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Celtic will pip Rangers to the Scottish Premiership title because of the latter’s Europa League exploits, according to former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan.

The Lowdown: Celtic in pole position

The Hoops are looking to wrestle back their league crown from their most bitter rivals this season, with the current situation undoubtedly looking positive.

Ange Postecoglou’s side are six points clear at the top of the table with five league matches remaining, with the recent 2-1 win at Ibrox feeling enormous.

Not only that, but Rangers are now in the Europa League semi-finals, giving Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men something else to focus on.

The Latest: Whelan confident of title win

Speaking to Football Insider, Whelan believes that Rangers’ involvement in Europe further plays into Celtic’s hands, which will ultimately lead to title glory:

“I think the fact Rangers prolonged their stay in Europe and Celtic were knocked out might have fallen into Celtic’s hands, quite frankly. I know you want to be in Europe. You want to push on in these best competitions as far as you possibly can.

“But I think when you’re looking at the rest and recuperation Celtic are getting, there’s strength in depth. The fact that they’ve got all their important players raring to go, fresh, I think being successful in Europe, sometimes plays into the opposition’s hands.

“It’s taken its toll. They travelled the week before, they come back again, they get the win but then they’ve got to go again on a Thursday evening in Europe. It’s then not long before their next game.

“When you look at it from Celtic’s point of view, they should be a lot fresher than Rangers.”

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The Verdict: Hoops’ to lose

There is no denying that Celtic are the resounding favourites to win the league now and Whelan’s point is extremely valid.

The fact that Rangers have two huge semi-final legs to focus on, while Postecoglou’s men can simply focus on league action, should only make the latter’s job easier, both in terms of physical and mental fatigue.

That being said, Celtic must not rest on their laurels in these remaining weeks of the season, instead getting the job done in seamless fashion.

In other news, a journalist has made a live on-air Celtic claim. Read more here.

West Ham United recorded another impressive victory in the Europa League on Thursday night as they extended their 100% record in Group H but it wasn’t plain sailing for everybody.

Nikola Vlasic’s struggles in east London continued after he was handed his third start for the Irons since sealing a €30m (£26.7m) move from CSKA Moscow in the summer.

If he’s the man that David Moyes wants to fill the void left behind by last season’s loan sensation Jesse Lingard, then he’ll be concerned with what he’s seen so far.

After an underwhelming debut against Dinamo Zagreb in his native Croatia, the 23-year-old former Everton flop failed to look the part again this week, despite the Irons keeping up their fine form in 2021/22.

The £27m-rated dynamo was the only West Ham starter to be graded below a 7.0 for his performance against Austrian outfit Rapid Wien at the London Stadium, as per SofaScore. In fact, his 6.5 rating was the second-worst of any of the 15 players to see the pitch for Moyes.

It was a game in which the Croatian playmaker should have asserted his dominance and quality in the final third, but him being withdrawn after just an hour tells you everything you need to know.

Vlasic recorded just 25 touches, which was the lowest of any starter and was fewer than even substitute Jarrod Bowen (28) and goalkeeper Alphonse Areola (28).

By comparison, players like Aaron Cresswell (96) and Declan Rice (65) were heavily involved, and as a no.10, these are the sorts of returns he should be getting.

The 5 foot 10 dynamo, who reportedly earns around £100k-per-week, also managed only nine accurate passes, which was actually the fewest of any starter involved on either team – and that’s hugely worrying.

Vlasic was weak in his battles, too, managing to win just 40% of his ten duels, whilst he was also dribbled past three times, as per SofaScore.

According to football.london’s Tom Clark, the summer arrival “did not bring a huge amount to the party’, whilst the Evening Standard’s Jack Rosser claimed: ‘Not really happening for him in a West Ham shirt so far. Gets into nice positions but doesn’t do enough once there. Needs time.’

Lingard provided nine goals and five assists in just 16 appearances, via Transfermarkt, so Vlasic has a whole lot of work to do to even match half of these returns.

It was another disappointing outing from a player in whom the Irons have invested nearly £30m, and Moyes must surely be worried by these performances.

AND in other news, Forget Rice: £50k-p/w West Ham beast who had 96 touches was Moyes’ unsung hero vs Wien…

Italian football journalist Fabrizio Romano has dropped a worrying update on Manchester City’s transfer plans ahead of the window closing on Tuesday evening.

