Liverpool continued their march towards a first Premier League title with a narrowly fought win over Fulham at Craven Cottage this weekend.

The Reds had a late penalty from James Milner to thank for handing them all three points, and the pressure is now back on rivals Man City to keep putting points on the board in what is sure to be an exciting finish to the Premier League season.

Manager Jurgen Klopp will be hopeful of landing that title and bringing success to Anfield, but we here in the Tavern also feel that the club need to be planning for the summer and making some big name signings to keep enhancing their squad.

And one man we feel would be a shrewd addition for the Reds is current Norwich City starlet, Max Aarons, who has been in fine form for the Canaries this season as they sit atop the Championship table.

While Norwich might well see themselves promoted come the end of the season, Aarons would be hard pressed to turn down a move to a club the size of Liverpool.

Despite playing at right back in the main, a position Liverpool do have options in, Aarons is a future star, and his ability to bomb down the wing, gold delivery, and adept defensive ability make him someone who is going to be a target for many top clubs.

Liverpool should therefore ensure they are at the head of that queue of clubs.

When the Europa League Round of 32, 16 and Quarter-Final draws were made, there was only one team Arsenal fans wanted to face, Villarreal.

Was it because the Spanish side were having a poor season and they would prove to be easy opposition? No. Was it because Arsenal supporters fancied a trip to the Castellon region of Spain? No. It was because of one man, Santi Cazorla.

Out of all the players to leave the club last summer, it wasn’t club captain Per Mertesacker or future Arsenal legend Jack Wilshere that fans were most upset about, it was Cazorla.

The love the 5’6” midfielder has from fans of the north London side is almost unparalleled out of any of the players to play for the club in the past 10 years, and in doing so Cazorla has made himself a firm fan favourite of Arsenal despite only being at the club for only six years.

Signed from Malaga in the summer of 2012, Cazorla was coming into a side deflated after the departure of club captain Robin van Persie that same window, but it was quickly apparent that the creative midfielder was a special player.

Instantly adored by the fans for his flawless passing and footwork, Cazorla quickly established himself as one of the best playmakers in the league, scoring 12 goals and assisting 12 in his debut season in England.

Although his output was less significant the following campaign, the Spanish midfielder scored one of the club’s most important goals when his free-kick against Hull City in the FA Cup final kick-started the comeback Arsenal needed to win their first piece of silverware in nine years.

A move to central midfield the following season is where Cazorla really began to star for Arsenal, though. Partnered alongside Francis Coquelin in a midfield pivot, the duo had great success together on the pitch and guided the club to yet another FA Cup title.

And then, the injuries came. For as much as Cazorla is loved by everyone around Arsenal, his career with the club could have been so much more had it not been for two major injuries which ruled him out for almost two years of football.

Back to full fitness and returning to his hometown club Villarreal, Cazorla is now back playing football to the delight of football fans everywhere, and still playing with the smile on his face that made him a cult hero at Arsenal.

Arsenal fans, what is your favourite Cazorla memory? Let us know!

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Brendan Rodgers reportedly wants to include defender Filip Benkovic in his first-team plans next season at Leicester, once he returns from a loan spell with Celtic. But would the decision be warranted?

What’s the word?

Leicester signed Benkovic in a £13m deal from Dinamo Zagreb last summer but immediately loaned him out to Rodgers’ then-club Celtic in a bid to grant the centre back some experience in British football.

The Croatian has been a rock at the back for the Hoops this season – he featured 26 times across all competitions but unfortunately had his progress halted because of injury.

His performances in the SPL have obviously made the defender’s ex-boss a huge fan of him and as a result, he’s hinted that the 21-year-old could feature at the King Power next season.

This is despite his age, with the Scotsman claiming he already has plenty of experience. He said: “You look at Benkovic up at Celtic, he is only 21 but he has actually been playing first-team football since he was 16. He has good experience.”

Can he surpass Maguire?

When analysing the Croatian youth international, immediate comparisons can be drawn to current Foxes favourite Harry Maguire. They are both 6 ft 4 and good passers of the ball. The former has a pass success rate of 90.4% in the Europa League this term, whereas Maguire’s Premier League figure stands at 84.5%.

They are similar players, but the Croat can easily surpass Maguire’s potential. His early exposure at Dinamo Zagreb, a club he amassed 76 appearances for as a youngster, could be significant.

There is a common trend of Zagreb youth products doing well in England too, with Ballon d’Or winner and former Tottenham man Luka Modric also hailing from the Croatian side. Other successes include Matteo Kovacic, Dejan Lovren and Eduardo da Silva.

It’s something that stands Benkovic in very good stead for a Premier League return, as does dealing with the expectation and standards required of playing for a big club such as Celtic.

Getting to the level of Modric is highly unlikely but surpassing Maguire’s peak at an earlier age would not be surprising.

