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Well, that was absolutely baffling and brutal to watch for Arsenal fans.

In truth, the Gunners cannot complain about the result as their performance gave them what they deserved – they probably didn’t even deserve a consolation goal!

It was such an ‘Arsenal’ performance that you couldn’t help but laugh; from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s lifeline in the dying minutes to the same man costing Arsenal in the dying seconds to gift the Ligue 1 outfit a third goal and all but killing off the tie.

Nothing went right for the boys of north London, epitomised by the fact Dimitar Berbatov, one-time hero of their arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur, found his name on the scoresheet.

If Arsenal are going to comeback from a 3-1 defecit, then there aren’t too many better teams to face in this competition, however, the fact only six teams in European cup history have gone through after a first-leg defeat, I wouldn’t bank on a footballing miracle.

Anyway, here’s what we learnt from tonight’s clash at the Emirates.

Walcott’s Arsenal career over?

Theo Walcott was yet again on the bench for Arsenal tonight and although the Englishman has the most appearances and goals of anyone in the current squad, that lengthy spell on the sidelines appears to have cost him dearly.

Arsene Wenger opted to go for Danny Welbeck alongside Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud in the final third and with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also returning to the squad tonight, you have to question just how long Theo’s Arsenal career will last.

Arsenal have their Patrick Vieira replacement

Well, kind of. They don’t own him but boy should Arsene Wenger do everything he can to make sure they do. Geoffrey Kondogbia put in an imperious and physical performance in the middle of the park, capped off with his fine opener (via a helping hand from Per Mertesacker).

It is hard to replace someone of Patrick Vieira’s talents, however, Arsene Wenger could go a long way in doing so by bringing the former Sevilla midfielder over to the Premier League.

Time for Gabriel

Per Mertesacker was at fault for two of Monaco’s three goals tonight, sure, it is hard to blame the former German international for the first goal – a wicked deflection – however, shouldn’t he close down Kondogbia quicker?

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The blame can firmly be placed at Mertesacker’s door for the second, though, with the central defender’s rash decision to close down Monaco on the halfway line backfiring majorly, leaving Dimitar Berbatov to run through unmarked and to smash home.

Arsenal never really change

They always do it, Arsene Wenger’s side always trick the footballing world into thinking they’re ready to return to the upper echelons of English football. And then they go and do things like trail Liverpool 4-0 after 20-minutes or throw away a 3-0 lead at home to a bang average Anderlecht.

North London derby performance aside, Arsenal’s recent form had been impressive and they were expected to coast past Monaco tonight, have the job done after the first-leg. However, the footballing version of suicide is never too far away from this group.

Both Harry Redknapp and Mauricio Pochettino celebrate their birthdays today and neither will settle for any less than the perfect birthday gift – three points.

Redknapp’s arrival at Loftus Road looked to have given the doomed London club a much needed boost at first, but the novelty appears to warn off now as they search for a first win in six top-flight outings.

The Saints will believe a a few more wins can be enough for them to secure Premier League safety and they’ll be targeting three points against a relegation rival today in order to keep those survival hopes well and truly alive.

Here’s how the birthday boys’ teams line up today:

Southampton: Boruc, Clyne, Fonte, Yoshida, Fox, Puncheon, Cork, Schneiderlin, Lallana, Ramirez, Lambert. Subs:  K. Davis, S. Davis, Shaw, Rodriguez, Richardson, Guly, Ward-Prowse.

QPR: Cesar, Traore, Samba, Hill, Bosingwa, Granero, Park, Hoilett, Bothroyd, Mbia, Remy. Subs: Green, Taarabt, Mackie, Onouha, Jenas, Fabio, Townsend.

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According to The Sun, Barcelona are interested in signing Tottenham midfielder Christian Eriksen after Spanish newspaper Sport claimed the North London side are scrambling to secure their star man’s future.

Whats the story?

Eriksen was a target for Barcelona in January before they secured the signing of Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool.

According the The Sun, Nou Camp chiefs remain keen on the Dan following his stunning form since Christmas.

Eriksen has been key to Spurs excellent form and instrumental in their push for top 4. However, the wage structure at Spurs has meant a number of key players are stalling contract extensions.

Eriksen would be a huge loss, bigger than Dembele or Kane

The Dane’s influence on Spurs goes somewhat under the radar, with Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Mousa Dembele taking the limelight. He is not someone who seeks the stardom but deserves it.

Eriksen, who is valued at £63m by transfermarkt.com, is Spurs most important player. He links their midfield and defence and is the driving creative force. While others have sometimes faltered, the midfielder has consistently performed form Spurs.

He regularly provides excellent chances for top scorer Kane and Son. Eriksen’s importance was highlight when Kane was injured.

