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This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets… 

Liverpool will face a high-flying Leicester side on Saturday with the Foxes’ English stars bang in form, but Ricardo Pereira is a major threat who the Reds must keep in check.

When you think of Leicester’s danger men under Brendan Rodgers, you think of Jamie Vardy and James Maddison.

The former has scored five league goals already this campaign and has Sadio Mane gushing over his quality, while the latter has one goal and two assists in top-flight action, averaging a superb Whoscored rating of 7.42.

Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

That said, the Foxes’ last two fixtures have seen a new threat emerge, as Pereira has found the back of the next in each of his last two games.

The Portugal international has enjoyed a fantastic start to the campaign under Rodgers, so good in fact that it may actually alter the way Mane plays on Saturday.

Indeed, not only is Pereira fulfilling his defensive duties with a whopping 4.7 tackles per game, he is proving to be quite the attacking outlet for his side, racking up over 60 passes per game.

He is completing those passes at a rate of 80%, making 0.7 chances per game, but even more impressively is terrifying his opposite number with 2.1 dribbles per game.

To put that into perspective, Andy Robertson completes 1.3 dribbles each match, while Trent Alexander-Arnold musters a measly 0.3. Even Mane himself doesn’t top Pereira with just 1.3 dribbles per Premier League outing this season.

The 25 year-old loves romping forward and pinning his opposing winger and full-back into their own half, and his battle with Liverpool’s left flank could well decide the game.

If Pereira uses his nearly 5 tackles per game to halt Mane and his excellent bursting runs forward to get in behind the constantly overlapping Robertson, the Foxes could well be the first side in England to take something off the Reds this season.

It is something Jurgen Klopp will have to consider, and it may even force a slightly more cautious approach from the usually unstoppable duo of Robertson and Mane.

Lots of Charlton fans have taken to Twitter to wax lyrical over midfield general Darren Pratley.

The 34-year-old played a key role in the Addicks’ promotion campaign last season, scoring two goals and grabbing an assist in 27 League One appearances for the south Londoners in 2018/19.

Pratley also scored a goal of great significance in the playoffs, netting in the second leg of the semi-final tie against Doncaster as Lee Bowyer’s men progressed to Wembley via a penalty shootout – they later beat Sunderland 2-1 in the final.

The 6 foot 1 midfield general has continued to star for the club, making seven Championship starts so far this season as the Addicks sit 10th, just four points off the summit.

Pratley has averaged three clearances, 1.9 interceptions and 1.6 tackles per game this term, and is proving to be a key cog in Bowyer’s midfield.

Quite rightly, lots of Charlton fans on Twitter have been waxing lyrical over the veteran…

We’ve seen some controversial combined XIs in recent months, but this one takes the cake.Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Danny Mills was faced with the task of building his best team made up of Liverpool and Manchester United players, and he caused a stir with his picks.

Yes, you’re reading that right – Mills’ combined XI is entirely made up of Liverpool players.

Who would’ve thought that a man most famous for playing for Leeds United and Manchester City would rile up United fans in such a way?

In all seriousness, it’s really hard to disagree with Mills on this one, even though a quick look through the more than 2,000 replies tells you he has riled up half of Twitter.

Liverpool have won every game in the league so far this term and United have won just one of their last seven in the Premier League.

Perhaps you could make a case for David de Gea or Harry Maguire to be in this team, but with Paul Pogba injured it’s hard to argue that any other United players deserve a spot.

It must be amazing for Liverpool fans to see that they’re so dominant over their biggest rivals at the moment, but Mills will be left with egg on his face if the Red Devils manage to win this weekend.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

West Brom will be looking to resume service this weekend as the Championship season gets back underway following a two-week hiatus for international duty.

The Baggies currently sit top of the table following the 11 matches that have been played with just one defeat to their name, which was handed to them by Leeds United.

Watch West Bromwich Albion Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Days later, Slaven Bilic’s side responded perfectly to see off Cardiff City 4-2, so there should be no concerns about their character as the season goes on.

Now they face a trip north to face Middlesbrough and the Croatian will want more breathing room at the league’s summit with only three points separating first to ninth.

On the Chalkboard

The Albion boss can give his side the best chance of success if they exploit one of Boro’s key weaknesses going into this fixture.

Defensively, Jonathan Woodgate’s side haven’t been up to scratch, especially over the last few games having conceded seven goals in three matches – four of which were dealt by Garry Monk’s Sheffield Wednesday.

