Manchester United are on the search for a new striker in the January transfer window as they seek a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo and a solution to their goalscoring issues.
While United may have put three past a poor Nottingham Forest side on their return to Premier League action, they have struggled to find the net in general this season.
With 23 goals in 15 matches, at an average of 1.53 per game, 10 Premier League teams are scoring at the same or a better rate than Erik ten Hag's side.
That means half the division are more prolific than United, including the likes of Brentford (1.56 goals per game), Fulham (1.69) and Brighton and Hove Albion (1.73).
Indeed, even in that routine victory over Forest earlier this week, United's profligacy was clear to see prior to eventually killing off the contest with their third goal.
"We have to score more goals," manager Ten Hag said. "We created so many chances and it takes us until just before the end to score the third goal.
"You can see Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford are goalscorers; Bruno Fernandes scores goals. We have a lot of players who can score, but we have to be ruthless."
The Magnificent Seven
"Ruthless" is the key word there. Ten Hag has made it clear he is not after a creative player, or indeed a wide forward who chips in with, say, 10 to 15 goals a season.
What Ten Hag and United need is, as Michael Owen pointed out on Tuesday, "a Ruud van Nistelrooy, a Robin van Persie, a Wayne Rooney who scores 30-plus goals a season".
Finding one of those players is easier said than done, of course, not least in the notoriously difficult-to-negotiate January window.
Taking all competitions into account, seven players from clubs across Europe's top five leagues hit that magic 30 mark last season, led by Robert Lewandowski (50).
It is safe to assume United will not consider negotiating for Lewandowski in January; the same being true for Karim Benzema (44), Kylian Mbappe (39) and Mohamed Salah (31).
Christopher Nkunku (35) would have been a far more attainable target had Chelsea not got there first, with a fee reportedly having already been agreed with RB Leipzig for a future transfer to the Blues.
That leaves Wissam Ben Yedder and Ciro Immobile as Europe's only other 30-plus-goal forwards from last term, having both scored 32 times for Monaco and Lazio respectively.
Ben Yedder and Immobile are still netting regularly this season, averaging a goal every other game, though both turn 33 next year and have no English football experience.
As stated by Ten Hag, who has been honest in his assessment of United's squad since arriving in July, any signings must "match the sporting and financial criteria".
Negotiating fees for under-contract duo Ben Yedder and Immobile, and tying them down to deals lasting into their mid-30s, would certainly not tick the latter box.
So what United actually need to find, then, is a prolific goalscorer who is on the right side of 30, attainable and ready to hit the ground running. What could be easier?
Who needs Vlahovic when you can have... Mitrovic?
There is one player – a surprise name on the face of it, perhaps – that ticks every possible box. Yes, that's right – Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Only Erling Haaland (1.3), Lewandowski and Mbappe (both 0.95) are averaging more goals per game among Europe's elite this season than Mitrovic (0.77).
It puts the Serbia international in a similar band to Marcus Thuram (0.76), Nkunku (0.74) and Victor Osimhen (0.71), each of whom have been regularly linked with United.
While it would be easy to dismiss those figures as misleading (he averages 0.31 goals across his Premier League career), he is a player very much for the here and now.
Mitrovic's 10 Premier League goals have come from an expected goals (xG) return of 8.6 – only three others have a higher figure – highlighting his prolific nature.
To put that differential of 1.4 into some context, United's leading scorer Rashford stands at 0.3 for the season – far from the ruthless finisher United crave.
That is not a slight on Rashford, who with 10 goals for the season has double the number of any other team-mate. Rashford is not the problem; a lack of centre-forward is.
Of course, for a club as big as United there is always an added onus to recruit marquee names, especially following the departure of a certain CR7.
That explains links with Enzo Fernandez, Dusan Vlahovic and Cody Gakpo, who starred at the World Cup with the Netherlands but has since agreed to join Liverpool.
A persuasive case can be put forward as to why any of those players still on the market could make the difference for United in the second half of the season.
Again, though, Ten Hag wants a "ruthless" striker. So how about the three names perhaps more synonymous with United and a January move than any other players?
The supporters' picks
Goncalo Ramos was still relatively unknown prior to the World Cup, but his hat-trick for Portugal against Switzerland in the last 16 changed all that.
