Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta is hoping to put an injury-ravaged first half of the season behind him in 2016.
The Argentina full-back missed the first two months of the season after sustaining knee ligament damage during training and suffered a recurrence of the problem during October s 5-1 League Cup win over Crystal Palace.
Zabaleta was an unused substitute for Tuesday s goalless draw at high-flying Leicester City and feels he is back up to speed physically ahead of Saturday s trip to Watford.
The knee feels really good and I ve felt great in training over the past few days, he told City s official website.
I started full training again a few days before the Sunderland game [on December 26] so it was too soon to return because I neede…
Best odds: 4/5
Bookmaker:
The qualifications for next season s Champions League have reached their second round, and the teams that successfully passed through the first are hoping to hear their names drawn for the group stage. But there is a long way to go yet and most of them won t be there.
Over in Bulgaria, Ludogorets are preparing to take on Shamrock Rovers at the Huvepharma Arena in Razgrad, in what will be the first leg of a double feature as they battle on to reach the next phase.
Ludogorets Razgrad
Ludogorets won the title in the Bulgarian First League in 2021/22 ahead of CSKA Sofia by a margin of 21 points, obviously in vast comfort. The 2022/23 has already begun there, with two rounds played, and Ante Simundza s men lead the way again with a …
Oleksandr Zinchenko has completed his transfer from Manchester City to Arsenal, with the Ukraine international signing a long-term deal at Emirates Stadium.
The versatile 25-year-old follows former City team-mate Gabriel Jesus in making the move from Pep Guardiola s Premier League champions to join former City assistant boss Mikel Arteta in north London.
Zinchenko s arrival is the latest major piece of business for Arsenal, as the club look to find the missing pieces of the puzzle following a resurgent 2021-22 campaign. He is thought to have signed up until the end of the 2025-26 season, with Arsenal reportedly paying an initial £30million, and £2million in potential add-ons.
The Gunners fell painfully short of a top-four finish and Champions League footba…
Hugo Broos takes on his first assignment with the Cameroon national team with an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying double header against floundering South Africa.
Former Club Brugge and Anderlecht boss Broos was the surprise choice to replace the sacked Volker Finke last month and inherits a team sitting top of qualifying Group M after two matches.
Victories over Mauritania and Gambia in their opening games have put Cameroon in the box seat to reach the 2017 tournament in Gabon and Broos is encouraged by his early impressions of the squad.
My first contact with the team has been good, he told a news conference.
The difficulty now will be remembering the names and faces of the players! I met with the group and there are no additional injuries.
…
Debutants Sadio Mane and Matthijs de Ligt both scored in their first friendly appearance for their new club as Bayern Munich defeated DC United 6-2 on Wednesday.
Mane, fresh off his move away from Liverpool, did not have to wait long to open his account, stepping up to the penalty spot after Lucas Copado was brought down less than five minutes into the action.
He made no mistake from the spot, hammering his penalty into the left side of the goal to give Bayern a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute.
Marcel Sabitzer doubled the advantage in the 12th minute with a strike from the top of the box that wrong-footed the DC goalkeeper, and Serge Gnabry made it 3-0 at the break when he got on the end of a Mane assist in the 44th minute.
Bayern subbed on an entirely diffe…
Verdict: Half-Time/Full-Time Home Win
Best Odds:
Bookmaker:
It’s the second meeting of the London rivals in a week’s time with Arsenal and West Ham locking horns in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup at the Emirates Stadium.
Gunners are hoping to land their first semi-final of the competition since 2011 but rejuvenated West Ham will definitely prove a tough test for Arsene Wenger’s men.
Arsenal
Having suffered a morale-blowing defeat to Manchester United, the north London giants got back up to their feet with a four-match win without a defeat. Despite the positive run, though, things have not been that great for the Gunners who were forced to settle for back-to-back away stalemates against Southampton and their next rivals, West Ham.
Senegal failed to take advantage of their apparent superiority against Guinea as they were held to a 0-0 draw at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Lions of Teranga reached the final of the 2019 tournament but are still awaiting their first AFCON title and better attacking play will be required for them to do so on the evidence of this Group B encounter.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was left to rue the absence of Senegal s Sadio Mane and Guinea s Naby Keita, as well as Mohamed Salah of Egypt, in their 0-0 EFL Cup draw with Arsenal on Thursday. But neither Mane nor Keita could provide the moment of magic to break the deadlock in Bafoussam, though it was not for lack of trying.
Guinea, for whom Keita played a game-high 18 passes in the opposition half, should have ta…
Argentina midfielder Giovani Lo Celso has joined Villarreal on loan from Tottenham until the end of the season, with the Yellow Submarine having an option to buy.
The 25-year-old has struggled for game time in the 2021-22 campaign, having only made nine appearances in the Premier League, and only three substitute appearances in the league since the appointment of manager Antonio Conte.
With the deadline-day arrival of Rodrigo Bentancur from Juventus adding even more competition for places, Lo Celso will spend the rest of the season in Spain to try to rediscover the form that saw Spurs spend big money to bring him to the club from Real Betis in 2019.
Lo Celso has scored eight goals in 86 appearances for Spurs and was a part of the Argentina squad that won last ye…
Former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry has targeted Champions League glory with Bayern Munich after coming through an up-and-down spell in English football.
The 24-year-old was named Bayern s Player of the Year last season after playing a part in 15 Bundesliga goals.
That is in stark contrast to the form he showed during his time at Arsenal when restricted to 18 appearances in five years at the Emirates Stadium.
Gnabry also struggled to make an impact on loan with West Brom in 2015-16, but he is grateful for the opportunities given to him.
— Serge Gnabry (@SergeGnabry)
Joining Arsenal may have been an extraordinary step for some, but not for me, he told DAZN.
If a club like Arsenal makes you an offer and says it wants you in …
Wolves’ stunning late show rocked Tottenham and denied Spurs the chance to return to the top of the Premier League.
Pablo Sarabia and Mario Lemina scored in stoppage time to snatch a thrilling – but deserved – 2-1 victory.
Brennan Johnson’s early strike – his first Spurs goal – had given the visitors the lead and they looked on course for a smash-and-grab win at Molineux.
Tottenham rode their luck as Wolves constantly let them off the hook until Sarabia and Lemina sparked a sensational finish.
Pablo Sarabia s afternoon at Molineux:
87 Substituted on 90+1 Scores the equaliser 90+7 Assists the winner
Impact.
— Premier League (@premierleague)
They were heading two points clear at the top of the table but have …