Inter Milan midfielder Patrick Vieira is expected to make his first international appearance in nine months when France welcome Uruguay to the Stade de France for a friendly game here on Wednesday evening.

The former Arsenal man was named in France s squad for Euro 2008 but a thigh injury kept him on the sidelines for the duration of his country s dismal showing at the tournament, while a calf problem forced him to pull out of France s last World Cup qualifier against Romania on October 11.

He has since returned to fitness, though, and looks set to pull on a French jersey for the first time since the 1-0 friendly defeat to eventual Euro 2008 winners Spain on February 6.

The return of the imposing Vieira is a boost for coach Raymond Domenech, who has received …

Market: Monaco to beat Lille
Odds: 

While PSG may have all but snatched Monaco s Ligue 1 crown away from them, Leonardo Jardim s side have enjoyed another successful campaign as the Red and Whites have guaranteed Champions League football at the Stade Louis next season.

For the hosts on Friday night, while Jardim s side may have long given up on the chance to retain their Ligue 1 crown, the Red and Whites will be more than satisfied by knowing that Champions League football will once again be held at the Stade Louis next year. Currently sat comfortably in second spot, four points adrift of Marseille in third, Monaco not only boast the second best-attacking record in Ligue 1 the Red and Whites are also unbeaten in their last 14 domestic matchups a run that stems back to …

Market: Augsburg win

Odds: 

Handed a golden opportunity to extend on what is becoming a glittering purple patch, Augsburg will welcome relegation scrappers Fortuna Dusseldorf to the WWK Arena on Tuesday night.

Starting with the hosts, putting in yet another rampant display and putting four past European contenders Hoffenheim on the road over the weekend, few in the Bundesliga would have expected Augsburg s stellar resurge. Despite their tricky start to the new campaign, Martin Schmidt s men have begun skyrocketing up the standings and the mood in their camp remains the highest it has been in recent memory. Winning four of their last five domestic appearances and enjoying an unbeaten run that stems back to the 3rd of November, Augsburg have also and quite remark…

Wolves manager Kenny Jackett has revealed that the Championship club have failed to agree a deal for Leicester City striker Chris Wood.

Jackett confirmed that newly promoted Wolves tabled a bid for the New Zealand international, but were unable to match Premier League new boys Leicester s valuation of the 22-year-old.

The former West Brom man has been linked with a host of other Championship clubs and Jackett conceded that he is unlikely to move to Molineux.

It looks like that deal is passed now and we are moving on, the former Millwall boss said.

We didn t get a deal agreed with the club or the player.

We did make an offer but we haven t settled anything and it looks like we have to move on.

It is what it is and we have to accept it.<…

In their bid to reach a second successive AFC Champions League final, Al Hilal will face Persepolis in the competition s first knockout round.

The Saudi side were beaten by Western Sydney Wanderers in last year s showpiece and after topping Group C with 13 points from their six matches they will now take on Persepolis, who won four Group A games to finish runners-up.

Iranian club Persepolis will have home advantage for the first leg against last year s runners-up.

Lekhwiya topped that group, and have been rewarded with a last-16 tie against fellow Qatari side Al Sadd.

The other ties in the West Asia Zone see Al Ahli of United Arab Emirates meet Al Ain, while the former s namesakes from Saudi Arabia will take on Naft Tehran.

In the East Asia Zo…

Sunderland will attempt to halt Manchester City s home dominance in the English Premier League when the teams meet on Saturday.

City are undefeated in their past 32 league matches at Etihad Stadium but Sunderland stand as one of three sides to have secured a draw against the home side in recent meetings.

Roberto Mancini s squad has also won just one of their last five games against this weekend s opponents.

Sunderland go into the match in winning form after they recorded their first victory of the season over Wigan last week, 1-0 at home.

And they will look to rectify their record away from the Stadium of Light after failing to win any of their past ten matches on the road.

Their attacking hopes rest on Steven Fletcher, who has scored five goa…

Crystal Palace co-chairman Steve Parish has placed a £20 million price-tag on forward Wilfried Zaha, with English Premier League quartet Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur reportedly interested in the England U-21 international, .

Zaha, 19, is one of the most highly-rated youngsters in English football at the moment, and a £20 million price-tag certainly suggests exactly that.

The Eagles, 6-1-3, are just two points out of the automatic promotion slots, having tallied 19 points from their first 10 league fixtures.

As a result, Palace who last appeared in England s top flight in 2004-05 are reluctant to sell their 19-year-old starlet, and rightfully so.

He is an extraordinary talent. I said at the start of the season …

Chelsea, Liverpool and the Premier League have all condemned the vile chants referring to stadium tragedies heard during the teams goalless draw at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

Chelsea and Liverpool played out their fourth goalless draw in as many head-to-head meetings as the Blues spurned several chances to win their first game since Graham Potter s sacking.

The contest was marred by some home supporters chanting about the Hillsborough disaster – which saw 97 Liverpool fans lose their lives during and after a 1989 FA Cup semi-final.

Tuesday s match was not the first to be overshadowed by such songs this season, with Manchester City expressing regret after similar chants were heard at their 4-1 win over Liverpool on Saturday.

A statement released by Chel…

Tottenham s acting head coach Cristian Stellini has accused former players of having no respect for the club after Harry Kane received criticism for his part in Abdoulaye Doucoure s red card in the 1-1 draw at Everton.

The England captain was targeted by some for his reaction to Doucoure putting his hand into Kane s face during the Premier League clash at Goodison Park on Monday.

Kane fell to the floor holding his face as Doucoure was given his marching orders.

At a press conference on Thursday, Stellini said: I think it s strange that some ex-players said something wrong about Harry. They are ex-players and they know the difference between seeing something in slow motion and living it in real motion.

Also the Everton manager [Sean Dyche] said it was a c…

Real Madrid are considering the possibility of recalling Dani Ceballos to their ranks from his loan spell at Arsenal, according to reports in Italy.

The Spaniard was a very important player in Arsenal s late surge of form last season, which ended with the FA Cup and the Community Shield being put on their shelf when not many would have expected them to win a trophy just a few months before. However, manager Mikel Arteta shook his midfield section up after that, bringing back Mohamed Elneny from the cold on top of signing Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid at the end of the summer. Granit Xhaka is also going through a spell of good form at the moment, and all of that combined has caused Ceballos game-time to be significantly reduced this term.

The 24-year-old has started…