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Alan Shearer’s Premier League predictions for Man Utd, Arsenal and Spurs vs Chelsea

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Alan Shearer’s latest Premier League predictions have been revealed as Nottingham Forest host Manchester United and Arsenal travel to Burnley.

The Red Devils have won their last three games in a row and face a Forest side stuck in the relegation zone after an abysmal start to the season.

Arsenal are top of the table and take on a Burnley team full of confidence with Scott Parker’s men winning their last two Premier League matches.

There’s a London derby between Tottenham and Chelsea while Liverpool lock horns with Aston Villa and Manchester City play AFC Bournemouth.

Premier League legend Shearer has revealed his Gameweek 10 predictions for Metro – here’s what the Betfair ambassador had to say…

Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United

It was a poor result for Sean Dyche against Bournemouth, especially after doing so well in Europe. It will be a rocking atmosphere at Forest, as always when Man United come to town.

United are looking for results to keep the good run going and they’ve had a week off due to being knocked out of the Carabao Cup. I think Forest will get something out of the game, but I’m not sure they’ll win, so I’m going to say a draw.

I think it’s too early to say they’re the real deal and that United can finish in the top four or five. If they can continue this in a month’s time, I might change my mind, but let’s see what the next couple of weeks bring, and then we can judge whether they’re certainly improving.

Prediction – Draw

Burnley vs Arsenal

There’s hope for Burnley, because they’re at home, and they will make it tough. We saw what they did to Liverpool earlier on in the season. Liverpool had to leave it late at Turf Moor.

They will try and sit deep and frustrate them and hit them on the break. They got a great result last weekend, scoring in the last minute at Wolves.

We always said that that game was going to be key. So, for them it’s a bit of a free hit, I guess. Not many other people other than Burnley fans will be expecting anything out of it. But because of the run that Arsenal are on, because of how mean they are defensively, and the squad that they’ve got it won’t bother them a bit.

Whether they win from a set piece or a deflected shot, whatever it is. They played a completely new back four in the Carabao Cup and still got a clean sheet.

They’re flying in the Champions League, they’re flying in the league, the club is full of confidence, and they look like the real deal this year

Prediction – Arsenal win

Brighton v Leeds

Leeds got the result they wanted last time out. There’s not a lot between the teams in terms of points, but I do think Brighton at home will be expected to beat Leeds.

We’ve seen some unexpected results this season, but I would go for a home win on this one.

Prediction – Brighton win

Crystal Palace vs Brentford

Both teams have had a brilliant few days, with Brentford winning last weekend and Palace getting into the quarter-finals. I would just edge with Palace because of the belief in the club after that big cup win. Even though they played a strong team at Anfield, I’m going to say Palace win.

It’s early doors for Brentford, there were one or two iffy results, but they seem to have turned things around, and there seems to be a bit of belief there now. It’s amazing what good results do throughout a club. They’ve had a great few days, but I guess it might end at Palace.

Prediction – Crystal Palace win

Fulham vs Wolves

You could classify this as a six-pointer. Fulham scraped through to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, and they got done at Newcastle in the last minute. Wolves are struggling and it would worry me seeing them go away from home again. I would go for a Fulham home win here.

If Wolves get beaten this weekend, the answer would be yes, I think they’ll be too far gone. Form-wise, there’s nothing suggesting they can win, but you know what football’s like.

Prediction – Fulham win

Spurs vs Chelsea

This game is always a tough one to call, always a bit of spice, always really interesting, and always chucks up some incidents. We’ll have to wait and see, but with it being a London derby, I’m going to say a score draw in this one, and a point each.

One thing Chelsea can’t afford is another red card. Losing a player in these games can make a huge difference, but it wouldn’t surprise me because there’s always a bit of needle in this game.

Prediction – Draw

Liverpool vs Aston Villa

You’ve got one team in terrible form, losing six of their last seven, and one team in really good form winning six of their last seven. There’s an argument for both sides. It really is a massive game, but particularly with the way Liverpool were defeated in midweek.

