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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Wolves have finally started to see their fortunes turn around, particularly in the Premier League.

Sunday’s shock victory over Manchester City meant it was three straight victories in regulation time – a far cry from a month ago when the west Midlands club were thrashed 5-2 by Chelsea at Molineux before losing their Europa League group opener.

With the season taking an interval for the second international break of the season, transfer rumours tend to resurface with the lack of considerable competitive football on offer at the top of the elite game.

Wolves this week have already seen Willy Boly linked with a move to Arsenal, but there’s also been chatter about Ruben Neves’ future over in Spain as La Liga giants Real Madrid see him as a possible target in January.

One Wolves fan thinks he’s pinpointed the moment when they went from EPL strugglers to “peak Barcelona 2011” in the video below…

It’s doubtful that many would like to see his departure, though, it is one that should ultimately happen.

Firstly, those reports suggest that the Portuguese anchorman would be available for €50m (£44.8m), which is more than double what they originally paid for him, but they could probably get a lot more, especially with how heavily Los Blancos tend to pursue their targets.

Secondly, he wouldn’t be that big of a miss based off this season.

The 22-year-old was outstanding in the Championship when Wolves won the title – the fact he left Champions League regulars Porto for the English second tier was quite surprising, so him looking a cut above everyone else was a complete contrast in reality.

Neves bagged six goals while averaging a passing accuracy of 84.9% and 2.3 tackles per game, via WhoScored.

But since then, it’s gradually decreased culminating in this season’s weak attempt, which suggests he’s struggled to step up to the difference in quality.

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His passing accuracy is currently at a career-low 71.7%, and he hasn’t had the domineering effect in midfield that he once had in the old gold shirt, averaging only 1.3 tackles per game.

Neves played in 35 top-flight games last campaign, but he’s been dropped several times already this season because of his poor performances – starting just one of Wolves’ last three Premier League matches.

Fellow countryman Joao Moutinho has stepped up to contribute in areas he probably didn’t previously do earlier in his career – as seen against City, where he recorded three more tackles than the defensively-minded Neves.

It may be harsh, but the 6-foot midfielder has been good for the odd screamer since their title-winning campaign, but aside from that, he’s struggled to live up to that golden debut season. On that evidence, he’s someone they could potentially replace.

Transfermarkt rate him at £45m, they can get a lot more than that, which will help them find a replacement that can do a better job in defensive midfield.

Lots of Tottenham fans have taken to Twitter to react after A Bola reported that the north Londoners are continuing to keep an eye on Sporting midfielder Bruno Fernandes.

Fernandes was a transfer target for Spurs back in the summer, and the Portuguese giants rejected a huge £58m offer from Tottenham for the 25-year-old’s services due to the “difficult” structure of the deal.

The 16-cap Portugal international has already scored seven goals and recorded five assists in all competitions for Sporting this season, having previously amassed a stunning haul of 32 goals and 18 assists in the 2018/19 campaign.

A Bola now reports that the midfielder is still on Spurs’ radar, news that has sparked a lot of response from the Tottenham fans on Twitter.

One fan said that the goal scoring midfielder could have made a difference at the start of this season, while another said that he should be signed to replace Christian Eriksen – his contract expires in the summer – instead of Paulo Dybala, another reported summer target.

Let’s take a look at some of the Twitter reaction…

Arsenal fans have been reacting to Nicolas Pepe’s goal for the Ivory Coast after an incredible assist from summer target Wilfried Zaha.

Zaha, aged 26, played a part in his team’s successes during Ivory Coast’s 3-1 win against DR Congo on Sunday.

Supporters were in awe as his superb skill led to Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe getting on the scoresheet. The Ivorian netted in injury time along with Wilfried Kanon to secure the win during the all-African friendly match.

The Gunners were heavily linked with the Crystal Palace winger during the summer – with BBC Sport even reporting on a £40m offer – and Zaha admitted that his “head was a bit all over the place” after the summer transfer window closed, per BBC Africa (via the Daily Mail).

Arsenal fans were excited to see Zaha produce the moment of magic which led to their club’s £72m signing scoring from close range.

One supporter said that it would be an “insane statement” from the club to capture the former Manchester United midfielder, while others predicted he’ll be coming to the Emirates soon.

Here you will find some of the best responses from Arsenal fans:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

The Championship season is only 12 games old, but West Brom have been brewing up a storm as they currently occupy top spot going into tonight’s fixtures.

Albion have lost the fewest amount of matches in the division, meaning they are two points clear of second-placed Leeds United, who are the only side to defeat them this season.

But, it’s not just the club as a whole that have been topping the charts for specific statistics.

The Baggies’ shot-stopper Sam Johnstone is currently outperforming every single goalkeeper in England’s top two divisions in terms of total saves made for the season.

The 26-year-old has recorded 42 saves across 12 matches, meaning he averages 3.5 per game. He is closely followed by Millwall’s Bartosz Bialkowski, who has managed one less having joined from relegated side Ipswich Town in the summer.

