William Saliba thinks team-mate Martin Odegaard is “top three” in the world in his position with the Arsenal squad “happy to have him back” after injury.

The Norway international missed two months of club football earlier this season after picking up an injury on international duty with his country.

Odegaard didn’t play for Arsenal between their 1-1 draw against Brighton on August 31 and the Gunners’ 1-0 loss to Inter Milan in the Champions League on November 6.
The Arsenal midfielder’s absence coincided with the Gunners dropping down the Premier League table to fourth as Mikel Arteta’s side picked up one point from matches against Bournemouth, Liverpool and Newcastle.

Arsenal appeared to be back to their brilliant best over the past couple of matches with a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the Premier League backed up by a 5-1 victory over Sporting CP in the Champions League.

Saliba told Arsenal’s official website: “I think we had two or three weeks before the international break when it was really tough, but now, we get back and we play two really good games.
“But it’s not enough, we have to keep going like this and we have a big game on Saturday.

“But it’s good, it’s good for the confidence that we won today and let’s keep going like this.

“The coach always told us to believe because we are a really good team. We had some bad times, but now better times are coming so we have to stick together and keep going like that.”

midfielder’s injury, Saliba added: “I think he’s one of the best midfielders in the world and we are so happy to have him back. We are better with him so I hope he won’t get injured again. Of course, we have to enjoy playing with him. We can see since he’s back we are better.

“He’s top three [in the world]. I don’t want to put too much pressure on him but I think top three. I love this guy.

“He worked hard at the training ground so I’m not surprised that he came back like this but of course, it’s not easy when you haven’t played for four weeks to come back at this level. I’m not in shock, he’s a top professional.”

On making his 100th appearance for Arsenal, Saliba responded: “I’m very proud. I hope I will have more games with this amazing club.
“I have to keep going but of course 100 games here is amazing.”

Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski converted a first-half penalty kick to become the third player to score 100 goals in the Champions League, behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Lewandowski calmly sent a low shot into the net from the penalty spot in the 10th minute to give Barcelona a 1-0 lead against Brest on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT). The striker trails the 129 goals of Messi and the 141 of Ronaldo, according to UEFA. Lewandowski needed 125 games to reach his milestone – two more games than Messi and 12 fewer than Ronaldo.

It was Lewandowski’s sixth Champions League goal this season, and he added his seventh in the 92nd minute of Barcelona’s 3-0 win. This is the ninth season in which the Poland striker has scored six or more Champions League goals. The 36-year-old Lewandowski is having a standout campaign, having now scored 22 goals for Barcelona in 19 appearances.

The latest Liverpool news as Man City were pegged back by the Dutch side in a 3-3 draw ahead of the weekend’s Premier League meeting. Liverpool’s Premier League title rivals Manchester City had a night to forget in a dramatic end to their Champions League clash against Feyenoord, as their winless run continued.

Going into the game, Pep Guardiola’s men were looking to bounce back from five defeats in a row in all competitions. The latest was a shock 4-0 home defeat against Tottenham at the weekend. Things looked to have turned around when Man City hosted Feyernoord. Two goals from Erling Haaland and another from Ilkay Gundogan gave them a comfortable 3-0 lead in the 53rd minute.

They held that advantage until the 75th minute when Anis Hadj-Moussa pulled a goal back for the Dutch team. Things got more nervy for City when Santiago Gomez scored another to make it 3-2 with eight minutes left to play. The comeback was complete for Feyenoord in the 89th minute with David Hancko sparking scenes in the away end with his goal. The draw means that City are now winless in six games, going into the weekend’s Premier League clash against Liverpool.

In the closing stages of the match, while Feyenoord were seeing the draw out, the away fans sang Liverpool’s iconic song ‘you’ll never walk alone’ in support of their team. While the song is associated with Liverpool is is also sang by Feyenoord fans on a regular basis.

Videos also show the travelling fans showing appreciation for their former now Liverpool manager Arne Slot, with chants of ‘Arne Slot La La La’. The Dutchman left the Eredivisie club to manage Liverpool in the summer.

The trio caused Pep Guardiola’s side numerous problems and all played their part in an impressive 2-0 win. But that didn’t happen often enough and, despite boasting such huge names in their forward line, it never brought PSG Champions League success.

The Galacticos are now gone, with PSG having this summer pursued a new identity based around youth and utilising their own academy rather than buying expensive superstars. But, despite that, the wait for a maiden Champions League win is under threat of being extended for another season. They have won only one of their four games in the competition this term and face a daunting task of trying to record their second win at Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

Mbappe left PSG in the summer to join Real Madrid, marking the end of the era of the Galacticos.

The French side have long dominated their domestic league but even having an array of star-studded talent in their team did not bring success in Europe.

