John Terry and Bournemouth would be a perfect match – according to former Cherries captain Tommy Elphick.

Terry has this week been linked to a move to the Vitality Stadium as he has failed to break into Antonio Conte’s first-choice XI at Stamford Bridge.

Eddie Howe’s side have been shorn of Nathan Ake – who has been recalled by parent club Chelsea from his loan – and is in need of defensive reinforcements.

And Elphick – who now plays in the Championship with Aston Villa but skippered the Cherries into the top flight – thinks Terry would be well suited to life on the south coast.

“At first glance, a lot of people may think there is no chance. But when you dig a bit deeper and look at the situation, I think it would be a brilliant fit for all parties,” he said.

“The squad is a little short in that area at the moment and, if you have the option to bring in someone of that calibre and with the wealth of experience he has, it is a no-brainer.

“It would be good for the manager to have that talent and an invaluable experience for the likes of Steve Cook, Simon Francis and Tyrone Mings to learn from someone like him.

(Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images)

“It would also be a really enjoyable experience for John Terry. I know he is a one-club man and it would be hard for him to leave Chelsea but it is a lovely place to live and they play the right style of football.

“Also, you would imagine he would want to go into management one day and if he worked with Eddie (Howe) and Jason (Tindall) for six months, he would learn an unbelievable amount from them for his future.

“In my opinion and for a short-term fix, you are not going to get a better option. But knowing the manager as I do from working with him, he will have one eye on the future and possibly bringing in a centre-half he can mould into a great centre-half for the club for many years.”

Tom Huddlestone has heaped praise on new Hull boss Marco Silva for the impact he has made at the KCOM Stadium since taking over from Mike Phelan.

Silva was a surprise appointment for the Tigers, who have only previously had one manager not from England or Scotland – Liverpool legend Jan Molby for a brief spell in 2002.

But having put their faith in Portuguese manager Silva, Hull are focused on trying to get out of relegation trouble, and Huddlestone is convinced they have the right man at the helm to do so.

(Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)

“I think the gaffer has been brilliant so far and he has given us a lot of information to work on going into the games,” said Huddlestone.

“When the games do calm down and we’re back to one match a week then you’ll start to see all of his eye for detail come to fruition.

“We are in all week now to prepare for a tough test against Bournemouth and we’re desperate to put right the result we suffered down at their place.

“We need to start winning games to get out of the mess we find ourselves in and home games at the KCOM Stadium will be key to that.

“We have a lot of games still to play at home and it’s important to use Saturday as a springboard for the rest of the season.

“It would be great if the fans could come out in their numbers and help us towards a positive result. We’re giving all we can at the moment and a packed KCOM could be the difference for us on the day.”

Manchester City star Kelechi Iheanacho says that Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney are his Premier League role models.

The Nigerian striker made his City debut back in August 2015 and scored his first goal for the club – a 90^th-minute winner in a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace – a fortnight later.

The 20-year-old has gone on to make over 50 appearances for the club since and has earmarked himself as a potential future superstar in the mould of Drogba or Rooney.

Drogba scored 164 goals in 381 appearances over two spells at Chelsea and helped them to lift a slew of trophies during that period – including four Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League.

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For his part, Rooney has been even more prolific during a 15-year professional career that is still going strong.

Although he has dropped deeper, and often played as a midfielder, in recent times, the 31-year-old still equalled Sir Bobby Charlton’s all-time goalscoring record at Manchester United last weekend – bagging his 249^th for the Red Devils in an FA Cup win over Reading.

And Iheanacho – who has 20 goals and counting for City – admits those two Premier League legends were strikers he watched keenly while growing up.

“I think I was watching Didier Drogba and his team at Chelsea, and Wayne Rooney at Manchester United as well,” said Iheanacho.

“They are great players that I was looking up to, picking up lessons from them and putting them in my football as well in the Premier League.”

West Ham’s decision to move to the London Stadium has come under plenty of scrutiny this season, but Aaron Cresswell is convinced the Hammers fans can ensure Big Sam’s return to the club goes badly this weekend.

