HEROES AND ZEROS Hero: Justin Fashanu Justin Fashanu was treated abominably by football in life, so it’s at least of some small comfort that some 22 years after his death, he will be inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame. This doesn’t make up for, well, everything, but at least it’s something.
MANCHESTER, England, March 14 (Reuters) - Manchester City's appeal against their two-year UEFA ban from European football is up in the air as the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland deals with the impact of the coronavirus. City had hoped to have their hearing heard by early summer but that may be optimistic given the court in Lausanne has already postponed three hearings and has 16 cases already scheduled until May 18, with the City case not yet listed.
England go into Sunday's match in Kosovo knowing Euro 2020 qualification is already secured. Gareth Southgate's side have won Group A after their emphatic 7-0 win over Montenegro. The win against Montenegro at Wembley was the Three Lions' 1,000th fixture stretching back to 1872, and in that time they have a 100% winning record against 10 countries they have faced at least three times in all competitions.
We have a match between Arsenal who are the hosts and Brighton who are the visitors. Arsenal were in terrible form and they had to sack Unai Emery as their manager. They have brought in their former player Ljungberg as their head coach.
It’s confirmed, Sampaoli is our new coach," Atletico president Sergio Sette Camara said on twitter, ending days of speculation. Sampaoli, who was coach at Santos for most of last year, takes over from Venezuelan Rafael Dudamel, who was fired on Thursday after less than two months in the job. Atletico have started the year poorly, being knocked out of the Brazilian Cup and the Copa Sudamericana, the South American equivalent of the Europa League, in the early stages.
Vardy's first touch after coming on was to score a penalty after Tyrone Mings' handball, before he smashed in at the near post - his first goal in 10 games. Barnes scored his second from a Marc Albrighton cross. It was a very, very good win. An important win," said Rodgers. The past few games we haven't been at our level. In terms of attacking, we were much better this evening. After the first goal we went on and played very well.
First half, I thought we were very good in controlling the game and Joe Lewis has had nothing to do for the whole 90 minutes. There's been a bug going through this club that's wiped a few players out and I saw two or three feeling the effects of it, but a win's a win. I was delighted to get Funso Ojo on the pitch and you see what he means to the team - he controlled the middle of the pitch - and we lost it when he went off at half-time.
MK Dons haven't just improved results of late, but they've done so by getting the better of some very good sides, beating Portsmouth and Oxford at home, while they also took a point off Doncaster away from home. Such results are promising. However, it can't be ignored that each of their recent wins have come at Stadium mk. Away from the comforts of home, The Dons remain without a win on the road since September. They've since lost six out of eight travelling matches, scoring five goals, conceding 13, keeping no clean sheets and failing to score four times.
Investment banker Gary Hoffman has been named as the new chairman of the Premier League. The 59-year-old succeeds acting chair Claudia Arney and will work alongside Richard Masters, who was appointed chief executive in December. Richard Scudamore had previously held the position of executive chairman from 2014 until the end of 2018. It is an honour to join the Premier League as chair," said Hoffman after a shareholder meeting on Friday.
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So although Celta are four places and five points worse off than Valladolid ahead of this fixture and possess a poor record of two wins, one draw and four defeats at Balaidos this season, we fancy Celestes to compound Pucela's poor recent form and growing away troubles, following their outstanding triumph against Villarreal at Ceramica.
Rangers haven't won a cup game against Celtic in normal time for some years, but that may not bother them, as they too come into this game in fine form. Rangers haven't lost a competitive fixture since their Europa League defeat against Young Boys back in the first week of October. Since then they've won eight and drawn four. They recently beat a very useful Porto side, so they're no back number in this fixture.
Watford will be happy to be back home after their away loss to Crystal Palace and they have pulled some good results at home. They take on Leicester who are also on a high after their back to back wins and we expect a very exciting game here. Both sides have been scoring a plenty and we expect to see some goals fly in here. In three of the last four meetings, Leicester have won 2-0 but in their last three visits to Watford, they have lost. A good bet here will be on over 2.5 goals, as we expect both sides to employ an open game plan.
Kane has been one of Europe’s best strikers on a consistent basis over the past five years so it makes sense for City officials to place him at the top of their wishlist. Lautaro Martinez is also one of the best young footballers playing in Europe at the moment and his style isn't dissimilar to that of Aguero.
Unrealistic Olympics can go ahead without vaccine'Coronavirus: What is your club saying?The body that represents Europe's top leagues says when football does return it will "no doubt" be played behind closed doors. However, the First Minister said any moves to do so would still bring issues. We have to consider if that completely takes away the risk," she said. If a match is still on TV, the danger is people will congregate together to watch.
