West Ham United eye Watford striker Troy Deeney

Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic would be delighted to see team-mate Aleix Vidal join Sevilla during the transfer window.

The 28-year-old has been tipped to move back to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on loan, with reports in Spain suggesting there will be a compulsory purchase option of €10million included in the deal.

Rakitic, who won the Europa League with Sevilla in 2014 before joining Barca, believes Vidal would be making a shrewd move if he returns to the Andalusian club.

​ If he decides to go to Sevilla then, as a team-mate and a Sevillista, I would that like very much, he said following Barca s 3-0 LaLiga win over Levante on Sunday.

I wish him all the best. He already knows them very well, he is a player of the highest quality and Sevilla are am…

Arsenal s Granit Xhaka has tested positive for coronavirus while on international duty with Switzerland.

The Swiss team confirmed on Wednesday that the midfielder – who was sent off in Arsenal s 5-0 hammering at the hands of Manchester City last weekend – was in isolation after returning a positive PCR test result.

Xhaka, who is Switzerland s captain, showed symptoms early on Wednesday, ahead of his country s friendly against Greece,

An initial test came back negative, but a subsequent PCR test confirmed a positive result. Xhaka will have another test on Thursday.

It was confirmed he had no contact with his team-mates throughout Wednesday and the team doctor deemed no further measures had to be taken as all the other players were either all vaccinated…

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has warned Manchester United there must be no repeat of the debacle against Tottenham when old foes Arsenal visit Old Trafford on Sunday.

The transformation in United from the start of the month to their current state appears to have been remarkable, with the 6-1 home loss to Spurs preceding impressive wins over Newcastle United, Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig, plus a draw with Chelsea.

That thumping by Jose Mourinho s side was also followed by United dipping into the transfer market and bringing Edinson Cavani, Alex Telles and Facundo Pellistri to the club, leaving Solskjaer delighted with the depth of his squad.

After being humiliated by one team from north London at the start of October, Solskjaer is confident United can begin November…

What the papers say

Crystal Palace are reportedly unhappy with Chelsea over “tapping up” concerns during their pursuit of Michael Olise, according to the Daily Mail. Chelsea are looking to sign the 21-year-old attacking midfielder for £35million after activating a release clause but the Mail report that the Eagles are concerned over the way the approach for their player has been handled.

West Ham’s deal to sign former Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has reportedly fallen through after the club became tired of waiting for the defender to agree on the move to the club, the Guardian reports.

The Daily Mail says Liverpool are widening their hunt for a defensive midfielder with the club identifying six players including Joao Palhinha and Cheick Doucoure.

…

Mauricio Pochettino blasted stupid rumours as speculation continues over his future at Chelsea.

Pochettino oversaw a 2-0 win over former employers Tottenham on Thursday, becoming the first manager to complete a Premier League double after previously managing them in the competition.

Yet a longer-term view on the plans under Pochettino remain unclear, with reports linking Julian Nagelsmann, Hansi Flick and Roberto De Zerbi to Stamford Bridge should the Chelsea manager be moved on.

That comes after another heavy-spending season under the Todd Boehly-led ownership at Chelsea, who splashed once more on the likes of Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku.

Cole Palmer, Axel Disasi and Nicolas Jackson were among the other arrivals amid another chaoti…

Milan s disappointing campaign has put Stefano Pioli under scrutiny but his full concentration remains on a positive end to the season.

The Rossoneri are second in Serie A but 19 points adrift of champions Inter, and their fans suffered witnessing their fierce rivals secure the Scudetto in the recent derby win at San Siro.

That has only increased media reports about Pioli s dismissal once the season ends, with fans also protesting at the situation Milan face.

My task shouldn t be complicated, there are four games left, Pioli told a press conference before Sunday s home game against Genoa.

It s true that outside they talk about everything except the games, but not us. We have a great sense of responsibility. Then we ll see what the future is at the end o…

Best Odds: 8/11

Bookmaker:

With a spot in the final of this season’s Europa Conference League up for grabs on Wednesday evening, Fiorentina will make the trip to Club Brugge for their second-leg battle.

Club Brugge

Starting with the hosts, while Club Brugge might have eventually fallen to an action-packed 3-2 loss over in Tuscany last week, the Belgium giants should be fancying their chances of completing a famous turnaround here. Making an immediate return to winning ways over the weekend and picking up some perfect momentum as they clinched a 2-1 victory away at Antwerp, Nicky Hayen’s men are also leading the chase to reclaim their domestic crown over the next few weeks. Riding what has been an extended wave of momentum, Club Brugge have won eight of thei…

Mainz face the unenviable task of trying to prevent Bayern Munich from securing their best start to a league season when they welcome the Bundesliga champions to the Coface Arena on Saturday.

Bayern have won eight on the spin in all competitions since being beaten in the German Super Cup by Wolfsburg, a defeat they avenged in some style in midweek with a 5-1 trouncing at the Allianz Arena.

Robert Lewandowski stole the headlines on the night by bagging all five goals in the space of just nine minutes and there appears to be yet more good news on the horizon for Bayern fans, with Pep Guardiola reportedly poised to sign a contract extension with the Bavarian giants in the very near future.

Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is confident that the in-dema…

The German Football Federation (DFB) has slammed allegations of bribery during the bidding process for the 2006 World Cup as baseless .

A report in Der Spiegel on Friday claimed that a slush fund provided by former Adidas chief Robert Louis-Dreyfus totalling close to $6million had been established by Germany s World Cup bidding committee, intended to secure votes in their favour.

Iconic former defender Franz Beckenbauer who led the bid committee and current DFB chief Wolfgang Niersbach were aware of the fund, the report also alleges.

The DFB confirmed earlier on Friday that they had launched an internal investigation into the matter, which found no sign whatsoever that votes had been bought and made it clear that the payment was not related to the World Cup bid.<…

Chelsea took full advantage of Tottenham s shock defeat to West Brom by grinding out a hard-fought 1-0 win over Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, closing to within two points of the Champions League places.

Antonio Conte s men had appeared almost out of the running for Ch
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ampions League football until recently, but Olivier Giroud s first-half header secured them a fourth successive top-flight win and they go into the final two games of the season within striking distance of Spurs.

Liverpool actually looked the brighter of the two sides for most of the first half, with Sadio Mane producing three decent efforts before the half-hour mark passed.

But the hosts were simply more clinical, as Giroud headed in one of Chelsea s few opportunities in the 32nd minute,…