Without Kane’s goals and holdup play, Tottenham had to be a bit more clever with their play. This was led through Eriksen who’s excellent range off passing and ability to get a goal allowed Spurs to continue to win without Kane.

His importance was highlighted against Chelsea when he scored an excellent goal just before half-time to change the tide of the game. The goal was very much his own doing and without it Spurs may have struggled to get take the points back to Wembley.

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Losing Eriksen would be a massive loss for the North London side.  Without the Dane, Spurs go flat and lack creativity. Dele Alli and Son do not have his guile and calmness. He links the team together and is an important part of Mauricio Pochettino’s game plan.

He is the master of finding space and is the main supply chain for Kane’s goals.  While Spurs could cope without Kane they would struggle to fill the hole that selling Eriksen would leave.

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As far as left-field signings go, talk of Nene to West Ham this week has been… erm… out there. The Brazilian was recently released by Qatar side Al-Gharafa and is believed to have undergone a medical in east London ahead of a short-term deal to join the Hammers.

A few weeks ago a fair few Irons supports probably hadn’t even heard of the 33-year-old, and we think they would have been better off keeping it that way.

Here are FIVE reasons we think this deal is destined to be one to forget…

Been in a sub-standard league for too long

No disrespect to the Qatar Stars League, but it’s not exactly on a par with many top-level European divisions. The Middle Eastern game is so far behind the elite competitions that it’s simply impossible for players to maintain any sort of ability in comparable ability to those plying their trade in the best set-ups, meaning that Nene’s decline could be a worry.

The Brazilian opted to cancel his contract with Al-Gharafa, read into that what you will, on the back of two years in Qatar, in which time he netted 20 goals in 43 showings.

Too old

At 33, soon to be 34, Nene is clearly at the back end of his career. The tricky and versatile attacker used to be a decent performer in the French top tier, but PSG’s cash injection coincided with his move away from the club. More than 10 goals per season between 2009 and 2012 in Ligue 1 – the last of which he notched 21 – shows that he was once a dangerous forward, but the years have a way of being unkind to pacey goalscorers, and adjusting to a demanding league now will be tricky.

Smells like a panic addition

With Andy Carroll injured and the goals at Upton Park drying up, Nene looks like a desperate throw if the dice to get the Hammers’ top four charge back on track. Since the turn of 2015 Sam Allardyce’s men have slipped away from a shock Champions League charge, and now look in danger of missing out on a spot in the Europa League – albeit the competition can be a poison chalice.

Last gasp, panic buys rarely come to fruition, and with Enner Valencia and Diafra Sakho more than able to bang in the goals, Nene is not really needed.

Zarate’s struggles in a ‘Big Sam’ team

As much as Allardyce claims he’s not into direct football, West Ham are a physical ‘up and at ‘em’ type team when at their best. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, despite the negative words from ‘tiki taka’ hipsters, but only certain types of players can really thrive in such a system. Nene is not too dissimilar to summer arrival Mauro Zarate in terms of approach, and with the former Lazio man now at QPR on loan you can reach your own verdict on what is appreciated in east London.

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The Hammers have failed with freebies before

Remember Mladen Petric? Nope? Razvan Rat? Meh… West Ham don’t have a great record of snapping up free agents, so learning from mistakes could be wise. Carlton Cole has contributed, to an extent, since being brought back in from the footballing wilderness, but even his toils – he has bags of English top tier experience – show that freebies are not always bargains…

Newcastle are preparing a move for West Ham defender James Tomkins, according to reports from talkSPORT.

The Magpies have endured a tough start to their Premier League campaign, notching 20 points in 20 matches.

One reason for this has been the club’s shaky defence, which has conceded 37 goals, one more than bottom placed QPR.

This has forced manager Alan Pardew to set his sights on defensive options and he has highlighted Tomkins as one of his top targets.

The Hammers star has become frustrated this season by a lack of first-team opportunities, leading to speculation that he may be willing to leave London.

Last season Tomkins struck up a solid relationship with Winston Reid, but this term Sam Allardyce has elected to partner the New Zealand international with James Collins.

The Upton Park club will be reluctant to allow the 23-year-old to leave, but he may hand in a transfer request should Newcastle’s interest further.

Tomkins graduated from the East London outfit’s famous academy set-up, making is debut during the 2008 season.

He left the club later that year to join Derby on loan, but returned to the West Ham first-team for the 2009/10 season.

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His impressive form last year gained him a placed in the Great Britain team for the 2012 Olympic Games.

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Marcus Rashford has proved that, even amid the most competitive era of the Premier League, promising youngsters can still break through at a club the size of Manchester United. No doubt, the England international enjoyed his fair share of luck, but he had the talent to take his opportunity and is now an important player for club and country.

