West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Clarke has expressed his delight at his side’s brilliant opening part of the season, emphasising that it was crucial to get off to a good start.
He also reiterated that it was important for him to prove that he was not just a number 2 and that he was more than capable of managing at the top level.
This is the Scot’s first managerial role after stints at Newcastle United, Chelsea, West Ham United and Liverpool on the coaching staff.
The Baggies boss has picked up 14 points from his first 8 Premier League games in charge, and is delighted with the way things have gone.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of a clash with one of his former clubs Newcastle this weekend, Clarke said: “The start was important.”
“As a group we put a lot of emphasis on starting the first week very well and we managed to do that. From there it gives you the confidence and the platform to build from.”
He also went onto speak about his own fortunes as a boss, explaining what it’s like to carry the burden of being seen as an assistant manager.
“I’m not daft and I think it was really important that I had a good start because there were a lot of people saying ‘Steve Clarke is the perennial No.2’.
“For me it was vital that we got off to a good start and it was good for the club because it showed that their appointment of me as a head coach wasn’t as crazy as it might have appeared to some people at the time,” the Scotsman added.
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Clarke will be looking to continue his promising start at St James’ Park at 15.00 on Sunday.
When a new manager arrives at a club, players need to go all out to impress the new figure, and that is no different at Arsenal.
Unai Emery will lead the North London outfit into a new era after he was appointed as successor to long-standing coach Arsene Wenger.
The Spaniard has made two signings so far in this window, including right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner and goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
Other areas of the defence could do with a tweak, while the midfield also needs addressing following the departure of Jack Wilshere.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”255898″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Arsenal’s opening fixtures for the 201819 Premier League season”]
According to The Mirror, there are five players within the squad that Emery deem ‘untouchable’, meaning that no amount of cash will persuade him into selling.
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They include Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alexandre Lacazette, Granit Xhaka and Hector Bellerin.
Instantly, Arsenal fans noticed that Aaron Ramsey was not on the list, despite earlier reports that the ex-Paris Saint-Germain boss wanted to build the team around the midfielder.
Arsenal do not tend to be one of the busier clubs when it comes to the transfer window, but this time around, plenty of work is going on behind the scenes.
The Alexis Sanchez saga came to an end earlier this week when the Chile international moved to Manchester United.
Within the deal, Henrikh Mkhitaryan switched to the Emirates, and it seems that the Gunners’ transfer business is not done just yet.
Widespread reports have claimed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the club’s top target.
The Borussia Dortmund hitman has not yet signed on the dotted line, and it appears that a deal could potentially depend on Olivier Giroud.
The Daily Mail reports that the Bundesliga outfit are keen on signing the French forward, but at this stage, deals for Aubameyang and Giroud are being kept separate.
The latter has struggled for a starting spot at Arsenal this season having been restricted to just one Premier League start so far.
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With a potential move to Dortmund on the horizon, fans have been debating whether the Gunners should let him go.
Forget the players. Forget Alan Pardew. Even forget Mike Ashley’s debilitating lack of investment. The real reason behind Newcastle United’s slump in form was revealed over the weekend.
After Pardew’s comments blaming the local media for Newcastle’s latest troubles on the pitch, regional newspaper the Sunday Sun decided to issue an apology to their readership. Accepting full responsibility for the club’s horrendous recent run of results, the newspaper also held themselves accountable for “headbutting David Meyler too.”
The Toon Army on Twitter have reacted positively to the sarcastic headline.
Fans of the Magpies have grown tired of Pardew consistently blaming anything other than himself for the club’s troubles, with the Newcastle Evening Chronicle even producing a random excuse generator to aid the manager in future interviews and press conferences.
The “apology” came after the Toon Army publicly expressed their anger with Pardew at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday, with the latest defeat hardly strengthening the manager’s case.
However, Newcastle fans can now relax their campaign. The Sunday Sun have finally accepted responsibility for the club’s troubles this season.
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Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has stated that he hopes he now gets a run in the Spurs team, and can become the club’s first choice between the sticks.
The France international moved to White Hart Lane in the summer from Lyon, but has had to bide his time as Brad Friedel has continued to impress for the north London side.
Lloris got his first Premier League start against Aston Villa in a 2-0 win on Sunday, and is now keen to be trusted by Andre Villas-Boas.
“I was used to playing every three days in Lyon,” he is quoted as saying in The Telegraph.
“Necessarily, to progress, to be effective, it’s better to play every week with his team. I hope to play more and more to be at my best. When you sign at the last minute, it’s never easy. I still need a few games to find the rhythm.
