England’s anti-fast bowler has dismissed some very big names at big moments of this World Cup, but do you remember him doing so?

Osman Samiuddin10-Jul-2019You’re still not done swooning over Jofra and may not be done anytime soon. Completely understandable. There’s Woakesy, who is so inoffensive as to be unremarkable, but he’s also really good; a cricketer’s cricketer who does everything well without too much excitement. If communism ever begat a cricketer, Woakesy would be it, good at everything and yet, somehow, firmly, an anonymous unit in a wider, imposing collective.Can’t take your eyes off Woodsy for even a second, meanwhile. His ankle, heel, (insert body part of choice) could go at any point, he could change his run-up, or he could bowl the spell of your life. And Rash – England have a legspinner who is not Chris Schofield or Ian Salisbury, and it almost doesn’t matter whether he wins them games, which, handily, he does. Even Mo, who if he’s anything right now in this ODI side, is a bowler (and Rashid whisperer).And though Stokesy isn’t really much of an ODI bowler at the moment – he has bowled more than seven overs in an innings just four times in nearly two years – you’re always watching him whenever he’s near a ball, because you can’t not.ALSO READ: ‘If I don’t know what speed it’s going to come out, the batters won’t either’ – Liam PlunkettThen, of course, there’s all that batting.Except, wait, because there’s one more guy. In that tiny space beyond which there is no more bandwidth left for love and appreciation, he exists. Where the ball’s gone soft. Where, if there was any swing, it’s long gone. Where fielders are not attackers, they are now safety nets. Where batsmen have either blazed through the start or negotiated a way past it, but either way are set. Where batsmen are now getting ready to plunder. Where grunt work is needed, the ugly overs, comes… Plunketty?Liam Plunkett doesn’t have the usual nickname (Pudsey apparently, as in the bear) but then Liam Plunkett is not your usual fast bowler.

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Plunkett is right now one of the most fascinating exhibits of modern fast bowling. If that sounds equivocal, let’s get some facts straight. Since the last World Cup, no fast bowler has taken more wickets in the middle overs of ODIs than Plunkett. There are only eight bowlers of any kind who have taken more wickets than him in that period. You’ve been marvelling at the resurgence of legspin (seven of the eight bowlers ahead of Plunkett are leggies), and at the likes of Hasan Ali, Mitchell Starc and Lockie Ferguson at various points over the last four years – how they have brought bowling back into the middle overs of ODIs. All this while Plunkett has been bossing it but nobody’s hair has stood up on their arms.Girish TS/ESPNcricinfo LtdThat’s because of the way he has done it – as the Anti-Fast Bowler. All you need to validate this is to look through his wickets at this World Cup. A slower bouncer down the leg side to strangle Tom Latham, innocent-looking length balls that somehow end up caught at backward point (Virat Kohli and Mushfiqur Rahim), nothing deliveries slogged to deep square-leg (Rishabh Pant and Quinton de Kock), mistimed pulls to the same (Chris Gayle), slogs to long-on, and so on and so forth.You see the problem? These are filthy wickets, wickets that fast bowlers might consider unflattering, even insulting perhaps. They come off cutters, short-ball cutters that sometimes look like long hops, length-ball cutters that also look like long hops, length balls at sixth stump, leg-side strangles. In those four years since the last World Cup, according to ESPNcricinfo’s records, 78% of the balls Plunkett has bowled have been length, short of a length, or just short.ESPNcricinfo LtdThese are not balls that will hit stumps or pads; accordingly he has zero bowleds and leg-befores in the tournament, and over these four years, only 12 of his 93 wickets have been from those two modes. This World Cup has been about yorkers and quick bouncers, and those are not Plunkett at all.Round about two-fifths of his wickets have come from catches in the arc between fine leg and midwicket for right-handers (third man to extra cover for left-handers) and without even looking through them all, you can draw in the mind’s eye the standard Plunkett dismissal: shortish, outside off stump to the right-hander, cutter, the batsman cross-batting it but to a man in the deep. There are fast bowlers out there who would rather be called batsmen than exist like this.So more than stamina, strength, pace or dexterous wrists and fingers, Plunkett’s bowling requires total subjugation of the ego. Which goes right to the heart of everything that fast bowling isn’t.And given how pragmatically England view him, that’s no bad thing. Often he seems like the first person they drop from an XI when looking for the right combination. He has only played five out of nine games this World Cup, and they don’t really like playing him away. He has played 42 of England’s 56 home ODIs in the four-year period since the last World Cup, but only 16 of 41 away. And his away record is as good as his home record by most metrics. They also don’t like playing him on grounds where the square boundaries are small, although he played and took three wickets against India at Edgbaston with its 59m boundary on one side.It doesn’t half seem sometimes that the only conditions England will play him on are – their second-highest wicket-taker since the last World Cup, with the best strike rate among those with 30 or more wickets – if there’s a gun pointed at their head.Ishita Mazumder/ESPNcricinfo LtdBecause this is the other thing you may have noted, namely, the identity of his victims in this tournament: Kohli, Latham (New Zealand’s highest scorer in that game), Pant and Hardik Pandya. He gets big names and he gets them at big moments. Not just at this tournament either – nearly 70% of his wickets in this four-year period are top-six batsmen.Yet you’d be hard-pressed to remember any of them. In England’s opening game against South Africa, the ball to Hashim Amla that people will remember for years is Archer’s bouncer that retired him. That was ball, 90mph at his eyes, life-threatening. The ball to Amla that nobody will remember is the one that got him, also a bouncer, but 79mph, and aimed two stumps outside off. It may have harmed a fly, that one, by our bear Pudsey.