Johnstone has even managed more saves than Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who has recorded 35 saves from their nine matches, though his average per game is higher at 3.8.

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But the Gunners recently held the unfortunate acclaim for facing the most shots of any side in Europe’s elite five leagues, so that only makes Albion’s number one look even more impressive.

However, despite all the personal positives for the former Manchester United man, it offers up a more pressing concern for manager Slaven Bilic.

The fact that his keeper is making so many saves means that his defence is rather penetrable as they are clearly allowing attempts on goal, this train of thought is only reinforced when seeing that West Brom have kept just two clean sheets all season – yet somehow remain at the Championship’s summit.

The Baggies currently concede an average of 11.9 shots per game, which places them in the middle of the Championship for that statistic, but what is most damning is that their most likely title challengers in Leeds are conceding the fewest shots per game at 8.9, via WhoScored.

At some stage, the scale is going to swing in their favour unless the Croatian can find a way to eradicate the problems that lie in his leaking defence.

Some Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter in pessimistic mood after they saw Michy Batshuayi score a late winner for Chelsea against Ajax in the Champions League.

The Belgium international struck in the 86th minute of the group stage tie to hand the Blues all three points, and following his European exploits, some Palace fans don’t seem too confident of re-signing him when the January window opens.

Batshuayi is reportedly a target for the Eagles in January as the south Londoners look to be reunited with the 25-year-old, who scored five goals in nine Premier League starts for them while on loan in the second half of last season.

The former Marseille striker has made just one start under Frank Lampard this term, which came in the Carabao Cup – despite that, he has still scored an impressive four goals in all competitions.

The Europa League winners are believed to want £22m for their Belgian forward in January, although after his late winner in Amsterdam, some Palace fans on Twitter aren’t confident of a deal going through.

Let’s take a look at some of the tweets…

Liverpool fans were unimpressed with the post-match comments of Tottenham striker Harry Kane after the Reds won 2-1 at Anfield.

The England international scored inside 50 seconds to give his side the lead against the team that beat them in the Champions League Final four months earlier. However, Spurs were unable to keep hold of their lead as the Reds came from a goal down to claim victory in the second half.

Kane claimed that Jurgen Klopp’s side were “getting those little breaks”, hinting that the Reds were lucky to get the victory (as per Neil Jones of Goal.)

Unfortunately for the Spurs striker, the match statistics do not back up the outlandish claims about Liverpool’s supposed luck. The Merseyside club had 21 shots with 12 of them on target as opposed to the visitors’ 11 attempts. The hosts also had 70% possession and eight corners, with Klopp stating that it was his team at their best.

Supporters accused Kane of possessing “sour grapes” while another said that his remarks came under the category of “loser talk”.

Here you will find some of the best comments from Liverpool fans:

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…

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Friday Night Social, Charlton boss Lee Bowyer has revealed his shock at Arsenal’s decision-making over former starlet Krystian Bielik.

What did he say?

The Poland international was on the Gunners’ books since January 2015, when he joined the north London side from Legia Warsaw.

However, his game-time at the Emirates was incredibly limited, and he made just two senior appearances. Bielik spent last season on loan at Bowyer’s Charlton, and he made a significant impression in his spell with the Addicks. The 21-year-old played 34 times as the club gained promotion to the Championship, and scored four goals and provided a further two assists despite predominantly playing in holding midfield and at centre-back.

Despite his impressive form, Bielik was sold by the Gunners to Derby in the summer, and Bowyer voiced his surprise at why they didn’t recall him in January this year.

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He said (as quoted by Football.London): “They should focus on their centre halves, because that is where they are weak. It’s not like they have got two good ones and a back-up. We had a good lad with us last season called Krystian Bielik.

“They had a couple of injuries and how they didn’t recall him in the January and give the kid a chance (I don’t know), because he is an exceptional centre half. They didn’t even take him back and ended up playing midfielders at centre-back. Why are you complicating things? They’ve always had that problem.”

A huge oversight

At just 21, Bielik still has plenty of room to grow, and after enjoying a successful season on loan last year, surely he was worth a shot in pre-season? Instead, Emery didn’t give the Pole a chance, and Derby have been the biggest beneficiaries of that decision.

The indoor football skills in the video below have to be seen to be believed…

Considering the Gunner’s defensive struggles this season – they had conceded 14 times in the Premier League before their clash against Wolves on Saturday afternoon – Bielik could well have seized his opportunity were he given the chance to do so. Instead, Arsenal have seen both Sokratis and David Luiz make glaring mistakes this campaign against the likes of Watford and Liverpool respectively.

