Barcelona midfielder Nico completes Valencia loan move

Leandro Trossard played a starring role as Premier League leaders Arsenal restored their five-point lead at the summit with a 3-0 victory over Fulham.

The Belgium international claimed a hat-trick of assists at Craven Cottage, with Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all profiting.

Mikel Arteta s side subsequently became the first side in the history of English league football to win five successive away London derbies without conceding a single goal.

Arsenal, who welcomed Gabriel Jesus back from injury, also made it five straight Premier League victories in all as they took another step towards the title.

The Gunners thought they had taken the lead when Antonee Robinson put through his own net in the 16th minute, but the VAR ruled M…

Paris Saint-Germain have completed their second signing of the day, bringing in defender Thomas Meunier on a four-year-deal from Club Brugge.

The Ligue 1 champions had earlier announced the capture of midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak from Sevilla, and Meunier follows him in making the move to Parc des Princes, signing until the end of the 2019-20 season.

Right-back Meunier impressed at Euro 2016 for Belgium, who were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Wales on Friday.

The 24-year-old had been linked with Napoli, but it is PSG who have sealed his signature, having also brought in Hatem Ben Arfa in addition to recruiting Krychowiak.

Proud to announce my transfer to ! A new step, a new adventure!

— Thomas Meunier (@ThomMills)

I am ver…

Premier League target Lucas Alario said he watches every Barcelona game to learn from Luis Suarez as he looks to complete a move abroad. 

The 23-year-old River Plate striker has been heavily linked with a move to Tottenham to work under fellow Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino, while Liverpool are also reportedly keeping tabs on him.

Alario has been in fine form since joining River from Colon in 2015, scoring a goal almost every second game for the Argentine giants. 

The centre forward found the net in River s 3-0 aggregate win over Tigres UANL in the 2015 Copa Libertadores final, which sealed their spot in the Club World Cup later in the year. 

It was there Alario was exposed to the genius of Barca striker Suarez, who scored a hat-trick as the Catalan s…

Manchester City cannot afford to put a foot wrong in the latter stages of the season if they have any hope of retaining the Premier League title.

Starting with Newcastle on Saturday, Roberto Mancini s men must embark on a faultless winning streak and hope Manchester United choke on their seemingly unassailable 15-point lead.

As unlikely as that may seem, Mancini will have his own personal ambitions at the forefront with the very real possibility he may not be at the Etihad next season.

City were woeful last time out in a 2-0 loss to Everton at Goodison Park and, realistically, will be eyeing a chance at silverware in the FA Cup final against either Chelsea or United, rather than any league ambitions.

Mancini will be hoping Sergio Aguero and skipper Vincen…

Swansea have announced on their official website that they have signed midfielder Jonathan De Guzman on a season-long loan from Villarreal.

The highly rated midfielder thus became the second addition to the squad since the arrival of coach Michael Laudrup, after defender Jose Manuel Flores joined the club from Genoa.

The 24-year-old will now be reunited with the Danish manager, after the pair worked together during the 2010/2011 season at Mallorca.

The Canadian-born player was delighted to join a club that have largely impressed in the Premier League last season.

“I watched Premier League football every week on the TV last season. I was aware that Swansea are a good footballing side, but they really caught my eye when they beat Manchester City,” the …

Makeshift centre-back Fernandinho denied his move from midfield to defence was the reason for Manchester City s mediocre run of results.

Pep Guardiola s men have drawn or lost three of their past five Premier League matches and sit 17 points adrift of leaders Liverpool going into Sunday s away game against Arsenal. 

The decision not to replace Vincent Kompany has created headaches, particularly after Aymeric Laporte underwent knee surgery in September.

Fernandinho, 34, was forced to vacate his natural role at the base of midfield to plug the hole in central defence.

But the Brazilian insisted the change had not been a major issue, despite City s failure to keep a clean sheet in 10 matches across all competitions.

The job you do at the back is so…

Ben Mee has signed a new three-year contract at Premier League newcomers Burnley.

The defender, who can play at either centre-half or left-back, moved to Turf Moor permanently from Manchester City in 2012 after a productive loan spell.

Mee played a key role in Burnley s promotion from the Championship in 2013-14, making 38 league appearances as Sean Dyche s men ended the campaign with the best defensive record in the division.

With his previous deal having been set to expire at the end of the upcoming season, the club announced on Wednesday that the 24-year-old had agreed new terms.

I m absolutely delighted to sign for another three years here, he told Burnley s official website.

I ve enjoyed my time so far and hopefully we can have many more se…

The 2014 World Cup winners struggled to find their pace in a goalless stalemate against Poland last time out and Die Mannschaft will be eager to get back to winning ways as they prepare to go head to head against Northern Ireland in Group C.

Michael O’Neill’s men are guaranteed a third-placed finish as they have managed to beat Ukraine and should they manage a win against one of the tournament’s favourites a place in the knockouts would be secured much to the amazement of the world football.

Northern Ireland are still heavy underdogs in this fixture and BEtfair has prepared a nice little new customer special of 4/1 on Germany to record a win in tonight’s clash. This limited time offer expires at 17:00 and all you have to do is to using promo code ZFBCGM to claim…

Germany coach Joachim Loew is to crack the whip as he bids to get his men shipshape for the resumption of his team s World Cup qualifying campaign.

Die Mannschaft are currently looking strong in European qualifying Group Four with ten points from their opening four fixtures to open up a four-point gap over Russia and Wales.

But Loew indicated Tuesday he would be putting his squad, who face Norway in a friendly international on Wednesday, through their paces to glean up-to-date data on their sprint and endurance capacity.

Loew wants to have the information available ahead of upcoming qualifiers against Liechtenstein in Leipzig on March 28 and Wales on April 1 in Cardiff.

In the meantime, he explained he had picked Norway as Wednesday s opponents seeing th…

Rafael Benitez enjoyed an unforgettable Madrid homecoming as a late Youssi Benayoun header helped Liverpool defeat Real Madrid 1-0 in the first leg of their last 16 Champions League duel at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

Benayoun headed in a Fabio Aurelio cross in the 82nd minute for a vital away goal and Liverpool now hold the advantage ahead of the return leg at Anfield on March 10.

Deprived of their inspirational captain Steven Gerrard scorer of five goals in this season s Champions League Liverpool lacked punch with former Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres lacking service but a set-piece undid Real in the closing stages.

The build-up to the match had surrounded Benitez s return to Real Madrid where he coached the youth team and the former Valencia…