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The Birmingham Mail’s Ashley Preece has revealed a major injury boost for Aston Villa ahead of their Premier League game against Arsenal on Friday night.

What’s the story?

Dean Smith’s side slipped to an agonising late defeat against Wolves in the top-flight at the weekend, with Matty Cash one of the absentees from the match-day squad.

But now, during a Q&A for The Birmingham Mail, Preece has confirmed that the full-back should be all fine for the clash away at the Emirates later this week.

He said: “As someone has mentioned, expect Matty Cash to shake off a dead leg for Arsenal on Friday. Sanson back on the bench vs Wolves was a positive. It’s just Leon Bailey now with an update expected on Thursday via Smith’s presser.”

Dean Smith will be delighted

Speaking last season, former Premier League striker Kevin Phillips dubbed Cash as “sensational”, while adding: “Cash has come in and he has been flawless. He has taken to the club like a duck to water. You have to give credit to the player and the recruitment department. They have obviously done their homework. He has been one of their shining lights this season.”

Just a couple of weeks ago against Everton, the right-back finally got his first goal for the club, netting a thunderous strike off his weaker left foot in the 3-0 victory the Toffees at Villa Park.

The fact that he’s now being touted with an international call-up with Poland ahead of next year’s World Cup is a real statement on just how high his stock has risen, and full credit must be given to both him and Smith.

With Villa slipping to a disappointing defeat against Wolves, bouncing back with a positive result against Arsenal will be key, and Cash’s return is sure to have Smith buzzing.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa could have their own Raheem Sterling in this academy starlet…

Tottenham Hotspur have reignited their interest in Antonio Rudiger after a fresh plea from manager Antonio Conte, according to club sources.

What’s the word?

As revealed by Football Insider this week, the north London outfit are back in the race to sign the out-of-contract Chelsea centre-back this summer in a fresh twist behind-the-scenes – just a few months after being ruled out of the running.

The 29-year-old German has been long admired by Spurs and the Italian head coach, who he once managed at Stamford Bridge, having been a top target last summer and during the recent winter window.

It now appears as if the Lilywhites will make another push to seal his signature ahead of some of Europe’s elite, including Barcelona and Bayern Munich, after the 52-year-old made it clear that he wants to be reignited with his ex-star to supremo Daniel Levy.

Conte is believed to be ‘pushing hard’ to sign the free agent and it will now be a test of the chairman’s ambition heading into a big summer of business.

Rudiger coup

Whilst Spurs are far away from being the front-runners to seal the Germany international, if they manage to secure him next season, it would surely be something of a major coup for the club.

They would not only be prising him away from their arch-rivals – the Blues – but he would also fill a big need of Conte’s as he searches for a central defensive addition this summer.

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If Spurs want to keep Conte on board for the long term, then there won’t be a bigger statement of intent than signing Rudiger, who played 45 times under the Italian at Chelsea.

They clearly had a positive relationship with the defender lauding his coach as “very good” during their stint together.

Despite his contractual situation, Rudiger has remained an imperative member of Thomas Tuchel’s side, having featured in 47 games across all competitions, on the back of their Champions League triumph last term.

Across 28 league starts, the £31.5m-rated titan has won an average of 1.8 headers and 1.3 tackles per game, whilst being equally adept on the ball, managing a seasonal passing accuracy of 87.8%, so it’s no wonder Conte retains an interest as his ball-playing and physical ability would be an ideal fit in N17.

Such form for the Blues has led to some high praise indeed.

Premier League great Rio Ferdinand, now a pundit for BT Sport, lauded the 6 foot 3 colossus as an “animal,” with his current boss describing his performance against Real Madrid earlier this month as “world-class” and “outstanding.”

Given his current value, form, ability and suitability to Conte, as evident above, Rudiger would indeed be a major coup for the north Londoners this off-season. Fabio Paratici and his recruitment team must now deliver for Levy as the supremo will want to keep the Italian as happy as possible.

AND in other news, Paratici can land his next Bentancur as Spurs eye £21m talent whose “tempo is perfect”…

Out of all the names that have played under the guidance of Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United, one player that has been a regular figure for the Argentine with a total of 131 appearances for Leeds under Bielsa is midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

Having been linked with a move away from the Yorkshire club in recent months with fellow Premier League clubs Liverpool and Manchester United reportedly interested in him, it would be a disaster if Leeds were to say goodbye to their midfield star, especially to another top-flight side.