Tottenham Hotspur fans want the club to sign Andre Onana from Ajax.The Sun claimed recently that the goalkeeper has been identified as a possible successor to Hugo Lloris, with a £35m swoop in January mooted.Lloris, of course, is currently injured and ruled out until 2020, and Paulo Gazzaniga has been deputising for the World Cup winner.Onana played against Spurs last season in the Champions League as the two played out a dramatic two-legged semi-final, which Mauricio Pochettino’s team won.The 23-year-old is a Cameroon international and impressed during his side’s 4-4 draw with Chelsea on Tuesday evening.

While Onana conceded four, he made a brilliant late save to deny Michy Batshuayi late on, one of five stops throughout the 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge, per WhoScored.

And fans were impressed by his display, with many calling on the club to bring him in during a future transfer window.

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

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

Last Saturday, Barcelona seemingly cruised to a comfortable 4-1 victory over Celta Vigo as the Catalans brushed their opposition aside and successfully snatched all three points away. But the scoreline only tells a small part of the whole story. The bigger picture, however, is much more worrying for the Blaugrana.

On the chalkboard

This victory was a long time coming for many of the Cules.

Their team has been suffering as of late and the defeat to Levante and the uninspiring goalless draw vs Slavia Prague in the Champions League set the alarm bells ringing.

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But Ernesto Valverde’s team got back on track and returned to winning ways by dispatching a struggling Celta Vigo team in front of their own fans.

A 4-1 victory sounds like a statement that echoes Barcelona’s big return to form, but upon further investigation it’s a far cry from what it’s painted to be.

Papering over the cracks

Three out of four Barcelona goals on the night against Celta Vigo came courtesy of Lionel Messi’s magic, and all three were from set-pieces: one penalty and two free-kicks for the Argentine’s hat-trick.

And were it not for Sergio Busquets’ late goal from the edge of the box, the Catalan giants would have gone three games without a goal from open-play.

They couldn’t score a single one against Slavia Prague and their only goal against Levante before that came from another Messi penalty.

The problem suddenly becomes more than apparent and there are only two clear constants in this team as of late: Messi magic and set-pieces, with both of those often being one and the same aspect.

This thesis is even further solidified when we analyse the clash against Celta Vigo a bit more.

Ten shots vs six and seven vs five on target. Similarly, 1.50 expected goals vs 0.30 expected goals.

And suddenly, the perceived gulf between the two teams is not as big anymore despite Barcelona being the league leaders and Celta Vigo struggling to avoid the relegation spots in the table, and the talk of dominance becomes questionable.

Not to mention that they have now lost six of their last seven games in the ongoing campaign.

When we also take a look at the possession battle, we can see that Barcelona’s final average of 60.4% has definitely fluctuated throughout the full 90 minutes with the visitors even having a clear edge at certain points in the clash.

By all means, Celta Vigo didn’t just roll over and let the Catalans take the spoils of war.

It was only Messi’s genius that made the difference on the day.

Judging by this, Valverde will definitely have to get back to the drawing board and figure something out because this Barcelona are still far from what they’re supposed to be.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Tottenham Hotspur have a problem on their hands.

Well, they have several when one considers their league form, but one that has gone unnoticed is the puzzle handed to manager Mauricio Pochettino by Ryan Sessegnon.

Signed for £25m in the summer from Fulham, he simply hasn’t had a chance to show his worth.

That has mostly been down to a hamstring injury that unfortunately ruled him out of the first 10 games of the Premier League season and he has since played twice – coming on as a substitute in injury time versus Everton and then playing 15 minutes against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.

That latter appearance is instructive too. He replaced Son Heung-Min in that game, meaning he was deployed as a left winger, and he subsequently registered an assist, laying on the pass from which Christian Eriksen scored his side’s fourth goal.

But is he likely to get much playing time on the left wing?

Son is the starter in that position, playing there eight times already this season and 18 times last season. When he was shifted into a centre-forward role, Spurs adapted their formation to regularly utilise a narrow 4-4-2 diamond, as seen against Barcelona and Ajax in the Champions League.

There is an obvious problem with that: Sessegnon can’t play central midfield or centre-forward.

Now, the argument could be made that he could play at left-back and that is certainly true, but it is one area of the squad where Spurs actually have decent depth.

Not only is Danny Rose still trusted by his manager, but Ben Davies is also an international calibre full-back, too, having won 48 caps for Wales.

It is difficult, thus, to see where Sessegnon’s opportunity is going to come from.

Spurs are currently in poor form and haven’t won in the Premier League since September. They last won on the road against Fulham, in January, in a game in which Sessegnon came on as a substitute for the hosts.

Mauricio Pochettino, then, has to continue to pick his best team as he looks to arrest this slump.

At this point, that means Son plays on the left wing and one of Rose or Davies plays at full-back.

Sessegnon, it must be said, is young and he has time on his side but at this point, he may well be left waiting for the FA Cup to roll around – or for a player to pick up an injury – before he actually gets 90 minutes under his belt.

That cannot be good for his development, nor for his chances of staking a claim to start on a regular basis.