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Dele Alli has transformed into a Premier League regular and fully fledged England international over the last few years at Tottenham Hotspur, but he is not liked by all.

The midfielder has come under fire from rival supporters this season for his frequent play-acting on the pitch.

On a handful of occasions this season, the former MK Dons player has been booked for diving, some of which have been committed in a bid to win his side a penalty.

Questions have been raised this season over Alli’s form, which has dipped, but he has appeared to shut down the critics for now having scored twice and created an assist in his last two outings.

The furore surrounding Tottenham at the moment is related to Harry Kane and the goal that he believes should have been awarded to him against Stoke City last weekend.

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Spurs won the contest 2-1, with both goals being credited to Christian Eriksen, but according to BBC Sport the North London outfit will launch an appeal to give the winning goal to Kane, who claims that he got a touch on the ball before it hit the back of the net.

Today, Spurs posted a tweet of well-wishes to Alli on his 22nd birthday, but it swiftly got hijacked.

Manchester United have today confirmed that young duo Tyler Blackett and Reece James have signed new contracts at the club.

Blackett, 20, was handed his United debut by Louis Van Gaal on the opening day of this season and has since made a further nine Premier League appearances.

The young defender has signed a contract extension that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2017, with an option of a further year.

Blackett told United’s official website: “I’m thrilled to have signed my new contract.

“I have supported United all my life and have been here since I was eight years old. To come through the Academy and make my debut this season was a dream come true.

“I want to keep improving within the first-team squad with the help of the manager, coaches and the players around me.”

Meanwhile, Reece James has also put pen-to-paper on a contract extension. The left-back made his United first-team debut in the humiliating 4-0 Capital One Cup defeat to Milton Keynes Dons earlier this season.

But it appears the United faithful aren’t overly excited about two of their academy products signing for an extended period, with some even suggesting van Gaal is prioritising deals for the wrong players…

Although we’re not exactly surprised with that reaction…

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Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup has not ruled out the chance of signing Stoke City striker Kenwyne Jones in the January transfer window.

It was reported that the Swans made a £3million approach for the 28 year old Trinidadian this week but that was instantly dismissed by Tony Pulis and Stoke.

Laudrup is keen to sign another striker after the South Wales club received two very generous bids for Danny Graham from Norwich and Sunderland over the past few days and one of those deals could be very much on.

Graham has failed to nail down a starting spot this season after the summer signing of Michu but Laudrup will want to add to his squad before allowing the North East born forward to leave.

Jones is set to start for Stoke against the Swans today and so Laudrup didn’t feel it was the best time to speak about his transfer talks.

“He (Jones) will probably play. Maybe if he can play with us it can be 12 against 10 but I don’t think that will happen,” Laudrup told Sky Sports.

“Let’s just say it is not the proper time to talk about a player when he is playing against us in around 24 hours time.

“Let’s hope tomorrow he does not have too good a day as it is better for us.”

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The fact that Toby Alderweireld was not in the Tottenham Hotspur squad for Sunday’s Premier League clash against Chelsea spoke volumes.

Mauricio Pochettino’s notion that Alderweireld is not fit is now not reliable due to the fact that the centre-back turned out for Belgium during the recent international break.

The 29-year-old was outstanding for Spurs last season, but it is understood that he is refusing to sign a new contract, which has led to a host of speculation surrounding his future.

Alderweireld has not actually turned out for Tottenham in the Premier League since the end of October, although a hamstring problem kept him on the sidelines for a considerable amount of time.

A tweet from the defender’s social media account cropped up following Tottenham’s 3-1 win over Chelsea on Sunday, and a number of the Spurs supporters reacted in the same way.

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It appears almost certain that the former Ajax youngster, who is valued at £36m by transfermarkt.co.uk, will be leaving Pochettino’s side in this summer’s transfer window.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

If anyone had said that Southampton vs. West Ham in February would have top connotations they may well have been carted off for some serious psychological examinations… but, alas, the two sides are now set to embark on a ‘six pointer’, which may have a massive impact on the table in a few months’ time.

Southampton currently occupy third, but with the chasing pack of Man United, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool all closing in, wins are essential, while West Ham are in desperate need of points to keep pace after slipping to eighth. So what factors may decide this one…

West Ham’s ‘bouncebackability’

Since the turn of the year to 2015 West Ham’s top four push has stalled. The Hammers’ impressive results seem to be drying up, and the pressure is now really on following the loss to rivals Liverpool and the draw with Manchester United. Another defeat will leave them eight points adrift of the fabled spots, and with the likes of Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal all resurgent, the gap may be too large to bridge.

Southampton’s defensive record

With just 17 balls having hit the Saints’ net, Ronald Koeman’ side are, by far, the best team defensively in the Premier League. But their rearguard will be a little patched up tonight, with Ryan Bertrand’s suspension added to Toby Alderweireld’s injury absence. Matt Targett may step in, but even he has some fitness issues, which will put a lot of pressure on the South Coast side.

Southampton’s ability to score

While goals have not been coming at the wrong end, they have also been a relatively rare occurrence in the final third. The Saints are the lowest scorers in the top six with 38, and Graziano Pelle’s early season form appears to have slipped a little of late. Southampton have also hit the post more times than any side in the league (14), of which six have been courtesy of Pelle.

Travelsick Hammers…

With just one win in their last seven trips away from east London, a journey down to St Mary’s is not likely to have been one Allardyce has been relishing. The Hammers have been imperious at Upton Park, but their high tempo, physical approach has not been so present outside of the capital, which has been an issue. However, they can take some solace from the fact Southampton have won only two of their last six home games.