“Over the past month, I’ve played only three games. It takes a little more concentration, especially working at training. I try to compensate but what matters is the game at the weekend.
“It was an important game for me, an introduction to the Premier League after three to four weeks of waiting and working. Whether with Brad, goalkeeping coaches or even with the manager, everything has gone well,” he concluded.
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Lloris is currently on international duty with Les Bleus.
According to ESPN, West Ham United striker Javier Hernandez was reportedly asked while on 2018 World Cup duty with Mexico whether he would prefer to play for a mid-table Spanish club in La Liga for $5m-a-year or the MLS for $10m-a-year, and Irons fans have been quick to react to his comments.
The 30-year-old endured a difficult debut campaign at the London Stadium where he struggled to get a regular spot in the starting XI under previous boss David Moyes, instead often finding himself as back-up to Marko Arnautovic in the centre-forward role even though it isn’t the Austrian’s natural position.
When asked whether he would prefer a return to Spain to play for a mid-table side on less money or to play in America for more while on duty with his country, he replied, as per ESPN: “$5 million in Spain.”
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”252976″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch 21 things that will definitely happen at the World Cup”]
West Ham supporters, who could be about to see co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan make their best decision since they arrived at the club, took to social media to give their thoughts on the quotes, and while one said “he clearly wants to leave”, another said “I’m starting to think that selling him could be a good idea”.
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To celebrate 25 years of the Premier League each week in Football Fancast we’re going to be looking back at a memorable game that took place on the corresponding date. This time out we revisit an infamous evening in south London.
So far in 2018 this feature has cast its mind back to two unforgettable Premier League classics at Anfield and a ding-dong affair at Carrow Road. Combined those three games lavished us with twenty goals. This time out we head to Selhurst Park for a 1-1 draw played out between Crystal Palace and Manchester United in 1995. Both scorers were centre-backs.
So what gives? On first glance the ordinariness of this contest jars and you wonder why it is that when the referee blew up in the ninety-gazillionth minute to conclude a clash that represented two precious points dropped for the visitors this low-scoring draw entered the pantheon of all-time greats.
Then your memory catches up. Oh, it was that game.
Four days earlier United had beaten Blackburn Rovers 1-0 to claw back a slim deficit at the top as Jack Walker’s expensively assembled side looked on course to parade a major trophy around Ewood Park for the first time in seventy years. That match had been all about Andy Cole, Ferguson’s guarantee of goals whose arrival for £7m ten days before had shocked British football to the core. Only Cole flattered to deceive on his debut – in fact the pressure was so great that he was virtually anonymous throughout. Instead the deciding, crucial goal came from the boot of Eric Cantona.
The following Wednesday evening Cole was again in the spotlight with all eyes on his performance but away from his initial toils a fascinating sub-drama was brewing that the more astute of observers switched over to. Palace defender Richard Shaw had been instructed to man-mark Cantona and was doing his job a little too well, bumping and shirt-pulling and generally being a rash on the Frenchman’s patience. Having been sent off on three occasions the previous season the stocky virtuoso was undoubtedly a man with a short fuse and by the time half-time came around it had been whittled down to a nub. “Yellow card!” he plaintively cried to the referee as they headed to the tunnel. Ferguson, typically, was more forthcoming, telling Alan Wilkie to ‘just do your f***ing job’.
Cantona endured another four minutes of smothering before he snapped. A long punt downfield by Peter Schemichel had Shaw on his heels and straight after on the deck as Cantona kicked out in sheer petulance. Alan Wilkie had no other option but to do his f***ing job and brandish a straight red.
The part-time poets’ reaction to this is pertinent. For a short while he stays rooted to the spot not in outrage but similarly with scant surprise. It’s as if he’s absorbing his actions and subsequent decision that may now cost his team the chance to get their nose in front in the title race. It’s as if somebody else lashed out in anger on his behalf and he’s just been told about it.
Instinctively he strays towards the dug-out but Ferguson doesn’t want to know, studiously staring away, and perhaps it’s this indication of disorientation that prompts a member of United’s backroom staff to begin shepherding Cantona towards the exit.
This right here is football’s version of Kennedy’s final wave on Dealey Plaza, those insignificant few seconds before history is made and forever seared onto our consciousness.
