England

The top two teams in UEFA World Cup Qualifying Group I will face off on Wednesday as Poland travels to Wembley to play Gareth Southgate's England. 

England opened up qualifying with an expectedly lopsided 5-0 victory over San Marino last week in which Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin bagged a brace. Southgate's side next took on Albania and came out victorious thanks to goals from captain Harry Kane and Mason Mount. Southgate has announced that Mount, who missed training ahead of the Poland game, should be fine to take part. 

MANCHESTER - Next week's World Cup qualifying games in Europe and beyond are set to be heavily affected by clubs refusing to release players for international duty, COVID-19 quarantines and travel restrictions.

Inter Milan announced on Thursday that all of their players will be pulled out of international duty after two more positive COVID-19 cases at the club.

LONDON - England manager Gareth Southgate has dropped Liverpool full back Trent Alexander-Arnold from his squad while recalling on-loan West Ham midfielder Jesse Lingard for this month's World Cup qualifying matches against San Marino, Albania and Poland.

Alexander-Arnold has been a regular in the England squad since breaking into the side ahead of the 2018 World Cup but Southgate said his form had cost him his spot.

Harry Kane scored two and assisted two, Gareth Bale got a brace of his own and Son Heung-min provided one assist as Tottenham’s in-form front three fueled a 4-1 hammering of Crystal Palace on Sunday. 

It was a complete performance from Spurs, who opened the scoring in the 25th minute after Lucas Moura poked it off Luka Milivojević and into the path of Kane. The English striker advanced towards goal before squaring to Bale for the tap-in. 

Up until the 88th minute, it looked as though Luis Suárez’s elegant opening goal in the 15th minute would decide Sunday’s massive Madrid derby. Atlético had established its LaLiga title credentials by playing some mesmerizing football in the first half, but Real Madrid made Diego Simeone’s side revert to its defensive-minded approach in the second before Karim Benzema captured a dramatic equalizer at the Wanda Metropolitano with minutes remaining.

LONDON - The Premier League title race is all over bar the shouting but Manchester United at least have the opportunity to halt Manchester City's assault on the European record books when the sides meet in Sunday's derby at the Etihad Stadium.

City's win over Wolverhampton Wanderers this week was their 21st in a row in all competitions and 15th in succession in the league and left them 14 points clear of second-placed United who could only draw 0-0 with Crystal Palace.

Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones dedicated his goal in Sunday's Premier League win at Sheffield United to goalkeeper Alisson Becker whose father passed away last week.

José Becker, 57, drowned in a lake near his holiday home in southern Brazil last Wednesday, local police said.

He had been swimming at a dam on his property when the accident happened, Doroteo Machado Filho, a police inspector in the town of Lavras do Sul, told Reuters. No foul play was suspected.