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Premier League legend Alan Shearer has heaped praise on Leeds United star Stuart Dallas, following his weekend heroics.

The 29-year-old produced a memorable performance on Saturday afternoon, proving to be the hero against soon-to-be-champions Manchester City.

Dallas scored both of his side’s goals, including the stoppage time winner, and his all-round display was typically influential, as has been the case throughout this season.

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Shearer waxes lyrical over Dallas

Someone who was clearly impressed with what he saw was Shearer, who named Dallas in his Premier League Team of the Week.

Writing about the versatile Northern Irishman, the ex-England and Newcastle United star outlined his impact at the Etihad last weekend:

“Wow. Outstanding. After helping to defend with 10 men for so long, he somehow still had the energy to run through and score the winner.”

Transfer Tavern take

It’s nice to see that Dallas finally seems to be receiving more mainstream praise, with Leeds fans well aware of his quality for some time now.

He was once described as ‘selfless’ by former Whites striker Jermaine Beckford, which perfectly sums up his unsung nature and team ethic.

As the campaign nears its conclusion, Dallas is a strong contender to win Leeds’ Player of the Year award, especially given his current form, with the midfielder scoring seven goals and registering two assists in the league.

In other news, Leeds are interested in a move for an experienced Serie A player – find out who it is here.

Norwich City will have to sell players in order to strengthen their squad this summer, according to Daniel Farke.

What’s the word?

Speaking recently to the Eastern Daily Press, the Norwich City boss claimed that he would like to “keep all the best players” at the club, however, he went on to reveal that he couldn’t confirm that all of City’s players “will stay” in Norfolk this summer.

The 44-year-old then suggested that, in order to “add some quality” to his side, “there will be also some outgoings”, before adding that he feels it is “important to keep the core of the team” together ahead of their Premier League campaign.

Indispensable trio

Norwich City fans will undoubtedly be hoping that the core of indispensable players Farke refers to includes the likes of Max Aarons, Todd Cantwell and Emi Buendia – all three of whom are believed to be attracting significant interest ahead of the summer transfer window.

Indeed, it would seem as if these three players, in particular, are crucial to the Canaries’ chances of retaining their top-flight status next term.

So far this season, Buendia has proven a remarkable attacking force in the Championship, bagging 14 goals and registering 16 assists over his 37 appearances, with the Argentine averaging an astonishing SofaScore match rating of 7.68 – ranking him as the club’s best performer in the second tier.

Meanwhile, Cantwell has scored six goals and provided four assists over his 31 league fixtures, earning himself an average SofaScore match rating of 7.16, while Aarons has helped his side to keep a whopping 17 Championship clean sheets, as well as personally averaging a SofaScore match rating of 6.98.

As such, it would appear essential that Norwich keep hold of all three of the aforementioned stars this summer, or else risk losing either a significant amount of goals, creativity or defensive security – something that would not bode well whatsoever for their chances of top-flight survival.

In other news: Forget Zimmermann: Webber must land “outstanding” £12m ace ahead of NCFC’s PL campaign – opinion

If you’d offered Sunderland supporters third place at the start of this weekend, they’d certainly have taken it.

The Mackems are currently rather bullish about their promotion chances, and who can blame them? Lee Johnson’s men haven’t lost for 11 matches in all competitions, a run stretching back to the 9th February.

Though, they did have a minor hiccup on Saturday afternoon. Sunderland battered and bruised Lincoln last time they played them, winning 4-0. However, there was no such luck on this occasion.

The Black Cats drew 1-1 but thankfully, they didn’t lose any ground in the promotion race; Hull, Peterborough, Doncaster and Charlton all drew as well.

A win would have boosted their hopes considerably but the main thing is that they still have plenty of momentum.

In these types of matches, you need everyone to stand up and that was evident in Sunderland’s goal scorer. Callum McFadzean popped up at the back post to fire home his first league strike for the club.

Unfortunately, there were plenty who didn’t quite look as assured as normal. One of them was Luke O’Nien. Usually so reliable in defence, the 26-year-old made a mistake in the opening 45 minutes and was arguably at fault for Lincoln’s goal.

Another to frustrate was Grant Leadbitter. The experienced midfielder has recently returned from a dislocated shoulder but has struggled after returning.

He slowed Sunderland’s play down considerably at Wembley last week, as they weren’t quick enough to transition from defence to attack. That was a similar problem a week on against Lincoln.

Carl Winchester has stepped up admirably in recent weeks and indeed, it’s made Leadbitter look all the more questionable.

