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David Moyes’ decision to field West Ham United winger Jarrod Bowen as a makeshift centre-forward against Brighton and Hove Albion backfired horrifically on Sunday.

Bowen was fielded in a central role to serve as the middleman between striker Sebastien Haller and captain Mark Noble, with an emphasis on pushing high up the field at the London Stadium.

Instead, most of the work Bowen could muster at home to the Seagulls saw the former Hull City maestro backtrack into Irons territory, before seeing his reputation spared any further damage when replaced by Andriy Yarmolenko at half-time looking absolutely knackered.

West Ham’s inability to dictate the flow of proceedings in the opening 45 minutes hindered Bowen’s hopes of making a move into a central role work, with the £25m-rated playmaker unable to find the needed space to create or the end product when openings developed.

Brighton’s buoyant start left Haller isolated without his attacking partner able to get close, while even Bowen’s deliveries from set-pieces was woeful with the 24-year-old failing to find a teammate with 50 per cent of his four corners taken.

His SofaScore heatmap from the Seagulls affair even showed the right-hand corner flag to be where a majority of Bowen’s 25 touches were taken, as he laboured to a mere seven successful passes, misplaced his two open-play crosses, offered zero key balls and missed the target with his sole shot before being hooked.

The £96,000-per-week forward further lost possession 10 times, though won three of his four ground duels, and will be desperate for the hectic festive schedule to end in order to earn a welcome rest having started all 15 of the Hammers’ Premier League fixtures this term.

Moyes will now be forced to go back to the drawing board ahead of West Ham’s trip to Southampton on Tuesday night looking to resolve his creativity crisis, that left the Hammers forced to come from behind twice to snatch a point at home to Brighton.

Yarmolenko is unlikely to be Moyes’ answer having endured a frustrating cameo against Brighton, as the Ukraine international’s direct runs caused the Seagulls problems but often without a decisive end product.

AND in other news, a West Ham gem who’s “not been at the races” betrayed David Moyes vs Brighton.

Crystal Palace take on West Ham United on Wednesday night, and manager Roy Hodgson provided an update on the squad. He pointed out that the club have one injury concern before the clash.

The latest from the Eagles manager

Speaking in his press conference previewing the West Ham game, Hodgson said: “The only player missing from training this morning was Mamadou Sakho. He will need to be assessed. Other than concern for Sakho, only the long-term absentees remain unavailable.”

Is this a big blow for Palace?

Speaking earlier this season following Sakho’s return from injury, Roy Hodgson praised the former Liverpool man’s work ethic in getting back to fitness as ‘incredible’.

His injuries have been an issue as they have seen him miss over 375 days of football since he joined the Eagles (Transfermarkt). However, he has been a key player for the club when fit, especially in the 2017/18 campaign. It was arguably his best, as he managed 1.1 tackles, 1.6 interceptions, and 5.2 clearances a game (WhoScored). If he could rekindle this form, then there is no doubt that Palace should keep him long-term.

The South London side do have an abundance of experience at the back, and reliable pairing Cheikhou Kouyate and Gary Cahill seem like first choice currently for Hodgson, but they are now one injury away from being dangerously thin in that department.

In other Palace news, have a read of a bizarre statistic about the club which fans aren’t happy with here!

According to The Independent, Manchester City have earmarked a move for Aston Villa talisman Jack Grealish.

What’s the story?

The England star was the subject of major speculation over the course of the summer transfer window just gone by, but he appeared to end all that by signing a new five-year deal back in September, declaring that it is “home” and that he’s “very happy here”.

That hasn’t stopped some of the Premier League’s big boys from casting admiring glances however, and The Independent now claim that it’s City who have moved ahead of neighbours Manchester United in the race to sign him.

It’s claimed that Pep Guardiola has urged the City board to make a move for the play-maker, and that he’s received a glowing reference from Kevin De Bruyne about Grealish’s talents. The report adds that whilst there’s a clause in his contract that won’t allow him to leave Villa Park for less than £100m, “many close to the player however feel it is only a matter of time until he makes the step up to one of the big six”.

Villa shouldn’t be worried

A couple of months ago, a lot of Villa fans would surely have been concerned about Grealish potentially leaving. After all, the club were edging closer and closer towards relegation back to the Championship, and reports had already indicated United were prepared to make a big-money move.

But after surviving the drop on the final day, Dean Smith’s side made some wholesale improvements to their first-team squad over the summer, and have enjoyed an incredible start to the new Premier League season.

In fact, they remain just five points off the top of the table with a game in hand, and whilst it’s very early to suggest they might end up with European football at the finish of the season, they’ve given themselves the best possible chance to do just that.

And as Grealish himself said, Villa is his home. Playing in Europe with his boyhood club is surely one of his biggest dreams, and rather than it being a wild fantasy like it may have been earlier this year, it’s a very realistic possibility right now. It would mean an awful lot more to him to do something amazing with his team, then go be just another cog in a machine elsewhere.

Described as a “special player” by former Villa man Paul Merson, if Johan Lange can work his magic over the course of the next year or so to keep Grealish at the club, then it would go down as his ultimate masterpiece since arriving.

