Sam Preston Archives: 11/2018

Moussa Sissoko has been an unpopular figure among Tottenham fans for much of his spell in north London and needed a pivotal moment to complete his recent transformation.

After a topsy-turvy ten-goal thriller at Villa Park, Tammy Abraham’s four-goal was the subject of heavy praise from his fans.

The last time Wolves travelled to face Cardiff, it was a Championship title six-pointer and ended in acrimonious fashion with a confronation between Neil Warnock and Nuno Santo. That means the Bluebirds will relish the opportunity to make it six games without a victory for the Old Gold.

Sam Allardyce oversaw a horribly defensive approach to the Merseyside derby, and Sunday’s clash will show how strong Marco Silva’s commitment to attacking football is.

If Brendan Rodgers risks the Australian’s fitness against Rosenborg, it will show that he values Europa League progression more than domestic silverware, with the Betfred Cup final against Aberdeen looming on Sunday.

Sunderland raced into a 3-0 lead against one of their main promotion rivals but nearly undid all their good work by getting slack thereafter.

Steven Gerrard wants to be in charge at Ibrox for a ‘very long time’, underlining his commitment to dragging Rangers ahead of Celtic and his old Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers.

Aitor Karanka’s first match in charge of Nottingham Forest was against Aston Villa in January so tonight’s trip to Villa Park offers a handy opportunity to assess his side’s progress since then.

Marcelo Bielsa revealed that he was all set to drop his first-choice goalkeeper before the injury to Jamal Blackman and the Northern Irishman’s penalty save against Reading shows that his wake-up call is already having the desired impact.

On Saturday evening, Mauricio Pochettino deployed a diamond formation which ripped Chelsea apart but will the same approach work in Tottenham’s must-win encounter with Inter tonight?

Nottingham Forest have an impressive away record this season and Villa cannot afford to drop their level after clinching the bragging rights against Birmingham on Sunday.

Fabinho has been linked with a switch to French champions PSG but could underline his commitment to Liverpool with a performance that helps the Reds into the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Stuart Armstrong has struggled for form since his summer move from Celtic but his weekend double against Fulham should kickstart his St Mary’s career.

Jonjo Shelvey is seen by many as one of Newcastle’s most important players but he has been largely absent from the Magpies’ recent upturn in form as former Swansea man Ki has taken centre stage.

Jurgen Klopp has used a more adventurous 4-2-3-1 of late, but the 4-3-3 which got the Reds into last season’s Champions League final is ideal to get something from the tricky trip to face French champions PSG.