The England international has seen more minutes under Maurizio Sarri of late and a Blues legend is looking for him to remain at Stamford Bridge

Ruben Loftus-Cheek has no need to leave Chelsea, says Dennis Wise, with a loan switch no longer making sense for a man who has played his way into favour under Maurizio Sarri.

Early in the season, as the 22-year-old struggled for game time, it was expected that a move would be made in January.

Various landing spots were mooted for the England international, with a second stint at Crystal Palace considered to be one possibility.

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Wise has, however, questioned why Loftus-Cheek would want such a switch, with a run of form since late October having delivered outings in the Premier League, Europa League and six goals.

Quizzed by the Evening Standard on whether the highly-rated midfielder should look for a loan, a Blues legend said: “No, I don’t think he should. 

“He [Sarri] has played him a number of times. He’s got competition for places but why would Loftus-Cheek want to go on loan? 

“I’ll pick Crystal Palace just because he went there on loan. Why would you want to go there on loan, to a team where you’ll play a lot of games but you’ll be in a battle down the bottom when you can play in a team full of top international players, fighting to win trophies and trying to get in the Champions League? 

“I think he’s improved so much. This is a process for him and I think it’s important he stays at Chelsea and he fights.

“He’s very close to being one of the players who could take one of those shirts and stay in there and he has to carry that on until the end of the season. 

“He’s got the opportunity to do it now that he’s thought of in a different way than when he went out on loan.

“Maurizio said it: he won’t go out on loan. He’s stepped up to another level. He will be the one fighting for that offensive spot.”

Loftus-Cheek has made 11 appearances for Chelsea this season, but only one of those has come as a starter in Premier League competition.

He may get another opportunity to impress on Thursday when Sarri’s side wrap up their Europa League Group L campaign with a trip to Hungary to take on Vidi.

The sixth-placed side in the Bundesliga have secured the loan signing of the midfielder as he joins from the league leaders

Sebastian Rode has joined Eintracht Frankfurt on loan from fellow Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund.

Rode has struggled to make an impact since joining Dortmund from Bayern Munich in 2016.

The midfielder last appeared in the Bundesliga in May 2017 and will spend the rest of the campaign on loan with Eintracht, where he played between 2010 and 2014.

“We thank Sebastian Rode for his commitment to this day and wish him much health and match practice for his time at Eintracht,” said BVB sporting director Michael Zorc.

Rode has been out of action with a groin injury, but the 28-year-old declared he is ready to make an impact on his Eintracht return.

“I am very happy to be able to attack fully again,” he told Eintracht’s website. “I have the time in harmony and above all the team is in very good shape and they have a lot to plan for the next six months and of course I want to do my part.”

Dortmund are six points clear at the top of the Bundesliga going into the mid-season break, with Eintracht in sixth spot, and sporting director Fredi Bobic feels Rode’s arrival will be a boost.

“We are confident that the quality of the squad will be further enhanced with Sebastian, an absolute team player, who has gained a lot of experience at Bayern and Dortmund in the past four years and will now benefit us,” said Bobic.

“Sebastian is a very good fit in our team and we’ve been looking at him over the past few weeks and months to find he has completely overcome his injury, and we believe this solution is a win for all parties.

“Sebastian Rode has shown his potential in the past, if he stays injury free, he will be able to help us, he wanted to join us and did his bit to make it happen.”

Eintracht will return to Bundesliga play when the league resumes in mid-January with a home date against Freiburg. 

The Blues are faltering in the winter period and now face a tricky away trip to a local rival in their Boxing Day fixture

Chelsea have been inconsistent since the final international break of the season at the end of November and they could do with a win against Watford on Wednesday. 

A run of three wins in a row was brought to a halt by Leicester City, who shocked Stamford Bridge, pulling off a 1-0 win on Saturday afternoon as Chelsea wasted a host of chances.

This comes as the battle for the top four places sees little margin for error, with Tottenham on a run of exceptional form and Arsenal sitting just behind fourth placed Chelsea on goal difference.

Alvaro Morata is back in contention but he didn’t make the bench for Leicester’s recent visit to west London. Gary Cahill also returned and Victor Moses is back in training but both players remain on the fringes at Stamford Bridge.

Andreas Christensen is the only major doubt having suffered a hamstring injury last week in Chelsea’s Carabao Cup win over Bournemouth.

Neither Chelsea nor Watford have any players suspended for the match.

