Tottenham legend Harry Kane wants to leave the club- could the player that has propelled them now destroy them?

On reflection we all saw it coming, that Tottenham’s best player in a decade, Harry Kane, was going to announce that he wanted to leave the club.

There were hints of it last season, just faint rumours but perhaps having Jose Mourinho as manager and a decorated one at that convinced Kane to concentrate on his football. A month ago Mourinho was sacked by Daniel Levy and a month on Levy has learned that his absolute star player Kane wants out. How quick everything changes in football.

This season has had some bright moments for the club but let’s be honest it isn’t a season that will be talked about for too long when everything wraps up on May 23rd. But Tottenham have a chance to qualify for the Europa League and they reached this season’s latter stages of the competition, they also reached the Carabao Cup final. All of this would have been impossible without Kane. Just to show what type of impact the striker has made this season he has scored 22 goals so far in the league and assisted in a further 13. He has been involved in a staggering 55% of the club league goals alone. Take Kane out of the equation and Tottenham absolutely would be in the bottom half of the Premier League.

In the last four years Tottenham could well argue that they have stepped outside of the shadow of their more successful neighbours Arsenal. Finishing higher than them in the league and even reaching the Champions League final in 2019. And yet of course it is Arsenal who have picked up 2 FA Cup’s in that same time period. Tottenham have no trophies for 13 years now despite playing some of the best football in England. That of course was spearheaded by Kane and the worry is if he leaves, which certainly looks like when he leaves, how will Tottenham recover?

In these pandemic times it is unclear if Tottenham will get the £200m plus transfer fee they so desire and the figure may be close to £120m plus a few free transfers. But what deal will Tottenham get? It is very public that the club did not spend the £100m they received from the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid wisely. Tottenham aren’t the only victims of not knowing how to spend their money. The same has quite publicly happened to the likes of Everton and Barcelona recently. Buying a quality player doesn’t mean they will perform as you expect them too anymore.

What would appease the fans when Kane is sold? Is Neymar, Kylian Mbappe or Erling Haaland arriving? No they are not, and we know this because Tottenham will not be playing Champions League football next season. If any of those players were on the list the losing Kane saga may not seem as bad. But in losing Kane Tottenham won’t just be losing one player of immense quality who guarantees goals and knows the league inside out, they will be losing plenty of Premier League points too, and this could propel the club to move backwards. This would be an horrific situation for the club who have made such fantastic in roads lately and have a brand new stadium.

The next stage will be where will Kane end up. Tottenham would be foolish to sell him to an English club and at least Kane has hinted that he would be open to offers in Spain. But Barcelona and Real Madrid are in huge debt, so those moves look unlikely. Also Kane comes across like he loves English football and the Premier League and will probably not want to move from the country. In that sense and as long as he decides not to play for an English club anymore Kane could be on his way to either Manchester clubs. Surely his priority would lie with City, after all Kane is chasing trophies and time is running out.

For Manchester United they are getting better every season, but perhaps a league title is not on the cards for the club just now or in the next few years. There is also the chance to maybe play for Liverpool. Money plus a Mohamed Salah swap? You never can tell in football. These are exciting times for the neutral but for Tottenham fans there could be despair before hope.

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Premier League: Best 11 Players of Week 36

It’s been another interesting week in the Premier League which has seen the top four open up more. The race for Champions League places is getting more exciting by every passing game. Chelsea may have slipped up as they lost against Arsenal and Liverpool could well get that final place. However Leicester are not home and dry yet and everything can change.

West Ham and Tottenham have the slimmest of chances but a top four spot looks beyond them now. What was remarkable was that Alisson, Liverpool’s goalkeeper scored the winning goal at the weekend.

Because of the FA Cup final there was a slightly reduced fixture list for the Premier League this past weekend but there was still plenty of goals and points up for grabs. Let’s take a look at which players earned the most.

Goalkeeper: Aaron Ramsdale- Sheffield United 7pts

What a game from Aaron Ramsdale as he kept a clean sheet- only his 4th of the season- as Sheffield United beat Everton 1-0. It was a great performance from the Blades keeper in a very difficult season for him and his club.

Defender: Jack Robinson- Sheffield United 6pts

Jack Robinson has missed chunks of the season with injury but he earned 6 points at the weekend as Sheffield United stunned Everton with a 1-0 win. Robinson assisted in the only goal of the game which was his first assist of the season.

