AFCON, Championship, Transfers - #2

There is a small chance that you've made some new friends in the last couple of months. We certainly haven't made any new friends, but if we had done, we would hit forward and share this slightly above average newsletter. 

Happy Friday. Let's get straight into it.

ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

Chelsea 💯: The Blues handed Conte his first Premier League defeat since taking over as Spurs manager. Ziyech had a lively game from the right wing, which seems to suit him more than the previous inside forward role. He scored a beauty, and put in 10 crosses. 

Tammy Abraham 🔥: Chelsea sold Tammy Abraham to Serie A, and spent almost triple the money to bring Lukaku back to the Premier League. That's looking like terrible business now - Tammy is on fire under Mourinho, having scored 10 goals and dished out 3 assists in Serie A this season. Chelsea do have a buy back clause... we expect he will eventually be back in London.  

Here We Go: Transfer Updates

Callum Chambers leaves Arsenal after eight years for Aston Villa. 

Anthony Martial gets a fresh start at Sevilla on loan from Manchester United. 

Dušan Vlahović, one of the hottest young strikers in Europe, has snubbed Arsenal to join Juventus. 

Former Liverpool and Barcelona star Philippe Coutinho has joined former teammate Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa. 

Premier League strongman Adama Traore was all oiled up for a move to Spurs, but instead looks poised to rejoin boyhood club Barcelona after six years away.

Barcelona also moved on Manchester City forward Ferran Torres.

New England Revolution and USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner looks set for a move to the Arsenal. 

Other stories to keep your eyes on before the end of January: 

Will Manchester United let Jesse Lingard out of his cage? Newcastle's hopes to sign the soon out-of-contract midfielder have been stifled by a ridiculous loan fee ask. 

Will Donny Van De Beek leave his benchwarmer in Manchester and finally play football again?

Who will Spurs sign? Will Arsenal sign a forward?

WIll Burnley sign Wout Weghorst from Wolfsburg? (The most Sean Dyche transfer of all time).

Cameroon to win AFCON?

It's been a pretty epic AFCON so far. We've had upsets, red cards, and plenty of entertaining football. We are now into the business end of the tournament as home nation Cameroon faces Gambia in the first game of the quarter-final stage on Saturday. 

Shock of the tournament: Former Champions Algeria knocked out in the group stages.

Feel good story: It has been a historic tournament for Comoros. They beat Ghana 3-2 in their last group game, securing a spot in the round of 16 where they faced off against Cameroon. Without any fit goalies (injury and COVID cases) defender Chaker Alhadhur had to step up, and had an absolutely amazing performance in the loss to Cameroon. They also scored the goal of the tournament (above).

The numbers: 

79 goals scored in 44 games 

1.8 goals per game

17 - 1-0 games

12 ties

Rising Young Talents:

Pape Gueye 23 (Marseille) - Senegal

Pape Sarr 19 (On loan to Metz from Spurs) - Senegal

Imran Louza 22 (Watford) - Morocco

Championship Summary 

Who is Billy backing to go up? 

Call me old fashioned and boring, but I like two regulars to return after this year. 

Promotion favourites:

Fulham: Fulham have won four on the spin and have scored 22 goals over this span. Scotty Parker’s Marco Silva’s boys sit top of the Championship, via Aleksandar Mitrovic’s league leading 27 goals, and are eyeing another swift return to the Premier League. They have an excellent squad and there’s no sign of turning back now. 

Bournemouth: Scott Parker bizarrely jumped ship at Fulham after steering a relegation campaign in the Premier League, but was a hot commodity who Bournemouth snatched up. He has consistently held his side in the top two of the Championship all year, but currently sit third with a game in hand on Blackburn Rovers. This team is full of Premier League level players and I expect them to make a final push to secure top two and regain their place in the PL next year.

Contenders:

Blackburn: An obvious one, currently sitting second. Young Chilean forward Ben Brereton Diaz was 1000/1 to score 20 goals at the beginning of the season, and hit that mark barely halfway through the season. I put a week’s wages on it and have retired to write a newsletter. 

QPR: They’re in there. Charlie Austin is a part-time player part-time TalkSport host, straight out of Ted Lasso. Frankly I don’t see it happening for these boys. 

West Brom: Valérien steel. Not doing great––won just one of their last six. 

Huddersfield: No.

Middlesbrough: Boro have a real chance of getting into the playoffs and have surged under Chris Wilder, the latest hardman to take the helm. I ask you only this dear Lord: if we lose Dyche give us Wilder in return. 

At the bottom of the Championship, Wayne Rooney is trying to lead potentially the greatest of great escapes. Derby have gone into administration––and who knows what will happen there––but Rooney has Derby County just eight points from safety after serving a twenty-one point ban.

Dan and Billy's Betting Picks

Dan: We will simply forget the disastrous picks I made last weekend. I want to send a special apology to my family, as I certainly embarrassed them last week. I'll be doing research until club football returns. 

Billy: Let's not beat around the bush –– 1-1 is a more than respectable haul, and if you lost your rent money on my Leeds pick I never said I was a financial advisor. I will post more picks for next weekend, but for those of you who went 0-2 on little Daniel's picks you're in my thoughts.

Goal Of The Week 

We've talked a lot about the Championship today, so it's only natural that our goal of the week comes from a soon to be championship ball club - Norwich.  Josh Sargent 🇺🇸 has had a tough start to life in the Premier League, but scored this peach against Watford.

Red Card Of The Week 

We're pretty confused as to why the ref had to go to VAR after this Karate Kid challenge on Brazil forward Matheus Cunha. 

Enjoy the weekend! If you liked what you read today, spread the love.