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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…

Alan Smith has told Unai Emery that he has to finish in the top four this season or risk the sack at Arsenal, per Sky Sports.

What’s he said?

The former Gunners striker believes that there is a gap to be exploited in the top four, with only Manchester City and Liverpool perhaps in a position to definitely finish in the top two positions.

But he has warned that if the former PSG boss fails to take advantage of that chance, he could again be looking for a new job.

He said: “I think it’s difficult for Arsenal fans watching on to see where things are heading. The optimism from when he took over has vanished really, which is disappointing.

“He’s got some new players in, he’s got some of the younger lads through, so it’s a bit of a different side to the one Wenger had. And of course, it is difficult changing things after 22 years but you’d have hoped to have seen some signs by now.

“You look at the table and Arsenal are still in a good position, and with the way Spurs and Manchester United are, it’s a great chance to finish in the top four.

“If they don’t this season, then there are a lot of questions to answer and you’d imagine he wouldn’t be around next season.”

Their best chance

At this point, this is surely Arsenal’s best hope of qualifying for the Champions League.

They finished fifth last season, one point behind Spurs, two behind Chelsea but 27 and 28 behind Liverpool and City respectively.

Chelsea, of course, have appointed Frank Lampard and are under a transfer ban while Spurs have struggled at the start of the season, losing as many games as they have won in the Premier League.

Manchester United are in the bottom half of the table, and one has to believe that the Gunners have a golden opportunity.

They have perhaps the most settled squad of the teams mentioned, they boast the joint-top goalscorer from last season in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and spent over £70m on Nicolas Pepe in the summer.

They have a blistering attack when everyone is fit and, while the defence remains as shaky as ever, their first XI may well be the rival of any other team in the league outside of the top two.

If Emery cannot take this team into the top four then his sacking would be just and deserved; on Monday’s evidence, when the Gunners lost to Sheffield United, time may well be running out.

Portsmouth will have been very frustrated to come away from Bristol Rovers with a draw, having put themselves 2-0 up in the 70th minute.

Despite the disappointment of conceding twice late on, there can be encouragement taken from the fact they scored twice – having got one in their last three games, as per Transfermarkt – and John Marquis played a big part in this, even though he didn’t get on the scoresheet himself.

The 27-year-old made a nuisance of himself throughout the game and that played an important part in Pompey getting the opener.

With the ball having been played towards the back post, Marquis managed to spin behind at the back post, but just before he could make the header, Luke Leahy pushed him, conceding the penalty that Gareth Evans scored, as shown in the highlights video on the Portsmouth FC YouTube channel.

He then assisted the second, playing in a pinpoint cross for Ronan Curtis to head in at the back post, giving the goalkeeper no chance.

The striker also showed a commendable work rate, as he made three tackles and one clearance during the game, as per WhoScored.

This game did nothing for Marquis’ underwhelming tally of three goals in all competitions this season, but it has indicated that he can be a useful player for the team, even when he isn’t getting the ball into the back of the net.

Who was your hero for Pompey? Join the discussion by commenting below… 

Granit Xhaka’s time at Arsenal could be well and truly up.

That seemed to be anything but the case a few weeks ago, of course, when he was given the captaincy by manager Unai Emery after a secret ballot from the players to decide the new skipper.

However, as he was booed when being subbed off against Crystal Palace at the weekend, he responded to the crowd by shouting an expletive and cupping his hand to his ear.

An unpopular figure at the Emirates Stadium, it will be hard for him to recover from this.

Watch the moment Granit Xhaka’s Arsenal career may have come to an ugly end in the video below…

As such, a new central midfielder could be in the offing, at least according to Sky Deutschland (Live Blog, 18:02 on 28/10/2019).

They are reporting that the Gunners have held talks with Borussia Monchengladbach in regards to Denis Zakaria. A fee of €50m (£43m) has been mentioned for the Switzerland international.

It seems the club’s supporters are torn on the 22-year-old. They have taken to Twitter to share their thoughts, and you can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

Tottenham Hotspur fans have warned the club off signing Ferran Torres from Valencia.SportBild, via Sport Witness, claims that Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund have joined Spurs in the race for the 19-year-old.

