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In the end, it turned out to be yet another miserable trip to the capital for Leeds United on Monday night.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side extended their wretched run of results in London with a dismal 2-0 defeat to West Ham in the Premier League, with the Whites now having lost 13 of their last 14 visits to the city.

Goals from Jesse Lingard and Craig Dawson were enough to consign them to a defeat, and while there were a number of poor performers on the night, Mateusz Klich’s shocker really stood out among the rest.

The Poland international’s form in recent weeks surely warranted him being dropped from the starting line-up against the Hammers, but once again, Bielsa chose to place his loyalty and faith in his midfielder.

And boy, was he made to regret that. Klich looked well off the pace in the opening 45 minutes of the contest, winning just one of his seven duels in total, losing 86% – the worst percentage of any Leeds player on the pitch.

There was none of the energy and dynamism on display that we see when Klich is at his absolute best, with the 30-year-old looking a shadow of his former self.

He made just the one tackle and recorded no interceptions, blocks or clearances whatsoever, while he wasn’t even a presence going forward either, with no shots on goal and no dribbles attempted.

The Leeds boss seemed to finally lose patience with him, and ended up hooking him at half-time, with Gjanni Alioski coming on in his place at the break.

And, writing in his post-match player ratings for Leeds Live, Beren Cross noted: “Has looked like a passenger for weeks and again was well off it in the capital. Just seemed totally empty and unable to provide any kind of control or presence in the centre. Overrun by Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice.”

If he needed to be dropped before the game, then there simply cannot be any excuses for Bielsa from not reaching that conclusion after watching Klich’s performance on Monday night against the Hammers.

Brentford star Ivan Toney sent David Moyes a statement during the Bees’ 3-1 win over Reading on Wednesday, as West Ham United’s plans for the striker continue to grow.

According to Eurosport, Hammers chiefs are monitoring Toney’s sensational form in the Championship ahead of a potential swoop for the centre-forward this summer.

The Irons opted against making a quick bid to replace Sebastien Haller in the mid-season market and are instead focused on finding the right long-term option to succeed where the Ivory Coast international could not.

A renewed approach for Sevilla ace Youssef En-Nesyri is seen to be extremely unlikely at this stage, while many other potential options will continue to be explored between now and the end of the season.

This is not the first that West Ham are being linked with Toney, after claims emerged on Deadline Day that the east London outfit hope their willingness to send Winston Reid to west London on loan for the rest of the season would help in any future negotiations.

Toney has been in simply sublime form under Thomas Frank since joining Brentford from Peterborough for an initial £5m last summer, to now be valued at £30m and watched by England scouts.

Few in the Championship are performing at the same level as Toney, who leads the division for goals after taking his tally to 23 for the term at Reading on Wednesday. He also became the second-tier’s leading assist provider with nine, after being involved in Joshua Dasilva’s brace at the Madejski Stadium.

Toney has now turned the ball home seven times and created four goals in his last four league games, with WhoScored match ratings of 9.91, 7.55, 9.23 and 8.23 helping to a seasonal average of 7.55 – the second-best in the second-tier to Cardiff’s Kieffer Moore (7.6).

Toney’s display at Reading sent a clear message to Moyes that he has to be tracked as West Ham weigh up who to invest in come the end of the season, as it is more than obvious that he is too good for the Championship and ready to make the step up to the Premier League.

The attacker, who former England international Darren Bent lauds as a “clinical” finisher, often cut an isolated figure in attack on Wednesday but stayed alive to see that Brentford moved top of the table by nonchalantly chesting a looping cross for Dasilva to score.

Toney soon pounced on a loose ball to fire home himself in the 88th-minute, after Rafael could only parry Sergi Canos’ low effort, and could have bagged a brace to go with his pair of assists were it not for a last-ditch Michael Morrison clearance.

Being starved off the ball in dangerous positions and Morrison intercepting Dasilva’s cross meant Toney could only register one shot at the Madejski, compared to his usual 2.5 a game in the Championship this season.

Yet Toney put Bent’s words into practice to ensure he did not miss his only chance, and sent Moyes and West Ham a clear message as they continue to grow their striker plans.

AND in other news, West Ham will have to pay in excess of £26.5m to land a prolific 18 goal striker in the summer…

Many Aston Villa fans are not happy at all with John McGinn’s performance in the Premier League match against Southampton.

