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 …
Barcelona midfielder Nico Gonzalez has completed a season-long loan move to LaLiga rivals Valencia.
The 20-year-old broke into Barca s first team last season, scoring two goals and providing as many assists in 37 appearances.
With Franck Kessie among the Blaugrana s new signings and Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva reportedly a target, Nico informed Xavi he wanted to move on in order to be given more playing time.
Valencia on Saturday confirmed Nico, who has also signed a new deal with Barca until 2026, will spend the 2022-23 campaign at the Mestalla Stadium.
— Valencia CF (@valenciacf_en)
Barca s head coach Xavi on Friday stated that he had mixed feelings over Nico s temporary switch.
He said: [Nico] came t…
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…
It has been a year like no other, but football eventually managed to continue amid the coronavirus pandemic and give fans across the world something positive to focus on.
Ligue 1 was curtailed and a streamlined version of the Champions League knockout rounds took place in Lisbon in August, before a new season got under way.
There have still been plenty of performances to savour, though, and Stats Perform News has used Opta data to calculate a Team of the Year from the top five European leagues.
Six-time Ballon d Or winner Lionel Messi made the grade in 2020 but the same could not be said of Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, while Kylian Mbappe earned a spot that his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Neymar could not.
Supporters of Premier League clubs …
Lionel Messi has been encouraged by Ronald Koeman s impact since becoming Barcelona coach but feels the club is so financially crippled that it will be difficult to get back where it was .
Messi was speaking to La Sexta in one of his first interviews since telling the club of his desire to leave in August.
Barca stood firm back then, refusing to allow him to depart despite Messi insisting the get-out clause in his contract was still valid – the Argentinian ultimately opted against pursuing the matter any further.
Although he stayed put, Messi s future and mindset have been constant sources of debate in the four months since.
The highly publicised interview, which aired in full on Sunday, saw Messi vow not to decide on his future until the …