Arsene Wenger

Spanish and European champions Barcelona have made no secret of their desire to return homegrown talent Fabregas to Camp Nou, perhaps acutely aware that midfield superstar Xavi is now the wrong side of 30, and Arsenal’s Premier League title rivals have been busy forming a queue to sign Nasri.

The Frenchman used his first press conference ahead of the new season to dismiss suggestions he and Nasri were certain to leave in what promises to be a fascinating close-season at the Emirates (7/1 Arsenal – Premier League outright).

“Our position is always the same – we want to keep Cesc and I will fight as hard as I can to keep him. Samir Nasri is exactly the same. We will do everything we can to keep him,” said Wenger. “I’m confident we can get both of them to stay.”

The situation is clear with Nasri in so much as he has just 12 months left on his contract and conjecture about any player’s future at such a juncture is inevitable.

It was telling and curious that Wenger intimated only Nasri knows whether he will put pen to paper.

Asked about his countryman, Wenger added: “Will he be at the club next season? I say yes. The second part (of the question) – will he sign a new contract? I hope yes, but I am not the only one to decide.”

A disparity in the clubs’ respective valuations of 24-year-old Fabregas has stopped  his move back to his place of birth and so the wait goes on, but it is fair to suggest something has to give if the World Cup winner has decided home is really where his heart is.

Wenger has also confirmed the signing of the Ivory Coast forward Gervinho from Lille and revealed Nicklas Bendtner and Manuel Almunia have not travelled to the Far East because they are in talks with other clubs about leaving Arsenal.

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Bari

The Brazilian scored his first goal of the season in Bari’s 2-2 draw at Napoli last week, which they followed up with a 0-0 draw against Cagliari at the weekend.

The minnows remain unbeaten in Serie A after opening up the campaign with a 1-0 home defeat of mighty Juventus.

“I have already scored in Milan with Udinese,” said Barreto. “That was against the Rossoneri. This time it could be the occasion to do it against Inter too,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“When you play in a stadium like San Siro there is no need for motivation.

“It’s stimulating to show yourself in Italy’s most important stadium. If we play like we can then Inter will be in trouble. Playing Bari is not easy for anyone.”

Giampiero Ventura’s outfit must overcome an Inter side who finally appear to be settling down under Spanish tactician Rafael Benitez.

Inter won at Palermo – where the Sicilians hadn’t lost for 18 months – at the weekend and played their best football of the season, showing the old team spirit fostered by ex-bpss Jose Mourinho to come from behind.

The 2-1 win should get the media off Benitez’s back after lacklustre showings against Bologna, Udinese and Twente.

Cameroon hitman Samuel Eto’o struck twice in eight minutes in Sicily, his fifth and six goals of the campaign already, and he is now overshadowing last season’s hero Diego Milito for Inter.

Benitez’s only absentee is Thiago Motta, who is expected to return from injury in two weeks.

Bari’s injury victims include Salvatore Masiello, Jaime Romero and Alessandro Gazzi.

Bari stunned Inter not once but twice last term, holding the treble winners to a 1-1 draw (13/2 in Correct Scores) at San Siro on the opening day and a 2-2 (20/1) draw at the Stadio San Nicola in January, a match they had led 2-0.

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Roy Hodgson’s side survived a scare in Turkey on Thursday night against Trabzonspor, going a goal down early on before an own goal and a late Dirk Kuyt strike saved them from going to extra time.

The Reds have now come through two qualifying rounds to reach the group stages of the Europa League and have been rewarded by being placed in Group K alongside Napoli, Steaua Bucharest and Utrecht.

The biggest test Liverpool are likely to face will come from Italian side Napoli, who finished sixth in Serie A season and have a good squad of players to call upon.

Amongst manager Walter Mazzarri’s squad is the highly-rated Marek Hamsik, who has been linked with a move to Manchester United in the past.

The Slovakian is joined by Italian international Fabio Quagliarella and Argentina prospect Ezequiel Lavezzi, who has also been linked with a move to a number of British clubs.

A trip to Romania to face former European champions Steaua will not be easy either, although Liverpool will be the hot favourites to win the home leg.

Rounding off Group K (13/2 to produce the outright winner) are Dutch side Utrecht, who enjoyed one of the greatest nights in their short history when they overturned a 2-0 defeat to Celtic in the first leg, beating the SPL side 4-0 at home to go through.

Although Liverpool will be the favourites to win the group and reach the knockout stages Gerrard admits it won’t be easy.