Valencia are said to value the teenager at €20m (£17.2m), with his contract set to expire at the end of next season.

Torres, though, has struggled to make a huge impact during his time at the Spanish club, scoring just three goals and registering five assists in 63 senior appearances.

Thus far this season, he has had nine La Liga outings, failing to score and registering just one assist.

And fans have warned Spurs against making a move for the Spain U21 international, with some believing that a move for a right-back would be more profitable, while others simply don’t believe that he is good enough for the club.

Take a look at the best of the reaction on Twitter below!

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

Tottenham Hotspur are tracking Real Sociedad defender Diego Llorente, per The Daily Mirror.

What’s the word?

The central defender has been with the Liga club since 2017, when he moved from Real Madrid.

However, the report states that Spurs, along with Leicester City and West Ham United, are tracking his progress in Spain.

Llorente, the Mirror claims, has a release clause of £45m.

Sanchez’s partner

Both Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen have contracts that expire in the summer.

It is not inconceivable to imagine that both players could leave the club and, if they do, Spurs will need a new defender to partner Davinson Sanchez, who Mauricio Pochettino reportedly plans to rebuild his defence around.

But, is Llorente good enough for such a responsibility and would he actually make a good partner for the Colombian international?

He has averaged 1.4 tackles per game in La Liga, per WhoScored, as well as 1.1 interceptions and 3.8 clearances, while also averaging a passing accuracy of 87.6%.

Sanchez, by comparison, averages 1.7 tackles, one interception and 3.3 clearances, with a passing accuracy of 88.4%.

Those are very similar numbers and there is not really a stand-out stat in that cluster from the Sociedad man to demonstrate a particular quality that would compliment Sanchez’s game.

Spurs have to seriously ask themselves the question as to whether Llorente can be that proper partner for Sanchez to help build the bedrock of a new defence and subsequently, the entire Tottenham team.

They have all season to continue scouting him and make that decision but, on first glance, the answer is not glaringly obvious and that should probably set off a few alarm bells.

It gets better each time you watch it.Although I’m sure that’s not the case for the poor defender who had to deal with it.Any chance to relieve what happened on the weekend against their bitter rivals was always going to be lapped up by Forest fans, so naturally the Nottingham Forest Twitter account was more than happy to oblige in giving them some material to work with.

Tiago Silva’s performance against the Rams earned him a lot of praise from the supporters, but there was one moment above all else that really got the fans talking, and that was his ‘elastico’ (or flip-flap, whichever you prefer) against Duane Holmes during the second half.

Although it didn’t end in a goal so he gets minus points for that, still pretty good though.

I’m just glad nobody replied by saying he was ‘sent for a hotdog’, because that phrase really gets annoying after a while.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

The Daily Mirror is reporting that PSG want to sign Liverpool’s Adam Lallana to replace LA-Galaxy bound Edinson Cavani.

What’s the story?

After Zlatan Ibrahimovic recently left the MLS club, they are looking for a new striker, and it appears that the Uruguay international is a strong candidate.

To come in for the 32-year-old, the Ligue 1 champions are said to be looking at Adam Lallana. The former Southampton man is out of contract in the summer, which means that he could be free to speak to clubs as early as January.

Flattered to deceive

Cavani is a bona fide legend in Paris. The former Napoli striker is the club’s record goalscorer, bagging 195 goals in 287 appearances, and is one of only three players to have netted more than 100 times for the Parc des Princes side. Throughout his career, according to Transfermarkt, he has netted 336 goals in 542 club games. Better marksmen are few and far between in Europe.

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Lallana, meanwhile, has failed to reach anywhere near that status at Liverpool. He was signed in 2014 with much promise for £25m, but he hasn’t made the impact many expected him to. He has made 161 appearances across five years for the Reds, scoring just 22 goals and providing 21 assists.

It isn’t all the £13.5m-rated man’s fault to be fair. He has suffered a number of injuries during his time at Anfield – he has missed 67 matches overall due to being on the sidelines – but he has still underwhelmed, and it now looks as though it would be the perfect time for him to leave.

He’s struggled for game time again this term, appearing four times off the bench in the Premier League, making the starting line-up on just one occasion.

