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[ad_pod ]Gareth Southgate has announced his squad for the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers in which England will square off with Czech Republic and then Montenegro – there are some notable omissions, including Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse.Southgate has explained his reasoning behind that decision and it will surely baffle not just Saints fans, but anyone invested in the national squad too.

What did he say?

Well, speaking about his crop of players, the former Middlesbrough manager said the following of Ward-Prowse’s exclusion:

Interesting stuff. It should surely do little to soothe the St Mary’s faithful or the player himself, who, as Soughtgate says, has been in sensational form of late.

Southgate has dug himself a hole

The England boss has repeatedly stated his preference to pick players based on form rather than reputation but his latest selection is a huge contradiction to that. Ward-Prowse is the epitome of ‘form’ at the moment having scored six goals in his last nine games, including free-kicks against Manchester United and Spurs.

Meanwhile, Fabian Delph and Ruben Loftus-Cheek – two of the midfielders who have have kept the 24-year-old out of the Three Lions setup this time around – have accumulated just 1,155 minutes of Premier League football between them this term at Manchester City and Chelsea respectively, with Delph featuring for just 10 minutes in the top flight in 2019.

Check out the below above to see football played as you’ve never seen it before… in a maze!

Previous managers have shown loyalties to the top six clubs but, considering Southgate’s promise not to do so, fans of both England and Southampton were surely expecting the Saints number 16 to be a shoe-in for the squad, particularly with the likes of Harry Winks and Jesse Lingard out.

Southgate has dug himself a sizeable hole with his comments and should Ward-Prowse keep up this form for the remainder of the season and then not be included in the next squad, the England boss will have confirmed he is no less biased towards the big clubs than his predecessors.

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Bournemouth will feel disappointed to have not taken three points from their final Premier League match before the international break, with Matt Ritchie returning to haunt his former club – the Scotsman scored an injury-time stunner to ensure Newcastle returned from the Vitality Stadium with a point.

Everyone knew, from the way the two sides have been playing this season, that the game promised goals, but few would have paid much mind to Jefferson Lerma. What the Colombian did during the game, though, should convince Eddie Howe to have some stern words.

On the chalkboard

Lerma joined the Cherries in the summer from Levante and promised to provide some much-needed steel in midfield – he has delivered brilliantly, although perhaps a little too much so.

Just 18 minutes into the clash with the Magpies on Saturday, the 24-year-old scythed down Ayoze Perez and was shown his eleventh yellow card of the season – a league high.

While most football fans welcome a bit of bite and passion, the fact that the enforcer is the worst-disciplined player in the top flight should be of concern to Howe, who should encourage Lerma to tone it down a bit in the future, especially considering that this most recent card should really have been a harsher colour.

Can’t afford suspensions

With Lewis Cook out injured and Andrew Surman also struggling with a calf problem, Bournemouth cannot afford to lose any more central-midfielders – if Lerma keeps up his shocking record, then he will likely serve suspensions and that would be disastrous.

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

The 9-cap international has become a key player for the Cherries but could quickly become a liability if he continues to find himself in the referee’s book. Bournemouth might have all the attacking talent outside the top six but, without their midfield anchor, they are vulnerable.

It might take some time, but Howe must help Lerma to iron out this weakness in his game otherwise it could have big consequences for the club down the line.

West Ham are believed to be willing to sell Boro’s on loan striker Jordan Hugill in the summer, but will hope to recoup the £10 million they forked out when they bought him a little over a year ago.

According to the Northern Echo, however, there are various mitigating factors that cast doubt on any potential permanent move for the forward.

One problem, according to the report, is that it remains to be seen whether manager, Tony Pulis, remains in charge for next season.

His contract runs out at the end of the season, and failure to gain promotion is likely to leave his position very much up in the air.

Boro’ have struggled badly recently, and if they remain a Championship side next term, both club and manager may see it as the right time to part ways and rebuild.

The report adds that, if that were to be the case, any new manager would likely want to shape the team around their own choice of players, and regardless, the requested fee would likely price the second tier side out of a deal anyway.

The other scenario is one that fans will be hoping for.

Boro get promoted, and as a new Premier League club, with all of the riches that come with it, they would likely set their sights higher than the former Preston player.

Either way, it leaves the player in limbo regarding his next move, but it should give the six-goal man (who is valued at £7.2m by Transfermarkt) a point to prove during the run-in, which can only help Boro’s play-off bid.

