FA Cup holders Arsenal were dumped out of the third round of the competition on Sunday, beaten 4-2 by Championship side Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

The Gunners were the victims of the one of the weekend’s big cup upsets, deservedly losing to a managerless Forest side.

The home side never really looked like losing the encounter, ahead for most of the 90 minutes and eventually pulling ahead to secure a comfortable victory.

The result is a bitter blow to Arsene Wenger, who has prided himself on a fantastic record in the FA Cup over his lengthy reign as Arsenal boss. Sunday’s defeat was actually his first ever third round exit.

Supporters were left disappointed with the result and performance, let down by fringe players in a much changed line-up from the Gunners last match.

Their attacking players got the brunt of criticism, with fans losing patience with the likes of Alex Iwobi, believing he has had far too many chances to impress in the Arsenal team without much of a contribution in return.

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Supporters took to Twitter to share their thoughts on his performance…

Never quite at full physical fitness, Tottenham Hotspur will have to manage Mousa Dembele’s game-time this week as they take on Manchester United at Wembley and face Liverpool at Anfield in what will likely be two high-intensity games that could have a huge bearing on the Premier League table come the end of May.

Indeed, the 70-cap Belgium international has lasted the full ninety minutes on just four occasions since September and has been brought off in all of his last three appearances.

But the 30-year-old is still a key player for Tottenham, someone who offers them vital control in central midfield through his physicality and technical quality, so it’s essentially a question of which fixture needs him more and which game should take priority.

Manchester United will undoubtedly provide a tough test at Wembley, where Spurs have struggled against defensively-organised teams this season, but beating fourth-place Liverpool is arguably more important to the north London outfit’s hopes of Champions League qualification.

So, Tottenham fans, which opponent would you start Dembele against? Let us know by voting below…

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Losing Alexis Sanchez is a blow to Arsenal in purely footballing terms.

When the Chilean is at his very best he’s one of the best players in world football. But that wasn’t the case for the final few months at his time at the Emirates Stadium. The former Gunners wasn’t committed to the cause and no matter how good a player is, that’s unsustainable.

Not getting any money in return for him, would have been disastrous, though. So selling him in January rather than letting him go in the summer was clearly an important decision to make. But Arsenal didn’t get any money for him last month, either.

Arguably they got something better: and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s performance against Everton goes some way towards proving it.

It’s hard to argue with three assists in a game. With both the Armenian and Mesut Ozil in the same side, the Gunners have two of the most prolific assist makers in the country. With new signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leading the line, too, Arsenal now have two of European football’s most prolific finishers over the last few years, too. Even if Alexandre Lacazette isn’t always a guaranteed starter.

Add to those three assists with his three other key passes and you see the theme appearing here. Mkhitaryan may have been up against an Everton defence which may be most aptly described as ‘a shambles’, but if he can build on that form there could be something special brewing.

But there’s another side to consider, too. A grittier, less Arsenal-y quality to the former Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund attacker which Gunners fans may grow to love.

Not only did Mkhitaryan do the silkier parts of the game well on Saturday evening, but he also put in four tackles, showing that his qualities on the press could be important going forward, whilst his pass accuracy of 79% may seem low, but should actually be encouraging.

One of the problems with Arsenal over the years has always been their propensity to be beautiful but all too often ineffective. That wasn’t the case for Mkhitaryan, who took the risky passes and it paid off.

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Arsenal scored five against a team who were woeful in defence. But how much of that was down to the Gunners’ attacking brilliance? That’s the big question ahead of a trip to Wembley to play Tottenham next weekend.

Win that and a top four spot might be back on again. But more importantly, a top player like Mkhitaryan could help fire Arsenal to a Champions League spot next season through Europa League glory, too. There are still two trophies to play for.

Arsenal could be lining up a move for Lyon’s star forward Nabil Fekir after his agent hinted that the Frenchman might not be at Lyon next season, as reported by Telefoot via The Mirror.