However, it seems as though Leeds have been handed a massive boost regarding Phillips and his future with the England international recently revealing that he would be willing to sign a new contract at Elland Road, even though his current deal isn’t set to expire until the summer of 2024.

He commented: “I just want to focus on getting back fit,’ he says. ‘But I speak to the owner regularly. I want a new contract. I’m very happy here.”

Phillips’ importance to Leeds was shown throughout last season with the Whites losing seven of the nine Premier League games he missed.

It’s been a similar story this season with Leeds failing to win any of the games Phillips hasn’t been involved in, highlighting just how crucial he is for the team.

In the 29 league games he played in Premier League last season, the 26-year-old, who is currently earning a weekly wage of £38k-per-week according to Salary Sport, managed to rack up an average of 2.6 tackles per game, 1.7 clearances per game and 1.6 interceptions per game, showing how important he is for the team, particularly from a defensive point of view.

With this in mind and his desire to sign a new deal with Leeds, Victor Orta now has the opportunity to start 2022 with a bang and delight plenty of Leeds fans by giving Phillips, who has been labelled as a “destroyer” on the pitch by former England manager Steve McClaren, what he wants.

Looking beyond that, another big hope for Phillips would be that he can get back to full fitness as soon as possible after picking up a hamstring injury earlier this month so he can help his side avoid relegation by the end of the season and not have to spend another campaign in the Championship.

In other news: Bielsa can finally axe Leeds’ “absolute disaster” by signing “spectacular” 5 ft 9 gem…

Everton officially sacked Rafa Benitez after just six months in charge at Goodison Park, and the race for finding the sixth manager in six years begins with many names already being thrown into contention, but one favourite for the job has reportedly already ruled himself out.

What’s the word?

Brighton and Hove Albion manager, Graham Potter, was named as one of the potential options on the shortlist for the Everton job yesterday, but Sky Sports have now reported that he “isn’t currently interested” in the job.

Reporting live last night, they revealed:

“Sky Sports News understands Graham Potter, one of the names being linked with the job, is very happy at Brighton and isn’t currently interested in talking to Everton about their managerial vacancy.”

The Toffees are on the hunt for the successor of Benitez, with many names including Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Roberto Martinez being reported by Sky yesterday, however, no official talks or offers have been made as of yet.

Everton sacked Benitez after his tenth defeat in charge of the side, in an embarrassing performance against relegation battling Norwich City, who took all three points from the Toffees with a 2-1 win at Carrow Road.

Fans surely gutted

After a nightmare season so far, Everton fans will be relieved that Benitez has been sacked, but will also be concerned about the manager that succeeds him as many big changes clearly need to be changed, and an instant impact is integral in saving the Toffees season.

Fans will surely be gutted that Potter has ruled himself out of the job, as he became a talking point on social media last night, with many fans making him their number one choice. One supporter tweeted:

“Was always a strange decision to hire Benitez in the first place, Everton seem to get it wrong time and time again. Next one has to stick. Graham Potter would be my choice in the summer. Big Dunc in until the end of the year.”

There was no doubt that Potter would be linked after making impressive strides at Brighton, with only  Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea losing fewer Premier League games than the south coast side, with the manager leading them to six wins, ten draws and only four losses.

His attacking and progressive philosophy, meanwhile, will have surely been of interest to Farhad Moshiri but he will already have to consider other targets. They must regret not targeting the former Ostersunds boss more seriously last summer.

Everton will now continue in their search and simply have to appoint somebody as soon as possible to guide the club out of their current demise, sitting 16th in the Premier League only six points off the relegation zone.

In other news: Moshiri must axe Michael Keane after Benitez sacking

Tottenham Hotspur are back in action following a busy end to the January transfer window.

Antonio Conte’s side host Brighton and Hove Albion in north London for a fourth-round clash in the FA Cup, where Spurs will be looking to advance in the only piece of silverware on offer this season.

After such a long break without any action, the Italian head coach has been left with plenty of interesting dilemmas over team selection, not at least because he is able to welcome back key players from injury and now has two new signings at his disposal, too.

It’s in defence where there is a decision to be made after Argentina beast Cristian Romero returned to training during the winter break. He should come straight back into the side, taking the place of Japhet Tanganga, who has been a liability in recent games, in the back three.

Indeed, the young academy product has been at fault for a number of goals during their three matches against Chelsea last month and at one stage, looked set to depart for AC Milan.

During their Carabao Cup semi-final exit against the Champions of Europe, the versatile defender was dubbed the “weak link” of the side by the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick as he walked a tightrope following an early booking. He struggled to deal with the threat of Callum Hudson- Odoi all game.

