Paper Round: Ranieri considers dropping stars, Pep admits Aguero future uncertain

The big lead across all of the papers on Monday morning is Leicester City boss Claudio Ranieri. Now depending on which paper you read he's either 'blasting' his stars or just giving them a warning. Ranieri said "I could be, could be (too loyal)...we have two problems. Conceding goals, and not scoring."

Paper Round's view: Regardless of your interpretation of these quotes this is quite clearly the last throw of the dice by Ranieri. Leicester were poor against Swansea and after five defeats in a row, something has to change - perhaps this will be it. The flip side is that if the dice come up not favouring Ranieri he could well be sacked. It seems a ridiculous thing to say given what he achieved last season but that says a lot about football right now.

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Pep Guardiola has given the clearest indication yet that Sergio Aguero could leave in the summer by admitting that he has no idea what the future holds for the Argentine. Speaking ahead of the game against Bournemouth Guardiola said he wants the forward to stay but he has no idea what is going to happen. The suggestion from the papers reporting this story seems to be that City and Guardiola want him to stay but may be powerless if Aguero agitates for a move.

Paper Round's view: This is certainly an interesting one. Aguero remains a world-class player but he hasn't quite been at the races recently. There's a question mark over whether or not Aguero actually works in Guardiola's system, especially given how good the current dynamic front three of Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus look.

Another story to come out from Guardiola's press conference were some very kind words from the Spaniard about Jack Wilshere and the "quality" the midfielder possesses. It's worth stressing that while these are clearly the words of a manager admiring a player whom he has a lot of respect for, there is no suggestion of a transfer or anything to that effect. Of course, that won't stop the rumours. ...

Paper Round's view: It seems very easy to forget how good Wilshere once was and he has been broking progress at Bournemouth. The links with City have gone dead recently, is it too late for them to start again?

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Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana has revealed that club captain Jordan Henderson called a players' only meeting after their terrible run of form and all the players spoke and cleared the air. Lallana said after the 2-0 win over Spurs that following the meeting there was a sense of "us against the world" and the team are all fighting in the same direction.

After the game manager Jurgen Klopp revealed the team will be going to Spain for a few days as they are out of the FA Cup, calling it "a mini pre-season."

Paper Round's view: One of the big criticisms levelled at Jordan Henderson is that he is not an influential leader of a team. Things like this certainly help to dispel those doubts and they combine well with some excellent performances on the pitch in recent weeks. Slowly but surely Henderson is starting to grow into the Liverpool armband. The trip abroad should help too: it will be good for the players to get out of the country and relax as they prepare for a big couple of months.

Read the Henderson story here and the Spain story here.

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Arsene Wenger has surprisingly admitted that Mesut Ozil is in a poor run of form. Wenger spoke honestly after the victory over Hull about the German and said "I felt he was not completely confident technically." Wenger usually staunchly defends Ozil and with the Frenchman also talking about the need to stay in the game against Bayern Munich on Wednesday it is no surprise to see that The Telegraph are reporting that Ozil may well be dropped for the Champions League showdown.

There's also some North London transfer news with The Mirror reporting that Tottenham Hotspur have joined Arsenal in the race for talented Monaco youngster Kylian Mbappe.

Paper Round's view: Dropping Ozil would be a massive statement from Wenger and would send a message to the German as his contract negotiations continue to drag on. There can be no denying that Ozil is struggling and this could be the wake-up call that he needs. It's no surprise that Spurs are chasing Mbappe: who wouldn't be after everything he's done so far? The real question is who will win the race...?

Read the Ozil story here and Mbappe story here.