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William Saliba massively impressed on loan at Marseille last season (Picture: Getty) Frank Leboeuf has claimed that Marseille are ‘still crying’ over the fact that William Saliba decided to return to Arsenal and did not stay with the club. The 21-year-old France international centre-back massively impressed on loan at Marseille last season and some had hoped he would move there permanently. Saliba played 52 games for Marseille as they finished runners-up in Ligue 1 to qualify for this season’s Champions League while parent club Arsenal missed out after a late collapse to Tottenham and had to settle for the Europa League . He also helped Marseille reach the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League in a strong season for the club. Saliba was crowned Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year and was named in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year. At the time he had still not made an appearance for Arsenal, but following his third loan since joining the Gunners in 2019, he returned to north Lon...

Can Harry Kane fire England to World Cup glory (Photo: Getty) Manchester United legends Roy Keane and Gary Neville as well as Arsenal icon Ian Wright have revealed who they think will win the 2022 World Cup . With the World Cup in Qatar now just a few weeks away, the time has come to make serious predictions about who will immortalise themselves in football history. There is no clear and obvious pick to win with Betfair listing Brazil, France, Argentina, Spain, England and Germany as the favourites. This is a fact reflected in the predictions of the trio, who were announced on Thursday as part of ITV ’s punditry team for their coverage of the tournament. Former United and England defender Neville has decided to remain patriotic and back Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions who are heading to Qatar under a bit of a cloud following some a poor run of form in 2022. Neville said: ‘I’m going to go for England! They’ve gone from semi-final, final, runner up and now they are going to go...

Erik ten Hag joined Manchester United at the end of last season (Picture: Getty) Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn has urged Manchester United to ‘cut their losses’ and sell a member of Erik ten Hag’s squad, either in January or next summer. Former Ajax boss Ten Hag has only had one transfer window to oversee the incomings and outgoings at Old Trafford. Manchester United backed their new manager with the signings of Antony, Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Tyrell Malacia and Lisandro Martinez last summer. The likes of Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard and Eric Bailly all left the Theatre of Dreams as Ten Hag honed in on the players he wanted to work with at United. Manchester United have largely impressed under Ten Hag, winning six of their last nine Premier League matches to climb to sixth in the table. The January transfer window will give Ten Hag another chance to bolster or trim his squad and former Arsenal defender Winterburn believes Anthony Martial is som...

Graham Potter and Chelsea were forced to make do without Kalidou Koulibaly against Man Utd (Picture: Getty) Graham Potter has confirmed Kalidou Koulibaly was not included in Chelsea ’s squad for Saturday’s game against Manchester United due to a knee injury. The summer signing from Napoli has endured a difficult start to his Premier League career but had begun to cement his place at the heart of Chelsea’s defence in the absence of fellow new recruit Wesley Fofana. Koulibaly completed 90 minutes against Brentford in midweek as he helped his side snuff out the threat of Ivan Toney and keep a creditable clean sheet in the goalless draw at the Gtech Community Stadium. The 31-year-old, however, felt his knee after the game and wasn’t risked against United forcing Potter into another defensive reshuffle. ‘Just felt his knee at the back end of the game against Brentford,’ Potter told Sky Sports. ‘Not too bad but too soon for this one.’ Chelsea made three other changes including ret...

Roy Keane defended his former Man Utd teammate Cristiano Ronaldo (Photo: Sky Sports) Roy Keane has defended Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo after he refused to be subbed on against Tottenham last Wednesday. Ronaldo disobeyed Erik ten Hag’s instructions during the 2-0 win at Old Trafford, and stormed down the tunnel and left the stadium before full-time. The star forward was subsequently axed from United’s squad to face Chelsea on Saturday. Keane, a former teammate of Ronaldo during his first spell at United, understood the decision to punish him but nonetheless defended the 37-year-old. ‘I try to see it from the player’s point of view,’ Keane told Sky Sports. ‘He’s obviously had enough. He’s lost his head and I think it’s been brewing over the last few weeks with Ronaldo. ‘But I will still try and defend him. He’s a human being, he’s got flaws. He probably feels frustrated that he’s not been getting opportunities and he’s had enough. Ronaldo’s frustration at get...

Taiwo Awoniyi’s goal against Liverpool was only his second for Nottingham Forest (Photo: Getty) Jurgen Klopp says he is happy for Nottingham Forest star Taiwo Awoniyi after the ex-Liverpool youngster scored the winner against his former club on Saturday. Forest stunned Liverpool 1-0 at the City Ground, with Awoniyi’s 55th minute strike enough to seal all three points and lift Steve Cooper’s side off the bottom of the table. The Nigerian striker was on the Reds’ books from 2015 to 2021, but never played a minute for Klopp’s team, instead spending his time out on loan at various clubs across Europe before finally being sold to Union Berlin. After a very successful season in the Bundesliga, he returned to England in the summer and has had a decent start to life at Forest, especially in the context of their struggles. ‘He [Awoniyi] had a sensational development,’ Klopp said post-match after enduring Liverpool’s latest disappointing result. ‘He has arrived where he belongs and I a...

