Manchester United vs. Newcastle United

Man united will be looking to bounce back from their defeat at chelsea last time out.

Man united may however be boosted by the return from injury of Paul Pogba, who could make the squad.

Ibrahimovic is also back training and could make the squad.

Does Pogba's return improve Man utd's chances of winning?

Their return would be a big boost as Manchester United  aims to close an eight-point gap on Manchester City — and prepare for next week’s Champions League trip to Basel.
Romelu Lukaku missing pogbas presence — the Belgian is now without a goal in SEVEN games.

Lukaku has not scored for United since the 4-0 win over Crystal Palace in September.

Lukaku rediscovered his goalscoring touch during the international break, netting twice in a 3-3 friendly draw with Mexico.

Lukaku's goals for Belgium during the international break will give him confidence even though he is now under pressure to perform or be replaced by Ibrahimovic.

Newcastle are not an easy opponent as they have fared well on their return to the Premier League—they are in 11th place after 11 games.

Rafael Benitez's side are difficult to break down, and United will need to show more creativity and precision in front of goal than they have in recent games if they are to get back to winning ways.

Arsenal vs. Tottenham

    

Arsenal have been playing well since their poor start to the season, their good form ended as they were comfortably beaten 3-1 at Manchester City.

On Saturday arsenal play Totenham and  although a win would take the Gunners to within one point of third-place Spurs.

Arsenal are further behind Spurs as Arsene Wenger's men trail City by 12 points, sitting sixth after losing four of their opening 11 League.

Arsene Wenger has not given Lacazete all the freedom he would require even though he has a good goal scoring record.

Lacazette scored against Man city after coming off the bench and again against Germany  during the International friendly.

Arsenal will also want more from talisman Alexis Sanchez who has yet to find his top form this season and has managed just two goals in all competitions.

Olivier Giroud is a major doubt for Arsenal with a thigh injury picked up on international duty, though the France striker was unlikely to start the derby.
Rob Holding is unlikely to return, but there is more hope for David Ospina and Shkodran Mustafi.
 Santi Cazorla remains a long-term absentee.
when asked about Injury news,Wenger said" we still have some people coming in today. They will have a medical check up today and a recovery check."
"Mustafi will have a finalcheck (on fridaay), welback as well. I will make descisions on all of them (on friday)."
on Koscielny being rested mid week, he said,"it was needed for him. We couldn,t use him for a number of games, he just came back against city because he had achiles tendon injury. if he had played mid week, he certainly would not have been available for saturday."
on oliver giroud" oliver picked up an injury and i dont think he will be avilable for saturday. It is short term and he could start training on monday, we will have to asses him then but i dont think he will be avialble this weekend."

Tottenham, meanwhile, go into the game on the back of a narrow win over Crystal Palace that saw them move level on points with Manchester United in second but still eight behind leaders City.

Tottenham are facing an injury crisis ahead of the north London derby, with a number of key players currently out of action.

Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Harry Winks all have injury concerns after pulling out of international duty with England through injury.

However, Mauricio Pochettino has said Kane will be fit to face Arsenal, although Hugo Lloris and Toby Alderweireld are doubt.

Kane's return will be a huge boost for Totenham, particularly given his record against the Gunners.

This fixture has yielded plenty of entertainment and goals in recent seasons, and

However, Spurs may be without key men Lloris and Alderweireld.

Jan Vertonghen (ankle) and Victor Wanyama are still battling to return - Vertonghen should recover in time, though Lloris faces a race to be fit.

Pochettino expects Dele Alli to be back in time for the trip to the Emirates despite the midfielder pulling out of England's recent squad for the November international break.

pochetiono said"  Toby alderweireld is currently in the early stages of  rehabilitation after sustaining a hamstring starin against Real Madrid. Wanyama  continous to progress well with outdour rhabilitation work. delle Alli, kane, loris, vorm and winks have under gone rehabilitation over the past 10 days and returned to full training for the first time on thursday."

Though there is still plenty left to play for this season, a defeat for either side would seriously dent their title ambitions before another tricky festive fixture pile-up.