The Scotland midfielder, who arrived in the summer of 2018 (Transfermarkt), has been a key player for the squad since joining and a feature in the side since returning from injury.

However, it looked like his performance against the Saints was not what Villa fans have come to expect from him. One fan called him ‘anonymous’, whilst another said he was ‘doing nothing’.

Aston Villa recently announced the arrival of French midfielder Morgan Sanson, who has an abundance of experience in Europe, and he travelled with the squad for the Saints game even though he had only trained for a couple of days.

This has created more competition in the middle of the pitch, and McGinn will have to step up his performances if he wants to keep his place in the starting eleven.

Dean Smith’s side put in a gutsy away performance at the end of the day, but McGinn was certainly one of the weaker links.

Here is how Villa fans reacted:

“John McGinn, running around, doing nothing, just whining on the opposition player.”

Credit: @Kalme70

“What’s McGinn doing? doesn’t look like he’s coming or going!”

Credit: @ChicoPants

“Mcginn and Douglas Luiz struggling here / barkley non existent”

Credit: @RUSSON82

“Barkley and McGinn are anonymous #avfc midfield getting ran by Southampton”

Credit: @Vincentvilla81

“For all their good play Soton didn’t create much. We need to get better control in midfield though. McGinn and Dougie both below par. We always have that quality in final 3rd to get a goal though. #avfc”

Credit: @FoxyN77

“McGinn doesn’t look right to me….”

Credit: @toriihx

In other news, Gregg Evans has highlighted one transfer problem for Aston Villa.

Celtic have had one of their worst seasons in over ten years. They are 19 points behind Rangers and are staring down the barrel of a catastrophic embarrassment.

For so long the Hoops have been the dominant force in Scottish football but they are now doing the chasing just like everyone else.

Though, if there was one bright spark from the season so far, it would be Ismaila Soro.

The Ivorian is a reserved character and has come out of nowhere to lead a mini-revival in the Celtic team. They may have lost to Rangers but Soro was a major reason behind Celtic winning six on the trot before the New Year.

He was given a rare start against Lille and then when he played against Kilmarnock in a 2-0 victory in mid-December, the Bhoys kept their first clean sheet since early November. That was no surprise judging by Soro’s performances.

The midfielder won a combined 12 tackles in those two matches and has been a stalwart ever since. Just imagine, therefore, what he could do alongside someone like Ben Pearson.

It’s been suggested that Celtic are trying to sign the Preston general on a pre-contract ahead of the summer and if his record if anything to go by, he and Soro would be an almighty partnership to break down.

Pearson, who earns £8.5k-per-week at Deepdale, is a mighty figure in the middle of the park and has been given a yellow card on 28 occasions in the last two seasons.

He is a brute and together with Soro, has the capabilities to form one of the sternest protective layers in the whole of Scottish football.

The pair of them are two tough-tackling individuals and if anything can smooth over the defensive cracks that have appeared in Neil Lennon’s side this season, they can.

The Glaswegians have conceded ten more goals than Rangers in the league and shipped a colossal 19 strikes in just six Europa League outings.

It may well be the back four that needs improving, but with a better screen of protection in front of them, the defence will only get better.

This would be one way for Nick Hammond to solve Celtic’s crisis.

AND in other news, Tierney 2.0: Celtic must sign gem with “relentless pace”, he makes “defenders cower”…

Tottenham Hotspur are running out of time to make any major additions as less than ten days remain in the January transfer window.

It’s only been a mere three months since chairman Daniel Levy pulled off a phenomenal summer of business, signing the likes of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Matt Doherty on bargain deals, as well as securing the sensational return of Gareth Bale to north London alongside impressive left-back Sergio Reguilon.

But will any business be done before February 1st? Only time will tell.

Spurs have been linked to a vast array of names, but what is known is that manager Jose Mourinho is longing for a new pacey central defender and a box-to-box maestro, according to The Sunday Times’ Duncan Castles, before the month is out.

So, here’s how the Special One’s XI could look in time for their derby clash against Chelsea in two weeks time…

As the north Londoners find themselves still remaining in all competitions this term, we predict that Levy may well open the chequebook in the desperate attempted to pull them into lifting their first trophy since 2008.