What’s the word?

Despite losing legendary striker Sergio Aguero earlier this year, City are yet to sign a striker to replace the Argentinian and have failed in their pursuits of Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ferran Torres has played up front in each of City’s three Premier League games thus far and whilst he has impressed, scoring twice in the 5-0 win against Arsenal, it would perhaps be unfair to rely on a 21-year-old who has played the majority of his career on the wing to be the main striker for the season.

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However, it seems as if City are out of options after their two recent setbacks and with time running out, a new striker seems unlikely, as Romano wrote in a column for BenchWarmers:

“Manchester City could remain with the current squad after having missed out on Cristiano Ronaldo and especially Harry Kane, the real big goal of the club for months and months.”

Will City struggle without new signings?

Whilst it is easy to argue that City don’t need a forward after winning both of their last two games 5-0, they were playing relegation candidates in Norwich City and an Arsenal side now sitting bottom of the table. Therefore, it would perhaps be better to judge where City are at when they face Leicester City and Chelsea away from home next month.

Although they won the title last season despite regularly playing without a natural striker in their side, they were exposed in their final few games of the season, most predominantly by Chelsea, and were easy to defend against when sending crosses into the box for the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling.

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Therefore, fans may well be worried with this update from Romano. It was already bad enough to miss out on Kane but to then fail to seal a deal for one of the greatest of all time in Ronaldo, only confounded their misery in the market.

If they don’t sign a new striker between now and the deadline then they may struggle to adapt their game against tougher opponents or in situations where they need a goal as they showed in the latter stages of last season. As a result, fans will surely be worried by their prospects when teams around them have strengthened so well.

And, in other news… Txiki should seal Man City swoop for “outstanding” goal-machine after ex-player claim

Nottingham Forest are set to appoint Steve Cooper as Chris Hughton’s successor at the City Ground.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a claim made by John Percy, with The Telegraph journalist revealing in a post on Twitter that Forest are set to officially confirm the arrival of the former Swansea City boss as their new manager at some point today.

Percy goes on to state that the 41-year-old was Dane Murphy’s number one choice for the role, as well as revealing that the Reds agreed to pay the Swans £500k in compensation in order to be able to sign Cooper.

In his tweet, the journalist said: “NFFC are set to confirm the appointment of Steve Cooper on Tuesday. Cooper was the No. 1 choice for new CEO Dane Murphy. Compensation with Swansea was agreed on Friday and is around the £500k mark.”

Fans surely buzzing

Considering the fact that Cooper was linked to clubs such as Crystal Palace, Fulham and West Bromwich Albion this summer, the fact that the 41-year-old has agreed to join Nottingham Forest can easily be viewed as a rather large coup for the club – especially considering their current league position – and is sure to have left the City Ground faithful buzzing.

Indeed, the former Swansea manager appears to be an extremely exciting appointment for the Garibaldi, as the Welshman led the Swans to a top-six finish in both of his seasons at the Liberty Stadium, as well as further enhancing his reputation for developing the club’s younger talents – the latter of which is believed to have been a key factor for the Forest CEO.

As such, as long as Cooper can turn the tide on Forest’s current level of performances in the Championship, and quickly, the future certainly appears to be a great deal brighter in Nottingham than during the last few weeks, as a Hughton-led Forest suffered six losses in seven league games.

In other news: Journalist reveals NFFC talks for “outstanding” £1.8m-rated ace, he’d be a major coup

German journalist Christian Falk has claimed that Newcastle have ‘seriously discussed’ a move for Barcelona’s Philippe Coutinho.

The Lowdown: Coutinho rumours

Spanish outlet Sport claimed last week that the Magpies, under new owners PIF, are eyeing a possible swoop for the Brazilian in January.

Reports suggested that Barcelona would want at least €50m (£42.5m) for his services, with the 29-year-old happy about the possibility of returning to England.

Coutinho, on £383,000-a-week last year, has just over 18 months remaining on his Nou Camp deal, and Falk has weighed in with his knowledge of a potential New Year transfer.

The Latest: Falk’s tweet

Falk, head of football at Bild, took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to address the rumours of Coutinho moving to St James’ Park.

He labelled them ‘true’, adding that a transfer has been ‘seriously discussed’.

