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Sheffield United have had a brilliant start to their first Premier League season since 2006/07.

The Blades currently sit 13th in the table after eight games, and could have easily grabbed a point against the champions of Europe if not for an individual mistake.

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However, we’ve seen newly-promoted sides perform well initially while riding the crest of a wave before – Blackpool in 2010/11 anyone?

In the Premier League, you have to make the most of even the slightest advantages you get, and Oliver Norwood’s latest Instagram story shows that the Blades do have a small edge over some teams in the division.

The Northern Irish midfielder posted a snap of him and Billy Sharp in first-team training during the international break.

The 28-year-old retired from international duty earlier this year to focus on his club career, and you can see he’s staying true to his word by putting in the extra hours while others are playing for their countries.

The fact that one of the Blades’ most influential players doesn’t have to worry about injuries or fatigue from international games will be a huge boost to them throughout the season, and hopefully, his performances once domestic football returns show the benefits of his decision.

Harry Maguire has posted a message to fans after Manchester United’s draw against Liverpool at the weekend.We saw a side of United that we haven’t witnessed for some time now; they were resilient, hardworking, passionate, quick and decisive, and generally looked like they were capable of denting the league leaders with their first defeat of the season.The draw, albeit disappointing after such a solid display, was enough to deny Liverpool from equalling Manchester City’s consecutive Premier League wins record. Small petty victories.Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Maguire, who signed for United at the beginning of the season for a world record fee for a defender, was arguably helped by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s decision to utilise a three-man defence – the very system that Gareth Southgate favoured during England’s World Cup run in 2018, where the big centre back boosted his global profile and began his journey to stardom.

Despite registering a point against Liverpool, we mustn’t forget that United have won just three games in all competitions. So, with Partizan Belgrade in the Europa League fast approaching, Maguire took to Twitter rally the troops ahead of the chaos that lays in front of them…

Impressive picture from a born leader.

Luis Suarez is going through some bizarre times at Barcelona.The 32-year-old striker has been a huge part of the Blaugrana family and has contributed immensely to their success.But lately, he’s been one of the targets of huge criticism and outbursts from his own fans as he is seemingly declining in form as time goes on.Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Of course, the Uruguayan has already scored four goals in just six La Liga games and is currently in red-hot form despite the attacks on social media.

Recently, however, some Barcelona fans have discovered some prime Suarez moments and shared them on Twitter as an appreciation post.

The sequence of images depict the Uruguayan’s strike against Juventus in the 2015 Champions League final and serve as a throwback to when the 32-year-old was at his very best. Barca won the game 3-1.

This prompted many other Barcelona fans to appreciate the player for the intelligence and the quality he once possessed.

They swarmed the post with comments of praise, some of which you can see down below:

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…

Speaking to the club’s official website, Manchester United legend Andy Cole has tipped Mason Greenwood to make a huge impact in the near future.

What did he say?

The 18-year-old has burst onto the scene at Old Trafford, shining on the club’s pre-season tour earlier this summer. Despite not making a single Premier League start this campaign, Cole has insisted Greenwood is ready to take off when given the opportunity.

Watch the video below to see the most insane overhead kick you will see this week…

He said: “The kid has got quality in abundance, to be fair to him. If he keeps working and keeps progressing, which I have no doubt he will do, it won’t be too long before he is lining up for the first team on a regular basis.

“When you watch him, as a former centre-forward, you can see with your own eyes that he has two great feet. If you look at his mentality as well, he looks like he has got his head screwed on for a very young boy who has just turned 18. I watched him a lot during the pre-season tour and watched him quite a few times on MUTV as well, so you realise he has quality. It won’t be long, it won’t be long.”

Chance

Having made it quite clear at the end of last season that he would be prepared to hand out opportunities to the club’s clutch of talented youngsters, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hasn’t exactly fulfilled that promise entirely. The kids have largely been restricted to Europa League appearances, and just a few minutes off the bench in the Premier League. Hardly a great show of faith now, is it?

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In Greenwood, United have a starlet who the club can get behind. Amidst all their goal-scoring troubles – the Red Devils have struck just nine times in their opening seven league games – Greenwood can be the man to get them out of it. His finishes against FC Astana and Rochdale were clinical, and it’s exactly the type of ruthlessness Solskjaer’s side could do with in the big games.

Cole suggests “it won’t be too long”, but for United, the time for Greenwood really has to be now.

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Liverpool were beaten in Naples for the second year running on Tuesday night, and Jason McAteer has given his thoughts on the clash exclusively to Football FanCast, in partnership with GentingBet.

The Reds were victim of a controversial penalty decision at the San Paolo Stadium, as Jose Callejon appeared to already be going to ground before Andy Robertson clipped him.

McAteer shared his view on the incident: “No, I didn’t (think it was a penalty). I thought the referee got it wrong.

“It was a weak one, Robertson asked the question of the referee to make a decision, but it would be nice to see the referee take a stance against people clattering into defenders and falling over and diving.”

The second goal came courtesy of a mix-up between Virgil van Dijk and the rest of the back-line, and although the Reds have have kept just one clean sheet this campaign, the former Kop ace is not concerned by the issues at the back.

“For 80 minutes we were worth a point and I think if you had offered Jurgen (Klopp) that he would have taken it.

“It’s obviously raising question marks because of the defensive form we had last season, but there are going to be times when other teams create chances, are clinical and we are going to concede goals.

“I’m not pointing that at Adrian, but to lose a ‘keeper of Alisson’s quality, when he’s got the understanding of the four in front of him, it is a big loss.”

Fabinho was undoubtedly the Reds’ star player on the night with 95% passing and six tackles, and McAteer was absolutely full of praise for the Brazil international.

“He gives the manager a license to be more expansive with the two players alongside him.

“He’s slowly becoming a cult hero at the club, more or less now he’s the first name on the team-sheet. I’m a big fan of his, I wouldn’t put him quite in N’Golo Kante’s bracket just yet, but he’s certainly not far away.”

Elsewhere in the group, Erling Haaland stole the headlines with a hat-trick for Red Bull Salzburg, and speaking on his upcoming battle with van Dijk, McAteer said: “He’s still a young lad, it will be a good test to come up against arguably the greatest defender in the world.

“Playing for Salzburg is different to playing for one of the top, top clubs. It’s whether he gets the service and whether Salzburg have enough of the ball.

“But for him as a learning curve you always want to put yourself against the best, and I’m sure he’ll learn from the experience.”

Klopp’s side will welcome the Austrian outfit to Anfield on October 2.

GentingBet are running a special new customer offer ahead of Chelsea vs Liverpool this Sunday. To find out more visit here. 18+ begambleaware.org.

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… 

At last. Wolves finally picked up the first win of their Premier League season.

The league’s rock-bottom side, Watford, were in town as the west Midlands side sent them back down the M1 with further woes.

Nuno Santo stuck with the 3-4-3 formation that he deployed at Crystal Palace only last week meaning Matt Doherty kept his place at right wing-back with Adama Traore playing further forward yet again.

The 27-year-old opened the scoring early in the first half after being expertly teed up by Pedro Neto, who perhaps was a surprise inclusion as a replacement for the injured Diogo Jota.

Doherty then turned semi-provider as his whipped ball into the box was headed on by Morgan Gibbs-White with the ball being diverted home via Watford defender Daryl Janmaat.

Neto’s performance should give his fellow countryman plenty to think about in the coming weeks as he looked electric on the left side of the front three.

Even though he was given just 57 minutes to showcase his talent, the 19-year-old set up their opener and created two big chances on top of that with defence-splitting key passes.

The assist in itself showed just a glimpse of what Neto can offer the squad.

Starting along the left flank, the winger’s dynamic turn of pace gave him enough time and space to fizzle a ball across the face of goal to allow Doherty to slot home the easiest of finishes.

It is that sort of attacking nous that has been absent to date as Wolves had only scored seven goals in the six league games previous to this one.

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Now that the £6.3m-rated winger has repaid the faith shown in him by being handed his first Premier League start of the season, Neto should continue to be played even if it means at the expense of other key stars amongst the team.

He’s young and hungry, and hasn’t had much game time at all – players like Raul Jimenez have played over 40 times this calendar year alone and could do with a rest here and there, especially with games coming thick and fast on both the European and domestic front.

The Wolves boss would be a fool not to utilise Neto more this season.

Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic is a doubt for the Hoops this weekend against Livingston, according to Football Scotland reporter Jack Thomson.

The Lowdown: Rogic a regular

Rogic, who Ange Postecoglou called ‘brilliant’, has been a regular for the Hoops this season. He’s featured in each of Celtic’s 22 games so far, scoring once and registering four assists.

The Australian had to be replaced just before the interval against Hibernian on Wednesday through injury, with Postecoglou fairly coy over the extent of his hamstring problem following the win at Easter Road.

However, Football Scotland believe the 28-year-old is doubtful as Celtic look to make it six wins from six in October.

The Latest: Rogic a doubt

Thomson shared a story on Football Scotland on Friday morning, sharing numerous details regarding the Celtic Park clash this weekend.

When it came to team news, he claimed that Rogic is a doubt for Saturday and will more than likely join Greg Taylor on the sideline, with Christopher Jullien and James Forrest still looking to return to full fitness.

The Verdict: Hopefully nothing serious…

Rogic has been a mainstay in Postecoglou’s side this season in what has been a busy few months, so it might not be the end of the world if he does miss one game to recover and ultimately have a rest.

However, it would be bad news if Rogic was sidelined for a long period of time, as Postecoglou has relied on his fellow countryman for a creative spark through the middle – nobody in the squad is completing more than his 2.3 dribbles per game.

Rogic, Callum McGregor and David Turnbull have been Postecoglou’s go-to midfield three for large parts of the campaign, so losing one of the trio for a long period of time could be a blow just as the Hoops started to gather some momentum.

In other news: ‘That has been alleged’ – Devlin’s worrying answer on ‘quick’ Celtic signing and Dermot Desmond. 

With Southampton having only managed to create five big chances in the Premier League so far this season, the joint-second lowest out of any team in the top flight, it’s safe to say Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side have struggled to create goalscoring opportunities in the league.

However, it seems as though the club have their eye on signing a player who could help them in that regard.

What’s the news?

It has recently been reported by Spanish media outlet Fichajes that Southampton, alongside fellow Premier League clubs Everton and Brighton & Hove Albion are interested in signing Real Betis attacking-midfielder Rodri Sanchez.

Sanchez joined Betis’ youth academy from Deportivo’s youth academy back in the 2016 summer transfer window.

Since then, the 21-year-old, who is currently valued at £1.35m according to Transfermarkt, has worked his way through Betis’ youth levels before eventually making his senior debut in  November last year in a 5-2 defeat against Barcelona in La Liga.

Overall, Sanchez has made a total of 26 appearances for Manuel Pellegrini’s side across all competitions in which he has managed to score two goals and provide two assists along the way, showing just how creative he can be on the pitch.

The missing piece

In terms of a potential move to Southampton, given the attacking talent Sanchez has shown for Betis in front of goal, he could well be an important player for the Saints. That’s judging by how they’ve only managed to score five goals in their opening seven league games of the season.

With his young age, there’s every possibility that Sanchez could well be Southampton’s next James Ward-Prowse given they occupy similar positions in the final third. Both can play out wide, while their awareness allows them to dictate play from central areas as well.

Speaking about his talent last term after he found the net, La Liga and Spanish football writer Andrew Miller said: “One of the real bright spots this season has been the emergence of Rodri in the Betis first team. Such a gifted young player and caps off an incredible effort with his first senior goal. Always brings a real injection of energy into the team.”

That final line is incredibly similar to Ward-Prowse, somebody who charges around the engine room with his imperious fitness.

However, it’s that lack of a creative spark that really makes Rodri such an attractive proposition. He makes 45.4 progressive carries of the ball per 90, meaning he’d get Southampton up the pitch quicker. That stat also ranks him second among those already at St Mary’s.

Furthermore, he has produced 3.47 shot-creating actions per 90, a statistic that outranks everyone at Hasenhuttl’s disposal.

Looking ahead to the upcoming January transfer window, the Saints should definitely consider making a move for Sanchez to see if he can turn their season around from its current state. At the moment, they are devoid of creativity but that could change with the Betis star in their team.

However, with both Everton and Brighton supposedly interested in signing Sanchez as well, the Saints could have a fight on their hands to get him as both clubs are currently above Southampton in the league table.

In other news: Hasenhuttl could save Saints from relegation by signing “important” £7.2m-rated beast – opinion

With Mark Warburton having seen his Queens Park Rangers side endure a poor run of results in recent weeks, with the Rs losing their last three consecutive Championship fixtures, the 59-year-old will undoubtedly be hoping he can get things back on track at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium on Tuesday evening.

However, with a host of injury concerns in his QPR squad ahead of the visit of Birmingham City, with Sam McCallum, Lee Wallace and Sam Field all ruled out of the clash, Warburton will have a number of tough calls to make regarding his starting XI in the fixture.

Warburton must unleash Adomah

Left-back is a position that will be a particular concern for the Rs boss, as the absence of both Norwich City loanee Sam McCallum and Wallace has left the 59-year-old with no natural option in the position.

And, considering Yoann Barbet did not enjoy his finest performance while filling in at left wing-back in the 2-1 loss to West Bromwich Albion last Friday, it would appear wise for Warburton to once again turn to a player he has previously fielded in the position – Albert Adomah.

Indeed, having been brought on at left wing-back in the club’s 3-3 draw with Reading towards the beginning of September, the 33-year-old highly impressed during his brief 18-minute cameo, providing one assist, making two key passes and creating one big chance for his teammates, returns which saw the winger earn a SofaScore match rating of 7.3.

The £13k-per-week man put in an equally impressive performance at right wing-back in the Rs’ 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth, making three key passes, three interceptions and three tackles over his 35 minutes on the pitch, seeing the player Dean Smith claimed causes full-backs “real trouble” receive a SofaScore match rating of 7.4.

Adomah once again turned in a fine display over his 25-minute spell at left wing-back against Bristol City, making three key passes, one tackle and winning three duels in the 2-1 loss, as well as earning a SofaScore match rating of 7.0.

As such, Warburton simply must unleash the 33-year-old in the position once more on Tuesday evening, as the winger’s clear ability going forwards, as well as his solidity at the back, would undoubtedly cause Lee Bowyer’s Birmingham side no end of problems – something that would certainly improve QPR’s chances of finally getting back to winning ways in the league.

In other news: Warburton drops seven-word injury update ahead of Blues clash, QPR fans will be gutted

Everton released footage of Rafa Benitez’s post-match interview following their defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday night via their official Twitter channel, which had a number of Toffees fans talking.

The Spaniard suffered a first defeat as Everton manager after being forced into multiple changes prior to the Villa Park clash. Regulars Jordan Pickford, Seamus Coleman and Richarlison all missed the 3-0 defeat through injury and are set to be sidelined for two to three weeks.

Quickfire goals from Matty Cash, a Lucas Digne own goal and Leon Bailey sealed the three points for the hosts.

After the match, Benitez shared his thoughts on the loss to Dean Smith’s side and his team’s injuries and looked ahead to fixtures against Queen’s Park Rangers and Norwich, with his comments available to view here.

Everton fans react

Everton posted the interview with Benitez on their official Twitter channel and here is what these Toffees supporters had to say in reply, with one labelling his comments as ‘shocking’ and others venting at the club’s board over a quiet summer transfer window given the recent spate of injuries.

“Pace and power? What game did you watch? Shocking”

Credit: @OMaraBarry

“When everyone is fit – great, but to enter the season with such a weak squad is unforgivable. FFP is a pain yes, but we have loaned two decent squad players and could have brought in free transfers. Where is the backup on key positions?”

Credit: @MerseyMarc

“Our board are a shambles”

Credit: @YerrysBlue

“Phenomenal”

Credit: @Irontoffee

“Admittedly there were some key players missing but that performance today was shocking. Villa destroyed us, struggling to identify any positives for Everton… The team lacked heart, focus, ability… I could go on. We urgently need some class players…”

Credit: @neilthompson67

“We haven’t played badly until they scored imo. People blaming Rafa for our 1st defeat and the fact is his key players are injured while Dean Smith has Bailey and Buendia on the bench! 10 points after 5, be satisfied with that ”

Credit: @efc_aziz

In other news: ‘Sack Marcel Brands’, ‘We’re going down’ – Lots of Everton fans fume as injury update emerges.