Declan Rice was uncharacteristically wasteful in West Ham United’s victory over London rivals Fulham on Saturday, with the England international unable to leave a positive impression on the result.

The 21-year-old is among the most important players at the London Stadium, where boss David Moyes has called on Rice to start all available Premier League fixtures since returning to succeed Manuel Pellegrini at the helm.

But Rice was far from the player reportedly set to earn a £120,000-per-week contract after transfer interest from Chelsea this summer, as the midfielder West Ham valued as high as £80million frequently struggled to put any pressure on Fulham.

England boss Gareth Southgate has been awash with praise for Rice in recent weeks, using words like ‘maturity’ ‘responsibility’, ‘huge potential’ and ‘great mentality’ to describe the 11-cap international he awarded a debut to.

But Moyes failed to see any of that or any real influence from Rice this weekend, and will be hoping for far better from the midfielder once he returns from Three Lions duty after being named in Southgate’s squad to face the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and Iceland.

Southgate will be hoping his prior praise is met with a performance on the pitch, too, having said via quotes by the official West Ham website: “We are delighted, pleased with how he is developing. He is a good professional, wants to learn, wants to work for the team, digs in for the team, is getting more vocal on the pitch.

“He has huge potential and the reason he has that potential is because he has a great mentality and desire to keep improving. He has other good examples among the senior players here. He knows the ones to follow and that is a good start.

“To have the additional responsibility of [West Ham] captaincy is brilliant and tells you also a bit about him as a person. For someone that young to be given the captaincy tells you the maturity he has, the responsibility he takes.”

Rice offered next to none of what Southgate has lauded him for against Fulham this weekend, as the Irons captain was uncharacteristically careless, particularly in the first half, as he lost five of seven ground duels, four of six aerial duels and turned the ball over on nine occasions, per SofaScore, for a duel success rating of just 30%.

He was further dribbled past when attempting two of his three tackles and committed two fouls, but somewhat made up for those shortcomings with three interceptions and by blocking two shots.

Though Moyes would have expected Rice to offer far more from his vast time on the ball, having recorded 81 touches, yet saw the midfielder attempt just 16 of his 70 passes in the final third, per WhoScored and play just five of his total efforts long – of which three found teammates.

Rice will know he can offer more than what he presented against Fulham, and both Moyes and Southgate will be banking on seeing that on the pitch in the weeks to come.

AND in other news, West Ham have entered the £8m race to sign an in-demand sensation who “can do anything”.

Loads of Everton fans were left fuming over the possible exit of Dominic Calvert-Lewin to play under Ronald Koeman at Barcelona.

According to Spanish news outlet Mundo Deportivo (via The Toffee Blues), the former Everton manager is interested in reuniting with the 23-year old in Spain.

Incidentally, Calvert-Lewin did not have the best of times playing under Koeman, as he only managed to score four goals and provide three assists in 28 games in all competitions at Goodison Park, as per Transfermarkt.

However, the striker has been much-improved so far this term, scoring no fewer than nine goals in just six matches over all competitions, including scoring a hat-trick in two separate games (per Transfermarkt).

Therefore, it is perhaps not a surprise that Koeman is interested in signing him, and the Dutchman may well make his move in the January transfer window.

Everton fan reaction to possible Calvert-Lewin exit

These Everton supporters on Twitter were raging over the possibility of Calvert-Lewin leaving the Toffees:

Evertonians, would you sell Calvert-Lewin for the right price? Comment below with your views!

Celtic are set to face a bid for one of their stars before the end of the summer transfer window and it would be a major mistake if they were to entertain any advances…

What’s the word?

According to Football Insider, Premier League outfit West Bromwich Albion are pursuing the signature of Hoops midfielder Olivier Ntcham with Slaven Bilic keen to bolster his options after a slow start to the season.

They claim that the Scottish champions value the Frenchman at around £12m, triple the amount they paid for him in 2017.

It remains to be seen if Celtic would be open to a sale, though the 24-year-old is a wanted man across Europe. He has two years left on his current contract at Parkhead.

Transfer disaster

This would be an awfully silly decision to make from head of football Nick Hammond as well as manager Neil Lennon if they sanction this exit.

Ntcham has played nine times already this season, starting five times across the SPFL and Champions League qualifying and has provided two assists, per Transfermarkt.

Lennon has already hinted at the fact that his 35-year-old skipper Scott Brown isn’t going to be able to play week-in, week-out at this level, especially with a potential venture into the Europa League – that quest starts on Thursday.

That means strength in depth will be needed, which is where Ntcham comes in and perhaps eventually, he could be the man to replace the Scottish veteran in the future.

Ex-Bhoys boss Brendan Rodgers once hailed the midfielder as a “terrific talent” whilst Lennon himself knows of his qualities, he said: “Ntcham is an excellent player and it’s really up to him to keep that consistency. He’s a great trainer and already he’s made a significant start to the season. When he is in the mood, he’s fantastic. If we can just get that consistent level from him, we’ll have one hell of a player on our hands – as we already do.”

