Football

Southampton hope to recall captain Jose Fonte, who missed the midweek League Cup defeat against Liverpool because of a badly cut knee. Top scorer Graziano Pelle returned after suspension to play in that match. Villa could be missing both first-choice central defenders, with Ciaran Clark banned and captain Micah Richards …

West Brom will be without midfielder Claudio Yacob, who is serving a one-match suspension, but defender Chris Brunt is available after a ban. Head coach Tony Pulis says one or two unnamed players have niggles which need to be assessed ahead of the match. Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli will return …

Manchester United are without striker Wayne Rooney because of an ankle injury, while Marcos Rojo is out with a dislocated shoulder. Jesse Lingard returns after a minor problem, but Ander Herrera and Phil Jones remain unavailable. West Ham striker Diafra Sakho will be sidelined for two months with a thigh …

Arsenal’s Theo Walcott might return after five weeks out with a calf problem, and Laurent Koscielny could play despite hurting a hip last week. But Santi Cazorla is likely to be out until March with a knee injury, one of a long list of Arsenal absentees. Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe …

Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross will be available after serving his one-match ban in midweek in the Capital One Cup. Peter Crouch is likely to miss out with a hamstring injury, but Mame Diouf should be available after missing Tuesday’s match for family reasons. Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini is hopeful …

After news broke earlier that FIFA are going to discuss whether to extend the World Cup to 40 teams, it got me thinking what if it was expanded further and it was done as a straight knockout tournament. For this to happen the top 47 FIFA ranked nations would get …

QPR look set to name Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink as their new Manager in the next couple of days after Burton Albion acceped an approach from the Championship Club. Burton currently sit top of League One by two points and look set to lose a second manager to a Championship side …

Another weekend of Premier League action is on the horizon and that means another round of predictions. It was a bang average 5 out of 10 last weekend, let’s see if I fare any better this time around. Saturday Stoke vs Manchester City – Manchester City Win Arsenal vs Sunderland …

Fifa will debate a proposal to expand the World Cup from 32 teams to 40. The change can be approved by Fifa’s executive committee without consent from the 209 member associations, and could come into effect from 2026. The proposal will be discussed later on Thursday in Zurich, where a …

So the line up for the Capital One Cup Semi Finals is complete With the draw pitting Manchester City vs Everton and Liverpool vs Stoke That means a Manchester City vs Liverpool final is on the cards, but don’t rule out an all Merseyside Final either Even Stoke who seem …