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According to RMC Sport, West Ham United have been in contact with Lyon manager Bruno Genesio over a move to the club.

Lyon’s failure to reach the final of this season’s Coupe de France has led to the French club’s president Jean-Michel Aulas revealing that Genesio will not be offered a new contract before the end of the campaign.

And West Ham have reportedly been in contact over a potential move to London, whilst the same can be said for Newcastle United.

Manuel Pellegrini only took charge of West Ham last summer, but the Chilean spent big upon his arrival and it has been an inconsistent campaign for the club.

Indeed, the Hammers are currently 11th in the Premier League table ahead of their next Premier League game away to London rivals Chelsea on Monday night.

The club’s supporters have been on Twitter reacting to the Genesio speculation and a selection can be viewed below:

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Loads of Tottenham fans have been reacting to the latest transfer news, with reports claiming Everton want to splash out £20m on Kieran Trippier.

According to The Sun, there could be some serious movement at the right-back spot in north London this summer.

The report claims Mauricio Pochettino is open to replacing both Trippier and Serge Aurier, with the former a target for the Toffees.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Norwich City’s Max Aarons are the names mentioned as potential replacements.

While some fans may still feel Aurier deserves more chances, Trippier has well and truly used up all of his.

The England international became a household name over the summer thanks to his World Cup heroics, but his defensive deficiencies have been sorely exposed on several occasions this season.

Loads of fans have been having their say on the transfer rumours, and their verdicts will not make pretty reading for Trippier.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

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Manchester United will be hoping for a return to form against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday evening as the Spanish champions visit in the first leg of their quarter-final tie – and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must make at least two selection alterations to allow it to happen.

The PSG fluke

In the previous round United’s stunning comeback win at Paris Saint-Germain saw them progress, with the midfield duo of Scott McTominay and Fred impressing together on the night.

However, in the longer run, this hasn’t been a good thing for the club as it seemingly made Solskjaer believe that the pair could work well together in the wake of their fortunate evening.

Since then the performances of both in Paris have proved to be either a fluke or one-offs and that wasn’t illustrated more perfectly than last week at Molineux.

Despite the former’s goal, McTominay and Fred were overrun by Wolverhampton Wanderers, really struggling and scarcely looking like they belonged as Wolves snatched a 2-0 win – the Red Devils’ third defeat in four matches.

And so it must be back to the drawing board for Solskjaer for an encounter with a side much stronger than the Wolves one he’s lost twice to in recent times, but the aforementioned two changes can turn things around at Old Trafford.

What are they?

As you may have guessed Man United need to axe the pairing of McTominay and Fred for the clash with the Spaniards; but who replaces them?

Well, in the absence of Nemanja Matic who looks set to miss the big match, the answer is Andreas Pereira and Juan Mata – both need to be promoted from the substitutes’ bench.

United require the creativity of the former against an opposition he knows very well from his homeland and the youth and freshness of the latter.

This is an excellent blend for success in the midfield and much better balanced than the McTominay and Fred combination, which simply cannot be risked.

What kind of formation Solskjaer chooses after making these personnel changes is another matter, though one thing’s for sure, make them and United are giving themselves the best chance of slaying their fellow European giants.

When Paul Heckingbottom took over at Easter Road in February, he inherited a side that languished in eighth place in the table, some 12 points behind then third-placed Aberdeen.

If anyone had said at that time, that Hibs would go into the fixture split with an outside chance of claiming a Europa League spot, they would have been laughed at.

Such has been the effect the new boss has had, everyone associated with the club are riding the crest of a wave, and with a derby win over Hearts in their back pocket, Hibs fans are strarting to believe.

At the very least, they will now have a realistic expectation of finishing as Edinburgh’s top team, but with a good finish, anything could be possible.

29-year-old stalwart, Paul Hanlon, is Hibs through-and-through. A one club player — but for a brief month on loan at St Johnstone in 2008 — and he admitted that the club were drifting towards a lower half finish before Heckingbottom’s arrival, and he insisted people had “written us off” when talking of the top six.

But now, having achieved that goal as a minimum, his sights are set much higher.

He told the Edinburgh News: “If you go back to just before the manager came in, everybody had written us off as far as making the top six.

“It was always going to be a big ask, so to show the form we have done is great. We now have to try and keep it going and see where we finish.

“It has been a massive turnaround. It is exciting and it is what you want at this stage of the season.”

Certainly, with the remaining fixtures now announced, the rest of April will be hugely significant to their European ambitions.

With Hearts now in their rear-view mirror, focus shifts to the two sides above them — Kilmarnock and Aberdeen — who both also harbour aspirations of a third-placed finish.