Liverpool can’t afford another defeat and if that does happen, then the alarm bells will really start to ring. I don’t know what to expect from Liverpool, there’s part of me that thinks it can’t continue this run, because they’ve got that much quality.

I don’t like what I’m seeing at Liverpool right now though – they’re not competing and they’re all over the place. I think Villa might take advantage of the pressure Liverpool are under.

When you gamble in midweek, the one thing you don’t want is to be battered. That filters into the football club and there’ll be an expectation for them to bounce back.

It wouldn’t surprise me if they did but I’m going to go for Villa because of the way football is, how it works sometimes, and the form that they’re in.

Prediction – Aston Villa win

West Ham vs Newcastle

I wouldn’t say comfortable for Newcastle, but I think with the form and the pressure that is at West Ham, there seems to be a real discord between fans, owners and players.

Newcastle have to go there and take advantage of that horrible situation. I would hope Newcastle go there and get three points.

At the minute, I do think West Ham will go down, because I don’t see anything that can tell me differently. With what I’ve seen up to now this season, they will go down if it doesn’t improve dramatically. I would really worry for West Ham fans.

Prediction – Newcastle win

Manchester City vs Bournemouth

Bournemouth are so impressive – what a season they are having. They’ve sold players, including the goalkeeper, but the players that have come in have settled in straight away; Kroupi’s got two goals, and others are performing.

Going to Man City is a different animal, particularly with Erling Haaland back in the team. I expect him to play, as he left him out of the Carabao Cup, changing 10 players.

If there’s one team that’s going to punish City, and with the form that Bournemouth are in with Antoine Semenyo and other players, it might just be Bournemouth, but I find it very difficult to go against Manchester City at home with Erling Haaland in the team.

I do think Bournemouth are European contenders. They’re out of the Carabao Cup, and they’re not in Europe, so they can prepare properly. They’re not pushing their squad to the max

I think you look at them and Palace, and you know you’re going to be in for a really tough game playing those two. Bournemouth would fancy themselves, quietly, because of what we’ve seen up to now, then they are European contenders, yeah.

Champions League? No, but I don’t see any other reason why they won’t want to compete for 5th, 6th, or 7th.

Prediction – Manchester City win

Sunderland vs Everton

It was a poor result last weekend for Everton. Sunderland are at home, and it’s always going to be tough. They will make it tough.

Everton will be up against it, so I’ll go for a home win, because of Sunderland’s form.

Prediction – Sunderland win

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Joe Cole names Chelsea’s three most important players to beat Tottenham

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Joe Cole says Chelsea are ‘relying’ on three players in order to beat Tottenham away from home in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Blues are below Thomas Frank’s side in the top-flight table ahead of the clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend.

Chelsea lost 2-1 to Sunderland at Stamford Bridge in their last Premier League match while Spurs smashed Everton 3-0 to move up to third.

Former Chelsea star Cole believes Pedro Neto is one of his old club’s most important players if the west London side are to defeat Spurs.

Neto has been in fine form for the Blues, registering three goal involvements across his last two Premier League games.

Cole also feels Jamie Gittens and Estevao Willian will be crucial for Chelsea to pick up three points against their London rivals.

‘Chelsea going to Spurs has traditionally been a comfortable game for the club over the years,’ Cole told Paddy Power.

‘It’s the expectations at Chelsea. Tottenham are now all excited, and they’re looking up at Chelsea, who are not a million miles away from Spurs, but there’s a different feeling to this game.

‘If Chelsea are going to beat Spurs at the weekend, you’re relying on players like [Pedro] Neto, who’s been brilliant, Jamie Gittens, who scored a goal and got an assist at Wolves, and Estevao.

‘The goals will come from wide, for Chelsea, and the midfield. Enzo’s been chipping in, but it’s a real tough game for Chelsea.’

Cole: Chelsea must win a big trophy next season

Quizzed on what constitutes a successful season for Chelsea, Cole added: ‘This is season four under this ownership. There are two trophies, albeit new trophies that don’t carry the same weight as a Premier League, an FA Cup, a Champions League, or even a League Cup.