Defender: Toby Alderweirald- Tottenham 5pts

Tottenham beat Wolves 2-0 and the club had to be at their best to clean up in defence. Alderweirald has 10 clean sheets now to his name and earned another 5 points putting his total at 44 points.

Defender: Eric Dier- Tottenham 5pts

Eric Dier read the game so well as Tottenham were able to keep their top four hopes alive as they beat Wolves 2-0 and the defender now has 24 points for the season.

Defender: Diego Llorente- Leeds United 5pts

Another clean sheet for Diego Llorente means he has 4 for the season as Leeds played brilliantly well to beat Burnley 4-0 and they did so away from home.

Midfielder: Jack Harrison- Leeds United 10pts

Leeds beat Burnley 4-0 and Jack Harrison assisted in the last 2 of those goals to wrap up a fantastic match for the club and much needed 3 points. With a clean sheet also Harrison walked away with an impressive 10 points. He has 68 in total now and is ranked as the best midfielder for the club.

Midfielder: Mohamed Salah- Liverpool 8pts

Mohamed Salah opened the scoring for Liverpool as they were able to beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1. Liverpool has a real chance of finishing in the top four now. Salah has 22 goals and he is battling Harry Kane for the top goalscorer’s award this season.

Midfielder: Roberto Firmino- Liverpool 8pts

It was another great week for Roberto Firmino who is scoring goals and assisiting again and the Brazilian has been a real key figure into how Liverpool have won 3 games in a row and could qualify for next seasons Champions League on this form.

Midfielder: Pierre Hojbjerg- Tottenham 8pts

Pierre Hojbjerg scored Tottenham’s winner at the weekend as they beat Wolves 2-0. Hojbjerg also assisted for Kane’s first goal in the game and earned a huge 8 points.

Striker: Rodrigo- Leeds United 8pts

Rodrigo had a great game for Leeds United as the striker scored 2 goals in one game as Marcelo Bielsa’s side beat Burnley 4-0. Rodrigo hasn’t had a memorable season as he has only scored 6 goals but maybe he can finish in strong? He has a total of 23 points currently.

Striker: Harry Kane- Tottenham 4pts

Harry Kane scored his 22nd league goal of the season as he set up Tottenham to beat Wolves 2-0. Kane has been involved in an incredible 35 goals in the league from 63 that his club have scored, that is an incredible statistic. Kane has 113 points and his top of the Premier League fantasy standings and 3rd with all the leagues combined.

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Premier League Game of the Week: Tottenham 4-0 Sheffield United

Gareth Bale was the hero of the weekend for Tottenham as the Welshman scored a superb hat-trick as Tottenham thumped bottom side Sheffield United 4-0.

Bale was the talk of the game of course and after getting the nod to start by interim manager Ryan Mason he grabbed that chance and did all of his talking on the pitch. Too often this season Bale was used as a scapegoat for some of Tottenham’s poor performances but if he goes back to Real Madrid this summer it is almost certain that he will leave the Premier League being able to look at himself in the mirror.

There’s been a lot of criticism thrown at Bale since his loan back move to Tottenham but let’s remind ourselves that with the three goals at the weekend he has scored 9 times in the Premier League and 14 times in all competitions not a bad record when you read some of the accusations thrown at the 31 year old.

The goals did not start until the 35th minute as the Blades had frustrated the home side up until then. Serge Aurier assisted in the first goal with a fine lobbed pass which caught out Sheffield United’s defence and the ball found a charging Bale who neatly lobbed the goalkeeper. Tottenham deserved their goal and that had been their 5th shot on target for the half against the Blades who had had zero. The half ended 1-0.

Heung-Min Son thought that he had made it 2-0 a few minutes into the second half but his effort was ruled out for offside. However just pass the hour mark Tottenham had doubled the lead when Son broke clear and squared the ball to Bale who only had the keeper to beat, still from 20 yards out Bale composed himself at speed and smashed the ball into the top right corner.

Bale completed his hat-trick seven minutes later with a shot from the edge of the area. Pumped full of confidence Bale was more than happy to take his chances and everything was turning into gold for the midfielder.

Son who had worked so hard the entire game got the goal of the game to make it 4-0 soon after. He turned wickedly beating his defender and smashed the ball home, a fine goal that will get better and better with each viewing.

The win for Tottenham puts them on 56 points and they are 5 points behind 4th placed Chelsea. The club have a small chance of a top four finish and at least with this victory have kept that dream alive.

