News Update

NEWCASTLE UNITED are having a torrid time compared to this stage last season, but which teams have turned their fortunes around in the space of a year? Newcastle are enduring an awful start to the season and currently sit bottom of the table  (Image: REUTERS) Newcastle are currently rock bottom of the Premier League without a win all season, having most recently lost 1-0 at home to Brighton. Things are looking bleak in the North East with the team currently a massive 12 points behind their tally at this stage during the 2017/18 campaign. Manchester United  are also struggling to meet expectations after their worst start to a league season in 29 years, but it’s quite the opposite at  Arsenal . Unai Emery’s men are three points better off than they were under Arsene Wenger with a game in hand against Leicester still to play. Meanwhile,  Manchester City  are falling short of their title-winning form and Bournemouth are flying high under Eddie Howe –...

Real Madrid  president  Florentino Perez  has been warned against moving for  Antonio Conte . Conte has been linked with  Julen Lopetegui 's job, with the Real coach's future in serious doubt after yesterday's home defeat to Levante. Former  Chelsea  manager is a candidate for the post, but word from the locker room has reached Florentino the players would not welcome the Italian's appointment. Cadena SER  says Real's players are concerned about the president's interest in Conte, believing his hardline approach would not suit them. For the moment, Florentino has assured Lopetegui his job is safe, despite three defeats in the last four games.

. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s rise at Liverpool has been enjoyable to watch. The 20-year-old has gone from academy graduate at the club to first-team regular in no time at all. He was entrusted to mark Cristiano Ronaldo in the final of the Champions League last season and was hailed for his efforts against Paris Saint-Germain last month. “Young Trent Alexander-Arnold is special,” Match of the Day host  Gary Lineker wrote on Twitter  as Liverpool secured a memorable 3-2 win. The right-back was up against an imposing attacking trio of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani, which would be an intimidating task for many players. But Alexander-Arnold showed great maturity, leaving Liverpool supporters confident in the knowledge that they have their right-back of the next decade. Coming up against world-class players can only help the youngster’s development but he insists there’s another winger who gave him more trouble than any of the aforemen...

For as long as Neymar remains at PSG the Brazil forward is likely to be linked with a move away. Recently a move back to Barcelona has been rumoured and he's now responded to that talk. Neymar's move in the summer of 2017 from Barcelona to PSG came as quite the surprise. Firstly because the forward cost the French side £198 million and also because no one expected him to make what most felt a move down to Ligue 1. Playing in the French league has only given critics of Neymar more ammunition as they claim that he can only do it against the lesser sides in Ligue 1 and not in the Champions League. Rumours have continued for the whole time that he could be moving to Real Madrid in the future, especially now that Cristiano Ronaldo has moved on, but Los Blancos didn't make a bid last summer. This week there has been links with a return to Barcelona. According to the claims the 26 year old is fed up with life in Paris for a few reasons including being overshadowed by Kylian...

REAL MADRID boss Julen Lopetegui is seemingly edging ever closer to getting the sack following their shock defeat to Levante this afternoon but he still has the backing of his players. Real Madrid  suffered a shock 2-1 loss to Levante at the Bernabeu to record their third defeat in nine La Liga matches. The 13-time Champions League winners also broke their own record for the longest period without scoring a goal - 464 minutes. Prior to kick-off, reports in Spain suggested Lopetegui had three games to save his job (Levante, Viktoria Plzen and Barcelona) before club president Florentino Perez would make a decision. However, despite the uphill task now facing Lopetegui, the likes of Marcelo and Lucas Vazquez insist they are behind the Spaniard during these tough times. "We have taken a step forward, we have been on top of them, but we could not materialise the chances,” Vazquez said. "We trust Lopetegui from minute one to the end. We are [battling to the] death with the m...

Thierry Henry's dream start to his managerial career with Monaco fell flat after his side suffered a 2-1 defeat to Strasbourg. Adrien Thomasson opened the scoring for Strasbourg thanks to Seydou Sy's howler. It only became worse for the newly appointed Monaco manager when he subbed off Stevan Jovetić for Samuel Grandsir in the second-half, which proved to be a costly move when the 22-year-old substitute was sent off two minutes later. Lebo Mothiba doubled Strasbourg's lead towards the end of the match, while Monaco's Youri Tielemans found the back of the net from the spot kick in injury time. Monaco are now sitting firmly in the relegation zone and have only six points from their opening 10 matches, suffering six defeats and winning only once in Ligue 1 this season. Last week, it emerged that the French club would  appoint the Arsenal legend after the sacking of former boss Leonardo Jardim . Following on from early reports, the 41-year-old Frenchman was  confir...

'It is just the beginning of the season': Leicester manager Claude Puel plays down Arsenal's title credentials  Leicester boss Claude Puel believes it is too soon to label Arsenal genuine title contenders. The Foxes go to the Emirates Stadium on Monday with  the Gunners  having won their last nine games under new boss Unai Emery. Former Paris St Germain manager Emery replaced  Arsene Wenger , who Puel played under at Monaco, in the summer. Leicester boss Claude Puel believes it's too early to refer to Arsenal as title contenders Arsenal will break into the top four with victory on Monday - a win would leave them two points off the top - but Puel is prepared to reserve judgement over whether they can win a first title since 2004. He said: 'We will see. He started with some difficulties and lost (the) first two games but after they have worked and played well to win games in the cup, Europa League and Premier League. 'They have nine wins at this moment w...