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The Plunkett ball you might be reasonably expected to remember is one he bowled over 12 years ago, at the SCG. Yorker-full, quick, swinging late and gone, timber knocked over – Adam Gilchrist’s, no less.That was the kind of ball Plunkett was meant to bowl a lot more of; the kind of ball England hoped would see him take over the mantle from their Fab Four Ashes quartet; the kind of ball that embodied everything Duncan Fletcher obsessed about in his fast bowlers – high pace, late swing; the search for that kind of ball has ruined any number of careers.Indeed, it is a minor miracle and no little triumph that Plunkett is here right now, as close as any England cricketer since 1992 to becoming a 50-over world champion, and not on that scrapheap where lie the countless fast bowlers England burned through.We talk about how much England’s ODI game has changed in the last four years but it’s worth recalling that Plunkett was part of their 2007 World Cup squad. England have written up and scrapped entire playbooks several times since then, as has Plunkett, and yet he is the only one who has been part of both campaigns.Grunt over greatness: Plunkett isn’t going to wow spectators, but he’s going to help you win games•AFP/Getty ImagesIt’s a miracle that he has survived the overprotected, over-coached mollycoddling of those early years. Brought in too soon, bubbled up too soon, not enough time to exhale in county cricket, too much nannying, too much tinkering, too much thinking, too much advice. It’s an indictment of a certain kind of modern English cricket that Plunkett’s various rehabilitations have been marked by him needing to go back to thinking – about bowling generally, about pace, or about swing. It’s a wonder he didn’t end up like, say, Steven Finn, and instead has found a version of himself that he can make peace with.It’s a version cricket occasionally will have to make peace with as well, because Plunkett is the bowling flip side of this era of batsmanship. He is the interruption – not obstacle – to the new batting mono-rhythm of attack, attack, attack; a monster that only this swamp could have produced.

Also, Ashwin joins Muralitharan as the fastest to 350 Test wickets, and a new record for most sixes in a match

Bharath Seervi06-Oct-20191996 – The last time an Indian fast bowler took a five-wicket haul in the fourth innings of a home Test was Javagal Srinath against South Africa in Ahmedabad. Mohammed Shami did it on day five in Visakhapatnam. Karsan Ghavri, Kapil Dev and Madan Lal are the others on this list.

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3 – Number of five-wicket hauls for Shami in the second innings since 2018 – the most by any bowler. He has picked up 40 wickets in 15 second innings, at an average of 17.70 and strike rate of 32.1. In contrast, he has taken only 23 wickets in 16 first innings at an average of 37.56 and strike rate of 70.50, with best figures of 3 for 64.ESPNcricinfo Ltd203 – The margin of defeat for South Africa in this Test, which is their heaviest after scoring 400 or more runs in their first innings. This is only the fifth time they have lost a Test after scoring 400-plus in the first innings.3 – Number of bigger wins, in terms of runs, for India after their opposition scored 400-plus in their first innings. They won in Visakhapatnam by 203 runs. Two of the three bigger wins came against England, both by an innings, in Chennai and Mumbai in 2016-17.350 – Wickets for R Ashwin in 66 Tests, making him the joint-fastest to the mark along with Muttiah Muralitharan. Ashwin has taken 18 innings more than Muralitharan to reach this feat, but has bowled about 3000 balls fewer to get to the mark. Ashwin has got there in seven years and 332 days from his debut, while it took Muralitharan nine years and nine days.37 – Sixes hit in this match, the most in a Test. The previous record was 35 between Pakistan and New Zealand in Sharjah in November 2014. The most sixes hit in a Test in India before this was 20, when India played Sri Lanka in Mumbai in 2009 and also against West Indies in Rajkot last year.ESPNcricinfo Ltd3 – Number of players to bat more than 100 balls, batting at No. 7 or lower, in both innings on Test debut – Senuran Muthusamy in this Test. The first to do so was Bangladesh’s Manjural Islam against Zimbabwe in 2004 and then Australia’s Moises Henriques versus India in 2013. Muthusamy remained not out in both innings of this debut Test and became only the fourth player ever to score unbeaten 30-plus scores in both innings on debut.

