Jose Mourinho has been sacked by Tottenham with their Champions League qualification hopes hanging by a thread.

Mourinho was appointed by Spurs in November 2019 as the replacement for Mauricio Pochettino on a contract until the end of the 2022-23 campaign.

But he has not managed to preside over a full season, with chairman Daniel Levy ending the Portuguese head coach s tenure prematurely on Monday.

Mourinho s backroom team of Joao Sacramento, Nuno Santos, Carlos Lalin and Giovanni Cerra have also been relieved of their duties, with Ryan Mason taking first-team training on Monday.

Levy, said: Jose and his coaching staff have been with us through some of our most challenging times as a club. Jose is a true professional who showed enormous resilience during…

Former Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has claimed the Premier League is not as strong as it once was.

Lehmann enjoyed a five-year stint at the club between 2003 and 2008 before coming out of retirement to return briefly in 2011 via a spell at Stuttgart.

Following last year s UEFA Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, the former Germany international feels the Bundesliga duo have closed the gap at the top of European football, in stark contrast to the leading English sides.

I think the duel at the top is pretty balanced, because Bayern and Dortmund have caught up a lot over the last years, he said.

And I think the English League isn t as good anymore at the top or as strong as it used to be.

Dortmund and Bayern meet in the B…

Jonathan Woodgate has backed Kylian Mbappe to flourish at Real Madrid and be even bigger than he is in Paris Saint-Germain if he makes the move, but the regeneration of Los Blancos midfield is of greater concern to the former defender.

Mbappe is widely expected to leave PSG for Madrid on a free transfer when his contract expires at the end of the season.

The World Cup winner, who has 10 goals and nine assists in Ligue 1 this term, would boost Madrid in attack, but Carlo Ancelotti is not exactly short of firepower – his side s 47 goals the most in LaLiga and eighth-most in Europe s top five leagues.

And in striker Karim Benzema and winger Vinicius Junior, arguably Madrid s best two players occupy the positions Mbappe likes to operate in.

Benzema is 34 bu…

that Genoa are on the verge of signing Uruguayan striker Abel Hernandez from Palermo.

Even with Alberto Gilardino returning from Bologna, the Rossoblu are determined to sign another forward and they appear to be closing in on Abel Hernandez.

The player himself has confirmed that he already had a chat with Genoa boss Fabio Liverani, which is enough to suggest the deal is close to fruition.

“I want to play in Serie A again to get back into the national team,” he said. “Genoa would be perfect. I ve already spoken with Liverani.”

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini is holding out for €10 million, so it remains to be seen if the two clubs can reach an agreement before the transfer window closes.

Abel H…

Napoli missed out on their slim chance to participate in Europe next season after being held to a 0-0 home draw by Lecce in their final Serie A game of the campaign on Sunday.

After a lacklustre first half, Napoli had chances to win the game in the second, with Cyril Ngonge coming closest when he rattled the crossbar.

Patrick Dorgu had already given the Azzurri a scare just nine minutes in, firing Lecce s first shot off Alex Meret s post.

Napoli had to win to climb to ninth place, but instead, finished below Torino, who lost 3-0 to recently crowned Europa League champions Atalanta, due to their head-to-head record.

Torino could now earn a Europa Conference League play-off spot if Fiorentina beat Olympiacos in that final on Wednesday.

Full time: …

Galatasaray boss Roberto Mancini has remained tight lipped on the possibility of managing the Italian national team in future.

The former Manchester City manager has been touted as a potential successor to Cesare Prandelli, with reports suggesting the current national boss could step down after next year s FIFA World Cup.

However, Mancini, who took charge of the Super Lig champions in September following the departure of Fatih Terim, refused to comment on the speculation.

Right now I don t want to talk about a potential future with the Italian national team, he said.

Mancini did however suggest he would be interested in returning to Sampdoria a club where he spent 15 years as a player.

Sampdoria has always had a special place in my heart and I believe this…

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been among those to hail Clermont s historic appointment of Helena Costa as their first-team coach.

The French Ligue 2 club appointed the 36-year-old on Wednesday, making her the first female boss of a French men s team.

Costa has previously coached Benfica s youth teams and has also spent time in charge of the women s sides for both Qatar and Iran.

The Portuguese, who served as a scout for Celtic between 2008 and 2011, will take over at the Stade Gabriel Montpied at the end of the season, and Blatter was quick to hail the decision as a positive step for the game.

Blatter posted on his Twitter account: Congratulations and good luck to Helena Costa @ClermontFoot. Great news for women in football today.

Those sentiments have b…

Competition: Championship
Market: Derby to win against QPR
Odds:

Derby County are within touching distance of returning to the Premier League for the first time since 2008 if they can see past Queens Park Rangers in the Championship playoff final.

The Rams have enjoyed an impressive league campaign, finishing the season in third place with 85 points.

They’ve been in fine form of late too, winning five and drawing one of their last six league games, while winning both games in their playoff semi-final against Brighton Hove Albion.

As a result, Bet 365 are giving them odds of 11/8 to win in the playoff final next weekend, but Queens Park Rangers will be stiff competition.

Rangers’ form has picked up at the right time, with the Londo…

Best Odds: 19/20

Bookmaker:

Marking their return to action with an EFL Cup showdown on Wednesday night, Manchester United will welcome Burnley to Old Trafford.

Manchester United

Starting with the hosts, while Manchester United might have been disappointed by a pair of friendly defeats against Cadiz and Real Betis over the past week, Erik ten Hag s men were enjoying an eye-catching run prior to the World Cup s enforced break. Last seen on Premier League duties claiming a last-gasp 2-1 victory away at Fulham, the former Ajax boss has a Champions League return at the top of his agenda this season. Despite opening the 2022/23 campaign in the midst of what was a public struggle, the English heavyweights have largely put those issues behind them. In fact, the Red Dev…

Ryan Giggs has been appointed as the new Wales manager, the Football Association of Wales has confirmed on social media.

The former Manchester United winger made 64 appearances for the country between 1991 and 2007, but never managed to reach a major international tournament.

Giggs succeeds Chris Coleman, who resigned in November and subsequently took over at Sunderland, having guided Wales to the last four of Euro 2016 their first major finals appearance since 1958.

Coleman s last competitive game ended in a 1-0 home defeat to the Republic of Ireland, which saw Wales fail to secure a play-off place in qualifying for the World Cup in Russia later this year.

Having taken interim charge of United at the end of 2013-14 following David Moyes sacking, Giggs …