With that in mind, Mourinho could get those two additions he’s desperate for.

In goal, club captain Hugo Lloris is likely to continue as the no.1 despite reported interest from former manager Mauricio Pochettino, as per The Sun.

A back four could see Toby Alderweireld partnering a new centre-back in another Madrid man, Eder Militao. The 23-year-old Brazilian is heavily out-of-favour under Zinedine Zidane, and according to Mundo Deportivo, he’s a player that interests Mourinho.

Indeed, he could fulfil the ‘pacey central defender’ requirement as he’s also been deployed as a right-back in the past too. An average of 0.7 dribbles per game over the course of his career is testament to that too as it shows he’s not afraid to bring the ball out from the back.

Sport (via Sport Witness) believe he’d be a loan arrival rather than a permanent one.

Both Sergio Reguilon and Serge Aurier are likely to continue as the first-choice full-back pairing in the league.

In midfield, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Tanguy Ndombele remain as part of the starting XI, but the addition of that box-to-box star is going to cause trouble for several players.

£22.5m-rated Harry Winks, linked with a loan move to Villarreal by Sky Sports, could indeed be shipped out temporarily as a result.

Whilst forgotten man Dele Alli is likely to be shipped to PSG. That decision currently lies firmly in the hands of the stalling Levy, according to Fabrizio Romano “everyone is waiting” for the Spurs chairman to sanction any exit.

There’s also no place for £55m attacking midfielder Giovani Lo Celso as he’s been out injured for over a month.

Instead, we could see Spurs seal a move for Marcel Sabitzer – German transfer expert Max Bielefeld told Sky Deutschland that the north Londoners were keen on the Leipzig captain, and The Athletic believe he could command around £30m, which would be in their budget.

A front three of Heung-min Son, Harry Kane and Steven Bergwijn is likely to be the go-to for Mourinho despite having Bale fit and available.

AND in other news, £45m “warrior” could take Spurs onto the next level…

Glasgow Rangers return to Europa League action on Thursday night, as they take on Standard Liege, on the back of their last European outing where Benfica stunned Steven Gerrard’s side with a late comeback

Gerrard has somewhat of an injury crisis to deal with ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash with Liege as he will be without Filip Helander and Nathan Patterson, whilst Ryan Jack remains a major doubt, and Brandon Barker faces a race against time to prove his match fitness too.

However, he has indicated that Joe Aribo is expected to be fit, and he may take the opportunity to rotate his squad ahead of a busy schedule in the coming weeks and months.

The 54-time Scottish champions cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win over the Belgians last time out and Gerrard will be hoping for the same result as the Gers seek to qualify for the last 32 of the competition.

Former Sunderland stopper Jon McLaughlin may be pushing for a recall, but we’ve given Allan McGregor our backing to resume his rightful place between the sticks as he has been trusted for most Europa League games so far this season.

It’s hard to imagine there will be any changes to the back four, as Helander and Patterson are out, so James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, Leon Balogun and Borna Barisic are likely to keep their places in the starting line-up.

Youngsters Ciaran Dickson and Leon King will be hoping for some more minutes after debuting from the bench against Falkirk in the Betfred Cup last weekend.

Alfredo Morelos has been the Ibrox boss’ trusted man for the big occasion, but the Colombian has largely been out of sorts as of late, with a tally of just one goal and an assist to his name in his past five games in all competitions.

Gerrard has demonstrated a ruthless streak in recent months as so he could be benched from the start ahead of Sunday’s clash with Premiership rivals Ross County, leaving Kemar Roofe and Cedric Itten as contenders to lead the line.

Whilst Itten has struggled for consistency so far this season, Roofe went viral after a wonder goal against Standard Liege from inside his own half, so is likely to lead the line.

As we’ve mentioned previously, Gerrard could be tempted to bring in Ianis Hagi on the right, so switching Roofe up front and replacing Barker with Ryan Kent on the left makes the most sense.

Glasgow Rangers predicted lineup (4-2-3-1): McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Balogun, Barisic, Arfield, Davis, Kamara, Hagi, Roofe, Kent.