The Verdict: Look elsewhere

Even though money appears to be the least of the worries for Newcastle’s new owners, they still need to spend it wisely.

Coughing up a fee over £40m for a player whose market valuation has plummeted from £135m to £18m in three years might not be the best idea to kick off their tenure in charge.

Coutinho has also contributed to just four league goals since the start of the 2020/21 season, so Newcastle might be better off looking elsewhere for a marquee signing.

In other news: Offer pending: Newcastle now make contact to sign £36m-rated beast Rodgers dubbed ‘colossal’. 

Marco Silva’s reign at Craven Cottage has so far got off to a fine start, with the 44-year-old’s Fulham side remaining unbeaten in the Championship after three games played and the Cottagers having secured a number of impressive signings in the summer transfer window.

Having said that, it would be naive to ignore the fact that there is still a considerable amount of interest reported in a couple of Fulham’s biggest stars – none more so than Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, who was absent from the Portuguese manager’s matchday squad on the first day of the season as a result of his reported desire to leave west London.

However, with Silva revealing that he has no intention of sanctioning the sale of the 25-year-old this summer, and subsequently reintroducing the midfielder to his side in the form of two substitute appearances against Huddersfield Town and Millwall, today’s clash with Hull City would appear to be the perfect opportunity for the 44-year-old to unleash the Cameroon international from the off.

With Josh Onomah picking up an injury in Tuesday’s win at The Den, there is a spot which needs filling in Fulham’s midfield. Considering how well Anguissa performed in place of the 24-year-old, it would seem advisable for Silva to stick with the 25-year-old against Hull.

Indeed, over his 45 minutes on the pitch last time out, the £22.5m-rated man completed 95% of his attempted passes, created one big chance, completed five of his seven attempted dribbles, made one key pass and won six of his nine duels.

These returns saw the man who Scott Parker dubbed a “superb” talent earn a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.4, ranking him as Silva’s third-best player to feature in the match.

As such, from this performance it would certainly appear as if Anguissa’s focus is back on doing all he can to ensure that Fulham have the best chance of securing an immediate return to the Premier League this season, with the midfielder’s commitment to the cause potentially being a real game-changer not only in the Hull clash but also for the Cottagers’ campaign as a whole.

In other news: Peter Rutzler drops major Fulham development which will leave fans absolutely buzzing

Glasgow Rangers have now been dealt yet another injury blow before their Europa League game on Thursday night.

The Lowdown: Morelos ruled out

After an injury sustained while on international duty with Colombia, the Ibrox club have revealed that Alfredo Morelos will now be out for the rest of the season. He has had to undergo surgery to his thigh and has now started a rehabilitation programme.

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Morelos will not be able to return to training with the first team until pre-season begins, so the Teddy Bears will have to play the rest of the campaign without him.

The Latest: Lowry also unavailable

Speaking in his pre-game press conference ahead of the first leg away to Braga, Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst has confirmed that Alex Lowry is ‘also unavailable’ for the clash, along with Morelos and Ianis Hagi.

The youngster has seemingly picked up a late injury which now rules him out of the match in Portugal.

The Verdict: Another blow for Rangers

After the news on Morelos, it is yet another blow for the Light Blues to have Lowry unavailable. With the young striker also out, it now leaves them relatively short in that position, as Kemar Roofe will probably now be expected to lead the line.

Lowry has impressed when he has played for Rangers B this term, and as such he has been rewarded with a number of senior appearances.

Nonetheless, the 18-year-old would have been a handy squad option for Van Bronckhorst to have in Morelos’ absence, but now the Gers will have to play without either of them.

In other news, find out which RFC star would now ‘seriously consider’ leaving here!

A number of Liverpool fans have bemoaned an injury update on Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane, with the pair now doubtful to face Arsenal on Saturday.

The Reds have again been dogged by injury problems so far this season, as was the case in 2020/21. Last time around it was a plethora of defenders that Jurgen Klopp had to make do without and now it is the midfielders’ turn, with Naby Keita, James Milner, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott all currently missing.

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Not only that, but it now appears as though Henderson and Mane could now join the quartet on the sidelines.

According to the Liverpool Echo [via Anfield Edition on Twitter], the pair could both miss Saturday’s visit of Arsenal in the Premier League, having picked up injuries on international duty. They will continue to be assessed this week.

