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Celtic striker Georgios Giakoumakis has required a scan on a leg problem while on international duty with Greece, journalist Giannis Chorianopoulos reports.

The Lowdown: Giakoumakis’ season so far

Giakoumakis missed large parts of the previous season through injury and has had to remain patient under Ange Postecoglou during the current campaign.

The 27-year-old is yet to start a Scottish Premiership fixture, with his two starts coming against Real Madrid in the Champions League and Ross County in the Scottish League Cup.

The forward, labelled as a ‘hugely important’ player by Postecoglou, has netted three goals in 387 minutes of action, and it looks as if he has been in some pain while away with Greece.

The Latest: Injury update

Chorianopoulos took to Twitter on Saturday to share an update on the Celtic man.

He revealed that Giakoumakis required a scan after feeling a ‘a little problem’ in his leg. The resulting scan didn’t show anything serious, Chorianopoulos added, however, the forward will still be checked by Greece’s medical staff.

The Verdict: Caution needed

Giakoumakis missed the UEFA Nations League game with Cyprus on Saturday through suspension but is eligible to take on Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

However, following the recent injury scare, Celtic may be hoping that the national side do not take any unnecessary risks with the striker, should the pain remain.

It will undoubtedly be one to keep an eye on over the coming days by Celtic officials, and hopefully, he’ll return to Parkhead in good condition.

Steven Gerrard made the bold decision to keep Cameron Archer at Aston Villa during the summer but his lack of first-team action suggests it might have been a big mistake by the Villa boss.

The 19-year-old academy graduate enjoyed a superb breakthrough campaign last season, first catching the eye with four goals in the League Cup for Villa’s first team, including a hat-trick in a win against Barrow.

He was sent on loan to Preston North End in the Championship and continued his impressive form in the second tier, hitting seven goals in just 20 appearances for the Lancashire club, taking his tally to 15 goals in 56 senior appearances.

Manager Ryan Lowe was full of praise for the young striker’s impact in the second tier, saying:

“Cameron has got an abundance of talent.

“It is getting him in the right places, I don’t want him coming short all the time, I want him to be on the shoulder, sniffing around, being proactive, not reactive.

“His quality levels are fantastic, he’s bullish, strong, he can roll, he has got that little burst of pace too.”

Archer’s fine form would continue during the summer, as he managed four goals in just four outings for England U21s, and it all seemed set for the 20-year-old to have a big 2022/23 campaign.

Gerrard confirmed during the summer that Archer would remain with the first team and was expected to challenge the likes of Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings for a starting role.

However, that hasn’t come to fruition, as despite Villa’s poor start to the season, the academy graduate has featured in just 17 minutes of action this term, making three appearances from the bench.

Even against lower league opposition in the League Cup, Archer was afforded just eight minutes of playing time, and this lack of first-team action is surely harming his potential, as he wasn’t called up to the England U21 squad for the current international break.

It makes little sense that Archer is warming the bench when he was attracting so much Championship interest during the summer and Gerrard looks to have made another blunder in keeping him at the club without giving him any real chances.

Wolves are eyeing up Sevilla manager Julen Lopetegui and Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou as potential Bruno Lage replacements, journalist John Percy has revealed.

The Lowdown: Search for Lage’s successor

In what felt like an inevitable decision in the end, Lage was sacked as Wolves boss after a bitterly disappointing start to the season. The Old Gold currently sit 18th in the Premier League table after winning just one of their first eight matches, and a change was clearly needed at Molineux.

Those high up at Wolves will now be working hard to find the perfect successor to the 46-year-old as the club look to stave off any threat of relegation this term.

The Latest: Lopetegui and Postecoglou in the mix

According to The Telegraph’s John Percy, Lopetegui and Postecoglou are two potential replacements, with the pair rated highly by Wolves.

The former has great experience, managing the Spanish national team, Real Madrid and now Sevilla, while the latter is excelling at Celtic and playing some superb football.

It is claimed that Lopetegui ‘could come into contention’ after being eyed up in the past, while Postecoglou ‘has been discussed as an option’, even though it could be hard to prise him away from Parkhead.

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The Verdict: Exciting options

These look like two potentially strong options to come in and replace Lage, with both Lopetegui and Postecolgou possessing pedigree in their own right.

The Sevilla boss tasted Europa League glory in 2020 and has been considered one of the best managers in Spain for some time, and he could get more out of Wolves’ players than Lage, particularly in an attacking sense.

