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Turning their attention to FA Cup duties on Saturday evening, Arsenal will host fellow Premier League outfit Newcastle at an empty Emirates this weekend.

Arsenal

Starting with the hosts, while Arsenal might have broken a string of unwanted records after a hugely worrying start to the 2020/21 campaign, the Gunners appear to have turned a real corner over the festive period. Although Mikel Arteta might have seen his job at the Emirates come under real scrutiny after enduring their worst domestic start in over 50 years, the Reds have found themselves enjoying a recent boost. Last seen away at Premier League returners West Brom, the defending FA Cup winners managed to put on a thumping display in the Midlands. Eventually breezing past the …

Chelsea caretaker manager Frank Lampard believes the club must focus on their own project, and ignore outside opinion.

The Blues have struggled this season despite investing an eye-watering amount of money on players in the last two transfer windows, sitting in 11th place in the Premier League after 30 games.

Chelsea face Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, who are four places above them, and the Seagulls have continued to thrive under boss Roberto De Zerbi ever since the London club took their previous head coach, Graham Potter, from them in September.

I think Brighton is a fantastic model. You can track their last five, six, seven years and see good progression and that s their path, Lampard said at a press conference on Friday.

Chelsea s path is a …

Emmanuel Adebayor has told of his difficulty in adjusting to life following the attack on the Togo national team at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.

The team bus came under fire after crossing the border into Angola, killing three people on board.

One of those who died was the team s press officer Stan Ocloo, who Adebayor described as a big brother , and the forward says he found it very hard to get back to normal after the incident.

Stan Ocloo was my big brother, Adebayor told L Equipe ahead of Wednesday s Africa Cup of Nations clash against Tunisia.

He counselled me, I called him when I was sad at my clubs.

I spent a year-and-a-half (trying) to digest because he died in my arms. I collapsed in tears, I saw everyone crying.

I though…

FIFA has banned Saoud Al-Mohannadi from all football-related activities on a national and international level for one year following the vice-president of the Qatar Football Association (QFA) s refusal to cooperate with the investigatory chamber in the proceedings against a third party.

An investigation into Al-Mohannadi was opened in July and the adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee has now opted to take action because of infringements of his duty to collaborate as a witness.

The adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee, chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert, has banned Saoud Al-Mohannadi, vice-president of the QFA and a vice-president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), for one year from all football-related activities on a national and international level…

Fernando Santos suffered his first competitive defeat as Portugal coach, with the European champions beginning their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-0 loss to Group B rivals Switzerland, who ended the match with 10 men.

Since taking over from Paulo Bento in September 2014, Santos had navigated Portugal through 14 non-friendly matches without loss, winning Euro 2016 in the process, but that run came to an end at St Jakob-Park on Tuesday.

After a bright start the European champions fell behind in the 23rd minute when goalkeeper Rui Patricio pushed Ricardo Rodriguez s free-kick straight to Breel Embolo, who responded to being selected in place of the injured Xherdan Shaqiri by heading home his second international goal and first since October 2015.

It qu…

Lionel Messi was the topic of plenty of speculation in recent weeks before inking a two-year deal with Paris Saint-Germain.

The 34-year-old left Barcelona as a free agent after two decades with the Catalan club, unable to stay despite wanting to continue his career there.

But rumours are swirling already about Messi s next move after PSG, even though he has yet to even make his debut for the Ligue 1 side.

TOP STORY BECKHAM HOLDS MESSI TALKS

Inter Miami owner David Beckham has held talks with Messi about joining the MLS club after his PSG contract expires, reports The Mirror.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder has promised to bring a superstar player to the club, with links to Cristiano Ronaldo in the past.

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England striker Michael Owen hit a Champions League hat-trick on Tuesday to give national coach Fabio Capello a timely reminder of his talent as Manchester United finished top of their group.

Owen, who turns 30 on December 14, demonstrated his finishing class with a well-taken hat-trick to seal United s 3-1 victory at Wolfsburg to dump the Germans out of the Champions League and boost his World Cup chances.

It was Owen s first Champions League hat-trick since joining Manchester United last summer.

After his first-half header, Owen slid home his second on 83 minutes before producing a superb effort in extra-time to claim his third.

Michael Owen is one of the best strikers in the last third of the field in terms of his movement, his positional play and al…

Chelsea fell to a fifth consecutive defeat in all competitions after a 2-0 Premier League reverse against Brentford at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

Cesar Azpilicueta s first-half own goal put Brentford ahead at the break, with the Blues unable to muster much of a threat thereafter.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang s half-time introduction did at least provide some energy to Chelsea s attack, though the hosts never truly looked like scoring.

Any hope of a late comeback was thwarted by Bryan Mbeumo, his deflected effort clinching a win to boost Brentford s European hopes.

West London is

— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC)

A tepid opening saw few clear-cut opportunities, though Thiago Silva did head at David Raya, who made another comfortable save to…

Goalkeeper Petr Cech believes that Fernando Torres is in the form of his life after finally hitting the goal trail at Chelsea.

The Spain international striker has consistently come under fire since making a £50million switch to Stamford Bridge from Liverpool in 2011, in particular for his perceived below-par goal return.

His failure to regularly reproduce the scoring feats that made him such a hit at Anfield where he netted 65 Premier League goals in three and a half years with the club have seen him struggle to hold down a regular place in the Chelsea attack.

However, the return of Jose Mourinho to the Stamford Bridge dugout during the close-season appears to have given the 29-year-old a new lease of life.

And after creating one and scoring the winner in the 2-…