CamSaint

This is true, but he also scored the first 3 of our 14 PL goals this season so he has a total of 5 so far - Burnley, Spurs(2), Chelsea & Villa. (The other scorers are JWP 3, Adams 2, Vestergaard 2, Djenepo & Romeu).

A couple of years ago I went on a 'Legends' tour of the Emirates Stadium hosted by Charlie George. In the Q&A session at the end, I asked him if he thought he would have been able to deal with the fitness levels needed in the modern game. He said that, growing up, all he ever wanted to do was play for Arsenal and he would have done whatever it took took to try to achieve that ambition. If that meant improving fitness he would have worked at it. I imagine MLT would have been the same - despite his incredible skill, I guess he would worked to reach whatever fitness levels were needed to play at the highest level. It might not have been at Ralph's standard of fitness, of course! Incidentally, Charlie George was a superb host for the tour - he's a real character and was very entertaining. He made an effort to speak to everyone individually as we went round. The tour happened to take place one Saturday lunchtime when Arsenal were playing at White Hart Lane in a 12.00 KO & he kept checking his phone for the score updates - he wasn't a happy bunny as Arsenal lost 2-0!

One would have thought that when Salisu is eventually declared fit he would need at least one outing in the B team to prove that fitness before he got anywhere near the first team matchday squad.

Davies playing for Everton this afternoon & Walcott on the bench.

I suppose another possibility is that someone on Lazio's medical team has tested positive and the others are self-isolating so they can't actually carry out the medical?

I think I read somewhere that Spurs want a loan fee and all of his wages covered.

Apologies!

Someone - @LeG or maybe @Dan Sheldon - said that, given his injury (unspecified), he could be available mid-October - so probably after the next international break, if selected. Didn't see any signs of him in this week's training pics.

Wonder if he tested positive for Covid? He could have had a test before he left yesterday and the result came through today or could have had a 'quick response' test this morning before the medical?

Still, look on the bright side - at least Bale wasn't fit & available!

Well, Oliver Holt in last week's Mail on Sunday had Saints down to be relegated along with Fulham and West Brom! 🤣 Interesting that Ralph said in the week that the team were not as fit as when they came back after lockdown and I think that that edge in fitness played a key role in our performances at the end of last season. Hopefully that sharpness will return soon.

According to Dan Sheldon on the Total Saints Podcast this is a fixture for the U-23s and there 'may' be another game for the main squad at the weekend but nothing has been finalised.

From Lemina's perspective, it is his best chance of securing another lucrative contract. Play well, make himself 'undroppable' and help keep them up and he gets a contract at Fulham. Even if they offered him a 3 year contract then it would be 2 years more on PL-level money than he'll get at Saints. Blow it and he'll go out on loan somewhere in Europe for the final year of his contract with Saints and after that he'll have to take the best that's on offer wherever he can - but it is very unlikely to be PL-level money. He clearly has no future at Saints - Ralph at least tried to re-integrate the skills Boufal has to offer into the squad, but Lemina has not been considered. I assume that Saints wouldn't be able to overturn the 'obligation to buy' even if Lemina did have a storming season with Fulham.