What’s the story?

Jean Pierre Barnes told Telefoot: “Will Fekir still be at Lyon next season? It’s too early to talk about it.

“After considering my relationship with (Lyon president) Jean-Michel Aulas, we will make the best decision.”

Fekir himself has refused to rule out a move away from Lyon, and has listed Arsenal as one of the clubs he could see himself playing for.

What would he bring to Arsenal?

Arsene Wenger has said earlier in the season that the attacking options he has at his disposal are a ‘luxury’, and the Gunners have compensated well for the loss of Alexis Sanchez with the additions of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the January transfer window.

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Nevertheless, Fekir could provide a different kind of attacking threat to that provided by Alexandre Lacazatte or Aubameyang. Who Scored lists Fekir as having a pass success rate of 84.1%, which is a whole 9% higher than Lacazette and even higher still than the more midfield-oriented Mkhitaryan.

Arsenal have a wealth of attacking options, but Fekir could provide the level of passing accuracy that would make him a potent threat in Wenger’s system.

Leeds United will attempt to bounce back from Friday’s 3-0 defeat at Middlesbrough when they host Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Championship on Wednesday night.It is a huge game for head coach Paul Heckingbottom, who is already feeling the heat of the supporters following a difficult start to his tenure.The Leeds fans are not happy with the performance levels of a number of their players at the moment, and many believe that it is time that Ronaldo Vieira stepped up to become a certain starter for the Championship team.[ad_pod ]Vieira is still just 19 years of age, but he has been with Leeds since 2015, and is yet to fully establish himself in the first team.The Brazilian, who is valued at £1.8m by transfermarkt.co.uk, has made 24 appearances in all competitions this season, however, with 20 of those coming in the Championship.It would be fair to say that the club’s fans rate Vieira, and they have challenged the teenager to become a key player between now and the end of the season.A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

According to The Guardian, Barcelona want to bring Tottenham Hotspur attacker Christian Eriksen to Camp Nou at the end of the season.

What’s the story?

Barcelona spent big to sign Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool in January, but it is understood that the Spanish giants are still looking to improve their midfield as Andres Iniesta enters the latter stages of his career.

The future of Ivan Rakitic is also said to be up in the air, with the Croatia international currently being linked with a move to Manchester United.

According to The Guardian, Barcelona have identified Tottenham’s Eriksen as the perfect player to boost their squad in this summer’s transfer window.

Eriksen has been with Tottenham for the last five years, and there is no question that the Denmark international has developed into one of the finest attacking midfielders in the European game.

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Spurs will of course be desperate to keep hold of the 26-year-old, but it would surely be difficult to resist the interest if Barcelona came calling at the end of the season.

Is Eriksen good enough for Barcelona?

Eriksen’s numbers for Tottenham speak volumes. Indeed, the Dane has scored 51 goals and registered 65 assists in 214 appearances for Spurs in all competitions.

He actually managed 65 assists in 163 games for Ajax before making the move to England, and there is no question that the attacker has improved over the last couple of years.

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Indeed, the 26-year-old, who is believed to be on £75,000 a week at Spurs, has been key to Tottenham’s recent impressive form, with nine goals and nine assists in 35 matches in all competitions during the 2017-18 campaign.

It is not a surprise that there is talk of interest from Barcelona, and there is no question that Eriksen has the ability to operate at the top level.

Indeed, he has impressed in the Champions League this season, and it will be very interesting to see whether Barcelona make an official move this summer.

With Nathaniel Clyne sidelined through injury, promising youngsters Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold have shared right-back duties at Liverpool for the majority of the season.

The two prospects offer a useful variation in styles too; England international Gomez is the more solid defender – often billed as a future centre-half – whereas Alexander-Arnold is more offensive-minded and likes to make key contributions going forward.

So with a huge Northwest derby on the horizon, we asked Liverpool fans earlier this week to vote for which player they’d like to see start at right-back against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday.

