Frenkie de Jong has returned to non-contact training with the Netherlands as he steps up his recovery from an ankle injury, but he may not make their Euro 2024 opener against Poland.

De Jong was included in Ronald Koeman s final 26-man squad for the Euros despite an ankle issue preventing him from featuring for Barcelona since a 3-2 loss to Real Madrid on April 21.

He made 30 appearances across all competitions as the Blaugrana endured a disappointing 2023-24 campaign, finishing well adrift of Madrid at the top of LaLiga and exiting the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight.

He has been a fixture in the Oranje side since making his senior international debut in 2018, and Koeman is hopeful he might play a part in Group D fixtures against…

Mauricio Pochettino expressed frustration that Chelsea’s injury problems are being unfairly ignored in assessments of his team’s poor performances this season.

The Argentinian has rarely had fewer than seven players unavailable to him during what has been at best a patchy campaign.

Results have fluctuated drastically and the last week has been a stark example, with Wednesday’s 3-1 win at Aston Villa in the FA Cup coming directly off the back of a 4-2 loss to Wolves at Stamford Bridge.

Together.

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)

That defeat, the 10th of Pochettino’s 23 Premier League games in charge, left the team 11th in the table.

The manager is unhappy that the impact of absences on his team’s form is not being acknowledged by cri…

Russell Martin admitted Southampton may need to adapt in the Premier League, but they will not change their philosophy ahead of their opener against Newcastle United.

The Saints got back to the top-flight at the first time of asking, beating Leeds United in the Championship play-off final to earn promotion to the Premier League.

They have prepared well ahead of the new campaign, only losing one of their pre-season friendlies, and Martin is confident Southampton have what it takes to go toe-to-toe with the other teams.

There s a concern with any style for any team in the Premier League, he said in his press conference. We are going to be defined by being good enough. Me, the players, we ll be called naive.

We ve done something here we really believe in. …

Best odds: 11/8

Bookmaker:

Belgium and France are set to face off once again on Monday night in the UEFA Nations League at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, marking their second meeting within a month.

France, after suffering a defeat on the opening day of the competition, have since bounced back by winning their last two matches. This resurgence has revitalized their campaign and put them in contention for a strong finish in the group. On the other hand, Belgium s form has faltered after their early win over Israel on matchday one. They have since slipped from first to third place, making Monday s match a crucial one if they hope to regain ground and challenge for the top spot.

Belgium

Belgium will have mixed emotions following their 2-2 draw with…

Reigning European champions Real Madrid have been announced as the opponents for the 2017 MLS All-Star Game in Chicago.

Madrid have won the Champions League in two of the last three seasons, while they are in the quarter-finals of this season s competition, and Zinedine Zidane s side will now take on the best MLS has to offer in August.

Chicago s Soldier Field will host the Spanish giants in the annual fixture on August 2, with the game set to form part of a pre-season tour of the United States for Madrid.

They will become the first LaLiga side to face off against the MLS All-Stars, with previous opponents including Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Manchester United.

One night only.
The 2017 Game pres. by .

— Major League Soccer (@MLS)

Ben Olsen will be hoping Houston Dynamo can take another step in the right direction when they visit Real Salt Lake for Thursday s MLS meeting.

The Dynamo recorded a narrow 1-0 win over Charlotte FC in their last outing, with this the chance to find a third straight victory and continue their resurgent form.

El Naranja sit sixth in the Western Conference standings, one point adrift of the top four, yet head coach Olsen still wants improvements from his Houston roster.

It s a step in the right direction, we ve got a week to recover – Salt Lake away that is never going to be easy, Olsen said after the Charlotte win, looking ahead to RSL.

And then LAFC comes [to us at home], so it was important to get the last three points.

The clean sheet is th…

Gareth Southgate has explained a lack of goal involvements and regular football led to the respective omissions of Jesse Lingard and Dele Alli from his latest England squad.

Lingard and Alli were two of the stars of England s run to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup but have struggled for their best form of late.

The Manchester United attacker is without a goal or an assist in the Premier League in 2019, while Alli has been a relatively peripheral figure for Tottenham after recovering from a hamstring injury.

Liverpool s Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain has been similarly left out, with Southgate unable to ignore the claims of James Maddison and Mason Mount.

I think Jesse s had a difficult period. He s aware of that, the England manager told a Wembley news co…

While the fixture itself remains eagerly anticipated, the Derby della Madonnina on Sunday serves as another reminder that AC Milan and Inter are no longer among European football s dominant forces.

Milan were in danger of missing out on continental football until Gennaro Gattuso masterminded an eight-game unbeaten streak to put them back in the frame in seventh, while the ailing Inter have slipped from first to fourth after a run of two wins in 11 league fixtures.

It is a far cry from the 2010-11 season, when the clubs last finished as the top two in Serie A the Rossoneri beating their rivals, Champions League winners the previous campaign, to the Scudetto by four points.

To illustrate their decline, we take a look at how a combined XI from that campaign compares…

Week 15 features a Saturday showdown between two of the hottest teams in the NFL as the Indianapolis Colts host the New England Patriots at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Oddsmakers are predicting a close contest with NFL betting lines opening the Colts as slim 1.5-point favorites before sliding to -2.5.

Here are our best free Patriots vs. Colts NFL picks and predictions for Saturday, December 18, with kickoff at 8:15 p.m. ET.

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Sometimes you just get dealt a bad hand.

There’s no shame in it. It’s not your fault. Every once in a while, we face a situation that is unavoidably — and unequivocally — stinky.

That, my friends, is the situation we’re in with trying to evaluate D.J. Moore props for the first game of the Week 10 slate.

Why Moore, you ask? Well, as my colleague Jason Logan said in his Falcons vs. Panthers predictions article, “Atlanta is attempting to stay in the hunt for the division lead at 4-5, which kind of tells you everything you need to know about this group of teams.”

Not only are both of these teams kinda bad, but the Falcons’ run game is an unpredictable three-headed monster (and the passing game is non-existent), Carolina’s offense is a gia…