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Liverpool fans fume at injury latest

These Liverpool fans reacted to news of the club’s latest injury setback on Twitter, cursing the Reds’ luck in the fitness department.

“Pain”

Credit: @tjz_6

“Arsenal winning at Anfield will kill me off”

Credit: @Callum__Moran

“Every international duty”

Credit: @mihamiha2323

“Why is it just Liverpool players? I just don’t understand. Every international break… Can we just stop playing stupid international games.”

Credit: @docilecharizard

“Don’t care anymore fed up with it”

Credit: @Royston679

“We’re done”

Credit: @rakamavlana

In other news, some Liverpool fans have shot down an exit rumour involving one player. Read more here.

Celtic saw many players make the move to Parkhead during Peter Lawwell’s reign as the club’s chief executive.

As tends to be the case with a lot of clubs across Europe and beyond, not every deal that gets completed ends up being particularly successful.

One example of this happening at Celtic was their 2013 move for striker Teemu Pukki.

Signed during the 2013 summer transfer window on a four-year deal from Schalke worth a reported fee of £3m, the Finnish international ended up making just 38 appearances for the Hoops across all competitions.

Finding the back of the net just nine times, the centre-forward then joined Brondby on loan in 2014 before signing on a permanent deal in 2015.

With 26 league appearances in the 2013/14 season, the centre-forward could only register 13 shots on target, the same number as midfielders Scott Brown and Joe Ledley.

Having started just 14 of these league fixtures, the £15k-per-week attacker failed to really nail down a place in the team, particularly towards the end of the campaign.

Described as being “unplayable” by former Norwich City manager Daniel Farke, Pukki failed to repay the transfer fee that the Hoops shelled out for him.

Speaking about the striker’s time at Celtic Park, former Hoops boss Neil Lennon had this to say on the matter.

He said: “He is a quiet boy. He had a few injury problems as well and at a club like Celtic, when you’re brought in for money, you have to score goals.

“And he wasn’t really an out-and-out goalscorer. He played within himself a little bit, I thought. He didn’t really show his capabilities. He’s very quiet. I don’t know if it was too big for him because he had been at Sevilla and Schalke, so he had been at big clubs. 

“He was never prolific but we felt he had the qualities we wanted but he would maybe say he never got the chance to show that on a consistent basis.”

Taking all of this into account, as well as the fact that the Hoops only got a fraction – £608k, to be exact – of the transfer fee from Brondby that they originally paid to bring him to Celtic Park, it’s safe to say that Lawwell and the club had a nightmare on this particular deal.

AND in other news: Ange must now revive Celtic swoop for £2.7m-rated “rocket”, he’s a “massive talent”

Celtic trio Albian Ajeti, Vasilis Barkas and Boli Bolingoli all look set to leave the club this month, according to The Daily Record’s Gabriel McKay.

The Lowdown: Exits needed

The Hoops have been extremely busy when it comes to incomings this month, with Michael Nicholson finalising five signings for Ange Postecoglou’s squad in January. Midfielder Matt O’Riley was the latest to move to Parkhead, penning a deal until 2026 from MK Dons.

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It seems as if Celtic’s focus now is on moving players out of Glasgow in the final days of the window, with three Neil Lennon acquisitions in line to leave the club.

The Latest: McKay’s claim

McKay shared a transfer news recap on The Daily Record on Saturday evening.

Within his report, he said that Ajeti, Barkas and Bolingoli all ‘look set to go in the opposite direction and follow Leigh Griffiths out of Celtic Park’.

The Verdict: Flops

Celtic paid £4.5m for both Ajeti and Barkas and £3m for Bolingoli. That has proven to be £12m not well spent, with the trio hardly featuring under Postecoglou this season.

Hopefully the Hoops can recoup the majority of the £12m they spent on those three players, but that could be a big ask for CEO Nicholson with only a few days remaining in the transfer window.

If you use Transfermarkt’s valuations, for example, the Hoops could land just £4.95m, as Ajeti’s value has dropped from £4.05m to £2.25m as a Celtic player, Barkas’ going from £4.5m to £1.35m and Bolingoli’s falling from £2.7m to £1.35m.

In other news: ‘Absolute travesty’ – Journalist reacts as Celtic swoop for Jota now in ‘doubt’