Eden Hazard has operated as a false 9 for Chelsea in three matches so far for Sarri and the Belgian’s central influence has seen his side win two of those games.

Sarri also seems to have settled on a preferred XI, with Kepa Arrizabalaga, Antonio Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta, Marcos Alonso and N’Golo Kante having started all of the Blues’ Premier League games.

The battle for places comes down to Willian and Pedro in attacking berths, while in midfield Mateo Kovacic, Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are aiming to prove that they are the best option. The Watford game is sandwiched between the recent defeat to Leicester and an upcoming away trip to Crystal Palace, so rotation is to be expected.

Andre Gray is expected to remain out, having missed the past two weeks with a knee injury. Will Hughes has a hip problem to contend with and is unlikely to make the home match against the FA Cup winners. 

Sebastian Prodl is also working on coming back from a knee injury.

The match at Vicarage Road kicks off at 7:30pm GMT (2:30pm ET) on Wednesday and it will be shown on Sky Sports in the UK.

The former Stoke City and U.S. national team winger is set to join the reigning MLS Cup champions, sources confirmed to Goal

Defending MLS Cup champion Atlanta United is set to sign former U.S. national team midfielder Brek Shea, multiple sources confirmed to Goal on Thursday.

Shea, 28, will join Atlanta United as a free agent after the Vancouver Whitecaps failed to pick up the option year on his contract. Shea spent two seasons with the Whitecaps after joining from Orlando City. He played in 28 matches in 2018, recording three goals and two assists.

The former Stoke City midfielder gives Atlanta United a versatile left-footed option, and can play anywhere from left back to left wing, and even as a left forward. The 6-foot-3 American has made 34 appearances for the U.S. national team, and is a former USMNT teammate of Atlanta United general manager Carlos Bocanegra.

It has been a busy offseason for Atlanta United, having bid farewell to head coach Tata Martino, and having earlier this week hired Dutch coach Frank DeBoer as Martino’s replacement. Atlanta United is also set to sign Argentinian midfielder Gonzalo ‘Pity’ Martinez from newly-crowned Copa Libertadores champions River Plate. Martinez’s arrival is expected to help replace star playmaker Miguel Almiron, who is reportedly being pursued by multiple European clubs.

Shea’s arrival should help give the team some depth on the left side, and could help offset the departure of U.S. national team left back Greg Garza, who operated both as a left back and left wing back for the Five Stripes. Shea has experience in both roles, and can also give the team an attacking option higher up the field.

Garza has been the lone high-profile departure so far from Atlanta United, which succeeded in re-signing captain Michael Parkhurst to a new deal and avoided losing any players in the MLS expansion draft.

Shea will be looking to rejuvenate a career that has faltered since a disappointing three-year stint in England after a $4 million transfer to Stoke City from FC Dallas in 2012. He eventually returned to MLS with Orlando City in 2015, but he never did reach the levels expected of him when he was an MLS MVP finalist in 2011 as a 21-year-old.

Atlanta United will be hoping Shea can show more of the flashes he showed towards the end of his time with the Whitecaps. He managed seven goals and four assists over two seasons playing in a variety of different roles, but scored three goals in his final seven matches of 2018 with Vancouver.

Atlanta United’s offseason is set to be a short one, with the MLS champions set to compete in the Concacaf Champions League. The Five Stripes will face Costa Rican champions Herediano in the Champions League Round of 16, with the first leg of their two-leg series set for February 21.

The Paris Saint-Germain boss admits it is tough to find the requisite quality to strengthen his squad in the winter window

Thomas Tuchel has outlined the difficulty Paris Saint-Germain will have to improve their squad in January, admitting he would like another Marco Verratti and another Marquinhos.

PSG are still challenging on four fronts heading into 2019, clear at the top of Ligue 1 and set to face misfiring Manchester United in the last 16 of the Champions League.

There is still a desire to strengthen the side in the upcoming transfer window, but head coach Tuchel acknowledges that it is difficult to find players of the quality he desires.

Discussing potential transfer targets, Tuchel told a news conference: “It’s simple – I would like to have a second Verratti and a second Marquinhos and I would be very happy.

“They have top quality, top personality, they are top players. Top, top, top! They are hard to find.

“I am the coach – it is very difficult for me to be satisfied with our level. In my opinion, one must always improve: my translator, you [the media], me… I’m demanding.”

