Aston Villa – Wolves: Finish was missing at Villa Park where both Aston Villa and Wolves will feel aggrieved at their attacking performances in a scoreless draw on Saturday.
Villa’s top-four hopes take a big hit with the draw, now seven points back of Chelsea and six behind Everton but holding a match-in-hand on the former.
Villa’s lone shot on target came late, but Dean Smith’s men hit the frame twice early at home.
Wolves get their 35th points, 12 points clear of the bottom three and eight behind seventh-place Spurs. Wolves have played one or two more games than anyone ahead of them.
1. No Grealish, no Jimenez, no party: This isn’t to take any shots at Villa or Wolves, who staged an entertaining-enough match, all things considered, but the absence of the hosts’ best playmaker in Jack Grealish and Wolves’ top finisher in Raul Jimenez haunted this match. There were 13 shot attempts but just one on target (plus the two struck goal posts by Villa) after 65 minutes. Are there any players outside the “Big Six” whose absence is more noticeable? Maybe Wilfried Zaha at Palace, Allan Saint-Maximin at Newcastle, or Matheus Pereira at West Brom would like a word but it’d make for a tough argument in most cases.
2. Martinez is a wonder: Emiliano Martinez has now worked wonders at two clubs in two years, Arsenal and Villa, after the Gunners sent him on loan to (clears throat) Oxford United, Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United, Wolves, Getafe, and Reading before deploying in place of Bernd Leno last season. Arsenal has had a lot of good goalkeepers in the past few years and Leno and now-departed Martinez are among them. His save on former teammate Coady was ridiculous. All three of the game’s saves were his until the final moments.
3. Early promise yields one point for Villa: Villa’s entire finish to the season would feel different if either of their early posts were a few inches closer to goal, as sitting seventh would have them four points back of fourth and a Manchester United UEL win could make fifth a Champions League spot. Instead, the Villans are looking up at Spurs, Liverpool, West Ham, and Everton in addition to Chelsea.
Man of the Match: Conor Coady
Robbed by Martinez late, Coady was reliable again in his own end to the tune of six clearances, two blocked shots, an interception, and a tackle. The former defensive mid also completed all of his 27 passes.
Aston Villa – Wolves recap
Ollie Watkins and Ezri Konsa both hit the woodwork for Villa in the opening quarter-hour, the hosts clearly superior.
Villa had five of the game’s eight shot attempts over 45 minutes, holding 52 percent possession, but neither team put a shot on target.
Conor Coady nearly made it two goals in as many games, a stunning turn of goal scoring form for the hard-nosed defender, but Emiliano Martinez made his latest big save of a starry season between the sticks for Villa.
But Villa was punchless between and below the posts, failing to muster a shot on target to give Its keeper a deserved win at home.
The January transfer window is again seeing big-name imports into the Premier League, and the final hours of the window are seeing a flurry of deals take place.
Chelsea’s signed Benoit Badiashile and Andrey Santos, Newcastle’s formally welcomed Garang Kuol, and Liverpool’s reinforced its forward ranks with Cody Gakpo joining the Anfield set.
There’s plenty of discussion about Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur making additions to deepen their squads’ top-four pushes, but nothing complete yet for either big name side.
The same is true for title-fighters Arsenal and Manchester City, though their top-end footing is a lot more stable.
Arsenal are pushing hard to sign Moises Caicedo, with the Ecuadorian midfielder not playing for Brighton in the FA Cup against Liverpool amid a reported new $86 million bid from the Gunners. Anthony Gordon has signed for Newcastle from Everton for a fee believed to be around $60 million.
AFC Bournemouth
In
Dango Ouattara (Lorient)
Darren Randolph (West Ham)
Antoine Semenyo (Bristol City)
Out
Ferdinand Okoh (Dorchester) Loan
James Hill (Hearts) Loan
Will Dennis (Slough) Loan
Noa Boutin (Gosport) Loan
Arsenal
In
Leandro Trossard (Brighton)
Jakub Kiwior (Spezia Calcio)
Out
Brooke Norton-Cuffy (Coventry) Loan
Miguel Azeez (Wigan) Loan
Arthur Okonkwo (Sturm Graz) Loan
Ovie Ejeheri (SJK Seinajoki) Loan
Harry Clarke (Ipswich Town)
Aston Villa
In Aaron Ramsey (loan recall)
Tyreik Wright (loan recall)
Alex Moreno (Real Betis)
Jhon Duran (Chicago Fire)
Out Cameron Archer (Middlesbrough) Loan
Tyreik Wright (Plymouth Argyle)
Frederic Guilbert (RC Strasbourg)
Indiana Vassilev (St. Louis City SC)
Danny Ings (West Ham)
Jan Bednarek (loan recall)
Morgan Sanson (Strasbourg) Loan
Brentford
In Byron Wilson (Coventry)
Conor McManus (Bray Wanderers)
Fin Stevens (loan recall)
Mads Bech (loan recall)
Beaux Booth (Dorking)
Kevin Schade (Freiburg) Loan
Paris Maghoma (loan recall)
Romeo Beckham (Inter Miami) Loan
Nathan Young-Coombes (loan recall)
Out
Salomon Rondon (released)
Nathan Broadhead (Ipswich)
Tom Cannon (Preston) Loan
Niels Nkounkou (Saint-Etienne) Loan
Sebastian Quirk (Accrington Stanley)
Tyler Onyango (Forest Green) Loan
Anthony Gordon (Newcastle)
Fulham
In Anthony Knockaert (loan recall)
Out
Idris Odutayo (Maidenhead) Loan extension
Anthony Knockaert (Huddersfield) Loan
Ibane Bowat (Den Bosch) Loan
Leeds United
In Max Wober (RB Salzburg)
Georginio Rutter (Hoffenheim)