The England international, who missed the trip to Turkey through injury, says that while the Europa League is not the club’s priority this season he claims it?s important they do well in the competition.

“It’s a strong group and I’m certainly looking forward to the games. The media will make us early favourites I’m sure, because of our experience in the Champions League and last year in the Europa League,” said Gerrard.

“I’m confident we can get out of the group but it will be tough. The draw has given us some difficult challenges.

“I don’t think the Europa League is the priority. Everybody knows that our league position, where we finish at the end of this year, is the priority.

“But it’s another trophy, it’s a big cup. We haven’t won a trophy for four years now so it’s important we put a good show on in all the cup competitions and try to reward the fans with a final.”

Joining Liverpool in the hat for Friday’s draw were Manchester City (11/2 Europa League outright) after they cruised past Romanian team Timisoara.

Their reward was to be placed in a group alongside Italian giants Juventus, who themselves are one of the favourites to win this season’s Europa League.

The draw will see City striker Mario Balotelli return to Turin, where he was the victim of racist abuse two seasons ago, resulting in Juve being forced to play a game behind closed doors.

Joining City and Juve in Group A are Austrian champions Salzburg and Polish qualifiers Lech Poznan.

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Blackpool

The north-west club make their triumphant return to the top flight of English football on Saturday when they travel to the DW Stadium for their season opener, 39 years after their last game in the top tier.

However, it has been a difficult build-up for Blackpool ever since they secured promotion with a 3-2 victory over Cardiff in the Championship play-off in May.

Holloway’s side have been reduced to the bare bones over the summer as they failed to sign many of the loan stars than made them a success last season.

The Seasiders had been desperate to recruit DJ Campbell from Leicester after his loan spell last season but had a number of bids rejected by the Foxes as they held out for more money.

The problems with signing Campbell have been repeated with a number of players and while Holloway has finally been able to bring in five new recruits it looks as though Blackpool could struggle to fill their 25-man squad allocation for the Premier League season.

Blackpool’s failure to sign as many players as Holloway would have liked is believed to have left the former QPR, Plymouth and Leicester manager frustrated and on the verge of quitting the club.

However, Holloway moved to lay those rumours to rest on Wednesday, stating that stories claiming he had quit the Seasiders (2/7 to be relegated) had been greatly over exaggerated.

The 47-year-old has now given Blackpool fans a boost by announcing that he plans to extend his stay at Bloomfield Road after agreeing a new two-year contract.

Holloway is confident he will remain at the club no matter what happens this season but believes his side has what it takes to stay in the Premier League this season.

The Pool boss said: “No-one is bulletproof but I’m confident the chairman won’t sack me next year.

“And I’m confident that if we have gone down, I will be here the following season to actually build a team.

“But I’m confident we can stay in this division.

“If my lads relish the way we are going to play and how we do things, and if the new lads can settle quickly, we can do it.”

Blackpool (16/1 to win the league in the handicap betting) fans might feel a little bit more confident about the upcoming season after Holloway’s announcement, with the recruitment of five players going some way to stabilising the club.

The Seasiders announced the signings of Ludovic Sylvestre, Craig Cathcart, Marlon Harewood, Elliot Grandin and Malaury Martin on Wednesday, with more expected before the transfer window shuts at the end of August.

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Darren Fletcher

The Scotland midfielder is well known for his hard working, spoiling style and his play has even been labelled “anti-football” by some correspondents.

However, he is fully aware of his standing within the side and recognises the qualities that others bring to the Reds.

“We’ve got a fantastic squad,” he says. “Plenty of players with ability who can make a difference.

“We’ve got the experience of Giggs, Scholes, Neville and Van der Sar. We’ve got Rooney, Berbatov, and the rest of the players who know their role in the team, who are willing to work hard for the team and who are willing to sacrifice for the team.”

Sir Alex Ferguson has been reluctant to open his cheque book so far this summer.

United currently appear to be going through a transitional period, with Sir Alex Ferguson preferring to invest in youth rather than big names.

With players such as the Da Silva twins, Jonny Evans, Kiko Macheda and Danny Welbeck already firmly in first team plans at Old Trafford, as well as the potential in Tom Cleverly and new signing Chris Smalling, the future looks bright.

Meanwhile, Fletcher is confident that the club’s current stars can step up to the plate and help the youngsters along after the recent exodus of some high profile names.

“People always speak about us losing Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo, but Antonio Valencia has come in, Nani will step up to the plate and others will improve.”

