The Premier League's best bromances: From sharing earphones, to 'date nights'

There are plenty of strong relationships in the Premier League, but only a select few can satisfy the definition of a bromance. England's top-flight has seen some memorable ones down the years - David Beckham and Gary Neville, Frank Lampard and John Terry, and Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso - to name just a few. But the Premier League now has a new collection of bromances, of which Tottenham's Eric Dier and Dele Alli have arguably become the most well known. Spurs' midfield double act may have gone from strength-to-strength on the pitch, but they've got some serious competition off it. Here, Sportsmail takes a look at the top five duos - and why they're so close.

Manchester United defensive duo Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling face axe after Jose Mourinho

MIKE KEEGAN and SAMI MOKBEL: Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling are fighting for their Manchester United futures following Jose Mourinho's furious accusation that some of his players lack the toughness to play through pain. The England pair missed the club's 3-1 Premier League victory at Swansea City on Sunday after telling the United manager they were unable to play.

Teenage opener Haseeb Hameed is set to make his England Test debut against India in Rajkot on Wednesday. Ben Duckett will move down the order to No 4 to make way for the young Lancashire man.

Scotland's 59-year-old manager Gordon Strachan held a discussion with fans at Elland Road on Friday, November 4, and was back to his hilarious best. Sportsmail was there for the best anecdotes.

Jack Wilshere feels like he has travelled the longest journey ever on a bike that goes nowhere. The on-loan Bournemouth midfielder is back in the England squad after a year-long fight for fitness.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has apologised to Manchester United fans after his fifth booking of the season yielded a one-match ban, ruling him out of the clash against Arsenal on November 19.

UFC interim light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will serve a doping ban until next July after an arbitration panel denied his appeal of a positive test.

Cristiano Ronaldo wins Alfredo di Stefano award for La Liga's best player

Cristiano Ronaldo has won Marca's Alfredo di Stefano award for the best player in La Liga for the 2015-16 season and he collected the trophy on the day he penned a new five year, £365,000-a-week deal at Real Madrid. Ronaldo netted 35 goals and provided 11 assists for Madrid in the Spanish division last season as his side finished second to Barcelona. He also netted 16 times in the Champions League on the way to lifting the trophy for the third time in his career and the second with Madrid, before going on to help Portugal to glory at Euro 2016 in France in the summer.

RB Leipzig, one of the most hated teams in Europe, lead Bundesliga alongside Bayern

On the fences surrounding RB Leipzig's training pitch, there are inspirational quotes from great sportsmen. Among them is one from Usain Bolt: 'Never set limits for yourself. Nothing is impossible.' It may seem corny, but the players seem to be taking those words to heart. Promoted to the top flight just last spring, RB have made a beeline for the very top of German football.

SAMI MOKBEL: Aaron Cresswell has been handed his first England call-up after Leicester midfielder Danny Drinkwater withdrew due to injury.

IAN LADYMAN: England's interim manager Gareth Southgate, for all that he still looks about 35, has seen enough international football over the years to understand what it is about.

SAMI MOKBEL and ADAM CRAFTON: Andy Murray, the new tennis world No 1, has been invited to watch England against Scotland at Wembley Stadium on Friday.

Stephen Curry sets new NBA record by hitting 13 3-pointers to lead Golden State Warriors

Stephen Curry set an NBA record with 13 3-pointers - one game after missing all his long-range attempts for the first time in two years .  In doing so he helped the Golden State Warriors beat the winless New Orleans Pelicans 116-106 on Monday night. Curry finished with 46 points, three days after his league-record streak of 157 games with at least one 3 was snapped when he went 0 for 10 on 3-point tries in a 117-97 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Chelsea's Diego Costa enjoys reunion with Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone

Currently leading the Premier League goal-scoring charts with nine strikes, Chelsea have probably long forgotten Diego Costa publicly stating his desire to quit the club. But the in-form striker gave them an uncomfortable reminder of just how close he keeps former club Atletico Madrid to his heart when he posted a picture of himself and Diego Simeone enjoying dinner in Madrid on Monday night. Costa is currently in Spain ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Macedonia and took advantage of the situation to catch up with his former mentor.

OLIVER TODD: Having initially watched Manchester City threaten to streak away at the summit, the top ranks of the Premier League table now have a real chop-and-change feel.

Nobody needs to tell Alastair Cook how to lead in India. He won here four years ago — the first England captain to do so since David Gower in 1984-85.

PAUL NEWMAN IN RAJKOT: Nothing seemed more certain than a 4-0 India series whitewash after they defeated England in the first Test in Ahmedabad on their last visit in 2012.