One cause of this could be down to the absence of club captain George Friend after he required surgery on a ruptured tendon earlier in the season.

Boro sit precariously in 20th, just two points off the drop zone, so the 32-year-old’s absence has clearly been felt harshly.

While at left-back, they have an inexperienced man in Marc Bola, who was hugely exposed by Wednesday during their thrashing and it appears to be a troublesome area – even when he wasn’t on the pitch last time out against Birmingham, they still had the same problems, according to TeessideLive.

West Brom’s wingers have been their most significant threat so far this season with them on track to surpass last season’s goals per game total – clearly an area of strength.

Grady Diangana and Matt Phillips have four goals apiece and will surely be relishing this weak-looking defence – Bilic has to set let them loose to gain those vital three points.

West Ham United suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of Everton in the Premier League on Saturday, going down 2-0 at Goodison Park (via BBC Sport).

The Hammers were not at their best at all, and goals from Bernard and Gylfi Sigurdsson secured a much needed three points for Marco Silva’s side.

It would be fair to say that none of the West Ham players played well, but one player who came in for specific criticism from fans was Pablo Fornals.

The Spaniard really struggled in Merseyside, and managed to play no key passes and made no successful dribbles, whilst also having two unsuccessful touches, being dispossessed twice and also finishing with a poor passing accuracy of just 73.7%. He was ultimately dragged off by Manuel Pellegrini after 62 minutes and finished with a match rating of 6.15 (via WhoScored).

Fornals only joined West Ham from Villarreal in the summer, but it has been a tough start to life in English football for the 23-year-old. He has so far failed to register a single goal or assist in the Premier League, with his only contribution of note being a goal against Newport County in the League Cup (via WhoScored).

The fans are already beginning to grow impatient with the midfielder, and were extremely critical about his performance against Everton with some failing to even see any potential in him.

Here is what some Hammers fans had to say about Fornals’ display at Goodison Park…

Jurgen Klopp was not pleased with his side’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United on Sunday.Understandably, the German took issue with the legitimacy of Marcus Rashford’s opening goal, which was allowed to stand irrespective of a dubious challenge on Divock Origi in the build-up.Watch Liverpool Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Klopp is yet to beat United at Old Trafford in his five-year tenure as Liverpool boss, and another botched attempt saw his dreams of breaking Manchester City’s record of 18 consecutive Premier League wins shattered.

Needless to say, Martin Atkinson won’t be a popular figure around Anfield the next time he passes into Merseyside after he upheld his original decision on the Origi incident.

Speaking after the game, Klopp made his feelings on VAR abundantly clear…

The events on Sunday have opened up a whole new line of enquiry over the competency of so-called ‘video assistant referee.’

Ex-Premier League official Mark Halsey has since branded it an ‘absolute disgrace’ and the likes of Alan Shearer and Phil Neville insisting that system is being used incorrectly, with referees failing to check pitch-side monitors to assist with their decision-making so far this term.

Arsenal fans on Twitter have been absolutely fuming with Unai Emery after a ridiculous stat about Mesut Ozil was revealed.

Bleacher Report tweeted that the German has, in fact, played fewer Premier League minutes than Henrikh Mkhitaryan this season, despite the fact that the Armenian left Arsenal on loan back in August.

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It just goes to show how out of favour the playmaker is at the moment, and understandably, fans were far from happy with their manager.

Of course, there were once again calls for Emery to be sacked from his job.

It really is strange to see Ozil frozen out like this, especially when you consider he’s reportedly earning £350,000 a week.

Whether or not the manager starts to include the German more often from here on out remains to be seen, but he’s certainly not winning many fans over with his treatment of the attacking midfielder.

Here’s what Gunners supporters have been saying about the matter on Twitter…

Manchester United played Bournemouth this weekend, and while that isn’t a historically great Premier League clash, there have been moments in the games between the Cherries and the Red Devils that will live long in the memory.

Watch Manchester United Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Junior Stanislas scoring directly from a corner as the south coast club overcame the 20-time champions, the delayed final day of the season and Jose Mourinho’s first league game in charge of the club have all been memorable events for one reason or another, but there may be no moment as iconic as Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s first Manchester United goal.

Indeed, the Swede netted his first strike for the Red Devils against Eddie Howe’s men in trademark fashion as he drilled the ball into the back of the net from around 30 yards.

Three years on and Manchester United elected to choose the former PSG man’s strike as their Goal of the Day as they prepared to take on Bournemouth at the Vitality.