Predicted line-ups

Arsenal starting XI: Cech; Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal; Bellerin, Ramsey, Xhaka, Kolasinac; Ozil, Sanchez; Lacazette

Tottenham starting XI: Lloris; Sanchez, Vertonghen, Davies; Trippier, Dembele, Dier, Rose; Eriksen, Alli; Kane

PREMEAR LEAGUE FIXTURE FOR WEEK 12

MATCH DAY - WEEK 12

After the international break, the premier league is back with a few heavy weight fixtures.

In the early kick off fixture Arsenal welcome Tottenham Hotspur to the Emirates Stadium.

Later in the day, 6 matches follow, Leicester City host Manchester City.

Chelsea are also away from home, as they head to the Hawthorns to take on West Bromwich Albion.

Saturday's final fixture involves Manchester United aiming to bounce back from defeat to Chelsea when Newcastle United visit Old Trafford.

On Sunday and Monday we have one fixture each.

Below is the detailed fixtures for the weekend.

Saturday, November 18

Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur - 12:30 p.m. GMT, 330 pm EAT

Bournemouth vs. Huddersfield Town - 3 p.m. GMT, 6pm EAT

Burnley vs. Swansea City  - 3 p.m. GMT, 6pm EAT

Crystal Palace vs. Everton - 3 p.m. GMT, 6pm EAT

Leicester City vs. Manchester City - 3 p.m. GMT, 6pm EAT

Liverpool vs. Southampton - 3 p.m. GMT, 6pm EAT

West Bromwich Albion vs. Chelsea - 3 p.m. GMT, 6pm EAT

Manchester United vs. Newcastle United - 5 p.m. GMT, 8pm EAT

Sunday, November 19

Watford vs. West Ham United - 4 p.m. GMT, 7pm EAT

Monday, November 20

Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Stoke City - 8 p.m. GMT, 11 pm EAT

WORLD CUP SEEDING FOR TEAMS QUALIFIED FOR WORLD CUP

The seeding for the 2018 World Cup finals draw in Russia can now be confirmed after the play off ended last night.

The draw will take place on Friday, Dec. 1 at 3 p.m. GMT 6 pm EAT at Kremlin palace in Moscow, Russia.

The draw will determine the group each of the 32 qualified national teams will play in the tournament.

the teams will be divided into 4 pots of 8 teams with one team from each pot forming a group.

unlike previous editions of the world cup, all pots will be determined by each national team's october 2017 Fifa world ranking with pot 1 containing the highest ranked team, pot 2 containing the next highest ranked teams and so on.

the host is also automaticaly placed in pot 1.

Pot 1: Russia, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, France

Pot 2: Spain, Peru, Switzerland, England, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Croatia

Pot 3: Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Iran

Pot 4: Serbia, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, South Korea, Saudi Arabia

MONDAY 13th November 2017

IS THIS BUFFON'S LAST MATCH FOR ITALY ? 

ITALY V/S SWEDEN

 

Italy was in Group G in the world cup qualification route to Russia 2018.

Italy did not perform well in the qualification in a group which contained Spain, Albania, Macedonia and Liechtenstein.

Italy  finished second with 23 points behind Spain which finished with 28 points.

As a result of finishing second place Italy participate in round two which are in the form of play offs.

In the play off, the teams participate in a 2 legged fixture in which the winner goes to world cup on aggregate.

Italy was drawn with Sweden in the play offs which defeated them in the first leg with   1 - 0.

The 4  time world cup champions have participated in the world cup a record 18 times.

Tonight's second leg match against Sweden is a must win for Italy or risk loosing out on the world cup for the first time since 1958

Mondays game at Sansiro could be Buffon's last game for Italy should they fail to win after he recently confirmed that he will retire after the world cup.

Sweden in the other hand finished second behind france in group A.

PREDICTED LINE UPS:

Both teams will involve the same players except for verati who is the only absentee in the Italy match after picking a yellow card in the first leg.