33% of Porto’s home games have produced exactly 2 goals and 50% of Santa Clara’s away games have also produced exactly 2 goals, which suggests that our prediction for a 2-0 final scoreline looks even more realistic. A majority of Porto’s wins this season have been obtained with a margin of 2 goals or more (6 wins) while a majority of Santa Clara’s defeats been by a margin of 2 goals or more (3 defeats), all of which backs-up our prediction for Thursday’s clash.
Juventus is in the drop of the form, and they have lost few games in the time, against some of the low placed teams. They will face young Real team, which was close to big win in Managua, against Walter, but conceded a late goal for 1:1 draw.
Silvia Neid Silvia Neid enjoyed 11 years as Germany's national team bossDespite that relatively long list of strong contenders, it is worth remembering that, when the FA were last searching for a Lionesses boss in the winter of 2017-18, many of their preferred candidates pulled out of the running, and Neville's appointment came out of the blue. So it may be that the association's net is cast even wider this time and that may prompt them to approach some of the best-rated overseas coaches.
Schalke, who have lost just once in their last 10 league games, are in fifth place on 33 points, three behind Bayern, who are second. We have no pressure at all because when you play at Bayern you have nothing to lose," said midfielder Suat Serdar, Schalke's leading scorer with seven league goals. If we keep playing as we did before the winter break and last week against Gladbach, then everything is possible.
They are very fast in attack. They can hurt us all of the time, they deserve to go through. If I can be critical of some of my players, I keep this for us. They tried to give what they can give. We made mistakes, mistakes that we have analysed in previous matches. I never blame players with some difficulties.
The kid is about 5ft 7in and I've got three defenders going to try and clear the box and we don't clear the box. Rangers face Livingston at Ibrox on Saturday with their title fate now out of their own hands. And after questioning his side's ability to handle pressure, Gerrard also admitted he also had to take responsibility for the downturn in form in 2020. I put this group together. I coach them, they are my tactics and decisions.
Liverpool are 23 points clear at the top of the Premier League with seven games remaining and could break the record points total in a Premier League season, currently held by Manchester City, who they play on Thursday. We have adapted well as a team and our understanding is perfect," Salah said. If this continues, we can achieve more. It's difficult to maintain our current level, but it's not impossible.
The Bundesliga club said Gramlich, who had been club boss in the late 1930s and then again from 1955-70, had been an active member of the Nazis, becoming a party member as well as a member of the SS. Rudolf Gramlich approvingly accepted the violent reign of National Socialism," Eintracht president Peter Fischer said at the club's annual meeting on Sunday.
Sergio Agüero replaces Gabriel Jesus. Posted at 67' Foul by Oleksandr Zinchenko (Manchester City). Posted at 67' John Egan (Sheffield United) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Posted at 65' Attempt missed. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is close, but misses the top right corner. Assisted by Fernandinho. Posted at 62' Attempt saved. Lys Mousset (Sheffield United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
The Tottenham striker has been absent since New Year's Day with a torn hamstring sustained in his club's defeat to Southampton and there had been fears that he may not feature again this season. However, he believes that he will be fit enough for the tournament this summer barring "something pretty drastic" occurring in the meantime.
EFL Hlts: Stoke v Rotherham | Video - Sky Sports EFL Hlts: Stoke v Rotherham Stoke City play host to Rotherham United at the bet365 Stadium in the Sky Bet Championship. Watch Next.Sky Sports · 1 Nov 2020
Genk v FC Salzburg predictions for Wednesday’s match in the Champions League. Salzburg need results to go their way but can still qualify for the knockout stages but Genk’s Champions League journey is already over. Is this one a foregone conclusion? Read on for all our free Champions League predictions and betting tips.
The Bogota club said they would pay partial salaries to the men while the women’s contracts were "suspended by mutual agreement". The club said it would pay the women an undisclosed amount of expenses to help cover vital costs. Yet the Colombian Association of Professional Footballers (Acolfutpro) rejected the agreement, calling it "absolutely discriminatory".
Click here to read Tuesday's Paper Round 09:50 - Van Basten suspended by Fox Sports Former Netherlands forward Marco van Basten has been suspended from his role as a television analyst for one week after using a term associated with Nazi rallies. The 55-year-old said "Sieg Heil", which in German means "hail victory", on the Dutch edition of Fox Sports after a German coach was interviewed by one of the channel's reporters for the De Eretribune show on Sunday.
Torreira should have been stronger in that situation, but I have some sympathy for him because Jorginho definitely had hold of his shirt. Overall, though, I think Arteta will be encouraged by what he has seen. He has only been in charge for 10 days, and it is going to take time for the Arsenal players to adjust to the way he wants them to play, but they are already showing signs of improvement. Martin Keown was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
AFC BournemouthGareth Davies writes the 'Next Moves' feature in Bournemouth's matchday programme. Bournemouth are in a relegation battle - so it might seem peculiar to say we don't really need to do any business. But if we can start emptying out the treatment room of overworked club physio Steve Hard, then we should have just enough to stay up. When your team are in a relegation battle, an influx of new players in January can go one of two ways.