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Lopetegui’s Sevilla scored 23 goals in 12 matches en route to winning the Europa League two years ago, an average of just under two per game. By contrast, Wolves netted just 41 times in 46 Premier League games under their most recent manager, averaging less than one per match.

Similarly, Postecoglou is a hugely popular figure at Celtic, turning the Hoops into a Champions League club again and winning two trophies in his first season in Glasgow, including the Premiership title. His contract expires next summer, so Wolves would be wise to at least look into his current situation.

Sunderland have had plenty of high-profile transfer blunders in recent years, many of which contributed to their catastrophic slump down the divisions.

In an attempt to decelerate their fall, the hierarchy made numerous added mistakes which further compounded the mess they found themselves in.

For a club that had just been relegated to League One, spending £4m on Will Grigg was a move somewhat well-received due to his popularity across the country, but provoked wariness.

Every football fan across the nation knew his classic song, and he was coming off the back of scoring 19 the season before for Wigan Athletic in the same league.

He was also handed a handsome wage of £6k-per-week, which spread out across his 173 weeks at the club adds an extra £1m to his total cost to the club.

Scoring four in the second half of the season for the Black Cats was a respectable but ultimately underwhelming return, and he would only go on to play 62 times for the club in total.

A return of just eight goals across this period marks a huge disappointment for the man they hoped would fire them straight back to the Championship.

In the season where they eventually did manage to earn promotion, Grigg was out on one of his many loans. There was hope they might spark him into action, to eventually gather some return on their sizable investment. Unsurprisingly, this never came to occur.

Stephen Elliot showed a wariness with regard to his career on Wearside early on, when he took to Twitter to claim: “Grigg looks like he is a million miles away. So worrying with playoffs coming.”

What makes it all the more frustrating is the fact that he has scored goals for plenty of other clubs, with 65 for the Latics and 33 goals in just 79 for MK Dons.

He also left on a free, compounding the terrible deal which further financially hamstrung the club.

Grigg drained Sunderland during his time and adds to a long list of awful transfer decisions made in recent years.

Wolverhampton Wanderers have held an interview with Rob Edwards over the vacant managerial position, according to The Telegraph journalist John Percy.

The Lowdown: Lopetegui alternative

Fosun and Jeff Shi have been on the hunt to find Bruno Lage’s successor and had made the former Sevilla boss Julen Lopetegui their number one target, but were sent back to the drawing board after he turned down the opportunity to move to the Premier League.

Edwards was sacked by Watford last month and is now a free agent, and it appears that the hierarchy have added the 39-year-old to their shortlist of ideal candidates as they look to appoint a new man in the dugout.

The Latest: Wolves interview Edwards

Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, Percy revealed that Wolves have interviewed Edwards, and whilst they are still set to hold talks with other candidates, the up and coming coach is a ‘surprise’ option.

“Wolves interviewed former player and ex-Watford manager Rob Edwards today. Process to appoint a new manager still in early stages with other contenders from UK & abroad to be approached, but Edwards is a surprise option. Reputation with club v high.”

The Verdict: Ideal candidate?

Edwards previously played for Wolves and even became a coach in the club’s academy after retiring so it’s no surprise to learn that they value him so highly.

The Telford-born man, who likes a 3-5-2 system, has only lost 27 out of 101 games throughout his managerial career (winning 47 and drawing 27), and also has a promotion to his name after guiding Forest Green Rovers to glory last season.

Hiring Edwards would be a risk given he’s never had a senior position in the top flight, but Old Gold figures knowing him so well would surely mean he’d have the support network to atone for any shortcomings in experience.

Leeds United have been dealt a fitness setback ahead of their Premier League meeting with Leicester City this evening.

What’s the latest?

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Jesse Marsch revealed that, despite Adam Forshaw “feeling really good” in his recovery from an ankle injury, the central midfielder will not be fit for the trip to the King Power tonight.

Speaking about the current condition of the 31-year-old, the American manager said: “Adam’s coming back from injury but feeling really good.”

Additionally, injury analyst Ben Dinnery claimed in a post on Twitter that, despite the 48-year-old coach previously suggesting that Forshaw could be in line for a return to action this weekend, the Liverpool-born talent is still a couple of weeks away from featuring once more for the Whites.

In his post, Dinnery said: “Adam Forshaw is ‘feeling good’ although he is still a few weeks away.”

