Hosting Manchester City on the first day of the new Premier League season was always going to be a baptism of fire for Unai Emery, but Arsenal’s performance against the reigning champions nonetheless left some cause for concern.

Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan just couldn’t get into the game, at least not in advantageous positions, and consequently Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hardly made a mark as an increasingly isolated lone striker.

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Defensively, it could be argued Arsenal’s back four – which ended with Stephan Lichtsteiner filling in at left-back – actually coped well with the pressure, and Petr Cech fended off most of what came his way albeit with varying levels of assurance.

In midfield, meanwhile, youngster Matteo Guendouzi endured a mixed debut, while 66-cap Switzerland international Granit Xhaka was almost completely anonymous before being subbed off with twenty minutes left to play.

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So, Arsenal fans, who impressed you the most and the least from Man City’s 2-0 win? Let us know by taking part below and issuing player ratings for each of those involved…

Everton have been given a boost in central defence with manager Marco Silva confirming in his pre-match press confrence that Kurt Zouma is available for tomorrow’s game against Southampton. 

With Phil Jagielka suspended following his red card against Wolves in the Toffees’ 2-2 draw at Molineux last week, Zouma’s availability is good news for Silva.

The Breakdown

However, while Zouma may make his Goodison Park debut, Silva has told reporters Yerry Mina is definitely out of contention for tomorrow’s match.

As a result, the Portuguese boss is likely to keep Michael Keane in his starting XI, and the 25-year-old has to put in a solid performance.

Despite only arriving in Merseyside last summer, £18m-rated (via Transfermarkt) Keane is fighting for his Everton future.

Keane arrived at Everton from Burnley for big money back in July 2017, but he has been a big disappointment.

The season prior to joining Everton, Keane made a name for himself playing at the heart of Sean Dyche’s sturdy defence at Burnley.

The Manchester United youth product, though, was not able to transfer the displays he put in at Turf Moor over to Goodison Park and now finds his starting XI spot at risk.

Zouma and Mina are expected to form Everton’s central defensive partnership, which would condemn Keane to a substitute role.

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However, with Mina currently unavailable for selection, Keane has the chance to show Silva he is still worthy of a starting berth.

But the England international has to do better than he did in the Wolves match and the majority of his games in an Everton shirt.

Former Southampton centre-back Virgil van Dijk produced a colossal display for Liverpool in their 2-0 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday night, and Saints fans were quick to have their say on his performance on Twitter.

The dominant 27-year-old completed his move to the Reds for a world-record £75m fee for a defender at the start of 2018, and he has quickly established himself as one of the Merseyside outfit’s key players by helping them keep clean sheets in their opening two Premier League fixtures of the current campaign.

The Netherlands international dealt with the aerial threat of Christian Benteke seamlessly in south London on Monday, while he once again showed his quality and composure when in possession, too.

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Southampton supporters, some of whom have called on manager Mark Hughes to drop two players from the starting XI, took to social media to give their thoughts on Van Dijk’s latest showing, and while one said “I’m starting to think #SaintsFC got ripped off for Van Dijk”, another said he “made the game look easy”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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Everton defender Ashley Williams joined Stoke City on loan earlier this month, and the Welshman is due to spend the entire 2018-19 campaign with the Potters.

Williams, 34, struggled at Everton last season, and it would be fair to say that the club’s fans were pleased to get rid of him during the summer.

The centre-back make his home debut for Stoke against Wigan Athletic on Wednesday night, but it did not turn out quite how the defender would have wanted.

Indeed, Williams was sent off in the latter stages of Stoke’s 3-0 defeat, and has now actually received a red card in two of his last three league appearances.

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The defender was a terrific servant for Swansea City, but largely struggled at Everton, and has not made the best of starts to his career with Stoke in the Championship.

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The Everton fans have been on social media reacting to the performance of Williams against Wigan, and many have warned the Stoke supporters that their team could now be relegated to League One.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

Loads of Leeds fans have been discussing their lack of defensive depth, and over half of fans would like to see a late deadline day move for free agent Glen Johnson.

I can’t give you a positive answer and I can’t give you a negative one”, was Marcelo Bielsa’s coy response when asked about transfers on Wednesday.

This comes after a report earlier this month claimed Leeds still want to sign some midfielders and defenders before the window closes.

Of course, Izzy Brown joined on a season-long loan on Thursday, meaning Bielsa now has plenty of options to choose from in midfield.

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He is still a little light at the back though, where Liam Cooper and Pontus Jansson both tend to pick up little injuries throughout the season.

Johnson is of course a right-back by trade, but the 34-year-old free agent can play anywhere across the defence if needs must, meaning players like Luke Ayling and Jamie Shackleton could stick to their more natural positions.

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59 per cent of fans think it would be a shrewd acquisition, and you can find the full poll results down below…

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The majority of England fans that responded to our poll want to see Luke Shaw start ahead of the experienced Danny Rose at left wing-back in England’s UEFA Nations League opener against Spain on Saturday.

Shaw has been in fantastic form at the start of this season after getting his Manchester United career back on track following a horrific injury and heavy criticism from boss Jose Mourinho. The 23-year-old has started all four of the Red Devils’ games so far and scored in the season opener against Leicester.

