Market: Lille win

Odds: 4/5 @

Marking their return from September’s international break this weekend, Lille will travel to the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard when they meet a struggling St. Etienne on Friday night.

Starting with the hosts, while St. Etienne might have secured a Ligue 1 return for this season, the Greens have a real uphill battle on their hands this time around. Already scrapping it out at the foot of the table, Olivier Dall Oglio’s men find themselves tipped as a leading relegation candidate and they are seeking a crucial boost this weekend. However, marking their top-flight return with a 1-0 loss at the hands of Monaco back on August 17th, Les Verts are yet to pit a single point on the board and mark their return from September’s international b…

Relinquishing their La Liga crown last season and eventually parting ways with Xavi following more drama behind the scenes in Catalonia, are still a club dealing with a string of public issues. 

Appointing former Germany boss last month, there has been plenty of speculation on which Barca superstars could be forced out of the Nou Camp exit.

Watching La Masia academy graduate complete a £5million move to Chelsea this week, it has been suggested that more Barca stars could be set for a Premier League switch this summer.

With the hierarchy in Catalonia making it clear that they are intent on once again splashing their number wage bill, some of the big name stars are attracting plenty of English interest.

Ronald Araujo

With a host of Premier League hea…

Qualification for Euro 2024 ended this week, but there are still three places available for next summer’s tournament.

Twelve teams, including Wales, will enter the play-offs with a chance of earning a late ticket to Germany.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at how the play-off system will work.

Who are in the play-offs?

Heading to Germany for

— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024)

Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Ukraine, Iceland, Poland, Wales and Estonia.

How do they work?

Gone are the days when countries need to prevail in one two-legged tie to book their place at a tournament, with a more convoluted process now in place.

The 12 teams have earned another shot at Euro 2024 base…

Paris police prefect Michel Cadot insists his forces are well prepared to deal with any security concerns during Euro 2016.

The terror attacks carried out on Paris in November, killing 130 people, raised fears over the potential for repeat incidents at the European Championship, which gets under way in the capital on Friday.

Earlier on Monday, Ukrainian security agency SBU announced it detained a Frenchman last month who had amassed a cache of guns detonators and large quantities of TNT, with the intention of carrying out mass attacks at the tournament.

Euro 2016 begins when hosts France entertain Romania at the Stade de France, seven months on from the Saint-Denis venue being one of the targets of the co-ordinated terrorist assaults across Paris.

Acco…

Mauricio Pochettino has named his first squad as head coach of the United States, with Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie recalled to face Panama and Mexico.

The former Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain boss, who was unveiled as Gregg Berhalter s successor last month, is gearing up for his first matches in charge of the Stars and Stripes.

Christian Pulisic retains the captain s armband with the AC Milan forward looking to build on his impressive start to the season, in which he has scored five goals and delivered two assists.

Meanwhile, the Juventus duo of Weah and McKennie are back in the fold after missing the September window, as are defenders Antonee and Miles Robinson.

Zack Steffen and Gianluca Busio also return to the squad, with the Colorado Rapids g…

Victor Osimhen will miss Napoli’s Serie A derby against Salernitana with the striker due back with the squad next week to continue his recovery from injury.

The 24-year-old, a reported target of Manchester United and Chelsea, has been out since mid-October with a hamstring problem.

Osimhen was granted permission by the club to travel home to Nigeria but he will return over the next few days to build up his fitness.

“He has made an agreement with the club,” head coach Rudi Garcia told a press conference.

Almost derby

— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli)

“I’ve heard from him by message, and the doctors assure me that he is following the program. Everything is fine and he will be with us next week.”

Napoli wil…

High-tech Japan has promised to treat football fans worldwide to ultra-realistic live 3-D telecasts of World Cup matches should it win the right to host the 2022 edition.

The 550 billion yen (six billion dollar) Universal Fan Fest project is part of Japan s bid submitted to football s world governing body FIFA on Friday, the Japan Football Association said Monday.

The matches would be viewed by some 360 million people at nearly 400 select stadiums in FIFA s 208 member countries, said JFA general secretary Kohzo Tashima, chief executive officer of the bid committee.

The images would be captured from 360 degrees by 200 high-definition cameras during each match, to be transmitted as three-dimensional images, a technology that has been driven in large part by Japan …

While all of the Premier League’s elite might have been handed a late winter break this weekend, we still have a stacked Saturday schedule from across the continent this weekend.

With the likes of Serie A and the Bundesliga stealing centre stage this weekend, we have taken an in-depth look at some of the best betting markets that are available throughout Saturday.

Saturday, January 27th
BST 15:00 Oldham vs Woking

Although Oldham might have opened up the 2023/24 campaign tipped as an outside contender in the play-off chase, Saturday’s hosts are enjoying are real National League flurry. Last seen putting in another eye-catching display as they secured a 2-0 victory against Barnet, Micky Mellon’s men find the mood in their camp at the highest it has been i…

Ten minutes into the second half of the 2-1 Champions League defeat to Basel – after which he accused his team of forgetting to attack – Pep Guardiola was pumping his arms in an exasperated manner, trying to rouse a much-changed Manchester City.

Ever the perfectionist, even Guardiola must have known his exacting standards were unlikely to be met as they were against Arsenal and Chelsea last week, a dominant 4-0 lead from the away leg of the last-16 tie already in the bag.

City led through Gabriel Jesus, netting in regulation fashion on his first start since damaging medial knee ligaments on New Year s Eve and the bright, inventive Mohamed Elyounoussi levelled for Raphael Wicky s commendably industrious visitors, all inside the opening 20 minutes.

Nevertheless…

Juventus played out a goalless draw away to Empoli in Serie A on Saturday evening following a below-par performance.

This was the second league game in a row that Thiago Motta s side dropped points, following a 0-0 draw at home to Roma prior to the international break.

Despite the disappointing result, Juventus still went top of the table with the majority of the division to play on Sunday.

For long periods of the match, the Old Lady were blunted in attack and unable to play through Empoli s high press.

But Motta s side did have their moments, with a Federico Gatti header from a corner coming close later in the first half. Empoli goalkeeper Devis Vasquez expertly saved from Gatti before stopping efforts from both Dusan Vlahovic and Teun Koopmeiners who wa…