United’s lack of strength in depth has been criticised in recent years and at one point last season Fletcher was forced to play as a central defender alongside fellow midfielder Michael Carrick.

The lack of big names also appears to mean that there will once again be a lot of pressure on striker Wayne Rooney to perform but Fletcher believes United still have the players to back-up the England man and be successful in the Premier League (United 1/5 to beat Newcastle on the opening day).

“I’d have liked to have seen Chelsea cope with Lampard and Ballack at the back,” he says, smiling.

“We’ve still got star quality and we’d have won the league last year if it wasn’t for that injury crisis. But it’s not necessarily about your star players. You need different components to make a team.”

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Diego Milito

New Inter boss Rafael Benitez wants Mascherano to follow him from Anfield and the midfielder has yet to speak to new Liverpool chief Roy Hodgson about his future, despite the Reds boss’ attempts to contact him.

That has given Inter, who are the evens favourites with totesport to retain their Serie A title, confidence they will secure the Argentina international and Milito, for one, is sure the 26-year-old will eventually make the move to the San Siro.

“We are very excited about Mascherano joining us at Inter,” he said.

“He has made it clear he wants to be here and it’s just down to the relevant people agreeing the deal now.

“In my view we are getting the very best defensive midfield player in the world and Maradona calls him one of the three most important players in the Argentina squad along with Lionel Messi and (Carlos) Tevez. That’s how highly he is regarded.”

Milito added: “I think it’s unrealistic of Liverpool to think they can keep hold of Mascherano when they can’t even offer Champions League football and are not challenging Manchester United and Chelsea for the Premier League title.

“The boss and Mascherano have a good friendship so there were no other clubs on the cards for him after that, including Barcelona. He has wanted to join for a while but when the boss joined Inter I think that sealed the deal.”

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The Spaniards take on Holland in the showpiece final on Sunday evening in Johannesburg hoping to shake off the tag as the great under-achievers in world football and back-up their success at Euro 2008.

Spain came into the tournament as favourites but doubts were cast over their title credentials when they suffered a 1-0 reverse to Switzerland in their opening group fixture.

However, they bounced back to beat Honduras and Chile and top Group H to progress to the last 16 in South Africa.

Three 1-0 victories over Portugal, Paraguay and Germany followed to set up Sunday’s showdown with the Dutch as the Spanish put in solid, if unspectacular performances.

They do possess a plethora of talented attacking players but have had to rely on a resolute defence to see them through to the final as goals have been at a premium, and Xavi hopes that things will change against the Netherlands on Sunday.

“It is clear we have not scored many goals,” he said. “But we are feeling very comfortable with the way we are playing, and we are creating plenty of opportunities. Usually when you do that, you tend to get goals.

“But we are not converting the chances to our normal percentage. Let’s see if we can lift that because it will be particularly important.”

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has a lot to think about ahead of the match, with a striking dilemma to solve.

Liverpool forward Fernando Torres, who scored the winning goal for Spain at Euro 2008, has not really ignited at the World Cup and was dropped for the semi-final win over Germany in favour of Pedro.

But his experience may see the former Atletico Madrid man back in the fray for the final with Pedro dropping back to the bench.

Whatever side the Spanish tactician decides to put out, Xavi believes that the 2010 squad will be worthy winners of the World Cup if they can edge what looks set to be a very tight affair.

“Football around the world is very even at the moment, very balanced. It’s the minor details that can be decisive,” he added. “If there is a change in the world order I hope it’s in favour of Spain. It’s time for Spain to take its place at the top and I think this generation of players fully deserves that.”

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The Swiss captain said his team, who need to win by two clear goals to make it through to the last 16, were focusing on that target.

A draw might even be enough for the Swiss, depending on the result of the game between Chile and Spain, and Frei – the country’s record goalscorer – said he was 100 per cent fit and looking forward to the final Group H match.

He said: “We practice very hard. We score goals in our training units as well. We scored two goals against Greece both in the home match and in the away match [in qualifying] so I think we have got a very good argument for scoring two goals.”

“Over the past qualification round we conceded very few goals,” he added, acknowledging the strength of the team’s defence but saying: “We can also score lots of goals. We just have to make sure we do score and we feel comfortable about that.

“All the players are hot. They want to get the second victory. They want to give a sensational performance tomorrow in order to reach the round of 16 with glory,” added Frei, who has netted 40 international goals.

Frei said it would be foolish to underestimate Spain regardless of their defeat to the Swiss.

“It would be disastrous not to look at Spain as a favourite. Just take a look at the players they have. Take a look at the football they play. I’m sure they are going to put their foot down.”