When Lincoln travelled to the Stadium of Light, he was disappointing, particularly in the second half when he became even slower. During the course of the match, the midfield general lost a massive 67% of his duels, failing to make a single tackle.

On top of that, Leadbitter was dribbled past on two occasions as he was consistently beaten by the Imps’ runners.

It was hardly a surprise, therefore, that Johnson decided to drag him off with around 20 minutes remaining. At the moment, the 35-year-old is holding Sunderland back, rather than adding to their play. In two consecutive starts now, he has looked off the pace.

Johnson needs to prefer other options as the race for promotion heats up.

AND in other news, Forget Diamond: Johnson should unleash rarely-seen SAFC starlet with “clear ability”…

Everton face competition from their rivals in the Premier League to sign Silas Wamangituka, according to Eurosport.

As per the news outlet, the Stuttgart star has caught the eye of clubs in the top flight as well as bigger clubs in Germany, with scouts from both the Goodison Park faithful and Fulham showing their firm interest.

Wamangituka’s style of play and impact is compared to that of Nicolas Pepe when he popped onto the radar of some elite clubs after impressing at Lille a couple of years ago, before Arsenal eventually managed to sign him for £72m.

With Pepe starting to show some decent form for the Emirates Stadium faithful, with three goals in his last six games in the PL (Transfermarkt), Wamangituka could well make a similar kind of impact in the division.

Everton should sign Wamangituka

The Merseyside club should look to sign Wamangituka at all costs, having broken onto the scene in the 2020/21 term quite emphatically with no fewer than 13 goals and a further three assists in 24 matches in all competitions so far (Transfermarkt).

Stuttgart head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo described the wide player as an ‘incredible talent’ in October of last year, and at just 21 years of age, he certainly has all of the potential to become a top player in the future.

Nonetheless, Carlo Ancelotti’s team must try and beat the impending competition to sign Wamangituka when the summer transfer window comes along.

In other news, find out what latest transfer update Toffees are happy with here!

According to the Mirror, Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has his sights set on raiding Premier League rivals Southampton once again this summer…

What’s the word?

It’s claimed that the Portuguese is considering a move for Saints centre-back Jannik Vestergaard ahead of the next transfer window, a year after sealing fellow Dane, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, from the very same club.

The 28-year-old has entered the final 18 months of his current £60k-per-week contract at St Mary’s Stadium, leaving Spurs with a belief that they could land themselves another bargain.

It remains to be seen what sort of fee Vestergaard would command, though he is valued at just £13.5m by Transfermarkt.

Mourinho’s own Van Dijk?

A lot of comparisons will be made to the success of Hojbjerg since swapping the south coast for the capital, but instead, Mourinho could be eyeing up a solution to one of his biggest bugbears.

Back in January, Evening Standard reporter Dan Kilpatrick revealed that the Spurs boss was seeking a new centre-back, one that could totally transform their fortunes to the magnitude of that of Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool.

‘Mourinho wants his own transformative signing, a defender who could have the same impact on Spurs as Van Dijk at Liverpool or Ruben Dias at Man City.’

Vestergaard has been likened to the former Saints star, so it would not be a surprise to see him follow in similar footsteps. Martin Keown told talkSPORT: “It’s his passing. It reminds me of Van Dijk.”

The Liverpool monster cost a whopping £75m and has helped guide the Merseyside giants to Champions League and Premier League glory, so evidently, it’s well worth investing in the right defender.

At 6 foot 6 inches, the Denmark international has a very similar commanding frame to that of Van Dijk, on top of Keown making comparisons to his passing ability.

Only one other Saints player has managed a better average WhoScored rating (7.09) for the current campaign, despite all of their recent struggles, whilst he tops the charts for aerials won (3.6 per game) and clearances (four per game).

That only shows his no-nonsense nature. And despite his height, he’s no slouch for speed as outlined when tracking Dominic Calvert-Lewin down earlier this season, via The Athletic.

No other Southampton defender can match his 83.9% passing accuracy either – Van Dijk isn’t too far ahead (89.1% accuracy last season) and only Davinson Sanchez (86% accuracy) is clear from a Spurs perspective.

Vestergaard, dubbed a “role model” by current boss Ralph Hasenhuttl, would also add some leadership to Mourinho’s backline, something that could well be necessary if reports linking club captain Hugo Lloris with an exit to Paris Saint-Germain this summer are true.

If Daniel Levy is to deliver Mourinho that ‘transformative’ signing, then he should probably look no further than a player who is very much in the mould of Van Dijk himself.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Kane told he could be trophy-less legend at Spurs if he stays…

Some Leicester City fans have been left to fume at some details that have emerged of their FA Cup semi-final game against Southampton.

