Everton playmaker Ross Barkley believes he is playing in the best midfield of his Toffees career.

The 23-year-old England international is an integral part of a strong midfield squad assembled by Blues boss Ronald Koeman.

Following a dip in form earlier in the season, the Toffees are seventh in the Premier League after an unbeaten 2017.

They face basement boys Sunderland on Saturday as they look to strengthen their push for European football.

And Barkley believes his fellow midfielders have the perfect balance to kick on and achieve success under their Dutch boss.

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“Our midfield options are probably the best since I’ve been at the club,” Barkley said. “Everyone is an international player.
“Gareth Barry is a veteran who passes on all his knowledge to the younger lads.

“He understands different types of games we are going into and how we have to approach them differently. He helps out with that.
“We’ve also got the likes of Idrissa Gueye, who digs in with Morgan Schneiderlin looking for those forward passes.

“Then there’s the mixture of me, Tom [Davies] and James [McCarthy]. We’ve got good options.
“Morgan’s settled in really well and seems as though he’s been here for a long time with the way he gets on with all the lads.

“You can see in training that he’s helped us kick on a bit with his extra bit of quality.”

Avoiding defeat is Leicester City’s big priority when they face Sevilla in their Champions League last 16 first leg game this weekend according to goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler.

Zieler was in goal for the Foxes as they lost 1-0 to Millwall in the FA Cup at the weekend as Leicester were dumped out of the competition by the League One side.

And while the weekend appeared to be another low in an already poor season for the Premier League champions, Zieler is confident the squad have the quality needed to test the La Liga side.

“The first leg is very important. Let’s put it this way – you shouldn’t lose. If we can get a draw, even a win, it would be fantastic for the second leg,” he said.

“Sevilla are going to have a very good atmosphere at the stadium and I think it will be very difficult, but we have got the quality.

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“We’ve shown that in the group stages, but we have to make sure we show that on the day too.

“Obviously we know that it’s not going to be as easy as that, so we have to make sure we defend well and if we have the opportunity to go forward, we have to take it.

“We did really well in the group stages. It’s a very tough game ahead of us. We’re one of only 16 teams left in Europe and Sevilla have done fantastic over the last couple of years.”

Crystal Palace may have lost against Stoke City a week ago, but the emergence of Luka Milivojevic in the heart of midfield has got everyone in South London excited according to James McArthur.

The Serbian joined Palace last month from Greek heavyweights Olympiacos and made his debut at the bet365 Stadium – sitting alongside McArthur in an improved Palace midfield.

The 25-year-old signed for an undisclosed fee and is expected to offer bite and a defensive attitude in midfield.

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Palace are in deep trouble this season as they sit 19th in the Premier League table, two points off safety.

But McArthur thinks Milivojevic could be the key ingredient as they look to  secure enough points to survive.

“I really enjoyed playing with him [against Stoke]. He’s a really good player,” McArthur said.

“He sits and protects, but also he’s got the ability to get on the ball and spray passes, so I think he’s going to be a very good addition to the team.

“Hopefully he can help us achieve the target of staying in this league and pushing on.”

The departure of Dimitri Payet appears to have coincided with an about turn in West Ham’s form this season but Winston Reid prefers to give credit to their new arrivals.

Robert Snodgrass and Jose Fonte arrived in January and the Hammers have won six of their last ten Premier League games to climb into the top half of the table.

Payet departed for Marseille after a protracted transfer saga but Reid insists confidence within the squad has made all the difference.

“I think getting a couple of new players in has freshened things up and everyone is on the same page,” he explained.

“I don’t want to pinpoint the whole situation on Dimi, because I think that would be unfair. He had his own issue which he had to deal with in his own way, which he did, and we’re past that now. He’s happy and we’re happy as well, so we’ll just move forward and do our best.

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“Obviously it takes time to build up an understanding but it’s improving with every game. Jose (Fonte) and Snoddy (Snodgrass) have fitted into the group really well, and that’s also important, that we’ve signed not only good footballers, but good people as well who fit within the group.

“We started the season bang average but, to be fair, we’ve been playing all right for a while now.

“It’s been a combination of things. We’ve had a few people coming back from injuries, people getting up to match-fitness and people in form. When you win games, you get more confidence, and we’ve been winning games, so everyone is happier around the place and that shows out on the pitch.”

Teenage full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold has had his taste of first-team football this season and spent the last week in Spain studying the habits of Liverpool’s leading lights in order to stay there.

With a 16-day gap in between fixtures, due to Liverpool’s early Emirates FA Cup elimination, Jurgen Klopp took 27 members of his squad to La Manga for some warm-weather training.

But Alexander-Arnold, who has featured eight times for Liverpool this term, felt watching how dedicated his team-mates were away from the training pitch was the real eye-opener.

“Because you’re away 24 hours a day, you get to see what their whole routines are – what they put into their body, what time they go to sleep, everything like that,” said the 18-year-old.

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“You see how professional every single player is and you’re kind of surprised by it.

“You hear rumours about how professional the first-team players are at the Academy, but when you’re in and around it, you actually see that nothing bad will go into their body because they know it won’t help them, things like that.

“It’s incredible because it just shows the level you have to get to and that’s what all us youngsters are trying to do.”