As for interim coach Ryan Mason that’s 2 league wins from two and 6 goals scored and 1 conceded not such a bad start for him.

Tottenham will try to make it 3 wins in a row in the league when they play Leeds United away from home this weekend.

Sheffield United are relegated already and they will play Crystal Palace at home next. The Blades are 9 points behind 19th placed West Bromwich Albion and look set to finish last in the Premier League for this season.

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Premier League: Best 11 Players of Week 34

Manchester City are on the cusp of winning the Premier League title and all they need to do now is beat Chelsea next weekend to confirm it. City won their 25th game of the season when they beat Crystal Palace 2-0.

Leicester could only draw but they still look good for a top 4 spot and Chelsea in 4th are only 2 points behind them. Perhaps the big winners at the weekend were Tottenham who have won both league games under Ryan Mason. Gareth Bale scored a fantastic hat-trick to give Tottenham a boost of a top four finish and they have 56 points.

Everton lost at home for the 8th time this season and that defeat against Aston Villa has more than confirmed they won’t be finishing in a top four position. Relegation looks set in stone for the likes of Fulham and West Bromwich Albion and next weekend could well confirm their returns to the Championship.

Let’s check out the players that dazzled us this past weekend and the ones who earned all the points.

Goalkeeper: Ederson Moraes- Manchester City 7pts

Credit should go to Crystal Palace who lost 2-0 at home to Manchester City but in fact had more shots on target than the champions in waiting. Ederson had to be alert and pull off some fantastic saves to help his team and keep his 18th clean sheet of the season. He now has an incredible 109 points and has been well worth his value of 9m.

Defender: Benjamin Mendy- Manchester City 7pts

Benjamin Mendy now has 27 points from just seven starts and he had a solid weekend as he helped to keep a clean sheet as Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 2-0. Mendy earned extra points for assisting in the clubs first goal of the game also.

Defender: Joao Cancelo- Manchester City 5pts

One of the best defenders this season earned another 5 points and Cancelo has now helped to keep 15 clean sheets. With 78 points he is joint top with Ruben Dias as City’s best defender this season.

Defender: Lewis Dunk- Brighton 5pts

Lewis Dunk had a great game as Brighton beat Leeds United 2-0 and that was Dunk’s 11th clean sheet of the season- not bad for a team who have struggled near the bottom of the league for the majority of the campaign. Dunk has a total of 48 points, with his value set at 7m.

Defender: Thiago Silva- Chelsea 5pts

The veteran defender has blown hot and cold this season and has had some set backs with injuries but he showed all of his maturity and experience as Chelsea won the west London derby 2-0 over Fulham.

Midfielder: Mason Mount- Chelsea 4pts

Chelsea beat Fulham 2-0 to emerge as one of the favourites to finish in the top four and Mason Mount is always a danger. He didn’t score at the weekend but he did assist in the Blues first goal and that was his 5th of the season so far.

Midfielder: Gareth Bale- Tottenham 16pts

Gareth Bale hasn’t always been the dream ticket for Tottenham since he re-joined the club back on loan but when he shines, he really shines. Bale scored a memorable hat-trick as Tottenham thrashed Sheffield United 4-0. With 49 points Bale is ranked as the best midfielder for Spurs and his goal tally for the season now stands at 9.

Midfielder: Kai Havertz- Chelsea 10pts

What a game for Kai Havertz who earned a fantastic 10 points for Chelsea as they beat Crystal Palace 2-0. Havertz  scored both of Chelsea’s goals to give the player a boost of confidence in what has been an up and down debut season for the Blues so far.

Midfielder: Pascal Gross- Brighton 5pts

Pascal Gross scored Brighton’s opening goal against Leeds and the Seagulls never looked back as they recorded a great 2-0 win over Leeds who were in form coming into this game. Gross now has 41 points overall and has been one of the club’s best players.

Striker: Heung-Min Son- Tottenham 6pts

It’s not been a great 2nd half of the campaign for striker Heung-Min Son so he would have been delighted to have got on the score sheet especially as his earlier goal was ruled out by VAR. Son now has 16 goals this season and 86 points in another solid season for him.

Striker: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang- Arsenal 6pts

Aubameyang scored an important goal in a season which has not been vintage for the striker through a series of injuries and illness. It was a good 6 points earned though as Arsenal beat Newcastle 2-0 away from home, in a great result for the Gunners. Aubameyang has scored 10 goals now this season.