‘But they have delivered trophies, and they’ve restructured the whole club financially.

‘This season, the expectation has to be for Chelsea to comfortably get into the Champions League position and mount a challenge in the league. I don’t think the squad’s strong enough to compete with Arsenal. I’m happy to go on record saying that now, they won’t win the league.

‘Chelsea needs to be comfortably in the Champions League and closer to the top of the league than they were last year for this season to be considered a success. And next season, they have to be winning the big trophies, because that would be five seasons into this project.

‘You have to go with the owners, this is what they are, this is the restructuring of the club. Whether you like it or not, this is where it is at.

‘I try and explain it with my best knowledge of how football clubs work, reading between the lines, because obviously the owners can’t come out and go, ‘Listen, we’re not going gung-ho like we did before, trying to win these big trophies, because we’ve got to fit within a financial model’.

‘They’re not going to say that, because it’s not a good soundbite. From what I understand, that’s what they’ve had to do, and the club wasn’t in a great position financially, so they’ve had to be a bit more clever with how they operate.’

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Tottenham vs Chelsea: Latest team news, predicted lineups and injuries

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A London derby that rarely disappoints awaits this weekend as Chelsea make the trip across the capital to take on Tottenham.

After defeat at home to Aston Villa, a dominant win over Everton last time out got Spurs back on track with Thomas Frank’s side sat five points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal in third place.

Chelsea missed the chance to join them in the top four after their shock defeat at home to Sunderland.

There were contrasting fortunes in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night with the Blues surviving a late scare to beat Wolves with Tottenham crashing out after a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United.

Despite the win, there was more frustration for Enzo Maresca with Liam Delap ruled out of this weekend’s game as the result of his red card.

Delap was making his return from a hamstring injury in the second-half but two yellow cards in seven minutes saw him become the fifth Chelsea player to be sent off this season with Maresca labelling the striker’s dismissal as ‘stupid’ and ‘embarrassing’.

It means plans for Delap to return up front to move Joao Pedro to his preferred role off the striker are on ice for another week.

Marc Guiu could continue up top after starting against Sunderland, rested midweek against Wolves.

Cole Palmer remains unavailable as he continues his recovery from his persistent groin injury while Benoit Badiashile is out until December.

Tottenham’s injury problems are showing no signs of easing with Archie Gray their latest casualty, expected to be ruled out for a month.

Joao Palininha was deployed at centre-half against Newcastle in order to give Micky van der Ven a rest with Guglielmo Vicario and Wilson Odobert also missing out due to injury issues.

Vicario is expected to be available on Saturday against Chelsea but there are also major doubts over Cristian Romero’s fitness. The captain pulled out of the warm-up ahead of the defeat to Aston Villa, missing games against Monaco and Everton as a result.

Frank will provide a further update on his skipper on Friday but the visit of the Blues could come too soon. His issue is not thought to be a long-term one, however, as is also the case with Destiny Udogie who has not played since picking up a knee injury while on international duty.

Yves Bissouma and Dejan Kulusevski also remain sidelined along with long-term absentee James Maddison.

Dominic Solanke meanwhile is continuing his recovery from minor ankle surgery with Ben Davies, Radu Dragusin and Kota Takai completing Tottenham’s list of unavailable players.

Tottenham XI to face Chelsea – Metro prediction

Should Vicario be past fit, Frank will be able to call upon the same starting XI that eased past Everton last time out although Richarlison is an option to come in and replace Randal Kolo Muani up top.

Chelsea XI to face Tottenham – Metro prediction

Delap’s suspension is a real spanner in the works but one positive for Maresca will be Alejandro Garnacho, Jamie Gittens and Estevao Willian all getting on the score sheet across the last two games.

Tottenham vs Chelsea TV channel and kick-off time

Tottenham vs Chelsea takes place on Saturday 1 November with kick-off scheduled for 5:30pm.

You can watch the match live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event with streaming also available through the Sky Go app and NOW TV for subscribers.

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Man Utd blocked deal for Tottenham star before signing £72m transfer flop

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Former Manchester United coach Benni McCarthy has revealed the club blocked Erik ten Hag from signing Randal Kolo Muani before spending £72m on Rasmus Hojlund.

Ten Hag was keen to bolster his attacking options in the summer of 2023 and eventually welcomed Hojlund to Old Trafford from Serie A side Atalanta.

But McCarthy says PSG forward Kolo Muani, currently on loan at Tottenham, was Ten Hag’s first-choice target that summer.

Ten Hag and his coaches ‘really liked’ Kolo Muani, according to McCarthy, but were ‘overpowered’ by the club who prioritised a deal for Hojlund.

‘We wanted to sign Randal Kolo Muani, he was a player that we really liked,’ McCarthy told Best Betting Sites.

‘We looked at his profile, and just before we started looking at him, he’d had a huge impact with France at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

‘He was quick, strong, he was a goal threat. I think that was the kind of player that we kind of looked at and thought that profile really would suit the young team that we had.

‘So obviously Erik asked me just to really just focus on getting the right players. So it was Randal Kolo Muani – he was probably top of the list of strikers which I thought would come in with his experience, and what he’d done at Frankfurt at the time.

‘l thought he was probably best suited to play alongside the likes of Rashford, Bruno and Garnacho at that time.

‘Then obviously Rasmus Hojlund was also in the frame. I think the club, the scouting department, decided otherwise and wanted Hojlund.

‘They felt that Rasmus Hojlund was the better profile, younger as well, with longevity. It could give the club more value going forward.

‘Because of those reasons, the scouting department overpowered basically what the manager wanted. The club obviously went according to the scouting reports and we missed out on Kolo Muani.’

Kolo Muani was in the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt when Erik ten Hag tried to bring him to Manchester United.

The World Cup finalist completed a £76m move to PSG later that summer but struggled at the French giants.

Tottenham signed Kolo Muani on a season-long loan deal in September but the 26-year-old is yet to make a significant impact for Spurs, making just two Premier League appearances.

Hojlund, meanwhile, scored 16 goals during his first season at Old Trafford before enduring a miserable 2024-25 campaign.

The Denmark international was offloaded to Napoli last summer after Manchester United brought in Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig.

McCarthy was disappointed to see Hojlund depart and says he and Sesko could have made a ‘good striker pairing’.

‘I think Sesko and Rasmus Hojlund would have been a good pair, to have two top strikers at the club,’ he said. ‘Both young, of course, both foreign, both from outside England.

‘They have to adapt. They need to adapt to their new environment. But I think once they both get going, it could have been a really good pair for United like they had back in the day.

‘They had Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Teddy Sheringham. They had four really top-class strikers and you just have to try and make it work.

‘And I think United would have had a similar situation if they had kept Rasmus Hojlund. But I understand, players want to play.

‘When you make that bold move to come to United, you don’t want to be sharing the load with somebody else or sitting on the bench while the other one plays and vice versa.

‘So, yeah, tough decisions, but the club ended up offloading Rasmus Hojlund, and he seems to be very happy where he is, and he’s playing and he’s gaining valuable experience and he’s scoring goals.

‘It’s good for his confidence and he’s still a United player. At the end of the day maybe he’ll come back from this loan and then hopefully he’ll be ready then to kick on for United.

‘Then he and Benjamin Sesko can work together. For Sesko, he’ll have to adapt to the way of playing, and he’s already scored two goals now in the last three games.

‘So once he can hit the ground running, United will have really good pedigree up front and they are relatively young footballers.’

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Arsenal star Eberechi Eze makes admission over Tottenham transfer

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Eberechi Eze admits he was ‘prepared’ to join Tottenham before his ‘dream’ move to Arsenal.

England forward Eze looked set to join Thomas Frank’s Spurs from Crystal Palace and had agreed personal terms over the move.

But Arsenal hijacked Tottenham’s move at the last minute to bring him to the Emirates Stadium in a deal worth more than £60m.

Eze has only scored one goal for new club Arsenal but has helped the Gunners climb to the top of the Premier League and enjoy a perfect start to the Champions League group phase.