This tweet sparked a response from a number of United fans as they pleaded with the club to bring the 116-cap Ibrahimovic back for one more spell at Old Trafford.

Here’s what the fanbase have been saying on Twitter…

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

According to Eldesmarque.com, Liverpool have entered the race to sign Kylian Mbappe from PSG.

What’s the story?

The France international is said to be a primary objective for Real Madrid as he continues to dispatch all of those who come before him in Ligue 1.

However, Eldesmarque.com are reporting that the Reds are also keen on the 20-year-old. The article adds that, due to the fact Liverpool spent so little in the summer, they have deep pockets and could pay €250m (£215.4m) for the World Cup winner. That would be alongside his €40m (£34.4m)-a-year salary.

Wouldn’t be an automatic starter

There is no doubting that Mbappe is a world-class footballer. In the 158 professional club games he has played to date, he has scored 96 goals and provided 52 assists, and internationally, he already has 33 caps and has won the World Cup, in Russia last year.

However, would he even get in to Liverpool’s team? The answer is, probably not.

This season, he has played predominantly as a winger, with seven matches coming on the left and two on the right. On the flanks the Reds have Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. The former joined the Reds in 2017 and, since then, he has bagged 79 goals in 120 games, compared to the former Monaco man’s 69 in 98 during the same time period. Mbappe has the slightly better record, but whether he would be as prolific in a far more competitive league is up for debate. The Egypt international has proven his worth to Liverpool and is perhaps their star player. It would be foolish to take him out of the side.

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It is the same in regards to Sadio Mane. The Senegal international does not have as strong a goal record over the last two-and-a-bit seasons – even if he does have an albeit impressive 56 strikes in 110 games – but he offers so much to Jurgen Klopp’s team. Lions of Teranga teammate Ismaila Sarr said that he is the best in the world for him and, if you think that the Watford winger’s opinion is too biased, then consider that Lionel Messi voted for the 27-year-old for UEFA’s The Best award this year.

Of course, Mbappe could feature as the striker – that is where he has played the most of his games, as per Transfermarkt – but Liverpool have Roberto Firmino. Yes, the Brazil international does not have a strong goalscoring record for a striker, with 44 goals in 119 games, but he doesn’t need to be as prolific with those other two alongside him. It is his teamwork that makes him such an important part of this side. Mbappe would struggle to fill in that role. For example, he averaged 4.2 attempted dribbles last season in the league at centre-forward compared to Firmino’s 2.1, which perhaps alludes to a lack of suitability to the role on offer at Liverpool.

Mane and Salah have already had their differences this term. Throwing another goal-hungry winger into the mix could disrupt the team’s harmony. Mbappe is a stunning footballer, and will go on to have a great career, we’re sure. But a move to Liverpool just doesn’t make that much sense at this .

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Eddie Nketiah’s injury will hurt Leeds United in a lot of ways.

Of course, there’s the obvious point that the Whites will be without their top goalscorer for three weeks, but there’s also another way in which this setback hampers Marcelo Bielsa’s plans.

Indeed, the Arsenal loanees injury could see one of the Argentine’s plans set back even further, and many Leeds fans won’t be happy to hear it.

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Two up top

United supporters have been clamouring for the manager to play both Patrick Bamford and Nketiah upfront with each other, and it looked as if we were moving towards that eventuality.

Indeed, Bielsa had said in one of his press conferences that he could get both in the team by playing one behind the other, and it seemed as if he was considering using that tactic in the near future.

However, the 64-year-old has previously complained that he’s not been able to see how the pair would work together in training due to Nketiah’s England U21 duties as well as fixture congestion.

It seemed as if Leeds would have had a perfect opportunity to work on playing both strikers together this week, but that simply can’t happen now that Nketiah is injured.

Why being the away goalkeeper at Leeds is the toughest job in football in the video below…

Tactical setback

With Football Insider reporting that Nketiah will be out for over a fortnight, that means Bielsa won’t be able to experiment with a two up top tactic in training.

They say that the striker will have to convince the staff of his fitness after the upcoming international break, but even if he does there may not be a chance to train this new style for another couple of weeks as the Whites have to play three games in eight days after the break is over.

If Leeds are to use this new formation it won’t be for a little while, and that’s partly down to the injury Nketiah has suffered.

Not only is this a setback for the 20-year-old, it’s also a huge one both tactically and in terms of the potential of their attack.

After all, Bamford is now ten games without finding the back of the net.