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Should Manchester United, Liverpool and the other clubs be punished for wanting a Super League?

The Super League was laughed out of football folklore before the first chapter had commenced, almost everyone connected with football despised the idea of the new competition. One could say it wasn’t even a competition as it was closed to 99% of other teams, but now that project is in tatters surely there should be ramifications.

The six clubs in the Premier League that wanted a breakaway were Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham. It is thought that Manchester United and Liverpool spearheaded the negotiations. These clubs represent the big six in English football, though not all this season have acted in that manner.

One has to wonder now with the Super League dead in the water only 3 days after being announced when the FA are going to step in? It doesn’t matter that the clubs have pulled out, that’s just one step back to normality. How about the fact that these clubs wanted and also signed for a breakaway to happen? According to Real Madrid president Florentino Perez this was a legally binding contract. Well Perez got a taste of his own medicine as these clubs have simply walked away, just as they had walked away from UEFA a few days ago.

So what should the FA do? Fines are really no good, that won’t punish the teams enough and the ideal scenario would be a points deduction. Now if you are a fan of any of the six clubs you could be angry about this, save that anger and remember all the protests against your own club at the beginning of the week. Ultimately this is about weeding out club owners who have very little care about the fans and the history of the game.

Each team should be deducted at least 10 points and of course that should mean the 12 teams involved. This is a time when the FA and UEFA need to flex their authority, they can’t be messed around like this.

For UEFA the Champions League resumes next week and how awkward does it feel and look that 3 of the four semi-finalists opted to leave this competition all behind this past weekend? Only PSG, and much to the surprise of the football world wanted no part in the Super League. The French champions will surely be pumped up now to win the competition.

Let’s wait and see what the FA do, that’s if they do anything, but they need to do the right thing, these clubs did wrong, and they need to be punished.

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Premier League: Best 11 Players of Week 30

Chelsea losing 5-2 at home to West Bromwich Albion, let that sink in because it may have to do over the course of several weeks. This season in the Premier League has thrown out some very surprising results, and it is as if the league was giving a welcomed if not delayed response to the arrival Thomas Tuchel. The defeat was Tuchel’s first in charge of the Blues and it has come at a dreadful time for them.

Liverpool beat Arsenal 3-0 and perhaps Jurgen Klopp’s side are over their dismal form and they are just 2 points from the top 4 now. Both Manchester teams won with Manchester City beating Leicester and they are 14 points clear. Manchester United consolidated 2nd place and they will surely finish in the top 4 now and are 11 points clear of 5th.

Let’s look at the players who made a difference over this past weekend.

Goalkeeper: Alisson- Liverpool 7pts

Alisson will have been very happy to keep a clean sheet away to a quality side like Arsenal as Liverpool looked solid again to win the match 3-0. That was Alisson’s 7th clean sheet of the season so far and he had to make a few good saves early on as well and stayed very focused throughout the game.

Defender: Benjamin Mendy- Manchester City 9pts

It was the perfect weekend for Benjamin Mendy who kept a clean sheet as league leaders Manchester City impressively beat Leicester 2-0 away from home. The icing on the cake was that Mendy scored a goal- the opening goal just before the hour mark which set up the eventual win. That was Mendy’s 2nd goal of the season and his value is worth 6.5m.

Defender: Trent Alexander- Arnold- Liverpool 7pts

Liverpool beat Arsenal 3-0 at the Emirates for a fantastic win for the champions. Alexander-Arnold now has 8 clean sheets to his name for this season he also assisted in the clubs first goal of the game bringing his total to 36 points.

Defender: Ruben Dias- Manchester City 5pts

Another solid performance from one of the most impressive defenders in the Premier League this season. Dias was commanding and very confident on the ball even away to Leicester who are in 3rd place in the league. Dias now has 78 points so far and his value is 7.5m.

Defender: Andrew Robertson- Liverpool 5pts

Andrew Robertson looked back to his self assured best holding the back line particularly well and frustrating Arsenal as Liverpool ran out 3-0 winners. Robertson earned 5 points in the process for his clean sheet and now has a total of 43 points.

Midfielder: Mohamed Salah- Liverpool 6pts

Salah looked back and sharp especially in the 2nd half of the Arsenal goal and the player scored his 18th goal of the season as he put the Gunners to the sword. He looks set to finish the season strongly.

