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West Ham United are considering a late move for Tottenham Hotspur flop Fernando Llorente, according to the Daily Mail.

What’s the word?

Plenty of new faces have come through the welcome gates at the London Stadium over the past few weeks, but there is an area of the pitch that needs some cover.

The Hammers only have until 5pm to finalise their business and possibly bring in a ninth signing.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini has strengthened in all thirds of the pitch, but with Andy Carroll on the sidelines for the next few months and Jordan Hugill moving to Middlesbrough, a new striker is necessary.

According to the Daily Mail, Tottenham’s Llorente has now emerged as a possible target.

The publication states that Spurs are open to either a loan or permanent deal, of which would cost West Ham around £7m.

Should the Hammers go for it?

Moving for the Spaniard is a risk for the East London outfit due to the fact that he had a poor season at Tottenham.

The 33-year-old, who is valued at £6.3m by Transfermarkt, started just one Premier League game and came off the bench in a further 15.

In that time, Llorente found the back of the net just once, which is not the most encouraging statistic for the Hammers.

If the former Juventus forward is given more game time at the London Stadium then perhaps his return will be better, but the club should avoid a permanent deal if possible.

Landing the striker on a loan arrangement means that there is less pressure for the transfer to work out, and it costs West Ham less money.

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Arsenal are open to offers for out of favour striker Danny Welbeck according to The Evening Standard.

What’s the story?

The Manchester United youth product headed to Arsenal in the summer of 2014 and went to make 80 Premier League appearances under Arsene Wenger, scoring 15 goals.

However, it appears the England international is not part of new boss Unai Emery’s plans after informing the striker that he will not be a regular and the club will listen to offers.

According to the article, Everton, Southampton and Bournemouth are interested in securing his services as the Gunners look to lower their wage bill, with Welbeck on a reported £115,000 per week.

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Time to sell

Welbeck only has one year left on his deal so Arsenal can’t command a massive fee for the World Cup player.

It’s clear that Emery prefers Alex Iwobi as backup after offering him a new contract this summer, and Arsenal need to offset the £71million they have spent on transfers this summer.

He is valued at £13.5million on Transfermarkt and if Emery is really looking to rebuild the Arsenal squad, it’s time to bid farewell to bit-part players like Welbeck.

Admit it, everyone loves a mascot!

From just walking around the stadium, posing for photos, doing charity work or silly antics, they add to the fans’ experience around the football club.

In the football league there have been some seriously weird and wonderful mascots that have taken to the pitch in order to support their team over the years.

Whether it’s the club’s heritage or just using the club’s nickname, we love mascots and feel like they should be championed.

In this article we take you through some of the best and worst mascots of all time.

Southend United – Sammy The Shrimp

Nicknamed The Shrimpers, it’s obvious to see why Southend United’s mascot is a shrimp that goes by the name of Sammy.

But what isn’t so apparent is the thinking behind this depiction of a shrimp. You really wouldn’t want to see this mascot without it’s kit on, more mole rat than shrimp!

Burton Albion – Billy the Brewer

If the primary role of a mascot is supposed to be represent the club as a whole, then surely Burton Albion fans can’t be pleased with Billy the Brewer as theirs.

At first we thought that Billy was a monkey, but no he’s not, which makes this effort ten times worse.

Yeovil Town –  Jolly Green Giant

There’s not much you can say about Jolly Green Giant, other than he is a giant, he’s green and he scares me.

Yeovil Town fans will of course argue he is just a friendly mascot, but he looks rather sinister if you ask me.

The fact he walks around with a child also in green is just weird too.

Grimsby Town –  The Mighty Mariner

To be fair to Grimsby, their nickname is the Mariners and they have a Mariner as their official mascot.

It’s just his disproportionate nose that is just all wrong, but before the Mighty Mariner, the club had Harry Haddock, a rainbow trout.

Cardiff City – Bartley Blue And Zoe

Luckily for Cardiff City fans, they no longer have to endure seeing super heroes Bartley Blue and Zoe Lou as their official mascots.

They brought in thanks to Vincent Tan, but luckily the club have decided to rightly have a Bluebird as their mascot named Bartley.

Southend United (Again)

As well as unveiling Sammy Shrimp, Southend also brought in the support of this guy.

If you didn’t know it was their mascot and knew it would be ‘sea related’, would you guess at an eel?

Probably not, but that’s what they went for, meet Elvis J Eel… the name makes it worse.

Kemar Roofe made it four goals in four Championship appearances for the 2018-19 campaign when he registered in Leeds United’s 2-2 draw with Swansea City on Tuesday night.

Roofe has been with Leeds since 2016, and netted 14 times in all competitions for the Whites last season.

The attacker has not always been in the good books of the Leeds fans, but that is certainly the case at the moment due to his impressive start to the campaign.

Roofe cancelled out Oliver McBurnie’s first goal in the clash with Swansea at the Liberty Stadium, before Pablo Hernandez netted late on to secure a point for Marcelo Bielsa’s team.

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Patrick Bamford was purchased from Middlesbrough with the view to being the starting striker, but Roofe’s form has meant that the former Chelsea youngster has had to come off the bench in the early stages of the season.

The Leeds fans are very happy with what they have seen from their team in recent weeks, and 5ft 10in ace Roofe in particular has made a strong impression.

A selection of the Twitter reaction from the club’s supporters can be seen below:

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Mesut Ozil was not included in the Arsenal squad which overcame West Ham United 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

After the match, Gunners boss Unai Emery denied claims of a bust-up and stated that the German playmaker was left out due to illness, as reported by the BBC. However, ESPN journalist Joao Castelo-Branco claimed that the German’s absence was in fact the result of a row.