ITALY:  (3-5-2):

 Buffon; Chiellini, Bonucci, Barzagli; Darmian, Verratti, De Rossi, Parolo, Candreva; Immobile, Belotti

Subs: Donnarumma, Perin, Rugani, Gagliardini, Florenzi, Insigne, Astori, Jorginho, Eder, Bernardeschi, Zappacosta, Gabbiadini,

SWEDEN: (4-4-2):

 Olsen; Krafth, Granqvist, Lindelof, Augustinsson; Claesson, Ekdal, Larsson, Forsberg; Berg, Toivonen

Subs: Johnsson, Nodfeldt, Larsson, Olsson, Guidetti, Johansson, Helander, Svensson, Jansson, Rohden, Thelin, Sea

WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION PLAY OFF RESULTS - 1ST ROUND

Teams that have qualified from different contents include;
EUROPE: 9 teams have qualified and 8 teams are in play off
1. France

2. Portugal

3. Germany

4. Serbia

5. Poland

6. England 

7. Spain 

8. Belgium 

9. Iceland

PLAY OFF:

DENMARK V/S IRELAND - 1st round ended 0-0

SWIZERLAN V/S N. IRELAND - 1st round ended 1-0 (swizerland won)

GREECE V/S CROATIA - 1st round ended 4-1 (croatia won)

ITALY V/S SWEDEN - 1st round ended 1-0 (sweden won)

AMERICA: 7 teams have qualified from both north and south america while two (honduras and peru) team  is in contention.

Mexico

Costa Rica

Panama

Brazil

Uruguay

Argentina

Colombia

ASIA - 4 teams have qualified from asia while 0ne (Australia) is in contention:

IRAN

SOUTH KOREA

JAPAN

SAUDI ARABIA

AFRICA

NIGERIA

EGYPT

SENEGAL

TUNISIA

MOROCO

OCEANIC - no team has qualified as as of yet, New zealand is in contention.

TEAM NEWS

Liverpool

lalana is injured

Flanagan returns from injury and played 40 minutes in the 3 nil win against exters in the FA cup replay.

TOTENHAM

injuries
 Ryan Mason (ankle)
 Clinton Njie (knee)
Alex Pritchard (ankle).
Mauricio has many players at his disposal, he said: “We are very pleased and happy to have 24 or 25 players who deserve to play.
“It’s my job to select the right players in every game to try to win the game. It’s always difficult but at the end we are very happy because it’s important to keep all the squad motivated and fit. I think that increases our level.
“Always it’s about the team, it’s about a collective effort and I think if we want to achieve something at the end of the season, every single player will be very important for us. We want to keep the spirit that we have and that we show in every game.”

MAN UNITED

injuries

Ashley Young needs surgery

Januzae returns from injury and played in the under 21's and. he is available for selection against Southampton.

Vangaal had this to say about Southampton;

“I think Southampton have good players, but also a very wide squad,” van Gaal told MUTV.

 “They can play with a lot of players and change the system, so you never know [how they will approach the game].

“In the last two matches Ronald Koeman has changed his system, playing three defenders across the back and they have won with two clean sheets – maybe he has found the solution.”

“We have to play from ourselves and our quality," he said. "Of course it is easier when you know the line-up in advance, but we do not know that from Southampton.”.

“At this moment, I think that a win is always more important than how we have made the win,” the manager continued.  “Against Liverpool I think it was only the win that was very important, and we have seen that."

 ARSENAL

Arsène Wenger has revealed the latest team news ahead of Sunday's Premier League match against Chelsea:
on the latest updates…
Compared to last week we have no big problems from the squad that was available to face Stoke. The good news is that Ozil will certainly be available. For
Alexis the next few days will be decisive but I think this time he will make it to be available for selection.
on Alexis…......
The doubt is that he has been out for a long time and [there is] the risk of a setback if you try to go too early. To be clear on all the tests is one thing,
after he is clear on training is another thing, and after that the intensity of a big game which you can never repeat in a training session. You can make sure after a certain amount of time that the risk is minimal. I am cautious with him because we cannot afford a setback with him. A setback would mean a very long period out so we don’t want to take this gamble. The signs he has shown in training this week are positive.
on Coquelin, Welbeck and Rosicky…..
Coquelin is back in full training today and he is ahead of schedule. He has still a few steps to go through. Welbeck will be in full training next week so that is positive news. It is possible Rosicky will play in the under-21 game [on Friday]. He was a bit sick at the beginning of the week but we planned for him to play tomorrow night. We have a few players coming back because we go into a very important period now for us.