The former Hong Kong captain relocates to India where he hopes to qualify as a local and “one day play Test cricket”

Shashank Kishore13-Sep-2019After fighting his way up the cricketing ladder in Hong Kong only to hit a dead end because of lack of exposure and financial viability, Anshuman Rath, who was their captain until recently, has put a temporary hold on his international career to move back to India, the country his family hails from. He hopes to now qualify as a local and “one day play Test cricket.”Having made himself unavailable for Hong Kong’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers campaign in October, Rath, 21, is set to move to Mumbai, a city he will live and train in, as he looks to break through into India’s first-class system. Having held talks with a number of associations through his agent and father, who hails from Bhubaneswar, Rath has his eyes trained on Vidarbha, the two-time Ranji Trophy champions.

“When the Indian national anthem was played, I got goosebumps and was humming to the tune even though we were playing against them. That moment I thought maybe I could potentially play for them in the future.”Rath on playing India at the Asia Cup

Over the past few weeks, he has held talks with Prashant Vaidya, the VCA’s Director of Cricket, and while no formal agreement has been reached yet, Rath is hopeful of completing the paperwork soon. However, just merely holding an Indian passport won’t guarantee an immediate entry into India’s domestic system. Rath will have to serve a one-year cooling-off period before becoming eligible in October 2020. At the same time, his moving away from Hong Kong for good and his Indian citizenship means he can enter the IPL auction as a local uncapped player. For the moment, though, he is set to feature in club cricket in Nagpur.”The VCA has spoken to Saba Karim (BCCI’s general manager) about my road map, and all indications are that they are the team I’m most likely to turn up for, provided I put in the hard yards in club cricket and show them performances that will help my selection,” Rath told ESPNcricinfo. “They have been very professional. They have won the Ranji Trophy for two years in a row now, and they have a credible reputation.”The amount of talent there is in India, it’s easy for state sides to overlook me, but the VCA have been very transparent and supportive. Their message is: ‘The door is open’, but I have to do whatever I can to put myself up for selection. I’m not going to be put on a pedestal. At the end of the day, if you’re scoring runs, you will be picked. Hopefully, I can do that. They’ve kept me in the loop with everything, and about the club system there. The facilities are top notch and I’m looking forward to it.”ALSO READ: The brains and the brawn behind Vidarbha’s rise to the topThe India move is the latest chapter of what Rath calls a “nomadic” career. As a 14-year old, he moved from Hong Kong, where his family was based, to the UK and went to the famous Harrow School. As a teenager, he emerged as one of the most promising pathway cricketers alongside current England stars like Sam Curran and Ollie Pope at Middlesex. However, “complex visa rules” that don’t allow players from Associate countries to feature as full-time professionals left him with no option but to return to Hong Kong after putting his college degree on hold.”It’s been brewing for a while now,” he said. “Being in the English system and having grown up there, you understand simply how different the Associate system is. My dream is to play Test cricket and unfortunately Associate cricket doesn’t provide that platform. Mark Chapman is a prime example. He used Associate cricket as a benchmark to play a higher level of cricket in New Zealand. The opportunities are rare, it’s not financially viable playing in Hong Kong. I don’t want to have three-four years here and then move away. I’m looking at the next 10-15 year horizon, and for that, the India move is the best way forward.”Rath had a quick chat with Simon Cook, the former Hong Kong coach who had a decade-and-a-half long career with Middlesex. It merely reinforced the decision he had already made. “Simon Cook knew of my ambitions from when I was playing in England,” Rath says. “I knew this was likely to happen one day, so it’s a bittersweet feeling for me, even though I’m excited about going to India. The guys at Hong Kong Cricket have been extremely cooperative about it and understand the choice I’ve made.”At this time last year, Rath nearly orchestrated a mighty upset against the Rohit Sharma-led India at the Asia Cup. He put on a 174-run opening stand with Nizakat Khan to set the tone for a chase of 286; Hong Kong eventually fell short by 26 runs. Twelve months on, he looks back at that game with a lot of fondness. Incidentally, that was his last official ODI for Hong Kong, for whom he finishes with an average of 51.75 in 18 ODIs.

“Vidarbha’s message is: ‘the door is open’, but I’ve to do whatever I can to put myself up for selection. I’m not going to be put on a pedestal. End of the day, if you’re scoring runs, you will be picked”Rath on his next move

Hong Kong have endured a bumpy road since that memorable Asia Cup outing, finishing last in WCL Division 2 in Namibia earlier in the year, where Rath topped the run charts. This relegated them to the third tier of the ICC’s 50-over competition for Associates, with the side having already lost its ODI status in 2018. Partly, Rath’s decision also stemmed from the ICC’s decision to reduce the World Cup to a 10-team show. With things unlikely to change for 2023, it’s a decision he says he had to make “sooner than later.””When I wasn’t allowed to play in England, I had to find a new base to develop my game and progress,” he says. “If you told me a year ago that I’d be in the Indian system, it’s not like I would’ve said ‘you’re joking’ because I had to decide at some point. In that game against India, when the Indian national anthem was played, I got goosebumps and was humming to the tune even though we were playing against them. That moment was when I had the realization that I could potentially play for them in the future. I want to give myself every opportunity to do so. There are no guarantees, but at least I know the ball is in my court and there is a structure and a pathway for me to make it happen.”

