A sledgehammer to crack a nut was the expression that came to mind as Liverpool’s new £75m defender made his debut against a side with only one goal in their last four games and no shots on target in either of their last two home matches. Everton supporters were clinging to the slender hope that Jürgen Klopp might have taken a risk in throwing Virgil van Dijk straight into the heat of a Merseyside derby.…

Jack Wilshere is ticking off Authentic Jordan Willis Jersey the important markers in his recovery towards the level of football he wants to be at consistently – and he credits part of that to a change in diet.



The midfielder, who…

It was a bittersweet Christmas for me. Having not been selected in the squad for Brighton’s game at Chelsea, I was afforded, for the first time in 16 years, the benefit of a Christmas Day off to spend with my wife and children at home without the worry of preparing for a game the next day or being away in a hotel in the evening stuck to my phone with them on FaceTime.



While it was amazing to be the…

Vitaly Mutko, the embattled head of the 2018 World Cup organising committee, has agreed to step down after being cited repeatedly in a series of reports exposing the country’s systematic doping regime.



Mutko will be replaced by Alexei Sorokin, who is Russia 2018 chief executive and the man who took his place on the Fifa council. It reduces the pressure on football’s world governing body,…

Harry Kane will have the chance on Boxing Day to break Alan Shearer’s 22-year-old record of 36 Premier League goals in a calendar year, when Tottenham Hotspur face Southampton in their final fixture of 2017.



Kane’s hat-trick against Burnley took him level with the record, earning widespread praise from team-mates and opponents alike, and his manager was momentarily stumped when asked if…

It was a cause for great optimism after years of scandal and corruption at Fifa, when in 2015 the US authorities initiated criminal prosecutions against some of the worst alleged offenders, and a new top leadership took office with http://www.officialcarolinahurricanes.com/Adidas-Jeff-Skinner-Jersey sweeping promises of Corey Seager…

Arsène Wenger has questioned whether Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is any more certain of a starting place at Liverpool than he Art Monk Jersey was at Arsenal, as he reflected on the midfielder’s £35m summer deadline day move to Anfield.



Oxlade-Chamberlain hopes to face his former club at the Emirates Stadium on…

Antonio Conte was publicly glowing in the aftermath, though the hoarseness of his voice betrayed an evening which had proved rather trying. Perhaps squeezing into a semi-final against Arsenal from such an anxious contest may end up being to his advantage. The cavalry may have come to the rescue in stoppage time, but at least the head coach can point to his much-changed side’s spluttering display as further evidence the squad lack the required depth to compete on all fronts. The board may…

It was an evening when Arsène Wenger was left with a particular regret. Olivier Giroud pulled up in the 76th minute and when the Arsenal striker shot his hand back to the hamstring on his right leg, it did not look good. Wenger suggested the forward would be out for three weeks – in other words, the whole of the congested festive programme.



It was an occasion when Arsenal got the…

According to the bookmakers Arsenal are clear favourites to win their Carabao Cup quarter-final with West Ham. They are not the team in form, however. After three matches without a win, the Gunners laboured to a 1-0 victory against Newcastle United on Saturday. The Hammers, meanwhile, have seven points from their last nine. One of those points came against Arsenal, and it could quite easily have been three.…