With that in mind, we recently looked at some of United’s best performers at Premier League 2 level this season, and then asked Red Devils supporters to vote for which youngster has the best chance of becoming a future star at Old Trafford – with Angel Gomes, Joe Riley, Demetri Michell and Zachary Dearnley the four candidates.

And our poll revealed that the vast majority of Red Devils supporters, a whopping 85%, believe 17-year-old attacker Gomes has what it takes to become a key player at first team level.

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Can Gomes break into Jose Mourinho’s starting XI next season, United fans? Let us know by commenting below…

As Premier League campaigns go, this one has the early signs of one of the most unpredictable and surprising ones to date.

Chelsea, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, are the early pace setters and appear to be going for an unbeaten season, while Liverpool have arguably already failed in their attempts at replicating last season’s superb title challenge.

Southampton have gone from relegation favourites to top four hopefuls in the matter of a few months and Sam Allardyce is fast dispelling his reputation as a long ball merchant and turning West Ham in to a side playing attractive football fighting for a Europa League spot.

And, to top it all off, we’ve got Alan Pardew still in a job at Newcastle after steering them in to the top six for a couple of weeks and QPR’s Charlie Austin being touted for an England call up.

So we asked the Sunday Express Chief Football Correspondent John Richardson for his thoughts on some of the Premier League’s big talking points of the season so far. Here’s how he sees it…

Which Premier League sides apart from Southampton has surprised him so far this season?

West Ham, because a lot of people thought they would be in relegation trouble. There was a lot of talk during the summer about Sam Allardyce losing his job or maybe even walk out because he was under pressure to play a more expansive game. He was told to bring in an attacking coach.

The Sam Allardyce of old may have walked but he is a bit more mature these days, knows what the game is all about. He brought Teddy Sheringham in to help with the forward coaching. Allardyce is an excellent manager in his own right. They deserve to be where they are at the moment in the top six. They have played some good football, they’re hard to beat.

The fans are off his back, but I don’t think many people would have predicted this. Most would have predicted he would have been one of the first managerial casualties of the season but instead he has gone from strength to strength.

Who is the next manager likely to be sacked in the Premier League?

It changes from week to week in the Premier League. Usually around February/ March time they get twitchy. I would say Mauricio Pochettino has to watch his back, there’s talk about Harry Redknapp under pressure.

I hope Burnley stick with Sean Dyke because they knew it was going to be a tough season. I spoke to one of the directors at the start of the season and he said they would stick with Sean no matter what happens. It’s easy to say that at the start of the season than say January or February when you’re bottom of the league and you’re staring the Championship in the face.

The one under the greatest pressure has to be Pochettino.

Do Tottenham have to finish in a European spot for Pochettino to keep his job?

No and yes. I think Tottenham would like that. He did a fantastic job at Southampton but it isn’t going well at Tottenham. You have to question some of the buys and see who they get in the January transfer window.

As long as he buys well in January and we see some improvement, I think he will be safe but if they drop further and if this supposes unrest between him and the players continues then the pressure increases. He’s a capable manager as he has shown at Southampton but he needs to start doing the business at Tottenham fairly rapidly.

Was Mike Ashley right to stick with Alan Pardew especially after the bad run of form at the start of the season?

It’s a complicated situation there because it’s not always about results at Newcastle. Why a lot of the fans want Alan Pardew out, they feel he is a yes man to Mike Ashley. In an ideal world, they would want Mike Ashley to sell the club because they feel the club won’t go forward with him in charge. He’s a good business man but he doesn’t give the club money, he sells the best players. 52,000 have turned up every other week thinking ‘Where is the club going? There is no ambition’.

They have felt that Pardew has always said yes to what Mike Ashley wanted. That’s why they have had a downer on Alan Pardew. I don’t think it is to do with results. They haven’t been fantastic but they have improved over the past month winning five on the trot. Really it was the case they wanted someone to stick up to Mike Ashley and you would of thought anyone that did wouldn’t be in the job very long so it’s a no win situation. So what I am really saying is nothing has changed.

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If Newcastle wins ten games on the run, there will still be people unhappy with Alan Pardew. In certain respects he can’t win.

Should the likes of Charlie Austin be selected ahead of Rickie Lambert for England?

Yeah probably, Rickie Lambert has been a disappointment so far at Liverpool although he could argue he hasn’t had many opportunities. You can’t blame him going from Southampton to Liverpool because it was the club he supported as a kid.

You do wonder about that decision though because he was a regular at Southampton, scoring goals and in form which lead to him being selected by England. Roy Hodgson is very loyal to players and I suppose as far as he’s concerned although Lambert isn’t receiving playing time, he still knows him as the player he selected at Southampton so he stuck by him.

