Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has said he fears his England career is over after being overlooked for Euro 2012 by manager Roy Hodgson.
Peter Odemwingie scored a hat-trick as West Bromwich Albion triumphed 5-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday to move further away from danger and leave their beleaguered local rivals inside the Premier League drop zone.
England's third choice goalkeeper John Ruddy has been ruled out of Euro 2012 after breaking a finger in training, the Football Association said on Friday.
Germany central defender Jerome Boateng has questioned whether England have enough quality to excel at the European Championship that will commence in France this week.
Craig Shakespeare is the bookmakers' favourite to succeed Claudio Ranieri as manager of Leicester City after taking charge of Monday's impressive 3-1 victory over Liverpool.
Manchester United teenage striker Marcus Rashford is all set to sign a new lucrative long-term deal with the club.
Mohammed Haneef, a doctor of Indian origin based in Australia, who was wrongfully accused of terrorism, has struck a 'substantial' compensation deal with the Australian government, reports claimed on Tuesday.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has promised to show plenty of restraint and respect if he inflicts a first Premier League defeat of the season on his former side Chelsea on Saturday.
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.
The victory takes Pep Guardiola's side into provisional second spot
A third successive league victory put Leicester City back above Chelsea into third place on goal difference with 23 points from 11 games.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Images from Saturday's matches in the Premier League.
Everton have 36 points from 26 games
New manager Kenny Dalglish was again unable to deliver the Midas touch as Blackpool beat Liverpool 2-1 at Bloomfield Road on Wednesday to complete a remarkable Premier League double over the 18-times champions. The victory lifted Blackpool to ninth with 28 points while Liverpool, who brought in interim appointment Dalglish on Saturday to replace Roy Hodgson, are 13th on 25 after their eighth defeat in 11 away games.
For all the positives that England can take from their performance against Russia in their opening Euro 2016 game there remains the worrying issue that their sophisticated modern defenders remain vulnerable to the most basic of attacking ploys -- a long punt into the box.
Following is a match by match look at the English Premier League's weekend fixtures
Denmark midfielder Christian Poulsen was reunited with former manager Roy Hodgson on Thursday when he agreed a three-year contract with Liverpool.
Liverpool ensured it was an unhappy return for former manager Gerard Houllier with a comfortable 3-0 Premier League win over Aston Villa at Anfield on Monday.
Images from action in the Spanish Super Cup and English Premier League
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.
Carlos Vela scored an injury-time equalizer to give West Bromwich Albion a 1-1 draw with Premier League rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in a typically passionate Black Country derby on Sunday.
Barcelona have agreed a transfer fee with Liverpool for Javier Mascherano and the Argentine midfielder is expected in Spain for a medical this weekend, the clubs said on Friday.
Liverpool will be without key duo Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres for Thursday's Europa League playoff second leg away to Trabzonspor.
Midfielder Joe Cole was given the chance to rekindle his career on Monday when he joined Liverpool after being released by Chelsea in May.
Sunderland have given permission to the Football Association (FA) to speak to manager Sam Allardyce about the vacant England post, the Premier League club said on Wednesday.
Chelsea's Didier Drogba proved Arsenal's nemesis again on Sunday when he scored the opening goal in the champions' 2-0 win over their London rivals which stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League. Blackpool also had an afternoon to remember, with a shock 2-1 win at Liverpool, which left Roy Hodgson's mis-firing side in the bottom three.
For the first time in the seven-year history of the new Wembley, the arena was less than half full for an England international as 40,181 underwhelmed fans witnessed a familiar old diet of mostly turgid, uninspiring fare from Roy Hodgson's World Cup failures, enlivened mainly by the sparky contribution of Raheem Sterling.
Following is a match by match look at the English Premier League's weekend fixtures:
Germany central defender Jerome Boateng has questioned whether England have enough quality to excel at next month's European Championship. Despite having the world's richest league, England go into the competition in France having not won a major tournament since landing the 1966 World Cup on home soil. "England beat us 3-2 in Berlin (in March) but I do not know if in matters of quality and consistency they have enough for an entire tournament," Boateng told German Railway DB Mobil magazine.
Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef, who was wrongly detained in Australia for alleged terror links, has cancelled his temporary Australian visa. Haneef is believed to have cancelled the temporary business visa on August 17 to unlock the superannuation contributions made before he was wrongly accused of supporting terrorism.
England beat France 2-0 in an emotional friendly at Wembley on Tuesday when more than 70,000 fans paid tribute to the victims of the Paris attacks with English fans roaring out a spine-tingling rendition of the visitors' national anthem.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday
Losing striker Jamie Vardy to Arsenal could spark an exodus of players from Leicester City, former defender Gerry Taggart has said, adding that the move could be catastrophic for the Premier League champions. Arsenal tabled a bid for Vardy before he left for the European Championship in France with the rest of England's squad on Monday, according to British media reports. The 29-year-old was the joint second-highest scorer in the English top-flight last season and Arsenal's bid comes at an uncomfortable time for England, whose manager Roy Hodgson has banned players' agents from the team hotel in Chantilly to avoid his players being distracted. "If Vardy goes then one or two others might want to leave as well," Taggart, who made over 100 appearances for Leicester, told the BBC. "For the good of the whole team and the club it is important Vardy stays."
Images from EPL matches played on Saturday.
Goals from Harry Maguire and Dele Alli gave Gareth Southgate's side a deserved 2-0 last-eight win over Sweden on Saturday, and they must now prepare to take on Croatia in three days time for a spot in the World Cup final.
The defence team of Indian doctor Mohammad Haneef, who was wrongly accused of terror charges in Australia, has sought more powers for the inquiry probing the failed case against him, after its head said much of the evidence presented to him cannot be made public. Haneef's lawyer Rod Hodgson said the Kevin Rudd government had promised a full judicial inquiry, but the one being conducted was not transparent.
Soccer fans mock as England dumped out of Europe twice in a week.
Steven Gerrard is second only to Zinedine Zidane in terms of his world-class status, says former England and Liverpool striker Michael Owen.
Defender Gary Cahill has said he is ready to prove his worth to new England manager Sam Allardyce to retain his place in the national team. The 30-year-old, who has 47 caps for England, was regularly picked by former manager Roy Hodgson and was part of the squad that suffered an embarrassing defeat by Iceland in the last 16 of the Euro 2016. "I'm looking to keep involved and keep that shirt. I am excited to be working under Sam," Cahill told British media. "I'm looking to impress him at the start of the season and also if I'm fortunate enough to be involved in the squad.