That in part was down to Messi, Neymar and Mbappe not always being available to play together and, when they were, it didn’t click as often as hoped.

The club are now hoping a change in identity will bring them the success in Europe that has eluded them.

That change has been to focus on youth and, in their season opener against Le Havre, they started three teenagers – Ibrahim Mbaye, 16, Warren Zaire-Emery, 18, and Yoram Zague, 18 – and only two players over 25. In the league it is 22-year-old Bradley Barcola who has stepped up in Mbappe’s absence, with the forward having scored 10 goals in 12 games to sit top of the scoring charts.

He has yet to carry that form into the Champions League, however, with no goals in his four European appearances this term. Mbappe is undoubtedly a huge loss to PSG in terms of goals, having scored 256 of them in 308 appearances across all competitions in his six years at the club. France and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry said earlier this season that without Mbappe PSG have lost a bit of “magic” but they now have more stability.

There is still plenty of time for results to improve for PSG in Europe and for them to do enough to progress beyond the League phase of the Champions League.

For that to happen, however, they need to start finishing the chances they create but their remaining fixtures will give them hope of doing what is required. After Bayern Munich on Tuesday they have away trips to RB Salzburg and Stuttgart and a home game against an out-of-sorts Manchester City.

They have five points to make up from those remaining fixtures to have a chance of finishing in the top eight, but if they fail to manage that then finishing between ninth and 24th will send them into a two-legged play-off to secure a place in the knockouts.

Napoli fans and club officials paid tribute to Diego Maradona on the fourth anniversary of his death, flocking to murals of the Argentina great around the city on Monday,25th November 2024.

Napoli coach Antonio Conte, captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo and president Aurelio De Laurentiis laid flowers at two of the murals, while fans gathered below the huge mural of Maradona in the Quartieri Spagnoli that acts as an unofficial museum to Maradona.

Fans chanted Maradona’s name and lit smoke in the blue color of the shirt Maradona wore both with Napoli and Argentina.

Maradona died at 60 on Nov. 25, 2020 of a heart attack, two weeks after being released from a hospital in Buenos Aires following brain surgery.

He led Napoli to its first two Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990 and the club’s stadium was renamed Stadio Diego Armando Maradona upon his death.

Napoli won its third Italian league title in 2023 and again leads Serie A this season.

Cristiano Ronaldo netted a pair of goals in Al Nassr’s Asian Champions League win over Al Gharafa at Al-Bayt Stadium on Monday.

Ronaldo was a frustrated figure in the opening 45 minutes, but headed in the opener inside the first minute of the second half to send his side on their way to victory.

Angelo Gabriel rounded goalkeeper Sergio Rico to score the second 12 minutes later and Ronaldo hit the third in the 64th minute as Al Nassr move onto 13 points from their opening five games despite Joselu’s late consolation for the home side.

Al Nassr will aim to extend their winning run when they face Qatari side Al Sadd next Tuesday, while Al Gharafa take on Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia.

Former Brentford striker Ivan Toney came off the bench to score twice and earn Al Ahli a 2-1 win over Al-Ain on Monday that moves the Saudi side into the knockout rounds and leaves the defending champions in danger of missing out on the round of 16.

Toney replaced Feras Al-Brikan in the 65th minute at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium and hit both his goals in a four-minute spell to give Al Ahli a fifth win in a row in the competition and guarantee their place in the next phase.

Teams finishing in the top eight in the 12-team leagues in west and east Asia progress to the knockout rounds in March and Al Ahli have confirmed their place with three games remaining in the league phase.

Toney broke the deadlock with 20 minutes remaining when he headed Riyad Mahrez’s free kick past Khalid Eisa and, four minutes later, he doubled the advantage when he combined again with the former Manchester City winger to slide in the second.

Defending champions Al-Ain had picked up only one point from four games prior to hosting Al Ahli on Monday and Alejandro Romero’s goal three minutes into injury time gave new coach Leonardo Jardim and his team hope of a late comeback.

But Al Ahli held on to move to the top of the western standings, three points ahead of compatriots Al Hilal, who face Qatar’s Al-Sadd on Tuesday, while Al-Ain remain rooted to the bottom on a solitary point with three games remaining.

Real Madrid will be without several players through injury when they face Liverpool in the Champions League. The Reds will host the La Liga giants in their next league phase fixture of the competition at Anfield on Wednesday night.

Victories against AC Milan, Bologna, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen has seen Liverpool climb to the top of the Champions League standings, and they are the only club still with a 100 percent record in the competition. Real Madrid will travel to Anfield, having lost two of their four games so far.

Arne Slot has been forced to deal with several injury concerns in his first season as Liverpool’s new head coach. Sunday saw five Reds’ players miss the 3-2 win over Southampton with injury, and it remains to be seen if any will return to the matchday squad in time to face Madrid.

