Johan Djourou Signs With Turkish Side Antalyaspor

Competition: International friendly
Market: Sweden to win against Slovenia
Odds:

Sweden welcome Slovenia to Malmo’s Swedbank Stadion tonight in an international friendly that serves as pre-Euro 2016 preparation for manager Erik Hamrén. The home side are big favourites to come out on top, and will want to build up some momentum ahead of this summer’s European Championships.

Sweden have been inconsistent of late, picking up just two wins and three draws from their last six games, but home advantage and a superior playing squad should be enough to see them get a result against Slovenia. The Swedes will be without talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but they’ll still fancy their chances given Slovenia’s recent form.

The visitors have suffered two defea…

Much of Jose Mourinho s reputation as one of the finest managers in football history is built upon the notion that he is the man for the big occasion.

A serial trophy winner across spells with Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid, the Portuguese does not have to search too far for examples to back up this perception.

When he returned to Chelsea for the 2013-14 Premier League season, Mourinho insisted the Stamford Bridge club were in a rebuilding phase and that a title tilt was not realistic.

In the event, the Blues went far closer than their manager suggested was possible and bloodied the noses of that season s top two in the process, through wins home and away at Manchester City and Liverpool. Mourinho remained a man to be feared when the stakes were high.

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Newcastle United have completed the signing of Dwight Gayle from Crystal Palace, .

The twenty-five year old was close to joining Bristol City in January but ended up signing a new three-year deal at Selhurst Park.

However, he has now left the Eagles after three seasons during which he racked up seventy-four appearances in all competitions, scoring twenty-five goals.

Prior to his move to Palace, Gayle played for Peterbrough United having joined them initially on loan from Dagenham and Redbridge in November 2012.

He spent the 2011/12 campaign on loan at non-league side Bishop’s Stortford where he scored twenty-nine goals in forty-two league appearances.

He has penned a five-year deal with Rafael Benitez’s side, who are looking to secure a…

reports that Eredivisie giants Ajax have set their sight on Boca Juniors defender Lisandro Magallan.

The Amsterdam club boast a successful track record of unearthing quality players from the South American market.

David Neres, Mateo Cassierra, Luis Manuel Orejuela and Tottenham new boy Davinson Sanchez stand as the brightest examples and it would appear Ajax now want to expand their South American colony with an Argentine addition.

Growing reports in the Netherlands suggest that the 24-year-old Boca Juniors defender Lisandro Magallan has been singled out as one of the top hits on Ajax’s transfer list and the Dutch giants appear to be preparing a move for the Argentine once the transfer window opens in January.

The Boca Juniors centre-back has been wit…

Further confusing an already complicated affair, Real Sociedad officially announced the acquisition of Argentine goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.

On July 18, Manchester City struck a deal in the region of £4million with Rulli s parent club, Deportivo Maldonado in Uruguay s second division, who had the player on loan in San Sebastian since purchasing him from Estudiantes in 2014.

It was known Rulli would see out his loan until December, following which, the Basque club could have an option to buy 70% of his rights.

A statement on Real Sociedad s website confirmed the 24-year-old Rulli has signed until the end of the 2021-22 season, but no further details were made available.

Having firmly established himself as number one goalkeeper at the Anoeta, Rulli is curr…

Market: Under 2.5 goals

Odds: 2/3 @

Making their last appearance before heading into this summer s European Championships, Wales will welcome Albania to Cardiff for a friendly matchup on Saturday evening.

Starting with the hosts, after watching Liverpool defender Nico Williams shown a straight red card in the first-half out in France earlier in the week, Wales really didn t stand much of a chance against the defending world champions. Suffering a routine 3-0 defeat, there is no doubt that The Dragons will be looking to gain some much-needed momentum this weekend. Opening their European adventure on June 12th, interim boss Robert Page should still find the mood in his camp at a high. Really bouncing back from that defeat against Belgium back in March, The Reds di…

Best Odds: 21/20

Bookmaker:

Desperate to build off of their European romp in midweek, Manchester United will welcome Arsenal to an empty Old Trafford on Sunday evening.

Manchester United

Starting with the hosts, while some continued issues at the start of the season might have started to worry many around Old Trafford, there is no doubt that the Reds will be boosted by a stunning European display earlier in the week. Eventually breezing past German outfit and last season s semi-finalists RB Leipzig thanks to a 5-0 romp on home soil, the former Premier League champions are unbeaten since making a return from October s international break. While they might have entered the break with a woeful display in their 6-1 hammering against Tottenham, a pair of Champions L…

Hours after being appointed England Women s manager, Phil Neville deleted his Twitter account after controversial old posts resurfaced.

Shortly after the former Manchester United defender was named as Mark Sampson s permanent successor, tweets from Neville s account in 2012 that could be perceived as derogatory to women were circulated on the social media platform.

Neville followed the Football Association (FA) announcement with a post on his official Twitter account that read: Extremely proud and honoured to be the head coach of the @Lionesses and Im unbelievably excited about the challenges ahead!!

However, shortly afterwards his profile was taken offline. The FA has been contacted for comment.

The Lionesses had been without a manager since Sampson…

France head coach Didier Deschamps is focused on the present and not concerned by the future after calling up Olivier Giroud to replace Karim Benzema.

Giroud has not featured for Les Blues since their exit to Switzerland at Euro 2020 last June, but the 35-year-old has come back into contention after an injury to Benzema.

The Milan striker sits just five goals behind Thierry Henry in France s all-time scoring charts after netting 46 times in 110 games.

Though Giroud was omitted from Deschamps recent squads, he now has a chance to impress in friendlies against Ivory Coast and South Africa.

Deschamps, speaking at Monday s news conference, was keen to turn the attention away from Giroud as he insisted the former Arsenal and Chelsea forward does not hav…

Jurgen Klopp signed a new contract with Liverpool on Friday that keeps him tied down to the European champions for another four-and-a-half years.

The German coach guided the Reds to Champions League success last season and is on course to end the club s long wait for a maiden Premier League crown this term.

Now in his fifth campaign at Anfield, and with potentially at least three more to come, we look at the work Klopp has done so far on Merseyside.

FINAL HEARTACHE CAPS MIXED FIRST SEASON

Liverpool experienced two cup final defeats in Klopp s first campaign at the helm, losing on penalties to Manchester City in the EFL Cup and 3-1 to Sevilla in the Europa League.

Despite falling short on both occasions and enduring largely mixed results in the Pr…