The 27-year-old was ‘prepared’ to join Spurs, who only finished 17th in the Premier League last season but are playing in the Champions League courtesy of their Europa League win, but had no hesitating rejecting Tottenham for Arsenal.

Eze spent five years in the Arsenal academy as a child before being released at the age of 13 and ending up at QPR before his successful spell at Crystal Palace.

‘I was prepared to go to Tottenham, but from the moment Arsenal came, it was always going to be them,’ Eze said ahead of Sunday’s clash against his former club Palace.

‘My first [senior] Arsenal game was special. It almost didn’t feel real because it’s something I’ve been dreaming of for a long time.

‘Playing for Arsenal from eight to 13, it’s been in the back of my mind wanting to go back. It felt like the realisation of a dream.’

Arsenal have won six games in a row ahead of Sunday’s clash against London rivals Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners thumped Atletico Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League during the week in a result that was widely described as a ‘statement’.

Crystal Palace have largely impressed under Oliver Glasner, winning the FA Cup last season and recently enjoying a 19-match unbeaten run.

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But the Eagles have lost two of their last three games ahead of the trip to north London to face Premier League title favourites Arsenal.

Palace’s impressive unbeaten run was ended by David Moyes’ Everton before the international break and the south Londoners were also beaten by Cypriot side AEK Larnaca on Thursday night.

Jean-Philippe Mateta’s late goal earned Palace a 2-2 draw with Arsenal in this fixture last season.

Arsenal thrashed Crystal Palace 5-1 away from home, with injured striker Gabriel Jesus scoring twice, and also beat the Eagles in the Carabao Cup.

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Cristian Romero injury update after Tottenham captain misses Aston Villa defeat

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Thomas Frank has provided an injury update on Cristian Romero after he was injured in the warm-up prior to Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.

Romero had not missed a minute of Premier League football this season, having taken on the captain’s armand following Heung-min Son’s departure over the summer.

The Argentine international was named in the starting lineup for Sunday’s clash with Villa, but headed down the tunnel early after pulling up during his side’s warm-up.

Romero was subsequently replaced by Kevin Danso in the starting lineup, with Micky Van de Ven taking the captain’s armband.

Asked about the nature of Romero’s injury at full-time, Frank told Sky Sports: ‘Minor abductor injury. He felt a little bit the past few days. We expected him to be fine but he wasn’t. I don’t think it is too big.’

The timing of Romero’s injury is far from ideal for Spurs, given Sunday’s match is their first of seven matches in the next 22 days.

The north London side travel to face Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday, with games against Newcastle, Chelsea and Manchester United on the horizon in the coming weeks.

There was more bad news on the injury front prior to the game when Destiny Udogie was not named in the matchday squad.

Frank confirmed that the full-back had picked up a knock while on international duty with Italy, but insisted it was ‘nothing major’.

On the pitch, it was no better for Spurs as they slid to a 2-1 home defeat to Unai Emery’s side and missed out on the opportunity to temporarily go second in the table.

The hosts went ahead after just five minutes through Rodrigo Bentancur, but were pegged back before the break as Morgan Rogers’ superb striker levelled things up.

And it would be Villa who continued to raise their levels in the second half, and the visitors found the winner in the 77th minute when Emi Buendia curled a superb finish into the bottom-left corner.

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‘It was exactly the game I expected it to be, against two good teams, very tight,’ Frank added.

‘There weren’t too many chances. I think overall it could’ve gone either way. I think 1-1 would’ve been a fair result.

‘Villa scored two goals from outside the box in moments where you wouldn’t expect them to score. Fair play for their moments of quality. We also easily could’ve won.

‘Villa produced two goals out of nothing and we had four or five moments where we couldn’t produce. If you told me before the game that these players will be shooting from these positions I’d have said ‘happy days’.’

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Djed Spence mocks Tottenham teammate after England beat Wales

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Djed Spence fired a light-hearted dig at his Tottenham teammate Brennan Johnson after England’s win against Wales on Thursday night.

