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Manchester United secured their first away win since beating Paris Saint-Germain last season but it was no thanks to Marcus Rashford.

After his heroics against Liverpool, which handed United their mandatory single goal, fans might have been expecting the 21-year-old to kick on – especially facing substantially weaker opposition in Partizan Belgrade. But you’d be wrong, and that’s worrying.

Replacing Anthony Martial on the hour mark, who was making his first start since August, Rashford proceeded to demonstrate exactly why some – including his former boss Jose Mourinho – have questioned his ability to play in the all-important centre-forward position, an increasingly dynamic role in the modern game.

Marauding down the pitch in typical United counter-attacking style, Rashford had the perfect chance to finish the game off in injury time – all he needed to do was find the key pass that was staring at him in the face…

United are reportedly interested in signing Juventus’ Mario Mandzukic in January and, after Rashford’s latest act of incompetency in the striker role, it’s easy to see why.

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former Arsenal striker John Hartson believes Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers would be eager to replace Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur if the opportunity arose.

The Foxes have enjoyed a brilliant start to the Premier League campaign and lie behind only Manchester City and Liverpool in the table, as well as being three points ahead of Spurs.

The east Midlands outfit actually came from a goal down to beat the north London outfit 2-1 at the King Power Stadium last month, as they showed the quality that they have in their locker.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

There is no doubt that Rodgers has moulded some impressive younger players into a team that is a real force both from an attacking and a defensive point of view, and it is something that probably hasn’t gone unnoticed by other clubs.

Meanwhile, Tottenham’s frustrating season to date took another negative turn as they were thrashed 7-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday night, which has surely left at least a few question marks hanging over the future of Pochettino.

His English top flight peer could well be one of the names in contention to replace the Argentine if he did end up leaving, and Hartson believes he would have no hesitation in making the move to Spurs, given the Northern Irishman’s past record.

He said: “If he [Brendan] was offered the job he’d take it. He’s shown that he’s not the most loyal manager. He signed a three year contract at Swansea and then left for Liverpool.

“And then he does exceptionally well at Celtic and walks out the side door and leaves the club. There’s no loyalty in football and the managers are the same as the players. If a manager gets offered a better job they’re gonna take it.

“There’s no room for sentiment in football. It’s dog-eat-dog. This loyalty word doesn’t exist in football. We’ve seen before that that is what he does.”

A slight dig at Rodgers’ loyalty there, but it’s hard to argue given the two examples Hartson has highlighted.

The former Liverpool boss will know what a big opportunity managing Tottenham would be given the players they have and of course their new stadium, and Rodgers would surely be tempted by the project.

A number of Liverpool fans seemingly have mixed opinions on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as the midfielder looks to reinvent himself as a player following a serious knee injury which robbed him of a lot of football.

It was always going to be tough for the Englishman – a 2017 arrival from Arsenal – to work his way back to full fitness.

And despite being involved in eight games for the Reds this season, he has failed to contribute a goal or an assist.

The 26-year-old has not completed the full 90 minutes of a game for Jurgen Klopp’s side this term, whilst he has played just one minute of league football for the club since the middle of September.

There are some Liverpool fans who appear to still be behind Oxlade-Chamberlain, although a number of others are a lot less patient as they want much more from the former Southampton youngster.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

The right-back took to Instagram to share how happy he was with the point.

The stats from that game are damning, Fulham had more possession, more shots and a much higher pass success rate, yet they couldn’t get the win, as Slaven Bilic’s side improved after the hour mark.

Watch West Bromwich Albion Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

In the end, West Brom benefitted from some poor goalkeeping as Semi Ajayi netted from a corner.

Many Baggies supporters will feel like they’ve got away with one here, but in the Championship every point counts. Come the end of the season, this point against Scott Parker’s side could prove invaluable, and Furlong knows it.

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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…

Arsenal and Aston Villa produced a thrilling encounter at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

For much of the game, it looked as though the Gunners would come away with nothing as the Villans twice took the lead, first through John McGinn and then Wesley Moraes.

