Best Odds: 8/11

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In what could turn out to be a crucial showdown from the Emirates on Sunday afternoon, Arsenal will welcome Manchester United to north London.

Arsenal

Starting with the hosts, last seen putting in another stellar display as they claimed north London bragging rights thanks to a 2-0 victory away at Tottenham, Arsenal are on course for what could be a history-making campaign at the Emirates. While Mikel Arteta’s youngsters would have been frustrated after watching Manchester City secure a remarkable second-half comeback against Spurs in midweek, the Gunners still hold a five-point buffer over the defending champions. Continuing to gain a string of plaudits on either side of the World Cup break, Arteta’s side have suffered just a sing…

Verdict: Chelsea to score over 1.5 goals

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Making the trip across London in midweek, Chelsea will look to move one step closer to another top-four finish when they travel to Selhurst Park on Tuesday evening.

Crystal Palace

Starting with the hosts, although Crystal Palace may have impressed on their return to action with a 2-0 defeat away at Bournemouth last month, the Eagles now find themselves in the midst of a real sluggish patch. Putting in what looked like a fatigued display at the King Power on Saturday and hit with a 3-0 drumming away at an inconsistent Leicester, Roy Hodgson s side have have now lost their last three Premier League matchups on the bounce, a run highlighted by a worrying 1-0 loss at home against Burnley. Fr…

Best Odds: 19/20

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Hoping to widen their buffer at the top of the La Liga table on Saturday evening, Real Madrid will travel to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan when they meet Sevilla.

Sevilla

Starting with the hosts, forced to settle for a 2-2 stalemate at home against Rayo Vallecano when heading into October’s international break, Sevilla have once again failed to pick up any kind of stability since opening up the 2023/24 campaign. At the heart of an infamous relegation scrap last season and dealing with some public issues behind the scenes at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Diego Alonso’s side have claimed just a single win from any of their previous six appearances across all competitions a run that stems back to September 17th. Marking their return on Sat…

Best odds: 5/6

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AC Milan are set to welcome Torino to the San Siro on Friday evening, for a match which opens the 22nd round of the Serie A roller coaster in the 2022/23 season. Needless to say, both teams need the points on offer here, and with not much between them at the moment, it should be an interesting contest between two opponents of high quality.

AC Milan

They ve been in the race for a while, but the reigning Italian champions have lost all realistic hope of retaining the title. At the moment, Milan are sixth with 38 points, 18 less than Napoli at the top. At this point, it seems they re in for a desperate struggle to qualify for the Champions League, with second-place Inter (43), third-place Roma (40), fourth-place Lazio (39) and Atalanta in…

Lille have confirmed they have mutually agreed to terminate the contract of head coach Jocelyn Gourvennec.

The former Guingamp and Bordeaux boss took the reins at Stade Pierre Mauroy as the replacement for Christophe Galtier, who left for Nice after improbably winning the 2020-21 Ligue 1 title ahead of Paris-Saint Germain.

However, Gourvennec was unable to even come close to matching the achievement last season, finishing 10th with just 55 points.

He did guide the club to the last 16 of the Champions League before being eliminated by Chelsea.

Early reports suggest former Roma and Shakhtar Donetsk head coach Paulo Fonseca is in line to replace Gourvennec.

LOSC and Jocelyn Gourvennec have mutually agreed to part ways.

The club thanks Jocelyn…

Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde said his side will stick to their style, as they try to beat perennial Copa del Rey rivals Barcelona.

Barca (26 titles) and Bilbao (23) are the two most successful Copa clubs, although the Catalans have had the edge on their Basque rivals in the competition of late.

The Camp Nou outfit won the 2009 and 2012 Copa finals over Bilbao by 4-1 and 3-0 scorelines, and will look to continue that trend at home on Saturday.

Valverde said Bilbao will not try anything out of the ordinary to down their foes, and win their first Copa since 1983-84.

Each team has their own style and way of doing the job, so when you arrive at a match like tomorrow s [game] you have to put this style on the pitch, Valverde said. 

We canno…

Sergio Busquets could be persuaded to leave Barcelona if Pep Guardiola asked him to join him at Manchester City, but he does not expect his former mentor to try to lure him away from Camp Nou.

The 27-year-old broke into the first team at Barca under Guardiola in 2008-09 and has since developed into a key player.

He has not forgotten about Guardiola s role in his successful career and would be honoured to work under the Bayern Munich coach again.

I have always said there are just two persons who could make me change my decision to stay at Barcelona, Busquets told ESPN.

One of those two persons is my wife. And she is happy here right now, so I don t think there will be any issues on a personal level.

On a sporting level, that other person is Gu…

Australia has opted against a bid to host the 2034 World Cup with Saudi Arabia on course to stage the tournament.

With FIFA’s deadline for declarations of interest on Tuesday, Football Australia issued a statement saying it had “explored the opportunity” of a bid but had decided against it.

“Having taken all factors into consideration, we have reached the conclusion not to do so for the 2034 competition,” the statement said.

“Football Australia is ambitious to bring more major tournaments to our shores. We believe we are in a strong position to host the Women’s Asian Cup in 2026 and then welcome the greatest teams in world football for the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup.”

It said hosting those events, in between the 2023 Women’s World Cup and …

Cristiano Ronaldo has voiced his admiration for former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and has described the Scot as his footballing father .

The Real Madrid star worked under Ferguson at United between 2003 and 2009 and he has nothing but fond memories of his former boss, stressing that the 73-year-old was there for him when he needed him most.

When my dad was sick in London and was in hospital very bad, in a coma I had a conversation with [Ferguson], Ronaldo told BBC for a documentary about the former Manchester United manager.

I said, Boss, I don t feel good. We were in a key moment in the league and the Champions League, but I said, Boss, I don t feel good. I want to see my dad.

[He said] Cristiano, you want to go one day, two days, one we…

Georginio Wijnaldum has joined forces with Jose Mourinho at Roma on a season-long loan deal after a difficult first year at Paris Saint-Germain.

The Serie A club confirmed the signing of Wijnaldum on Friday, just over a year after he moved to PSG from Liverpool as a free agent.

Roma have the option to sign the Netherlands midfielder on a permanent basis at the end of the 2022-23 campaign.

His arrival comes on a day fellow midfielder Jordan Veretout left the Giallorossi to join Ligue 1 side Marseille.

Wijnaldum was signed by PSG in June 2021 after his Reds contract expired, with the French giants muscling in when it had looked like he would join long-time admirers Barcelona.

Yet Wijnaldum struggled to make an impact in France, starting only…