AND in other news, Brandon Barker’s potential knock could force Steven Gerrard to give Ianis Hagi the time to shine…

Glasgow Rangers defender Leon Balogun will be an integral part of Steven Gerrard’s plans for beating Benfica in the Europa League, with the Light Blues centre-back keeping Sam Cosgrove in his back pocket throughout the game against Aberdeen at the weekend.

Rangers welcome Benfica to Ibrox on Thursday night and will be looking to extend their unbeaten start to the season, with the Gers throwing away a two-goal lead to draw with the 10-man Portuguese giants in Lisbon last time out as Filip Helander had a night to forget in Portugal.

Gerrard’s side stormed 11 points clear of Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership, after goals from Ryan Kent, Kemar Roofe, Scott Arfield and James Tavernier helped the Bears beat Aberdeen at home.

The result keeps the Gers atop the league table with a healthy lead over their arch-rivals, whilst Benfica were beaten by Braga in a 3-2 defeat before the international break, which saw them slip to third in the table with two wins from their last five fixtures in all competitions.

Rafa Silva struck the second of the Eagles’ goals in the second half to keep them in the game against the Gers, before Darwin Nunez scored in stoppage time to ensure that Jorge Jesus’ side will be brimming with confidence when they travel to Ibrox on Thursday night.

Silva has scored three goals and supplied four assists in ten games so far this season, as he continues to shine for the Portuguese side since his arrival from Braga, now with a tally of 40 goals and 26 assists to his name.

Gerrard will be well aware of the threat the right winger poses and will know that neutralising the 27-year-old will be pivotal to securing victory, but he should be buoyed by the fact that Balogun played an instrumental part as the Gers kept their 17th clean sheet in all competitions against Aberdeen.

Per SofaScore, the 32-year-old was a ballast at the back, combining with Connor Goldson to restrict the Dons to just three shots on target throughout the game, as he made two interceptions, won three out of four ground duels, was fouled twice, and won the penalty which was converted by the club captain, showing he was a useful attacking asset as well as he took 83 touches of the ball and completed 68 out of 76 passes (89%).

Gerrard made no attempt to disguise his delight after Balogun returned to the starting line-up against Lech Poznan in the Europa League, describing him as a “fantastic” beast who is “very quick,” as quoted by The Herald.

In contrast, it’s fair to say that Helander has struggled for consistency so far this season, whilst he was at fault for two of the goals against the Eagles.

No doubt the Ibrox boss will be hoping that Balogun can continue his fine form in recent weeks when Rangers face Benfica at Ibrox this Thursday.

AND in other news, Zungu beware: Glasgow Rangers midfielder Scott Arfield sends Steven Gerrard timely reminder…

West Ham United must strive to revive David Moyes’ interest in SSC Napoli defender Nikola Maksimovic in the January window after seeing a £14million bid rejected this summer.

What’s the word?

According to FcInterNews, Napoli are struggling to secure Maksimovic’s long-term future as discussions over a new contract are failing to get off the ground.

The Serbian centre-half is set to become a free agent in 2021 with his current deal now in its final seven-months, but Aurelio De Laurentiis’ efforts to retain the 28-year-old have reached a stalemate as his best offer to date is still €800,000-a-year (£721.2k-a/y) behind Maksimovic’s request.

It is understood the 25-cap colossus is requesting a €2.5m-a-year, four-season deal (£43,360-per-week) plus bonuses, allowing for both AC and Inter Milan to continue monitoring Maksimovic’s situation after both San Siro sides put steps in place to sign him this summer.

AC submitted an undisclosed offer for the centre-back in September, while Inter approached his agent Fali Ramadani to gather more information on the full-time specialist and remain vigilant to any further developments.

West Ham also saw an approach turned down by De Laurentiis, with talkSPORT claiming the Irons tabled an opening £14m offer as Moyes was “hanging his hat” on bringing the former Red Star Belgrade defender to the London Stadium.

“Maksimovic is the man David Moyes now seems to be hanging his hat on,” Alex Crook told Jim White last month. “I know that Fulham have also been linked and I think this is West Ham trying to steal a march on another London club.

“He’s a real powerhouse defender – Serbian, 6 ft 4 – and he’s been compared to Nemanja Vidic, and he’s what West Ham need. There’s a good history of Serbian players coming over to the Premier League and doing well, so I think this would be a good signing for the Hammers.”

The new Vidic?

