Gareth Southgate recalled Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Glen Johnson in his first squad as England interim manager ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia.
Southgate was confirmed as Sam Allardyce s temporary successor after the former Sunderland manager was caught up in a controversial newspaper sting and three players in particular have gained from the change.
Rashford was not included in Allardyce s only England squad, while his Manchester United team-mate Lingard is in line for his first cap having only ever been named in one national team selection in November 2015.
The biggest surprise is the inclusion of Stoke City s Johnson, who comes in for the injured Nathaniel Clyne as one of four full-backs and he will looking to earn his first c…
Barcelona watching Mustafi
Spanish giants Barcelona are keeping close tabs on Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi, according to El Desmarque.
The Catalans have experienced all sorts of problems in defence this season, twice conceding four goals in a game, while also failing to keep a clean sheet in last five.
As a result, they are desperate to reinforce the back four in the January window, with Valencia s Shkodran Mustafi apparently their number one target.
El Desmarque has learned that Barcelona scouts watched the Germany hotshot in action against Granada at the weekend and they had what to see.
The 23-year-old not only helped los Che keep fourth clean sheet of the campaign, but also scored the winning goal, proving he can be a danger in the oppo…
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Along with the Revierderby which always attracts attention and brings up the rivalry between Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund regardless of form of table positions, the meeting between Eintracht and Bayern Munich set to take place in Frankfurt on Saturday afternoon should be one of the more interesting matches of the 22nd round of the 2020-21 Bundesliga season.
Eintracht Frankfurt
It has been a very exciting campaign for the Eagles, that much can be said with some certainty. Having finished ninth last term, they are now in third place with 39 points, and appear set to battle for a place in the Champions League against Wolfsburg in fourth with the same tally, Bayer Leverkusen in fifth with three points less, Borussia Dortmund and Bor…
Arsenal overcame a sluggish first-half performance to cut the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to two points after a 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest.
The Gunners looked toothless in the first half, but rallied to register three big points thanks to goals from Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka.
The result leaves them on the coattails of Liverpool, who can extend their lead back to five points against Chelsea on Wednesday night.
Forest had no intention of going for the win in a pragmatic approach deployed by Nuno Espirito Santo, but they made a game of it late on as Taiwo Awoniyi slammed home in the 89th minute.
Arsenal saw it out to end a three-game losing streak at the City Ground and exorcise the ghosts of last season’s defeat, which saw their title ch…
Holger Badstuber and Ilkay Gundogan have returned to the Germany squad for their upcoming matches with Australia and Georgia, much to the delight of Joachim Low.
The pair have both been sidelined with long-term injuries, but have shown promising signs making their comebacks this season.
Badstuber is one of seven defenders in Low s 23-man squad and could make his first international appearance since October 2012 after four knee operations.
Meanwhile, Gundogan has not featured for Germany since August 2013, but has found form again for Borussia Dortmund following a back injury.
They have had long periods of suffering behind them, fortunately that is now over and I have been impressed with how fast they have returned to high level, said Low.
It i…
Liverpool midfielder Joe Allen is keen to replicate the home form that saw the Anfield club come close to winning the Premier League title in 2013-14.
Under Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool won 16 out of their 19 home games two seasons ago and Allen is determined to turn Anfield into a fortress once more this campaign.
Home form is something huge for any team, but I think if you look back to the season where we finished runners-up our home form was incredible,” Allen told the Liverpool website.
Teams were dreading coming to Anfield and you almost felt that walking out onto the pitch, and you were ahead already, so that’s what we want to try and recreate and we want to give the fans things to cheer about.
We want good results, exciting performances an…
The closure of the European transfer window leaves Paris Saint-Germain and Neymar locked in an unhappy partnership.
After two years in the French capital, Neymar made it clear to PSG he wanted to move on and his intention to leave was confirmed by returning sporting director Leonardo.
Neymar became the world s most expensive player when he left Barcelona for €222million but that fee, coupled with his reported €700k per week wages, have trapped him at PSG.
Barcelona simply could not afford to bring him back, while Real Madrid were also unable to complete a deal the Clasico rivals having earlier splashed the cash on Antoine Griezmann and Eden Hazard respectively.
So, what happens next for Neymar, PSG and Barcelona?
NEYMAR
Yet to feature…
FIFA are set to extend the 2019/20 season indefinitely, make suitable alterations to the frame of the summer transfer window and allow contracts set to expire at the end of June to be extended, according to a report by several journalists working for .
One of the burning issues in football amid the ongoing world-wide crisis is obviously finding the right way and time to conclude the current season, while it being pushed past the end of June would cause quite a few problems regarding the player contracts set to expire by then, as well as the summer transfer window. The world s football governing body recognizes that the suspended leagues cannot recommence until it s safe to do so and they ve decided not to set a date by which the season should end, but they remain committed to t…
(GSM) Hull City will be without Jimmy Bullard for at least six weeks. The midfielder picked up a knee injury during the match against Aston Villa (3-0 loss) and is ruled out until February.
Bullard, who joined Hull City from Fulham in January, will not look back in joy at 2009. In his very first game for The Tigers he sustained a serious knee injury which ended his season. In october he made his comeback for Hull.
Hull City boss Phil Brown remains hopeful on Bullard s situation following scans on the player s injury. I am sitting here like a man waiting in the emergency room for his wife to give birth, Brown told Sky Sports. It s been an horrendous day for me, but I m now very hopeful Jimmy will be back on the field of play before the transfer window closes.
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Everton will play their final group game of the Europa League against BATE Borisov at Goodison Park tonight. Everton boss David Moyes took the unusual step of naming his starting line-up the day before the game.
Young side
When the Scot did name the starting line-up, there was a mixed reaction because the team is full of youngsters. In recent times Moyes has had to use youngsters out of necessity but with qualification assured already the Scot decided to rest most of his leg wary first team squad.
With all the injuries at Goodison Park this season you can’t really blame him for wanting to rest his remaining fit first teamers.
Criticism
Managers have received lots of criticism for changing their sides in the Europa League. Fulham have made …