As per the official website of the King Power faithful, the match will be played on Sunday 18th April at 6:30pm and will be shown live from Wembley Stadium on BT Sport.

This has caused some anger among Foxes supporters given that some of them do not have access to the TV channel and so would much rather have had it on one like the BBC.

It has also caused a stir that the fixture will be played on a Sunday evening, with most LCFC fans having to work the next day and so may not have much time to celebrate reaching the final of the competition should they beat Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team.

Leicester fan reaction to FA Cup news

These Leicester fans fumed upon learning of the news on Twitter, with one even going as far as to claim that it was a ‘joke’:

“What weapon has decided this?”

Credit: @Olliehorton_93

“Absolute joke. 6.30pm on a Sunday is no time for a football match to KO.”

Credit: @Greg_Gibson

“Evening kick off you absolute weapons!!! Get your coats on lads!!”

Credit: @Georginho1987

“6:30pm on a Sunday for a semi-final, Jesus wept #lcfc #FACup”Credit: @MrJoeStratford”Ikr, I can’t watch it now either! We’ll have to rely on Stringer and Piper instead”Credit: @Marco21Cardoni”Why on BT sport not BBC ????”Credit: @normcastleIn other news, find out what news on one Leicester ace has got fans talking here!

When Raul Jimenez suffered a horrendous fractured skull against Arsenal back in November, there were big fears for Wolves given his impressive contributions up top – he’s scored 47 goals in just 110 games for the club.

And since Jimenez went down, the Old Gold have won just four of their last 14 matches. It’s been a torrid period for Nuno Santo who has watched his side capitulate in recent months.

They have kept a solitary clean sheet in the Premier League since October, but their win over Arsenal on this occasion will have done them wonders.

The confidence was back in full swing and it was hardly a surprise that with a robust striker in Willian Jose to aim for in attack, they improved. Though, despite goals from Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho, it was Pedro Neto who put the Gunners to the sword.

Neto is having a tremendous season and despite Wolves’ struggles, he has taken on the mantle as their chief creator with ease. With Jimenez out, the Portugal international is very quickly becoming their diamond in the rough.

His performances have continued with the same vigour in recent months and his tally of four goals and four assists are bettered by no one in the Wolves squad this season.

The 20-year-old has been quite the force this term and he demonstrated that against Arsenal. Neto gave Hector Bellerin a torrid time and when the Gunners went down to ten and then nine men, he exploited the open spaces ruthlessly.

Neto provided two key passes during the game and such was the space he received on the left that he attempted eight crosses. That was the highest number of balls into the area of anyone on the pitch.

On top of that, the youngster terrorised Bellerin by completing a massive five dribbles. That tally was significantly up on his season average of 2.2 dribbles per game.

He has been a threatening ball of energy for the entire season and ranks among one of the most intense runners in the Premier League – sitting high up on the list of players with the most sprints per 90 minutes.

If anything typified Neto, it would be a piece of descriptive tweeting from Tim Spiers on Tuesday evening. As the winger drove past two Arsenal players in the second half, he said: “Neto twists into the box like a champion slalom skier.”

It was the perfect way to express Neto’s qualities. He is a radiant attacking weapon capable of upsetting even the sternest of defences.

Arsenal had conceded just once in the Premier League since Boxing Day but they found life difficult against the Portuguese this week.

It’s a testament to how much he’s improved and to his overall qualities. He has fast become Nuno’s star man at Molineux.

AND in other news, Drop him: Wolves liability who lost 66% of his duels continues to let Nuno down…

Joao Cancelo has established himself as a regular under Pep Guardiola so far this season and his performance against Newcastle United on Boxing Day emphasises that he is quickly becoming the Spanish manager’s most important player at Manchester City.

The Portuguese right-back, who was signed from Juventus in the summer of 2019, struggled for regular game time in his first full season with the Citizens, making just 17 appearances in the Premier League, with Kyle Walker regularly keeping him out of the side.

However, this season, the 26-year-old has been a mainstay in the City team, having made 10 appearances in the top-flight, averaging a superb 7.28 WhoScored rating.

This is enough to rank him as City’s second-best performer in the Premier League, behind Kevin De Bruyne.

Guardiola has found a way to accommodate both Cancelo and Walker, with the Portuguese international regularly featuring as a left-back but recently, he has been preferred to the Englishman at right-back.

With the former Tottenham Hotspur man missing the Boxing Day fixture against Newcastle United, Cancelo was trusted to start at right-back and he produced another sensational display which was a testament to just how important he has become under Guardiola.