In four innings, the batsman fell playing away from his body, losing his wicket when the team needed the batsmen to resist

Karthik Krishnaswamy03-Sep-2019Shimron Hetmyer grimaced. There was just one fielder in front of square on the off side – extra cover – and he had picked him out with precision with an airy drive.Ishant Sharma, from around the wicket, had bowled it full and wide, to entice the drive, with three slips and a gully waiting for the edge and extra cover waiting for the uppish drive. It was an obvious trap, and Hetmyer had fallen for it.The ball wasn’t quite a half-volley, and it was well outside Hetmyer’s eyeline when he met it. Few batsmen can feel confident of being fully in control while driving balls that wide, and Hetmyer was batting on 1 when he played that shot.It was the fourth time in four innings in this series that Hetmyer had fallen to a drive away from his body. Twice he had driven with hard hands, well in front of his body; once, he was caught-and-bowled by Ishant, and the other time bowled through the gate by Mohammed Shami. Twice he had been out driving at balls wide of off stump – caught at third slip off Ishant, and, now, caught at extra cover.The first-innings dismissal in Jamaica prompted his captain, Jason Holder, to turn his back to Hetmyer at the non-striker’s end. You could understand his frustration; a red-hot Jasprit Bumrah had reduced West Indies to 22 for 5, and their innings had briefly looked like it could end in less than 20 overs.Holder had himself bowled 32.1 overs in India’s first innings. Then Hetmyer and he had put together something approaching a partnership. It hadn’t been the most secure of stands – Hetmyer had been dropped once, and had played-and-missed and edged numerous times, including three fours through and over the slip cordon in one over – but it had added 45 runs to West Indies’ score, in 12 overs.Holder must have been pleading with Hetmyer during the breaks between overs. Please, just hang in there. Play close to your body. Please.And then that shot.After the match was done and dusted, Holder wore a resigned look when he was interviewed by Ian Bishop at the presentation ceremony. “We were just commenting in the dressing room,” he said. “We’ve been in the field every single day of this Test series, from the first Test match to this one.”That’s right. West Indies’ bowlers never got the chance to put their feet up and get a full day’s rest. In all, West Indies’ batsmen faced 1253 balls through the Test series. That’s less than the combined total of India’s top-three run-getters.Through the series, West Indies lost a wicket every 31.23 balls. India’s bowlers earned most of those wickets, with exceptional deliveries or by applying concerted pressure and forcing errors. Hetmyer, one of West Indies’ top two or three batsmen in terms of pure ability, should be disappointed that his wicket proved so much easier to get, time after time.

Also: Has anyone lost more Tests at an overseas venue than Tendulkar has at the MCG?