Bad news for Marsch

With central midfield not exactly being a position in which Leeds possess fantastic depth, coupled with how impressive Forshaw was in the heart of the Whites side last season, the fact that the 31-year-old looks as if he will remain sidelined for the foreseeable is undoubtedly bad news for Marsch and his side.

Indeed, at present, the 48-year-old has the options of Marc Roca, Tyler Adams and Mateusz Klich in the middle of the park – meaning that Leeds are just one injury or suspension away from being completely down to their bare bones in central midfield.

And, while it is true that a series of lengthy injury layoffs have seen his game time somewhat limited at Elland Road, the midfielder has nevertheless proven that, when fully fit and firing, he is an incredibly important part of the Whites’ squad.

Indeed, over his 22 Premier League appearances last season, the £2.6m-rated talent made an average of 2.4 tackles – the sixth-most in the Leeds side – 0.9 interceptions, 0.5 clearances and won 4.1 duels – at a success rate of 51% – per game.

The £20k-per-week engine also impressed going forwards, providing his teammates with one assist, in addition to completing an average of 31.4 passes – at an 84% success rate – finding his man with 2.4 long balls and making 0.6 key passes per game.

These returns saw the 31-year-old – who Jonathan Woodgate dubbed “the best player on the pitch” in a 4-2 defeat against Manchester United earlier this year – average a very respectable SofaScore match rating of 6.73, ranking him as Marsch’s 13th-best performer in the top flight of English football in 2021/22.

As such, it is clear to see that Forshaw’s continued absence for the trip to Leicester will come as a blow to Leeds, as not only does the midfielder provide fantastic cover for the likes of Adams and Roca in the middle of the park, he can also make a real impact for the Whites when called upon.

Sunderland will be looking to bounce back to winning ways in the Championship this afternoon as they host Burnley at the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats face the Clarets, who are third in the table as it stands, on their own turf and have the chance to move up to eighth if results go their way.

They head into the match off the back of a 2-0 loss to Tony Mowbray’s former side Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday night, as Scott Wharton and Ben Brereton Diaz put them to the sword.

How many changes will the manager make to the team from the defeat at Ewood Park?

Well, here is our predicted XI for the clash with Burnley on Wearside…

We are predicting that he will make four alterations to the side, with Bailey Wright, Jewison Bennette, Amad Diallo, and Abdoullah Ba coming into the XI.

Firstly, Wright could come in at the back for the injured Aji Alese. Mowbray has confirmed that the 21-year-old central defender is set to be out of action until the World Cup break and this leaves a space in the starting XI for the Australian international to walk into the XI for his first start of the league season.

In midfield, Ba could come into the team to replace Elliot Embleton, 23. Football FanCast recently published an article explaining why the manager may ditch the £5.3k-per-week Englishman in favour of the French gem starting his first match for the club against Burnley.

At right wing-back, Diallo could replace Daniel Neil after catching the eye off the bench at Ewood Park. As per SofaScore, he won 100% of his individual duels (3/3) and completed 94% of his attempted passes in 26 minutes on the pitch, whilst he has created one ‘big chance’ in one start this term.

Finally, Bennette could finally be unleashed for his first start ahead of Alex Pritchard after the former Norwich and Tottenham man endured a difficult night against Blackburn – via SofaScore, he lost six of his nine duels, failed in all three of his attempted dribbles and only created one chance from 54 touches.

Bennette, who Mowbray previously hailed as “electric”, has scored once in six substitute appearances this season and he could now be given a chance to show what he can do over the course of 90 minutes, rather than off the bench.

Liverpool journalist James Pearce has reacted to Jordan Henderson’s ‘brilliant’ assist during the Champions League game vs Ajax on Wednesday night, hailing the captain’s performance in Amsterdam.

The Lowdown: Victory in Amsterdam

The Reds were the visitors at the Johan Cruyff Arena in midweek and secured a comfortable 3-0 victory thanks to Mohamed Salah’s opener minutes before the break, followed by two second-half goals in quick succession from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott.

One of the most notable moments though was the pass from the Premier League club’s captain into Salah to break the deadlock, which came as a surprise given an initial slow start to the game.

The Latest: Pearce’s reaction

Taking to Twitter, Pearce praised Henderson for his vision to create something in the final third after a quiet opening period. He wrote:

“Out of nowhere Liverpool lead. What a pass from Henderson. Brilliant with the outside of his right boot and Salah provides a quality finish.”

Pearce took to social media again on Thursday morning to praise the skipper: “Been a tough few months for the long-serving captain but he shone on the side of Klopp’s diamond.”

