The European Leagues

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1) the English Premier League

will Man United maintain their form and push Liverpool to the end?
will Arsenal be relegated?
can Everton, Tottenham, Aston Villa or Leicester surprise everyone and win the league?
will Chealse or Man city be the surprise winners and runners-up by end season?



2) Spanish La Liga

Will Atletico win the La liga?
will Barcelona fail to qualify for the Champions League?
will Real Sociedad finish in the top 4?


3) German Bundesliga

Bayern still leads the pack and are the strong favourites to win the League. will there be a surprise winner from Leipzig or Leverkusen?
will Dortmund fail to qualify for the Champions League?


4) Italian Seria A

will the Lion Ibra win the Title with Ac Millian?
will Lukaku and Sanchez help Inter win the tilte?
will Ronaldos Juventus fail to qualify for the Champions League?

5) French League 1

Lyon leads the pack but with same points as Lille and both a point above PSG. will either Lyon or Lille be able to win the Title?


6) Portugal - Primeira Liga

Sporting still leads the pack and closely followed by the 2 main challengers Benfica and Porto. will Sporting end their 18-year wait for the title?


7) Netherlands Eredivisie

Ajax leads the pack with PSV hot on their heels. Vitesse lost ground but not out of the race


8) England Championship

9) Scottish Premiership

Celtic have bounced back and are in winning ways.
will today's Derby match vs Rangers be the title decider?
will Celtic be able to crawl back and win the league for the tenth time if they lose to Rangers?
will Rangers show they are ready to win the Title by Beating Celtic again today?


10) THE FA WOMEN'S SUPER LEAGUE

Man Utd Women still leads the pack and are followed by Arsenal who has lost ground. Chelsea is 3rd but with 2 games in hand.
will Man Utd hold on an end Londons hold on the WSL?

 

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Yerstadays results

Todays Games

 

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big games

Tottenham vs Leeds (3.30 pm)

TEAM NEWS
Tottenham pair Lucas Moura and Carlos Vinicius might not be fit in time to face Leeds, while Giovani Lo Celso remains absent with a hamstring injury.

Gareth Bale, who has made just one Premier League start, will be out for a few weeks with a calf strain.
Leeds midfielder Mateusz Klich will be assessed after sustaining a thigh injury during the 5-0 win at West Brom.

Liam Cooper is also a doubt with an abdominal strain and Diego Llorente is still nursing a muscle problem.

They conceded 17 goals in their other four away matches


MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head

• Tottenham are unbeaten on the last four occasions that they have hosted Leeds (W3, D1).
• However, Leeds won 2-1 in the most recent encounter, an FA Cup fourth-round tie at Elland Road in January 2013.
• The teams have not met in the league since 2003-04, a season in which Spurs did the double over Leeds.

Tottenham Hotspur

• Tottenham have gone four league matches without a win (D2, L2) - a fifth would be their longest such run under Jose Mourinho.
• Spurs could fail to score in successive Premier League home fixtures for the first time since 2015.
• They have won three of their past four league games at home.
• Mourinho has only lost one of his 27 Premier League home matches against promoted sides (W21, D5).
• Leeds will be the 30th different side Harry Kane has faced in the Premier League - he has scored against each of the other 29.

Leeds United

• Leeds are aiming for a third consecutive league victory, as well as a third clean sheet in a row.
• They have won four away games this season, one more than in their entire last Premier League campaign in 2003-04.
• Marcelo Bielsa's side have scored 30 Premier League goals this season - the only newly-promoted team to have more after their first 16 games of a season was Newcastle, with 31 in 1993-94.
• The Whites have won their first league game of the year in just one of the past seven seasons, beating Rotherham 3-0 in 2017 (D4, L2).
• If Spurs fail to score, Illan Meslier would equal the Premier League record of seven clean sheets in a season by a goalkeeper before his 21st birthday, set by Joe Hart for Manchester City in 2007-08.