As per SofaScore, he was rated ever so poorly (5.8) as the only player to manage below a 6.3 rating. It was that bad that analyst Statman Dave described the outing as a “horror show” on social media.

Earlier in the season, he received his marching orders for getting into a tussle with Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha and that moment of madness was slammed by BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand.

“It’s a lack of experience and rush of blood. He’ll get over it but it cost them today,” he said during the game (via the Daily Mail).

Not to mention his role in League One outfit Morecambe taking the lead in the round prior to this one. He lost his man from a corner. It’s the basics and it happens far to frequently.

As such, Conte must be ruthless in his team selection and axe the £18m-rated calamity against the Seagulls this evening.

AND in other news, Conte concerns emerge at Spurs amid huge transfer claim…

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Everton left-back Lucas Digne says the likes of himself and teammate Richarlison need more time if they are to build something good at Goodison Park.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the summer addition from Barcelona was speaking to evertonfc.com ahead of his team’s next match against Cardiff City in Wales on Tuesday night, which comes on the back of a run of five defeats in their previous six fixtures in all competitions.

The Merseyside outfit have slipped down the Premier League standings as a result and are now six points adrift of seventh-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers ahead of this weekend’s games, but Digne says the players are working hard to turn things around during the run-in.

Speaking to evertonfc.com, the Frenchman said: “We are giving everything in training and want to continue to work and finish as high as we can.

“We are building something in the Club. We are changing a lot of players, new players, like me, like Richie, we need a bit of time.”

More time needed?

It certainly is.

While the recent form and season in general is once again disappointing given how much money Everton have spent in the transfer window, it once again shows it isn’t easy to build a successful team overnight.

The likes of Digne and Richarlison are still relatively young and need to add more consistency to their game, and patience will be required in order for that to happen over the coming weeks and months.

There is no doubt that there is great potential at Goodison Park, and once Silva has a settled XI that know each other’s strengths inside out, the results will follow on the pitch.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse had dropped out of international duty with England due to illness.

Even though there is still a week to go until Southampton are back in Premier League action with an away clash against league strugglers Norwich City, there’s every chance that the skipper may not be fit enough to play at Carrow Road next week depending on the nature and severity of the condition currently afflicting him.

With this possibility in mind, this could provide one other Southampton midfielder with a great chance of showing Ralph Hasenhuttl what he can bring to the party.

Opportunity knocks

Despite appearing in nine of the 11 Premier League games Southampton have played so far this season, 22-year-old midfielder Ibrahima Diallo has only started two of them, the first being their 1-0 win over Leeds United followed by their 2-2 draw against Burnley, completing the full 90 minutes on both occasions.

These two games were the two that Ward-Prowse missed as a result of the red card he picked up during their 3-1 defeat against Chelsea last month, proving that Hasenhuttl has made no issue in turning to Diallo in Ward-Prowse’s absence, which he could well do again if the Englishman is not fit enough to play against Norwich.

After earning himself a decent overall match rating of 7/10 for his performance in the Leeds match according to SofaScore, Diallo then followed that put by providing an assist in the draw against Burnley, proving that he can be a useful figure for the Saints when called upon.

With Hasenhuttl recently describing Diallo, who is currently valued at £13.5m according to Transfermarkt, as a “very physical player” who has a “very good amount of ability with the ball”, the Austrian should have no issues with including the midfielder in his starting XI against Norwich if Ward-Prowse isn’t able to play.

Looking beyond that, given Diallo’s young age and the fact that fellow Saints midfielder Oriol Romeu has now hit the age of 30 and has his current contract at St. Mary’s set to expire in the summer of 2023, there’s every possibility that Diallo could go on to become Romeu’s long-term heir at the club if the Spaniard leaves at the end of his deal and if Diallo can continue to make the most out of any opportunities he gets to start for the Saints.

In other news: “Intelligent” £30k-p/w Saints dynamo proved that he can be Ralph’s main man

As per West Ham United insider Claret & Hugh, coming after the club’s historic 3-0 victory at Lyon in their Europa League quarter-final second leg, things just get better and better as they share a ‘£30 million’ update.

The Lowdown: Hammers make history…

David Moyes’ side made history on Thursday night by impressively cruising past Lyon into the Europa League semi-finals – where they will take on Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt.

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Goals from Craig Dawson, Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen sealed a brilliant win for the Hammers who have made history with their run in Europe so far.

Off the field, this could pay dividends for West Ham and club owners GSB, with C&H sharing the latest financial developments after mid-week.

