Barcelona 2018-19: Arturo Vidal celebrates eighth title in a row

Liverpool are interested in RB Salzburg central defender Maximilian Wober, according to . It has been reported that Wober has emerged as a potential centre-back target for the defending Premier League champions.

The Reds have injury problems at the back. Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez could miss the rest of the season, while Joel Matip is on the sidelines at the moment. Fabinho has been playing at centre-back despite being a defensive midfielder by trade, with manager Jurgen Klopp relying on youngsters Rhys Williams and Nathaniel Phillips.

Wober has made seven starts and one substitute appearance in the Austrian Bundesliga and has played six times in the Champions League for Salzburg so far this season, according to . Liverpool are at the top of the Premier League table …

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be among the frontrunners for the 2016 African Footballer of the Year award, but four-time winner Yaya Toure has not been shortlisted.

Borussia Dortmund striker Aubameyang won the accolade, conferred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), for 2015 after a scorching start to the previous season for the Bundesliga club.

The Gabon international beat off competition from Andre Ayew and Toure, who made headlines with his bitter reaction.

Toure had captained Ivory Coast to victory in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations and, upon being overlooked, branded the decision to honour Aubameyang as pathetic .

Having been frozen out at Manchester City since the arrival of Pep Guardiola, the 33-year-old has not made the 30-man shortlist…

Frank Lampard saw Olivier Giroud score a brace and academy product Mason Mount also get on the scoresheet as Chelsea beat St Patrick s Athletic 4-0 in a pre-season friendly.

After seeing his new charges pegged back by a late goal in a 1-1 midweek draw against Bohemians, Lampard enjoyed his first win since taking the reigns as head coach nine days earlier.

Giroud s brace equalled the number of Premier League goals he scored for Chelsea in 2018-19, while Mount s lively performance will have come as no surprise to Lampard, who managed the 20-year-old during his loan spell at Derby County last season.

Michy Batshuayi, who scored against Bohemians, impressed again in the early stages at Richmond Park, where he crashed a shot against the crossbar after 14 minutes.<…

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As millions around the world continue to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, one slice of normality has remained the same sport. We re now in a new year and that means we re going to be experiencing a whole lost of games coming at us thick and fast between now and May, which is especially true in the English Premier League. Today, we re going to take a look at the latest in a string of top flight London derbies as Arsenal prepare to host Crystal Palace at the Emirates.

Arsenal

A few weeks ago Mikel Arteta s job was at serious risk, and yet now, Arsenal fans can t get enough of him. The real test will come when they re once again faced with the challenge of competing with the Premier League s f…

Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni said Wednesday he wants to see out his career with Bayern Munich, while ex-Brazil midfielder Ze Roberto is considering leaving the German giants in 2009.

The 31-year-old Toni sits out Wednesday night s Champions League clash at his old club Fiorentina with a rib injury, but the Italian feels good in Munich and wants to see out his contract which runs until 2011.

The longer I live here, the better feel I here, Toni told German daily newspaper Die Welt.

But I can t make that decision on my own, the club must also decide what they think perhaps it is that I am away within the next year.

Having moved to Munich in the summer of 2007, Toni enjoyed an impressive debut season with 39 goals in 46 games in all competitions a…

Real Madrid approved on Sunday its accounts for the fiscal year of 2009 by a narrow margin at a stormy annual general meeting which was interrupted by jeers directed at the Spanish club s president Ramon Calderon.

Several of the 1,215 Real members who took part at the meeting whistled and yelled Resign! just before the vote in which the accounts for fiscal year 2008 were also approved.

Supporters of Calderon who is under fire for the club s lack of form this season and his failure to recruit new talent over the summer as promised responded by calling the president s opponents anti-madrilenos .

Calderon defended the club s record, saying it is important to analyse the situation with realism .

We have qualified to play in the last-16 of the Champions L…

that the likes of Malaga and Genoa are showing interest in AC Milan midfielder Suso.

The Rossoneri signed the Spaniard on a cut-price deal from Liverpool just six months ago, but the player hasn t made the desired impact.

Suso only started two league matches, while making another three substitute appearances, and he may be moving clubs again this summer.

La Liga side Malaga are keen on his services and they have enquired about the possibility of adding him to their ranks.

Serie A high-flyers Genoa are showing interest as well, although AC Milan officials do not seem prepared to cash in on the youngster just yet.

They would, however, consider allowing Suso to leave on a season-long loan, so it will be probably up to the player himself to choose h…

Luiz Felipe Scolari s Guangzhou Evergrande are primed for an AFC Champions League semi-final spot after securing a 3-1 victory at Kashiwa Reysol.

The 2013 champions, knocked out of last year s competition in the quarters by eventual winners Western Sydney Wanderers, took the lead after just five minutes through Daisuke Suzuki s own goal.

Scolari s compatriot Paulinho doubled the visitors advantage before the break and Gao Lin put the Chinese Super League side in full control after 58 minutes.

However, a last-gasp strike from Masato Kudo offered Kashiwa a glimpse of hope for the return leg on September 15.

In Tuesday s other quarter-final tie last season s runners-up Al Hilal prevailed 4-1 at home against Lekhwiya.

…

Derby County are confident of completing a deal to sign ex-England captain Wayne Rooney on Tuesday, according to club owner Mel Morris.

Rooney, 33, is set to make a surprise return to English football in what is expected to be a player-coach role in support of Rams boss Phillip Cocu.

According to reports, the former Everton and Manchester United forward could see out the MLS season at DC United before moving to Pride Park in January.

Talks looks set to continue moving quickly after Rooney flew into London s Heathrow Airport on Tuesday.

It s only literally been a couple of days. I suppose the starting point was we understood Wayne was keen to return to the UK and of course we had a look at the situation and decided to see if we could actually do something…

Crystal Palace welcomed Arsenal at Selhurst Park on Saturday for a game that was a part of the 22nd round of the 2019/20 season in the Premier League.

The first encounter of these teams this season, played in October at the Emirates, was a rather eventful contest. It was the game in which Granit Xhaka s behaviour led to the Swiss midfielder losing the Arsenal captaincy. It was also a game in which his teams saw a two-goal lead nullified by the Eagles and what would have probably been a winner by Sokratis Papastathopoulos ruled out by VAR.

Team News

Palace had quite a number of players missing from this game. Centre-backs Mamadou Sakho, fullbacks Joel Ward and Patrick van Aanholt, wingers Andros Townsend and Jeffrey Schlupp, as well as striker Christian Benteke, were al…