Sam Allardyce was West Ham manager for four years but failed to have his contract renewed at the end of the 2014-15 season and, after a spell at Sunderland and ill-fated reign as England boss, took over as Crystal Palace manager just before Christmas.

On Saturday, the Eagles travel to the London Stadium, where the Hammers’ results have been patchy at best this season – with just seven wins in 15 games.

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This has led many to question the move from Upton Park, where the pitch was smaller and the ground more compact, but left-back Cresswell has urged supporters to get behind the troops, claiming it has a tangible impact on the players.

“Of course it makes a massive difference when the fans are right behind us, encouraging us and supporting us,” said Cresswell.

“As players, a positive atmosphere makes it easier for us to relax and concentrate on the job, while it also makes it more difficult for the visiting team to do the same thing.

“We all know that results haven’t been going as well as we’d all have hoped as late, and I can fully appreciate and understand that it can be frustrating watching at times, but we all want the same thing at the end of the day.

“I remember when I sat in the crowd when I was out injured and it can be electric. That noise definitely gives the lads a lift and has helped them to win games.

“You can be sure we will prepare properly for the game on Saturday and, with 50-odd thousand fans behind us, we’ll give it absolutely everything we’ve got to get the three points.”

All players cope with the pressure of huge crowds differently and Everton’s Joel Robles insists he thrives on the vocal home support at Goodison Park.

With first choice Maarten Stekelenburg out injured, Robles kept two clean sheets in his first three starts during the Christmas and New Year period.

And following in the historic footsteps of the likes of Neville Southall and Gordon West between the Everton sticks, Robles is aware of the necessity to perform.

“Every time I play, it is special. The responsibility of being Everton’s goalkeeper is something I’m aware of,” he said.

“This club has had some great goalkeepers over the years and that means there is pressure from the fans – but that’s the way it should be and I enjoy that.

(Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

“The fans are always loud, even if we aren’t playing well. We all appreciate the support they give us. I like the pressure of playing in front of our fans.

“Sometimes, you’ll hear them shout at me ‘catch’, ‘play it quick,’ – things like this. I like it. They care and they want me to do well.

“I love the Evertonians. We are lucky to have very good fans who get behind us and follow us wherever we play. It’s very important for us.”

Former Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri is baffled that the Gunners have not won the Premier League title in recent seasons.

Nasri spent three years at Arsenal, but left for Manchester City in a £25 million switch in 2011 after failing to win a trophy at the Emirates Stadium.

The Frenchman, currently on loan for the season at Sevilla, hinted that the lack of Premier League challenge could be linked to the board’s desire to keep the books balanced.

Arsenal broke their trophy drought in 2014 by winning the FA Cup, before retaining the cup the following year.

However, they have not won a league title since 2004.

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

“I do not know. I do not know why they aren’t challenging,” Nasri said.

“We must also take into account the fact that when I was in Arsenal, we did not fight on equal terms with Chelsea or Manchester United.

“Arsenal made the choice to move to the Emirates Stadium, so there was the stadium to pay for.

“The bosses of the club have always wanted to have healthy finances, they never wanted to go into debt.

“So they obviously did not recruit like the others.

“Since I left, they have won two Cups. They are trophies and all trophies are good to take.”

Recalled Chelsea loanee Nathan Ake has the quality to jump ahead of the likes of club captain John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic in the Blues pecking order, according to club legend Pat Nevin.

After 12 appearances, three clean sheets, and three goals for Bournemouth, Antonio Conte chose to bring the 21-year-old Dutchman back from his loan to the south coast early.

The Italian has stated that Ake will have a role to play during the second half of the season as Chelsea chase their second title in three years, despite having a fit-again Kurt Zouma now at his disposal.

Terry and Ivanovic – previously the first names on the teamsheet for the Blues – have been forced to watch most of the season so far from the sidelines with Conte’s back three of Gary Cahill, David Luiz and César Azpilicueta thriving at present.

But Nevin – a fans’ favourite during his time with the Blues in the 1980’s when he made almost 200 appearances – believes Ake will not necessary suffer the same fate.

“When he left on loan to Bournemouth it always looked like he would have more chance of a few starts there than at Chelsea,” he said. “But his progression has been monumentally impressive in that short spell on the south coast.

