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Sheffield Wednesday moved into third position following the Championship’s midweek fixtures ahead of Saturday’s tie with local rivals Leeds United.

Garry Monk’s side defeated Stoke City at Hillsborough thanks to Massimo Luongo’s goal just before half-time. The 27-year-old pounced on a mistake by centre-back Liam Lindsay to slot past the visiting goalkeeper, meaning he now has two goals in three matches.

The Owls chief has been without regular shot-stopper Keiren Westwood for two games now after the veteran picked up an ankle injury, but you wouldn’t have realised as Cameron Dawson has deputised so efficiently, topping it off with a clean sheet on Tuesday night.

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Several of the Hillsborough faithful have flocked to Twitter to talk up the 24-year-old even despite him previously receiving some flak in the past.

One supporter called Dawson a ‘top drawer’ goalkeeper and also stated that he comes in for too much stick while another lauded his shot-stopping by calling it ‘brilliant.’

A further member of the Wednesday crowd claimed he was a match-winner after his save in the second half with one more calling him a ‘worldy’ for saving the club three points over the last two matches.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

Wolves are back in Europa League action tonight as they make the trip to Turkey to face a Besiktas side who too have had their domestic struggles.

Nuno Santo’s men go into the fixture having picked up their first win of the season against Watford last weekend while the Black Eagles sit third from bottom in the Super Lig after winning just one of their six league matches.

Both teams were also defeated in the opening game of the group stage as Braga managed to nick a 1-0 win at Molineux and Besiktas collapsed in injury time to hand Slovan Bratislava a 4-2 victory.

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Wolves were without Diogo Jota against the Hornets and Nuno has since confirmed that the 22-year-old forward will remain absent through injury.

So, who will replace him tonight and will anyone else be a surprise inclusion at Vodaphone Park?

Much of the side should remain the same considering Wolves managed to pick up their first win of the Premier League season on Saturday.

That would mean Romain Saiss keeps his spot at left centre-back with Willy Boly moving over to the right-hand side.

Matt Doherty also keeps his place after being awarded the Man of the Match award by WhoScored for his goalscoring performance against Watford.

He formed a nice partnership with Adama Traore, who moved into his old right forward position.

Another player who looked the part was Pedro Neto – despite being withdrawn after just 57 minutes – he should be given another chance to prove his worth in attack, especially in Jota’s absence.

The only change in the side may come in midfield as Ruben Neves regains his spot next to Joao Moutinho – Belgian midfielder Leander Dendoncker was favoured over the Portuguese anchorman at the weekend.

Patrick Cutrone started the Braga game and with Raul Jimenez lacking a goal in his last four games, Nuno faces a tough decision.

Although he is most likely to side with the Mexican striker.

Christian Eriksen provided a glorious assist as Denmark recorded a 1-0 win over Switzerland in Saturday evening’s Euro 2020 qualification match.

Seemingly going nowhere in a wide position, the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder managed to somehow play a pass into Yussuf Poulsen, who showed excellent composure to find the back of the net.

It was the type of pass that the Tottenham fans have not seen too often this season with Eriksen struggling to make his mark.

Indeed, the 6 ft attacker has only provided one goal and one assist in 11 outings for Spurs in all competitions during the 2019-20 campaign.

A number of Spurs fans took to social media to comment on his assist – some were keen to pay tribute to the former Ajax playmaker. Others, though, used it as a chance to criticise him for not showing that type of form for his club.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

The former England international knows the type of threat Napoli will pose after the Reds were drawn against the Italian outfit in the group stage this time last year.

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Liverpool lost the last time they travelled to the Stadio San Paolo, courtesy of a late Lorenzo Insigne goal, and oh boy would revenge be sweet.

That loss seems to have stuck in Milner’s mind, as his caption states that the team know Tuesday night’s clash is not going to be easy by any means.

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Even in his playing days, Roy Keane was never one to shy away from speaking his mind. It often caused him problems with managers and teammates alike, and he has taken that brutal honestly into his punditry work since his retirement from the game.

Fans across the world have gotten used to the Irishman’s dead-pan delivery and savage put-downs. Who could ever forget his classic “Gary, it’s two yards man”, or the brilliantly effective “nonsense”?

But after Manchester United’s insipid 2-0 defeat to West Ham on Saturday, even the hard-nosed Red Devils legend barely had any anger to boil over. It was pure disappointment.