Steven Lynch21-Jan-2020Marnus Labuschagne did not bat, bowl or take a catch in his first one-day international – yet Australia won it by ten wickets. Has anyone else managed this feat? asked Andrew Balding from Australia
I was quite surprised to discover that Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne, against India in Mumbai last week, became the 37th player to finish on the winning side in his first one-day international without batting, bowling or taking a catch. The list is headed by none other than Viv Richards, who had a quiet time for West Indies against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford during the first World Cup in 1975. The list also includes Jeremy Coney, Mark Waugh, Jonty Rhodes, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Mushfiqur Rahim.Only one of the other 36 instances, though, ended in a ten-wicket win (Richards’ was by nine, as were four of the others). By a remarkable coincidence, the man concerned in that one – South Africa’s Martin van Jaarsveld – was, like Labuschagne, born in Klerksdorp, about 100 miles from Johannesburg. In van Jaarsveld’s first ODI, in Benoni in 2002-03, South Africa beat Bangladesh by ten wickets. He did, however, effect a run-out in Bangladesh’s innings.For the full list of the players who finished on the winning side in their first ODI without batting, bowling or taking a catch, click here.Mark Wood hit five sixes in the third Test, but scored only 12 other runs. Was this the lowest Test score to include five sixes? asked William Green from England
Rather surprisingly perhaps, Mark Wood’s 42 for England in Port Elizabeth last week comes in only third on this particular list. The record was set just two months ago, also against South Africa: Umesh Yadav clouted five sixes in Ranchi, but was out for 31 (from just ten balls). Two months before that, Kemar Roach belted five sixes in a defiant 38 for West Indies against India in Antigua.Umesh Yadav smashed five sixes in his 10-ball 31 against South Africa in Ranchi last year•BCCIThe recent ODI at Rajkot featured nearly 650 runs but no individual hundreds – was this a record? And what would be the equivalent record without a half-century? asked V Siddhesh from India
The match aggregate of 644 runs in last week’s one-day international in Rajkot, in which Shikhar Dhawan and Steve Smith both fell just short of centuries, stands fourth on this particular list. Top is the 656 runs in the match between South Africa (326 for 3) and Australia (330 for 7) in Port Elizabeth in 2001-02, when the highest individual score was Ricky Ponting’s 92 (Darren Lehmann made 91).The others to shade the Rajkot game were India (329 for 7) v England (320 for 8) in Bristol in 2007 (649 runs, including 99 by Sachin Tendulkar), and England (351 for 9) v Pakistan (297) at Headingley in 2019 (648; Sarfraz Ahmed 97). In all, there have now been 23 ODIs that featured 600 or more runs but no individual centuries.The most runs in an ODI without a half-century is 468, by England (243) and West Indies (225) in Chennai during the 2011 World Cup, when the highest individual score was 49 by Andre Russell.Sachin Tendulkar lost five Test matches at the MCG. Is this the highest number of defeats for a player at one venue overseas? asked Nirad from India
Sachin Tendulkar is one of 11 players who have had the misfortune to lose five Tests at a single overseas venue. The England pair of Jack Hobbs and Tom Hayward also lost five in Melbourne, while Willie Bates, Johnny Briggs, Wilfred Rhodes, Herbert Strudwick and Frank Woolley (all England) lost five in Sydney, as did South Africa’s Jacques Kallis, whose tally includes the Super Series Test for the World XI at the SCG in 2005. Two early Australians, Jack Blackham and Syd Gregory, finished on the losing side five times at The Oval.But the great Surrey and England opener Jack Hobbs leads the way here, as he lost six Tests in Sydney – in 1907-08 and 1911-12, and twice each in 1920-21 and 1924-25. Hobbs did, however, finish on the winning side five times in Melbourne – a record matched for overseas Tests only by Johnny Briggs, with five wins for England in Sydney. It should be pointed out that Ashes tours down under until the late 1920s usually included two matches in both Sydney and Melbourne.Following on from last week’s question about the most balls faced by a batsman in a T20 match, what’s the record for a one-day international? Has anyone faced more than Rohit Sharma’s 173? asked Ninad Parab from Canada
Rohit Sharma faced 173 balls in making his ODI-record 264 for India against Sri Lanka in Kolkata in November 2014. That was the longest innings in a 50-over ODI, beating the previous record by one – Ashish Bagai made 137 not out from 172 balls for Canada against Scotland in Nairobi in 2006-07.However, there were four longer innings (and another of 173 balls) in the days when an ODI innings lasted 60 overs rather than 50. On the opening day of the inaugural World Cup, in 1975, Glenn Turner batted for 201 balls in making 171 not out for New Zealand against East Africa at Edgbaston. Turner also lies second on this list, with 114 not out from 177 balls a week later, against India at Old Trafford. For the full list, click here.Use our feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been dealt an injury blow, as it has been revealed that a “difference maker” in his squad will be out for “weeks”.

Bukayo Saka returns in boost for Arsenal

Star winger Bukayo Saka had been sidelined since December with a hamstring injury, but in a major boost for Arteta, the England international has returned to the fold and just in time for their looming Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.

Related Arsenal now planning to offer £50m for "incredible" Mbappe-esque striker

The Gunners have set their sights on a new forward.

Posts ByDominic Lund Apr 1, 2025

A good run in Europe is Arsenal’s only chance to make anything of this otherwise disappointing campaign overall, with the Gunners all but out of the Premier League title race as Liverpool seize a huge gap at the top of the table.

Saka, who’s racked up an incredible nine goals and 14 assists in all competitions for the north Londoners this season, despite missing many games lately, will provide a serious injection of threat on the right-hand side and give Arsenal a much greater chance of getting past Real.

“Bukayo is ready to go,” said Arteta in Arsenal’s pre-match press conference before Fulham.

“All the careful things he’s already done. So now it’s about putting him in the grass in the right moments. But he’s pushing because he really wants it. We have respected the timeframe, we have done everything and we have had to hold him back even. So he’s ready to go.

Arsenal’s next five Premier League games

Date

Fulham (home)

April 1st

Everton (away)

April 5th

Brentford (home)

April 12th

Ipswich Town (away)

April 20th

Crystal Palace (home)

April 26th

“It’s another massive weapon that we have with him. We know the impact that he’s had on the team and how important his role and his contribution are to our success. So it’s great to have him back.”

The £195,000-per-week star’s return also helps to mitigate the losses of fellow attackers Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, who are both out of action with long-term injuries.

Havertz will miss the remainder of 2024/2025 after a hamstring injury, while some reports suggest Arsenal won’t have Jesus back until 2026.

Riccardo Calafori out for "weeks" after Arsenal injury update

Unfortunately for Arteta, amid Saka’s comeback, there is some bad news regarding defender Riccardo Calafiori.

The centre-back picked up an injury on international duty with Italy, and it is now expected that Calafiori will be out for “weeks” at Arsenal. Sharing an update, Arteta also suggests it could be longer, although he’s hoping that won’t be the case.

