Trent Alexander-Arnold received praise to go with his recall from Gareth Southgate as the England boss hedged his bets for Euro 2020 by naming a 33-man provisional squad.

The Liverpool right-back could yet face exclusion agony when Southgate trims his list to 26 next week, but for now Alexander-Arnold is back in the England picture.

Once seen as a player who would hold down the right full-back berth for England for years to come, the 22-year-old was dramatically dropped from Southgate s squad in March, with the head coach questioning his recent level of performance at club level.

Atletico Madrid s Kieran Trippier and Manchester City s Kyle Walker – both title winners with their clubs this season – look to be ahead of Alexander-Arnold, who may be battling Ch…

CALM DOWN OLIVIER, IT S JUST A SEMI-FINAL

Olivier Giroud notched his second and third goals of Euro 2016 as France beat Iceland 5-2 to move into the semi-finals but we think someone should keep an eye on the Arsenal striker, who is starting to sound like a child on Christmas Eve ahead of Thursday s clash with Germany.

It is more and more difficult to sleep before and after these matches, a surprisingly sprightly Giroud told a news conference on Monday morning. We are more and more conscious of what we are doing. I want to stay awake to take in these experiences.

Hopefully, Giroud doesn t bring a literal feel to the criticism of forwards falling asleep when defending set-pieces in Marseille later this week.

He also spoke of his mouth being a little les…

Kirk Cousins has agreed a two-year contract extension with the Minnesota Vikings, committing to the team through the 2022 season.

The former Washington Redskins quarterback was entering the final season of the fully guaranteed three-year, $84million deal he signed ahead of the 2018 campaign.

But his agent Mike McCartney confirmed the 31-year-old has added another two seasons to his deal for an additional $66m on Monday, meaning he is under contract for the next three years for $96m.

Minnesota clear $10m of cap space in 2020 with the deal, which will boost their flexibility in free agency as the legal tampering period begins.

Summing up the deal for Kirk Cousins: 2 new years worth $66M. So 3 years in all for $96M. He has $61M guaranteed at signing. An add…

Italy center-back Giorgio Chiellini believes that his side have what it takes to defeat Spain in their Euro 2012 opener on Sunday, 10 June.

The Azzurri s Euro 2012 preparations have been overshadowed by a domestic match-fixing scandal, which forced  Italy boss Cesare Prandelli to omit first-choice left back Domenico Criscito.

To make matters worse for the Italians, defender Andrea Barzagli may be ruled out of Euro 2012, with Cagliari defender Davide Astori on stand-by to replace the Juventus center back.

However, the bad news does not end there for the Azzurri, who suffered an embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Russia in an international friendly on 1 June.

The Italians conceded three goals in the final 30 minutes of the match to Zenit St Pete…

This is our third and final pre-Euro 2008 interview, and we are proud to present to you a very exclusive interview with Valencia Spain super striker David Villa. The Spanish striker will together with Liverpool s Fernando Torres form probably the most lethal attack duo in the upcoming European Championships.

Villa discusses his own expectactions with the Euro 2008, Spain s expectations of finally winning a big tournament, the strong and weak sides of the Spanish team, and their opponents in the group stages (Sweden, Russia and Greece). Enjoy this rare interview!

[flashvideo filename=interviews/villa.flv /]

David Villa (Spain/España) Interview:

Dime tus expectativas de cara a la Euro que se viene?
Tell me your expectations about Euro that is about…

Ten-time winners Real Madrid lead the way in Group A and they are obviously expected to ease off into the knockout stages, but it is not as if this will be a walk in the park for them. The group also contains star-studded Paris Saint-Germain side, which have reached Champions League last 8 three times in a row. Shakhtar Donetsk are another team with quite a few appearances in Europe s elite competition and they, too, will be hoping to make it to the next stage, whereas Malmo FF will have their work cut out for them. Having studied all four teams in Group A, we have made our selection of betting tips and outright picks that should offer the best value, so read on to learn more.

Outright Tips

Market: Group Betting
Tip: Real Madrid to Win Group A
Odds:

Real Madrid have…

No banned substances were detected among the 300 doping controls carried out during Euro 2008, the director of the Vienna/Seibersdorf laboratory Gunter Gmeiner confirmed on Tuesday.

What was special about this Euro was the high level of controls carried out, Gmeiner told a press conference here.

Tests were carried out by both the Vienna/Seibersdorf laboratory and a laboratory in Lausanne, which was also accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Ten players from each of the 16 teams were controlled during the early rounds and then two per team for the final phase of competition from June 7-29.

And for the first time samples of both blood and urine were taken and controls included an automatic test for the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO).

Bukayo Saka rejected comparisons between his form at the 2022 World Cup and Kylian Mbappe s breakout campaign four years ago ahead of England s meeting with France.

Saka scored his third World Cup goal as England overcame a nervous start to beat Senegal 3-0 in Sunday s last-16 tie, setting up a heavyweight quarter-final clash with Les Bleus.

Having started three of England s four games in Qatar from the right, Saka may be expected to help contain Mbappe next time out, which promises to be a difficult task after the Paris Saint-Germain star moved onto five goals for the tournament in his side s 3-1 win over Poland.

Mbappe joined Pele as just the second teenager to score in a World Cup final in 2018, and Saka does not wish to compare his own debut campaign with tha…

The Las Vegas Raiders take a perfect 3-0 record back to their old stomping grounds in California when they battle the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football.

Before the season starter, this didn’t have the feel of a sexy MNF matchup, but here we are: With the Raiders unbeaten and the Bolts coming off a big win against the Chiefs, it has become a can’t-miss game for Week 4.

Oddsmakers don’t expect the Raiders’ winning streak to continue, with NFL betting lines installing the Chargers as 3-point home favorites.  

Here are our best free Raiders vs. Chargers picks and predictions for October 4.

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We are now just about a week away from seeing the first player selected in this year’s NFL Draft walk up onto the floating stage in front of the Bellagio in Las Vegas to greet Roger Goodell.

But we still aren’t sure who that will be.

In fact, this is still one of the more mysterious drafts in recent memory. There are still so many unknowns heading into April 28 as NFL Draft Odds continue to fluctuate.

There is no clear-cut No. 1 pick, and while there are some high-ceiling quarterbacks like Malik Willis and Matt Corral, there is certainly no Andrew Luck or Joe Burrow in this class.

We are now in the home stretch of the draft process, which means NFL Draft betting options are hitting the board in droves, so here is the fourth and final version of m…