It just seems like a mistake to give up on a player that has already played 132 times for the club at such a young age.

In a summer or two, Hammond will be staring down the barrel at finding a suitable Brown successor when they may have had one lie in wait all along.

AND in other news, Celtic should reignite interest in “big, big talent” likened to Raheem Sterling…

Everton’s season has come to an end in disappointing fashion as they were thumped by relegated AFC Bournemouth at Goodison Park.

You could tell that it was a battle between a team already on their holidays against one with everything to play for.

A rare start for Moise Kean paid off as he equalised in the first half following Josh King’s early penalty, but the Cherries fought back thanks to strikes from Dominic Solanke and Junior Stanislas – though it wasn’t enough to keep them in the top-flight due to Villa’s draw at West Ham.

Plenty of the Toffees faithful were left fuming by the performance of Theo Walcott, who was withdrawn before the hour mark by Carlo Ancelotti.

He was blasted for being a passenger as well as a disgrace with one supporter claiming the veteran winger wasn’t fit to wear the shirt.

Lots of other fans pin-pointed some of the former Arsenal man’s faults, ranging from his crosses to his inability to keep hold of the ball.

Per SofaScore, Walcott managed a dire 69% passing accuracy, provided no accurate crosses, lost possession 13 times and missed one big chance.

So maybe these supporters are onto something.

It’s led to many others suggesting that he should be offloaded this summer – some were even praying that it was the last time they see the 31-year-old in a Blues shirt.

Walcott joined Everton in January 2018 for £20m and it appears plenty in Merseyside are hoping that 2020 is the final time he features.

AND in other news, Everton facing another Brands disasterclass if they sign Serie A star…

Speaking to Football Insider, Noel Whelan has revealed why he believes Victor Orta faces a difficult job at Leeds this summer.

What did he say?

After Angus Kinnear revealed that Orta has turned his attentions to “extending loan player contracts and retaining options for permanent signings beyond their original expiry date”, Whelan has suggested that the Spaniard will find it difficult to work under the current circumstances.

He said: “There’s going to be disappointments across the board at many, many clubs when it comes to players – they’re undecided on their future, other clubs don’t know if they can let a player go now.

Is it Haaland Snr or David Hopkins? Your Leeds knowledge will be put to the test with this quiz…

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“There’s going to be a lot more disappointment than we think right now because no one knows the future and how things are going to pan out after this.

“Everyone’s very uncertain – until the season’s probably finished and we have an idea of how everything’s going to play out, people can’t really make decisions and judgments right now.”

Unprecedented

Make no mistake about it, Orta will have his work cut out in terms of dealing with players who are already at the club like Jack Harrison and Ben White, and then also trying to weave his magic with new signings too.

Marcelo Bielsa will no doubt be keen on ensuring that the club’s current loanees are still a part of his first-team squad for the Championship run-in, and with promotion firmly within their grasp, it would be quite something if they let it slip because they had to wave goodbye to Harrison and White, amongst others.

Whether Orta can keep the Leeds squad in tact over these coming weeks may determine the Whites’ quest for Premier League football next season.

Amidst the continued uncertainty over the future of Paul Pogba, Manchester United unsurprisingly seem to be keen on ensuring they bring in a new central midfielder this summer.

Pogba was the subject of big interest from the likes of Juventus and Real Madrid last summer, but ended up staying put at Old Trafford – injuries however have stopped him from taking to the field too many times however this season.

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But according to The Daily Mail, United, Chelsea and Tottenham are all interested in Lazio powerhouse Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, with the report revealing in an update that he will be allowed to leave the club for a fee upwards of £80m.

After hearing about the latest news on the Serbian, United fans took to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the situation.

Some United fans seemed to be totally on board with the idea of Milinkovic-Savic coming in to be Pogba’s replacement at the club.

If Pogba does end up leaving the club this summer, then bringing in Milinkovic-Savic would certainly be an adequate replacement.

The Serbian has a similar physical profile to the former Juventus star, and wouldn’t come with all the added Mino Raiola baggage that comes with Pogba.

It’s a move that makes a lot of sense.

Leeds United fans absolutely adore midfielder Kalvin Phillips so you can only imagine the reaction should the 24-year-old ever depart Elland Road, but maybe they shouldn’t worry going by Beren Cross’ latest article.

The LeedsLive reporter profiles young prospect Alfie McCalmont dubbed Marcelo ‘Bielsa’s next project’.

He claims that the Argentine was asked by Victor Orta about what he wanted should Phillips leave the west Yorkshire outfit – a contingency plan if you like – and Bielsa went away and watched all of the U23’s 2018/19 campaign and decided that the 20-year-old Northern Irishman was the man.

McCalmont was handed his debut earlier this season, coming on as a substitute against Salford City in the EFL Cup and would record his first start in the same competition two weeks later against Stoke City.

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He’s also picked up a cap for his national side.

Some supporters have been reacting to Cross on social media, here’s what has been said…

AND in other news, Leeds fans react as Marcelo Bielsa image emerges…