CLUB BY CLUB GUIDE
ARSENAL BOURNEMOUTH
WHAT THEY NEED: A defender. Unless Alexis Sanchez leaves, business at the other end of the pitch is unlikely.
WHO THEY WANT: West Brom’s Jonny Evans and Mainz defender Abdou Diallo. Theo Walcott going out may be the only significant deal.
BRIGHTON
WHAT THEY NEED: A striker. Badly. Chris Hughton tried and failed in the summer, but must add pace and goals to team.
WHO THEY WANT: An offer for Celtic’s Moussa Dembele has been denied, but they are keen. Could also revive interest in Deportivo’s Florin Andone.
CHELSEA
WHAT THEY NEED: Depth. More creativity in the final third and more quality at left- back.
WHO THEY WANT: They will try again to persuade Ross Barkley to trade Everton for Stamford Bridge. Juventus left-back Alex Sandro is another they will go back for.
EVERTON
WHAT THEY NEED: A striker to replace Romelu Lukaku and a centre-half to provide depth to a threadbare defence.
WHO THEY WANT: Favourites to sign Besiktas striker Cenk Tosun. Interested in Sunderland’s Lamine Kone, and also Steven Nzonzi of Sevilla.
LEICESTER
WHAT THEY NEED: Claude Puel is open to moving on expensive squad men, like Islam Slimani and Ahmed Musa, to bring in his own players.
WHO THEY WANT: Winger Hatem Ben Arfa (Paris Saint-germain) and midfielder Steven Nzonzi (Sevilla). Also after another right-back.
WHAT THEY NEED: A striker able to provide competition and solve a problem, with Jermain Defoe and Josh King injured.
WHO THEY WANT: They are in the hunt for Danny Ings, likely to be allowed to go out on loan by Liverpool. Also keen on Rennes forward Firmin Ndombe Mubele.
BURNLEY
WHAT THEY NEED: Not much really, given how well they are doing. But perhaps a bit more creativity.
WHO THEY WANT: James Mcclean. Sean Dyche likes British and Irish players, and feels Mcclean could add to his squad if West Brom would be willing to sell.
CRYSTAL PALACE
WHAT THEY NEED: Looking at strikers but injuries could force them into market for a centre-back as well.
WHO THEY WANT: Cenk Tosun from Besiktas, but may miss out to Everton. Jose Fonte (West Ham), Dedryck Boyata (Celtic), Dejan Lovren (Liverpool) could get the call to help.
HUDDERSFIELD
WHAT THEY NEED: Definitely a No.10, the one position where Town are lacking.
WHO THEY WANT: Kasey Palmer’s unimpressive loan spell from Chelsea could be cut short, creating space for Ben Woodburn to come for the rest of the season from Liverpool.
LIVERPOOL
WHAT THEY NEEDED: A centre-half, which is lucky, because they’ve just bought one from Southampton.
WHO THEY WANTED: Virgil van Dijk. And, given they have just spent £75m on him, even if they wanted anyone else, it would be a little greedy to try in January. MARK WARBURTON was sacked by Nottingham Forest yesterday amid rising discontent from players at his rigid tactics.
The 1-0 home defeat by Sunderland was mid-table Forest’s sixth in nine games and 14th this season.
Angry players called a summit meeting to air grievances about Warburton’s insistence on playing out from the back. Forest’s ex-european Cup winning star Kenny Burns said: “We’re not Barcelona, we haven’t got the players to play like that.”
Warburton’s approach has seen Forest concede 42 goals and the club’s Greek owner Evangelos Marinakis pulled the trigger on a shake-up.
Forest have also sacked assistant David Weir, while director of football Frank Mcparland has left the City Ground too.
Academy manager Gary Brazil is in charge for today’s game at Leeds, although Forest could have a new boss in time for Sunday’s FA Cup tie against Arsenal.
The likes of Aitor Karanka, Paul Heckingbottom and Nigel Clough are in the frame to take over.
Warburton, 55, was only appointed in March and helped Forest narrowly avoid relegation last season on the final day on May 7.
Burns said: “Teams below us are fighting for their lives, but we’ve looked like we don’t want to fight.”