Romelu Lukaku is suffering from the strain of his ever-present Premier League appearance record at Manchester United this season, according to manager Jose Mourinho.
Lukaku scored seven goals in as many Premier League matches in a flying start to his United career at the beginning of the current campaign.
The £75million signing from Everton has since contributed only three more in 13 subsequent appearances, while his defensive errors from set-pieces proved costly during the recent 2-1 derby defeat to Manchester City and a 2-2 home draw against Burnley last time out.
Speaking at a news conference ahead of Saturday s match with Southampton, Mourinho suggesed the physical toil undertaken by Lukaku as United s only senior striker until Zlatan Ibrahimovic s recent r…
Chelsea moved into second place in the Premier League with a comprehensive 5-0 victory over a much-changed Stoke City side at Stamford Bridge.
Mark Hughes opted to make six changes for Saturday s clash with one eye on their meeting with Newcastle United on January 1, and his under-strength side were swept aside.
Antonio Rudiger and Danny Drinkwater put the hosts 2-0 ahead inside the opening 10 minutes as a thrashing looked in the offing.
When Pedro added a third midway through the opening half it became a question of how many Chelsea would score, although they were relieved to see Mame Biram Diouf s effort disallowed.
Chelsea took their foot off the gas in the second half, but still saw Alvaro Morata and Pedro denied by Jack Butland, although there was …
Thulani Serero remains hopeful South Africa can qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations despite a difficult start.
Shakes Mashaba s men sit third in Group M with three points from four games and still await the first win of their qualifying campaign.
South Africa are trailing leaders Cameroon by five points with two games to go and face a tall task if they are to top their group and make it to the tournament in Gabon.
However, Serero refuses to give up hopes of qualifying and has urged his team-mates to keep fighting.
It s a little bit of a difficult situation, but this is football, Serero told reporters.
I have had a good experience of that this season where I lost the league title on the last day of the season with Ajax.
We mu…
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed the remarkable Mohamed Salah and said the forward had even surprised him with his incredible start to the season.
Salah, 25, has scored 17 goals in 21 Premier League games this campaign after arriving from Roma in the off-season.
The Egypt international equalled a Liverpool record by reaching 23 goals in all competitions before New Year s Day, matching Roger Hunt (1961-62).
Salah reached that tally with a match-winning brace against Leicester City and Klopp was full of praise for the former Roma attacker.
The record is remarkable and the goals themselves are remarkable as well, the German told UK newspapers.
I d like to show you all the scouting footage we had from the games we saw. The second goal against L…
Matias Almeyda said it would be a dream to return to Serie A club Lazio as coach amid uncertainty surrounding Edy Reja.
Reja replaced Vladimir Petkovic halfway through the campaign but his failure to deliver UEFA Europa League football has him facing the sack, despite signing a contract until June 2015.
That uncertainty has led to rumours of Banfield coach Almeyda returning to the Stadio Olimpico after a highly successful three-year spell in Rome between 1997 and 2000, where the former Argentina international midfielder won the Serie A, UEFA Cup Winners Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italia.
And the 40-year-old, who guided River Plate back to Argentina s top flight in 2012 before joining Banfield, has openly expressed his desire to take charge of Lazi…