Let us not forget, either, that Ramos was propelled into the side to replace Ronaldo up top. As the Primeira Liga's leading scorer this term, he is a young goalscorer with pedigree.
The aforementioned Osimhen has scored 10 goals in 14 games for Napoli this season, making it clear why many supporters have urged United to make a move.
Mohammed Kudus, too, is enjoying a good time of things at Ajax, and Ten Hag's previous business suggests he favours players with links to his home country.
There are certainly options out there for United, but whether the club can be shrewd enough in landing Ten Hag's top target, or targets, in a limited market is another question.
Yet for all the talk of chasing a star of Qatar 2022 or a possible star of the future, United may well be better off shopping closer to home to fulfil Ten Hag's wish.
Unai Emery savours ‘special’ Villa Park atmosphere in rout of Brighton
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery feels there is a special atmosphere brewing at Villa Park after his side romped to a remarkable 6-1 win against Brighton.
A hat-trick from Ollie Watkins and further strikes from Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz, as well as Pervis Estupinan’s own goal, helped Emery’s side secure a 10th successive league win at home.
Despite Brighton’s Ansu Fati briefly reducing the deficit to 3-1 at the start of the second half, Villa were at their clinical best to leapfrog the Seagulls in the table and extend their winning streak at home.
Emery said: “We have to feel something special at Villa Park and try to create a positive energy between us and the supporters and try to work on the pitch to connect with them.
“We want to compete the same at home and away, we will need time to build the team to be consistent but at home we feel strong with our supporters and the energy the supporters are transmitting to us, we need to keep being consistent at home.
“Ollie Watkins is committed to the club, he is very happy here and we are very happy with him, he works hard every day and tries to learn every day. He did very good work scoring goals and working defensively to help the team.
“We have to be very demanding and try to improve every day, each match is going to demand different things, we have to be ready and be strong in our work to be successful.”
Villa blew Brighton away with three quickfire goals in the first half as Watkins scored the opener on 14 minutes with a close-range finish before netting again on 21 minutes with a low effort past Jason Steele at his near post.
Estupinan’s own goal on 26 minutes put Villa in command before Albion responded when half-time substitute Fati scored his first goal for the club five minutes into the second half.
However, Watkins completed his hat-trick on 65 minutes with a deflected effort before Ramsey curled home on 85 minutes and Luiz rounded off the scoring seven minutes into injury time to inflict a heavy defeat on the Seagulls.
Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi said: “Everything [went wrong], we played very bad.
“It’s not a problem of our physical condition, first and foremost when we lose this type of game it’s my responsibility. If you lose 6-1, the biggest responsibility is of the coach.
“We are not ready to compete and to play every three days, I’m trying to manage in different ways to keep the physical energy [up].
“The physical energy is not enough, in football you have to be ready to give your all and your best in the head in the mentality. We can’t lose every tackle, every duel and every second ball otherwise you lose the game in this way.
“But I believe in my players because I have big confidence in the people inside of my dressing room, we are suffering a lot for this defeat but this can happen sometimes if you are not ready and you have to adapt quickly.
“We have to learn. We are suffering, it’s a very bad day but maybe one of the most important days – we want to reach this level.”
Napoli end Lecce’s home run with formidable display
Napoli emphatically ended Lecce’s 100 per cent home record in Serie A with a 4-0 victory at the Stadio Via del Mare.
Goals from Leo Ostigard and substitutes Victor Osimhen and Gianluca Gaetano had the visitors in control before Matteo Politano converted a penalty in added time.
Both teams started the day in the top six with 11 points from six games but Rudi Garcia’s men were good value for their fourth win of the campaign to maintain the pressure on the Milan clubs.
Garcia made three changes following the convincing 4-1 defeat of Udinese in midweek, with Mathias Olivera, Giovanni Simeone and Jesper Lindstrom coming in for Mario Rui, Osimhen and Politano.
Napoli had early control in sunny Puglia with Lecce, the season’s surprise package, struggling to make an impression.
The visitors’ early enterprise was rewarded in the 16th minute when they took the lead, central defender Ostigard heading in Piotr Zielinski’s free-kick from the left unchallenged at the far post.
Lecce won only three home games last season but had already beaten Lazio, Salernitana and Genoa this time around and falling behind sparked them into life.
