Real Madrid identify’ ‘two clear Ancelotti replacements’ in Man Utd blow as ‘succession plan’ surfaces

Bukayo Saka returned to the Arsenal team to face Liverpool at Anfield, while Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah were handed starts for the hosts.

Saka dropped to the bench for a 4-1 hammering of Leeds United last weekend due to illness, but the England winger replaced Leandro Trossard in the Premier League leaders starting line-up on Sunday.

That was the only change made by manager Mikel Arteta as the Gunners looked to restore their advantage over second-placed Manchester City to eight points.

A look inside the away dressing room

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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp recalled centre-back Van Dijk and leading scorer Salah to his team, along with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson and Cody Gakpo.

Van Dijk was absent for a g…

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes Scott McTominay suffered a knee ligament injury in the 4-1 win over Newcastle United, with the Manchester United boss admitting: We don t know how bad it is .

Midfielder McTominay was hurt in the early stages of the Boxing Day fixture at Old Trafford, though stayed on for the remainder of the first half.

The Scotland international was replaced by Paul Pogba at the interval and was seen leaving the ground on crutches, a worrying sight for the Red Devils amid a busy festive period of fixtures.

Solskjaer has not yet ruled McTominay who was a shown yellow card after 24 seconds for a foul on Sean Longstaff out of contention for Saturday s trip to Burnley, while he also praised the player for playing on through the pain.

He s do…

New AS Roma coach Claudio Ranieri on Wednesday vowed to ditch the club s attractive style of play for a more results-based system.

Ranieri was speaking at his official unveiling after replacing Luciano Spalletti, who resigned from his post on Tuesday.

Roma, who were known for their expansive and attractive style of play under Spalletti, lost their opening two matches of the season and Ranieri insists he will focus on winning games rather than weaving pretty patterns.

Spalletti s Roma had a sparkling style of play, my philosophy is a little different, said the former Juventus and Chelsea coach.

I will bring my pragmatism to the team. This team needs a jolt because it s a team that needs to react straight away.

Maybe the players have lost a bit …

Thailand on Wednesday formally terminated its contract with national football coach Peter Reid, who is set to take up an offer to serve as assistant at Stoke.

Football Association of Thailand chairman Worawi Makudi said the decision was made in consultation with former Sunderland and Manchester City boss Reid, who still has three years left on his contract.

The Football Association of Thailand and Reid, who has shown his desire to work in the Premier League, have agreed to terminate the contract, Worawi said.

Reid took over the Thai national team in September 2008 on a four-year contract but a clause in his contract allowed him to leave if he received an offer from an English club.

He said last month that he would leave Thailand and take up a job as dep…

Newcastle United have joined Tottenham Hotspur in the race to sign Saido Berahino, .

Spurs have been strongly linked with a move for the West Bromwich Albion star, with manager Mauricio Pochettino keen to pair him with England U21 teammate Harry Kane.

However, Newcastle have also thrown their hat into the ring after cooling their interest in Queens Park Rangers striker Charlie Austin.

Berahino broke into the Baggies first team in the 2013/14 campaign, and has since racked up seventy Premier League appearances for the club, scoring nineteen goals, a tally which includes a brace against champions Chelsea in the penultimate game of last season.

Prior to his West Brom debut, the twenty-one year old enjoyed loan spells with Northampton Town, Brentford an…

Everton full-back Leighton Baines may need another operation on his left ankle, according to manager Roberto Martinez, who described the injury as a disaster .

Speaking after Everton s 2-2 draw with Watford in the Premier League on Saturday, Martinez claimed Baines had looked stronger than ever before hurting the ankle he had surgery on in May.

Baines hurt his ankle at training on Friday and could miss over a month.

We don t know how long he will be out for but it has been a real disaster, Martinez said.

We were preparing for the Watford game and in training, he blocks the ball and it hits him in exactly the same place where he had surgery, with the unfortunate result that he s going to be out for a while.

Martinez was expecting a big season fr…

Jose Mourinho insists his fiery identity as a coach will not change when he returns to football.

The former Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid boss has been out of the game since being sacked by Manchester United in December.

Mourinho wants his next job to be in one of Europe s top-five leagues and is open to returning to England, where intense media interest has often accompanied his prickly demeanour.

An increasingly strained relationship with United star Paul Pogba preceded the Portuguese s departure from Old Trafford but Mourinho is not about to overhaul his personality.

You cannot lose your identity, you are who you are and honestly I am so happy with who I am, Mourinho told Sky Sports.

But there is a new period ahead of me, there is a new chal…

Adelaide United defender Michael Jakobsen sought assurances coach Marco Kurz would remain in charge before deciding to join the A-League club.

Jakobsen, 32, signed a two-year deal with the Reds in May after spending two seasons at Melbourne City.

But the star defender said he wanted to be sure he would be playing under Kurz, the German boss who was linked with an exit after just a year in charge in Adelaide.

That was one of my questions to the club – if he was going to stay and he is so I was very happy with that, Jakobsen told Omnisport. 

There have been a lot of changes here in the A-League with coaches so I was eager to know if he was going to stay because I ve only heard positives about him, also from Johan [Absalonsen, former Adelaide attacker],…

Croatia striker Eduardo has signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal after making a successful comeback from a horrific injury which sidelined him for almost a year, the club announced.

The Brazilian-born forward broke his leg and dislocated his ankle in February 2008 but has this year re-established himself as a first-team regular at the Emirates.

Arsenal did not disclose the length of the deal, which was welcomed by Gunners boss Arsene Wenger.

Eduardo is a special player with huge talent and natural goalscoring ability, and we re all so happy that he has committed his future to Arsenal Football Club, Wenger said.

We have also seen in his comeback from injury, Eduardo is a human being full of courage, bravery and commitment.

His full reco…

The odds on England winning next year s World Cup were cut Friday after a draw that was seen as handing Fabio Capello s squad a comfortable introduction to the tournament.

England were placed in group C with the United States, Algeria and Slovenia with their opening match against the Americans, in Rustenburg on June 12.

Although the United States were arguably the strongest team England could have faced from a pool comprising qualifiers from North and Central America and Asia, England will be comforted by the fact that they will face them in their opening match in the city where they plan to base themselves.

Capello s men will then take on Algeria, regarded as the weakest of the five African teams in the tournament, in Cape Town, and Slovenia, who qualified via …