The Latest: C&H make ‘£30m’ claim…

According to their information, the club have been gifted a major windfall as West Ham’s finances ‘grow and grow’.

They claim, when adding up the competition’s prize money, London Stadium ticket sales and TV revenue, the Irons have earned ‘over £30m so far’ due to their run in the Europa League.

The Verdict: Major boost…

It is unclear whether this money, or even a portion of it, will be allocated to Moyes and head of recruitment Rob Newman’s transfer kitty, but this £30 million boost comes as a fantastic side-effect of West Ham’s dream semi-final push.

If they can get past Frankfurt, or even go on to win the Europa League, it would represent a seismic achievement for West Ham and surely cement Moyes as one of the club’s greatest ever figures.

Standing to make even more if West Ham go further, this is a very exciting time both on and off the field for supporters.

In other news: Sky Sports: Moyes eyeing new West Ham target in £21.6m-rated star who’s set to leave! Find out more here.

Farhad Moshiri is interested in a move to appoint Wayne Rooney as the next Everton manager.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a claim made by Kaveh Solhekol, with the Sky Sports journalist revealing on The Transfer Show that the Derby County boss is one of the leading candidates for the vacant managerial position at Goodison Park following the sacking of Rafael Benitez on Sunday.

Regarding Moshiri’s shortlist of targets for the role, Solhekol said: “Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney are leading candidates for the job.”

Fans would love him

While it is true that Rooney’s CV in management is extremely limited, considering the history between the 36-year-old and the Toffees, in addition to the fact that the former England captain has done a rather extraordinary job at Pride Park, it is easy to see why the appointment of the Evertonian would be one that the Goodison Park faithful would love.

Indeed, after taking over the Derby job last season, Rooney managed to seal the club’s survival from relegation to League One in the most dramatic fashion, with a 3-3 draw on the final day of the season in a relegation shootout against Sheffield Wednesday being enough to keep the Rams up and send the Owls down.

Furthermore, the 36-year-old has done an even more astonishing job at Pride Park so far this season, as, despite the fact that the club have been docked 21 points for breaking financial regulations and being entered into administration, are operating with a skeleton squad and are under a transfer embargo, the manager has guided his side to eight wins, 11 draws and just seven losses from their 26 Championship fixtures.

These results would leave the club sitting in an extremely healthy 11th place – just seven points off of the play-offs – if it were not for their points deductions, something which Rooney simply must be given huge credit for.

As such, it is clear for all to see that the Everton academy product has an extremely bright future in management, and, considering his affiliation with the club, his appointment at Goodison Park would undoubtedly be a very popular one with fans.

In other news: Moshiri may repeat Silva disaster as EFC eye boss who “wasn’t ready” for a “big club”

Speaking to GiveMeSport, reporter Dean Jones of Eurosport has made an exciting Tottenham Hotspur transfer claim involving Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger.

The Lowdown: Spurs in defender chase?

There have been no shortage of links to high-profile defensive stars since Antonio Conte took the Spurs helm.

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Indeed, both Stefan de Vrij and Matthijs de Ligt have been mentioned as possible new recruits for Tottenham as their new manager seeks to oversee a north London overhaul.

These links could even be exacerbated by a ‘serious’ injury to summer signing Cristian Romero, with the big blow potentially threatening to hamper Conte’s rebuild.

The Latest: Jones drops Rudiger claim…

Amid Tottenham’s search for a centre-back, it appears they’ve now made an offer to sign yet another one on a pre-contract.

According to Jones, speaking to GMS, Spurs have actually made the ‘biggest offer’ for Rudiger in terms of salary – according to what he’s heard from people close to the Chelsea defender.

He explained:

“Rudiger’s people, the biggest offer they’re hearing about is coming from Tottenham, in terms of wages.”

The Verdict: Great option?

A Champions League-winning centre-back and proven in the Premier League, signing the 28-year-old as a free agent for next summer could come as a no-brainer.

While that doesn’t solve the lack of cover for Romero, the Blues centre-back would almost certainly strengthen Conte’s options over his first full season in charge next year.

Lauded as an ‘animal’ and ‘unbelievable’ by pundit Rio Ferdinand, as well as for reaching the level of Man City star Ruben Dias at a point last campaign (FIVE via The Metro), his quality is obvious.

Currently in the prime of his career, managing director Fabio Paratici could secure one of the bargains of 2022 with a swoop for the Germany international.

In other news: Spurs agreement to sign £200,000-per-week star possible as Paratici makes exciting plea, find out more here.