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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

With Eddie Nketiah sidelined for the next three weeks, it seems as if Leeds have no choice but to persevere with Patrick Bamford up front.

However, with Bamford picking up a knock on his ankle last week, United must be alert to the possibility that they could be without both of their senior strikers in the near future.

If Bamford were to be unavailable in the next few weeks for whatever reason, Marcelo Bielsa would have no traditional number nines in his first team, but Danny Mills believes there is one player in the squad who could step up and fill in.

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What’s been said then?

The former England international believes that Helder Costa could competently play as a striker if he was called upon. He told Football Insider.

“You’ve got Helder Costa, he can play up there. Jack Clarke could come in and play in one of the wide areas.”

“They’ve got options and we’ve seen before how Bielsa mixes and matches what he does. Yes, of course, he’ll want Bamford fit but you’ve got the international break coming up, so it’ll probably only be one game, with Nketiah hopefully back after the break anyhow.

“It’s not a huge concern but if Bamford was to be unfit or unavailable for any reason, Leeds will work around it.”

A possibility

Although Costa hasn’t found the net since joining the Yorkshire club, playing him up top for United isn’t too far-fetched of an idea.

The Portuguese’s time in Leeds show he isn’t too competent in front of goal but his stats from his time in the Championship with Wolves tell a completely different story.

We mastered the trick in the video below in 8 attempts… could you do better?

He scored ten goals from 64 shots during his first Championship season at Molineux, giving him a conversion rate of around 15.6 per cent.

If he can replicate this type of form in front of goal he would be useful up top for Leeds.

His conversion rate from that season is actually much better than Bamford’s this term, as the former Chelsea man’s percentage is at a measly 8.5% after taking 47 shots and scoring just four times.

The Premier League is back, and the 2019/20 season is set to be the best one yet after a fascinating transfer window. But which London club do you think fared best when it comes to summer business? Who’s your bet on to finish top of the pile in London this year? Let’s take a look at the comings and goings from the five clubs based in the capital ready for this brand new season.

Arsenal

It was a surprise to everyone given Arsenal’s transfer window history, but the Gunners had a successful – even exciting – summer. Not only did Unai Emery bring in dynamic attacking options, but after a long time of fans calling for it, fresh legs have been added in the defence.

A big bonus of this window for Arsenal is that Kieran Tierney and Nicolas Pépé are 22 and 24 respectively and therefore both at the perfect age to build for the future. While new Chelsea boss Frank Lampard was happy to sell David Luiz as he wasn’t going to factor in his starting 11, Emery has worked with Luiz before at PSG.

Main signings:

Nicolas Pépé – Lille, £72m William Saliba – St‑Étienne, £27m Kieran Tierney – Celtic, £25m David Luiz – Chelsea, £8m Gabriel Martinelli – Ituano, £6m Dani Ceballos – Real Madrid, loan Tottenham Hotspur

Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs did some late business by bringing in Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso on the summer deadline day. However, fans are still showing some concern for the defensive strength of the squad. This season will definitely be about aiming for trophies after a third-place finish in the league and reaching the Champions League final.

Main signings:

Tanguy Ndombele – Lyon, £55.5m Jack Clarke – Leeds, £10m Giovani Lo Celso – Real Betis, loan Ryan Sessegnon – Fulham, £25m. Crystal Palace

After a 16th place finish in the league for the 2018/19 campaign, Palace and Roy Hodgson will be aiming for much more from this season. The main challenge for Hodgson, however, will be utilising Wilfried Zaha and reintroducing him to the squad after making his desire to leave quite plain. Palace have made some strong signings to bolster the squad, and bringing in Gary Cahill for free from Chelsea is a great move. The central defender still has a lot to offer and will be an asset.

Main signings:

Jordan Ayew – Swansea, £3m James McCarthy – Everton, £3m Gary Cahill – Chelsea, free Victor Camarasa – Real Betis, loan Stephen Henderson, free. Chelsea

Frank Lampard is going to have a bit of a challenge on his hands thanks to Chelsea’s transfer ban. However, owing to a loophole in that two-window transfer suspension (it’s a registration ban technically), the Blues managed to sign both Mateo Kovacic and Christian Pulisic. Most of their summer business came from outgoing players for sale, on loan and released. The most high-profile of those being Eden Hazard to Real Madrid for £88.5m – it’s just a shame they can’t spend the money from that big sale for a while.

Main signings:

Mateo Kovacic – Real Madrid, £40.2m Christian Pulisic – Borussia Dortmund, £58m West Ham

The Hammers are another club where the defence seems to be the main concern. The Hammers have done good business in the summer, though, with a lot of outgoing players and they also broke their transfer record. Sébastien Haller and Albian Ajeti are both young, exciting and dynamic strikers – Manuel Pellegrini will hope they both light up the London Stadium and paper over the cracks of their defensive worries.

Main signings:

Sébastien Haller – Eintracht Frankfurt £40.7m Pablo Fornals – Villarreal, £24m Albian Ajeti – Basel, £8m Gonçalo Cardoso – Boavista, undiscl So, who won the window?