It was Gomez who helped Liverpool keep a clean sheet in their last outing, against FC Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday night, but perhaps because he offers that local-lad-passion academy products always seem to inject into derby games, Alexander-Arnold came out on top in our poll with 63% of the vote.

How would you line up Jurgen Klopp’s side on Saturday, Liverpool fans? Let us know by commenting below…

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The Chelsea fans in the Transfer Tavern have been reacting to their club’s loan watch on Twitter. Chelsea’s officialÂTwitter account tweeted a link to the Chelsea website, where they detail how all of the players who are currently out on loan are getting on at their temporary clubs. A number of fans have been reacting to the tweet, calling for the club to recall a number of their on-loan stars.

Chelsea have developed a reputation over the years for loaning an obsceneÂnumber of young players and thenÂfailing to promote them to the senior squad upon their return. This season a number of players have left Stamford Bridge on a temporary basis. Players such as Michy Batshuayi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Marco Van Ginkel, Charly Musonda and Kenedy are just a handful of those who have been overlooked by the hierarchy at Chelsea as they look to eventually break into Antonio Conte’s first-team.

Some youth players have even opted to leave Chelsea on a permanentÂbasis to secure first-team opportunities over the last couple of seasons. Dominic Solanke, Nathaniel Chalobah and Nathan Ake all moved on from Stamford Bridge last summer after the Blues failed to give them a chance in the first team. Now the fans have been calling for the London club to give some of the current loan stars a chance upon theirÂreturn as they fear that they could be set to lose more young talent.

You can read our resident Chelsea fans’ verdict here:

Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri has decided to dismiss Sam Allardyce as manager this summer and has two men on his shortlist, according to The Mirror.

What’s the word?

The experienced coach’s appointment at Goodison Park in November was met with mixed reactions from fans and pundits alike.

There was plenty of promise under Ronald Koeman following his summer spending spree in the transfer market, but it was not to be as he was dismissed after the club dropped towards the relegation zone.

Allardyce has managed to keep the Toffees in the Premier League as they currently have 41 points, with 40 usually being the benchmark for safety.

However, the performances have not been the easiest on the eye, despite having creative players, including Theo Walcott.

The Mirror claims that Moshiri is ready to cut ties with Allardyce and replace him with either Shakhtar Donetsk boss Paulo Fonseca or ex-Watford manager Marco Silva.

Does Everton’s chief have tunnel vision?

The Mirror reports that Moshiri was keen on Silva and Fonseca prior to Allardyce’s arrival, but compensation fees put him off.

If the businessman is willing to pay up £6m to cancel ‘Big Sam’s’ contract then he is clearly determined to bring in one of the Portuguese coaches.

Recruiting a younger manager with fresh ideas is a good call from the hierarchy at Everton, but it also presents a risk, particularly if Fonseca is the man to take over.

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The 45-year-old has caught the eye in Ukraine, but he has no experience of English football, while Silva has had stints at Hull City and Watford.

The latter is currently out of work, which would mean that Everton would avoid having to pay any compensation for his signature.

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Jurgen Klopp was criticised in some quarters for rotating his Liverpool squad for the first Merseyside derby of the season at Anfield in December but that didn’t stop him doing the same for the reverse fixture.

With the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie against Manchester City looming on Tuesday, the German made five changes for the trip to Goodison Park, leaving key men such as Mo Salah and Andy Robertson out of the matchday 18.

His reward was a 0-0 draw. Liverpool dominated possession against an Everton side who failed to capitalise on the changes made by Klopp as they continued the negative approach unpopular manager Sam Allardyce has preferred in the big games.

Admittedly, Everton could have snatched a late win with as Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Cenk Tosun had chances in the closing stages but overall, it was a dour display from the hosts.

Toffeess fans blame Allardyce for yet another abject display and we’ve taken a closer look at the best of the online reaction…

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