Alisson Becker is closing in on a return to action after being sidelined with a hamstring injury since the start of October. Federico Chiesa and Trent Alexander-Arnold have been stepping up their return to training, too, but it remains to be seen if either of the duo will be available to face Madrid.

Diogo Jota is not expected to be available, though, as he continues to recover from a rib injury he suffered last month. Kostas Tsimikas missed the win over Southampton with a knock, with Slot expected to give a full injury update when he speaks to reporters on Tuesday.

Madrid also have several injury concerns as manager Carlo Ancelotti was handed a major blow on Monday. Vinicius Jr. is expected to be sidelined for up to three weeks with a hamstring injury he suffered in the win over Leganes at the weekend in La Liga.

Rodrygo and Lucas Vazquez have been sidelined for injury since the start of the month, but Vazquez has recovered in time to feature in the squad that will travel to Merseyside. Aurelien Tchouameni could return to the squad to face Liverpool after suffering an ankle injury, with Ancelotti expected to give an update on the former Reds transfer target this week.

Three players who are guaranteed to miss the clash against Liverpool are David Alaba, Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal. Militao and Carvajal are ruled out for the remainder of the season with knee injuries, while Alaba is yet to return from an ACL injury he suffered in December last year.

Is the Premier League title race almost over?

Liverpool’s win against Southampton on Sunday moved them eight points clear in top spot.

Only once has a team had a bigger lead after 12 games and that was Manchester United. Clear by nine, they went on to win the title in the 1993-94 season. Two other teams have led by eight points at this stage – Manchester City in 2017-18 and Liverpool in 2019-20 – and both were also crowned champions.

Liverpool’s haul of 31 points from the opening 12 matches has only been equalled or bettered 10 times in Premier League history. Eight of those clubs went on to win the title, with only Arsenal in 2022-23 and Newcastle in 1995-96 not celebrating at the end of the season after such an impressive start. There are more good signs for Liverpool as they bid to end Manchester City’s run of four successive title triumphs. Never before has a team lost five matches in a row – City’s current run – and become champions.

If Arne Slot’s side beat City at Anfield on Sunday, they would be 11 points clear of the holders – a deficit of that size has only been clawed back three times in the Premier League.

Title race over then right? Not necessarily. Has Liverpool’s start to the season been relatively favourable? Opta have calculated the Reds had the sixth easiest first 10 fixtures out of any of the Premier League sides. City’s start though was ranked as the fifth easiest, with the Gunners at the other end of the scale with the seventh toughest fixtures.

The lowest points tally a team had after 12 games but still went on to win the title was Manchester United with 19 in 1997. Pep Guardiola’s men lifted the crown in 2021 from having just 20 points at this stage. Four teams below Liverpool this season have more than that tally.

City and Arsenal – eight and nine points behind respectively – would also rightly highlight there are still 26 matches left to play and bigger leads have been lost before.

We look at the biggest deficits to have been clawed back by Premier League winners.

Miguel Almiron’s agent has been a busy man over the international break, with Daniel Campos back speaking to the press about Miggy’s future following his goal-scoring performance against Bolivia on Tuesday night.

Previous rumours have linked the Paraguayan with clubs in the Premier League, MLS, and the Saudi Pro League, but the latest side tipped to pursue the South American are River Plate; the Argentinian giants the 30-year-old supported as a boy.

However, Campos has sent a warning to anyone looking to pursue Almiron in 2025, insisting a ‘significant offer’ that matches his wages on Newcastle must be met; otherwise he’ll remain on Tyneside ‘for a while yet.’

Campos said: “He has another two and a half years on his contract with Newcastle United. Unless another club makes a significant offer, with equivalent wages, he will stay on Tyneside for a while yet.”

Reportedly on £60,000 per week here at Newcastle, Almiron’s wages make him almost instantly unaffordable for the likes of River Plate, whose current highest earner is believed to be Manuel Lanzini on roughly £45,000 per week.

And if a move to MLS were to come to fruition, Miggy would also shoot towards the top of salary earners in the competition, highlighting a big flaw in his agent’s exit plan if he hopes to secure a move on similar money.

With his contract not set to end until the summer of 2027, Almiron is facing some big decisions. Does he stick around and continue to earn good money while struggling for game time, or take a pay-cut elsewhere to get his playing career back on track?

Leicester City have sacked manager Steve Cooper with the club 16th in the Premier League after 12 games.

The Foxes were beaten 2-1 by a Chelsea side managed by former boss Enzo Maresca on Saturday – a defeat which left them two points above the relegation zone.

Cooper took over from Maresca in the summer after the Italian had led Leicester to the 2023-24 Championship title and promotion back into the Premier League.

“Men’s first team training will be overseen by first team coach Ben Dawson, supported by coaches Danny Alcock and Andy Hughes, as the club begins the process of appointing a new manager, which we hope to conclude as soon as possible,” said a Leicester statement.