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Cheikhou Kouyate

The big Senegalese star has been impressive since moving to West Ham from Anderlecht, with his power in midfield alongside Alex Song having formed a solid bedrock at the Boleyn Ground. But, with injuries an issue he’s been moved into a centre-back berth, in which he again shone against Man United. Can he maintain that form? Or will his rustiness – he has played at CB in the past – be an issue?

Rafael Benitez will be re-acquainted with an old rival Everton and is sure to receive a fierce reception. This won’t be new to him or come as a surprise as he has had to endure a lot of flak from his own supporters during his stay at Chelsea.

He may not be interested in making friends, but he is certaintly turning a few Chelsea fans round with recent positive displays. The 1-0 win at Carrow Road may have been grounded out by the manner of the goal between Oscar and the finish by Mata was impressive. They dazzled too against Aston Villa the game before winning 8-0.

An impressive return of 12 goals in their last three Premier League games suggests they can overcome their problems of lacking firepower up front, even if it may be too early to assure this is the case just yet.

It is not all rosy for the Blues and they need to focus in this fixture as fifth placed Everton could overtake them on Saturday with a win against their opponents.

Moyes will be aware that this will be no easy feat. Benitez appears to have the hold over him with a record of won five wins and a draw in his last six Premier League meetings with Everton.

Everton again will Marouane Fellaini for their latest outing at Goodison Park as he continue to serve his three match ban for head-butting Ryan Shawcross. Darron Gibson is eligible for selection after his suspension was overturned by the FA after he was sent off at Upton Park against West Ham but he has also been struggling with a thigh strain.

Chelsea welcome back Ramires into the matchday squad for this game after recovering from a knee injury sustained on Boxing day. Sunday’s game could be one too soon for John Terry and Daniel Sturridge is expected to be omitted with a move to Liverpool seemingly imminent.

Everton are one of only two teams with an unbeaten home record in the Premier League this season, so Chelsea won’t find it easy clasping all three points here.

Prediction: Everton 0-1 Chelsea

Check the odds ahead of the game at Goodison Park with William Hill here

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Phil Salt top-scored with an opening 44 off 35 balls in Lancashire’s 178 for 6 before Wood’s hand in hosts’ defence

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay05-Jul-2025Lancashire Lightning 178 for 6 (Salt 44, Chappell 3-23) beat Derbyshire Falcons 136-6 (Madsen 53, Wood 3-25) by 42 runsEngland limited-overs pacer Luke Wood struck twice with the first two balls of Lancashire’s defence of a 179-target as they beat struggling Derbyshire by 42 runs at Emirates Old Trafford to put one foot in the Vitality Blast quarter-finals.Wood’s international team-mate Phil Salt top-scored with an opening 44 off 35 balls in Lancashire’s 178 for 6.He was supported by valuable contributions from England white-ball captain Jos Buttler with 23, Liam Livingstone’s 35 off 23 and Australian Ashton Turner’s late 31 not out, setting Lightning up for their seventh win in nine North Group matches.Their elevation to top spot in the table was then all but confirmed from the moment left-armer Wood ousted Caleb Jewell and Martin Andersson at the start of the Falcons’ reply, which stuttered to 136 for 6 despite Wayne Madsen’s entertaining 53 off 40 balls. Wood finished with an excellent 3 for 25.This was bottom side Derbyshire’s seventh defeat in nine games.Unfortunately, Livingstone suffered a suspected hamstring injury and needed to use captain Keaton Jennings as a runner from 23 onwards.Earlier, Livingstone became the 12th Englishman to reach 7,000 career runs in T20 cricket. Two others in that dozen include Buttler and Salt.Lightning raced out of the blocks and were in a position to potentially swamp the Falcons at 124 for 2 after 13 overs.Salt and Livingstone had just taken a six apiece off Pat Brown’s seam, and they shared 68 in seven overs for the third wicket from 65 for 2 early in the eighth over when Buttler departed caught and bowled off Samit Patel’s left-arm spin.Opener Jennings, who hit 22, had taken four fours off Ben Aitchison’s seam in the second over of the match having been inserted.Derbyshire limited the damage impressively during the final seven overs, which saw pacer Zak Chappell remove both Salt and Livingstone caught at deep cover en-route to an excellent 4 for 23.Lancashire started this fixture, at 3pm, having only returned home at 3.45am from their winning trip to Northampton last night following issues on the M1.But there was no sign of rust.In fact, with four wickets falling in succession at the end of the Northamptonshire innings last night, including a Saqib Mahmood hat-trick, Lancashire had struck six times in six balls combining that with Wood’s double strike early here.Wood had opener Jewell caught at first slip and then bowled Andersson with a sumptuous in-swinging yorker.The first-ball wicket even won a lucky couple in the crowd a Dubai holiday as part of Lancashire’s Fly Emirates sponsorship.Wood later had opener Aneurin Donald caught at short fine-leg trying to ramp – 28 for 3 after five overs.Wood also helped the leg-spin of Luke Wells remove Brooke Guest with a smart catch at long-on.Madsen reached 50 off 36 balls with back-to-back swept sixes off Wells, but he sliced a full toss to cover as one of two 14th-over wickets for Australian off-spinner Chris Green as the score fell to 86 for 6.Chappell finished with a belligerent 34 not out to cap a handy personal performance which went unrewarded.