“Riccardo, unfortunately, picked up an injury again with the national team,” said Arteta.

“It was really unfortunate the way it happened, but it could have been much worse, so hopefully it’s going to be a matter of weeks. But we’ll have to see how that injury evolves.

“They’re two injuries that were picked up with the national team. One, it was a kick, and the other one is a really bad turn, twist when he slips with the surface. And the other one, it was muscle. But the main two injuries that he had, the was very little he could do, so very unfortunate.”

The £42m signing from Bologna last summer has proved very useful for Arteta when fit and available, with Football Analyst Ben Mattinson even calling him a “difference maker” in attack at times.

Over 26 appearances in all competitions, Calafiori has helped to provide quality at both left-back and centre-back, but Arteta will be hoping he’s a bit more lucky next season when it comes to availability.

Celtic made a bold decision in the January transfer window when Rennes came knocking to sign their star striker Kyogo Furuhashi on a permanent deal.

The Japan international had scored 85 goals and provided 19 assists in 185 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish giants, including an incredible return of 34 goals in the 2022/23 campaign.

Despite his fantastic record for the club, Celtic agreed to sell the Japanese centre-forward for a reported fee of £10m to the French side, leaving Adam Idah as the team’s only natural number nine.

Instead of dipping into the market before the end of the January transfer window, Brendan Rodgers opted to put his faith in Daizen Maeda as a striker, saving the club millions on a new signing.

The Japanese forward has stepped up to be the alternative to Idah up front, whilst also still being an option on the flanks when needed, and has been a star for the Hoops with his goals this season.

Why Daizen Maeda is Celtic's most important player

The Celtic star, who was described as “electric” by John Collins, is the team’s most important player because of the quality he can provide in front of goal, as well as his incredible work rate out of possession.

Last season, Rodgers claimed that the forward “has the work rate of two players” and this speaks to how important he is to the side off the ball, as the versatile attacker can constantly close down opposition defenders and midfielders when they have the ball to win it back for the Hoops.

The 27-year-old attacker has also been the biggest threat at the top end of the pitch for the Scottish giants, with 30 goals and nine assists in 44 matches in all competitions.

He has scored at least 12 more goals than any of his teammates, with Nicolas Kuhn in second with 18, and has been directly involved in at least seven more goals than any other player in the squad, with Kuhn in second again with 32 goal contributions.

24/25 Premiership

Daizen Maeda

Appearances (starts)

29 (25)

Goals

15

Big chances missed

15

Conversion rate

30%

Key passes per game

1.2

Big chances created

8

Assists

7

Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, Maeda has provided a constant threat in the final third in the Scottish Premiership, with 23 goals and assists in 25 starts.

These statistics illustrate how important the Japan international is to Rodgers’ side with his contributions at the top end of the pitch, which is why he is the most important player in the squad when you couple that with the work he does off the ball to help out defensively.

Despite his importance to the side and his sensational performances on the pitch in all competitions this season, Maeda is not currently in the top three earners at Parkhead.

The top ten earners at Celtic

Per Salary Sport, Kyogo was in the top three with £19k-per-week before his £10m transfer to Rennes was completed in January, whilst Maeda is currently on £18k-per-week.

Cameron Carter-Vickers and Callum McGregor are reportedly the two highest-earning stars at Parkhead on £37k-per-week, significantly more than the Japan international’s £18k-per-week.

Top ten Celtic earners

24/25 season

Weekly wage

Cameron Carter-Vickers

£37k

Callum McGregor

£37k

James Forrest

£19k

Daizen Maeda

£18k

Alistair Johnston

£16k

Reo Hatate

£16k

Arne Engels

£16k

Adam Idah

£16k

Luis Palma

£16k

Greg Taylor

£15k

Wages via Salary Sport

As you can see in the table above, Maeda is currently fourth in the wage bill, still ahead of the likes of Reo Hatate, Arne Engels, and Alistair Johnston, and is behind James Forrest.

The long-serving academy graduate is reportedly on a wage of £19k-per-week, earning more than a handful of first-team stars, despite being a squad player, at best, this season.

With this in mind, Rodgers must consider ruthlessly axing the Scottish forward from the squad in the upcoming summer transfer window, as there could be a better use for the money they are spending on his wages.

Why Celtic should move on from James Forrest

The 33-year-old winger is heading into the final year of his current contract at Parkhead and it may be best for the club to either move him on permanently or to send him out on loan for the season to go and play regular football, recouping a percentage of his wages for the campaign in the process.

Forrest has not done enough on the pitch in the current term to justify being one of the top three earners at the club, or to justify a regular place in the team in the 2025/26 campaign, which is to be expected at his age.

The experienced dud showed signs of life in the 2023/24 season, with a very respectable return of seven goals in 28 appearances in all competitions, but he has failed to deliver on the pitch this year.