“He joins us back at Cobham with the expectation he will get quite a few more opportunities for the first team from now on in.

“Of course there are top defenders in situ and a few including Brana, JT and Kurt Zouma not even in the side most weeks.

“But such is Nathan’s improvement it is not beyond the realms of possibility he could jump right to the front of the queue.

“After scoring three goals in eight league starts from centre-back for the Cherries, let’s hope he has kept a few back for the Blues between now and the end of the season.

“A cheeky little winner at Leicester wouldn’t go amiss.”

Crystal Palace defender James Tomkins says he is relishing the prospect of working with the Eagles’ new assistant manager Sammy Lee.

The former Liverpool midfielder his linked up with namesake and Palace boss Sam Allardyce once again, after working with him when the latter managed Bolton and England.

Tomkins, who joined Palace from West Ham United for £12 million in the summer, said Lee has hailed the spirit of the Eagles camp, as they club looks to move away from the Premier League relegation zone.

“Sammy Lee met with the lads and he spoke well,” Tomkins said.

Photo by Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images

“Training went well and he said the spirit seems right and he is looking forward to working with us and trying to improve us.

“We will see how it goes and hopefully it will be a good partnership, with all of us together to shoot up the league.

“I have worked with him at England levels before and he has got that character about him – he is a Scouser and sometimes they have that character.

“You want to train hard and impress them and it is important that we show them what we can do.

“It is like a whole new system of people, but we are all in the same frame of mind in trying to get wins together and build from there.”

The sky is the limit for Dele Alli at Tottenham Hotspur – according to former midfielder Danny Murphy.

Alli has been in sublime form of late for Spurs, scoring three consecutive doubles over the festive period against Southampton, Watford and Chelsea in the Premier League.

While still only 20-years-old, the former MK Don has established himself as a Premier League star and an England first-team regular.

And while his goalscoring record is impressive – Spurs are yet to lose a league game in which he has scored – it is his maturity that most impresses former Liverpool and England man Murphy.

“First of all, he’s playing with a maturity beyond his years. I remember when I first went to Liverpool, it took me a couple of seasons to really settle in. He’s taken it all in his stride. In terms of his ability, he’s a super athlete, tall, quick, looks like he can run all day but matched with that, technically he’s very good as well,” he said.

“His biggest quality on the pitch, for me, is the timing of his runs. He is exceptional at that and that is what gets him into the positions to score the goals. He knows when to go and he finds space, that’s his biggest quality.

“He’s ahead of his time in terms of football maturity and game intelligence. It’s not something you see, it’s something he’s got.

(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

“Everything else you see with your eyes, if that makes sense, so you might go and ask ten fans ‘what is Dele’s biggest quality’ and you’ll get different answers – his pace, his running, his finishing – but that maturity is something that you know when you’ve played.

“You are watching him and you think ‘he’s got no fear’. He’s playing with the confidence you normally only get after playing 100 or 200 games, not after five minutes of being in the Premier League!

“He now has to make sure that he continues to learn from the coaches at Spurs – he’s clearly learned a lot from Mauricio Pochettino – and he needs to maintain his discipline and desire. There is no end to how far he can go with his ability.”

Victory over Hull in the EFL Cup took Manchester United’s winning run to nine games and Chris Smalling is confident his side are hitting their straps at just the right time to take on fierce rivals Liverpool.

Goals from Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini gave the Red Devils a 2-0 success against Hull on Tuesday evening as Jose Mourinho goes in search of his first trophy as United manager.

But Smalling, 27, was quick to switch the focus to the weekend, where victory for United over Liverpool would bring them within two points of the Reds, who currently lie second in the Premier League table.

“Before facing Reading [in the FA Cup] on Saturday we knew that we had three games in three different competitions,” he said.

(Photo by Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)

“We knew that if we could keep the winning run going then we couldn’t have more confidence going into one of the biggest games of the season. Everyone is really up for it.

“Now we can switch our attention to that game.

“I think we’ll recover on Wednesday, then we have a good few days to work on the tactics on how to nullify their threats and to really impact our own play to keep this run going.

“We know how important this game is at the top end of that table.”