First-half goals from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Bukayo Saka sealed a 3-0 victory for Thomas Tuchel’s side at Wembley.

Spence, meanwhile, earned his second England cap after making his debut for the Three Lions in the 5-0 win against Serbia last month.

The Spurs defender celebrated England’s latest victory with a post on Instagram with a post which was captioned: ‘Very Happy to get my first England start with a great win.

But alongside the pictures of the game at Wembley, Spence also included the Grand Theft Auto meme where he superimposed Johnson’s head on the dog.

Spence also wrote in his caption: ‘But forget about all that emotional stuff for a second .. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE THE INEVITABLE. LETS TAKE A WALK TO THE PENITENTIARY BROTHER.’

Elsewhere, Tuchel hit out at England supporters over the lack of atmosphere during the game against Wales.

‘We had one and a half training days to prepare against a well-trained team and we did very well,’ Tuchel told ITV.

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‘We could have been 5-0 up at half-time. We couldn’t score the fourth and fifth ones. The stadium was silent. We didn’t get any energy back from the stands. We did everything to win.’

Asked if he expected more from fans inside Wembley, Tuchel replied: ‘Yes. What more can you give in 20 minutes? We didn’t let them escape.

‘If you hear just Wales fans for half an hour, it’s sad because the team deserved more support today.’

England play Latvia in their next World Cup qualifier on Tuesday evening.

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Sam Allardyce names current Premier League manager who refused to play for him

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Veteran Premier League manager Sam Allardyce remembers a time one of his players refused to play for him, and it was a man currently in charge of a top flight club.

The 70-year-old took charge of Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn, West Ham, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Everton, West Brom and Leeds in the Premier League.

He also had the briefest of stints in charge of England in 2016, which lasted just one match.

It is no surprise that Big Sam has experienced an awful lot in the game and when asked if a player had ever refused to play for him, he did have an example to hand.

Allardyce didn’t last long in his stint as Newcastle boss from May 2007 to January 2008, but it was a Magpies player who said he wouldn’t play for him – current Burnley boss Scott Parker.

‘Scott did it when I was at Newcastle,’ Allardyce told the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast on whether a player had ever refused to play for any of his clubs.

‘It wasn’t too bad. It was a straightforward, I need to leave and you need to get rid of me as quickly as you possibly can.

‘And I’d only been in the job for, I don’t know, a day, two days. And I think that there were two reasons for that. I understood the first reason, which was he felt that the Newcastle fans didn’t like him.

‘And the Newcastle fans, if they don’t like what they see, show their disapproval, rightly so. But they also get behind you extremely well, if they do like what you do. And so I was faced with the fact that they, I think it was his first, he’d only been there one season.

‘Good player, of course, obviously. And what do you do? Can’t stay here, can’t cope with it, need to move.’

Allardyce has spoken about Parker’s departure from St James’ Park before, telling the Mirror in 2010: ‘Fan ­pressure there is ­hostile ­towards the players.

‘They don’t really ­support the team as they should, they’re very critical and the players can’t handle that. That’s what Scott Parker couldn’t cope with. He said he couldn’t play at ­Newcastle.’

Parker has also admitted that he had to leave, such was his feeling that the fans in Newcastle had turned on him after a positive start after joining the club from Chelsea.

‘I went up to Newcastle and was playing some of my best football,’ Parker said in 2020. ‘Every week I gave nothing but my everything and ended up being captain of that football club.

‘In a very, very short space of time, it changed very, very quickly for me. It went the other way, for some reason.

‘Obviously, we were in a bit of a bad turn at the time in terms of results but nothing that was too much of a crisis. It did turn and before you know it, I had to leave.’

Parker left for West Ham in the summer of 2007 after two seasons and 73 games for Newcastle.

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Former Man Utd and Tottenham defender to join David Beckham’s Inter Miami

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Major League Soccer side Inter Miami are close to completing the signing of former Manchester United and Tottenham full-back Sergio Reguilon.

The six-cap Spain international is still just 28 years old but is looking for a new club after leaving Spurs at the end of last season.