The Algerian has always only been on the periphery of Pep Guardiola’s team and never a consistent star so it would not be a surprise at all if he decides he would rather be a permanent frontline fixture in another top European team’s plans. WHO IS INTERESTED? PSG continue to be linked to Mahrez, and it would hardly be a shock if he moves to Paris this summer.
If we are to focus on matters on the pitch, then the side have stayed pretty resolute and they come into this match having suffered just one defeat in their last eight league matches. Although the league table is not exactly pretty for them, they will be delighted to have a five point lead and two games in hand over the side in the solitary relegation spot. However, it is noticeable that, while they are not getting defeated, the reason that they are not pulling away from the relegation spot is that they are frequently sharing the spoils. The visitors have drawn 12 times this season, including six of their last eight league games.
A year on from their near miss, BBC Sport assesses some of the second-tier outfits who came the closest to glory but fell agonisingly short. Sunderland 1997-98Having been relegated from the Premier League in 1996-97, Sunderland aimed to make an immediate return to the top flight the following season. With prolific striker Kevin Phillips in their ranks, the Wearside club ran Middlesbrough close for automatic promotion - but it was Boro, who went down with Sunderland the previous season, who ultimately snatched second place by a point.
Since then he has teamed up with Monkman to present their 'Genius Guide to Britain', a road-trip series that was shown on BBC Two. My personal highlight was teaching Eric the 'Paolo di Canio' song, which is based on a melody from a Verdi Rigoletto opera aria, in William Gladstone's old library," Seagull told BBC Sport. The pair have teamed up again for another BBC Two series, 'Monkman and Seagull's Genius Adventures', which will be shown soon.
Leeds head coach Marcelo Bielsa:"Hull City were not the best team to come here this season at the beginning of the game, but in the end this has been a very important win for us. It was a game of two different halves. In the first half we were good, but we faced an opponent with a very attractive style of play. We couldn't stop Hull's chances, but we kept on the offensive. We risked the result in the second half, but once we had scored the second goal, we then managed the game very well.
One of the major obstacles to the start of the 2020-21 international competitions are medical protocols. Tim Meyer, who is in charge of Uefa's medical committee, is also responsible for the protocols introduced by the Bundesliga for its return this weekend. While the 28 clubs from 12 countries still in this season's Champions and Europa League should be able to adhere to the same protocols, expanding that across an entire continent for the enormous qualification series will prove a different challenge completely.
Energetik will host Sagadam for this fixture of the league. In my opinion, this will be tense match for both sides. Perhaps, the visitors have better team than their opponent. However, Sagadam have big fluctuations. True, Sagadam have better results in the last matches. They have two consecutive victories. In last game Sagadam is won 1-0 against Kopetdag Asgabat. Also, we have Energetik who's is one of the outsiders in this campaign. Hosts have a poor results. True, in last game Energetik lost 2-0 against strong Ahal. Of course, this will not be an easy task for the hosts. However, Energetik have real chance to make a positive result in this match.
Mario Vrancic replaces Alexander Tettey. Posted at 64' Attempt missed. Chris Basham (Sheffield United) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses the top left corner. Assisted by Oliver Norwood following a corner. Posted at 63' Corner, Sheffield United. Conceded by Kenny McLean.
Now it's your turn You've seen my selections this season. But who would you go for?Pick your Team of the WeekPick your XI from our list and share with your friends. Select formationConfirm teamCrooks of the matterI saw it but I could hardly believe it. Fans hurling missiles and one fan appearing to mimic the actions of an ape towards Fred as he was trying to take a corner. Let's be clear here, Raheem Sterling plays for that club doesn't he? I wouldn't be playing for them much longer if there was a repeat of that behaviour from my fans.
He was especially criticised for being fit for Wales' pivotal Euro 2020 qualifier with Hungary after missing seven weeks for Madrid through injury. Wales fans have turned the mantra 'Wales. Golf. Madrid' into a chant, with Bale himself admitting he found the song amusing and, after securing qualification with a win over Hungary, Bale was front and centre as the squad paraded a banner echoing that sentiment.
Jose Mourinho has certainly stopped Spurs from sliding into the abyss but how long is he going to keep up with this utterly facile charm offensive and start turning this Tottenham team into a side that can win the big games away from home? Hearing Roy Keane even suggest that Spurs lack the 'mentality' to win those games is enough to make a Tottenham fan want to lie down with a cold compress on the forehead in a darkened room.
