TRANSFER GOSSIP
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is exploring the possibility of bringing in France striker Karim Benzema on loan from Real Madrid in the January transfer window.Full story: Daily Mail
Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier is ready to make a £1.2m move for Middlesbrough central defender David Wheater.
Full story: Daily Mirror
Seattle Sounders' Congolese striker Steve Zakuani has agreed to train with Everton and he may be allowed to gain Premier League experience during the Major League Soccer close season.
Full story: Daily Mirror
Blackpool can activate a £250,000 clause to sign on-loan striker Luke Varney from Derby County permanently in January.
Full story: Daily Mail
OTHER GOSSIP
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has challenged the Spurs board to spend big in January and turn his squad into title winners.Full story: Daily Mirror
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti admits he is not in total control of team affairs at Stamford Bridge. "I have just technical direction. Full stop."
Full story: Daily Mirror
And the former AC Milan manager is believed to be considering his position at Chelsea.
Full story: Daily Express
Bolton will offer striker Johan Elmander a new one-year deal this week in order to sort out the Swede's future.
Full story: Daily Mirror
Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has forgiven striker Wayne Rooney for the way he dealt with his contract negotiations last month.
Full story: Daily Mail
AND FINALLY
Arsenal are to charge £100 for football's first non-corporate ticket, with the VAT rise in the new year pushing the club's most expensive match day seat at the Emirates Stadium up to £100.60. It also makes it the most expensive in English football.Full story: The Guardian
PREMIER LEAGUE
Carlos Tevez showed old boss Mark Hughes no mercy at Craven Cottage as Manchester City romped to a victory that saw them close to within three points of the Premier League summit.
Twelve months ago Hughes was the man profiting from the South American's prowess in front of goal.
Now it is Roberto Mancini hailing two goals and a man-of-the-match display from the inspirational South American.
Indeed, as Mancini reflects on a table that shows his side to be bang in the title hunt - as well as more money to strengthen in January than any of their rivals - and four more goals on the road to answer the critics who have panned him for being too negative, the Italian could be forgiven for having a large chuckle to himself.
While
Blackburn Rovers new owners had plenty to cheer as a brace from Morten Gamst Pedersen ensured they made a winning start against Aston Villa.
• Allardyce happy with start of new Era
Rovers, playing for the first time since being taken over by Indian company Venky's, took the lead in stoppage time at the end of the opening period at Ewood Park thanks to Pedersen's delightful looping free-kick.
The Norwegian then struck again midway through the second half to wrap up a comfortable victory for Sam Allardyce's side.
Venkateshwara and Balaji Rao, the directors of Venky's, came on to the pitch to greet Blackburn's fans before kick-off and received warm applause.
Once things got under way Rovers' players seemed eager to please the new owners as well, with Jason Roberts sending a dangerous ball into the box in the opening few minutes that was cleared away.
The home side then won a free-kick just outside the area which was laid to Christopher Samba, only for the captain to skew his effort wide.
Villa went on the attack almost immediately after, though, and Paul Robinson did well to save Stewart Downing's low drive with his feet.
SERIE A ROUND UP
Italian champions Inter Milan fell to a shock 2-1 defeat to Chievo, as the pressure on new boss Rafael Benitez mounts.
Without the likes of Diego Milito, Walter Samuel, Thiago Motta, Maicon, Julio Cesar and Coutinho for this match, Inter now drop to sixth and are nine points off leaders and city rivals AC Milan. They may also be without striker Samuel Eto'o, who escaped punishment for a chest headbutt on Chievo centre-back Cesar (in a similar fashion to Zinedine Zidane at the 2006 World Cup), as he will surely be given a ban by the Itailan FA.
Eto'o scored a brilliant consolation goal deep into injury time after a fantastic dribble, but reports suggest that boss Benitez may not see the end of his striker's expected ban if the club get anything other than a win against FC Twente in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Juventus moved up to third in Serie A thanks to a 2-0 win at Genoa on Sunday.
An Eduardo own goal and a Milos Krasic strike decided the game in the first half to take the Bianconeri above Napoli and Roma and behind AC Milan and Lazio in the standings. The defeat was the first for Davide Ballardini since he took over as coach of Genoa just over almost three weeks ago.
Two goals in the space of five minutes earned Juventus this valuable away win. The first came in the 18th minute when Claudio Marchisio's shot took a deflection off Dario Dainelli. Genoa's goalkeeper Eduardo tried to get across to make the save but he was unfortunate as the ball came back off the post and hit him to rebound across the line.
