Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised Jack Wilshere for his remarkable strength and believes the midfielder is ready for an England recall.

Wilshere scored his first Premier League goal since May 2015 with the opener in Arsenal s 2-2 draw against Chelsea on Wednesday.

The midfielder has played 11 league games this season but only six of those have been starts.

Wilshere last played for England at Euro 2016 but Wenger says it would be no surprise if the 26-year-old forces his way back into the England squad with the World Cup just over five months away.

I think he is at the level now where not many people expected him to be, Wenger told a news conference.

When was the last time he played for England? Exactly, against Iceland [at Euro 2016], he cam…

Nicolas Otamendi is thoroughly enjoying playing under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and feels like the Spaniard is teaching him even when he is at home.

City announced on Wednesday that Otamendi had signed a two-year contract extension to tie him to the club until 2022.

The Argentina international, who leads the Premier League in completed passes with 2033, is enjoying his best season at the Etihad Stadium since arriving in 2015 and praised the impact Guardiola has had on his game.

I think that now I have an important role because the central defenders have to build-up with the ball and make the team work as best we can. Pep has taught us how to do that, Otamendi said in an interview with CityTV.

From the first day you work with him you learn from hi…

With the midweek schedule only rolling onto Wednesday, the return of La Liga from the festive break and Britain s top-tiers will take center stage. On that note, for those of you looking to stick on a Wednesday acca, we have found you a handful of helpful tips that are worth keeping an eye out for.

Wednesday 30th December 

BST 18:00 Hibernian vs Ross County 

For our opening Tip of the Day, we turn our attention to the Scottish Premiership and a Hibernian side who should be extremely confident of making an immediate return to winning ways on Wednesday evening. While Jack Ross men might have seen their eye-catching unbeaten run come to an abrupt end on Boxing Day afternoon, the one-time Sunderland boss has gained a string of plaudits in Edinburgh so far this s…

Leicester City have sent Islam Slimani on a season-long loan to Monaco, who confirmed the deal includes an option to buy.

Algeria striker Slimani joined Leicester from Sporting CP for a reported £28million in 2016 but he has failed to live up to expectations in the Premier League.

The 31-year-old struggled to dislodge Jamie Vardy at King Power Stadium after scoring eight goals in all competitions in his first season in England.

Slimani spent the second half of the following campaign on loan at Newcastle United and was shipped out to Fenerbahce last term.

I am very happy to be involved with Monaco, a big club that aims to fight for the first places in the championship and to qualify for European competitions, Slimani said.

I will give everything…

Belgium need to improve if they are to stand a realistic chance of going deep at the 2022 World Cup, according to defender Toby Alderweireld.

It was Alderweireld s long pass that created the only goal of the game for Michy Batshuayi as Belgium struggled to make much headway against an athletic and well-drilled Canada team.

Alphonso Davies saw an early penalty saved by Red Devils goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Canada also squandered a host of first-half chances as Belgium held on to a precious win to take an early lead at the top of Group F.

Alderweireld said: We didn t play our best game, but we fought hard, especially in the second half and it s better to improve things with three points in the bag than no points.

We weren t good enough on the ball, we…

England kept up their 100 per cent record in World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 win over Andorra at Wembley on Sunday.

Gareth Southgate made 11 changes to the team that won in Hungary by the same scoreline, with Trent Alexander-Arnold starting in midfield and Patrick Bamford handed a full debut in attack.

Jesse Lingard broke the deadlock after 18 minutes but it was not until the final quarter of the game that the Euro 2020 finalists at last pulled clear on the scoresheet, Harry Kane scoring a penalty before Lingard prodded home a clever second.

Bukayo Saka headed in a late fourth from Lingard s cross after England caught Andorra napping with a quick corner.

Lingard, who has only played four minutes for Manchester United this season, was in the mood to impres…

Fulham manager Martin Jol is unsure over the future of club captain Brede Hangeland, revealing contract talks have been ongoing for six months.

The 31-year-old defender is yet to agree terms with the club he joined in 2008, meaning Jol may have to consider any bids that are made for him should they come during January s transfer window.

Amid speculation that Fulham may be forced to sell a number of star players after the current campaign, Jol suggested it could only be the Norway centre-back who departs.

Our culture is that we always like to keep the players we want to keep, Jol told Sky Sports. I don t know where the story that our star players are going is coming from.

Brede is the only problem, but we ve been talking to him for the last five or six …

Chelsea have ruled out the possibility of Avram Grant returning to Stamford Bridge to assist interim manager Rafael Benitez.

Former Chelsea manager Grant, who guided the club to a Champions League final in 2008, was rumoured to be lined up to aid the Spaniard in a consultative role.

But despite having gone three games without a victory under Benitez, the club have denied reports linking Grant with a return.

There is no truth in reports that Avram Grant will be returning to the club, a Chelsea spokesman said on Monday.

Grant, who had spells in charge of Portsmouth and West Ham United after leaving Chelsea, has been out of management since resigning from his role at Partizan Belgrade in May.

…

Champions Manchester City will be heavy favourites when they host struggling Reading in the English Premier League on Saturday.

After a last-minute 3-2 defeat to arch-rivals Manchester United, the defending champions responded in style last weekend, accounting for Newcastle 3-1 at St James Park.

Roberto Mancini s men were back to their free-flowing best, with Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure pulling the strings in a sublime performance which also yielded a goal.

The dominant victory ended a two-game winless run for City and showed just why they were crowned champions last season.

And while their unbeaten record at Etihad Stadium came to an end against United, City are well poised to run out winners in front of their home crowd.

Saturday s oppone…

San Lorenzo have announced they are no longer in the running to sign Newcastle captain Fabricio Coloccini this month.

Coloccini had been heavily linked with a move back to Argentina after requesting a transfer for personal reasons, but now looks poised to remain at St James Park.

San Lorenzo posted on their club Twitter page: Finally, after long negotiations, we announced that Fabricio Coloccini not join the squad.

It was not possible to release the Newcastle player and therefore the club will look for another alternative to strengthen the defence.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew had previously maintained hope club captain Coloccini would stay, and the news of San Lorenzo ending their interest will come as a boost for the English Premier League outfit as…