Jess Varnish was vilified for the Shane Sutton sexism claims to Sportsmail that rocked

INTERVIEW BY MARTHA KELNER: Jess Varnish holds yapping sausage dog Hugo on her lap in the kitchen of her Cheshire home and discusses for the first time the decision to speak out about what has now been confirmed as sexism within British Cycling. Her whistleblowing seemingly freed others to reveal their own experiences, leading to the resignation of Shane Sutton as technical director and two investigations into both her specific allegations and the wider culture of the organisation.

Manchester United and Chelsea fans would not recognise Falcao now... he is firing again

JULIEN LAURENS: After two-and-a-half terrible years and disastrous loan spells at Manchester United and Chelsea, Radamel Falcao is finally seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel. There is still some way to go but he is on the right path towards redemption.

Mesut Ozil spent three years with Real Madrid before joining Arsenal, in which time he learnt to 'enjoy' pressure and met some lifelong friends, including Cristiano Ronaldo.

England lock Courtney Lawes has returned to training and will be fit to face South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday in their first Autumn game, defence coach Paul Gustard said on Monday.

CHARLES SALE: The FA are facing the embarrassment of negative publicity in international week surrounding England assistant Sammy Lee.

Manny Pacquiao's victory over Jessie Vargas hailed but it's not enough yet for him to

JEFF POWELL IN LAS VEGAS: Two boxing websites of repute in America have restored Manny Pacquiao to No 1 in their pound-for-pound-greatest rankings following his dominant world welterweight title victory over Jessie Vargas. They also weighed into that calculation his impressive defeat of Tim Bradley in April, immediately before his brief retirement into politics. It is a reasonable verdict on the Pacman, although they expect him to be displaced from top spot by the winner of the November 19 world light-heavyweight title fight between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev.

Cristiano Ronaldo recalls whirlwind move from Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United

It's a much-told story - the impressive performance against United in pre-season for Sporting Lisbon which convinced Sir Alex Ferguson he could simply not leave town without him - but the process of moving to England was almost a blur for a then-18-year-old Ronaldo.

Barcelona have said they will appeal against a ruling by a Spanish judge that star forward Neymar and members of the club's hierarchy should face trial on corruption charges.

MIKE DICKSON: Andy Murray admits that there have been times when he has felt 'fried' coming into the last event of the tennis season. His relatively average record at the ATP Finals backs that up.

Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United will take a break from their League One promotion bids to take on one another in the FA Cup second round on the first weekend of December.

England fly-half George Ford heads back to Twickenham ready to lead from the front 

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY CHRIS FOY: Dinner has long since gone cold by the time George Ford has dealt with the endless questions and, finally, is able to eat, after a long drive up from Bath to Cheshire. There are no complaints. He remains courteous and engaging and light-hearted, at the end of a tiring day. This is no sporting diva. The 23-year-old wears his status lightly, almost reluctantly. His is the box-office role; conductor, general, ringmaster, but it has not changed the character of the country’s premier exponent of the art.

Alastair Cook set for his greatest test as England take on rampant India

LAWRENCE BOOTH IN RAJKOT: The personalised mugs that have greeted England’s cricketers at their hotel in Rajkot may well be the last time they are made to feel welcome ahead of a series that will test their skill, nous, grit and spirit like never before.

CHRIS FOY: George Ford has admitted for the first time how he was left unhappy and unsettled by the abrupt sacking earlier this year of his father, Mike, from his role as Bath’s head coach.

Manchester United star Paul Pogba has hailed his strike at Swansea as one of his best to date - adding that he intends to see his name on the scoresheet more often.

EXCLUSIVE BY NIK SIMON: South African World Cup winner Bryan Habana is set to snub a big-money move to England after receiving an offer to end his career with Bristol.

Brazil hope to conquer demons from 2014 World Cup humiliation when they face Argentina at

Playing at the stadium where they were humiliated 7-1 by Germany two years ago, Brazil can wipe away some of the lingering pain from that defeat with a convincing performance against Argentina in a World Cup qualifier on Thursday. The match is being held at the Mineirao Stadium, where hosts Brazil were utterly crushed by Germany in the semi-final of the 2014 World Cup. 'Of course returning here still touches all of us, even those that didn't play,' Brazil manager Tite said. 'But we have to know how to work in all situations. Two years have passed and we are in a different moment.'

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero trains with Argentina team-mates

Sergio Aguero was among the Premier League stars taking part in an Argentina training session on Monday as they prepared to tackle Brazil. The Manchester City striker was all smiles as he put his side's 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough behind him and got ready for the World Cup qualifier.

Jordan Henderson has sounded a warning for Liverpool's rivals by confidently predicting their new attacking trident of Coutinho, Firmino and Mane is just getting started.

Conor McGregor has launched a scathing attack on the UFC's featherweight division as he also claims Frankie Edgar blew his chance of fighting him when he lost to Jose Aldo.