The left-back joined Tottenham from Real Madrid in 2020 and featured regularly in his first two seasons at the club.

However, he fell out of contention and went on loan stints with Atletico Madrid, Manchester United and Brentford.

The Spaniard was back at Spurs last season, but made just six appearances in all competitions and was released at the end of the campaign.

The Athletic report that Reguilon is now on the verge of a move to the States, close to agreeing a deal to join Inter Miami.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano reports that Reguilon has offers from La Liga clubs and Iranian outfit Persepolis, but Inter Miami was his first choice.

The team, managed by Javier Mascherano, is in need of a new left-back after Jordi Alba announced his retirement is set for the end of the season.

The 36-year-old wrote on Instagram: ‘The time has come to close a truly meaningful chapter of my life.

‘I do so with complete conviction, with peace, and with happiness. I feel I’ve walked this path with every ounce of passion I had.

‘And now it’s the right moment to open a new chapter and close the previous one with the best possible feeling.

‘Thank you to all the fans for your kindness, you taught me that the shirt isn’t just worn, it’s felt. Today I close this chapter knowing I’ve given it my all, football has been and always will be an essential part of my life. Thanks football for everything.’

Another legendary player competing with Inter Miami, Sergio Busquets, is hanging up his boots at the end of the season as well.

On the prospect of becoming a coach, the Spanish midfielder said: ‘I think in the future, yes, but for now I’d rather take a sabbatical.

‘It’s a long time, with hardly any weekends. Like any footballer, obviously, playing for the national team and everything gives you another plus, but you also have less time.

‘You want to enjoy time with your family, time for me, for them, seeing my children, being with them, traveling more, watching football from a different perspective. And then, in the future, we’ll see.

‘In theory, yes, but let’s focus on the present, as there’s still a long way to go.’

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Man Utd, Liverpool and Spurs in transfer race for ‘unique’ £75m Bournemouth star

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Man Utd, Liverpool and Spurs in transfer race for 'unique' £75m Bournemouth star - Metro.co.uk
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Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham are locked in a transfer race to sign AFC Bournemouth star Antoine Semenyo, according to reports.

Semenyo has been in incredible form for the south coast club this season, conjuring up six goals and three assists in seven Premier League games.

The Ghana international was linked to United and Spurs in the summer transfer window but stayed with the Cherries, signing a new contract.

But according to talkSPORT, United and Spurs are ‘continuing to monitor’ Semenyo ahead of the January window, with Liverpool also now keen.

Bournemouth believe Semenyo is worth upwards of £75m and it’s thought any bid below that asking price will be instantly rejected by the Cherries.

Football pundit and former Bournemouth star Jamie Redknapp labelled Semenyo as ‘unique’ after Friday’s stunning performance against Fulham.

Semenyo registered two goals and an assist in the 3-1 victory over Fulham as Bournemouth continued their remarkable start to the 2025-26 season.

Andoni Iraola’s side, who have never finished higher than ninth in the top-flight in their 126-year history, are fourth after their opening seven games.

Are Arsenal in the race for Antoine Semenyo?

Interestingly, Arsenal were not mentioned by talkSPORT as being one of the clubs interested in signing Semenyo.

The 25-year-old is known to be an Arsenal supporter and some Gunners fans have urged the club to join the race for Semenyo on social media.

‘I am an Arsenal fan,’ Semenyo told The Athletic last year. ‘I don’t conflict the two with my job.

‘It is great to play against Arsenal, a team I have watched all my life and I want to play for the top clubs as well.

‘In order for that to happen I need to prove it.’

Quizzed if moving to a club like Arsenal would be ‘a dream come true’, Semenyo added: ‘Yeah, any team that plays Champions League, Europa (League) – that’s the aim.

‘I know that’s not going to come with a click of my fingers, it’s going to take some time. It’s going to take goals.

‘It’s going to take a lot of consistent performances. But I’ve worked all my life for that and I’m just going to continue working hard. That’s my mentality.’

Semenyo is a versatile attacking player who can be deployed as a left winger, right winger or centre-forward.

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