Virgil van Dijk squandered Liverpool’s best chances in their defeat against Nottingham Forest (Picture: BT Sport) Jurgen Klopp blamed Liverpool’s impotent attack for Saturday’s shock Premier League defeat against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. The Reds appeared to have overcome their early season struggles after recording back-to-back wins over Manchester City and West Ham but were largely toothless against relegation haunted Forest. Klopp was forced to make a number of changes from the side that narrowly overcame the Hammers with both Thiago Alcantara and Darwin Nunez missing out through injury. Liverpool’s best chances came from set-pieces and squandered a number of glaring opportunities with Virgil van Dijk and Roberto Firmino particularly culpable. Van Dijk passed up the best chance of an evenly contested first half when he inexplicably attempted to head the ball across the six yard box and provide Jordan Henderson with a tap-in when he had the goal his mercy. F...

Patrice Evra helped Man Utd win their most recent Premier League title in 2012-13 (Picture: Getty) Manchester United legend Patrice Evra has shared his opinion on his former club’s chances of winning the Premier League title in 2022-23. United are fifth in the Premier League after their opening 10 games prior to Saturday’s trip to Chelsea and a win would see them move up into the top four and go five points behind leaders Arsenal, who face Southampton on Sunday. They finished second in 2020-21 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but last season ended in disaster as the Norwegian was sacked before things got even worse under interim boss Ralf Rangnick , with the club dropping to a sixth-placed finish. But there is renewed optimism under new manager Erik ten Hag, who arrived from Ajax this summer, who has recovered from a shaky start to lead the Red Devils to impressive wins over Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham. Evra helped United become champions of England in 2012-13 – the last time...

The Merseysiders have been forced to make a number of changes (Picture: Getty) Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is without both Darwin Nunez and Thiago Alcantara for Saturday’s clash against Nottingham Forest but the pair are likely to be back to face Ajax . The Uruguayan striker, an £85million signing from Benfica in the summer, netted the winning goal against West Ham on Wednesday but was withdrawn shortly before the hour mark. Klopp confirmed afterwards that Nunez had ‘felt something’ and would need to be assessed by the club’s medical team, with Saturday’s lunchtime trip to the City Ground coming too soon. In addition to being without the forward, midfielder Thiago has also come down with an ear inflection and was only ruled out in the early hours of the morning. Speaking to BT Sport before kick-off, Klopp said of his missing stars: ‘No [it’s not precautionary], I wish I could do that. For Darwin the game comes too early. ‘He feels the intensity of the game [against West Ham...

Pep Guardiola’s Man City host Brighton on Saturday (Photo: Getty) Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has aimed a dig at his rival Jurgen Klopp over Liverpool’s title prospects this season. Liverpool beat City 1-0 last Sunday in a heated affair at Anfield and it seems tensions are still relatively high between the two clubs and their managers. Going into the fixture, the Reds were trailing the Citizens by 13 points after an awful start to the season, with Klopp claiming that his team were already out of the running for the Premier League title. This view wasn’t shared by Guardiola who even claimed that Liverpool were still his side’s biggest challengers in the title race, snubbing the likes of Chelsea , Tottenham and league leaders Arsenal in the process. Fast-forward to Friday, and the City boss has now doubled-down on these remarks, even going so far as to say that he has more faith in his rivals than Klopp does. ‘It looks like with my statement I believe more in the Li...

Cristiano Ronaldo will miss Man Utd’s clash at Chelsea (Photo: Getty) Erik ten Hag says he is still ‘counting on’ Cristiano Ronaldo for the rest of the season with the Manchester United star set to miss Saturday’s clash at Chelsea . Ronaldo has been axed from the matchday squad for refusing to come on as a substitute in United’s 2-0 win over Tottenham last Wednesday and leaving Old Trafford before the final whistle. Many have speculated that the 37-year-old, who desperately attempted to leave United in the summer, has played his last game for the Red Devils with his relationship with Ten Hag, his teammates and the club now beyond repair. But Ten Hag says that is not the case at all, and hinted that Ronaldo’s punishment may only apply for the match at Stamford Bridge. In his pre-match press conference, the United manager was asked whether he thought the Portuguese legend would remain at the club for the rest of the season and whether he wanted him to stay. Ten Hag simply repl...

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool travel to Nottingham Forest on Saturday (Photo: Getty) The Football Association will not be investigating Jurgen Klopp after the Liverpool manager was accused of making xenophobic comments towards Manchester City ’s owners. Ahead of last Sunday’s game between Liverpool and City, which the Reds won 1-0, Klopp bemoaned the spending power of the three clubs who are backed by Gulf states – City, Newcastle and PSG. ‘What does Liverpool do? We cannot act like them. It is not possible,’ the German said. ‘There are three clubs in world football who can do what they want financially. It’s legal and everything, fine, but they can do what they want.’ The Times  reported that some within the City camp felt these comments were borderline xenophobic and had inflamed tensions between the two clubs, which led to the game being even more heated than usual. Pep Guardiola  was pelted with coins from home fans at Anfield, while away supporters made vile chants ...