Forrest cost his side in the 1-0 defeat to bottom-of-the-table St. Johnstone last weekend when he failed to beat the goalkeeper from close range after Adam Idah put the ball on a plate for him in the middle of the box, with Celtic losing 1-0 at the time.

James Forrest (Premiership)

23/24

24/25

Appearances

22

17

Goals

6

0

Big chances missed

6

3

Conversion rate

16%

0%

Big chances created

3

3

Assists

1

4

Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, the Scottish forward has not scored a single goal in the Premiership this season, despite having three ‘big chances’ to find the back of the net.

In fact, Forrest has not scored a single goal in 25 appearances in all competitions this term. The likes of Greg Taylor, Auston Trusty, Jeffrey Schlupp, and Alistair Johnston – who all play in defence – have outscored him by scoring once in all competitions.

This illustrates just how poor the experienced winger has been in front of goal, which was on full display when he missed a chance to draw Celtic level at the weekend.

There is no doubt that Forrest has been an excellent servant for the club, scoring 109 goals in 520 matches to date, but his form this season suggests that this summer would be the right time to ruthlessly ditch him, whether permanently or on loan, due to his high wages compared to other players who play week-in-week-out and contribute more in the final third.

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When you consider that Maeda has scored 30 goals in all competitions, playing in a similar position, and reportedly earns less than him, it seems to be the right call to move on from Forrest this summer.

Since taking the Arsenal job, when the club were at their lowest point in a generation, Mikel Arteta has made some seismic changes.

Some of the most significant have come in the transfer market, as the Spaniard spent a massive sum of money building a squad capable of challenging for major honours domestically and on the continent.

In doing so, the former captain has signed an enormous number of players over the years, and while some haven’t exactly panned out, like Willian, Pablo Mari and Nuno Tavares, others, like Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Magalhaes and David Raya, certainly have.

In fact, it would be fair to say that one of Arteta’s acquisitions is now comfortably the club’s best signing since Mesut Özil joined the team over a decade ago.

Özil's Arsenal career

It’s a moment that no Arsenal fan who was around at the time will forget, Özil being announced on transfer deadline day 2013, in what was a club-record £42.4m deal at the time.

The German international was leaving Real Madrid to come to the Emirates, and saying that fans were excited about it would be a colossal understatement.

It didn’t take long for the mercurial midfielder to make good on his transfer fee either, as on his debut, away to Sunderland, he provided a brilliant assist for Olivier Giroud.

Throughout his stint in North London, the World Cup winner made 254 appearances for the club, scoring 44 goals, providing 75 assists, and playing a significant role in three FA Cup triumphs.

Unfortunately, after signing his bumper £350k-per-week deal in 2018, things started to go wrong, and he began to face criticism for his perceived lack of work rate, which worsened when Arteta took charge.

However, while things ended poorly, and he eventually left for nothing to join Fenerbahçe in January 2021, it cannot be forgotten that in his pomp, Özil was an incredible footballer to watch and, had the club built around him, he may have led them to league glory.

There have been some great signings made in the years since he left, but one potentially era-defining acquisition under Arteta could be fairly described as the club’s best since the German.

Chalkboard

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Arsenal's best signing since Ozil

As we mentioned above, Arteta has made his fair share of impressive signings since taking the job at Arsenal, but in terms of needle-moving purchases, the spotlight falls on one player: Declan Rice.

The former West Ham United captain moved to the Emirates for a club-record fee of £105m in the summer of 2023, and while there was a mountain of pressure on him, he’s since surpassed every expectation people had of him.

In fact, the fans often sing about signing him for half-price, and while that is somewhat tongue in cheek, there is likely an increasing portion of the support that is genuinely starting to believe it.

Appearances

94

Minutes

7640′

Goals

14

Assists

18

Goal Involvements per Match

0.34

Minutes per Goal Involvement

238.75′

For example, since moving to North London, the “world-class” midfielder, as dubbed by journalist Tom Marshall-Bailey, has made 94 appearances, in which he’s scored 14 goals and provided 18 assists, despite moving between the six and eight positions.

We saw just how devastatingly effective the Englishman can be last night when he scored two stunning free-kicks against Real Madrid to give his side an incredible opportunity to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time since the 08/09 season.

On top of his impressive level of output, the 26-year-old also has some sensational underlying numbers.

For example, FBref places him in the top 4% of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries and carries into the penalty area, the top 6% for assists, the top 7% for goals plus assists, the top 8% for shot-creating action from dead-ball passes and more, all per 90.

Ultimately, while Arsenal would have expected Rice to perform to a high level considering his price tag, we are not sure they nor anyone else expected him to be this good, and that’s why he’s their best signing since Ozil.

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After defeat against Fulham exposed the problems that Arne Slot must still solve, Liverpool are now reportedly expected to hold talks with one attacking addition over a summer move worth £87m.