. After four games without a win before the international break, Liverpool needed to bounce back against Huddersfield at the John Smith’s Stadium. With Manchester City beating Burnley 5-0 earlier in the afternoon, Jurgen Klopp’s side required a win to keep pace with last season’s champions. But the international break wasn’t kind to Liverpool and a number of first-team regulars returned to Melwood with knocks. It meant Klopp rung the changes for the trip to Huddersfield, with Sadio Mane and Naby Keita ruled out, while Roberto Firmino was only a substitute. It meant there were rare starts for Daniel Sturridge and summer signing Xherdan Shaqiri. Also starting was Adam Lallana. The midfielder has struggled with injuries for a lengthy period but after, naming him in the starting XI, Klopp insisted that he had impressed in training recently. “Adam Lallana trained very well and has had all week to train with us so I made the decision,” Klopp said....

'It is just the beginning of the season': Leicester manager Claude Puel plays down Arsenal's title credentials  Leicester boss Claude Puel believes it is too soon to label Arsenal genuine title contenders. The Foxes go to the Emirates Stadium on Monday with  the Gunners  having won their last nine games under new boss Unai Emery. Former Paris St Germain manager Emery replaced  Arsene Wenger , who Puel played under at Monaco, in the summer. Leicester boss Claude Puel believes it's too early to refer to Arsenal as title contenders Arsenal will break into the top four with victory on Monday - a win would leave them two points off the top - but Puel is prepared to reserve judgement over whether they can win a first title since 2004. He said: 'We will see. He started with some difficulties and lost (the) first two games but after they have worked and played well to win games in the cup, Europa League and Premier League. 'They have nine wins at this moment w...

  Liverpool legend Steve McMahon admits he is concerned at Joe Gomez being deployed at right-back by Jurgen Klopp as he believes the defender is a centre-back . Gomez has made a big impact for Liverpool this season and impressed when played alongside Virgil van Dijk. However, Klopp has recently switched him to right-back, opting to field Dejan Lovren with Van Dijk in the heart of the backline. McMahon is a big fan of Gomez and is sure that within the space of 12 months he will be just as composed and steady as Van Dijk. And the former Liverpool midfielder is keen for the defender not to become known as a Jack of all trades, but to instead focus on the centre-back role, where he believes his future is brightest.   He said on LFC TV:  " What would worry me a little bit is Gomez playing right-back at times. "He's going to be one hell of a centre-half . Even playing for England he looks so comfortable. "He is so relaxed and he's a Rolls-Royce really. H...

Vinicius has aired his regret at having seen Cristiano Ronaldo depart Real Madrid before he got the chance to play alongside him. The Brazilian youngster became the most expensive teenager in world football when the Blancos struck a €46 million (£41m/$53m) deal with Flamengo in May 2017. That record was soon broken by Kylian Mbappe’s switch to Paris Saint-Germain, but Vinicius remains one of the most exciting prospects on the planet. Madrid are hoping to benefit from that obvious potential, but have favoured a cautious approach when it comes to his ongoing development. They allowed Vinicius to remain in his homeland before moving to Spain over the summer, by which time they had sanctioned the €100m (£88m/$116m) move of five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo to Juventus. “I’d like to have played with Cristiano Ronaldo, but I’m playing with many other world champions, so I don’t have to talk about him anym...

Barcelona will entertain Real Madrid in their next La Liga match with the prospect of missing the services of Lionel Messi but Gerard Pique is not perturbed about the absence of the Argentine forward. The defender claimed that the Camp Not outfit has enough strength in depth to handle Real Madrid despite the absence of Messi who got injured in the 4-2 win over Sevilla on Saturday at Camp Nou. The medical report revealed that Messi would be out for three weeks and will miss the atlas three games 3-5 games in the process. Messi has been sensational for Barcelona this season he has scored 12 goals and six assists in just 12 games across all competitions. Pique will be the stand-in captain of the team in the absence of the Argentine forward and he is confident that Barcelona can grab the three points with Messi. He admitted: “Psychologically we know that when he is there we are stronger but we cannot allow his absence to affect us. "It makes a big difference to have or not to ...

Meet the Premier League dream team: Sportsmail picks the ultimate, all-star combined XI... so who makes the cut? (And are they good enough to beat the best from Spain, Italy and Germany?) The best of the Premier League versus the best of La Liga versus the best of  Serie A versus the best of the Bundesliga. Who would win? It's a classic debate, and Sportsmail will attempt to provide an answer. Over the next four days one of our reporters, based in turn in England,  Italy ,  Germany  and  Spain , will pick a dream team to represent that country's league. Then, finally, we send them all into battle in a round-robin tournament, with the top two teams progressing to a final that will decide which league really does boast the best players of all. First up, it's our all-star Premier League combined XI...   Liverpool's star forward Mohamed Salah is in Sportsmail's Premier League dream team   Goalkeeper - David de Gea, Manchester United As...