London (AFP) – Antonio Conte says Chelsea must seize the chance to move a step closer to winning the Premier League when the leaders face Arsenal in Saturday's crucial summit meeting. Conte's side are nine points clear at the top with 15 games remaining and victory over title rivals Arsenal at Stamford Bridge would be […]

London (AFP) – Wilfried Zaha believes Crystal Palace have shown what it takes to succeed in the relegation battle after registering their first Premier League win under new manager Sam Allardyce. Palace will face Allardyce's former side Sunderland at home on Saturday in a crucial fixture that pitches two of the current bottom three side […]

London (AFP) – Arsenal will look to shrug off recurring doubts about their mental fortitude and the weight of recent history when they visit runaway Premier League leaders Chelsea on Saturday. Chelsea dropped points for only the second time in 17 matches in Tuesday's 1-1 draw at Liverpool, but Arsenal could not take advantage as […]

Washington (AFP) – US football national team manager Bruce Arena is the latest high-profile coach to criticize President Donald Trump's temporary ban on refugees and those seeking to enter America from seven majority-Muslim countries. "I think it's sad because one thing we do in our sport is that we are a global sport," Arena said […]

Franceville (Gabon) (AFP) – Avram Grant could not hide his dejection after Ghana's 2-0 defeat to Cameroon in the Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals on Thursday but he insisted it had been a good tournament for the Black Stars. It was a sixth successive appearance in the last four for the Ghanaians but they were […]

Madrid (AFP) – Celta Vigo and Alaves have it all to play for in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final after neither side could make the breakthrough in a first leg nearly washed out by awful weather conditions. Celta, who knocked out Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, had the better of the […]

Franceville (Gabon) (AFP) – Michael Ngadeu and Christian Bassogog both netted in the second half as Cameroon beat Ghana 2-0 in Franceville on Thursday to reach the Africa Cup of Nations final. A finely-poised tie remained goalless until the 72nd minute, when Ghana goalkeeper Razak Brimah failed to deal with a free-kick into his area […]

Lisbon (AFP) – Uruguay international defender Sebastian Coates penned a five-year deal with Sporting Lisbon on Thursday having left English Premier League strugglers Sunderland, the Portuguese side announced. The 26-year-old Coates had been on loan with Sporting since January 2016 having made 32 appearances for Sunderland who he joined from Liverpool. Sporting said they had […]

Barcelona (AFP) – Spanish giants Barcelona announced legendary former player Ronaldinho will return to act as an ambassador for the club on Thursday. The Brazilian, who won the World Player of the Year twice as well as two La Liga titles and the 2005/06 Champions League with Barca in five years at the Camp Nou, […]

Lausanne (AFP) – Bayer Leverkusen's Turkish international Hakan Calhanoglu was given a four-month ban by sports' highest court on Thursday for breach of contract. The Court of Arbitration for Sport was upholding a previous ruling delivered by FIFA in January 2016. The ban effectively means Calhanoglu, Leverkusen's joint top-scorer, will miss the majority of the […]

Milan (AFP) – Fit-again Claudio Marchisio could be restricted to starting on the bench as Massimiliano Allegri's new-look Juventus bid to stretch their 27-game unbeaten run at home against Inter Milan on Sunday. Allegri has both midfielder Marchisio and key defender Andrea Barzagli back from injury lay-offs that have hampered their bid for a record […]

The second coming of Bruce Arena as USMNT manager did not exactly get off to a great start as the US played to an incredibly dull 0-0 draw against Serbia on Sunday. The game itself was nothing to write home about and very few (if any) US players did anything to help or hurt their […]

Franceville (Gabon) (AFP) – Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan will start Thursday's Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against Cameroon in Franceville on the bench after failing to sufficiently recover from injury. Gyan, 31, suffered a groin injury in the Black Stars' final group game, a 1-0 defeat to Egypt, and played no part in last Sunday's […]

London (AFP) – Manchester City's French international defender Bacary Sagna on Thursday failed in his appeal against a £40,000 fine (46,480 euros, $50,178) for making an Instagram post that questioned a referee's impartiality. Sagna, 32, posted a photo with the caption "10 against 12.. but still fighting and winning as a team" on the social […]

Lausanne (AFP) – Bayer Leverkusen's Turkish international Hakan Calhanoglu was given a four month ban by sports' highest court on Thursday for breach of contract. The Court of Arbitration for Sport was upholding a previous ruling delivered by FIFA in January 2016. Football's governing body had found the German-born forward guilty of breaking his contract […]