Midfielder: Diogo Jota- Liverpool 9pts

An absolutely brilliant weekend for Diogo Jota saw the Liverpool player come back from an injury lay off to start scoring the goals again and he scored 2 for Liverpool as they beat rivals Arsenal 3-0. Jota now has 8 goals for the Reds and considering his injuries this season he has had a very good campaign in his debut season for the Reds.

Midfielder: Nathan Redmond- Southampton 6pts

Nathan Redmond was involved in one of the best games of the weekend as Southampton came back against Burnley from two goals down to beat them 3-2. Redmond assisted in Danny Ings 2nd goal for the Saints and then grabbed the winner.

Midfielder: Jack Harrison- Leeds United 4pts

Jack Harrison scored a good goal to open the scoring for Leeds as they beat Sheffield United 2-1 at the weekend. That was Harrison’s seventh goal of the season and he now has 54 points.

Striker: Harry Kane- Tottenham 8pts

Harry Kane has had a fantastic season and the Tottenham striker was on hand to score 2 goals as they drew 2-2 with Newcastle at the weekend. Ultimately it was a disappointing result for Tottenham given that they were leading 2-1 but personally for Kane those 2 goals means he has 19 goals. Kane is the top scorer now in the Premier League.

Striker: Callum Robertson- West Bromwich Albion 8pts

In an incredible game not just for Callum Robertson but for 19th placed West Bromwich Albion who beat Chelsea- unbeaten under Thomas Tuchel 5-2 at Stamford Bridge. Robertson scored 2 goals and now has 4 goals for the season. His value is 5m.

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The Best 5 Premier League players so far in 2020/21

Domestic football is on a break until the beginning of April, so there are no Premier League team of the week.

This is a chance then to see which Premier League players have been performing the best this season based on their fantasy points and gives you the chance to see if you have any players.

Together with picking out the top 5 we will also have honourable mentions of other players who have performed well this season and could well make their way into the top 5 by the end of the season.

The top 5 best Premier League players so far this season:

1. Bruno Fernandes- Manchester United 101 pts

If you had Bruno Fernandes in your team at the beginning of the season what a pick that would have been given that the midfielder costs just 8.5m. He has been such an important player for Manchester United that we can say that the club would not be 2nd without his input. And let’s talk about his contribution so far the Portuguese star has scored 16 goals and assisted in another 10 goals. If you want to know why United are doing well in the Premier League this season, look no further.

2. Ederson Moraes- Manchester City 98pts

When Manchester City win the league this season people will talk about how well Ilkay Gundogan has performed alongside Phil Foden. But the key to City’s title will be in their defence and Ederson in goal has had a terrific season. So far he has helped to keep 16 clean sheets, which is a fantastic record. On top of that Ederson has even assisted in a goal, which is a remarkable fact. He continues to get better by each season.

3. Harry Kane- Tottenham 93pts

By far England’s best striker Harry Kane may not win any trophies this season (the Carabao Cup withstanding) but even if he doesn’t what a personal season it has been again for Kane. Kane’s record for Tottenham in the league is nothing short of mind blowing and he has been involved in 30 of the clubs league goals. Tottenham have scored 49 goals, just let that sink in. Tottenham will be doing everything in their power to keep their star forward this summer as he will surely be in demand.

4. Mohamed Salah- Liverpool 90pts

It almost feels like this has been a quiet season for Salah given his presence over the Premier League in the last 2 seasons. But actually Salah has been as busy as ever, it’s just that Liverpool as a team faced such an implosion that nobody could have seen it. Still for Salah he has scored 17 times and assisted in 3 goals, that is hardly a poor season and the Egyptian international himself is actually having another solid and brilliant campaign.

5. Edouard Mendy- Chelsea 86pts

In truth Edouard Mendy was scripted to be the 2nd goal keeper at Chelsea, but once given his chance he has impressed enough to become the clubs number 1 shot stopper. It’s encouraging for him that new manager Thomas Tuchel has kept him on and can also, like former manager Frank Lampard, see his immense qualities. Mendy has kept 14 clean sheets so far and is turning out to be a real star with the Blues.

Honourable mentions:

John Stones is having his best season as a professional player and is such an important part of the set up at Manchester City. Before this season his place was genuinely under threat but he has stepped up to the mantle and is not just defending well but is good to score goals too- he currently has 4 so far.

Ilkay Gundogan another Manchester City player, like Stones is having his best season. Gundogan can be provider but he has also scored some very important goals this season and has 12 so far. Ruben Dias is yet another City player in defence which has held everything together and looks like the perfect replacement for club legend Vincent Kompany. Dias has 73 pts so far.