One position in which PSG are well stocked is with the goalkeepers, as Alphonse Areola and veteran star Gianluigi Buffon continue to vie for the starting berth.

Areola has regularly been linked with moves away from Paris in recent years, yet he signed a new contract this week and Tuchel is pleased with the attitude of the academy graduate.

“In every meeting, Areola has said to me, ‘This is my club, it’s my club, I want to stay here’,” Tuchel said. “It’s really important to have boys like that.

“This is a good signal. I’m very happy that he’s with us for a few years.”

Tuchel did confirm that Areola is a doubt to face Nantes on Saturday, however, with Angel di Maria also potentially missing out.

However, with PSG still unbeaten in Ligue 1 and 10 points clear of second-placed Lille with two games in hand to boot, they are unlikely to feel too concerned by the absence of two players.

The Belgian played under the new manager for the first time on Sunday, and the Norwegian has no plans to use him in a static role

Manchester United caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hinted Romelu Lukaku will not play in a “target man” role as long as he is in charge.

Lukaku endured a difficult first half of the season, struggling for form and fitness after claiming he had been negatively impacted by building up too much muscle during the World Cup.

The 25-year-old striker was granted compassionate leave over Christmas and, as such, is further behind than the majority of his team-mates with respect to match sharpness.

But, in Sunday’s 4-1 hammering of Bournemouth, Lukaku came on as a second-half substitute for the impressive Marcus Rashford and scored United’s final goal, beating Asmir Begovic after latching on to Paul Pogba’s pass.

It was the first time Lukaku had featured since former boss Jose Mourinho – with whom the Belgian was said to have a close bond – was replaced by Solskjaer, and the new man at the helm is excited by the prospect of the former Everton man being fully fit.

“At times he’s a good target man, but if you tell him to be a target man he’ll never face the goal,” Solskjaer told reporters. “Today [Sunday] he was side-on and he’s got the attributes of a top, top striker.

“We need to work on his fitness, but I’m delighted. Even though he was half a yard offside [for his goal], it was a good finish.”

Bournemouth lost their goalscorer and defender Nathan Ake to injury late in the game, but manager Eddie Howe was unsure about the severity of the suspected hamstring issue.

“I don’t know the latest on Nathan Ake,” Howe said. “I’ll need to speak to him and the medical team, but it looked like a hamstring complaint.”

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Mauricio Pochettino’s men secured their place in the fourth round of the cup with a 7-0 win against the League Two side

Tottenham have set a new club-record by beating Tranmere Rovers 7-0 in their FA Cup third-round tie.

The victory is Spurs’ biggest win away from home in the club’s 136-year history.

The seven-goal mauling was also Tottenham’s largest margin of victory since they beat Wigan Athletic 9-1 in 2009, and the club’s biggest FA Cup win since they overcame Crewe 13-2 in a fourth-round replay 59 years ago.

Surprisingly, Spurs took 40 minutes to break the deadlock at Prenton Park, which came through through Serge Aurier, who also bagged his second 10 minutes after the interval. It was the former PSG man’s first ever career brace.

Aurier’s double also means he scored more goals on Friday than he had during his previous 35 appearances combined.

Fernando Llorente also was on the scoresheet for Tottenham, and the Spanish striker netted a hat-trick for Pochettino’s side.

Llorente has now scored three in each of his last two starts in the FA Cup. The 33-year-old recorded a hat-trick when Spurs beat Rochdale 6-1 last February.

Son Heung-min was the third player to get on the scoresheet for Tottenham before he was replaced on 65 minutes. Harry Kane added a seventh and final goal in the 82nd minute – his ninth in the last eight FA Cup matches.

The win means the north London club are the first side to qualify for the fourth round of the cup and will hope their Premier League rivals slip up during the remainder of the weekend’s fixtures.

Kane and Son were among a number of first-team players selected for Tottenham, as well as Ben Davies, Dele Alli and Lucas Moura, who played all 90 minutes.

Tottenham have not won a major trophy since claiming the League Cup in 2008, and is often levelled as an argument against Pochettino’s success at Spurs.

Next up for Tottenham is the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Chelsea which will take place on Tuesday at Wembley Stadium.

That is followed by a weekend Premier League clash with Manchester United, also in London. A win could help reduce the deficit to leaders Liverpool who, following the results from the Premier League’s midweek matches, Spurs trail by six points.

Western Sydney Wanderers failed to capitalise on a Melbourne City red card and instead slumped to another A-League defeat on New Year’s Day.

