James Milner and Roberto Firmino are set to be absent as an excited Liverpool launch their Premier League chase , manager Jurgen Klopp announced.
Milner was forced off in the 38th minute of Liverpool s 3-2 EFL Cup defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday after sustaining a hamstring injury against his old club.
He will now be unavailable for the Premier League trip to another of his former teams, Aston Villa, on December 26, and the December 30 clash at Anfield with Leicester City.
Firmino missed the loss to City with a calf injury sustained in training, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been dealing with a virus that kept Trent Alexander-Arnold out of the last-16 defeat. Oxlade-Chamberlain came on as a substitute against City.
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Mohamed Salah is targeting a third consecutive African Player of the Year trophy after being named on the preliminary list of nominees for the 2019 award.
Salah defended his crown last year after scoring 44 goals for Liverpool and Egypt in 2018 and finishing as the 2017-18 Premier League Golden Boot winner with 32 goals.
The 27-year-old faces competition for this year s honour from Reds team-mate Sadio Mane. The Senegal international was joint top scorer in the Premier League last season with 22 goals alongside Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has also been named on the 30-strong list.
Manchester City and Algeria forward Riyad Mahrez, who won the award in 2016, is also included on the list announced by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
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England great Geoff Hurst labelled Pele as the greatest of all time after the Brazil legend s death was confirmed on Thursday.
Pele, a three-time World Cup winner, had been moved to palliative care early in December after his body stopped responding to cancer treatment.
The 82-year-old s daughter announced his passing after his family travelled to be by his side at Sao Paulo s Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital before Christmas Day.
Tributes have flooded in for the footballing icon after he left a lasting legacy on Brazil and Santos, for whom he scored 643 goals in 659 matches over an 18-year period.
England s 1966 World Cup winner Hurst, who was the only man to score a hat-trick in the final of the tournament before Kylian Mbappe at Qatar 2022, believes …
Fabien Barthez does not believe Paris Saint-Germain are getting the best out of their team by alternating between goalkeepers Gianluigi Donnarumma and Keylor Navas.
Donnarumma signed for PSG in the off-season, as one of four remarkable free signings alongside Lionel Messi, Georginio Wijnaldum and Sergio Ramos.
It is fair to say that none of those additions have been rip-roaring successes. Messi has failed to replicate his Barcelona form and scored only seven times across all competitions, albeit that does make him PSG s second-highest goalscorer so far this season, behind Kylian Mbappe (26).
While Messi has at least provided 10 assists, Wijnaldum has only directly contributed to six goals in all competitions (three goals, three assists), creating just 11 chances …
Fraizer Campbell has completed his switch from Cardiff City to Crystal Palace on a three-year deal.
The 26-year-old s move to Selhurst Park had been widely speculated in the media, with both clubs confirming the deal on Friday for an undisclosed fee.
Cambell, formerly of Manchester United, moved to Sunderland in 2009, before another switch to south Wales for the second half of the 2012-13 season.
The striker s seven goals in nine appearances helped fire Cardiff to the Championship title that year, but he was unable to stop the Welsh outfit from dropping straight back to the second tier last season.
Campbell netted six times in 37 Premier League appearances as Cardiff, under Malky Mackay and then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, ended the season bottom of the table, …
Germany head coach Joachim Low has extended his contract until 2018.
Low guided Germany to glory in last year s World Cup as they beat Argentina 1-0 in the Rio de Janeiro showpiece in July.
That success marked Germany s fourth world title, although they have since stumbled in qualification for Euro 2016, taking seven points from four group games.
Despite those slightly disappointing results, the German Football Association (DFB) has opted to put its long-term faith in Low, who has designs on further glory.
I m very happy, Low said. We still have big intentions and we re highly motivated.
Thank you to the presidential board for their show of faith. We feel very much at home here at the DFB.
Low took over as head coach in 2006, follo…
Sunderland boss Gus Poyet believes Swansea City have benefited from maintaining a consistent tactical approach in recent seasons.
The Welsh club face Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday having claimed nine points from five Premier League games this season.
Although Garry Monk has only been in charge of Swansea since February, initially as a temporary successor to Michael Laudrup, Poyet has highlighted the value of several managers at the Liberty Stadium following the lead of Roberto Martinez, who introduced a slick brand of passing football during his time as boss between February 2007 and June 2009.
They have an advantage because other than the top seven the difference between teams [in the Premier League] is the quantity of time they have been playi…
Czechia head coach Ivan Hasek insisted he has players ready to replace Patrik Schick in their must-win final group game against Turkiye on Tuesday.
Shick, who became his nation s top scorer at the European Championships with his goal against Georgia, limped off shortly after scoring and is a doubt for their final Group F fixture.
Patrik has been with the physios and doctors for the last two days, Hasek said. He wasn t training. He s getting better, but we will see tomorrow.
Schick is a key player, one of the best scorers in Europe. But if he s not able to play, we need to replace him. And we have players who are able to replace him and they are ready and been working hard, added Hasek.
Poslední plnohodnotný trénink před zápasem s Tureckem je za n…
FIFA has suspended the Kuwait Football Association (KFA) with immediate effect after it failed to make changes to sporting law within the country.
The FIFA Executive Committee wrote to the KFA last month voicing its concern over the government s level of influence within the organisation and calling for it to avoid implementing a new sporting law.
The decision means neither domestic nor international sides can take part in any matches until the sanction is lifted.
A FIFA statement read: Today, 16 October 2015, the Kuwait Football Association has been suspended with immediate effect. The suspension follows the decision of the FIFA Executive Committee during its meeting on 24 and 25 September to give until 15 October 2015 for changes to be made to the sports l…
A Sevilla supporter was ejected from their LaLiga match with Real Madrid after allegedly directing racist abuse towards Vinicius Jr during the 1-1 draw.
The Brazil international played 88 minutes of the fixture at Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan where Madrid captain Dani Carvajal’s header 12 minutes from time cancelled out David Alaba’s own goal.
Vinicius Jr later posted on social media about being on the receiving end of racism during the match on Saturday night, which Sevilla have now confirmed was the case.
Parabéns ao Sevilla pelo rápido posicionamento e pela punição em mais um triste episódio para o futebol espanhol.
Infelizmente, tive acesso a um vídeo com outro ato racista na partida deste sábado, dessa vez praticado por uma criança. Lamento muit…