There have been several occasions in the past when Keane has verbally unleashed on the state of affairs at United. But his assessment on Sky Sports at the weekend had none of that vitriol or fury. There was almost an air of resignation the Red Devils have “fallen” way beyond even his darkest nightmares.

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You feel anger when you realise the individuals involved are capable of more, but are simply producing below their standards. Keane’s verdict however summed up everything about United’s decline at the moment. How do you possibly get all worked up when this is as good as they’ve got?

If Cristiano Ronaldo was going through a bad patch of form, calling him out could have reinvigorated him. How do you do the same to someone like Scott McTominay, Jesse Lingard or Andreas Pereira?

They often say disappointment can be far worse than anger. And in this instance, Keane’s assessment encapsulates United’s situation to a tee.

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Loads of Wolves fans have been reacting to a big update from the club, as Romain Saiss has signed a new contract at Molineux.

Saiss has penned a new deal that will keep him at the club until 2021, the club confirmed on Thursday.

The 28 year-old, who joined from French outfit Angers in 2016, was a crucial part of last season’s promotion campaign, and he has been no slouch this term either.

With Wolves sitting pretty in seventh place in the Premier League – perhaps what some may call “the best of the rest” – the 27-cap Morocco international has featured 13 times in the league, scoring twice, and also made five cup appearances.

Similarly to talisman Conor Coady, Saiss can play in various positions in midfield and defence, and his toughness, professionalism and versatility make him a very useful player to have around the squad.

Fans are delighted with the news, and you can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

Rafinha Alcantara completed his loan transfer from Barcelona to Celta Vigo just this summer and he hasn’t yet been able to make his official debut for the new club.

And by the looks of it, it seems that the 26-year-old Brazilian will have to wait a bit longer before he’ll don his new colours in the 2019/20 La Liga season.

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Celta Vigo have officially confirmed that Rafinha suffered an injury during Monday’s training and will be out for approximately two weeks due to a “grade I fibrillary rupture in the soleus of his left leg”.

And as soon as this news came to light, Barcelona fans expressed very mixed reactions. This, of course, is a very familiar situation.

Rafinha has suffered numerous injury setbacks in his career and one extremely serious case arrived last season, so this is nothing really new or surprising to them.

Some were really supportive of the Brazilian, wishing him a speedy recovery, others couldn’t believe this was happening all over again and some were not surprised by it at all.

You can see some of their reactions in the collection of tweets below:

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Celtic look on course to secure a deal to bring Matt O’Riley to Parkhead in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Football Insider, who claim that a recruitment source has revealed the Milton Keynes Dons midfielder has now passed his medical and agreed personal terms with the Bhoys ahead of his proposed £1.5m switch to Glasgow.

In the report, the media outlet wrote: “A recruitment source has told Football Insider that O’Riley has now completed medical tests and agreed personal terms with Celtic.”

Fans will be buzzing

Taking into account the exceptional form O’Riley has been in for MK Dons so far this season, in addition to the fact that Celtic had to fight off late competition from West Bromwich Albion for the 21-year-old’s signature, the news that the Hoops have agreed personal terms, as well as the midfielder passing his medical with the club, is sure to have left the Parkhead faithful buzzing.

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Indeed, over his 26 League One appearances in the current campaign, the £405k-rated man has scored seven goals, registered five assists and created seven big chances for his teammates, as well as making an average of 2.1 key passes and taking 1.5 shots per game.

The £900-per-week midfielder – who can play in both a defensive and attacking central midfield role – has also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, making an average of 1.5 interceptions, two tackles, 48.2 passes, one clearance and winning 4.6 duels per fixture.

These returns have seen the former England U18 international average a quite astonishing SofaScore match rating of 7.37, ranking him as the joint seventh-best player in the whole of the English third-tier.

As such, considering his abundance of potential, O’Riley looks to be yet another exciting addition to Ange Postecoglou’s current options in the middle of the park – something that would appear to bode extremely well for Celtic’s title hopes come the end of the season.

In other news: Big blow: Celtic struck with crushing injury setback that’ll surely have fans worried

The Cincinnati Bengals were the basement dwellers of the NFL in the 2019 season, winning only two of their 16 games. Two years later, the Bengals are heading for the Super Bowl to compete against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium, courtesy of the excellence of quarterback Joe Burrow. Cincinnati capitalised on the draft system in the NFL to use the first-overall pick in the 2020 Draft to select Burrow out of the LSU Tigers.