Assistant manager Alan Tate and first-team coach and analyst Steve Rands have also left the club.

The defeat by Chelsea was Leicester’s sixth in the top flight this season and, afterwards, Cooper was critical of referee Andrew Madley’s performance in the game.

He is the second manager to be sacked in the Premier League this season following Manchester United parting company with Erik ten Hag in October.

Cooper took over at Leicester following a stint in charge at Nottingham Forest, who sacked him in December 2023.

The 44-year-old guided Forest to promotion into the top flight in 2022 and, after having kept them in the division the following season, he was dismissed midway through 2023-24 with the club in 17th spot.

Cooper, who guided England’s Under-17s to victory at the 2017 World Cup, also had a two-year spell in charge of Swansea, taking them to the Championship play-off final in 2021 where they lost to Brentford.

It’s remarkable to think that, just six months ago, there was talk that Chelsea were attempting a cash plus Nicolas Jackson swap deal for Newcastle striker Alexander Isak. No deal materialised and, although Isak remains impactful on Tyneside, Chelsea have their own star in 23-year-old Jackson, who was the driving force behind the 2-1 victory at Leicester City.

The Senegal forward opened the scoring in the 15th minute and set up in Enzo Fernandez’s second-half goal. Last season, despite Jackson scoring 17 goals in 44 games – more than legendary Didier Drogba in his maiden season at the club – there was talk that Chelsea needed to sign a striker to compete at the highest level.

“Somebody will have to tell me what Nicolas Jackson does,” said ESPN pundit Craig Burley about Jackson last season. “He’s clearly not good enough to play as a headline striker in the Premier League.” Jackson wasted a lot of chances and had a poor disciplinary record in his first season, but he is now repaying the faith and the conversation has changed.

Former Blues striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, speaking on the BBC’s Planet Football podcast, placed Jackson alongside Erling Haaland, Ollie Watkins and Isak in his top four strikers in the league. On TNT Sport’s coverage of the early kick-off, Joe Cole said Jackson is “at the height of his game”. Jackson is now growing into a striker capable of becoming a match winner when talisman Cole Palmer has an off day, as he did at Leicester after suffering a heavy early challenge from Wilfred Ndidi.

His goal against Leicester had a touch of Drogba to it as he outbattled defender Wout Faes before a nice touch and finish opened the scoring. Jackson’s relentless work-rate helped Chelsea win possession high up the pitch through his pressing, creating a chance that was squandered for Noni Madueke and one that was taken by Fernandez.

But the biggest difference for Jackson is consistency in recent months:

– Only Haaland has scored more league goals (18) than Jackson (11) since May.

– Jackson has been involved in 18 goals (12 goals, six assists) in his past 20 league matches.

– Since arriving in England, only Haaland and Watkins have scored more non-penalty goals than Jackson.

Football statisticians Opta have given Chelsea a 55.9 percent chance of finishing in the Premier League top four and a 75.8 percent chance of a top-five finish. The opens up the possibility of Champions League qualification for the first time under the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital ownership.

Spending well over £1billion across five transfer windows has seen the club face criticism but many of the players Chelsea signed are now paying dividends. Leicester manager Steve Cooper mentioned how Chelsea had an enviable depth of talent, despite potential starters Malo Gusto and Pedro Neto pulling out shortly before kick-off.

Chelsea can often play one line-up in the league and another in cup competitions, and they are up to third on 22 points, level with Arsenal and Brighton in fourth and fifth. Maresca’s side have put themselves in a good position after 12 games to qualify for the Champions League and they can also keep half an eye on the title race, sitting just six points behind leaders Liverpool, with chasers Manchester City and Arsenal having faltered at times this season.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola looked back on the stunning 4-0 home defeat by Tottenham and delivered a simple truth.

“We have to accept the reality and break it,” he said.

Given he began his post-match news conference by saying “when you lose 4-0 there is not much to say” before offering his congratulations to Spurs on their biggest away win at City, Guardiola then spent quite a bit of time talking about it.

How, after so much success over such a long period of time, “a dip” was inevitable. How “little details” were the cause of major problems, due in part, but not exclusively, to the number of injuries his side are struggling to cope with.

How his belief in the players has not been shaken because of all they have achieved for him.

But also how he will not ignore the reality of five successive defeats, something he has never experienced as a manager and City as a club last went through in 2006, when Stuart Pearce was in charge.

Nether can he ignore that Liverpool would move eight points clear with a win at Southampton on Sunday – with a meeting with City at Anfield next up.

“In eight years we never lived this. I knew sooner or later we would drop. I never expected to lose three Premier League games in a row but we have been incredibly consistent again and again and again. Now we cannot deny the reality that sometimes happens in football and life is here.”