Fulham expose Liverpool weaknesses

Whilst on paper the Reds are still just four wins away from Premier League glory, the reality is that they’ve now lost three of their last four games in all competitions having suffered defeat against Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United before the international break. All of a sudden, an unstoppable Liverpool side has looked very much stoppable and one with problems to solve.

Slot spoke about his side’s imperfections following their 3-2 defeat at Craven Cottage, telling reporters: “There’s always a lot of attention around Liverpool. That doesn’t start now, that’s been there the whole season.

“Of course, people want to make stories but for me it’s all about playing Fulham. They’re a good team, and if you then make three errors it’s going to be very difficult to win the game against them.

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“In general, we are not making many of these errors, let alone three in one game. Today, we also had (Ibrahima) Konate losing the ball too. The second half was so much better than the first, but it’s hard to win a game of football at this level if you concede three goals like this.”

The Dutchman was happy to defend his side, but there’s no denying their recent woes and that they need a number of fresh faces when the transfer window swings open. Among those particularly guilty against Fulham was Andy Robertson, who made three errors in one to gift Alex Iwobi the Cottagers’ third goal before the break.

As links continue to emerge with the likes of Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez, the Scotland captain may well coming to the end of his best years in a Liverpool shirt. Meanwhile, in search of a creative spark not named Mohamed Salah, those at Anfield have reportedly kept their attention on one £100m star.

Liverpool expected to hold talks with Wirtz

According to Graeme Bailey for The Boot Room, Liverpool are expected to hold talks with Florian Wirtz this summer in an attempt to jump ahead of Manchester City and land his signature for a reported £87m.

As the Citizens go in search of replacing the departing Kevin de Bruyne, the Reds could land their very own version of an undeniable Premier League legend, albeit they may have to drive that price up closer to £100m.

Bailey told The Boot Room: “Whilst Bayern and City have done the most work to this point, I am told not to totally discount others, especially in just making an offer – if you are Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or even Real Madrid – who all like him – why wouldn’t you at least have the conversation?”

Appearances

48

39

Goals

16

15

Assists

22

13

An instant positive that stands out when looking at arguably De Bruyne’s best individual season at Manchester City compared to Wirtz in the current campaign is how the German has almost matched the Belgian for goals.

Of course, De Bruyne at the peak of his powers would blow away almost anyone on the assists front but Wirtz hasn’t exactly got a bad record himself and still has time to catch the Premier League icon.

Dubbed “special” by U23 scout Antonio Mango, Wirtz would take Liverpool’s attacking play to a whole new level.

Today is the day that Leeds United could officially secure their promotion back to the Premier League at the second time of asking in the Championship.

The Whites play host to Stoke City at Elland Road in a 3 pm kick-off this afternoon, knowing that if they win and Sheffield United fail to beat Burnley in their 5:30 pm kick-off, they will be promoted.

Despite beating Oxford United 1-0 last time out in the Championship, Daniel Farke could look to make some changes to his starting line-up to keep the team fresh, after only two days of recovery, and Dan James is a star who should come back in.

Why Dan James should start for Leeds

The Wales international missed the 2-1 win over Preston North End with an injury and returned to play a part off the bench in the clash with Oxford on Friday.

After his cameo at the Kassam, James should now be put back into the starting line-up against Stoke this afternoon, just days after he was named as one of the finalists in the race to win the Championship Player of the Season award.

The former Manchester United winger has scored 12 goals, created 16 ‘big chances’, and delivered nine assists in 30 starts in the second tier this term, which shows that he has made a big impact in the final third on a regular basis.

Leeds know that today could be the day that they seal promotion, if they beat Stoke, and they need their best players on the pitch in order to have the best chance of success.

Chalkboard

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With this in mind, Farke must bring the influential star back into the team by ruthlessly ditching Brenden Aaronson from the side that started on Friday.

Why Brenden Aaronson should be dropped

The USA international played 89 minutes against Oxford and failed to offer much in front of goal, as he missed one ‘big chance’, lost possession 15 times, and failed to create any ‘big chances’ for his teammates.

Aaronson was described as “anonymous” by reporter James Marshment back in February, and that assessment still rings true, as it was his 12th game without a goal or an assist in his last 13 appearances in all competitions.

The £45k-per-week flop has produced two goals and zero assists in 19 matches in 2025, with one of those goals coming in the 7-0 win over Cardiff, which illustrates how ineffective he has been in the final third.

Appearances (starts)

43 (40)

40 (23)

xG

10.24

5.50

Goals

9

6

Minutes per goal

368

345

Big chances created

8

9

Assists

2

5

As you can see in the table above, Wilfried Gnonto has been more effective as a finisher whilst also providing more creativity despite starting 17 fewer games than the American dud.

This suggests that Farke should keep the Italy U21 international in the team, moving him into the number ten role, and drop Aaronson from the side in order to start James on the right wing.

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This would mean that Leeds would have an attacking midfield trident of James, Gnonto, and Manor Solomon behind either Joel Piroe or Patrick Bamford in the centre-forward position.