Rangers vs Celtic (3.30 pm)

Scottish Premiership leaders Rangers welcome Celtic to Ibrox on Saturday knowing a win would take them 19 points clear at the summit.

Neil Lennon's side still have three games in hand but their hopes of winning an unprecedented 10th league title in a row would be in grave peril.

For Steven Gerrard, victory would take him another step towards a first trophy as a manager and Rangers' first major honour in a decade. Defeat would give their city rivals renewed hope.

The match will be played on the 50th anniversary of the Ibrox disaster, when 66 fans died at the end of a Old Firm game. That will provide a sombre backdrop to a highly significant occasion.


Team news
Midfielders Scott Arfield (ankle) and Ryan Jack (knee) are both absent for Rangers, meaning Steven Davis, Glen Kamara and Joe Aribo are likely to start, with Bongani Zungu on the bench. Gerrard's only other absentee is long-term knee injury victim Nikola Katic.

Christopher Jullien is a major doubt for Celtic after colliding with a post during Wednesday's 3-0 win over Dundee United. Winger James Forrest remains out following ankle surgery.

The last time these sides met Rangers stormed Celtic Park. The home team's insipid performance - not a single shot on target in the 90 minutes - drove their fans into an advanced state of apoplexy.

As a guide to Saturday, though, it's of limited use. Celtic were without Edouard and Christie that day. They were also missing a few others who might have made a difference off the bench. This will be a fairer fight. The stakes are high. A compelling contest surely awaits.


Match stats

• The away side has won each of the past three Premiership derbies; the home team had won five in a row before that.
• Rangers have won the past two league meetings, last winning three in a row from March 2007 to March 2008 (four games under Walter Smith).
• Celtic have won five of their past seven games at Ibrox (L2); before that, they had won just four of 16 (D2 L10).
• Rangers have won their past 13 league games, scoring 39 goals and conceding only three. It's their best top-flight run since another 13-game streak between December 2007 and March 2008.
• Celtic are unbeaten in 19 away league games (W15 D4) since a 2-0 defeat at Livingston in October 2019.
• Celtic are one of just two Premiership sides Rangers forward Alfredo Morelos has not scored against. Dundee United are the other.
• Celtic's Odsonne Edouard has scored (six) and been directly involved in (eight - six goals, two assists) more goals than any other player in Premiership Old Firm matches.
• Kemar Roofe has been directly involved in 12 goals in his 11 Premiership starts for Rangers (10 goals, two assists).
• Excluding own goals, Celtic have had more different goalscorers than any other side in this season's Premiership, with Ismaila Soro becoming their 16th against Dundee United last time out.

 

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congrats Tottenham, Rangers, and Arsenal for winning

the results

today's games

Big Games

Chelsea vs Man City (7.30 pm)

TEAM NEWS
Five Manchester City players are unavailable for their Premier League match at Chelsea on Sunday following positive coronavirus tests.

Kyle Walker, Gabriel Jesus and three unnamed players are in isolation.
"I don't think the Premier League allow us to name the players but you will know [on Sunday]," Guardiola said.

City's game at Everton on 28 December was called off following the positive tests but the rest of the first-team bubble has since tested negative.

Guardiola said City had enough players to play at Goodison Park but the match was postponed because the tests results were returned earlier the same day.

"We wanted to play but on the day of the game, with more cases, we informed the Premier League," Guardiola said.

"I personally called (Everton manager) Carlo Ancelotti to explain the situation because the day before we were in touch about what would happen and the huge risk."

Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech could make his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury in early December against Leeds at Stamford Bridge.

Defender Reece James will definitely miss the game because of a similar problem.

MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head

• Manchester City have lost 26 Premier League games versus Chelsea, more than against any other side.
• City can lose three consecutive Premier League away matches against Chelsea for the first time since a run of four from 2006 to 2009.
• None of the past 10 league meetings have been drawn.