It’s hard to look past Arsenal’s summer business, mainly because we’re used to seeing no transfer window activity at the Emirates – but this feels like a new era. Spurs have also done some top quality business and Chelsea did the best they could considering their ban. But it will certainly be interesting to see what the Gunners can do after injecting some additional talent into their squad this season.

Wijnaldum says he was excited to see the new breed of players being ushered into the squad, and he singled out two individuals who particularly impressed him.

The Dutchman paid tribute to Harvey Elliott and Ki-Jana Hoever in his post, as he congratulated 16 year-old Elliott on being crowned Man of the Match by the club and 17 year-old Hoever for scoring his first goal for Liverpool.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.

Sheffield Wednesday got back to winning ways this weekend after a 1-0 victory over Wigan Athletic moved them to within a point of playoff contention.

Massimo Luongo was handed his first start of the season, having joined the club in the summer, and he repaid his manager’s faith by scoring the only goal of the game in the 57th minute.

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The 27-year-old directed home Adam Reach’s cut-back pass from just inside the area in what was otherwise a rather dismal game with neither side managing more than three attempts on goal, per WhoScored.

Wigan could have scored themselves when Kieffer Moore’s header was directed onto the crossbar by Owls goalkeeper Keiren Westwood, and Wednesday also had a Steven Fletcher strike ruled out for offside.

It means Monk has started life in south Yorkshire with ten points from a possible 15, and with them on the cusp of entering a playoff spot, that should be more than suffice.

Snapshot

One factor that makes it just a little more impressive is the fact that he’s had to do it with a squad built by someone else.

Steve Bruce then caretaker boss Lee Bullen assembled this team and Monk’s adapted to what he’s been dealt with – which can have an adverse effect sometimes as seen against Wigan on Saturday.

The 40-year-old turned to his bench to spark something late on so that they could find a second goal to put the game out of the visitor’s reach.

Off the Bench

In terms of adding further attacking threat, Monk had the choice of two strikers or a winger – and he went for the latter in Jacob Murphy with ten minutes left in the game.

And not for the first time this season, the Newcastle United loanee failed to provide what was demanded of him.

Murphy has managed just one goal in nine appearances so far this Championship campaign with him being dispossessed an average of 1.1 times per game on top of 1.3 unsuccessful touches per match, via WhoScored.

This ten-minute cameo was no different – he managed just one successful dribble in three attempts and zero shots at all. That showed exactly why he isn’t starting.

The 24-year-old also lost possession six times. That’s a staggering rate at just over once every minute and a half – had he been on the pitch for the full 90 minutes, at that rate, he would have recorded a turnover in possession over 50 times.

If anything, he’s only proved exactly why he’s warming the bench each game, but then again, there’s not much Monk can do until January as he’s one of the only other wide options at the club.

He’s quickly becoming a huge flop, something that’s relatively unsurprising given he scored just twice on loan at West Brom last term.

What a difference just three days make. Only at the weekend, Leeds fans were concerned with Marcelo Bielsa and the way their team was playing.

Yet, flash forward to Tuesday evening and they were defeating previously unbeaten West Brom.

It was an ideal way to bounce back from a loss against Charlton, hitting back to return to the top of the table.

The goal came courtesy of a driven effort from Gjanni Alioski as for once, Leeds were the team that perhaps didn’t deserve to win.

They had the least possession but still came out on top against an Albion team inspired under Slaven Bilic.

This was a different performance from the Whites. The frailties and lack of focus that was there against both Derby and Charlton were eradicated as a steely nature and attitude was shown at Elland Road.

There were plenty of positives to take from the win but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows in west Yorkshire.

Jamie Shackleton had to go off injured but the biggest concern should lie with Liam Cooper.

The image above shows the Scot trudging off the pitch on Tuesday evening as he paints a picture of discomfort and negativity.

Cooper appeared to pull up with a muscle problem and was consequently replaced by Gaetano Berardi in the first half.

Leeds did go onto keep a clean sheet but it will be a big negative that one of their most influential team members and club captain faces up to six weeks out.

The Whites are already missing Adam Forshaw and Pablo Hernandez to injury so to lose two more of their squad is far from ideal.

After all, Leeds had used just 17 squad members this season before Tyler Roberts and Luke Ayling appeared on Tuesday – a league-low for the Championship. Bielsa will have to dig deep into his reserves to ensure results are still attainable.

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Arsenal will face Liverpool in their next Premier League game after a solid start to the season.

The Gunners have won both of their games so far, 1-0 and 2-1 against Newcastle and Burnley respectively. Liverpool have also done the same, as well as lifting the European Super Cup, so the match is set up nicely.

Could Gabriel Martinelli become Arsenal’s star striker in the not too distant future? Deluded Gooner thinks so in the video below…

Joe Willock started against both the Toon and the Clarets, and the England U21 international has had a decent start to the new term, so far averaging a rating of 6.82 on WhoScored.