With the Teessiders’ untimely slump — they have won only one of their last six league games — a play-off place that looked pretty much nailed on a short while ago, is now under serious threat.

They need to return to winning ways in a bid to calm the nerves of both players and fans, which means Hugill needs to rediscover his scoring touch, with the forward having not scored for over two months — his last goal came in Boro’s draw against Millwall on 19 January.

It is not a promising sign for a player who will be hoping to secure a long-term move in the summer, and unless there is an incredible turnaround, we think it is highly unlikely that he will be wearing a Boro’ shirt next season.

What are your thoughts on both the Pulis and Hugill situations? Is your play-off place under threat? Let us know what you think Boro’ fans…

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Loads of Sunderland fans have been running the rule over Wednesday’s action, as Jack Ross’ side produced a wonderfully professional performance to move back into third.

After playing 120 minutes and losing by one missed penalty kick at Wembley on Sunday, the Black Cats may have been forgiven for not looking quite at their best when they visited Accrington Stanley on Wednesday.

They were about as close to perfection as you could possibly get though, winning 3-0 with a thorough, professional and most importantly clinical display.

They took the lead early on when Aiden McGeady produced another moment of magic with a stunning free kick, and the hosts rarely threatened before Will Grigg made it 2-0.

It was no different after the break either, and Kazaiah Sterling added a goal of his own late on.

While he wasn’t on the score-sheet, fans are delighted with the performance of Charlie Wyke, who has been scapegoated often this season having struggled to make an impact on Wearside.

He was physically dominant, tenacious and provided exactly the presence Grigg has been missing besides him. Quite simply, the hosts had absolutely no idea how to deal with him.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below, where fans are changing their tune about the summer signing…

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Every club in the Premier League attracts at least one coherent theme that epitomises their recent history. Manchester United have failed to effectively replace Sir Alex Ferguson, Tottenham keep bottling silverware at the vital moment, and Newcastle fans continue to express their bewilderment over Mike Ashley’s running of the club.

Chelsea’s problem is distinct from those facing the rest of the division. The Blues appear to be hellbent on wilfully driving phenomenal talents away from the club, leaving fans in a state of bewildered fury when the realisation dawns that another top player has slipped through the net.

Romelu Lukaku, Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne are three of the most high-profile examples of those who were allowed to leave before realising their full potential.

Thorgan Hazard, who Chelsea sold for just £7.2 million in 2015, is a less prominent example but his development at Borussia Mönchengladbach is giving the Blues reason to look back with a sharp tinge of regret. Eden’s lesser-known brother has notched 12 goals and provided 11 assists already this season, taking his Transfermarkt valuation from £19.8 million in June 2018 to £40.5 million in March 2019.

Meanwhile, Callum Hudson-Odoi could represent the next mesmerising talent to add to an ever-growing list of regrettable Chelsea departures amid intense rumours suggesting he could follow Jadon Sancho to the Bundesliga.

The sale of Nathaniel Chalobah to Watford also left an uneasy feeling amongst supporters who watched his development with eagle-eyed intrigue. Injuries have since ravaged his career and Chelsea fans can rest easy in the knowledge that perhaps the decision was justified after all, but with the visit of West Ham looming there is another more rueful blunder looming at large.

Declan Rice will almost certainly sit at the base of West Ham’s midfield, where he will fight for every second-ball, endeavouring to stifle Hazard’s influence and patrolling with the aura of an old-school Italian enforcer.

His development has been heralded in the media as if the Hammers have given born to the greatest holding midfielder of a generation. It’s pertinent to note Eric Dier’s nosedive from a comparable height underlines how media-frenzies are often misguided and hopelessly premature, but there is something wholesome about Rice that suggests history is unlikely to repeat itself.

Another wound from Chelsea’s bitter past will be prised apart if Rice continues to flourish into the Champions League standard midfielder he is threatening to become. The 20-year-old, who based his career on John Terry as a youngster, started his career at Chelsea’s youth academy before he was released as a 14-year-old – a harrowing moment in his professional career.

The decision to discard youngsters clinging to beady-eyed dreams of becoming professional footballers are made on a mass scale akin to a Roulette wheel banker sweeping away mounds of cash from punters after every agonising spin.

Rice’s exit merely represented another statistic in a colossal number of dream-crushed youngsters who suffer the same fate; an irrelevant lost member of the 99.9% who don’t make it.

