Both local bragging rights and European qualification will be on the line when Lyon host Saint-Etienne in the Derby du Rhone on Sunday.
The arch-rivals are separated by just 60 kilometres, and one position in the Ligue 1 table, with Saint-Etienne holding onto France s UEFA Europa League spot in fourth, three points ahead of fifth-placed Lyon.
Saint-Etienne will travel to the Stade de Gerland knowing a win will strike a significant blow in the race for a Europa League berth next season, while they could also draw level with Lille on 54 points if the club in third lose to Guingamp.
But according to Saint-Etienne s Turkish striker Mevlut Erding, bragging rights remain most important for the men in green.
The derby is the most important, Erding told ONZEO.
Befo…
Great prospect
There is little doubt that Arsenal’s twenty-one year old left back Kieran Gibbs is one of the brightest English prospects. He looks to have everything required to take over from Ashley Cole when he decides to hang up his international boots.
Surprise
Although it was something of a surprise that he was selected for England for their disappointing friendly defeat to France last month, that was further evidence of how he is regarded within the game.
The problem is that the young full back is finding it very difficult to get minutes on the pitch. He is basically the understudy to France’s reserve left back Gael Clichy, but any chance he has of reversing that position is continually blighted by a series of injuries.
Injury
Tom…
South Korea were held to a disappointing 0-0 draw by Iraq in Wednesday s friendly match at Emirates Club Stadium in UAE.
Uli Stielike s side could not find a way past goalkeeper Mohammed Gassid despite boasting a strong side that included Tottenham star Son Heung-min and Augsburg striker Ji Dong-won.
Iraq, who lost 2-0 to South Korea when the teams last met in the semi-final of the Asian Cup in 2015, were good value for the draw and mustered more efforts on target than their more illustrious opponents.
Chances were scarce in a tepid 90 minutes as Basim Qasim set his side out to frustrate the Koreans, who started with Son, Ji and Lee Chung-yong in a dangerous attacking trident.
Son carved out one of the better openings in the first half, driving towards …
Southampton will not let Virgil van Dijk leave for less than £70m, according to the Mail Online.
Chelsea and Manchester City remain interested in signing the centre-back after Liverpool pulled out after being found guilty of tapping up the player.
The Saints are keen for Van Dijk to stay put and are hoping that that will be the case as they continue to play hardball.
Since arriving at St Mary’s Stadium from Celtic in the summer of 2015, the twenty-five year old has racked up sixty-eight appearances in all competitions, scoring a total of seven goals.
He was named the south coast club’s Player of the Season in 2016 while during his time in Scotland he won back to back SPL titles and a League Cup.
Internationally he has been capped twelve times …
Antonio Rudiger hopes to help Chelsea secure the signing of Kai Havertz following his involvement in the arrival of Timo Werner.
Havertz is expected to make a £90million (€100m) move from Bayer Leverkusen to Chelsea, where he would link-up with Germany team-mates Rudiger and Werner.
Rudiger revealed in June he recommended the Blues do their utmost to sign Werner after being asked for an assessment of the striker.
Leverkusen boss Peter Bosz said on Monday he did not expect Havertz to train with the club again following his call-up to the Germany squad for Nations League games against Spain and Switzerland.
Asked if he was trying to entice Havertz to Chelsea, Rudiger said: I made my contribution to Timo. I hope that it will happen with Kai too.
…
With the form of David De Gea the object of much criticism towards the end of the 2019/20 season, a debate has arisen on whether Dean Henderson, who spent the campaign on loan at Sheffield United and performed extremely well, could replace the Spaniard as the first-choice goalkeeper at Old Trafford.
Here s former United defender Gary Neville with his views on the matter.
https://twitter.com/footballdaily/status/1300749340873551873
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Wolfsburg manager Steve McClaren has admitted the club needs change after they crashed out of the DFB Pokal.
Wolfsburg lost 3-1 to Bundesliga 2 side Energie Cottbus on Wednesday and McClaren s immediate future at the club has been put in jeopardy by their wavering on-field fortunes, which sees them in 13th place in the Bundesliga and without a win in their past eight games in all competitions.
It was just not good enough today; it was not good enough throughout the whole first half of the season, McClaren said after the round-of-16 defeat.
I am disappointed and frustrated. We have hit bottom. The club needs changes now. No-one knows what will happen in the next days.
Wolves general manager Dieter Hooness said he cancelled a trip to decide on McClaren …
Spain boss Vicente del Bosque made no excuses for his side s 4-0 loss to Portugal, admitting they were outplayed by their Iberian neighbours.
A brace from Helder Postiga along with goals from Carlos Martins and Hugo Almeida saw Portugal humble the world champions with a brilliant attacking display in Lisbon on Wednesday.
Spain have been the best team in the world over the last three years, winning the 2010 World Cup and the 2008 European Championship, but del Bosque admitted they were outclassed by Portugal.
We have to accept the defeat. We couldn t have played any worse. They were very effective on the counterattack and did us a lot of damage, del Bosque said.
We had a very weak second half and I have to recognise that Portugal have been better than u…
Verdict: Under 2.5 goals
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Two sides who will be desperate to end 2018 on a high, Italy will face off against The United States when the two struggling nations meet at the Luminus Arena in Genk on Tuesday night.
Italy
Starting with the 2006 World champions, while Italy may have turned to former Premier League-winning boss Roberto Mancini over the summer, it has been an incredibly poor year for Gli Azzurri. Playing out a 0-0 draw with Portugal last time out, the Italians have now managed to record just one win in their last seven outings. Although the Blues may have managed to secure their spot in League A for this year s inaugural UEFA Nations League, fans in Italy will certainly be demanding a lot more. It will be their form i…
One particular piece of play early on in City s comfortable 3-1 derby win over United last time out caught Weaver s eye.
In the first few minutes of the game, someone rolled him the ball back and he trapped it under his foot, he said. He s about two yards off his line in the middle of his goal. There s a [United] player about four yards away from him.
He s clipped it with his left foot over one of the strikers and dropped it into Kyle Walker s chest at right-back.
Most goalkeepers would have just hoofed it out of play. Occasionally he will get caught but, to watch him… it s taking goalkeeping to another level.
I ve watching him live quite a few times and he could probably play left-back if he wanted. He s got such good feet.
Weaver feels s…