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The Verdict: Sign of things to come

Liverpool have made a hugely underwhelming start to the top-flight season, but their European performances have been encouraging, which could be a sign of things to come.

On the back of a shock 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, it was vital that Jurgen Klopp’s side responded with a strong display, which they did, and have now secured themselves a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

The Anfield outfit need to take this form and transfer it to the Premier League to string a run of results together should they want any chance of securing a top-four finish come the end of the campaign.

Newcastle United continued their stunning start to the season with a thumping 4-1 victory over Southampton on Sunday afternoon, with the Magpies having subsequently moved into third in the table to remain firmly in contention for a Champions League qualification berth.

For all the obvious talk of the investment that has helped to bolster the Tynesiders in recent windows, it has still proven a remarkable turnaround in fortunes under current boss Eddie Howe, following the doom and gloom that plagued the tenure of the Englishman’s predecessor, Steve Bruce.

The St James’ Park outfit have now won six of their last seven Premier League games, with their solitary top-flight defeat this season having come away to Liverpool at Anfield at the end of August, having emerged as a real threat to the established ‘Big Six’ in double-quick time.

A key figure in this recent rise for the northeast side has been that of Kieran Trippier, with the 32-year-old having been an instrumental presence for the club since his £12m arrival from La Liga side Atletico Madrid back in January.

That fee has gone on to appear something of a snip such has been the England international’s displays this season, in particular, with yesterday’s win another shining example of just what the full-back offers to Howe and co, having been the true hero for his side once again.

The former Tottenham Hotspur man has been in “unreal” form of late – as per one source – having helped form a vital part of a side that currently boasts the best defensive record in the league thus far, having shipped only 11 goals in 14 games.

The 37-cap machine notably recorded three tackles, three clearances and one interception in his 80-minute outing at St Mary’s, while also winning a solid four of his six ground duels and two of his four aerial duels as a sign of his defensive strength.

It was the Salford-born star’s impact in an attacking sense that particularly caught the eye, however, with the £100k-per-week man notably teeing up Joe Willock for his side’s third goal, after making a stunning interception in the middle of the pitch and laying on an exquisite, inch-perfect pass to his teammate.

That moment of brilliance has ensured that the one-time Burnley gem now has five goal contributions in all competitions so far this term from his right-back berth, with such form ensuring that he now simply “has to start” for his country at the upcoming World Cup, according to Alan Shearer.

While the £11.3m-rated ace did lose possession on 18 occasions during that latest showing against the Saints, he was still able to record a stunning match rating of 7.6, as per SofaScore, with that figure the highest of any player for either side.

There will likely be concern among both his club and the Three Lions at having seen the all-action defender withdrawn late on after struggling with a potential hamstring injury, although the player himself insisted post-match that the issue was not serious.

On the evidence of yesterday’s performance, Newcastle need their leader in tow if they are to maintain their current, remarkable assault on the top four.

Leeds United look like the favourites to sign exciting young Birmingham City midfielder George Hall, according to a recent transfer report.

The Lowdown: Leeds linked with Hall

Jesse Marsch could potentially make new signings in the January transfer window as he looks to build a squad capable of comfortably remaining in the Premier League.

Someone who has been linked with a move to Elland Road is Hall, who is already making waves at Birmingham at the age of just 18 and was the subject of an unsuccessful £3m bid from Leeds in August.

The midfielder has already made 17 appearances in the Championship this season, albeit mostly as a substitute, and has been described as ‘explosive’ by the Blues’ under-18 coach Martyn Olorenshaw.

The Latest: Leeds in ‘pole position’ for Hall

According to Football Insider, Hall is expected to leave Birmingham in January, and Leeds are currently in ‘pole position’ to snap him up.

A source has claimed that the teenager’s move away from St Andrew’s is now ‘inevitable’, with the Whites continuing to ‘monitor the situation’.

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The Verdict: Long-term acquisition?

Bringing in young English players is always healthy for Leeds, ensuring that they have a nucleus of homegrown talent – Joe Gelhardt is a good example of that – so Hall could be a mouth-watering prospective addition.

At 18, he has his entire career ahead of him, but he is already showing that he can perform consistently in a league as tough and competitive as the Championship.

Hall would be viewed very much as one for the future, but equally, his amount of playing time this season suggests that he could also make an impact immediately.

He’d also be working under a manager in Marsch who is not afraid to trust in youngsters like Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood, Wilfried Gnonto and Crysencio Summerville at Premier League level.