After an eventful summer, during which Ozil was part of the Germany team which crashed out of the World Cup during the group stages, the Arsenal man then retired from the international game via Instagram, citing racist abuse he suffered whilst representing his country. 

Since his return to England and the start of the new Premier League season, Ozil has failed to rediscover his best form, and Arsenal fans are now divided over his place in their side.

After his exclusion from Emery’s line up this weekend, many Gooners took to Twitter to debate the decision. Whilst many feel the German isn’t reaching the standards required and should be moved on, others retain faith in the creative midfielder and hope to see him back in the famous red and white again soon…

We’re only four weeks in to the new Premier League season and we’ve already witnessed our first major Jose Mourinho meltdown, but that’s not our main focus this week. Instead, we’re taking a closer look at West Ham v Wolves.

James, Christy and Chris are joined by Knees Up Mother Brown’s Graeme Howlett and The Wolves 77 Club Podcast’s Sam Cook as we chat in detail about both clubs’ start to the season and what this game means to either manager as they go in search of their first league wins of the campaign.

Are Wolves on the verge of something special? How long will Manuel Pellegrini get at West Ham? Who will win this clash at London Stadium?

We try to answer all of the above questions and much, much more in Episode 4 of the Fixture in Focus Podcast.

You can listen to Episode 4 below or you can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, aCast, Google Podcasts and several other podcast platforms. Just click here to subscribe. 

Enjoy!

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Leeds were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by fellow Championship title contenders Middlesbrough in what was already being heralded as a key clash despite it being so early in the season. 

It was the first time the Whites were unable to score this season as Tony Pulis employed his usual five at the back defence.

Star players, Samu Saiz and Kemar Roofe were stifled and unable to employ their high-press, high energy style of football although Leeds’ cause wasn’t helped by Pablo Hernandez being unfit to play.

Although a win over their promotion rivals would’ve been preferable, Bielsa’s men shouldn’t be deterred as they still remain one of the best teams in the league.

Indeed, following the game, Middlesbrough’s star man, Adam Forshaw labelled Leeds as playing like a potential top-four Premier League side.

The Breakdown

It may be a slight leap to compare Leeds to the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United or Tottenham, but so far this season, Bielsa’s side have certainly played like a Premier League side.

The Argentinian manager has already brought out the best of Samu Saiz and Kemar Roofe, while Barry Douglas is arguably one of the best players in the league and definitely Premier League standard.

It’s still early in the season but what we have seen from Leeds is a team that when it’s at its best, it can smother opponents.

Whether they can keep it up for the rest of the season, remains to be seen but so far Leeds look Premier League ready.

What do you think Leeds fans? 

It is always risky when football clubs post messages on their social media relating to players who have previously represented the team in question.

And that is more so the case with individuals who divide opinion.

Romelu Lukaku scored 87 times for Everton between 2014 and 2017, before making the move to Manchester United ahead of the 2017-18 campaign.

Lukaku was a popular figure during his time at Goodison Park, but there are a number of Everton fans who were disappointed with the manner of his exit.

On Wednesday, Everton’s official Twitter account posted a video of an 11-minute hat-trick that the Belgian had scored back in 2016.

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Some of the club’s supporters took to social media to pay tribute to the centre-forward, but there were those who decided to have a pop at him.

Lukaku has gone on to become a regular goalscorer at United, and for all of the criticism surrounding him, there is no question that he is one of the best forwards in Europe.

A selection of the Twitter reaction from the Everton fans can be seen below:

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Liverpool have gotten off to the perfect start to the Premier League season, with five wins from five showcasing their title winning credentials.

The Reds have invested well in the squad despite heavy spending, and manager Jurgen Klopp appears confident of success, especially after an excellent win over Spurs this weekend.

However, more quality players would further improve an already talented squad, and there are bound to be a few out there in January who will be dying for a move to England.

One such player we think could be a superb addition and fits that mould is French World Cup winner Benjamin Pavard, who was simply superb over in Russia this summer, seeing his reputation and value rocket thanks to his displays.

Pavard has seen his worth shoot up in the last few months, and his versatility and ability in general make him an excellent signing for any top club in England, with Liverpool’s history no doubt of particular interest to the Frenchman.

The 22-year-old proved himself adept at world level over the summer, and with Liverpool wanting to challenge on all fronts this season, signing players who can play in various positions with ease like Pavard, could well prove to be a shrewd move by the club.

Liverpool  fans, what do you think? Good signing? Let us know in the comments!

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Tottenham fans were desperate for a new midfield signing this summer, and a whopping 80 per cent of fans want to sign versatile Lyon captain Nabil Fekir.

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Fekir’s failed move to Liverpool was one of the most confusing stories of the summer, as the Lyon skipper looked all set to join the Reds before the World Cup.

The deal fell through at the last second though, and the Frenchman showed Liverpool exactly what they are missing this week as he dominated Manchester City in the Champions League.

Tottenham meanwhile have lost three games in a row in all competitions for the first time under Mauricio Pochettino, and fans are fuming at the lack of summer investment.

Fekir clearly wants a move to the Premier League, and his ability to play anywhere across the attack or in midfield would make him the perfect Pochettino signing.

The 25 year-old would have been the perfect Coutinho replacement at Anfield, but a huge percentage of Tottenham fans want to hijack the deal, and you can find the full poll results down below…