Premier League

Ranking the 25 best Premier League wingers of the last 5 years
29Sep By Kevin ParviziNo Comments
Features, Premier League

Ranking the 25 best Premier League wingers of the last 5 years

Ranking the best wingers in the Premier League is a task so onerous that it may seem foolhardy, because even restricting the time span to the last five years doesn't make the task even easier. How do you rank, for example, a new breakout star like Anthony Gordon against a fallen superstar like Sadio Mane? Where does a gifted footballer like Riyad Mahrez stand against a former goal-scoring machine like Raheem Sterling? I tried my best to be fair and account for the unique merits each player brought to the table and avoid any club-based bias. I also decided to discard players who mostly offered value at non-winger positions, specifically Bernardo Silva, mostly to make my own job easier. (Don't worry, I'll have plenty of nice things to say about Silva in other pieces.) Finally, I did...
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3 transfers Liverpool already need to think about making in January 2025
27Sep By Kevin ParviziNo Comments
Features, Premier League

3 transfers Liverpool already need to think about making in January 2025

Liverpool sit second in the Premier League behind only Manchester City, and they are coming off two fantastic cup performances with a 3-1 win over AC Milan in the Champions League and a 5-1 blowout victory over West Ham in the League Cup. As much as the Premier League has been positioned as a two-horse race between Man City and Arsenal, Liverpool have been contenders against City for longer and did usurp them in the 2019/20 season. Last season, Liverpool returned as legitimate Premier League title contenders, and though they finished behind both Manchester City and Arsenal, it's a little puzzling to see them discounted by some pundits as title hopefuls on equal footing as the others. Although Liverpool have started the season strongly, the club's ambition should be to continue to ...
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3 transfers West Ham already need to think about making in January 2025
27Sep By Kevin ParviziNo Comments
Features, Premier League

3 transfers West Ham already need to think about making in January 2025

West Ham were one of the most active teams in the summer 2024 transfer window, bringing in the likes of Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo to bolster the defense while landing Crysencio Summerville and Niclas Fullkrug to add different dimensions to their attack. So far, some of the new signings, like Kilman and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, are working out wonderfully, while others like Carlos Soler and Fullkrug have yet to play key roles in the first team. Overall, West Ham have been disappointing on the pitch, as they are 14th in the Premier League and recently lost 5-1 to Liverpool in a result that shows an especially vast gulf in class between the Hammers and the true top English teams in terms of midfield quality. West Ham don't need to go out and buy a whole new squad by any means, but t...
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The best possible starting XI Julen Lopetegui should use to turn West Ham around
26Sep By Kevin ParviziNo Comments
Features, Premier League

The best possible starting XI Julen Lopetegui should use to turn West Ham around

West Ham suffered a humbling defeat in the League Cup, falling 5-1 to Premier League title contenders Liverpool in a match that underscored the vast gulf in class between the top teams and the Hammers. After a summer of major transfer investment, West Ham would have liked to see a better return in the early going under new manager Julen Lopetegui, who has been backed to the gills financially in comparison to some of his predecessors. Lopetegui comes to West Ham with a mixed track record, having disappointed for Wolves and Real Madrid while shining in between those posts as Sevilla's manager. West Ham aren't going to fire Lopetegui any time soon, but with the club sitting 14th in the Premier League table, the Hammers are going to begin to put a little more pressure on the Spanish c...
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3 players who cost West Ham the most in 5-1 blowout loss to Liverpool
25Sep By Kevin ParviziNo Comments
Features, Premier League

3 players who cost West Ham the most in 5-1 blowout loss to Liverpool

West Ham faced Liverpool on Wednesday night in the League Cup, and they were promptly given a beating by the Arne Slot-coached side. The Hammers didn't even look like they belonged in the same league as the Reds, embarrassing themselves in a 5-1 defeat wherein the Liverpool attack ran rampant. So far, the early returns on a summer of heavy investment from West Ham under new manager Julen Lopetegui haven't exactly been promising. West Ham sit 14th in the Premier League and now have this humbling defeat to Liverpool to chew on. There are three players who were profoundly disappointing for West Ham in this one. The first is Lukasz Fabianski, who surrendered five goals for the Hammers and genuinely looked past it as a professional footballer. Fabianski has been one of the better Premi...
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3 players who cost Manchester United the most against Twente
25Sep By Kevin ParviziNo Comments
Features, Premier League

