Liverpool are sweating on the fitness of key midfielder Lucas Leiva, amid fears that he could be set for a month on the sidelines.

Manuel Pellegrini has ruled out the possibility of Yaya Toure featuring against Stoke City on Wednesday despite knowing his side are in need of him.

For a goalkeeper widely viewed as a liability in the first part of the season, Simon Mignolet's transformation has been quite remarkable.

Paul Lambert says there is no clause making him play Tom Cleverley after his substitution against Chelsea was greeted with ironic cheers.

Yaya Toure says Manchester City can still win the Premier League title if they win all their remaining fixtures as he branded criticism of him 'b******'.

If you stopped the season now, there'd be four in contention for player of the year: Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa, Alexis Sanchez and Harry Kane.

James McArthur has moved to quell any potential for his tussle with Nigel Pearson spiralling into a storm by insisting he took the strangle as a joke.

Nigel Pearson is still manager of Leicester despite a day of confusion at the King Power Stadium. But history suggests axe isn't too far away.

Nigel Pearson's default mood is bullish. Troublesome fan? Tell him to **** off and die. Upended in technical area by a player? Grab him by the throat.

The 16- to 25-year-olds playing weekly in Britain has fallen from 52,300 to 38,400 in 12 months. The closure of public courses will only accelerate this decline.

MARTIN SAMUEL AT UPTON PARK: It felt like a point saved. In truth, though, reality is beginning to crowd in on United. They got away with it: again.

ROB SHEPHERD: Louis van Gaal had the look of the emperor with new clothes as West Ham outplayed Manchester United - until the final minutes.

MATT BARLOW: Having started at the top of the diamond, Angel di Maria finished the game on the left wing. He is finding it difficult to influence games.

Louis van Gaal was quick to praise the fighting spirit of his team at West Ham but the reality is that United have shown precious little 'resiliance'.

Jamie Carragher thinks United will not make Radamel Falcao's move permanent and questioned his strike partnership with Robin van Persie.

Former Durham and England bowler Steve Harmison has taken the surprise move into football management, taking the helm at non-League Ashington.

England's injury crisis continues to ease with Stuart Lancaster revealing that Tom Wood and Courtney Lawes should be back training for Ireland.

Jordon Ibe has been described by Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard as 'a bit of Sturridge and Sterling rolled into one.' Here's everything you need to know.

Mark Hughes has warned defenders that Peter Crouch is as much of a threat in the air as Harry Kane following the Stoke striker's late equaliser.

Sean Dyche is building a name for himself as the anti-tinkerman as the Bunley manager named an unchanged side for the 10th game against West Brom.

The chances of a team managed by Jose Mourinho giving up a seven-point lead, is as likely as Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert putting Chelsea's staff on his Christmas card list.

John Carver has accused Remy Cabella of being 'disrespectful' towards his Newcastle team-mates after throwing down his water bottle.

England's players are braced for a harsh post-mortem at their Surrey HQ on Monday despite the supreme quality of Friday's victory over Wales, according to James Haskell.

CHRIS FOY AT THE MILLENNIUM STADIUM: England buried their demons in Cardiff - climbing out of a 'big hole' at 10-0 down to claim a significant win in recent memory.

SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: If I were at their team meeting on Monday morning the first thing I would do is stick the RBS 6 Nations table on the wall.

Manchester United have opened negotiations with Real Madrid target David de Gea over a new contract, according to his agent Jorge Mendes.

All of a sudden, Manchester City have gone from looking ahead to a title race to glancing nervously over their shoulders in the chase for a Champions League spot.

Another entry in Jermain Defoe's little book, another dilemma for his manager, Gus Poyet. How do you rest a man who, on current form, will comfortably keep Sunderland up?

JOHN GREECHAN AT IBROX: There was something about this loss to Raith Rovers, exactly the kind of side you *don't* want to encounter in the middle of a crisis, that felt particularly damning.

Ravel Morrison's tumultuous time at West Ham has officially come to an end. It means the troubled 22-year-old midfielder is a free agent.

Charlie Austin has given QPR a huge lift as it emerged that he will miss only one game after scans showed he has escaped with severe bruising on his injured right foot.

Skipper Gareth Ellis led Hull to an impressive opening-round victory on his 250th Super League appearance against an off-colour Huddersfield. Full-back Jamie Shaul was the hero of the victory.

Mark Selby lifted his first major trophy since the World Championship in May as he beat Shaun Murphy in a gripping German Masters final.

PAUL NEWMAN: Have you heard the one about the Irishman captaining England who actually thinks they can win the World Cup in Australia? For Eoin Morgan, it is certainly no joke.

Harry Redknapp has already outlined his ambitions to take another job and said there were no doubts he would come back. One word comes to my mind: why?

GLENN HODDLE: It was sad to leave Queens Park Rangers this week but once Harry Redknapp had decided that he couldn't go on, it felt like the right thing to leave at the same time.

For a man who doesn't smoke, Jack Wilshere has developed an unfortunate habit of falling onto cigarettes and pipes. Three times now he has either been pictured fag in mouth or shisha pipe in hand.