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Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo is confident Raul Jimenez will make a return to action after fracturing his skull during the club’s victory over Arsenal.

Jimenez was involved in a sickening head collision with David Luiz as the pair challenged for the ball at a corner during the Premier League clash at the Emirates. The game was stopped for 10 minutes for the forward to be given oxygen on the pitch, before being taken to hospital.

The 29-year-old had surgery on Monday, but such is the severity of the injury, the Wolves medical team are not putting a timescale on his recovery. However, Nuno is confident his player will be able to resume his career.

“Raul is recovering and our real concern is that he totally recovers. He will have time and it will all depend on the player and how he feels,” the Wolves manager said in his most recent press conference (via the Telegraph).

“The first days were so important, next he will go back home and then we will see. We are not allowed to visit him, what Raul needs is the company and love of his family. He needs to deal with this situation with his loved ones.  

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— Raúl Jiménez (@Raul_Jimenez9) November 30, 2020

“But if you ask me personally, and I put aside my wish and my desire, I am positive he is going to come back.

“It was very serious and everyone was afraid, everyone was worried. Everyone on the pitch was affected but now we have to stick together.”

The incident once again raised questions over football’s handling of head injuries, with Luiz playing the remaining 30 minutes of the first half despite suffering a blow to the head and with blood visibly seeping through his bandage.

The introduction of concussion substitutes has been called for, and Nuno added that there is support for this across the Premier League.

“I think everybody involved in the game is supportive of the concussion substitution, because it’s something serious,” Nuno added. “I have no doubts that everyone involved in the game – players, managers, referees and fans – are supportive of the concussion substitution.”

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Newcastle United midfielder Sean Longstaff has signed with agent Pini Zahavi, who is expected to try and engineer a move away from St James’ Park for the 23-year-old.

Once tipped to make a £50m move to Manchester United, Longstaff has endured a challenging few years at Newcastle. His current contract runs until 2022 and he is yet to show any signs of penning an extension.

He has, however, signed a deal with Zahavi, with the Daily Mail suggesting that the Isreali agent has already discussed securing a potential move away from the north east for Longstaff.

One potential destination could be Tottenham, and Zahavi is understood to have told Longstaff that a move to Jose Mourinho’s side could be possible if he chooses to push for a move away from Newcastle.

It is thought that Longstaff is keen to get his future sorted out soon. Talks over a new contract first began in early 2019 but were quickly postponed after he picked up a serious knee injury, leaving both sides to wait patiently before getting back to the negotiating table.

Once talks did resume, Newcastle are thought to have been left unimpressed with the demands of Longstaff’s former representative, and all the uncertainty is believed to have taken its toll on the young midfielder.

Zahavi, who also represents the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Neymar, will give Newcastle another chance to offer a suitable contract to Longstaff, but he is ready to look for a transfer if no such proposal is forthcoming.

Whether Tottenham would actually be interested in Longstaff is unclear. Mourinho appears to be settled with midfielders Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Moussa Sissoko and Tanguy Ndombele, so splashing out on a new option will likely be fairly low on Mourinho’s to-do list.

Newcastle are keen to keep their academy graduate, just as they worked tirelessly to convince brother Matty to stay when his contract expired during the summer.

The Magpies are prepared to sit down with Longstaff to try and thrash out a new contract, but if talks break down again, Zahavi does have a reputation of getting on the phone to other clubs.

For more from ​Tom Gott, follow him on ​Twitter!

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Former Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has confessed that he wants to be the next foreign coach to take the Premier League by storm.

Allegri has been out of work since leaving the Allianz Stadium in 2019, meaning he’s had plenty of time to watch the likes of Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho impress in England’s top tier.

Speaking to The Times, Allegri admitted he believes English football has improved greatly because of the multi-cultural nature of its coached, and he revealed that he hopes to try his hand at leading a Premier League side in the near future.

“For me, English football is improving now because there are a lot of foreign trainers,” he said. “There are more tactics compared to ten years ago.

“England now is more sophisticated, and more tactical, but is also respecting the tradition of English football. It’s a good balance of the spirit of English football and the new quality and new tactical approach of the new coaches.

“I would like to experience the Premier League. In Italy, I was in Milan four years. Five years in Juventus. Now I expect [to work again] in Italy, but it is difficult, or in England.”

Allegri has been linked with a whole host of English sides since leaving Juventus, with links to Manchester United or Arsenal perhaps stronger than most. He admitted to have been learning English in the hope of boosting his chances of a move, but refused to be drawn on where he would like to land specifically.