Personally I think the likes of Charlie Austin and Danny Ings probably desire to be ahead of him because they are scoring goals in the Premier League and the under 21s and should be given an opportunity. Rickie Lambert is quite lucky.

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You may love or loathe the January window, but there is no question that it represents an exciting time in the Premier League calendar.

It is fair to say that you can take a majority of the gossip with a pinch of salt for the large part, but in my mind it is the rumours that make it so intriguing and we all, fail not to buy into them or dare to dream that they may come true. There have been plenty of outlandish ones over the years, but would we have it any other way?

This latest list is a collection players who will enrich the Premier League and certainly add huge value to it should they move in January – they have all been linked, but whether they actually sign remains to be seen.

Click on Willian below to unveil the top 10

According to Spanish paper Sport, Jose Mourinho is desperate to sign Samuel Umtiti.

What’s the word?

The 24 year-old, valued at £36million by Transfermarkt, has gone from strength to strength since joining Barcelona from Lyon in 2016, and is rumoured to be one of Mourinho’s main targets for the summer.

The Red Devils have also been heavily linked with Real Madrid’s Varane, so it is clear Mourinho is interested in adding another centre back.

The report from Sport claims the Portuguese manager is in constant contact with the player’s brother and agent, Yannick Umtiti.

Would he be the right choice?

There is no doubt Manchester United need to add another centre back. Daley Blind is on his way out, Phil Jones is injury prone, and Chris Smalling just isn’t very good. Eric Bailly has had his own problems with injuries, but the hope is that a big money signing could compete with Bailly and Victor Lindelöf for the starting positions.

Umtiti is certainly a good player, but if it were a choice between the Barcelona man and Varane, then the Madrid star is a better option. Umtiti’s ball playing skills fit right in at Barcelona, but he is relatively small for a centre back, especially a Premier League centre back. Jose Mourinho in particular is a big fan of having plenty of height in his teams, so Varane might be a better fit.

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Umtiti is also loved at Barcelona, so could be very costly to lure away from the Catalan club. While Varane is highly respected in Madrid, a summer clear-out at the club could mean players like the towering Frenchman are available for a reasonable price.

Manchester United fans, would you prefer Umtiti or Varane? Let us know in the comments below…

After eight games played so far this season, Southampton sits in third place in the Premier League with five wins, one draw and two loses with their most recent results being an 8-0 win against Sunderland. They have scored 19 goals (second highest in the league), only conceded five goals (lowest in the league), and earned 16 points. With this incredible start, can The Saints continue their good form and finish in the top four this season?

This impressive start is one that no one expected, especially after the amount of key players from last season that had left the Saints over the summer. Italian Graziano Pelle, Serbian Dusan Tadic and Englishman Ryan Bertrand arrived at Southampton during the transfer window, and have been fine replacements for English trio of Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw.

All three new arrivals have played in The Saints first eight games of the season, Pelle has scored six goals, Tadic has provided seven assists, and all three have currently have a whoscored.com rating of higher than 7.3. Frenchman Morgan Schneiderlin has also played well for The Saints, scoring three goals and earning a pass success percentage of 88.4%, the highest out of all the frequent starters at the club. All of these players under the guidance of manager Ronald Koeman have made the transition from last season to this an easy one.

After eight games last season, Southampton had 15 points and was sitting in sixth. A top four spot was only a point away but despite this position, The Saints ended the season in eighth with 56 points. There was a point last season in November when they climbed up to third and some questioned if they could even win the league but obviously that didn’t happen.

You have to be careful what you say so early into the season. Whilst Southampton are sitting in third, West Ham are in currently sitting in fourth but no one is saying they’re going to finish there or even near there when all is said and done. Southampton is currently 8/1 by the bookies to finish in the top four but they are 7/4 to finish in the top six. Maybe asking can the Saints achieve a European spot and a top six finish is a more realistic target, rather than finishing in fourth or higher. This is a target which everyone can agree on.

Southampton have played against three of the top eight from last season in this campaign, losing to Tottenham and Liverpool, but winning against Arsenal. These are the teams they need to beat to make European qualification more of a reality. They have a good run of games against mid and lower table teams coming up till they face three killer fixtures starting from the end of November. These games are against Manchester City at home, Arsenal away, and Manchester United at home. Keeping momentum high going into these games is paramount if will benefit The Saints, as it will give the side confidence in these tough fixtures. Winning these games will make it more like that Southampton will play European football for the first time since the 2003/04 season.

If Southampton continue their current good form, they will finish the season with around 77 points. That amount of points by a team would have given them a fifth place finish last season, good enough for an automatic spot in the Europa League group stage. It’s surprising to say, but The Saints will need to step up their game if they want a top four finish, but a European spot is certainly a possibility.

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