Chelsea want to sign Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran

Jack Grealish is unlikely to be fit for England’s friendlies against Brazil and Belgium later this month, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said.

The City midfielder suffered a recurrence of a recent groin injury in the club’s FA Cup win at Luton on Tuesday.

Grealish was substituted after just 38 minutes of the 6-2 victory at Kenilworth Road, cutting short what had been his first appearance in four games.

He has been ruled out of Sunday’s derby against Manchester United in the Premier League and Guardiola said at a press conference on Friday he was unlikely to play again before the next international break.

Guardiola said: “I don’t think so. I haven’t spoken with (England manager) Gareth (Southgate) but I don’t think he will be ready…

Bruce Arena is satisfied with New England Revolution s start to the season, though warned the opening four games of a campaign cannot be used to judge how his team will go on to perform.

The Revolution won MLS Supporters Shield in 2021 yet struggled last season, finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference.

New England have started this season strongly, however, winning three of their opening four games, albeit their sole defeat came in a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of reigning MLS Cup champions Los Angeles FC.

A 1-0 win over Nashville SC saw New England return to winning ways last week, and though Arena was not entirely happy with the performance, he cannot complain over his team s start to 2023.

In the last 10 minutes we didn t do a good job defending the l…

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Knowing that they must pounce on a golden chance this weekend, Scotland will welcome Moldova to Hampden on Saturday night.

Scotland

Starting with the hosts, while Scotland might have managed to end their major tournament exile over the summer, the Tartan Army do have the feel of a side seeking a boost. Failing to make much of a mark at this year s delayed European Championships, Head Coach Steve Clarke saw his side only snatch a single point from their three summer contests. Signing off their run with a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Croatia at Hampden, a 0-0 stalemate against British rivals England was the only impact they managed to make. Largely failing to build off of their eye-catching purple patch when ending 2020, Scotland once ag…

Tottenham’s record goal-scorer Harry Kane has landed in Germany to complete his move to Bayern Munich in a deal that could rise to £120million.

Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou confirmed on Friday afternoon that Kane’s transfer to the Bundesliga champions was “imminent” after a breakthrough in negotiations between the clubs was reached on Wednesday night.

It left the ball in Kane’s court and he decided on Thursday to leave his boyhood club for Bayern, who will pay an initial £100m, with add-ons potentially taking the deal up to an overall fee of £120m, the PA news agency understands.

Reports on Friday morning initially suggested Spurs had refused to give Kane permission to travel to Germany, but they were squashed by Tottenham and hours later he set of…

Hibernian are looking for what will be their sixth manager in less than five years after sacking Lee Johnson.

Hibs confirmed Johnson had departed less than 24 hours after a 3-2 home defeat by Livingston meant they had lost their opening three cinch Premiership matches.

Chief executive Ben Kensell said on the Hibernian website: “The club has taken the tough decision to relieve Lee Johnson of his duties following a disappointing start to the domestic campaign.

“We wish Lee and his coaching staff all the best for the future and thank them for their efforts.”

Hibs confirmed that coaches Jamie McAllister and Adam Owen had also left with immediate effect.

Hibernian FC can confirm that that Lee Johnson has departed the Club as First Team Manager.

For one of England s grandest rivalries, matches between Manchester United and Liverpool have been pretty drab recently.

When these two met last season at Old Trafford, it was a game notable for a remarkable number of injuries three players went off before half-time and almost no goalscoring chances.

The two league meetings hosted by United before that ended 2-1 and 1-1, neither of which were classic encounters, while the 3-1 win for Liverpool at Anfield last December ended a sequence of 0-1, 0-0 and 0-0 in league games at Anfield.

Sunday s game also threatens to be something of a damp squib given Liverpool s imperious habit of winning and United s wretched inability to create goalscoring chances.

With that in mind, it s perhaps worth looking back at six …

Gareth Southgate and Harry Kane agree England s loss to the Czech Republic was a wake-up call for the Three Lions.

England s perfect record in Euro 2020 qualifying ended in Prague on Friday despite Kane s early penalty putting Southgate s side ahead.

Defender Jakub Brabec equalised within five minutes then, in the closing stages at Eden Arena, substitute striker Zdenek Ondrasek hit the winner on his international debut.

England would have qualified for the finals had they won but are now joined on 12 points at the top of the group by the Czech Republic.

Qualification can still be sealed on Monday when England go to Bulgaria with Southgate demanding a response from the Three Lions after their first qualifying defeat for 10 years.

In terms of a w…

Tottenham moved top of the Premier League after strikes from Son Heung-min and Giovani Lo Celso earned them a statement 2-0 victory over Manchester City.

Jose Mourinho celebrated a year in charge of Spurs with a second straight win over old rival Guardiola, who was hoping to mark his new contract with a positive result but has now lost all three of his games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Son converted a Tanguy Ndombele pass after five minutes on Saturday and Mourinho s men, who spent much of the intervening time on the back foot, sealed the triumph when Lo Celso beat Ederson with 25 minutes remaining.

Aymeric Laporte had a first-half goal ruled out for City and they are now eight points behind Spurs, who ended Chelsea s brief stint at the top of the table.

…

It is already clear Liverpool have appointed the right manager in Arne Slot and the Reds are on track to compete for the Premier League title this season.

That is the view of former Liverpool goalkeeper David James, who has been impressed by the early returns of former Feyenoord boss Slot since he replaced Jurgen Klopp in the Anfield hotseat.

Liverpool have won four of their first five Premier league matches and beaten AC Milan in the Champions League so far under Slot.

Champions Manchester City and Arsenal are widely seen as the leading title contenders, but James has been suitably encouraged by the Reds’ start to believe they will also be in the mix if they can keep key players like Mohamed Salah fit.

Speaking to Stats Perform, James said: I know the …

Leon Goretzka insists Germany s players are to blame for their shock defeat to North Macedonia and not under-fire head coach Joachim Low.

Germany lost 2-1 on Wednesday to the side ranked 52 places below them in the FIFA rankings – their first World Cup qualifying defeat since September 2011, a run spanning 35 games.

The loss was Die Mannschaft s second in four competitive matches, having also been thrashed 6-0 by Spain in November s Nations League clash.

Low recently announced he will quit his role with the national side after the rescheduled Euro 2020, though Germany s poor form – just five wins in their last 11 matches – has led to calls for a change before the tournament.

But Goretzka, who started all three of Germany s March qualifiers, ha…