Eric Cantona says José Mourinho and current Marseille boss Marcelo Bielsa are very similar in their style and character.

Marseille currently sit at the summit of Ligue 1 with a four-point lead over champions Paris Saint-Germain, while Chelsea is unbeaten atop the Premier League.

"I do not support Marseille much, but I like Bielsa," ERic Cantona told France 2. "I think he has... character. He has a personality, charisma. He knows good football.

"He's a bit like Mourinho. I like all those guys. When there is a press conference with Bielsa or Mourinho, we know that something will happen.

"I like to hear them speak. I like that they call into question the opinions and questions of journalists."

Barcelona's academy La Masia has topped a new survey by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) for having produced the most players currently plying their trade in a top tier major European league.

The study found there are currently 43 graduates from La Masia in the ‘big five’ of Spain’s La Liga, the English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1.

Manchester United came second in the study with 36 players developed, followed by Real Madrid (34), Olympique Lyon (33) and Paris St Germain (27).

Of Barcelona’s 43 graduates, 13 still play for the Catalan club and 30 ply their trade elsewhere, many achieving success at their new clubs.

La Liga sides Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad top the list of the clubs who currently employ homegrown players — with 15 apiece due to their emphasis on nurturing and promoting Basque talent. Athletic have also produced top players now elsewhere including Manchester United’s Ander Herrera, Bayern’s Javi Martinez and Juventus’ Fernando Llorente.

The research also found that Ligue 1 club squads contained the highest proportion of home-grown players [24.6 percent], followed by La Liga [20.4 percent], Bundesliga [16.4 percent], Premier League [13.9 percent] and Serie A [9.6 percent].

Edinson Cavani was disappointed to play wide in his first season at Paris Saint-Germain, but he is no longer unhappy with the situation.

Cavani joined PSG from Napoli for a reported €64 million in 2013.

"These comments caused some problems, but they were not against the coach, the president or anyone else," Cavani told AM1010.

"I expressed my frustration, but that didn't mean I had a bad relationship with any of them.

"Sometimes these things can lead to a problem, but other times to a solution. We found a solution.

"This year everything is fine. I am in Paris, the city is beautiful and the club supports me."

Tottenham has struggled at White Hart Lane again this season and Mauricio Pochettino believes the size of the pitch is a factor.

Tottenham have the joint-shortest pitch in the Premier League, according to the official statistics, alongside Stoke City and Queens Park Rangers, and only those two clubs have narrower playing surfaces. Tottenham’s pitch, which measures 100 meters by 67 meters, is 6% smaller than half of the others in the division.

Spurs have lost three out of five home league fixtures.

“Our style means we need a bigger space to play because we play a positional game,” Pochettino said. “It’s true that White Hart Lane is a little bit tight and it’s better for the opponent when they play deep. On Sunday there were two shots from Newcastle – it was unlucky for us. And they play deep. West Bromwich play deep, Liverpool the same, they play very deep and it was difficult for us. We need time to adapt to our new set-up and to understand better our position on the pitch.”

Paul Pogba has a new deal with Juventus and recently talked about how he has looked to Yaya Toure on how to become a better midfielder.

"I think there are lots of players still better than me, but it's not up to me to worry about this sort of comparison," he told Fifa.com. "I try to do my job and be the best I possibly can. 

"There are lots of midfielders I admire and watching them helps me improve. I could mention, for example, Yaya Toure, who has a similar size and physique to me but more experience. We have more or less the same playing style, even if he's a bit more attacking than me."

Mario Balotelli had two excellent opportunities to score in Liverpool's 0-0 draw on Saturday against Hull City.

Balotelli still hasn't scored a goal in the Premier League.

"It was a big chance and we had one or two of those in the game but we couldn't quite put the ball in the net," Brendan Rodgers told reporters, referring to the late chance.

"I thought he worked very well and very hard. He maybe thought he wasn't going to play today but you've got to stay with it. You've seen he is working hard and at the moment he is doing his best.

"Unfortunately it's that wee bit of confidence, sometimes when you don't get that goal, that he might lack a little. But he kept going, kept getting into the [right] areas and I thought he and Rickie Lambert worked well when [Lambert] came on.

"I'm a little bit frustrated we didn't win the game but performance-wise I'm happy and our reaction to the midweek game."

The 30 shots Mario Balotelli has taken in the Premier League have an aggregate expected goal value of 4.0.

Based on the quality of his shots, Balotelli had just a one percent chance of scoring zero goals.

Brendan Rodgers has admitted that Liverpool is in a transitional period due to the departure of Luis Suárez.

“We are going to take the short-term hit at the moment knowing that in the long term the club will be better for it,” said Rodgers.

Liverpool went to fifth in the table following their late victory on Sunday over QPR.

The best success of Arsène Wenger's career came when Thierry Henry was in peak form for Arsenal.

Henry was Arsenal's best player when they went through the 03-04 Premier League season unbeaten.

"This guy could do absolutely everything," said Wenger. "What symbolises Thierry are those special goals – the goal he scored against Liverpool, or the goal he scored against Real Madrid. He was Usain Bolt with a top football talent."

Real Madrid began the current season slowly with their loss of the Spanish Super Cup to Atlético Madrid and two straight defeats in La Liga, but Carlo Ancelotti says his team is in better shape than last season.

“This year we are clear on the key aspects of our play, though we can’t always play at our peak level. The only problem is that we have conceded more goals than normal, but in terms of our play we’re better than last year," said Ancelotti.

“We had some difficulties at the beginning because August was difficult, as there were players coming back from the World Cup and they did not have time to prepare.

“Now we’ve had time to prepare and the team is in good shape, motivated and up for it.”

Ancelotti insists Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema are the best attacking trio in the world and an improved defensive balance has helped Real Madrid get back on track.

“It isn’t easy to score so many goals, but these players have incredible quality in terms of scoring goals and attacking well. It’s always a collective effort, but the quality of the three up front is unique in the world.

“Our defensive level has improved in recent games because the players are in better physical shape and can work harder in defense.

“After changing two very important players in this respect, they are getting more used to defending and holding a better position.”