them take on Wolves at Anfield on Sunday evening.

And, in other news… Liverpool made a big mistake in releasing “absolutely incredible” midfield maestro

Harry Kane has won the first GIVEMESPORT Fans’ Player of the Month award of the season, picking up the Premier League gong for his performances throughout September and October.

The Tottenham star featured on a shortlist of six candidates that also included Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell, Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, Aston Villa talisman Jack Grealish, Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Newcastle goalkeeper Karl Darlow.

In a poll that registered over 25,000 votes, held across Snack Media’s range of websites and social media platforms, there was incredibly little to choose between the candidates as all six nominees picked up more than 4,000 votes each.

In fact, the final result was a tie between Kane, Calvert-Lewin and Salah, who all received exactly 4,370 votes. But there can only be one winner, and the Spurs assassin has been handed the award based on his superior returns across key performance metrics throughout the first seven matchdays of the 2020/21 Premier League season.

During this period, Kane amassed six goals and an incredible eight assists in the Premier League, making him responsible for two goal involvements per top-flight outing.

The final results of the GIVEMESPORT Fans’ Player of the Month vote were as follows…

= 1st. Harry Kane (17%)*

= 1st. Mohamed Salah (17%)

= 1st. Ben Chilwell (17%)

4th.  Jack Grealish (16.6%)

5th. Dominic Calvert-Lewin (16.5%)

6th. Karl Darlow (15.9%)

*Winner on performance metrics

Whilst Ademola Lookman may the focal point of a lot of Fulham fans’ anger following his failed panenka penalty attempt in Saturday’s defeat against West Ham, Antonee Robinson should not escape criticism for his disappointing display.

The left-back, who was signed from Wigan Athletic during the recent summer transfer window, made just his fifth appearance in the Premier League at the London Stadium but struggled throughout the game.

As per SofaScore, the USA international picked up a disappointing 6.6 rating for his display, managing to lose possession an extraordinary 26 times, which was the most of any Fulham player on the night.

Although the 23-year-old won five out of nine of his ground duels, and both of his aerial duels in the match, it was his attacking play that seemingly let him down as he completed just 31 out of 45 of his passes.

Scott Parker was clearly angry with Lookman after his penalty miss cost the Cottagers a point on Saturday but looking at Robinson’s stats, he will surely be frustrated that his left-back was so profligate with the ball.

The young defender has been one of Parker’s better players in the Premier League thus far, having averaged a 6.94 rating across his five appearances, which rates him as their fourth-best player in the top-flight so far this season (per WhoScored).

Therefore, it would perhaps be unfair to criticise the summer signing too much for his performance against the Hammers, as his overall performances since joining have been fairly impressive.

However, he will surely need to work on his passing in particular and ensure that he doesn’t lose possession as much if he is going to keep his place in Parker’s side going forward.

It will be interesting to see if the USA international keeps his place for Fulham’s next game against Everton following the international break.