With their two rivals playing each other when the SPFL resumes after this weekend’s break for the Scottish Cup Semi-Finals, Hibs have the unenviable task of trying to prolong the wait for Celtic’s title-winning party, and hope that they can get one over on Heckingbottom’s predecessor in the Hibs hot-seat, Neil Lennon.

Should they do so, it would see them close the gap on at least one of those above them, and with April’s last round of fixtures seeing the small matter of the final Edinburgh derby of the season — at Easter Road this time — with Kilmarnock and Aberdeen visiting the top two, Celtic and Rangers respectively, they could go into May, just three points behind third, at worst.

There are lots of ifs and buts in there, of course, but with the run Hibs have been on since Heckingbottom arrived, and confidence at a massive high, why shouldn’t the fans dream of what might be.

It would be the happily-ever-after ending, to what has already been, a fairy-tale couple of months for the green half of Edinburgh.

What do you think if your Europa League hopes, Hibs fans? Are they realistic, or would you settle for finishing above your Edinburgh neighbours? Let us know your opinion, and join in the debate below…

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Martyn Waghorn has revealed some surprising news in an interview with Roker Report, claiming he tried and failed to force through a move to Sunderland in the summer of 2017.

What’s the word?

Well, Waghorn told Roker Report: “There was a lot of talk between myself, my agent and Sunderland but Sunderland needed to move players out to make the move happen and they couldn’t get them out at that time fast enough for the move to happen.

“I was on their list of a few potential players and I’ll admit I tried to push the move through, but Sunderland had a lot of players on their hands at that time on big wages and the move had to be right for them.

“They couldn’t shift them following relegation for the move to happen and the financials meant it couldn’t happen.

“Did I want it to happen? Absolutely.”

He later added: “Hopefully I can come back in the future though, who knows.”

Pl>ymaker FC Exclusive: Jermaine Jenas reveals why Tyne-Wear is a more intense derby than anything London can offer – check out the video below….

Shambles under Short

Waghorn is speaking of the summer of 2017, when Simon Grayson was in charge at the Stadium of Light.

And it is surprising to hear a player who could be playing against the Black Cats next season – he eventually joined Ipswich and now Derby County, with Sunderland still on track for promotion back to the second tier – speak so openly about a failed move to Wearside.

To be frank though, the attacker’s comments merely shed more light on just how much of shambles Sunderland were under Ellis Short, unable to even complete a move for a player who was practically begging to be signed. It’s embarrassing for the infamous ex-owner to say the least.

For too long the Black Cats’ mismanagement and poor transfer dealings have held them back, but perhaps this will serve as a reminder to fans that they are now in the clear, moving in the right direction under a focused and calculating leader in Stewart Donald.

As Waghorn so aptly put it, the Black Cats could come back in for him if they manage to seal promotion… “who knows?”

The wheels are threatening to come off for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s journey at Manchester United.

What started as a dream is slowly turning into a mini-nightmare. After pulling off his greatest managerial achievement by guiding the Red Devils into the Champions League quarter-finals against all odds, he’s seen a shocking drop in form for his squad.

However, something to be noticed is how different United’s starting lineups were against PSG as compared to those against Arsenal and Wolves recently. Be it a complete change in midfield, returning players or a different approach, it seems Solskjaer hasn’t taken kindly to this recent transition.

He and United are still stuck in the Champions League dreams.

Solskjaer’s inexperience has also been telling in the recent results. Some of his own flaws were pounced upon by Nuno Esposito Santos’ Wolves, who successfully stretched and destabilized United’s system with clinical counter-attacks. The Norwegian’s substitution sense is still frail and he hasn’t been able to rotate United’s squad that well.

Against Wolves, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard both seemed out of it. Nemanja Matic’s lack of mobility was capitalized on, while Marcus Rashford was isolated as a solo striker. One could argue he should’ve played the resurgent Fred and possibly even Andreas Perreira, who’s been in hot form in recent weeks- to add more bite in midfield.

He might still be favourite to win the United managerial job permanently, but the string of results help Solskjaer face reality. The international break serves as ample time for him to reassess his tactics and work on improving his personal mistakes.

United fans, do you think Solskjaer needs to improve his decision-making? Join the discussion by commenting below. 

أضاف ليون جوريتسكا، الهدف الثاني لفريقه بايرن ميونخ أمام أتلتيكو مدريد في المباراة الجارية الآن.

ويحل أتلتيكو مدريد ضيفًا على نظيره البافاري بملعب “آليانز آرينا”، ضمن مباريات الجولة الأولى لدور مجموعات دوري أبطال أوروبا.

جاء هدف جوريتسكا في الدقيقة 41 من عمر المباراة، لتشير النتيجة لتقدم أصحاب الأرض (2-0).

وكان كينجسلي كومان، سجل الهدف الأول لبايرن ميونخ في شباك الروخي بلانكوس. هدف جوريتسكا