As Cantona is buffered along close-by the touchline a 20-year-old double glazing fitter named Matthew Simmons rushes past 11 rows of seating unknowingly casting himself in infamy. “Off you go Cantona, it’s an early shower for you,” is what he hilariously claimed later to be his words. Others more realistically attest there were mentions of the player’s nationality mingled up with a litany of f-bombs. A lady unfortunate enough to be stationed on the front row, standing mere yards from the controversy as it unfolded, later insisted that so great was the noise that Simmons’ words were drowned out by it.
Whatever the truth – and we can of course rule out the first option – Cantona’s alter-ego took over once again and he released himself of his chaperone. It could be said this was the first time all night that he’d slipped his man-marker.
The kick that knocked Simmons staggering backwards has gone down in legend as being karate in origin. If so it’s the inelegant fling a child takes on his first lesson. The punch that followed, well that was straight from any rough boozer on a Friday night.
“Millions of times people say these things, and then one day you don’t accept it,” the enigmatic striker offered up on a later date. Once that day came he was off for an early shower.
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What happened next?
Blackburn pipped United to the title by a single point while Palace were relegated despite finishing fourth from bottom due to a rejigging of the league structure.
As for the player, the seagulls that followed the trawler gleefully reported on an eight month ban and 120 hours of community service.
Many anticipated the Premier League clash between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace at Villa Park would be a relatively drab affair, and managers Paul Lambert and Tony Pulis did little to challenge expectations.
The visitors sat back to wait for opportunities on the break, whilst the Villians failed to capitalise on a wealth of possession – 80% after the first twenty minutes, and 65% at the final whistle.
The game struggled to inspire and was mainly lost to long-ball football, which proved incredibly unproductive for both sides with Palace’s Marouane Chamakh and Villa’s Christian Benteke both absent through injury.
The only significant chance of the first half went to Libor Kozak, who had an injury time header from a corner blocked by Adrian Mariappa.
After the break however both sides upped the ante, with Yanik Bolasie and Jason Puncheon causing headaches for the Villa defence. Brad Guzan managed to beat away a Puncheon toe-poke in the 48th minute.
A quick end-to-end flurry in the 54th minute saw a decent effort from Andreas Weimann held by Julian Speroni after an excellent ball from Fabian Delph, followed by the visitors countering down the other end and former Villain Barry Bannan hitting the woodwork.
The intensity grew as the final whistle drew closer. Bolasie and Puncheon both remained considerable threats, whilst Dwight Gayle came off the bench for Cameron Jerome. Jordan Bowrey then entered the fray for the Birmingham outfit, and forced Julian Speroni into an acrobatic save from a header in the 89th minute.
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It was the Palace sub who proved to be the deciding factor however, netting an unbelievable stoppage time curler that saw the visitors go back to South-East London with all three points. It puts Crystal Palace out of the relegation zone and Aston Villa just three points above it.
A vital win for Tony Pulis, but Paul Lambert will be concerned with the groans of discontent at Villa Park after the final whistle.
Arsenal are set to give Jack Wilshere his first game of football in 14 months this Monday in an under-21 game against West Brom, The Daily Mail state.
The England international midfielder suffered a torrid 2011-12 season, missing the entire campaign due to injury, but has made a return to training recently.
Wilshere has been pictured in first-team training with the rest of the Arsenal squad, but Arsene Wenger is determined to nurse the star back to action slowly after he suffered a relapse of the initial injury last term.
Wenger and the rest of the Gunners’ backroom staff have been monitoring Wilshere’s progress in training, and are set to make a decision on whether he should feature in the under-21 game in the near future.
Wilshere’s return to the Arsenal senior side would represent a massive boost for the Emirates Stadium side, and boost the club’s options in the centre of the park after the summer sale of Alex Song.
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Tottenham Hotspur defender Anton Walkes is on the verge of leaving the Premier League club for Portsmouth, according to Portsmouth News.
The 21-year-old ended the 2017-18 campaign on loan at League One outfit Portsmouth following a spell with Atlanta United in the MLS.
Walkes has made a first-team appearance for Tottenham, but that came in a EFL Cup match back in September 2016, and he has not featured since.
Walkes, who is capable of operating in both defence and midfield, was highly-rated during his time in the youth system at Tottenham.
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The Englishman has struggled to make the step into the first team, however, and it is being reported that he is closing on a permanent move to Portsmouth.
The Tottenham fans, who have also been commenting on the rumours surrounding Ivan Perisic, have been reacting to the report, and many are not surprised to learn that Walkes is nearing an exit.
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That said, one Spurs supporter claimed that Walkes is currently better than first-team defender Serge Aurier, and should be given the chance to stake a claim.
A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below: