Andy Cole does not understand criticism of 27-goal Manchester City striker Erling Haaland as he prepares for his Premier League record to be broken.

Haaland needs just seven more goals to match the 34 netted by Cole for Newcastle United in 1993-94 and Alan Shearer for Blackburn Rovers in 1994-95.

The City superstar has played only 25 league games so far this season, averaging a goal every 75 minutes.

Cole averaged a goal every 106 minutes across 40 matches, while Shearer scored every 111 minutes over 42 games.

Barring injury, it appears inevitable Haaland will beat two of the Premier League's greatest goalscorers, yet Cole is not bitter.

"Records are there to be broken, it's that simple," he told Stats Perform. "When people have mentioned it to me, it's not as if I'm going home and crying and saying: 'Oh no!'

"I've said to people it doesn't bother me in the slightest, I don't care. If someone deserved to break that record, go ahead and do it.

"I'm not going to sit here rocking myself to sleep in the hallway hoping he doesn't do it; it doesn't bother me because I'm not so conceited. I'm really not.

"I don't care if he does it. I'll be the first one to congratulate him. Records are there to be broken."

Haaland has been "absolutely phenomenal" for City, according to Cole, although he "will want to improve in getting involved in the play a little bit more".

Cole does not doubt he will be able to do that, adding: "He's still a baby and is still learning the game."

But with City trailing Arsenal in the Premier League title race, it has been suggested they have suffered for having Haaland up front.

Cole said: "People say he shouldn't have signed for Man City because he doesn't fit in.

"But if I've got 27 goals by February, and everyone's telling me that I've made the wrong move... what's the right move, then?

"You've got 27 goals by the end of February, and you've got the chance to get to 40 goals. I'm not sure what everyone expects for him."

The former Newcastle, Manchester United and City striker added: "I don’t think there's anything to actually think about.

"Because when people say he's made the wrong move or he's gone to the wrong club, what is he supposed to do? He's gone to clubs, scored goals, is far beyond anyone else in the Premier League for scoring goals.

"He's made the wrong move? He doesn't fit? How does he not fit? If he's got 27 goals so far, by the end of February, but he doesn't fit and doesn't get involved in the play, we don't need to have that conversation.

"We don’t need to have that conversation and to talk about getting involved and doing other things. It's as simple as that. Now, it's a crazy [conversation]."

Harry Maguire's future at Manchester United is unclear, having fallen down the pecking order under Erik ten Hag.

The United club captain is contracted until 2025 and his deal includes £200,000 per week wages.

Maguire has only started one of United's last eight Premier League games and did not play in Thursday's Europa League win over Real Betis.

TOP STORY – PSG SET FOR SHOCK MAGUIRE MOVE

Paris Saint-Germain are set for a shock £50million (€56m) move for Manchester United defender Harry Maguire, according to The Sun.

It has been claimed that Maguire is among a list of players that United are willing to sell in the off-season with Newcastle United and West Ham reportedly interested.

According to The Sun's report, PSG tabled a deal for Maguire in January, but time ran out to finalise it and the French champions will move again for him.

ROUND-UP

– The Independent reports Real Madrid are plotting an overhaul to bring in a new generation of young stars, with Manchester City's Erling Haaland top of the list along with Borussia Dortmund's Jude Bellingham.

– The Guardian reports Manchester United will enter the race to sign Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount, with interest also from Liverpool and Newcastle United. Mount and Chelsea are currently in the middle of a contract dispute, potentially making him available, with United viewing him as a cheaper alternative to Bellingham.

–  Barcelona are in the market to sign Manchester City's Portuguese full-back Joao Cancelo if Bayern Munich do not make permanent his loan spell, claims Sport.

– Newcastle are circling to sign Southampton free-kick specialist James Ward-Prowse, according to Football Insider. Newcastle are one of numerous Premier League clubs interested in him.

– Gazzetta dello Sport reports Inter have tabled a two-year contract offer to Edin Dzeko amid interest from West Ham.

– L'Equipe claims PSG are ramping up their bid to sign Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva in the off-season.

Mohamed Salah delivered for Liverpool in the sensational 7-0 win over Manchester United last weekend – and doubtless he had many fantasy bosses celebrating too.

Two goals and two assists in the Anfield rout showed the Egyptian is getting back to somewhere near his very best for Jurgen Klopp.

Salah has Bournemouth in his sights on Saturday, and our four fantasy team selections for the weekend are players heading out on the road.

Kaoru Mitoma has been in eye-catching form for Brighton and Hove Albion, who head to Leeds United on Saturday, while World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez has four clean sheets already in 2023 for Aston Villa, who visit West Ham on Sunday.

Chelsea's Ben Chilwell returns to an old stomping ground on Saturday as the Blues travel to his former club, Leicester City.

Using Opta data, Stats Perform has looked at why these four could help you bring in useful points this weekend.

Mohamed Salah (Bournemouth v Liverpool)

It was pretty clear Salah needed a rest amid a hectic schedule, and he got it during the World Cup after Egypt failed to qualify. Since games resumed after Qatar 2022, last season's joint-top scorer has been slowly building up to the sort of display that left United in tatters last Sunday. He has totted up nine goal involvements (5 goals, 4 assists) since the World Cup, with only Erling Haaland and Marcus Rashford (11) having more in that time.

Five of Salah's eight Premier League goals against Bournemouth have come at the Vitality Stadium, netting in every appearance in the Premier League there, so he will be looking for more of the same. If he wasn't in your team last week, can you really resist him this time around?

Emiliano Martinez (West Ham v Aston Villa)

There's no denying Villa went through a rocky spell recently, shipping 11 goals in three games, but two clean sheets have followed as Unai Emery looks for resilience.

Only Liverpool (6) and Tottenham (5) have kept more Premier League clean sheets in 2023 than Villa (4). Since the start of the 2020-21 campaign, Martinez is one of only six goalkeepers to have kept over 30 clean sheets in the top flight. This weekend he will try to complete three in a row for the first time since March 2022. West Ham have failed to score in 11 games this season, in case that heightens the temptation to pick Martinez.

Kaoru Mitoma (Leeds United v Brighton and Hove Albion)

Brighton's 4-0 demolition of West Ham last weekend included a goal from the twinkle-toed Japanese forward Mitoma. He has been involved in 11 goals across all competitions for Brighton this season (8 goals, 3 assists) with only Pascal Gross (12) having more involvements.

Seven of those involvements from Mitoma have come on league duty, with six goals and one assist, and it's especially good going when you consider he only made his first start in the competition at the end of October.

Leeds will need to be careful. Among all Premier League players, no one has had more take-ons in the box than Mitoma (17) in this season's competition, while only team-mate Solly March (6) has had more chance-creating take-ons than his five.

Ben Chilwell (Leicester City v Chelsea)

Chelsea could make it three wins in a row at Leicester. Successive clean sheets against Leeds and Borussia Dortmund count in Chilwell's favour, as does his attacking prowess.

Among defenders with at least 500 minutes played in the Premier League this season, only Liverpool's Konstantinos Tsimikas (133) has a better minutes-per-goal-involvement rate this season than Chilwell (237).

Granted, he has had only three such involvements so far, but having missed a large chunk of the season through injury, Chilwell is out to make up for lost time. His former club will be on guard, aware of his talent.

Erik ten Hag has given his Manchester United players the chance to make amends for Sunday's annihilation at Liverpool by naming an unchanged XI for the visit of Real Betis.

United suffered the joint-worst competitive defeat in their history at Anfield, losing 7-0 as they found themselves on the end of a second-half blitz.

Ten Hag's men had arguably been the more threatening side in the first half, but after going into the interval a goal down, they capitulated in spectacular fashion and Liverpool ran riot.

Thursday's Europa League last-16 first leg provides United with the opportunity respond to that embarrassment, and Ten Hag surprisingly resisted the urge the drop any of those involved in Sunday's debacle.

David de Gea, Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro and Luke Shaw were the targets of particularly stinging criticism for their performances against the Reds, though they all kept their places.

Wout Weghorst also attracted the wrath of supporters after it emerged he touched the 'This Is Anfield' sign in the tunnel before kick-off, a gesture generally associated with Liverpool players rather than their opponents.

The Dutchman claimed he was trying to wind up international colleague Virgil van Dijk by preventing him from touching the sign. Weghorst also retained his place.

Betis – coached by former Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini – will be hoping to pile the misery on for United.

The Andalusians have had injury problems of late, however, with the talismanic figures of Nabil Fekir and Sergio Canales both absent.

Ex-City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was named between the posts, while Ayoze Perez – on loan from Leicester City – was selected in attack alongside Betis' 41-year-old captain Joaquin.

Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper has dismissed links with Tottenham amid growing pressure on Antonio Conte.

Spurs' Champions League exit at the hands of AC Milan, along with poor Premier League form and bowing out of the FA Cup against Sheffield United, has led to speculation over Conte's future.

On Thursday, the Athletic reported chairman Daniel Levy has tasked director of football Fabio Paratici to produce a list of suitable replacements for the Italian.

Cooper has been linked with a potential vacancy, reportedly having admirers within the Spurs hierarchy, but he outlined his focus on Forest ahead of Saturday's trip to north London.

"The only thing that it is, is irrelevant. I said what I said last week, I don't want or need to say it again," he said at a press conference.

"The most important thing for me is the game, the guys I am working with every single day and I am trying to be at my best and do a good day's work and try and get them to do the same.

"Then we give ourselves a chance of trying to be a better team. We are embracing that challenge, we have had a lot of hurdles we have had to overcome this season, I am loving this journey with the players.

"It is a challenging one but one I am enjoying. But anything outside that bubble is irrelevant.

"The moment I am not thinking about Nottingham Forest or the players or the staff or how I can be at my best is the moment I am not getting it right, that's not what I want to be, I want to be all-in, that's what I am and I am not looking further than going to Tottenham on Saturday."

Cooper was not the only Premier League boss to dismiss questions about a move to Tottenham, with Brentford head coach Thomas Frank outlining his happiness with the Bees.

"First, they have a manager which is a manager I have studied for years and I admire massively. I think he has achieved some fantastic results so I hope he will do well and I hope Spurs do well," he said ahead of the game against Everton.

"Secondly, I am very, very happy here at Brentford."

Harry Kane says a top-four Premier League finish will not make Tottenham's season a success, admitting Spurs are "lacking something" as speculation over Antonio Conte's future grows. 

Spurs have seen their hopes of avoiding another trophyless season evaporate within the space of a week, following up an FA Cup loss at Sheffield United with a Champions League exit against Milan.

Tottenham suffered a dire Premier League defeat at Wolves between those two eliminations, and they have now failed to score in three successive games for the first time since a three-match losing run in April and May 2019.

With Spurs now facing a battle for a top-four berth, Kane says a 15th consecutive campaign without silverware is unacceptable.

"Where we're at as a club, we should be winning trophies," Kane told reporters. "The top four [being Spurs' only target] is a consequence of not playing as well as we want to play. 

"For sure, it's not enough for this club. I totally understand the fans' frustrations. Top four is not good enough for anyone at this club, especially the fans. They have the right to voice their opinion.

"The last week especially just hasn't been good enough. Before the Sheffield United game, the season could have been a whole lot different. 

"You go through there, you take that momentum into the league game and this game [against Milan]. 

"But I feel like that loss last week put a dagger in our hearts and as you can see, we haven't really recovered from that."

Spurs' expected goals over two legs in a 1-0 aggregate defeat to Milan was only 0.91, and they have failed to win any of their past five Champions League knockout games (D1 L4) since beating Ajax 3-2 at the semi-final stage in 2019.

It has been suggested their latest failure could spell the end of head coach Conte's tenure at the club, with the Italian accepting Spurs may sack him before his contract expires at the end of the season.

Asked for his thoughts on Conte's future, Kane said: "It's his decision, he's going to be the one that makes that choice. 

"All we can do as players is try to perform for him, work as hard as we can. That's what we're doing. You can't fault the effort of the players. We're just lacking something. 

"We've talked about mentality before and that ruthless hunger to be better, to be the best, to be one of the best teams in Europe. We just haven't quite found that yet."

Son Heung-min has been backed to rediscover his best form by incoming South Korea coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who believes a difficult situation at Tottenham has hampered the attacker.

Son has endured a poor season with Spurs, scoring just five Premier League goals after sharing the Golden Boot with Mohamed Salah last term, and his troubles have carried onto the international stage.

The forward wore a protective mask at last year's World Cup after suffering a fractured eye socket ahead of the tournament, where he failed to net in four appearances.

Son produced another ineffective performance as Spurs exited the Champions League against Milan on Wednesday, leaving the future of boss Antonio Conte in serious doubt.

His new international coach, however, retains faith in Son's ability to bounce back, saying: "I'm a big fan of Sonny. There's no doubt. He had a very difficult World Cup because he was not 100 per cent healthy.

"Obviously I saw all the games and I felt for him, but I think this is a normal period and every player goes through little up and downs. Also, the situation at Tottenham is sometimes not so easy. 

"I hope that I'm going to see him in two weeks and he comes with a smile and is hungry for the national team."

Klinsmann was named as Paulo Bento's successor last month, with the Portuguese coach stepping down after a 4-1 defeat to Brazil in the last 16 at the World Cup.

Asked how he would approach the role at his unveiling on Thursday, the former Germany international said: "Obviously, my personal background was a striker, so I always love to attack, and that means I’d rather win a game 4-3 than 1-0. 

"But at the end of the day, I think a coach always has to adapt his approach and his philosophy to the people around him, mainly the players. 

"So based on who you have as players and what capabilities your team has, you need to adapt that philosophy to your approach."

South Korea will face South American opposition in their first two outings under Klinsmann, with Colombia and Uruguay their opponents for friendlies later this month.