England coach Roy Hodgson can give Wayne Rooney 'no guarantees' that he will always pick him for the national team and said the current crop of forwards he has to choose from is the best he has seen during his tenure.
Chelsea moved into the Premier League's top four as Mason Mount's superb first-half goal earned them a 1-0 win at champions Liverpool who suffered a club-record fifth straight home league defeat on Thursday.
The win allowed second-placed Liverpool to close the gap on league leaders Manchester City to two points.
Belgian league leaders Antwerp secured a shock 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur and AC Milan extended their unbeaten run to 23 games as they won 3-0 against Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday, while Arsenal cruised to a 3-0 win over Dundalk.
Images from the European World Cup qualifiers played on Thursday
Manchester City secured a record 15th straight victory in all competitions with a 3-1 win at Championship side Swansea City in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday.
Tottenham Hotspur's hopes of moving into the top four stalled in a 2-2 draw at bottom club Norwich City, while several VAR interventions overshadowed the action. Images from EPL matches played on Saturday.
Tottenham Hotspur's exhilarating Premier League title surge came to a shuddering halt as they lost 1-0 at West Ham United on Friday to leave Chelsea needing six points from four games to be crowned champions.
If England coach Roy Hodgson's two halftime substitutions proved decisive in turning the tide in their 2-1 victory over Wales on Thursday, he still risked a charge of not having made them before the game rather than midway through. As usual, however, the result was all and a win enabled the normally conservative Hodgson to claim justification for his strategy. Others will question whether his loyalty to Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane, both poor for the second successive match, might have been costly in terms of both England's qualification and, after that, his own job prospects.
Substitute Daniel Sturridge scored a dramatic winner in injury time to steer England towards a 2-1 win over Wales and top spot in their Group B clash Euro 2016.
It is their best finish for 54 years, since the glory days of the 1960s when the club was setting new standards in English football under Bill Nicholson.
England and Russia are the big beasts of Group B and, though each would love a winning start when they meet on Saturday, the fear of losing could well become all-pervading and lead to a cagey encounter. With games against Wales and Slovakia to come, and the potential for three teams to qualify with two guaranteed, a point at the Velodrome might look a very useful result in a couple of weeks. England, on the back of winning all 10 qualifiers, not to mention a rare victory in Germany in a friendly, start favourites and will expect to make the running in front of a 60,000 crowd that will be predominantly behind them.
Leicester City added another tale of remarkable success to an incredible year by reaching the last 16 of the Champions League in their debut season with a 2-1 victory over Club Bruges.
Spain began a new era under Luis Enrique in impressive fashion as they came from a goal down to outplay England in a 2-1 win in their Nations League opener at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Aymeric Laporte's late header sealed a deserved 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur
Although Spurs always looked more comfortable on the ball it was Sean Dyche's side, who have just a point from their opening five games, who had come the closest.
Tottenham Hotspur stormed back from 2-0 down to beat Burnley 4-2 in their FA Cup third-round replay on Wednesday despite resting their top striker in the once-fabled competition.
Christian Eriksen kept Tottenham Hotspur's hopes of completing a remarkable salvage job and reaching the last 16 of the Champions League alive with a late winner in his side's 1-0 victory over Inter Milan at Wembley on Wednesday.
Chelsea kept alive their remote Premier League title chances with a 2-0 win over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, set on their way by an exquisite strike from Hakim Ziyech which was quickly followed up by a Thiago Silva header.
A summary of Sunday's action in the Premier League.
United youth product Gomes, 18, struck after Spurs' Lucas Moura cancelled out Anthony Martial's first-half opener and gave the 20-time Premier League champions another victory after they beat Perth Glory, Leeds United and Inter Milan.
From the debate-arousing introduction of VAR to maximum number of Penalties to the superb Ronaldo, here are the A to Z of the ongoing 2018 World Cup
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will again be duelling for the title of world's best footballer after their names once again headed the shortlist on Thursday for The Best FIFA Men's Player.
Manchester City tightened their stranglehold at the top of the Premier League on Wednesday by trouncing bottom club West Bromwich Albion 3-0 as nearest rivals Manchester United suffered a chastening 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
Juergen Klopp's reign as Liverpool manager began with a few points made but only one gained from an exciting, end-to-end 0-0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on Saturday.
United beat Leicester City at Old Trafford in the opening game of the season but Spurs present a very different quality of opponent.
Huddersfield Town were left celebrating wildly after securing their Premier League safety on Wednesday with a dramatic and resilient 1-1 draw at Chelsea, a result that looks almost certain to condemn Swansea City to relegation.
The FIFA 2022 World Cup will kick-off in Qatar on Sunday, November 20. Here is a list of the 26-man squads playing in the quadrennial global football extravaganza.
The 19-year-old Mbappe followed up a domestic treble with Paris St Germain with a string of impressive performances in France's World Cup winning campaign.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field
Images from Sunday's action in the Premier League.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Rewind five years and Liverpool hosted Chelsea with three games remaining, knowing victory would have left them six points clear and a first league title since 1990 almost secure.
When England fans sang about '30 years of hurt' at Euro '96 they had high hopes of ending the pain with a first trophy since the 1966 World Cup but 20 years on from that agonising near miss there is precious little optimism in the air.
"The best team won, we struggled from the beginning and we couldn't deal with their long balls. Usually, you press the ball to win it, but this was different. They defended so deep and so well," City coach Pep Guardiola told the BBC.
Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League hopes were crushed by mid-table Belgian side Gent, who booked their spot in the last 16 with a 2-2 draw at Wembley on Thursday as the hosts paid the penalty for Dele Alli's first-half red card.
With no European prizes left to chase this season, England's top clubs are focussed on winning the Premier League title, although that goal looks beyond all but Chelsea.
Real Madrid have endured a miserable season since Zinedine Zidane left in May, first sacking Julen Lopetegui and then Santiago Solari.
Denmark have rediscovered their hunger and are starting to believe they can secure the trophy they won in spectacular fashion in 1992.
Diego Costa was on target again as Chelsea overcame a defensive West Bromwich Albion 1-0 to return to the top of the Premier League with their ninth victory in a row on Sunday. The Spaniard's second-half strike sent the Blues three points clear of Arsenal, who had taken the overall lead on goals scored on Saturday after seeing off Stoke City 3-1 at the Emirates.
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