The interest is perhaps good news for Liverpool, and they can take advantage of this to get him off their books for good.

His departure would rid them of his £110,000-a-week wages, which could be better spent elsewhere as Jurgen Klopp and co look to strengthen their squad in other areas. For the Merseyside club, it is the right time to part ways.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Ilkay Gundogan enjoyed a superb midfield display as Germany thumped Belarus in a European Championship qualifier on Saturday evening.

On the chalkboard

The Manchester City star played alongside Joshua Kimmich and Toni Kroos in the centre as Joachim Low’s side ran out 4-0 winners in Group C.

Gundogan even provided the assist for Kroos’ goal, Germany’s fourth of the night, as they booked their place at Euro 2020.

The 29-year-old has made nine starts in the Premier League, completing 90 minutes on seven occasions, while also making four appearances in the Champions League.

Throughout the game at the weekend, Gundogan had 97 touches of the ball as Germany dominated possession, having over 70% of the ball, per WhoScored.

He registered a total of four key passes and had a pass accuracy of 86%.

Gundogan did not complete a dribble but was more concerned with moving the ball instead of carrying it.

He also made one tackle and had two shots on goal, with one going off target and one being blocked, while he also took one accurate corner.

Attacking responsibility

Gundogan is rarely given the opportunity to create at City.

That is natural, with the club boasting the likes of David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva in their ranks.

He has not laid on a single assist in the Premier League thus far this season, though he has scored, netting in the 3-0 win over Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium.

This performance, though, will surely show his manager, Pep Guardiola, that he is capable of playing in a more creative role.

Gundogan has never once played in an attacking midfield role for City, making 89 appearances in central midfield and 40 in a defensive role.

That he has the string to his bow where he can create chances and lay on assists is surely a boost to his club manager, who has been reminded of his capabilities in a slightly more advanced position.

Arsenal fans are highlighting their regret in the sale of defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin after he moved to Valencia in 2018.

The Frenchman left the Gunners for the La Liga side in 2018’s January window for a fee believed to be £10.8m (via The Independent).

His rise to the first-team was a strange one as he was only afforded a chance after being recalled while on loan spell at Charlton Athletic back in December 2014 (via Sky Sports).

He went on to enjoy brilliant success with the side, making 22 Premier League appearances and starting in the FA Cup final versus Aston Villa (via Transfermarkt).

Coquelin has been in brilliant form for the Spanish side this season, playing the full 90 minutes as his side beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League.

In stark contrast, Arsenal’s defensive midfielder Lucas Torreira is reportedly considering his future at the club amid fears over his position and lack of game time (via Tuttomercatoweb).

Fans were full of regret after being reminded of Coquelin’s sale to Valencia as they took to Twitter to react.

Here is a selection of tweets from the north London faithful:

Arsenal fans, do you regret the sale of Coquelin? Let us know your thoughts!

Aston Villa may have beaten Newcastle United 2-0, but Wesley took his run of games without a goal or assist to five in the Premier League.

The 23-year-old has not been directly involved in a goal since netting a brace and adding an assist during Villa’s 5-1 win against Norwich City.

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He had a golden chance to change that against the Magpies, but Martin Dubravka stopped the Brazilian’s effort from point-blank range.

There are many Villa fans who are not concerned by this goal drought, citing how useful he can be in bringing teammates into the game as a reason for their stance.

The Brazilian was complimented for his performance against Newcastle by those fans after he won seven aerial duels and made one tackle, while also playing two key passes.

Aside from the statistics, his general hold-up play and work-rate were applauded, while one said that he can look towards former loanee Tammy Abraham for inspiration.

Not all fans were so forgiving though, as there are those who are beginning to lose hope in Wesley due to his lack of a clinical touch in front of goal.

Part of the issue for Wesley could be the number of shots that he is taking, as that effort against Newcastle was his only one of the game, while he averages 1.8 shots per Premier League match this campaign.

Whatever the reason is for his lack of goals, it is deemed unacceptable by many fans, with one calling him a “£22m carthorse”.

In other news, a former Villa man has named the striker he thinks the club should sign in January.