But that oversight, just like De Bruyne, Salah and Hazard before him – albeit under different circumstances – could come back to haunt the Blues.

De Bruyne’s season has been blighted by injuries which have subsequently left him in Bernardo Silva’s devilishly infectious and supple shadow, but one anomalous season by his world class standards cannot detract from the feeling that Jose Mourinho conspired to permanently exile one of the greatest footballers ever to set foot at Stamford Bridge.

To tip Rice to enjoy a similar level of titanic success in his career would be a criminal case of irrational over-hyping. However, his performance at the London Stadium earlier in the season – in which he stifled Eden Hazard’s influence – has already planted a seed in the consciousness of Chelsea supporters: the England international could have been a long-term asset in west London.

The Monday night clash will hand the rapidly maturing enforcer another opportunity to showcase his skill-set against the side who foolishly released him almost six years ago.

Chasing a satisfying, sweet and somewhat sanctimonious taste of revenge will be firmly at the forefront of Rice’s agenda when he returns to Chelsea this evening.

If you were to ask a Luton fan to make an all-time best XI, Brian Stein would be the starting striker no matter the case.

The Cape Town-born striker is one of the greatest players to ever represent the Hatters, making 427 appearances and scoring 130 goals in two different spells for Luton and scoring the winning goal in the club’s only League Cup final appearance against Arsenal in 1988.

Stein is one of the most prolific players to ever play under the lights of Kenilworth Road, but it wasn’t meant to plan out like this. Signed from non-league side Edgware Town, the then 20-year-old prospect was originally brought in as a winger, but after impressing as a striker and forming a good partnership with both Bob Hatton and then Steve White as Luton went on to win the 1982 Second Division title.

But ask any Luton fan who was around to watch Stein in his prime, they will tell you his best striking partner was Paul Walsh, who was signed by the Hatters the season they were promoted, and the duo and a fruitful partnership in the two years they started alongside each other.

Although Luton were almost relegated in their first season, needing to rely on a win in the final game to remain in the First Division, goals were aplenty with Stein and Walsh up top. Games in which the London side scored three, four and five goals were uncommon, and the duo were so successful that in their second season together in the top-flight, Walsh was named PFA Young Player of the Year in 1984.

His move to Liverpool the following summer broke up another successful pair, but Stein’s ability to work well with anyone who plays alongside him continued to work, as current Luton boss Mick Harford, the striker who would partner the South African in the club’s finest hour, the dramatic 3-2 win against Arsenal in the 1988 League Cup final.

Stein’s tenure in London came to an end that season as well when the striker made the move to French side SM Caen where he was unable to consistently score as much as he did at Luton.

The striker would return to Luton 1991, however, three goals in a season where the club was relegated ended another spell with the Hatters. Stein is without question a legend of the club and a player who brought the team their greatest victory to date.

Luton fans, is Stein the club’s greatest ever player? Let us know!

The search for a new striker this summer seems to be done without the hunt even beginning for West Ham.

With Andy Carroll set to leave the club when his contract expires and the futures of Lucas Perez, Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic all looking unlikely to be with West Ham, Manuel Pellegrini has a mammoth task ahead of him this summer to replace potentially four strikers at the club.

A plethora of names have been linked with a move to east London such as Aleksandar Mitrovic and Maxi Gomez, but one player who has been reported quite a lot recently is Roma striker Edin Dzeko.

According to Corriere dello Sport via the Sun, the Bosnian international is a target for both West Ham and Inter Milan this summer with the former Manchester City striker reportedly available for just over £12 million.

At 33, Dzeko, who is valued at £20.07 million (by Transfermarkt), is well into the twilight years of his career, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been lacking in terms of goals. The striker has hit 13 goals in all competitions this season as Roma have had an underwhelming season in both the league and on the continent, currently sitting in 5th in the Serie A table and out of the Champions League at the hands of Porto.

With West Ham looking for a striker this summer, Dzeko could be an ideal option for the Hammers. The Bosnian has proven experience in the Premier League with his four years in England with City where he won two league titles, one of which was under Pellegrini, and scoring 50 goals in 130 appearances.

But, West Ham fans are craving a striker who can produce a consistent flow of goals for years to come, so the Hammers appear to be looking at the wrong man in terms of Dzeko.

Dzeko will offer a steady stream of goals for West Ham, but the club shouldn’t expect to get too much out of him for a long period of time. The striker is in his final years as a top-level player, and the Hammers will need more than the former Man City attacker if they want to revolutionise their striking options for next season.

West Ham fans, would you take Dzeko as a summer signing? Let us know!

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Finishing inside the Premier League top 12 is incredibly vital for Manuel Pellegrini at West Ham United this season.

Why is it so important?

At the end of last season, many in the footballing world presumed that David Moyes had done enough to be given the manager’s job permanently in east London.

Taking over from Slaven Bilic with the club lurching on the edge of the drop zone and then falling into it so early in his reign, the Scot led a turnaround in Stratford.

Getting the best out of players like Marko Arnautovic in the way that Pellegrini perhaps hasn’t so far, Moyes revitalised the Hammers and, barring a few bumps along the way, led them to safety with breathing space.

More importantly, he managed to steer an injury-hit team into mid-table with a 13th place finish being achieved after home victory over Everton on the final day.

However, despite all of this, David Gold and David Sullivan decided to part ways with him at the end of the season, not offering the veteran a new contract and instead appointing the Chilean.

This was nothing short of a bold move by the Irons.

The only way to judge whether it has been the right move so far will be to see if Pellegrini can better the finish of Moyes by finishing in the top 12. After all, he has enjoyed far better resources.

How likely is it?

Luckily for Pellegrini, his team’s terrible four games winless streak in the league has not seen them fall out of the top 12.

However, two of the matches that remain are against sides above the East Londoners in the table, with the first being the trip to Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.

The other is another away game at Europe-chasing Watford and the only home encounter of the run-in is a treacherous one against an outfit fighting for their lives in Southampton.

West Ham are going to have to play very well in the final three tests to avoid being caught by the likes of Crystal Palace, Newcastle United, AFC Bournemouth and Burnley and it’s up to Pellegrini to motivate his players one last time this term to show any signs of progress for the Hammers under his regime so far.

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Loads of Crystal Palace fans have been running the rule over their dull draw against Everton, and there’s only one man getting any credit.

Saturday’s goalless draw against Everton was a typical Selhurst Park performance from the Eagles, and fans are right to complain about the lack of invention in their side.

Max Meyer was signed on a free last summer, but other than that the Eagles did nothing to address the gaping playmaker-shaped hole in their squad, and performances like Saturday’s are a result of that.

Former Wigan & Fulham man, Jimmy Bullard recently showed that he’s still got it! Check out the video below…

One thing they did finally correct though was the goalkeeper position, bringing in Vicente Guaita from Getafe on a three-year deal, per BBC.

Wayne Hennessey has made countless mistakes to cost his side over the past couple of seasons, and Guaita showed once again on Saturday why his arrival was such a necessary one.

The 32 year-old made a stunning save to stop what would have been an incredible goal from Cenk Tosun, as the Turkish striker flicked a first-time back heel towards goal only to see it clawed away by the sprawling keeper.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below, where there’s no doubt this summer signing has gone down a storm…

Everton’s defence has looking shaky at times this campaign, but they should still sign Kurt Zouma over Getafe hardman Djene Dakonam.

Everton must be hoping to challenge for the top six in the next few seasons, and to do that they need a solid defence capable of dealing with the spaces their attacking styles leaves at the back. They need experience to deal with this.

Mundo Deportivo have claimed Djene Dakonam is one of Everton’s targets to make their back line more solid, but his lack of Premier League experience means he could take too long to adapt. Everton fans want to see improvements quickly. Goodison can be a scary place.

He’s played 32 times this season for Getafe in La Liga and is 27-years-old so it sounds like he has lots of experience, but England is a very different animal to Spain and it’d be a major risk to even spend £12.7m on him, which is what he’s rated on Transfermarkt.

Kurt Zouma, on the other hand, has years of Premier League experience and was arguably the best centre-back in the league at Chelsea before his injury. He’s returned to be one of the shining lights of Everton’s season and they should buy him instead.

The Liverpool Echo have reported he’s the Toffees’ main target this summer and so he should be. He’s just 24-year-old and has the ability to go right to the top, so Everton should aim to go on that journey with him.

He’s rated at £18m on Transfermarkt, but his signature would be game-changing for the club and signal its intent to break into the top six. He’s more experienced in the Premier League than Djene Dakonam and that alone should make Everton’s mind up.

Everton fans, which of these two centre-backs would you want your club to sign and why? Join the discussion by commenting below.