It’s 40 years since England last won the first Test of a series in India, thanks to 179 from Dennis Amiss and 10 wickets for John Lever in Delhi. Sportsmail charts eight first Test flops since 1981.

Marco Verratti and Ciro Immobile among those working hard on training pitch as Italy

Italy's players have been pictured working hard in training ahead of two fixtures over the next week. Giampiero Ventura's side are unbeaten in their World Cup 2018 qualifying group after three matches. Victory over Liechtenstein on Saturday at the Rheinpark Stadium in Vaduz could put them top of the table in Group G if Spain fail to beat Macedonia.

Wayne Bridge and Sam Quek set for I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

Wayne Bridge is set to follow in the footsteps of several former Premier League stars by heading down under to take part in ITV’s show ‘I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!’ Bridge retired from life on the pitch in 2014 whilst at Reading following spells at Southampton, Chelsea and Manchester City, alongside several other loan moves. The former England international, who accumulated 36 caps during his career, will be joined in the jungle by Great Britain’s Olympic gold medallist Sam Quek. 

Across a glittering club career, the undoubted highlights for Graeme Souness were three European Cups and five English titles won with a majestic Liverpool side.

Phil Jones has revealed his delight at making his return to the Manchester United starting XI after 11 months of injury hell. Jones last played for United in January.

Michael Bolingbroke has resigned as CEO of Inter Milan and been replaced by the Suning Sports group's vice president Liu Jun on an interim basis.

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Cristiano Ronaldo pens new five-year £365,000-a-week contract with Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo signed his new five-year contract at Real Madrid on Monday and declared – I've got ten years left at the top. The 31-year-old has signed until 2021 but hinted in the presentation at the Santiago Bernabeu that he wanted to finish playing aged 41 declaring his latest deal his 'penultimate' contract and said 500 career goals for the club was not beyond him. Ronaldo remains the club's top earner with his extended deal although his £365,000-a-week wage is not set to change substantially. He is already the club's all time top scorer and if he sees out his new deal he will have spent 12 seasons at the Bernabeu – one season more than the club's all-time greatest Alfredo Di Stefano.

National League Southport earn FA Cup replay in dour 0-0 with League One Fleetwood Town

SOUTHPORT 0-0 FLEETWOOD TOWN - JACK GAUGHAN AT THE MERSEYRAIL COMMUNITY STADIUM: A drab draw threatened to descend into farce at Southport as mindless home supporters hurled lit flares at Fleetwood Town’s goalkeeper Chris Neal, missing his head by inches. With 10 minutes to go of this FA Cup first round clash, a number of objects were lobbed in the direction of Neal, with stewards wading in behind one goal. Defender Nathan Pond was almost struck as well. Referee Darren England stopped play for a number of minutes as smoke billowed from the Jack Carr Stand and had a decision to make as to whether to abandon the fixture. 

Germany reveal new 1990-inspired home kit as Arsenal star Mesut Ozil models design

Premier League stars Mesut Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan led the way as Germany unveiled their new home shirt, one inspired by their 1990 World Cup-winning side. Joachim Low's men will wear the new but still traditional white jersey for the first time when they face San Marino in a World Cup qualifier on Friday, November 11.

Kurt Zouma will appear for Chelsea's Under 23s again on Tuesday night with the centre-back approaching a first-team return after the international break.

Inter Milan are close to finalising Stefano Pioli as their new manager. The struggling Italian side had held talks with Gianfranco Zola, Guus Hiddink and Villarreal coach Marcelino over the weeken.

Darren Fletcher has told Leicester City they will find it 'virtually impossible' to compete in the Premier League unless they learn to juggle their domestic and European commitments.

Ilkay Gundogan is confident that compatriot Leroy Sane will become a vital player for Manchester City once he has fully adapted to English football.

Everton did their best to back Koeman in the summer window but despite coming up with the cash - helped by John Stones' sale - they found it difficult to bring in top-class stars.

Ilkay Gundogan is 'extremely impressed' by the facilities at Manchester City. The midfielder thinks even Bayern Munich's base cannot compare to the world class training centre of his side.

Freeze! Borussia Dortmund join NFL sides taking on the Mannequin Challenge craze that is sweeping across America

The Mannequin Challenge, where groups stay completely still to film an intricate scene, has become the latest social media craze to take over the internet. People are uploading videos using the hashtag #MannequinChallenge where they appear frozen in time as if someone has randomly hit the pause button. Now Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund have had their go at the phenomenon, which kick-started in America at high schools, as the sporting world takes notice. 

New Wolves manager Paul Lambert hoping to harness club's 'fantastic' fan base

Wolves' new manager Paul Lambert believes good times lie ahead for the Sky Bet Championship strugglers if he can harness the club's big fan base. The Midlands team sacked Walter Zenga last month and Lambert, 47, wants to quickly lift the mood at Molineux after a seven-match winless run which has seen them slip to within three points of the relegation zone.