Krasic then doubled the Bianconeri's lead in the 23rd minute as the Serbia winger cut in from the right past Domenico Criscito and shot towards the far corner. Again, Portuguese stopper Eduardo got a hand to it, but he only touched the ball on its way into the far corner.
Two goals from Marek Hamsik guided Napoli to an emphatic 4-1 victory against Bologna to move up to third. Christian Maggio opened the scoring after just three minutes before Hamsik struck twice as the hosts took a three-goal lead.
Riccardo Meggiorini pulled one back but Edison Cavani restored the three-goal cushion and joined Samuel Eto'o as the league's leading scorer.
Lazio lost ground on the Serie A leaders after being held to a 1-1 draw at Parma.
Former Lazio striker Hernan Crespo scored midway through the first half but an own goal from Luca Antonelli before the break brought the Roman club back on level terms. Both teams had several chances to grab a second goal in the second half but failed to do so.
Sampdoria edged an unlikely 3-2 classic as Giampaolo Pazzini provided the goal touch they have been missing with a hat-trick to end Lecce's unbeaten start to the season at Stadio Via del Mare.
Pazzini fired Samp into a two-goal lead by the 39th minute but the Giallorossi came storming back in the second period with goals from David Di Michele (72) and Souleymane Diamoutene (83). It seemed set to end all square but the visitors left with all three points thanks to Pazzini's decider in the 88th minute.
Cagliari climbed away from the relegation zone with a 2-1 win over fellow strugglers Brescia.
The visitors began the day outside the bottom three on goal difference only, with both sides on 11 points from 12 games. But they recovered from going a goal down early on to score twice in three second-half minutes to claim a vital win, their first away from home this season.
Christian Terlizzi's late goal gave 10-man Catania a 1-0 victory at home to bottom side Bari. Beaten 3-1 in last weekend's Sicilian derby by Palermo, Catania bounced back to maintain their unbeaten run at the Angelo Massimino stadium this season.
Catania had Maxi Lopez sent off after he picked up his second yellow card 12 minutes from the end, but Bari failed to take advantage of their numerical superiority.
Cesena remain in trouble at the foot of the Serie A table after falling to a 2-1 home defeat against Palermo.
Fabrizio Miccoli's goal six minutes after the interval proved to be the telling blow, after Erjon Bogdani had cancelled out Josip Ilicic's opener for the visitors.
LA LIGA ROUND UP
Pierre Webo struck a last-minute winner to help Real Mallorca consign former coach Gregorio Manzano and his Sevilla side to a 2-1 defeat at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Atletico Madrid were indebted to their formidable strike duo of Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan as they hit back from a half-time deficit to win 4-2 at Real Sociedad.
The visitors trailed to Joseba Llorente's 12th-minute effort but bounced back with Forlan levelling with 19 minutes to go before two late Aguero efforts turned the match on its head.
Diego Rivas pulled one back but Atletico made sure of the points in injury-time when Simao Sabrosa netted from the penalty spot after Jose Reyes had been felled.
Espanyol preserved their perfect home record in the Primera Division this season with a 3-0 win over ten-man Hercules .
Joan Verdu gave the Barcelona-based side the lead after 14 minutes, but the Catalans were made to work hard for their victory and only made the three points safe with two late penalties.
Felipe Caicedo struck twice as Levante comfortably beat Racing Santander 3-1 to move out of the relegation zone and end their miserable four-match losing streak.
The Ecuador forward, on loan from Manchester City, scored after 23 and 26 minutes to put the promoted side in the ascendancy at the Ciudad de Valencia stadium.
Deportivo La Coruna continued their climb up the standings with a convincing 3-0 victory over a Malaga side who slumped to their first defeat under new coach Manuel Pellegrini.
Adrian Lopez, from the penalty spot, and Diego Colotto gave Depor a 2-0 lead inside the opening half-hour before Pablo Alvarez completed the scoring late on as the Galician side.
For Malaga, the defeat ended Pellegrini's two-match winning start - one in the Copa del Rey and one in the league - since he took over the reins and means the Andalusian side slip back into the relegation zone.
Sporting Gijon's miserable away form continued after they lost 1-0 to Shojaei Massoud's second-half strike at Osasuna.
The visitors have now taken just two points from a possible 18 on their travels this season, form which is undermining their hopes of winning the relegation battle they are likely to face this winter.
Mid-table Osasuna are formidable at their Reyno de Navarra home and the points remained in Pamplona when Massoud converted Fernando Soriano's pass eight minutes into the second half.
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