Market: Lazio win

Odds: 7/10 @

Hoping to try and close their top-four deficit this weekend, Lazio will welcome a struggling Bologna to the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday afternoon.

Starting with the hosts, while Lazio might have shown some extended issues with their consistency this season, they are enjoying what has been a much-welcomed boost on Serie A duties. Putting in a stellar display last weekend and storming their way to a 3-0 romp against Fiorentina on the road, Head Coach Maurizio Sarri finds his side sat in pole position to book another European finish this year. Suffering just a pair of defeats from any of their last nine matchups across all formats, a run that stems back to the middle of December, Lazio should be smelling a golden chance here. Gaining …

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has called for two or three high-profile signings if Manchester United are going to challenge for Premier League glory next season.

United are second in the table, 12 points behind champions Manchester City going into Sunday s final match of the domestic season at Wolves.

Next week s Europa League final against Villarreal provides Solskjaer with the chance of his first piece of silverware after a season of progress.

But as United are linked to the likes of Raphael Varane, Pau Torres, Declan Rice, Jadon Sancho and Harry Kane, Solskjaer does not want the club hierarchy to make the mistake of thinking the last step to the top of the table will occur naturally.

Of course we re planning as we normally do, Solskjaer said when asked about …

Manchester United s EFL Cup tie with Burnley will be played in front of a reduced capacity, following advice from safety authorities.

The Red Devils welcome the Championship leaders to Old Trafford for the last-16 clash on Wednesday, with Clarets boss and ex-Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany returning to the home of his former rivals.

The match coincides with a day of industrial action affecting North West Ambulance Service, culminating in the unavailability of ambulance service personnel.

At the request of the authorities, tiers in the West Stand and North Stand are required to be closed as part of a robust medical plan, which will allow around 62,000 fans to be in attendance, with Old Trafford usually able to house around 74,000.

Everyone at Manc…

Norwich City are interested in signing Adam Armstrong from Blackburn Rovers in the summer transfer window, according to . It has been reported that West Ham United are also among the clubs who have scouted the former Newcastle United striker this past season.

Armstrong failed to make a huge impact at Newcastle, but the 24-year-old is a very good striker who has shown at Blackburn what he is capable of. The English striker scored 28 goals and gave five assists in 40 Championship matches for Rovers this past season, according to . Armstrong scored 16 goals and gave six assists in 46 Championship games in 2019-20, according to .

Norwich will play in the Premier League in 2021-22 after winning automatic promotion from the Championship. Striker Teemu Pukki scored 26 goals an…

West Ham were interested in signing Darwin Nunez from Benfica during the January transfer window, but the Portuguese club weren t prepared to sell at any price, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The eight-cap Uruguay international rose through the youth ranks at Penarol in his homeland and spent a year with UD Almeria in Spain, before joining Benfica  in 2020 for a reported fee of €24 million. Since then, he s gone on to score 34 goals and contribute 14 assists in 69 club appearances in all competitions.

The 22-year-old is primarily a striker, but he can also cause considerable damage to defences coming in off the left flank, or playing centrally with another striker directly ahead.

The Hammers are believed to have submitted an offer worth around €48m in total,…

Zinedine Zidane is well aware Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe s dream is to play for Real Madrid.

Mbappe scored 33 goals in 29 Ligue 1 appearances for PSG in 2018-19 but stated during the close season he was open to a new project .

Former Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev this week claimed the World Cup-winning attacker told him he moved to the French capital in 2017 because it was too early for him to make the switch to the Santiago Bernabeu.

Asked if he thinks Mbappe will play for Madrid in the future, Zidane told a news conference: I don t know, it s the player who decides.

At the moment he plays for Paris Saint-Germain, we ll see in the future if that changes. I know he always said his dream is to play for Real Madrid.

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Dutch striker Luuk de Jong hopes to put a frustrating stint at Borussia Monchengladbach behind him having arrived at Newcastle United on loan.

The 23-year-old centre forward has made 45 appearances in two seasons at Gladbach but averaged just 47.84 minutes per match and has only hit the back of the net eight times since joining the Bundesliga outfit from Twente.

De Jong has joined Newcastle for the rest of the English Premier League campaign in the hope of reviving his career after just 136 minutes in all competitions for Gladbach in the first half of the 2013-14 season.

I m really motivated, De Jong told nufcTV on Wednesday.

The first half of the season hasn t been nice for me because I didn t play much.

I just want to show my talent, score goals and be su…

Zenit equalled their best Russian Premier League result as they thrashed Torpedo Moscow 8-1 on Saturday.

Aleksandr Kerzhakov also struck twice to become Zenit s record goalscorer with 160 strikes to his name in all competitions.

Torpedo had opened their campaign with a 4-1 to city rivals CSKA and they sit bottom of the pile two games into their top-flight return after capitulating at an empty Petrovsky Stadium.

Zenit, forced to play the game behind closed doors after fan trouble at the back end of last season, were not perturbed by the odd atmosphere and were three goals to the good at the break thanks to Igor Smolnikov, Salomon Rondon and Hulk.

The South American duo netted again after the break before Oleg Shatov got in on the act to make it 6-0 just af…

Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover has avoided a ban for his part in the violent pitch invasion that forced this month s derby against Melbourne Victory to be abandoned.

The A-League clash between Victory and City on December 17 saw flares thrown by both sets of fans during the opening quarter of the game at AAMI Park.

Trouble escalated when a flare hit a pitchside cameraman before exploding, with City keeper Glover throwing two flares off the field, one of which landed in the stands.

Fans behind the goal stormed the pitch and Glover was hit in the face with a metal bucket, while referee Alex King was also struck, leading to the game being brought to an end.

Three men have subsequently been charged by Victoria Police, while an independent match review p…

Jose Mourinho and Serie A giants Inter Milan are still keeping close ties after their fruitful relationship which ended in 2010.

According to reports from the Italian daily , Nerazzurri have approached Jose Mourinho to inform themselves over the availability of no less than four Manchester United players.

Inter new boss Stefano Pioli is keen to bring fresh reinforcements during the January transfer window and Inter hierarchy decided to turn to their friend Mourinho for help.

Serie A outfit are reportedly keen to take on United’s fringe players and offer escape routes for Matteo Darmian, Memphis Depay, Daley Blind and first-team defender Chris Smalling.

Nerazzurri are mostly focused on adding fresh blood to their defensive ranks, but the prospe…