Chelsea

• Chelsea have only won one of their past five Premier League matches, taking four points from a possible 15.
• However, their only defeat in 14 home league games came against Liverpool in September (W10, D3).
• The Blues have failed to win their opening Premier League fixture in each of the past four calendar years.
• Their only goal in four league matches against established top-six opposition this season was scored by Tammy Abraham in the 3-1 defeat at Arsenal on Boxing Day.
• Olivier Giroud scored in 11 of his 14 Premier League starts in 2020.
• Timo Werner has gone 11 matches without a goal for Chelsea.

Manchester City

• Manchester City are unbeaten in 10 matches in all competitions, winning seven and drawing three.
• Nonetheless, 26 points is still their lowest tally after 14 matches for 10 years.
• City could win three consecutive league fixtures for the first time this season.
• They have lost three of their past four Premier League games in London, drawing the other.
• City have kept 13 clean sheets in all competitions this season, more than any other team in the top five European leagues.
• Sergio Aguero has scored 10 goals in his last nine appearances against Chelsea. However, he is currently on a 10-game goalless Premier League run.

 

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Mauricio Pochettino is back - but why has he chosen Paris St-Germain?
By Guillem BalagueSpanish football writer
Last updated on


Just 13 months after being shown the door at Tottenham Hotspur, Mauricio Pochettino is back in football at the highest level with French billionaires Paris St-Germain.

It was only ever going to be a tempting project at a massive club that would coax the Argentine back into the footballing limelight, and in that respect PSG fit the bill perfectly.

He spoke to many clubs during his enforced sabbatical, including Benfica and Monaco, and he was certainly approached and sounded out by Barcelona and Real Madrid, although no official offer was made.
But now the timing is perfect for Pochettino to take the reins at the Parc de Princes.

Playing the waiting game

Mauricio Pochettino guided Tottenham to their first Champions League final, losing 2-0 to Liverpool in June 2019
Pochettino, meanwhile, has been playing the waiting game. It hasn't been the easiest of times for him, although he knew that sooner or later an opportunity would appear.

He has been to Qatar following an invitation from the supreme committee of the World Cup, and a lot of players who see him very much as a wise counsel have been in contact in search of support.

Numerous offers to do advertisements came his way, but he turned them all down, partly because he does not feel comfortable doing them and also because he is aware that in his next club there will be advertising commitments, and he wanted to avoid any possible conflict of interest.

They also take energy away from his main focus - improving his methods and his team. That is why he is not involved in social media.

A unique challenge
Conversations with PSG sped up about two weeks ago and he will now face a challenge unlike any he has encountered before in his career.

He will at least have a head start on the time he first arrived in England as far as the language is concerned.
The two and a half years he spent in Paris mean he speaks French and although it is, by all accounts, a little rusty it is certainly streets ahead of his English when he came to Southampton in 2013.

In the past he has created teams and in the process pushed their levels up. His strength has been in working with players who were hungry to improve and eager to respond to the demands of a coach like him.

He earned his reputation by playing a brand of exciting, exuberant football that gained the respect of the watching world and just as importantly, because of the financial constraints put upon him, by coaching, coaxing, cajoling and polishing the diamonds in the rough that he had at the Tottenham academy.

It won't be easy dealing with players like Neymar who, with the permission of the president and the coach, will often choose when to play and when to rest, or with an Mbappe who knows just what he can bring to the side when he puts his mind to it, yet sometimes doesn't respond to those demands made of him.

Many link the decision to bring in Pochettino to the potential arrival of Lionel Messi in the summer, suggesting the player would be more comfortable with a fellow Argentine in charge. Time will tell.

What we do know for sure is Pochettino and co were only ever going to go to a club where they could build on an extremely strong foundation and where they would have a chance to coach a team with an even higher level of player than they had worked with in the past.
In that respect PSG more than pass muster.

Mauricio Pochettino is back - but why has he chosen Paris St-Germain?

Thirteen months after leaving Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino is back in football. Guillem Balague looks at why he has taken on the challenge at PSG.

www.bbc.com