Chelsea fans had mixed feelings when they saw young defender Andreas Christensen had been dropped for their game against West Ham, after the player had made a few mistakes over the last couple of months, and looked fairly tired. He had come into the starting line-up and been so impressive he was one of the first names on many people’s team sheets – not to mention in their Fantasy Football side, but after his recent form, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte clearly felt he had no choice but to leave the player out and allow him to have a rest. Some fans were supportive – either because they felt the player himself was simply not doing enough to warrant his position in the side, or just because they felt he was a top player, but one who needed a rest after playing so many games of late – and others were not happy. Many fans enjoy seeing one of the Chelsea young stars in the side, and will tolerate the mistakes that come from learning the game – and even those who weren’t bothe

Spitting Ander Herrera is a Manchester United fan favourite, and during the Manchester derby, where of course Manchester United performed an amazing comeback and saw off Manchester City in the second half three goals to two, the player seemed to spit on the Manchester City crest as he was walking down the tunnel. Herrera spits on the ground, and while he may not have clocked the massive City badge on the floor, it was certainly quite to coincidence that his spit managed to hit the crest – and of course United fans loved it. Ander Herrera seems to spit while walking down the tunnel at the Etihad during the Manchester derby and it hits the Man City badge. Statement By winning the game and coming back from three goals down, United certainly made a huge statement and while City might secure the title and finish a long way ahead of United, Mourinho’s men have a small bit of pride back and showed that City can be beaten – and that they can go out and attack sides.

Arsenal  manager  Arsene Wenger  has once more suggested that he could be tempted to deploy record signing  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang  on the flanks as he looks to fit the Gabon striker and  Alexandre Lacazette  into one team. Aubameyang has hit the ground running since joining Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in January for £56million, scoring five goals in his first six Premier League games. However the return of Lacazette, the one-time record buy who joined from Lyon in the summer, from knee surgery has left Wenger facing something of a selection headache that is only slightly eased by Aubameyang’s ineligibility for the Europa League. In the first top flight game the pair have played together, a 3-0 win over Stoke, Aubameyang was shifted out to the left flank when Lacazette came on as a 61st minute substitute. The move paid dividends as the Gabon striker caused chaos cutting infield and it is an approach that Wenger hinted he could repeat again. READ MORE Lacazette cou

Arsene Wenger  is hopeful of  Henrikh Mkhitaryan  featuring for  Arsenal  again this season despite the midfielder suffering ligament damage in Thursday's 4-1 win over CSKA Moscow. Initial fears had Mkhitaryan out for the remainder of the term after limping out of the Europa League quarter-final first leg on the hour mark, with scans revealing ligament damage to his knee. However Wenger, who had expressed concern that the Armenian could be sidelined for “several weeks”, now expects Mkhitaryan to only miss Arsenal’s next three games. “Mkhitaryan has medial knee ligament damage,” Wenger told Standard Sport. “He will not be available for Thursday, Newcastle away, or West Ham the week after. He will miss these games but could still play at the end of the season.” Wenger is not short of choice when it comes to options to replace Mkhitaryan for Thursday’s second leg in Moscow. Both Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck excelled in a 3-2 win over Southampton, the former providi

Atletico Madrid  all but ended  Real Madrid 's slim  La Liga  title hopes as  Antoine Griezmann  cancelled out  Cristiano Ronaldo 's opener to earn a 1-1  Madrid derby  draw at the Bernabeu. Hosts Real were left frustrated as they passed up chances in the first half, with Ronaldo drawing saves from Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak and Marcelo hitting both the post and bar with the same effort. Ronaldo - who has been on red-hot form in front of goal in 2018 - finally made the breakthrough for Real after 53 minutes, volleying home a Gareth Bale cross as Atletico failed to clear their lines. The goal meant Ronaldo has scored in each of his last 10 games, with the Portuguese star netting an incredible 20 in that time - a rate of two per game. ( AFP /Getty Images) However, Real's lead only lasted for three minutes as Griezmann equalised with a low effort after Keylor Navas parried Vitolo's shot. ( AFP /Getty Images) Real coach  Zinedine Zidane  then sprang

Danny Welbeck scored twice as Arsenal recovered from a series of setbacks to claim a 3-2 victory over Southampton and keep Mark Hughes' side deep in relegation trouble. Charlie Austin looked to have earned a hard-fought point when he equalised (73) with only his second touch from the bench, but Welbeck scored his second of the game just eight minutes later and the header proved decisive. The result was tough on a Saints side that had punished a defensive mix-up to take a surprise lead through Shane Long (17), before further first-half goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (28) and Welbeck (38) wrestled the contest back in Arsenal's favour. An action-packed encounter descended into chaos in the closing moments as Jack Stephens and Mohamed Elneny saw red for angry reactions, but while Arsenal, on course for the Europe League semi-finals, can savour a sixth straight win in all competitions, Hughes' imperilled side remain three points from safety P

Tunisia forward Youssef Msakni has been ruled out of the World Cup after agonisingly suffering a cruciate ligament injury while playing his final league game of the season.   In a statement on Sunday, his club, Qatar's Al Duhail, said Msakni would not play until October at the earliest after injuring his knee. "Msakni will be absent for six months, and with this injury he... will be absent from participation with his national team in the World Cup in Russia," read the statement. The World Cup begins on June 14. The 27-year-old, who had been instrumental in helping Tunisia qualify for the finals, announced on his Instagram page that he was "very sad" to miss the tournament. His absence is a major blow to Tunisia's hopes of progressing from a group also including Belgium, England and Panama. Msakni was the team's top scorer with three goals in the team's successful final qualifying round for Russia. Tunisia, known as the "Carthage L

The Blues are having a bad season but it may have wider reaching effects with a huge international tournament on the horizon at the end of the season  Getty Images Alvaro Morata | Spain  Alvaro Morata was left out of Julen Lopetegui's Spain squad for the first time since he joined Chelsea when his bad form hit ahead of the selection for the games against Germany and Argentina in March.  The Chelsea striker was key in the qualification campaign for Spain, but he was described as "frustrated" by his friend Marcos Alonso, who earned his first call-up for those friendlies.  Lopetegui picked Diego Costa, Rodrigo and Iago Aspas ahead of Morata, but offered some encouraging words to the Chelsea man.  "There are many players that deserve to be in the national team but are not here," Lopetegui told Onda Cero radio. "Alvaro has gone through a spell with injuries and that is why we considered it best for him not to be on this list. "I did ca