After three Premier League wins in their last four games, Paul Clement looks to have had the Midas touch at Swansea and Martin Olsson has admitted their expectations have completely turned around.

The Swans were struggling desperately and went through two managers before Christmas – first Francesco Guidolin and then American Bob Bradley made way before Clement steadied the ship.

Clement has seen his side record a remarkable 3-2 win over Liverpool at Anfield before Olsson scored in a vital 2-0 win against defending Premier League champions Leicester City at the Liberty Stadium.

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Swansea’s form earned Clement the Premier League manager of the month award and his side are buoyant after rising from the relegation zone to 15th.

With runaway leaders Chelsea up next, Clement’s side face a major challenge, but Olsson admitted their newfound confidence is working wonders.

“We are looking up rather than looking over our shoulders,” said the Swedish international. “We are trying to get as high as we can.

“Our work ethic is very high, and we are very positive as a team – that starts with the head coach.
“We are on a good run and we can go to Chelsea with confidence.”

Nathan Redmond has revealed that thoughts of a Wembley EFL Cup final against Manchester United next Sunday are already providing huge motivation at Southampton.

Saints are fairly comfortable in 11^th in the Premier League, while United are chasing the Champions League spots.

But with Claude Puel’s steady hand on the tiller and the prospect of a first major trophy since 1976, Redmond believes that Southampton are perfectly place to try and turn over Jose Mourinho’s side.

And what’s more, the 22-year-old thinks a strong showing could boost their Premier League challenge.

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“It’s a long week. We’ll leave that up to the staff to get prepared but as I said, it is a one-off game and we’re going to give our all to go and win it,” Redmond said.

“I think he [Puel] expected that when he came in, having Europa League, FA Cup, League Cup.

“He knows Southampton is an established Premier League side now so maybe they wanted a cup run.

“When it boils down to it, the Premier League is the most important thing and we have Wembley to look forward to and it was important we got the three points (at Sunderland) in our last game.”

Pedro and Diego Costa provided the goals as Chelsea cruised into the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Wolves and Nathan Ake admits he is delighted to be turning out with such high-quality operators.

The 22-year-old impressed with three goals during a loan spell with Bournemouth during the first half of the season and has now featured twice for Chelsea in the FA Cup.

And though Premier League opportunities have been limited, he is delighted to take his chances in the Cup.

“I’m really happy to get another start, playing with great players,’ he said. “I can only learn from that and hopefully I can push on and get better every time.

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“We’re really pleased with the win, a bit less so with the performance, but we knew it was going to be a difficult place to come.

“The first 30 minutes, for sure, they were on top. They pressed us high, we couldn’t play out and it was really difficult. The crowd was behind them, so we just needed to get through that.

“I think in the second half we came out much better, we kept the ball and created more chances and I don’t think they created anything.

“The manager told us to push more and give more energy because it looked like they gave more in the first half. They won second balls and things like this.

“We needed to match that, and get better than them, and I think in the second half we did – we won first and second balls and we were more confident on the ball as well.”

The arrival of French striker Rudy Gestede has galvanised Middlesbrough’s main marksman Alvaro Negredo, according to Boro boss Aitor Karanka.

Spaniard Negredo, on loan from Valencia, was dropped in December after Karanka questioned his commitment levels.

However, the Teessiders’ top scorer has started the last 10 matches in the league and Karanka said he has seen a marked improvement in the 31-year-old striker since Gestede arrived in a £6 million move from Aston Villa.

Middlesbrough are currently 16^th in the Premier League with 22 points from 25 matches, two points clear of the relegation zone, and beat League One Oxford United on Saturday to progress to the quarter-finals on the FA Cup.

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And the presence of Gestede, who scored in Saturday’s win, means Negredo must work even harder to keep his place in the team, according to the manager.

“He is working well,” Karanka said. “It is not a coincidence that with Rudy here now, there is more pressure on him.

“You could see in the last 10 minutes when Rudy was on the pitch (against Everton), he touched the ball three times and had one chance.

“And now Alvaro feels that pressure – and that has to be good for us. Pressure like that is good for everyone.

“Having Gestede here can be one of the reasons Negredo can improve. At the start of the season, we did not have the squad we have now”.

Former Stoke City fan favourite Andy Wilkinson believes the Potters are on the verge of bringing through an excellent crop of young home-grown players.

The ex-Potters defender, 32, is the only youth player to make more than 70 appearances for the Stoke first team in the last decade.

Stoke are currently ninth in the Premier League, with 32 points from 25 matches, and face a trip to Tottenham Hotspur next Sunday.

Young Belgian Julien Ngoy, 19, made his debut for the Potters in December and has featured regularly in Mark Hughes’ match day squad in recent weeks.

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And Wilkinson believes players like Ngoy are the start of an exciting period of young players coming through for Stoke.

“There are a few more coming through now and a few really good players that I’ve seen when I’ve been to watch training or matches in the academy,” he said.

“You can see how much money they’ve put into it and they are producing some good players so the young lad who’s coming in, Julien Ngoy is a proper good player.

“There are more like him who just need a chance and I know Eddie (Niedzwiecki) and the gaffer bring them up to train with the first team quite often so they are building experience.”