West Ham United monitoring Brentford striker Ivan Toney

Liverpool are going through a very difficult season and as things stand, the danger of finishing outside the top four in the Premier League, which would, of course, mean, no Champions League next season, is very real as they sit in seventh place, with a nine-point deficit compared to fourth-place Tottenham Hotspur, albeit with two games in hand on the North Londoners.

Recent rumours, coming from Spain, suggested Mohamed Salah was ready to leave the club if Jurgen Klopp s team fail to qualify for UEFA s elite club competition, but Ramy Abbas Issa, the agent representing the Egyptian star, has moved to dismiss such suggestions, labeling them as nonsense .

Nonsense. This was never discussed or thought about. Not qualifying to the Champions League hasn’t even crossed our …

Patrick Vieira believes English football may have to consider a quota system to counter the lack of black managers in football.

The Crystal Palace boss is the only black manager in England s top flight in both men s and women s football.

A study conducted in October also found that only four per cent of bosses in the Premier League and EFL were black, a figure that does not align with the fact 43 per cent of players in the top flight are black.

In America, the NFL uses the Rooney Rule , which requires teams to interview ethnic minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs.

Former Arsenal and France midfielder Vieira does not necessarily agree with that approach but says such steps may have to be taken.

Looking at the nu…

Olivier Giroud will stay at Chelsea next season even if he is frustrated with a lack of playing time, according to head coach Maurizio Sarri.

The striker admitted this week that he is unhappy with his role as a back-up to Gonzalo Higuain and Eden Hazard in attack, having made only seven Premier League starts in 2018-19.

The 32-year-old has been linked with a return to France with Lyon, although any transfer plans are complicated by Chelsea having been banned by FIFA from registering new players for the next two transfer windows for breaking rules related to the signing of overseas youngsters.

And Sarri says they intend to keep Giroud, having already decided to take up the option to extend his contract for a further 12 months.

He is sure, because the club…

Karim Benzema appeared to allay fears that he suffered an injury during Real Madrid training on Monday. 

France international Benzema twice required treatment on his ankle following a challenge from Vinicius Tobias ahead of Tuesday s friendly against Club America in San Francisco. 

The 34-year-old, who only returned to training on Wednesday and missed the Clasico defeat to Barcelona in Las Vegas on Saturday, was able to complete the session but it still led to doubts about his fitness. 

Benzema seemed to ease any concerns supporters may have been developing by tweeting: See you tom[orrow]  

See you tom…

— Karim Benzema (@Benzema)

Ferland Mendy is reportedly set to miss the game against America while Dani Carvajal did not train wi…

Competition: Serie A

Market: Bologna to beat Benevento

Odds:

Serie A finally returns this weekend for yet another huge round of games in Italy s top league. The table has remained incredibly tight this season which means that a win can quite often see a team jump up a number of places, seeing them away from the relegation zone or into a European spot. With all of this in mind, Bologna host Benevento in Sunday s clash.

Bologna have been in fairly good form this season, but they need to continue this to keep the relegation zone away. After 20 games they have won seven, drawn three and lost 10 times, scoring 23 goals and conceding 30 times. In their last five they have only won once, losing the other four games, which has seen them onto 24 points …

Diego Castro will remain at Perth Glory for at least another year after extending his deal with the A-League club for the 2016-17 season. 

Castro arrived in Perth in August 2015 and was a big hit in his first season, scoring 13 goals on his way to winning the Johnny Warren Medal as the A-League s best player.

The 33-year-old had previously spent his entire career in Spain, where he made over 200 appearances in La Liga for the likes of Getafe and Sporting Gijon. 

After the year we ve just had, I feel we have a lot of unfinished business at Perth Glory and I want to win a championship, the Spaniard said in a statement on Tuesday.

I ve seen what it means to the club, the members and the city and I would like to be part of history. 

Perth, we go…

Netherlands captain Mark van Bommel believes his side have a great chance of winning Euro 2012, but must see off Germany and holders Spain.

Bert van Marwijk s Netherlands team lost just once in qualifying for the UEFA showcase in Ukraine and Poland.

Despite mixed performances during their friendly warm-up games, PSV-bound midfielder Van Bommel feels the Dutch national team can make up for their defeat to Spain in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final.

I strongly believe that we can win the European Championship, Van Bommel told Dutch publication Metro.

Germany belongs with the favourites, like Spain and us. And below you have countries like Italy, France and England.

I think it is a great tournament with hopefully a good end for us.

At 35 yea…

Roberto Mancini praised Carlos Tevez after Manchester City s 4-0 FA Cup victory over Leeds but called on his strikers to be more prevalent.

Roberto Mancini praised Carlos Tevez after Manchester City s 4-0 FA Cup victory over Leeds but called on his strikers to be more prevalent.

City cruised past the Championship side to progress to the quarter-finals, with Sergio Aguero scoring goals either side of Tevez s strike after Yaya Toure had opened the scoring with a brilliant snaking run through the Leeds defence.
Mancini s side have slipped behind in the Premier League title race but was glad to take the positives from the FA Cup win and believes it could help the likes of Tevez return to top form.
Carlos is an important player for us, also (when he) is not in good form, h…

Raphael Varane has ended speculation over his future after insisting he will still be at Real Madrid next season.

Varane, 26, had been linked to the likes of Manchester United and Juventus after eight seasons with the LaLiga giants.

Like many of his team-mates, the France international has endured a difficult 2018-19, which resulted in Los Blancos finishing third in the table – a whopping 19 points behind champions Barcelona.

Varane, though, is adamant that he will remain at the Santiago Bernabeu as Zinedine Zidane looks to reverse the club s faltering fortunes.

I m going to stay here next year; I m sure we re going to relive strong emotions,” Varane told Marca.

We have fought, we have tried hard and we cannot blame anything in particular bu…

Kylian Mbappe s unexpected comments about potentially leaving Paris Saint-Germain have not been explained to his team-mates, according to a confused Marquinhos.

France forward Mbappe caught many off guard last week when he hinted at the possibility of pursuing a new project amid rumours of interest from Real Madrid.

Head coach Thomas Tuchel insisted he was not alarmed by the statement despite conceding there are no guarantees over the former Monaco star s future or that of Neymar.

Mbappe started and scored in PSG s final outing for the campaign, a 3-1 defeat to Reims on Friday, but Marquinhos admitted to being unsure of the attacker s intentions for the off-season.

I didn t really understand the message he wanted to get across, the Brazil international t…