Let’s not forget about Harry Kane’s strike partner, Heung-Min Son who has been unfortunate lately having his injury and missing some key games. But Son has had brilliant spells this season and has scored 13 goals and assisted in another 9. Indeed Kane and Son are arguably the best striker partnership in Europe when they are firing on all cylinders.

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Premier League: Best 11 Players of Week 29

Because it was FA Cup weekend only 4 of the scheduled 10 Premier League games took place over the weekend but there were still some very significant results.

Tottenham bounced back after a nightmare week as they stepped up their top 4 hopes with victory over Aston Villa. The most thrilling game though involved Tottenham north London neighbours in another London derby as Arsenal came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 against West Ham.

Brighton won their 2nd game in a row and they have pushed 6 points clear of the bottom three as a result.

Let’s look at the players that made the team of the week.

Goalkeeper: Hugo Lloris- Tottenham 7pts

After a disappointing week for the club the captain would have been happy to have secured his 10th clean sheet of the season as Tottenham got back to winning ways to beat Aston Villa 2-0 away from home. Lloris now has 48 points.

Defender: – Sergio Reguilon Tottenham 5pts

Sergio Reguilon has been one of the best defenders in the league this season and he was alert and focused as Tottenham beat Aston Villa 2-0. He has now helped to keep six clean sheets.

Defender: Lewis Dunk- Brighton 5pts

Lewis Dunk really stood out for Brighton as they achieved a fantastic and much needed 3 points at the weekend by beating Newcastle 3-0. Dunk helped to keep a clean sheet and his value is is 7m and he is rated as the best Brighton defender.

Defender: Ben Davies- Tottenham 5pts

Ben Davies had a solid game for Tottenham when he came on for Reguilon in the 2nd half. Davies could be called upon and was so effective that Aston Villa were not able to come back into the game when he was brought on.

Defender: Joel Veltman- Brighton 7pts

Joel Veltman was at the heart of Brighton’s team performance. The defender helped to keep a clean sheet as he saw his side beat Newcastle 3-0. He also assisted in the first goal which got the ball rolling. Veltman now has 27 points and his value is 7.5m.

Midfielder: Neal Maupay- Brighton 6pts

Neal Maupay scored his 8th goal of the season as his goal helped Brighton on their way to beat Newcastle. It was a huge win for the club who with that victory have been able to move six points clear of the bottom three.

Midfielder: Jesse Lingard- West Ham 6pts

Jesse Lingard has had a very positive start to his career as a West Ham player. Lingard opened the scoring against Arsenal and then assisted two minutes later for the 2nd goal. Lingard has already since January, been involved in seven goals and scored 5 of them.

Midfielder: Lucas Moura- Tottenham 4pts

Lucas Moura assisted in Tottenham’s opening goal and that was the midfielder’s third of the season so far. Moura with 38 points is ranked as the best midfielder for the club and pulled 8 points clear of Tanguy NDombele.

Midfielder: Raphinha- Leeds United 4pts

Many expected Fulham to pull together another win as they are battling hard in relegation but Leeds pulled off a great victory by beating Fulham 2-1.Raphinha scored the winning goal and he now has six goals so far this season.

Striker: Patrick Bamford- Leeds United 5pts

Patrick Bamford scored the other goal for Leeds as they beat Fulham 2-1. That was Bamford’s 14th goal of the season and he has also assisted six times in what has been a superb season for the player so far. Bamford now has 68 points overall.

Striker: Harry Kane- Tottenham 4pts

Harry Kane was back to his best as he converted a penalty for Tottenham which secured their win and ended up being the winning goal as they bounced back to beat Aston Villa 2-1 after a miserable week for the club. That was Kane’s 17th goal of the season.

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Arsenal v Tottenham: Why the referee was wrong to award a penalty and why Lacazette should have been cautioned

Michael Oliver had to stand up and make a decision in an inevitable heated north London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham. With the game locked at 1-1 and time running down, Arsenal had an appeal for a penalty, and got it.

Alexandre Lacazette was put through on goal and it looked fairly obvious that he was going to score, the crowd if there was one were about to go wild, instead that was confined to living rooms up and down the country. Lacazette was about to score the winner, his 10th of the season, except he made an error. Instead of lashing the ball past Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, he instead swung at the ball and missed it. Chance over, not quite. After the miss kick Tottenham defender Davinson Sanchez clambered into Lacazette and of course the Arsenal striker went to ground. A penalty was awarded.