With Maksimovic and De Laurentiis still some way apart in discussions over a new contract, West Ham must again strive to steal a march on their potential rival suitors and land Moyes his specialist defensive target once the January window opens.

Napoli may be more forthcoming to offers close to what the Irons put forward this summer once the winter market takes off in fear of losing the 28-year-old for nothing in July, too, which only strengthens the case for the Hammers persisting with interest in a player once lauded as being a potential new Vidic.

Maksimovic may not yet have the same trophy haul as what his compatriot achieved with Manchester United, having only claimed one Italian Cup since joining Napoli, but has proven in Italy to be a powerful and imposing defensive rock.

In two starts from two in the Europa League this term, he has averaged six duels won a match with a 75% success rate thanks to winning 5.0 (77%) of his aerial contests, along with 1.0 tackles, 1.0 interceptions, 2.5 clearances, 66.0 accurate passes (96%), 79.5 touches and 1.0 key balls, per SofaScore.

Napoli boss Gennaro Gattuso has been less forthcoming with game time in the Serie A thus far with Maksimovic only making one outing to date, which came from the bench at half-time during a 6-0 rout of Genoa last month.

Any further delay in new terms being agreed, though, must see West Ham revive Moyes’ interest with the winter market now just 63 days away.

AND in other news, David Moyes’s transfer plans could unearth West Ham’s next Michail Antonio.

After a very promising couple of results seemed to suggest things were heading in the right direction for Newcastle, a dismal defeat to Southampton just before the international break delivered a damaging blow.

Steve Bruce’s side welcome Chelsea on Saturday, with the Blues’ upturn in form seeing them come into title contention. With the Magpies also suffering from numerous injury doubts and concerns, the Premier League clash looks like a tall order.

With the couple of weeks to try and potentially change things up, Bruce may spring a surprise or two to just shake it up in terms of tactics and personnel, and with that in mind, below is a look at just how the Magpies could line up.

In goal, Karl Darlow will continue to deputise in Martin Dubravka’s absence, although the Slovakia international is set to be approaching a potential return to first-team training sometime soon.

The first major call Bruce may want to make is the kind of system he uses. Recent weeks have seen him use the five-at-the-back to try and offer a better defensive balance, but he could show a bit more attacking intent by reverting to a more traditional back four on Saturday.

That could see Fabian Schar be the man to drop out, with Javier Manquillo coming in to give Bruce a genuine right-back option. In midfield, Jeff Hendrick’s poor form surely has to see him make way, with Isaac Hayden waiting in the wings to partner Sean Longstaff in the engine room.

Further forward, Miguel Almiron’s travelling for Paraguay whilst on international duty may see him get a breather, and his agent’s comments won’t have helped his cause either.

And having been deployed as a right wing-back, Jacob Murphy must surely get the chance to operate further forward, whilst if Callum Wilson can pass any late fitness checks, Bruce will be keen to see him start too.

Predicted XI: Darlow; Manquillo, Lascelles, Fernandez, Lewis; Murphy, Hayden, Longstaff, Saint-Maximin; Wilson, Joelinton.

Last week Newcastle beat West Ham 2-0 in an exciting start to the new season that saw Callum Wilson score on his debut, earning plaudits.

Later that very same week, Ryan Fraser made his home debut in the Carabao Cup, scoring the only goal of the game as the Magpies beat Blackburn Rovers, with the Scotsman receiving plenty of praise from his new supporters.

Jamal Lewis must’ve been looking forward to his St James’ Park debut after seeing the Magpies’ other new signings perform make solid early impressions, but unfortunately, all did not go to plan for the former Norwich City man.

Lewis had a poor outing against Brighton, allowing Tariq Lamptey to get the better of him time after time, with both goals first-half goals coming from his side, with the penalty being given away for a foul on Lamptey, and Leandro Trossard being given way too much space before assisting the second.

Despite it being Lewis’ home debut, fans didn’t show much mercy when talking about him on social media.

While fans were quick to criticise his general performance, one particular aspect of his showing was grinding the gears of other supporters with many airing their grievances about his positioning, with one even asking if he knows what position he should be playing.

A look at his Sofascore heatmap tells the story, he found himself too far up the pitch far too often, while also having a tendency to drift centrally, therefore, you can understand why fans weren’t happy with his positional awareness.