Out Mateusz Klich (MLS pending)
Alfie McCalmont (Carlisle) Loan
Leo Hjelde (Rotherham) Loan
Max Dean (MK Dons)
Cody Drameh (Luton) Loan
Joe Gelhardt (Sunderland) Loan
Leicester City
In
George Hirst (loan recall)
Victor Kristiansen (Copenhagen)
Tete (Lyon)
Out
George Hirst (Ipswich) Loan
Ben Nelson (Doncaster) Loan
Jakub Stolarczyk (Hartlepool) Loan
Liverpool
In
Cody Gakpo (PSV)
Billy Koumetio (Austria Vienna) Loan recall
Max Woltman (loan recall)
Jakub Ojrzynski (loan recall)
James Balagizi (loan recall)
Fidel O’Rourke (loan recall)
Rhys Williams (loan recall)
Out
Jake Cain (Swindon Town)
Jarell Quansah (Bristol Rovers) Loan
Cody Gakpo photo vis twitter.com/LFC
Manchester City
In Liam Delap (loan recall)
Maximo Perrone (Velez Sarsfield)
In
Luizao (Sao Paulo)
Armstrong Okoflex (loan recall)
Danny Ings (Aston Villa)
Out
Thierry Nevers (Bradford) Loan
Craig Dawson (Wolves)
Pierre Ekwah (Sunderland)
Darren Randolph (AFC Bournemouth)
Will Greenidge (Colchester) Loan
Wolverhampton Wanderers
In Matheus Cunha (Atletico Madrid) Loan
Joe Young (loan recall)
Louie Moulden (loan recall)
Theo Corbeanu (loan recall)
Christian Marques (loan recall)
Lewis Richards (loan recall)
Mario Lemina (Nice)
Pablo Sarabia (Paris Saint-Germain)
Craig Dawson (West Ham)
Dan Bentley (Bristol City)
Ki-Jana Hoever (loan recall)
Out Leo Bonatini (released)
Joe Young (Telford) Loan
Goncalo Guedes (Benfica) Loan
Theo Corbeanu (Arminia Bielefeld) Loan
Leonardo Campana (Inter Miami)
Connor Ronan (Colorado Rapids)
Fabio Silva (PSV) Loan
Matija Sarkic (Stoke) Loan
Ki-Jana Hoever (Stoke) Loan
Jackson Smith (Walsall) Loan
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Matheus Cunha (Photo by David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)
From clicking on the links above to read the latest reports and analysis, having Sky Sports News live on Peacock all day long and to our own Pro Soccer Talk live deadline day show which starts at 5:30pm ET on Jan. 31, you won’t miss a thing.
Click on the video below to send in your questions for the PST crew for our deadline day chat where we will round up all of the deals happening late in the window, dish out grades to Premier League teams based on their business and give our analysis on the best signings of the January window.
Who’s looking like title contenders and/or favorites?
Almost at the halfway mark of the 2022-23 season, Arsenal and Manchester City are looking head and shoulders above the rest though Newcastle is not going away and Manchester United has surged into contention.
The Gunners will have their hands full for the duration of their title challenge, as Erling Haaland continues to take the Premier League by storm with an almost impossible goal-scoring record.
Uneven Tottenham are hanging in the top four battle, while Liverpool is struggling to stay in the Champions League scrap. Chelsea has some work to do while surprising Fulham and Brighton are hanging around on the periphery with fine campaigns.
Who are the candidates for relegation?
Everton, Bournemouth, and Southampton currently occupy the relegation places.
But Leicester, West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Wolves, and Leeds all find themselves within a few points of the bottom three after a topsy-turvy start.
Below you will find the latest Premier League table.
USMNT star Weston McKennie has signed for Leeds United from Juventus.
“Leeds United States of America” continues to grow with McKennie to join fellow Americans Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson playing for Jesse Marsch and newly-appointed assistant Chris Armas.
Who will be next to turn up at Elland Road, Christian Pulisic?
Leeds United have signed USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie from Juventus. Deal is a loan with a purchase clause, which could be worth around $35m all-in.
Juventus boss Max Allegri confirmed that Juventus and Leeds have completed the deal and that the USMNT midfielder will not be available to play for the Italian giants against Monza on Sunday.
“There’s an agreement ready between clubs to sell McKennie. He won’t be available tomorrow,” Allegri said.
Would a move to Leeds be a good fit for Weston McKennie?
Stylistically the Premier League is a great fit for Weston McKennie and Leeds are probably one of the best teams he could move to.
He loves to fly into tackles and drive forward from midfield and playing just in front of Tyler Adams and Marc Roca or to the right of them would be a perfect spot for him at Leeds.
It would give Leeds more control of games and the Yorkshire club also play to his strengths. it’s a really good fit.
McKennie has struggled to have a big impact at Juve this season as injuries have taken their toll on him over the last few years. That would perhaps be the one concern about his move to the Premier League, as McKennie seems to pick up quite a few knocks.
However, looking at his stats below from this season at Juventus, the chances he creates per game and the shots per game will improve and his accurate passing will help Leeds become less susceptible on the counter.
McKennie is a player who rattles into tackles, feeds off the energy of his fans and his mentality is perfect for the aggressive side Jesse Marsch has created at Leeds.
The Texas born midfielder has always wanted to play in the Premier League and he’s got his wish at a club where he will play week in, week out and one which suits his style of play perfectly.
