David Wagner has rejected an approach from the Bundesliga amid strong reports with Wolfsburg to stay at Championship side Huddersfield Town.
Wolfsburg finished runners-up in Germany s top flight in the 2014-15 season and also won the DFB-Pokal at the end of that campaign.
However, they could only muster an eighth-place finish last term and are languishing in 15th this time around, a slump that led to the sacking of head coach Dieter Hecking in October, while sporting director Klaus Allofs was dismissed earlier this month.
Reports in Germany this week claimed that Huddersfield boss Wagner, who has caught the eye by leading the Terriers to fourth place in England s second tier this term with an impressive Gegenpressing style of football, was poised to take over.
Jonny Evans may have suffered a fresh injury setback with Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers revealing he will need to be assessed.
Evans returned to the Leicester starting line-up for Thursday s 2-2 draw with Napoli in the Europa League after a foot injury but was replaced at half-time.
The Northern Irishman had returned competitively for the first time since the FA Cup victory in May as a substitute in Saturday s 1-0 home loss to Manchester City.
Rodgers would not elaborate on the specifics of the injury but admitted Evans was in doubt for Sunday s Premier League clash with Brighton.
It probably will do, Rodgers said when asked if the issue will affect Evans availability.
I felt he was struggling to push off, so we’ll see how he is in n…
Sergio Ramos has tested positive for coronavirus, Real Madrid have confirmed.
Ramos, 35, has been dogged by injuries in 2020-21, with several absences restricting him to just 15 LaLiga appearances this season.
His streak of bad luck continued on Tuesday as Madrid revealed the experienced centre-back is now isolating having contracted COVID-19.
The club have not revealed any further details relating to whether he is symptomatic or for how long he will have to stay away from the training ground.
However, as long as it is an isolated infection, this news will not directly impact Zinedine Zidane s selections as Ramos was already due to be out of action until the end of the month with a calf injury sustained on international duty in March.
Nevertheless…
Martin Fulop
Manchester City are the richest team in the Premier League and they have a total of nine goalkeepers on their books. Regular keeper Shay Given picked up a nasty injury at the weekend and first choice replacement Stuart Taylor is also injured.
Blocked
City tried hard to get Joe Hart returned from his loan spell at Birmingham but the Premier League rightly blocked that avenue.
However, they did agree to City making an emergency loan signing of their own. City have taken twenty-six year old Hungarian international Marton Fulop from Sunderland to help them out until the end of the season.
Problem
When Given left the field at the Emirates he was replaced by twenty-three year old Faroe Islands international Gunnar Nielson. Presumably…
Andres Iniesta has reiterated his desire to sign a contract extension with La Liga giants Barcelona.
The 29-year-old has been the subject of reported interest from Premier League sides Manchester United and Manchester City amid rumours talks on a new deal had stalled.
But Iniesta who won the FIFA World Cup with Spain in 2010 refuted those claims and insisted he wanted to stay with the Spanish champions for the rest of his career.
And the midfielder has now emphasised that stance, and said he is not concerned that he has yet to put pen to paper on a new deal.
Speaking to Onda Cero s First Touch show, he said: I ve said many times, it is a matter of time on these situations.
My desire is to be there and the club wants me hence the desire of both parties is cl…
An inspiring performance for Eden Hazard
Chelsea have made a gigantic step forward in their Premier League title race thanks to the inspiring 3-1 over Arsenal.
The clash at Stamford Bridge ended up being another display of consistency and strength of character from Conte’s men, whereas Arsenal’s struggles continued much to the disappointment of suspended Arsene Wenger.
Have a read through our full match report:
Team News Form Guide
Premier League leaders Chelsea headed into the Arsenal game keen to make amends for the 3-0 defeat in the reverse fixture at the Emirates and to open a 12-point lead in front of Tottenham at the top of the table. The Blues have since that September slump lost only two of their last 20 games in all competitions, winning as…
Substitute Rudy Gestede snatched a point for bottom club Aston Villa against Leicester City, who edged back to the top of the Premier League table with a 1-1 draw.
Shinji Okazaki broke the deadlock after 28 minutes when the goal decision system confirmed his close-range effort was over the line despite the best efforts of Villa goalkeeper Mark Bunn.
Riyad Mahrez had a first-half penalty saved by Bunn and Villa, aiming to build on their first league win since the opening day of the season against Crystal Palace in midweek, improved considerably after the break.
Amid suspicions of handball, Gestede got the better of Robert Huth – City s matchwinner at Tottenham on Wednesday but an unconvincing defensive presence here – and crashed home 15 minutes from time.
…
“Yes there’s been injuries along the way but also, being a new signing and not getting enough air time could quite easily knock your confidence especially in a club such as Arsenal.
“And for some players it takes a little bit longer to get in with the team. Liverpool had Firmino who took time as did Andy Robertson and Jordan Henderson.
“None of them are bad players, far from, but they all took a while to find their place and environment.
“And I think Tierney has now finally found an environment where he can show what he can do but he s got to keep on doing that over and over again; if he can remain consistent throughout the next season, he’ll be great.”
Mixed Arsenal spell
Tierney joined Arsenal who are rated at 9/2 by to finish in …
Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold admitted he was guilty of underestimating Manchester United star Marcus Rashford and consequently experienced his most difficult outing.
Rashford was deployed wide on the left by Jose Mourinho and scored twice in the first 24 minutes when Liverpool visited Old Trafford and suffered a 2-1 defeat on March 10, 2018.
Alexander-Arnold was making just his 15th Premier League start and had a torrid time against the United attacker but was not replaced until the 80th minute.
The 21-year-old right-back has since lined up against teams including five-time Ballon d Or winners Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo but that battle with Rashford remains his most testing appearance.
[That match against United was] the toughest in …
Mauricio Pochettino finds constant talk of Chelsea’s billion-pound spend tiresome and remains convinced his under-fire players will develop into “an amazing team”.
Blues boss Pochettino has overseen an underwhelming campaign since arriving at Stamford Bridge last summer and his expensively-assembled squad faced further criticism following Sunday’s Carabao Cup final loss to Liverpool.
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville branded them “blue billion-pound bottle jobs” late in their 1-0 extra-time defeat to opponents deprived of a host of star names due to injury.
Former Tottenham and Paris St Germain manager Pochettino is confident he retains the backing of Chelsea’s co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali and is adamant the club’s costly long-term projec…