However, he has clearly been keeping up to date with what is going on in the Premier League, and he seemed to suggest that he may know the key to success in England.

“The important thing is every country has its own history,” Allegri added. “England is different from Italy, which is different from Spain, from Germany. It’s difficult to change the history of the country.

“It’s difficult to change the history of the club. For example, Manchester United played for 50 years the same style. When [Louis] Van Gaal arrived, he had a different mentality. Van Gaal wants to play with possession. But Manchester United are ‘get in the box, attack, attack, cross, cross’.

“Arsenal are different to United. In Italy, the same, Juventus different to Milan. The history of Juventus was every year with one big player for the team, [Zinedine] Zidane, [Alessandro] Del Piero, [Omar] Sivori, [Michel] Platini with other players to work every day hard [alongside]. In Milan it is different.”

For more from ​Tom Gott, follow him on ​Twitter!

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We’re now at week nine of the football calendar, and by this point, you can pick up a good idea of how the season’s going to play out.

You can also see which players are starting to emerge as the top guys around Europe, and that’s what we’re interested in here. We want the top 15 players, and we want to use movie quotes to rank them all.

This week, we’re calling on a little help from 2001.

“How can you do that?”

“I can do anything I want. And so can you.” (Donnie Darko)

Over a dead ball, James Ward-Prowse can do anything he wants.

The Southampton man bagged yet another free-kick and added an assist in his side’s unfortunate 3-2 loss to Manchester United. He’s netted three free-kicks already this season and isn’t done yet.

“Scared, Harry? That’s all right. I felt the same way before my first game.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t really remember. I took a bludger to the head two minutes in. Woke up in hospital a week later.” (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone)

Ibrahimovic must have taken a bludger to the thigh as he missed both of AC Milan’s games this week.

“This was all preordained thousands of years ago.”

“But how does the story end?”

“Ah, only the journey is written, not the destination.”

“Convenient.” (The Mummy Returns)

We might not know whether Real Sociedad will end up winning the title, but we’re enjoying Mikel Oyarzabal taking his team on that journey.

He bagged his side’s equaliser from the penalty spot in the 1-1 draw with Villarreal, leaving him sitting pretty at the top of La Liga’s scoring charts.

“It’ll be just like in the movies. Pretending to be somebody else.” (Mulholland Drive)

Has anyone told Rangers’ James Tavernier that he’s not actually a striker?

The right-back already sits on 15 goals and ten assists in all competitions this season, with two of his strikes coming in wins over Aberdeen and Galatasaray this week.

He’s a right-back.

“I don’t like this ending.” (Moulin Rouge!)

Just when it looked like Feyenoord’s Steven Berghuis was ready to get on another scoring streak, he drew a blank in his team’s 1-1 draw with Utrecht.

He’s still top of the Eredivisie scoring charts, but only just.

“You’re late.”

“A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.” (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)

It took Thomas Muller 86 minutes to find the net in Bayern Munich’s 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid, but hey, better late than never.

He also chimed in with an assist in his side’s 3-1 win over Stuttgart, taking his tally for the current season to six.

“Listen. If we can’t break the ice, how ’bout we drown it?” (A Beautiful Mind)

22-year-old midfielder Pedro Goncalves has been drowning in goals since joining Sporting CP this summer as a replacement for Bruno Fernandes.

In seven appearances, Goncalves has managed nine goals and one assist, all of which have come in his last five games.

Speaking of Fernandes…

“Nobody asks to be a hero, it just sometimes turns out that way.” (Black Hawk Down)

‘Hero’ barely even does Fernandes justice. Who knows where United would be if they hadn’t signed him back in January.

It was his goal that kick-started the comeback in the 3-2 win over Southampton, and the midfielder has already hit double-figures for the season.

“So what were you doing?”

“Evolving.” (Jurassic Park III)

Romelu Lukaku has evolved so much that he’s almost unrecognisable from the striker who struggled at United.

He was rested for Inter’s win over Sassuolo but came back to lead his side past Borussia Monchengladbach, netting two second-half goals to ensure Inter’s dream of qualifying for the next round of the Champions League lives on.