3 players who cost Manchester United the most against Twente

Manchester United suffered a disappointing result in their Europa League opener, drawing Dutch side Twente 1-1, with veteran Christian Eriksen giving and taking away with a goal and a crucial error in the match. But Eriksen actually wasn't the main player who cost Manchester United snagging all three points against Twente, even if his awful loss of possession was a key moment in Sam Lammers' goal for the underdogs. On that very play, center back Harry Maguire was nutmegged, and unlike Eriksen, he wasn't having a good game aside from an error. Maguire has been poor throughout his tenure at Manchester United, and it has become impossible to justify starting him. Maguire didn't seem like he was even at Twente's level, barely making interventions and showing no real progression with h...
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The player Manchester United see as a future superstar
25Sep By Kevin ParviziNo Comments
Features, Premier League

The player Manchester United see as a future superstar

Although Manchester United were highly disappointing in the Premier League last season, finishing in eighth, the Red Devils have high hopes for the future with a sea of talented young players in their first-team squad. From new signing Joshua Zirkzee, Rasmus Hojlund, and phenom Alejandro Garnacho in the attack to Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte in midifeld, Manchester United are loaded with players who could be among the Premier League's best for the next decade if all goes well. Where Manchester United really got stronger this summer, though, was in the back four, as Man United came out of the 2023/24 season with serious deficiencies at the center back position due to an aging group of defenders surrounding centerpiece man Lisandro Martinez. So Man United went out and nabbed Matt...
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Liverpool’s biggest midfield transfer target isn’t an impossibility after all
25Sep By Kevin ParviziNo Comments
Features, Premier League

Liverpool’s biggest midfield transfer target isn’t an impossibility after all

Liverpool have a pretty good midfield in the 2024/25 season thanks to the breakout of 2023 summer signing Ryan Gravenberch, who looks like a completely different player under Arne Slot. After failing to cut the mustard with Bayern Munich after a widely-regarded transfer from Ajax, Gravenberch didn't get much of a chance to shine in the middle of the park last season under Jurgen Klopp at Anfield either. In fairness, Liverpool had three other brilliant summer signings in midfield who helped the Reds return to Premier League title contention - Stuttgart's Wataru Endo, Brighton's Alexis Mac Allister, and, of course, RB Leipzig superstar Dominik Szoboszlai. Gravenberch has been better than all three of those guys in the 2024/25 Premier League season, but despite the Dutchman's excelle...
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Why Chelsea didn’t sell Mykhaylo Mudryk when they had the chance
25Sep By Kevin ParviziNo Comments
Features, Premier League

Why Chelsea didn’t sell Mykhaylo Mudryk when they had the chance

Chelsea left winger Mykhaylo Mudryk has become the most polarizing figure at the club, with manager Enzo Maresca effectively burying him publicly by stating that the forward's struggles are not down to a lack of confidence. Instead, Maresca implied that Mudryk's problem is a lack of overall quality in his failure to meet the Chelsea standard to this point in his career, flatly stating, "Misha is Misha" in one of the most biting quotes a manger has delivered to a current player in recent memory. But the funny thing about all the Mudryk criticisms from the fans, from Maresca to the media, and behind closed doors at Stamford Bridge is the simple fact that Chelsea could have sold home and avoided all of this controversy. Fabrizio Romano revealed on his YouTube channel that a club in t...
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Even for Florian Wirtz, Real Madrid and Liverpool will balk at this asking price
25Sep By Kevin ParviziNo Comments
Bundesliga, Features, LaLiga, Premier League

Even for Florian Wirtz, Real Madrid and Liverpool will balk at this asking price

Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz will be the biggest topic in the 2025 summer transfer window, as he is one of the best playmakers in the world and very much wanted by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Liverpool in a who's who of world football's most iconic clubs. There's a sense that Real Madrid are the early favorites to sign Wirtz despite their embarrassment of riches in the attacking midfield, which includes Jude Bellingham and phenom Arda Guler. But Liverpool will be lurking, just as they were for Kylian Mbappe. They may be the biggest underdogs in this battle and generally don't sign "Galactic" transfers like Wirtz, instead focusing on undervalued, emerging stars like, say, Mohamed Salah from Roma. According to a report from Diario Sport, Bayer L...
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