However, despite being reduced to ten men after Ainsley Maitland-Niles was sent off for two bookable offences, the Gunners put in a gutsy second-half display to come away with all three points thanks to a 3-2 victory.

Watch Arsenal Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

It was a big day for Nicolas Pepe, in particular. The Ivory Coast international has endured a slow start to the season, but he finally got his first goal for the club against the promoted side, albeit from the penalty spot. Nevertheless, his display was full of attacking threat.

The 24-year-old led the way in so many of the offensive statistics for Unai Emery’s side. He registered the joint-most shots on target – two, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hitting the same number – and he also had the most successful dribbles, with three. None of his teammates were able to match the four key passes he registered, either, showing that his vision was on point.

In general, his passing was impressive. He had an accuracy of 91.4%, and also provided three accurate crosses. Once again, that was the most on his team, and indeed across both sides.

It was important to note that Pepe was back in his favoured position on the right-wing for this match. Last weekend, against Watford, Emery had decided to play him up front alongside Aubameyang.

While he was not necessarily poor against the Hornets, he was not as effective alongside the Gabon international. Here against Dean Smith’s side, though, he was able to display the full array of weapons he has at his disposal.

The Emirates faithful will be hoping that their team can do it the easier way in future. With Pepe beginning to hit his stride in England, the chances of that happening will only increase.

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The future of Tottenham Hotspur attacker Christian Eriksen remains up in the air.

Indeed, Eriksen will see his current contract with Spurs expire at the end of next season.

A recent report claimed that the London club had made a breakthrough when it comes to the Denmark international’s future.

However, the simple fact of the matter is that the 6ft ace is yet to pen an extension and there will surely be offers at the end of the season.

Eriksen is enjoying another fine campaign, scoring seven goals and registering 12 assists in 33 appearances for Tottenham in all competitions.

Chelsea, Barcelona and Real Madrid have all been credited with an interest, which will be a concern for Tottenham.

Pl>ymaker FC’s Matchday with Max caught up with Jamaica’s women’s team. See what happened when he met the history makers in the video below…

The London club’s fans have recently been on social media commenting on the 27-year-old’s future and it would be fair to say that a number are desperate for some sort of announcement.

A selection of the latest Twitter reaction can be seen below:

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Some Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter to congratulate and heap praise on Jordan Ayew, after he won the club’s Player of the Month award for August.

The Ghana international only managed to score one Premier League goal last season, but has already netted two so far this term, while also grabbing three Man of the Match awards in his three starts – his award is fully deserved, to say the least.

Ayew opened the scoring against Manchester United as Palace recorded a historic win at Old Trafford, while he also grabbed the only goal in a 1-0 win over Aston Villa the following week.

One fan below said that he gets the feeling Ayew “could turn into the new (Julian) Speroni” – the Argentine keeper with 402 appearances for Palace is undoubtedly a club legend, so that could be considered fairly lofty praise!

Let’s take a look at some more of the Twitter reaction…

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Aston Villa have taken young midfielder Taylor Clark on trial, according to Ashley Preece.

The Lowdown: Clark profiled

Clark is a midfielder who currently plies his trade with Suffolk-based Needham Market.

Described as an ‘unbelievably talented’ player by Needham manager Kevin Horlock, the 17-year-old has progressed through the club’s academy and recently started against Yeovil Town in the FA Trophy.

Villa bolstered their academy ranks in January with the acquisition of Kerr Smith from Dundee United, and although the deadline has now passed, it seems as if a cut-price move for Clark could be on the cards.

The Latest: Villa trial

Preece shared a story for Birmingham Live on Monday evening regarding Villa and Clark.

He stated that the youngster is set to train with Sean Verity’s under-18 side and will play in two academy games at Bodymoor Heath.

The Verdict: Interesting

It’s good to see that Villa are always on the hunt for young talent, and if Clark can impress sufficiently, he might just become the latest addition to the Midlanders’ ranks.

You’d expect that Villa may have to pay the non-league side a fee for the teenager should they wish to offer him a contract, but it could be a nominal sum due to his age and status with the lower league club.