Good news! Spoke with my doctors. Back ? pic.twitter.com/nziJH16mec

— Erling Haaland (@ErlingHaaland) December 3, 2020

“I miss you like the sun misses the flower. Like the sun misses the flower in the depths of winter. Instead of beauty to direct its light to the heart hardens like the frozen world your absence has banished me to.” (A Knight’s Tale)

Dortmund fans will be missing Erling Haaland for the next few weeks after the striker picked up a hamstring injury.

That’s obviously bad news, but it did at least give us the chance to see his ridiculous legs when he posted an update on Twitter.

“Make a wish.”

“It came true already.” (A.I. Artificial Intelligence)

Son’s dream of seeing Tottenham sit at the top of the Premier League table has already come true.

The 0-0 draw with Chelsea ensured Spurs moved back to the top of the mountain, but he ensured he didn’t go a week without a goal by netting in the 3-3 draw with LASK in midweek.

“Ask any racer. Any real racer. It don’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning’s winning.” (The Fast and the Furious)

Atletico Madrid might not always be the most entertaining side to watch, but you can’t argue with their run of results.

At the forefront of their recent success has been Felix, who bagged yet another goal in the 1-1 draw with Bayern.

750 – Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 750th goal among clubs and senior National team, with 10% of these being scored for Juventus. Limitless.#JuveDynamo #UCL pic.twitter.com/Mmm4Xov19x

— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) December 2, 2020

“Ten oughta do it, don’t you think? You think we need one more? You think we need one more. All right, we’ll get one more.” (Ocean’s Eleven)

750 career goals oughta do it, don’t you think?

That’s the milestone Ronaldo reached this week by netting in Juventus’ 3-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv. 130 of those have been headers, which is just mental.

“Shh. Do you hear that? It’s the wind of change.” (Monsters, Inc.)

For the first time since Week 2, Harry Kane is not on the top of the power rankings.

It was a quiet week for the Spurs man, who was neutralised by Chelsea and then rested against LASK after picking up an injury.

“That’ll do, Donkey. That’ll do.” (Shrek)

The 2019/20 power rankings champion is back on top.

Lewandowski found the back of the net in Bayern’s victory over Stuttgart, so he’s still got more goals than games played this season.

Truthfully, that’s barely even worth getting excited about with Lewandowski these days. That’s just normality for him.

For more from ​Tom Gott, follow him on ​Twitter!

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Manchester United head to the London Stadium this weekend to take on Premier League surprise package West Ham.

The Red Devils are ninth after picking up 16 points from their opening nine games, divided into five wins, a draw and three defeats. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s troops have struggled to find consistency this season, as those results show, and come into this fixture off the back of a 3-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League midweek.

With the fixtures piling up, the Norwegian may look to shuffle his pack against a side who are a point and four places better off in the Premier League. Here’s how he could line United up…

David de Gea (GK) – Went off against Southampton last weekend after picking up knock but isn’t one to give his place up easily, particularly with Dean Henderson waiting in the wings.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (RB) – One of United’s most consistent performers. Could offer more going forward, but should be more than capable of keeping Pablo Fornals or Said Benrahma quiet.

Victor Lindelof (CB) – Rotation is imminent, but tricky away days call for experience – something Lindelof has alongside captain Harry Maguire.

Harry Maguire (CB) – United’s captain has stood firm in the face of adversity, proving his many critics wrong with some decent performances. He knows, however, that clean sheets must begin to flow.

Alex Telles (LB) – Looks so exciting going forward, but is yet to really show what he can do going in the other direction. If Michail Antonio plays, he’ll look to get in behind Telles down the channels.

Fred (CM) – A real favourite of Solskjaer’s, and should start again even though he saw Champions League red in midweek.

Donny van de Beek (CM) – Minutes on the pitch are slowly increasing for United’s new Dutchman, and he looks to be growing in confidence with every performance.

Bruno Fernandes (AM) – Where would United be without the creative output of Fernandes? He misplaces a lot of passes, but is the only player who consistently looks forward and tries to make things happen. A wonderful player.

Marcus Rashford (RW) – Has looked good in an unfamiliar right-wing role, and should find himself out there if he can overcome – as Solskjaer has hinted at – a shoulder problem that forced him off midweek.

Edinson Cavani (ST) – Has had to wait patiently for his opportunity but now the Uruguayan looks raring to go. An elite level striker who will relish the opportunity of getting in behind West Ham’s three-man defence.

Anthony Martial (LW) – Has looked out of sorts in recent weeks, but every player has a team they love scoring against – and Martial is no stranger to scoring against the Hammers.

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