Stuttgart posted their first Bundesliga win of the season with a 6-2 thrashing of Hoffenheim, while Borussia Dortmund also won on Sunday.

After three successive losses, Stuttgart coach Bruno Labbadia was sacked, with former player Thomas Schneider taking on the job.

And the new man would have been delighted with what he saw, as they cruised to victory thanks to a Vedad Ibisevic hat-trick.

Antonio Rudiger opened the scoring in the 11th minute for the winners, tapping Alexandru Maxim s low cross into an empty net, before Ibisevic opened his account against his former team.

Kevin Volland produced a quick response for Hoffenheim but Romanian Maxim pounced on a mistake by Hoffenheim goalkeeper Koen Casteels to restore Stuttgart s two-goal lead.

And Bosnia intern…

Algerian full-back Nadir Belhadj could be joining Lazio in the summer transfer window, .

The Al Sadd footballer is set to leave the Qatari side when his contract expires at the end of the season, and he is free to negotiate a Bosman deal with interested clubs.

According to Il Corriere dello Sport, Italian giants Lazio are leading the race for the experienced defender.

The Biancocelesti are looking to sign another left-sided defender to provide competition for Stefan Radu, and they see Belhadj as a great low-cost option.

Lazio have declared their interest in the Algeria international a while back, and club officials are expected to open negotiations with the player’s representatives in the coming days.

Nadir Belhadj has been at Al Sadd since lea…

Alexis Sanchez scored a 14-minute hat-trick in a frantic finale as Arsenal moved second in the Premier League with a 5-1 victory over struggling West Ham at London Stadium on Saturday.

With Manchester City having lost 3-1 at home to leaders Chelsea, Sanchez ensured Arsenal took their chance to move one point ahead of Pep Guardiola s side in a match that exploded into life in the closing stages, highlighted by a six-minute spell in which four goals were scored.

Arsenal moved ahead when Chile international Sanchez capitalised on an error from Angelo Ogbonna to tee up Mesut Ozil for his eighth strike in all competitions this term – equalling the total he managed in the entire 2015-16 season.

West Ham initially showed signs of improvement after the restart, but …

Former Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Carlo Tavecchio thinks Italy would be at the World Cup if he had agreed to Antonio Conte s request for a €2.5million pay rise.

Conte led an unfancied Italy side to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016, eliminating defending champions Spain in the last-16 and drawing praise for his tactics.

The coach announced his intention to step down in the months leading up to the tournament, joining Chelsea following the campaign in France.

Gian Piero Ventura subsequently took the helm but failed to guide the Azzurri past Sweden in a play-off for a spot at Russia 2018, with Tavecchio standing down in the aftermath.

Asked what his greatest regret from his time at the FIGC helm was, Tavecchio told La Gazzetta dello Sport…

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Arsenal and Leeds United will face each other in the Premier League this weekend. The match at the Emirates Stadium in North London is slated to kick off at 4:30pm UK time on Sunday and promises to be a cracking game of football.

Arsenal

Arsenal will head into the match against Leeds on the back of a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa away from home at Villa Park in the Premier League. It followed a 2-1 loss at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux Stadium in the league.

The Gunners are 11th in the Premier League table at the moment with 31 points from 23 matches. The former English champions are as many as nine points behind fourth-placed Liverpool and still have a chance of finis…

Manchester United and AS Roma had reached an agreement about a loan move for Alexis Sanchez only for the Chilean to refuse the move, according to BeIN Sports journalist .

In a swap deal involving Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Sanchez arrived to Old Trafford from Arsenal in January 2018 as a player expected to make immediate impact on United s fortunes. However, it can be safely said that he completely failed to live up to those expectations. In a season and a half, he has scored five goals in 45 games an abysmal record for an experienced forward, and United have reportedly been trying to sell him for a while now.

However, his enormous wages have always been the factor that made any such deal impossible, with no suitors willing to match them and him refusing to go for anything les…

Experienced Polish keeper Wojciech Kowalewski has left Greek side Iraklis after they released him from his contract.  The 32 year old joined Iraklis in 2008 from Korona Kielce and made 39 league appearances for the Super League side in his stint at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium.

Kowalewski is now being linked with a return to Legia Warsaw, the club where he began his senior professional career. Apart from Legia, Iraklis and Korona, he has also represented Dyskobolia Grodzisk, Shakhtar Donetsk and Spartak Moscow.

He has been capped 11 times for Poland and even featured for them last year in the qualifying games for the 2010 World Cup.

Legia are currently in the market for a goalkeeper because Slovak stopper Jan Mucha is expected to leave after his contract expire…

Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer feels fans underestimate how difficult it is to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

After their move into the Asian Football Confederation in 2006, Australia had a relatively straightforward path to South Africa in 2010, finishing comfortably on top of their final qualifying group.
Things have not been so easy this time around, with four draws and a loss from their six matches seeing them in third spot in AFC Group B with two games to play on the road to Brazil.
The Socceroos face a clash with Jordan in Melbourne on Tuesday, before finishing their qualification campaign by hosting Iraq in Sydney a week later.
Schwarzer feels people do not give some of the region s lesser lights enough credit for their performances.
I don t think we underestimate…

The text you’re about to read is a mistimed appreciation post for the England defender Harry Maguire who went on to impress the author here with his fantastic World Cup exploits.

England are coming off from a highly successful World Cup.

Gareth Southgate led his Three Lions to the semifinal in Russia and returned home a hero despite losing to Croatia 2-1 and subsequently Belgium 2-0 in the third place play-off.

England have, by all accounts, had a superb tournament as a young and talented squad which is expected to reach its full potential over the next couple of years. Gareth Southgate has been given unanimous backing by both fans and pundits alike to continue with his project and the future looks bright for the Three Lions.

The likes of Marcus Rashford, Del…

According to Tuttosport, Simone Zaza has moved a step closer to finalising a deal to Torino, with talks between the Italian club and Valencia reportedly going well. The 27-year-old has bounced around a series of different clubs around Europe already throughout his short career, with arguably his most notable moment coming at Euro 2016 when he missed a crucial penalty for Italy against Germany.

Alas, it now seems like a move back to his homeland is imminent, despite some initial suggestions that he d remain in Spain after a somewhat successful tenure with Valencia.

Torino are attempting to bolster their squad following a 9th place finish in Serie A last season, whereas Valencia had a very successful year by finishing 4th in La Liga. Zaza will likely view this move as a c…