It looks set to be one to watch out for over the coming weeks, with Villa potentially making a head start on their summer academy business.

In other news: ‘Hats off to the board’ – Sky Sports pundit purrs at ‘amazing’ out-of-the-blue Villa transfer news

An update has emerged on Rangers and Gio van Bronckhorst’s attempts to bring a new striker to Ibrox this month…

What’s the talk?

According to TEAMtalk, the Gers are eyeing up a deal to sign an attacker in the January transfer window.

The report claims that Rangers, Norwich, Newcastle and Crystal Palace are among the clubs interested in signing the QPR centre-forward, Lyndon Dykes, although it remains to be seen how much the west London outfit will demand for his services.

Get it done

Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Ross Wilson must get this deal done for Rangers this month, as Dykes could be a superb signing and improve their current options.

The Gers are not blessed with an abundance of physical players who are capable of mixing it up in individual duels against better teams. This is highlighted by Leon Balogun being the only Light Blues player who has won more than 1.8 aerial battles per game in the Europa League this season, whilst Joe Aribo (2.1) is the only midfielder or attacker averaging more than two per game in the Premiership.

Meanwhile, Dykes has won  4.3 aerial battles per game in the Championship this term for QPR, having averaged 4.8 last season. This shows that he offers a physical presence in the number nine role which Van Bronckhorst is currently lacking in his squad.

Scotland boss Steve Clarke previously lauded the attacker, saying: “Lyndon’s a confident lad and so he should be. He knows what he wants.

“He’s not a big-head, he’s nothing like that. He’s done the hard yards in football, from Queen of the South to Livingston and he’s earned himself a fantastic move to London. It’ll be nice to watch him in the Championship next season.

“He’s going to be working with a really good coach in Mark Warburton so Lyndon can only improve now for his club and hopefully his country as well.”

The £3.15m-rated bulldozer has also proven that he can score goals regularly. He has found the back of the net 18 times for QPR since the start of the 2020/21 campaign and has scored four goals in six starts for Scotland in World Cup qualifiers.

Therefore, he could add goals to go along with the physical boost with which he could provide Rangers. This is why the Light Blues must work hard to secure his services this month.

AND in other news, Van Bronckhorst must ruthlessly axe £900k-rated Rangers dud, he’s a “weak link”…

A number of Liverpool supporters have slammed Jordan Henderson’s performance against Arsenal, despite the Reds reaching the League Cup final.

Jurgen Klopp’s men produced an impressive display away to the Gunners on Thursday evening, winning 2-0 at the Emirates.

Liverpool dominated the game barring a slow start, with Diogo Jota twice finding the net to fire his side to Wembley and a final against Chelsea next month.

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There were standout performers for the Reds in north London, from Jota to Trent Alexander-Arnold, but Henderson was again a long way short of his best.

The Liverpool captain played no key passes on the night and lost possession five times, according to Sofascore, lacking his usual energy in the middle of the park.

He was dribbled past once and only registered 39 touches, which was a whopping 20 less than his own goalkeeper, Caoimhin Kelleher.

It is not the first time the skipper has struggled this term, ranking as Liverpool’s 14th-best player for the season on Whoscored.

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Liverpool fans criticise Henderson display

Henderson’s performance wasn’t ignored by some Reds fans on Twitter, who took to the social media platform to lambast his display.

“Henderson plays against us now. Man just got the ball off from Fabinho there”

Credit: @LuffyLFC

“Henderson had a very poor game. Really struggling for a bit of form at the minute”

Credit: @ciarano44

“Henderson did nothing all game yet again. Nobody has been good. But Henderson was invisible. He never came back from the Euros”

Credit: @AndyLFC17

“I’m better than Jordan Henderson and I’m 17”

Credit: @JacobSize3

“That was a truly anonymous performance from Henderson there”

Credit: @DollyDevereaux

“Henderson now is so poor in midfield and not improving at all. I miss players like Elliot, Thiago, Keita. Only Jones is doing anything in attack”

Credit: @Horlawale3043

In other news, some Liverpool fans are buzzing over a Reds transfer update. Read more here.