Defender Steve Von Bergen believes Switzerland can bounce back following the 1-0 defeat by Chile in Group H.

Von Bergen said: “We are angry at the moment but we are still in with a great chance, provided we beat Honduras.

“We were completely thrown by the red card against Chile. We let ourselves be pressed too far back at the start, although we went out there intending to attack. It is hard work with 10 men.”

Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said he intends to monitor the clash between leaders Chile and European champions Spain.

Hitzfeld said: “I will be well informed about what is happening in Pretoria. It could be that I will modify my tactics depending on the score. I feel that anything can happen in that game.”

Honduras have lost both matches and Hitzfeld said: “They have moments of confusion in defence and we have to take advantage of that.”

Switzerland opened with a victory against Spain only to lose to Chile after Valon Behrami’s red card.

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Australia star Harry Kewell has been backed to return to full fitness before the World Cup starts (Australia 150/1 to win the World Cup).

Coach Pim Verbeek said he was happy with the way the Galatasaray forward is recovering, even though he did not train with the Socceroos squad in Monday morning’s session.

The tournament starts on June 11 in South Africa and Australia plays its first Group D game against former champion Germany two days later.

“Harry’s OK, he will go through another tough training session tomorrow… the expectation is that he will start training on Thursday with us,” Verbeek told reporters at the Socceroos’ Johannesburg training camp.

“It is good that we have 10 days and he is perfectly on track, that is exactly what we had planned.”

Kewell, one of the 20th-ranked Socceroos’ most high profile players, could play in the final friendly against the United States on Saturday.

Former national captain Paul Wade said Verbeek should start Kewell against Germany and not use him as a super sub amid speculation that he may only get a substitutes’ role against the three-time champions in Durban (Australia 11/2 to beat Germany).

“He won’t be 100 percent, we know that, so let’s use him early in a short burst,” Wade told the Daily Telegraph.

“Let him do something special and then bring on players who might be fitter and can work hard to hold a lead or even the chance of a draw.

“I can understand why they’re not risking him in the warm-up games, but at some point you’ve got to test it, and if he’s anywhere close he has to start.”

Captain Lucas Neill, meanwhile, joined the growing list of players criticising the official World Cup ball.

“On the ground, in the air it makes control difficult and it means you have to watch the ball right onto your foot,” he said.

“Any slight pass that is 10, 20 centimetres off target usually stays 10 or 20 centimetres off target and it’s hard to reach.”

The Adidas ball, known as ‘Jabulani’ which means to celebrate in Zulu, is particularly tricky for goalkeepers.

The game will be played at 1,600 metres altitude and Neill said that would make the ball even more difficult to control compared with playing at sea level.

“It’s going to be a good test for everybody and with altitude obviously that makes it that little bit harder,” he said.

“I feel sorry for the ‘keepers most of all because the ball is going to move a hell of a lot in the air.”

Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas on Sunday described it as a “beachball” due to its light weight and unpredictable movement. Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon slammed the ball as “shameful”.

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Lippi acknowledges that his current squad is not the most talented bunch of players he has ever worked with.

But he talked up Italy’s previous glories against the odds, including their wins in 1982 and four years ago in Germany.

“We’re going there with great confidence, with a status [as champions] to consolidate while also knowing the strengths of our opponents,” said Lippi.

“Many times the national team has started off not being favorites but have achieved exceptional results. We’ll give our all.”

The former Juventus boss has been stressing the importance of togetherness.

“I’ve never been as motivated as I am now. I can’t wait to begin my second World Cup,” he said.

“I think that if we want to close the gap to those teams that are better than us, the only way to do so is to be united.

“Our strength will once again be the group. That’s been my secret since I first started coaching in Serie C.

“And the proof in the pudding is that [Lionel] Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo only scraped through with Argentina and Portugal.”

Italy (11/1  - World Cup 2010 Alternative Outright (4 Places)) reached the World Cup with a game to spare in their qualifying campaign, but they travel to South Africa with many sceptics worrying about their chances – many of them at home.

Defender Giorgio Chiellini , however, has been quick to defend the squad.
“We are working really well. Perhaps other teams have something more in defence, but it’s not about individuals, but about team work,” Chiellini told the press at Italy’s Sestriere training camp.

“The defence works well only if the rest of the team works well too. I don’t think games depend on the two, three or four defenders that play.

“I am convinced that Italy will do well at the World Cup. Even with a normal effort we can achieve satisfaction in South Africa.”

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