Robin van Persie confirms 'eye is all good!' after gruesome injury in Fenerbahce win

Robin van Persie says he is 'all good!' and on the road to recovery after receiving a cut eye while playing for Fenerbahce on Sunday evening. The former Manchester United and Arsenal was carried off on a stretcher in the first half of their 3-1 win at Akhisar following an accidental clash with Abdulwahid Sissoko. Television pictures showed blood coming through a bandage on his left eye.

England and Saracens trio Maro Itoje, Owen Farrell and Billy Vunipola feature on a six-strong shortlist for World Rugby men's player of the year. Jamie Heaslip, Dane Coles and Beauden Barrett complete the list.

Borussia Dortmund wing back Raphael Guerreiro claims he has turned down transfer offers from two of Europe’s biggest clubs in the past two years. Guerreiro joined Dortmund from Lorient last summer.

Sakho has not played for the Premier League leaders this season after falling out with manager Jurgen Klopp and subsequently being sent home early from the club's pre-season tour of the US.

Bundesliga side Ingolstadt want a new coach in place this week and have identified highly-rated Wagner who has led Huddersfield into promotion contention this season.

Chris Coleman prepares for his reunion with Serbia this week admitting he is still haunted by the infamous night in Novi Sad four years ago when they beat Wales 6-1 and left him hanging on to his job.

The midfielder, who has found himself at the centre of a war of words between Ireland boss Martin O'Neill and club manager Ronald Koeman, will miss Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifier in Austria.

South Africa gear up for England clash as Roelof Smit suffers suspected tour-ending bicep

Roelof Smit has become the latest casualty for South Africa after the flanker suffered a suspected torn bicep in training. He is likely to miss the rest of the tour with the Springboks. Head coach Allister Coetzee is already without Jesse Kriel who was ruled out of three matches after injuring his leg in the 31-31 draw against the Barbarians. Coetzee's side were preparing to take on England this Saturday with a training session at The Upper Latymer school playing fields.

Kagiso Rabada takes five wickets as South Africa storm to 177-run victory over Australia

South Africa capped a remarkable turnaround in the first Test against Australia. The visitors claimed victory on the final day with the help of a five-wicket haul from Kagiso Rabada. South Africa are now 1-0 up in the three match series and coped well with the absence of Dale Steyn as their 21-year-old pace bowler performed impressively.

Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Boswell fluffs 'rabona' in embarrassing fashion to hand Baltimore Ravens victory in NFL

The Steelers kicker was tasked with getting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger the ball back after the signal-caller had got his side within a score as he ran in for a four-yard score.

Bristol chairman Chris Booy says a 'very interesting group of people' have put themselves forward to replace Andy Robinson, but insists they won't rush into naming a new coach.

Ajinkya Rahane admits the hosts must adapt quickly, and give careful consideration to how best to use the system they are about to adopt for the first time after years of resistance.

Australia paceman Peter Siddle has been ruled out of the second test against South Africa in Hobart with a lower back injury, Cricket Australia said on Tuesday.

The war of words continues to rumble on ahead of Conor McGregor's highly-anticipated bout with Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Consecutive victories for Lewis Hamilton in America and Mexico have enabled the Stevenage-born racer to close the gap to his Mercedes team-mate to 19 points with just two races remaining this year.

Ireland with be without Murphy for the remainder of their autumn internationals after the flanker was ruled out for up to nine months with a knee injury sustained in the win over New Zealand.

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow gives his best tips ahead of Tuesday's meetings at Huntingdon, Newcastle, Lingfield and Sedgefield.

Nicholls boasts a strong hand for the feature race with favourite Frodon due to be ridden by Harry Cobdon, while Sean Bowen is aboard As De Mee and Nick Scholfield partners Art Mauresque.

Antonio Conte’s switch to 3-4-3 has seen Chelsea score 16 goals without reply

OLIVER TODD: Nobody has found a way to stop Chelsea since Antonio Conte's tactical switch to a 3-4-3 formation. In five games the Blues have scored 16 goals and conceded none. Conte's new-look Chelsea have steamrollered every opponent comfortably in the Premier League so far. Here, Sportsmail looks at just how he has got it to work.

OLIVER TODD: Liverpool have twice as many goalscorers as at this stage of the last campaign: Jurgen Klopp’s attacking style creating a team that can score from anywhere, through anyone.

CHIEF SPORTS WRITER: A year ago, a senior club executive reckoned United could afford one more year without a title or out of the Champions League, before it had an impact. And that is now this year.

SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: Ireland’s win was inspirational, brilliantly executed and the result of positive, clever, calculated rugby. It was a masterclass and exhilarating to watch.