Wigan hope to move out of the relegation zone when they welcome Stoke to DW Stadium on Saturday in the English Premier League.

Stoke are now a firmly established Premier League side and followed their 12th placing in the 2008-09 season with an 11th-placed finish last season.

After 15 matches this campaign, Tony Pulis men are in eighth spot on the standings with 20 points, and in their most recent encounter they had a 90th-minute equaliser from Matthew Etherington to thank for their 1-1 draw with Manchester City.

Wigan, on the other hand, are in 18th place and in the dreaded bottom three but only six points behind Stoke on 14.

In their last match, though, they were outplayed by bottom side West Ham en route to a 3-1 loss at Upton Park.

And the new…

President Dmitry Medvedev wrote Hurray! on his blog Thursday and his prime minister hailed both his country and FIFA as Russia rejoiced in the honor of finally being picked to stage the World Cup.

Hurray! Victory! Medvedev wrote in his Twitter account moments after the FIFA 2018 vote in Zurich was broadcast live on most Russian television channels.

Medvedev quickly added that all that Russia needed to do now was break its decades-long run of under-performance at the world s most-watched event.

Now we have to really prepare the way we stage the World Cup. And, of course, put up a deserving performance, Medvedev wrote.

Arctic chills across European Russia kept most of the festivities indoors as only a few dozen braved the -25 Celsius weather to launch ce…

Bolton Wanderers are facing a face fight to keep highly-rated centre-back Gary Cahill in the January transfer window.

The newly capped England star has been impressive at the heart of the Wanderers defence this season and now has the major forces of English football chasing his signature.

Solid

Cahill has been a key part of Bolton’s solid season so far. He is the man who organises the Wanderers defence and for a young guy he has showed excellent leadership skills.

He has the potential to be a top quality centre-back and is improving with every game he plays.

Bargain

If reports are to be believed Gary Cahill is now rated in the £20million bracket. Former club Aston Villa must be absolutely sick over selling the star for just £5million.…

Claudio Ranieri s Roma will be wary of an upset when they travel to face CFR Cluj in Champions League Group E on Wednesday.

Second-placed Roma are in pole position to join Bayern Munich in the knockout stages, and only need a point from their trip to the Stadionul Dr. Constantin Radulescu to guarantee their passage to the last 16.

Roma are three points clear of third-placed FC Basel, but a goal worse off than the Swiss title holders.

If Basel spring a surprise in Munich and Roma conspire to lose in Romania, the teams will trade places, leaving Ranieri to settle for Europa League football in the second half of the season.

Cluj have nothing to play for after being consigned to fourth place with a defeat at the hands of Basel on matchday five, a loss that…

Celta Vigo have announced that head coach Eduardo Berizzo will leave the club at the end of the season.

The 47-year-old is to step down from his post, along with his main backroom staff, following their final LaLiga match of 2016-17 against Real Sociedad on Sunday.

Berizzo has been heavily tipped to take over at Sevilla, with Jorge Sampaoli having confirmed this week that he would be keen to accept an offer to become the new head coach of Argentina.

Eduardo Berizzo and his technical team will not continue at Celta next season, a Celta statement confirmed.

It concludes a wonderful three-year period of continued growth in the sporting, social and institutional aspect and three seasons in which a dream has been pursued that not
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only fuelled exci…

Under-fire Everton manager Roberto Martinez knows he has a fight on his hands to keep his job at the Premier League club for next season. 

Martinez, who took over from David Moyes in August 2013, guided Everton to fifth spot in his first season at the club, but has struggled since. 

Everton finished a lowly 11th last term and are still a mathematical chance of being relegated with four games left in 2015-16.

But despite being knocked out of the FA Cup semi-finals by Manchester United on Saturday, Martinez said he has earned the opportunity to stay on at Goodison Park beyond this season. 

I understand that [he must fight to keep his job], the Spaniard said. We are a big club. You don t expect it any other way.

If I had been given ten years…

Aberdeen have reacted with disappointment over their Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-final ticket allocation after their offer to return any unsold tickets was declined.

The Dons have been allocated 19,000 tickets for their Hampden meeting with Celtic while Hearts will say they will receive an identical initial allocation of 21,000 to their opponents, Rangers.

Both of the last-four underdogs had sought a 50-50 split but the PA news agency understands Aberdeen declined the deal Hearts accepted, to underwrite the cost of any unsold tickets.

The Scottish Football Association announced that the Dons would face Celtic at 12.30pm on April 20 with Hearts playing Rangers at 3pm the following day.

Dates and kick-off times have been confirmed for your Men s Scottis…

Everton centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite hailed his maiden England call-up a dream come true.

The 21-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough campaign with the Toffees, playing 31 times in all competitions after he spent last season on loan at PSV Eindhoven.

Branthwaite has benefited from injuries in the centre of England’s defence to be selected for the March friendlies with Brazil and Belgium, but promised to take in every moment when he links up with Gareth Southgate’s squad for the first time next week.

| “It is a dream come true. To represent your national team at any level is a massive achievement but for it to be the senior squad, I am over the moon and it is a dream come true.” reacts to his first senior call-up…

— Everton (@Everton)

…

David Dein has been overlooked as chairman of the Football Association, with David Bernstein instead appointed for the role.

Bernstein, 67, is a chartered accountant and former chairman of Manchester City.

He presided over City s return to the Premier League following their relegation to the third tier of English Football and was involved in negotiations to move the club to the City of Manchester Stadium.

Bernstein has been a director of Wembley Stadium since 2003, becoming the chairman in 2008.

He is also the President of the National Association of Disabled Supporters.

Former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein had been widely tipped for the role, but was overlooked by the nomination committee chaired by Bolton chairman Phil Gartside.