Sanchez was booked, Tottenham protested, Jose Mourinho on the touchline had to watch the replay on an Ipad, all were in agreement, no penalty. Of course anyone associated with Tottenham will go down the no penalty route, but plenty of seasoned pundits felt the same. Andy Gray, Richard Keys and Ruud Gullit could not believe that a penalty had been given.

Let’s rewind a bit and try to figure out why referee Michael Oliver gave the penalty. On first glance at full speed and from where he was it did look like a penalty. However fair is fair and VAR flagged it up for Oliver to have a few looks on the monitor but Oliver wasn’t changing his mind. One could believe that Oliver came to his decision because he saw a foul, even after the incident. The problem with that is that if one says there was contact between Sanchez and Lacazette then it was minimal and the contact would have affected Lacazette’s right leg- so why was the Arsenal forward clutching his left leg when he went down?

If anything Lacazette played on the contact to earn a penalty to spare his blushes for the miss kick. A kick that has been forgotten about now. Imagine he had made that miss kick and Sanchez was 5 yards behind, it would be on a blooper reel for years. Instead he was able to sweep that incident under the carpet and score from the penalty spot.

Lacazette ended the game as the hero but he should have been booked for feigning injury on his leg. Everyone of course has different opinions of the incident, but it is sad to see such incidents that can split opinions either way in such big games.

Oliver believes he was right, maybe he won’t in a years’ time. But the very big games should be decided on quality not petty moments like this.

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Premier League Game of the Week: Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham

The north London derby at least for spectacle didn’t disappoint and it was Arsenal, so overshadowed in the past 3 years by Tottenham who took the spoils in a 2-1 victory.

The Gunners are trying to finish the season strong after another disappointing campaign in which they have flirted with the bottom half of the table, and even after this victory the club are still 10th.

There was entertainment so to speak even before a ball was kicked given that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had dropped star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the bench. The reason? Protocol and Aubameyang had turned up late for the pre match set-up.

As for the game Arsenal needed to start on a positive note and they did. Though there were no early goals the Gunners came out the block firing and were camped in Tottenham’s half with wave and wave of attacks. It seemed that it would be inevitable that Tottenham would concede. There was also a tinge of disappointment that Tottenham, who have had the better season so far than Arsenal, were letting the Gunners boss the game.

But such is this season it took the first shot on target for Tottenham to score and go 1-0 up. It was an important goal of course, but what a goal too. Erik Lamela would be hero an villain of this game but this was his heroic moment. Lamela shot at goal and the ball went through the Arsenal defend as if guided by the’ force’. What actually happened and it was more noticeable on the replay was that Lamela’s shot was the rabona one. The infamous shot that was actually invented 76 years ago in Argentina. It was a stunner that even Arsenal fans had to praise. As for Lamela, well he’s done that before in an Europa League tie six years ago for Tottenham.

Unfortunately for Tottenham though they were not able to calm the game down and try to sucker punch Arsenal again. A Jose Mourinho led team 1-0 up away from home in a big game, usually means 3 points for the club he is in charge of. However Tottenham were unlucky as Arsenal equalised soon after. The goal was kind of scored by new signing Martin Odegaard who was obviously delighted with it. But his shot took a huge deflection that left Tottenham goal keeper Hugo Lloris with no chance to stop it.

Arsenal had been the more attacking team, more was expected of Tottenham but it was questionable if this game should have still been 0-0.

The biggest talking point that has split pundits, media and the fans was the penalty that Arsenal were awarded late on. Alexandre Lacazette miskicked the ball and Davinson Sanchez came into him at the same time. The penalty looked harsh for some and for others was a stone cold one. That could be debated. It was enough however to win the game for Arsenal who had finished it with 3 shots on target. For all their attacking prowess in the match the Gunners had ended up with the same shots on target as Tottenham.

To add insult to injury for Tottenham Lamela was sent off as the visitors were losing their grip on the game.

The result is a blow for Tottenham’s top 4 chances as they slipped 6 points behind that objective but they do have a game in hand to play over 4th placed Chelsea, so that chase isn’t over just yet.

For Arsenal the goal is to lift the team up so they have a strong finish to the season and the Gunners have now gone a month in all competitions undefeated and could be heading in the right direction.

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