However, the match against the Reds will be a far different proposition to the previous fixtures. The Anfield outfit are the reigning European Champions and finished just one point behind Manchester City in the Premier League last time out.

And parts of Arsenal’s fanbase don’t want to see the 19-year-old in the side for the big clash, fearing he could be a liability or simply isn’t ready for such a pivotal fixture.

They have taken to Twitter to share their opinions, and you can see some of the best comments below.

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Manchester City’s latest bout took them to Vitality Stadium to face a tricky opponent.

But the Citizens marched to yet another impressive victory as they beat Bournemouth 3-1. This victory pushed them to second place in the table, just two points behind the current league leaders Liverpool.

If these early signs are anything to go by, the new 2019/20 Premier League season is looking to be another close fight between the Reds and the Citizens.

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Be that as it may, that victory and the three goals Pep Guardiola’s men bagged meant more than just three points for the team. Multiple records were broken, as well.

Kevin De Bruyne tallied his 50th assist for the team but also assisted Sergio Aguero’s 400th career goal in the process. And finally, David Silva celebrated his 400th appearance for the club.

De Bruyne rushed to

/B1mcRJHjU9f/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link” data-lasso->Instagram to celebrate this great occasion.

Manchester City’s next bout will take them to Etihad where they will host Brighton and Hove Albion on 31 August.

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[ad_pod ]Liverpool fans have tipped Rhian Brewster to make a big impression for the first team in the coming campaign after a strong pre-season tour.Brewster has been Liverpool’s leading scorer during their preparations for the 2019/20 campaign, with the young striker thriving in the absence of Roberto Firmino, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane.The 19-year-old has missed a lot of football due to injury, though, and is yet to make his competitive first-team debut for the Merseyside giants.The teenager has a record of nine goals in 21 games for the club’s Under-23 side, however, and looks ready to play his part for the first team this season.On Thursday evening, Brewster posted a message on his Twitter account confirming that the Liverpool squad had touched down in the UK following their flight home.Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

And as expected, the tweet brought a host of messages from the Liverpool fans, many of whom have tipped the youngster to enjoy a strong campaign.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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Leeds fans were crying out for a striker in the transfer window after Kemar Roofe got injured.

However, the fact he’s now departed for Anderlecht has only exacerbated the club’s need for a further forward to walk through the doors of Elland Road.

Deadline day looks as though it could fix that problem, however, with Eddie Nketiah looking likely to join Patrick Bamford up front next term.

David Ornstein provided an update in Leeds’ pursuit of the striker on Thursday morning, claiming the 20-year-old Arsenal man was on his way to Yorkshire to seal a deal.

The move is set to be a season-long loan.

It was an update that provoked plenty of reaction from supporters on Twitter who were both excited but also cautious over how things could change.

One said that Nketiah was unreal whilst another suggested he was exactly what the Whites needed up front.

Despite that, a further said they didn’t trust anything until it had actually happened. A couple of fans chose to make reference to a saga involving Dan James last January.

Nketiah was involved for the Gunners’ first-team last term and netted in their final Premier League outing of the campaign against Burnley.

Here’s the best of the reaction.

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Wolves won’t need to improve in many areas ahead of next season. After all, they finished seventh in the Premier League and subsequently qualified for the Europa League.

Having said that, they could still do with finding some more consistency at the back.

Willy Boly and Conor Coady were both fantastic at the heart of a Wolves defence that conceded fewer goals than both Manchester United and Arsenal last term.

Yet, you still feel as though there are some problems to be eradicated.

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Against Southampton towards the back end of the season Romain Saiss was unconvincing playing as a right centre-back, repeatedly losing his marker and being labelled as “dozy” by the Express & Star.

Meanwhile, Ryan Bennett, despite being reliable for the most part, is someone that could easily be replaced after some mixed performances.

With that in mind, the addition of James Tarkowski who the club made an enquiry for last week, could do wonders for Nuno Santo’s defensive setup.

Why? Because of his prowess in the air. Last season the Burnley defender won a mighty 4.8 aerial duels per match.

It’s a statistic that puts Tarkowski above every single member of those already at Wolves.

The two members with the highest number of aerial duels won per game at the Midlands club were Matt Doherty and Boly who both achieved 3.8 on average.

Bennett and Coady meanwhile won 3.6 and 0.9 duels in the air.

As a result, it’s clear to see where the 26-year-old can benefit the side if he signs this summer.

Tarkowski was a powerhouse for the Clarets last season and there wasn’t a single game where he failed to win at least one aerial challenge.

Watch fans explain why the Football League is better than the Premier League in the video below…

In a single game he managed to win 13 aerial duels as Burnley drew 0-0 away from home against Watford. Containing the physical threat of Troy Deeney, he was exceptional at the back.

He then won a further ten headers in a single match against both Newcastle and Southampton.

His combative presence and sheer ability to get up above those he challenges is a sight to behold and it would certainly add an extra layer of strength to Wolves’ defence.

Barring Boly, they lack a physical presence at the back. Tarkowski arriving would change that though.