As per SofaScore, the former Valencia man, who earns £80k per week at City, earned an impressive 7.9 rating for his display, which was the best of any player on the pitch.

He was given license to push a lot further forward throughout the game and produced a creative display that De Bruyne would have been proud of, as he made three key passes and had a role to play in both goals, with his pass to Raheem Sterling leading to Ilkay Gundogan’s opener, whilst his cross found its way, via a defender, to Ferran Torres for City’s second.

The right-back was unfortunate not to pick up more assists, however, as both Sterling and Sergio Aguero squandered excellent chances after pinpoint crosses from the Portuguese international.

Following the game, Guardiola was full of praise for Cancelo, saying:

“He’s a player with incredible quality. His regeneration, physicality is incredible. He could play tomorrow!”

Whilst Walker missed this match after testing positive, it seems unlikely that he will reclaim his starting spot in Guardiola’s side if Cancelo keeps up this current form, unless he switches back to left-back in future matches.

Either way, Saturday’s masterclass really emphasises just how important Cancelo has become in this City side of late, which could well spell trouble for Walker’s long-term future at right-back.

And, in other news… Manchester City leader who completed 116 passes was Guardiola’s true hero vs NUFC

Some Liverpool fans have been reacting in delight to the news that Georginio Wijnaldum could be leaving Anfield this summer.

According to the Mirror, the 30-year-old has allegedly made up his mind and opted to join Barcelona and compatriot Ronald Koeman at the end of the current campaign.

The report added that manager Jurgen Klopp is making last-ditch efforts to keep the Dutchman on Merseyside after many months of speculation regarding his future.

Since his move from Newcastle in 2016, Wijnaldum has scored 21 goals from 211 appearances – two of which came in his side’s unforgettable 4-0 win over Barcelona in 2019.

Surprisingly, some supporters reacted in delight that Wijnaldum may be leaving, with some bizarrely suggesting that he will not be missed at Anfield.

Fans delighted with Wijnaldum news

“Music to ears.”

Credit: @adamEyeAm

“Great all the best! We move”

Credit: @Jaiyeofficial1

“Good riddance – poor decision by him, he will regret it in years ahead – we can get a much better replacement”

Credit: @Flash430

“Good for everyone”

Credit: @lfc_ik

“Let’s be honest, we’re not gonna miss him”

Credit: @ibrahimkhvn

“He’s nowhere near a club legend”

Credit: @Deezus67

In other news, Liverpool taking interest in Serie A skipper as Reds eye possible Wijnaldum replacement.

Many Southampton fans were not impressed with winger Nathan Redmond during his side’s Premier League clash against Chelsea at St Mary’s.

The 26-year-old made his seventh start of the season after playing a bit-part role in Ralph Hassenhuttl’s side during the 2020/21 campaign.

Redmond started alongside Takumi Minamino in attacking midfield with Danny Ings playing as the tip of the Saints’ attacking force, replacing Che Adams who has failed to score since December.

The English trickster found himself struggling down the right-hand side due to Chelsea’s adventurous fullbacks out wide, coming out second best in the majority of his individual duels – as per Sofascore, he lost a whopping nine of his ten 50/50s.

He did however play a part for the Saints’ goal before the break, providing the assist for Takumi Minamino’s strike.

That action didn’t see him escape the wrath of supporters, who were furious that the £16.2m-rated Redmond was selected ahead of Adams and did not sugarcoat their words when making their feelings clear on social media.

Redmond fails to impress these fans

Can we take off Redmond already please, can’t hold the ball to save his life #saintsfc”

Credit: @LiamEyre25

Back four. Still, no idea where Redmond fits into this team ahead of Adams. At least give Ings something to work with… Prove me wrong, Redz. #saintsfc

Credit: @StMarysMusings

I can take McCarthy in goal, I can take Djenepo at Rwb but what has Redmond done in the last few games to warrant starting at ST #SaintsFC

Credit: @mattcw0410

“Never seen a more disinterested team! #SaintsFC Redmond out for a Sunday jog, Ings not chasing down the keeper like he usually does!”

Credit: @SaintsFCFanZone

“Redmond giving @SouthamptonFC nothing. Useless every week. Get him off and give others a chance #SOUCHE #SaintsFC #COYR #redmondoff thank you minimino!”

Credit: @TheKingydelay

“Need to put on Kayne Ramsay & Che. Take off Djenepo & Redmond. Redmond in particular has done nothing and I can’t for the life of me understand why Ralph is playing him upfront”

Credit: @ODagogo

In other news, Mark Halsey reacted to controversial Southampton incident – EXCLUSIVE.