Over the last two years, Burrow has turned a perennial underachiever into a Super Bowl team, ending their drought without a playoff win that spanned 32 years. The 25-year-old can join an elite list of players to win the Super Bowl in their second year as a starting quarterback if he leads the Bengals to the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the first time.

One of the most common Super Bowl bets will be back to back Burrow to win the MVP award for the game, given that quarterbacks win the gong more often than not he is a sound option to take if lining up a wager on the game. A victory for the Bengals and Burrow would further champion the equality of the NFL system that may hammer home the point about the imbalance that football is experiencing across Europe.

In the Premier League, Manchester City are on pace to win the title for the fourth time in six years. Bayern Munich are on course to win the Bundesliga for the 10th time in a row, while Paris Saint-Germain should close out the Ligue 1 crown for the eighth time in the last 11 years.

Real Madrid and Barcelona have also enjoyed imperious runs in LaLiga, which have only been spoiled recently by the rise of Atletico Madrid. Juventus won nine-straight Serie A crowns before Inter Milan finally ended their imperious hold over the Scudetto.

Football has a problem with the same teams repeating their success over and over again based on their significant resources at their disposal rather than nous and skill. Teams have thrived in the NFL, none more so than the New England Patriots, who won six Super Bowls over a 20-year span, featuring runs of three titles in four seasons between 2001 and 2004 and three in five seasons between 2014 and 2018.

Possessing the best quarterback and best head coach in Tom Brady and Bill Belichick allowed the Patriots to be an outlier from the rest of the NFL, with the rest of the franchises forced to endure the peaks and troughs of the system.

You can argue that football has rewarded the same levels of excellence, featuring Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson and now City under Guardiola. However, the examples of the Bengals are few and far between outside of Leicester City’s one-off. In the NFL, the Bengals are an example of a number of teams that have risen from the bottom to the top.

The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2017 by defeating the Patriots, while the Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, New York Giants and the New Orleans Saints enjoyed rare peaks at the top of the league after significant periods of struggle. Meanwhile, Leicester’s triumph in the Premier League was enjoyable to watch due to the refreshing element of a new team winning the league rather than the usual suspects.

The system in place has ensured that those sides at the top are remaining a permanent fixture rather than subject to the usual ebbs and flow of the high-level sport. For the benefit of the game and fans across Europe, it should be time to address the issue head-on.

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Interest is intensifying in West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper Sam Johnstone in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by The Mirror (via West Brom News), who claim that both West Ham United and Southampton are keeping a very close eye on the situation of the Baggies shot-stopper ahead of a potential move this month.

The report reveals a sad twist to the tale, going as far as to state that, following his sending off in the 1-1 draw with Cardiff City on Sunday and subsequent three-match ban, the 28-year-old could well have played his final game for Valerien Ismael’s side, as a move could be on the cards before he completes his suspension.

Fans will be fuming

Considering just how important a part of the West Brom side Johnstone has become in recent seasons, the potential of the England international having already played his last game for the club is sure to have left The Hawthorns faithful fuming.

Indeed, over his 24 Championship appearances in the current campaign, the £7.2m-rated man has kept 11 clean sheets, as well as making an average of 1.4 saves and 1.7 successful runs out per game.

These returns have seen the player who Gary Lineker dubbed a “sensational” talent average a SofaScore match rating of 6.82, ranking him as Ismael’s 14th-best performer in the second tier of English football.

However, while these metrics are impressive, it was over the £32.5k-per-week goalkeeper’s 37 Premier League outings last season in which he demonstrated his ability at the highest level of the game, keeping six clean sheets and making an average of 4.5 saves per fixture – with these returns seeing the 28-year-old earn an extremely impressive seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.03.

As such, it is clear for all to see that, with West Brom still very much in the hunt for automatic promotion back to the top flight this season, losing a ‘keeper of Johnstone’s quality midway through the campaign would come as a huge blow to Albion’s chances of going on to do so come next May – an outcome that would undoubtedly be gutting for everyone involved with the club.

In other news: Ismael can finally axe woeful £36k-p/w WBA flop by unleashing £9m-rated “rocket”