Harry Kane in Tottenham’s pre-season Asia-Pacific tour squad but no Hugo Lloris

Having joined Chelsea from RB Leipzig last summer, Christopher Nkunku missed a large chunk of the season so far through a knee injury. He recovered in time to appear in the final three games of 2023, but now he is injured again, and manager Mauricio Pochettino has expressed concern about the situation with the 26-year-old forward.

I am a little worried with the situation

Mauricio Pochettino on Christopher Nkunku s hip injury, who recently returned to the squad after a long-term injury and is now set for another period on the sidelines

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews)

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Romelu Lukaku has decided to continue playing in Europe, according to Fabrizio Romano, despite receiving a lucrative offer from a Saudi club. The 30-year-old striker, whose loan with Inter Milan from Chelsea officially expires at the end of the month, doesn t believe his time to leave European football has come.

Lukaku shone for Inter in his previous spell there, helping the Nerazzurri win the 2020/21 Scudetto, and though his loan back with the Serie A giants hasn t exactly gone as well, it has certainly gone better than 2021/22 with Chelsea. He scored 14 goals and produced seven assists in 37 matches across all competitions for Simone Inzaghi s side.

The 107-cap Belgium international is now due back at Stamford Bridge where he s under contract until 2026, with no agree…

Liverpool moved above Manchester City at the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 win over Watford in Saturday s early kick-off at Anfield.

The Reds knew that victory would see them leapfrog City, who face Burnley later in the day, for the first time since November 27 – even if only for a matter of hours.

Diogo Jota headed in from a Joe Gomez cross after 22 minutes to open the scoring and substitute Fabinho sealed a battling win with a penalty in the final minute.

Liverpool have now won 10 league games in a row ahead of next weekend s huge showdown with City, who are two points worse off with their game at Turf Moor to come.

Watford more than held their own in the early stages of the game and would have been in front if not for a good stop from Alisson…

Karim Adeyemi scored twice and set up another goal as Borussia Dortmund earned a 4-2 victory over visitors Heidenheim on Friday.

Adeyemi first set up Donyell Malen, who drilled his low shot through Kevin Muller to give the hosts the lead in the 12th minute.

The 22-year-old then doubled their advantage six minutes later with his first goal after completing a textbook break five minutes later.

Heidenheim briefly cut the deficit with Marvin Pieringer s powerful header after 39 minutes, but Dortmund restored their two-goal cushion before the break with Adeyemi s low drive wrongfooting the goalkeeper.

The visitors set up a nervy finish after being awarded a 74th-minute penalty for a foul by Niklas Sule on Mikkel Kaufmann, with Maximilian Breunig confidently hi…

Erling Haaland should be licking his lips at the prospect of facing RB Leipzig when Manchester City continue their quest to lift the Champions League for the first time on Wednesday.

City travel to Leipzig for the first leg of their round of 16 tie smarting from slipping off the top of the Premier League table with a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

The combination of both City and striker Haaland s great record against the Bundesliga side would suggest they ought to secure a place in the quarter-finals of Europe s premier club competition.

Inter have home advantage when they face Porto in the other round of 16 first-leg clash on Wednesday and the Serie A side boast an impressive home record against Portuguese clubs.

Stats Perform pick out the s…

Viktor Gyokeres and Zeno Debast fired Sporting CP to a 2-0 Champions League win over Lille on Tuesday, after Angel Gomes sending-off reduced the French side to 10 men.

Sporting created a number of good chances in the first half but were kept at bay by Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier, until Gyokeres latched onto a delightful pass from Pedro Goncalves to open the scoring in the 38th minute.

Two minutes later, Lille were reduced to 10 men when England international Gomes was shown a second yellow card for tripping Gyokeres, having earlier been booked for a push on Francisco Trincao.

In the second half, Debast unleashed a superb long-range effort into the top-right corner to seal victory for the home side.

The Portuguese club are sixth in the early Champions…

There is interest in Chelsea attacking midfielder Cole Palmer from top-six clubs in the Premier League, according to . The report has claimed that Chelsea are not worried about losing Palmer, who can also operate as a winger, in the summer transfer window and the England international himself is happy at Stamford Bridge.

Palmer joined Chelsea from Premier League rivals Manchester City in the summer of 2023. The 21-year-old has been one of the best players for the Blues this season and has been a shining light for Mauricio Pochettino’s side. The youngster has scored 16 goals and given 12 assists in 37 matches in all competitions for Chelsea this season.

Chelsea are 11th in the Premier League table at the moment with 39 points from 27 matches. The former Premier League …

Former Tottenham midfielder Gus Poyet praised Tanguy Ndombele for helping Spurs reach another level this season.

Ndombele struggled in his first season with the Premier League club after arriving from Ligue 1 s Lyon for a reported initial fee of £55.45million (€62m).

But the midfielder has looked rejuvenated this term, helping Spurs sit sixth in the table ahead of Thursday s blockbuster clash against defending champions Liverpool.

Poyet, who played for Spurs between 2001 and 2004, said it was impressive how Ndombele had managed to turn his form around.

From outside, this is an opinion that I hope everybody understands what I m saying, it looks like it was not that a feeling of him being part of a [Jose] Mourinho team. It was like a conflict in there o…

Legendary Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson joked he is glad to have retired so he does not have to go up against Jurgen Klopp s phenomenal Liverpool side.

Ferguson guided United to 13 Premier League titles during his illustrious 27-year tenure at Old Trafford, succeeding in his aim of knocking Liverpool off their perch as English football s most successful club.

United have yet to win the title since the Scotsman retired in 2013, while Liverpool ended a three-decade wait to be crowned champions of England last season by finishing top of the pile 33 points better off than the Red Devils.

Liverpool also went all the way in the Champions League two seasons ago and, ahead of Sunday s top-of-the-table showdown between the bitter rivals, Ferguson revealed he…

Ralf Rangnick is unlikely to be Bayern Munich s new head coach after his agent suggested the Bundesliga champions were seeking a man with different qualities.

Rangnick was the early frontrunner for the vacancy following the departure of Niko Kovac on Sunday, a day after Bayern were thrashed 5-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt their heaviest top-flight defeat since April 2009.

Hansi Flick will take the reins on an interim basis for Wednesday s Champions League home meeting with Olympiacos and the visit of Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, with president Uli Hoeness hoping to have a clear idea on how the club will proceed by the end of the international break.

But it seems Rangnick, the head of sport and development at Red Bull, will not be a candidate.

His agent Ma…