Author: Steven Sahiounie

Wilfried Zaha’s six goals and two assists in the Premier League this season have been worth 11 points for Crystal Palace, meaning only Erling Haaland (14) has earned more points for his side in the 2022/23 campaign. Zaha has spent the best part of a decade fulfilling the role of Palace’s talisman, but his below-par performance embodied the tame manner in which the south Londoners entered the World Cup break at Nottingham Forest. The Ivory Coast international marked his 30th birthday this week, but he entered his fourth decade in the worst way possible when he blew his chance to…

Nottingham Forest’s concerning start to the season after signing an extraordinary 23 players in the summer led to fears over Steve Cooper’s future, despite the manager hauling them off the bottom of the Championship and into the Premier League via the play-offs in a matter of months. But the club displayed a rare show of faith in their under-fire manager by awarding him a new contract in the wake of their 4-0 defeat at Leicester. While it would be a stretch to say Forest’s form has drastically improved since that dispiriting night at the King Power Stadium on October 3, there’s…

It was another frustrating afternoon for West Ham. They lost a third successive Premier League game, which leaves them hovering perilously close to the relegation places heading into the World Cup break. But it’s hard to see how they came away without finding the back of the net. The Hammers had 18 shots to Leicester’s nine and had the same number on target (6). The big difference though lies in the 2-0 scoreline – the Foxes were far more clinical. On paper, West Ham have formidable attacking options, but they are just not firing. Jarrod Bowen, Gianluca Scamacca, Said Benrahma…

It’s been quite the turnaround for Leicester in the last few weeks. While James Maddison’s headline-grabbing form has earned him a World Cup place and Wout Faes’ introduction hugely improving the Foxes’ defence, it’s arguably Harvey Barnes who has been the underrated star of the recent revival.Let’s start with a stat – Barnes has registered 18 Premier League goal involvements in 2022 (10 goals 8 assists), a figure bettered by only four other English players (Kane 34, Maddison 23, Toney 23, Saka 19).West Ham 0-2 Leicester – Match report and highlightsHow the teams lined up | Match stats | Premier…

If Marcelo Bielsa is to take over the reins at Bournemouth, he will inherit a player in Marcus Tavernier few in the Premier League can rival on present form. Even before Everton surrendered to a second meek collapse in a matter of days, the former Middlesbrough midfielder was already terrorising Vitalii Mykolenko.The right flank was a constant outlet before a two-goal lead was established inside 25 minutes. Tavernier already looks well-suited to Bielsa’s infamous murderball.The 23-year-old enjoyed a slice of good fortune in capitalising on Jordan Pickford’s error but he was alert to the loose ball, duly becoming the first…

For the first time since the 2003/04 season, when they were relegated to the Championship, Wolves will be bottom of the Premier League at Christmas. But there were reasons to be positive, despite Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to league leaders Arsenal, with the start of Julen Lopetegui’s era at Molineux imminent. Introduced to the home fans before the game, Lopetegui took the acclaim during a lap of the pitch six years after Wolves first tried to appoint him. It has been a long wait and the former Spain and Real Madrid manager will be expected to work wonders to beat the…

Ask any Evertonian, and they will tell you how regularly the club leave it until the final day of the January transfer window to complete the biggest chunk of their mid-season business. But there can be no excuse this time. This time, it cannot pass by as a window remembered for the business that was not done. This result peaks the anxiety among supporters. It is a squad weak on the ground and it is a group that looks jaded just 15 Premier League games into the season. Lampard has worked through the thirds. He has a world-class goalkeeper behind…

A ninth Premier League defeat of the season saw Southampton slip to 19th in the Premier League table but this one felt a little different. Nathan Jones left Anfield empty-handed but with plenty to build on. He had only had one full training session with his new players following his appointment as Ralph Hasenhuttl’s successor on Thursday but his impact could be seen in their performance. There was a change of system, the 49-year-old switching to a back three, the same formation he used at Luton Town, but most striking was the positivity and adventurousness of their play. Southampton attacked…

Many fingers pointed towards Sadio Mane’s departure as one of the reasons Liverpool are not performing at the level of recent seasons this term. A key figure in that argument was Mane’s replacement Darwin Nunez, who was not producing the numbers despite being an £85m arrival from Benfica. But Nunez’s confident display against Southampton epitomises the confident forward the Uruguayan is now becoming. He now has seven goal contributions in his last seven Liverpool games in all competitions, six of those are goals. this article is originally published at SkySports.com

Tottenham have long been regarded, perhaps lazily, as a one-man team. When Harry Kane’s out, they have no chance, is the common perception. That is no longer the case. Well, perhaps Spurs are still a one-man team but that man is no longer specifically Kane. It’s Dejan Kulusevski. He has now started seven Premier League games this season, Spurs are unbeaten in those matches, winning five and scoring on average 2.9 goals per 90 minutes. Without him in the starting XI, Spurs have lost four of those matches and the average goals per 90 drops to 1.4. The flying Swede…