Prediction: Spezia vs Napoli

Luciano Spalletti will not discuss a new contract while Napoli continue their Scudetto bid, saying any talks regarding his future will only create problems for the Serie A leaders.

Napoli appear destined to clinch their first league title since the Diego Maradona era in this campaign, having built a huge 13-point lead over nearest rivals Inter at the top of the table.

Only Bayern Munich (one) have lost fewer games across all competitions than Napoli (two) this season among teams in Europe s top five leagues.

Sunday s clash with Cremonese marks the start of a key period in the Partenopei s season, with the first leg of a Champions League last-16 tie against Eintracht Frankfurt to come on February 21.

Spalletti s contract with Napoli expires at the end of …

Bernard settled a topsy-turvy FA Cup thriller as Everton beat Tottenham 5-4 after extra time to claim a place in the quarter-finals.

The hosts were second best during the opening stages at Goodison Park, either side of falling behind to Davinson Sanchez s third-minute header, although Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson – the latter from the penalty spot – were all on target in a crazy seven-and-a-half-minute spell.

Then it was time for Tottenham s comeback, with Erik Lamela reducing the arrears before half-time and Sanchez improbably poaching his second of the match.

Richarlison arrowed a high-quality finish beyond Hugo Lloris on the angle to convert Sigurdsson s brilliant 68th-minute throughball and, although Harry Kane had the desire…

Best Odds: 10/11

Bookmaker:

In what could prove to be a thrilling affair from the Red Bull Arena in the early hours of Thursday, New York will welcome Cincinnati to New Jersey in midweek.

New York Red Bulls

Starting with the hosts, managing to make an immediate return to winning ways last weekend as they claimed a lively 2-1 victory at home against New England, the Red Bulls are now hoping to find some much-needed stability. Still sat outside the play-off places in the Eastern Conference, Troy Lesesne’s men have recorded just a trio of their previous eight domestic appearances across all competitions a run that stems back to a 2-1 win against Montreal on May 20th. Nevertheless, while the MLS giants have shown some extended defensive issues this season, the fo…

Best odds: 8/15

Bookmaker: 

Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona will face each other in the 2020-21 Copa del Rey final at the Estadio La Cartuja in Seville on Saturday evening. With 23 and 30 triumphs, respectively, these teams are the most successful two in this historic competition. They met in the final of the Supercopa de Espana in January, in which the Basque team came back twice (the second time in the final minute of the game) to win, after extra-time which saw Lionel Messi earn a straight red card at the very end. Antoine Griezmann had given the Catalans the lead both times, first cancelled out by Oscar de Marcos and then by Asier Villalibre, and the decisive goal came from Inaki Williams three minutes into the first period of extra-time.

Athletic Bilbao

Bilb…

Gareth Bale will probably make his first appearance since returning to Tottenham when they face West Ham on Sunday.

Bale rejoined Spurs on a season-long loan in September, having left in 2013 for Real Madrid in a then world-record transfer.

A knee injury has so far kept Bale out of action and, though he gave a positive update on the forward s condition, manager Jose Mourinho would not definitively say if the Wales international will feature in the London derby.

Of course he wants to play. He wanted to play since the day he arrived but wasn t possible, Mourinho told a media conference.

I m not going to tell you if he s going to play or not. What I will tell you is that he s working very well. He s working the way he probably hasn t been able to do for s…

A goal and three assists from Italy international Domenico Berardi piled on the misery for Milan as Sassuolo thrashed the Rossoneri 5-2 at San Siro.

Sassuolo took an early two-goal lead thanks to goals from Gregoire Defrel and Davide Frattesi prior to Olivier Giroud pulling one back for the hosts.

Berardi made it 3-1 after just 30 minutes before Armand Lauriente s penalty and Matheus Henrique s effort in the second half handed Milan their second chastening loss in a week after their 4-0 humbling at Lazio on Tuesday.

Divock Origi scored a consolation for Stefano Pioli s side, who are now six games without a win heading into next weekend s Milan derby, including four in Serie A as their title defence continues to falter.

4 AC Milan have conceded at least 4 …

FIFA has been awarded with $201million as compensation for the criminal activities of former officials.

In 2015, world football s governing body was raided by Swiss authorities on behalf of the United States Department of Justice, with Sepp Blatter among over 40 officials charged.

On Tuesday, FIFA confirmed the Department of Justice had awarded a $201m compensation package to the FIFA Foundation. 

This sum – seized from the bank accounts of the officials who were prosecuted – covers the losses suffered by FIFA, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL as victims of decades of football corruption schemes .

FIFA confirmed the money will go into a newly formed World Football Remission Fund, established to help finance football-related projects.

I am delighte…

According to Sky in Italy, AC Milan have made contact with Fulham defender Tosin Adarabioyo over the possibility of a free transfer when his contract with the Premier League side expires at the end of the season. Given the situation, the 26-year-old is allowed to talk to clubs outside England since the start of this year.

Adarabioyo rose through the ranks at the Manchester City academy. He had loan spells with West Bromwich Albion and Blackburn Rovers, before making a permanent switch to Fulham for around £1.5 million in 2020. Since then, he s gone on to make a total of 119 appearances for the Cottagers in all competitions.

Fulham certainly won t be too pleased with the timing of this development. Their team needs to prepare for the second leg of the Carabao Cup semifi…

Russell Martin is poised to become Southampton’s new head coach on a three-year deal.

The former Scotland international is expected to seal the move on Wednesday afternoon, the PA news agency understands.

He will join from Swansea as the Saints move quickly to prepare for life in the Championship.

Martin verbally agreed to take over at St Mary’s over the weekend but the clubs remained in discussions over compensation.

Martin guided Swansea to 10th in the Championship last season despite having a bottom-four budget and the youngest squad in the division.

He has been praised for his style and Southampton will be hoping the 37-year-old can guide them back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

They will finish bottom of the Premier L…

The career of a so-called wonderkid in football sounds straightforward – you get spotted early on by a big club, your precocious skills see you establish yourself in the first team and then go on to enjoy an illustrious career at the top.

But we all know that, in reality, it doesn t quite work like that. Each situation is nuanced and, for every Kylian Mbappe there is a Kaz Patafta.

Australia s captain during the Under-17 World Cup in 2005, Patafta will be the first to say expectations were high for him after landing a three-year contract with Benfica as a teenager.

And, for what it s worth, his potential was even given video game approval , Championship Manager 2007 ranking him similarly to Gareth Bale after he d trained with Guus Hiddink s pre-2006 World Cup s…