Danny Rose on the other hand is locked in a battle with Ben Davies for the starting spot on the left-hand side of the Spurs defence and this has meant he has only started one of the Lilywhites’ four Premier League games so far this season.

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The final results saw 61% of England fans wanting Gareth Southgate to bring in Shaw over Rose after the Manchester United man’s return to the national squad. Check out the full results below.

West Ham’s run of four consecutive defeats will come to an end on Sunday against Everton, according to Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson.

What’s the word?

Manuel Pellegrini’s tenure so far at West Ham has been disappointing, with the Hammers rooted to the bottom of the Premier League at this early stage of the season and facing a daunting run of fixtures in the coming weeks.

Despite spending over £100m in the summer, West Ham have failed to improve on the field and have another stern test on the horizon against Everton on Sunday – but Sky Sports’ Paul Merson has predicted a positive outcome against the Toffees.

Stating his belief that West Ham could have secured victories against Arsenal and Wolves with a bit more luck, Merson predicted a 1-1 draw that would hand Pellegrini his first point as West Ham manager.

What was said?

“Woooah. Massive match.If West Ham get beaten here, they could be up against it. Look at their next two fixtures: Chelsea and Manchester United. They could start the season with seven straight defeats!

“However, Everton have got a lot of players missing for this one. And in fairness to West Ham, they could have beaten Arsenal and Wolves with a little more luck. Score draw.”

Have they been unlucky?

For all of West Ham’s downfalls this season, the Hammers have been unfortunate on a number of occasions – but putting their defeats down to luck avoids a huge point of criticism for the club, which has been the inability to take chances.

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Having splashed the cash to bring the likes of Marko Arnautovic, Javier Hernandez, Felipe Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko into the club in the past 12 months, you would expect West Ham not to have any problems finding the net.

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In one aspect that has been correct, as they have only failed to score in two of their five matches across all competitions so far this season, but their conversion rate has been atrocious. Added to their frail defensive line, Pellegrini has a recipe for disaster brewing.

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Nottingham Forest are on the verge of signing Iran international Karim Ansarifard, according to The Nottingham Post. 

This would be another signing amongst a long list that The Reds have made over the summer, but may be one of the most important.

The Iranian has been released from his contract at Olympiacos, in similar circumstances to Panagiotis Tachtsidis, who was signed as a free agent last week, after also being released from the Greek club.

This is something that we may see more often, as Evangelos Marinakis is the owner of both clubs, therefore, if he sees a flaw with one club, he can effectively bring in a new man outside of the transfer window.

However, the strange thing about the Tachtsidis signing was that manager Aitor Karanka already has a litany of defensive midfielders to chose from, not to mention the fact that The Reds went on to sign free agent Claudio Yacob, another midfield free agent.

This signing of Ansarifard makes much more sense. The club need a striker, so have acted accordingly. New signing Lewis Grabban is seriously struggling for form, which has seen 35-year-old Daryl Murphy start ahead of him in the past three games. Both seem to be giving Karanka a problem, therefore it was a wise choice to bring someone new in.

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Forest currently sit in fourteenth in the Championship table, only managing one win from their opening six matches. Ansarifard could be the perfect answer to The Reds’ problems.

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Aston Villa eased the pressure upon their shoulders in midweek by securing a vital victory over Rotherham but there is still work to be done.

Steve Bruce’s side only managed to keep their first clean sheet of the campaign at the eighth attempt in that same game, which shows the lack of strength the promotion hopefuls have in defence.

As such, Bruce is said to be in the market for a new defender and has his options limited by the closure of the transfer window – which means he is eyeing free agents and former West Ham man James Collins has emerged as a target.

The 35-year-old is currently training with the club and Bruce looks set to land his signature, according to The Sun, as he seeks to fill the void left by the departure of veteran defender John Terry at the end of last season.

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Fans on social media have had their say on the rumours and we have gathered some of the best responses below.

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Dejan Lovren had a decent summer as he reached the World Cup final with Croatia, but he is yet to play for Liverpool competitively this season.

The defender suffered a pelvic injury after returning to Anfield, and as a result, Joe Gomez has been playing alongside Virgil van Dijk.

The 21-year-old has been in fine form at the back and seems comfortable in a central role as opposed to right-back.

With Gomez at the heart of defence with Van Dijk, Liverpool have won all seven of their games so far.

This week presents a fresh challenge and Jurgen Klopp needs to manage his team properly as they are due to take on Chelsea twice in four days.

On Wednesday, the Reds will go head to head with the West London outfit in the third round of the EFL Cup at Anfield, and at the weekend they will travel to Stamford Bridge for a Premier League clash.

While speaking to the media in his pre-match press conference, Klopp confirmed that Lovren is ready to play some part after coming through four training sessions unscathed.

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Second-string goalkeeper Simon Mignolet will also start ahead of Alisson.

The Croatian has divided fans throughout his time at Liverpool, and now plenty have tweeted their thoughts on Lovren possibly returning to the lineup.

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