Roberto D’Aversa’s men, who saw their best start to a Serie A season end on Tuesday with a 1-0 loss at Juventus, threatened in the 25th minute when Nikola Krstovic brought a low, diving save out of goalkeeper Alex Meret.
Central defender Marin Pongracic then wasted the Salentini’s best first-half chance on the half hour, firing over from seven yards after a corner on the right.
However, Napoli finished the half strongly and could have led by more than one goal at the interval.
In the final five minutes of the first half, Simeone saw a powerful right-foot shot go just wide, Wladimiro Falcone saved from Zielinski, then Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was narrowly off-target with a free-kick.
Osimhen replaced Simeone for the second half, and within six minutes of his introduction he had doubled Napoli’s lead with his fifth goal of the season, a header off the post from close range following Kvaratskhelia’s cross.
Gabriel Strefezza had the ball in the visitors’ net in the 57th minute with a close-range header but it was ruled out for handball in the build-up by Krstovic.
With a Champions League match against Real Madrid coming up on Tuesday, Garcia rotated his players, first replacing Lindstrom and Kvaratskhelia with Giacomo Raspadori and Politano.
Raspadori’s low left-foot shot was saved by Falcone in the 67th minute, before Jens-Lys Cajuste came on for Stanislav Lobotka with 14 minutes remaining.
Lecce could not find the breakthrough they needed to set up a tense finish and Napoli made it 3-0 when Gaetano, the last of their five substitutes to be introduced, increased the lead with two minutes remaining.
Less than five minutes after his introduction, the attacking midfielder fired home powerfully from the edge of the penalty box.
There was still time for a fourth goal, Politano sending Falcone the wrong way from the penalty spot after Ylber Ramadani had been penalised for fouling Gaetano.
Ollie Watkins scores hat-trick as rampant Aston Villa hit Brighton for six
Ollie Watkins scored a hat-trick as Aston Villa recorded a 10th successive Premier League home win with a 6-1 thumping of Brighton.
Watkins netted a first-half brace and Pervis Estupinan put through his own net as Villa scored three goals in the space of 13 minutes before the interval to blow Brighton away.
Striker Watkins completed his hat-trick in the second half and set up substitute Jacob Ramsey for the home side’s fifth goal after Ansu Fati had briefly reduced the deficit before Douglas Luiz completed the scoring deep into added time.
Victory for Unai Emery’s side extended their winning run to three matches, while Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton were denied the chance to go joint top of the table following their heaviest defeat under the Italian since he took charge in September last year.
Brighton spurned a glorious early chance to take lead when Billy Gilmour played a delightful ball into Estupinan, only for Emiliano Martinez to make a crucial save.
And that miss would prove costly as Villa broke the deadlock in the 14th when Watkins finished from close range after John McGinn’s superb pass released Matty Cash down the right.
The home side doubled their lead after 21 minutes as Watkins somehow squeezed the ball past Jason Steele at his near post after latching on to Moussa Diaby’s through-ball down the left-hand side of the area.
Moments later, Villa went close to another as Diaby’s drilled cross from the left was flicked to safety by the boot of Steele.
The hosts continued to pile forward and looked to have put the game to bed after 26 minutes when Diaby’s shot deflected in off Estupinan as the defender ran back towards his own goal, Steele having denied the Villa man moments earlier.
Following a dismal first-half performance, Brighton boss De Zerbi made a triple substitution at half-time as Fati, Joao Pedro and Tariq Lamptey all entered the fray.
The Albion boss was quickly rewarded as Barcelona loanee Fati reduced the deficit after 50 minutes with a close-range finish after Pedro had just kept the ball in play, with the goal awarded following a lengthy VAR check for offside.
However, Villa dashed any thoughts of a fightback after 65 minutes when McGinn’s pass found Watkins on the edge of the area and the striker’s shot deflected in off Adam Webster, with the ball looping over Seagulls keeper Steele.
Albion almost scored a second goal in the final 10 minutes as substitute Simon Adingra’s dipping shot was magnificently tipped over the crossbar by Martinez.
However, Villa scored their fifth after 85 minutes when substitute Ramsey curled a fine effort in off the right-hand post from the edge of the area from Watkins’ pass.
And there was still time for Villa to add to Brighton’s misery as Luiz rolled the ball into an empty net seven minutes into added time after Steele had denied Watkins when one-on-one to round off a superb display from Emery’s men.
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