Melbourne City began 2019 by moving back into the A-League’s top four as the outstanding Eugene Galekovic kept Western Sydney Wanderers at bay in a 2-0 away triumph.

City’s speed on the counter initially proved the undoing of the sloppy Wanderers, who have now won just once in seven matches, as Lachlan Wales and Ritchie de Laet found the target in quick succession, before goalkeeper Galekovic came to the fore.

Rostyn Griffiths was foolishly sent off for City, but Galekovic made a string of stunning saves, most notably keeping out Oriol Riera’s late penalty to preserve his clean sheet.

The out-of-sorts Wanderers slumped to a third consecutive defeat at ANZ Stadium and were jeered on the full-time whistle in a frustrating start to the new year.

There was little incident of note in a scrappy opening 35 minutes before some lax defending allowed Wales through to break the deadlock, the City forward sprinting clear from Dario Vidosic’s long throw-in on halfway and finishing coolly.

And the visitors swiftly struck again. Riley McGree spun into space on the right and then laid on a pass for De Laet to drill across Vedran Janjetovic and into the bottom-left corner.

An excellent Galekovic save then denied the Wanderers’ Bruce Kamau, but the hosts were boosted following the restart as Griffiths, already booked, lunged into a challenge on Alex Baumjohann and saw red.

The league’s best defence stood firm, though, and Galekovic followed up instinctive stops from Baumjohann and Abraham Majok by springing to his right to keep out Riera after Nathaniel Atkinson had handled.

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The Switzerland international believes the depth of talent at Jurgen Klopp’s disposal makes recent league and cup defeats nothing to worry about

Xherdan Shaqiri remains unfazed by Liverpool’s recent Premier League and FA Cup defeats, with a positive response expected by Jurgen Klopp’s strongest side.

Having enjoyed an unbeaten start to their English top-flight campaign and set their sights on major silverware this term, the Reds have endured a wobble of late.

A 2-1 reversal at Manchester City means they are now just four points clear of the chasing pack in the title race, while the same scoreline away at Wolves on Monday saw another trophy bid ended.

Shaqiri was among those to figure in a much-changed and very young side at Molineux, but the Switzerland international is refusing to read too much into back-to-back losses.

He told Liverpool’s official website, having seen a second-half free-kick strike the post as the Reds came unstuck against Wolves: “Of course, we are disappointed after this game because we lost, first of all, but I think we didn’t deserve this result because we tried to play football.

“We tried to come back. We tried everything until the end and you cannot say the attitude wasn’t there until the last minute. We tried everything.

“Sometimes you need luck also and the free-kick was very unlucky. I saw the ball inside already, but it never went in.

“We obviously had a lot of young players and a lot of players in who didn’t play for a long time. We wanted to win this game to go to the next round, but the FA Cup is like this: you lose the game and you are out.

“So, we close this game now and are looking forward to the weekend and the Premier League.”

Quizzed on whether Klopp’s team will need to “dig deep” in their next outing against Brighton on Saturday, Shaqiri added: “I think we have enough players who can jump in.

“This season we have the depth. There are a lot of players who are going to come in and give everything and the quality is still there.”

The depth of Liverpool’s squad was highlighted in a narrow defeat to Wolves, with teenage trio Rafa Camacho, Curtis Jones and Ki-Jana Hoever all seeing competitive minutes.

The latter was introduced early on in an FA Cup third round tie when Dejan Lovren suffered an untimely injury, and the 16-year-old impressed with a confident and mature display.

Shaqiri said of the promising Dutch defender: “He is very nice.

“He is still very young, you see that on the pitch also. He came on and he tried everything. He is going to be a very good player in the future.”

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The former Azzurri striker also stated that he could have been as good as Lionel Messi had he applied himself better

Former Roma and Italy forward Antonio Cassano says that he believes his nation has a problem with xenophobia, describing it as a ‘racist country’.

The ex-Real Madrid and Milan man, who retired from the game in 2017, spoke to Sky Italia in a wide-ranging conversation that conveyed his thoughts on a number of issues.

Aside from discussing the future of Gonzalo Higuain, who seems bound for the Milan exit, and the value of several other Serie A players, the 36-year-old was drawn on the subject of intolerance in the game.

There have been several issues throughout the Italian game so far this season, most notably the abuse targeted at Napoli defender and Senegal international Kalidou Koulibaly.

Such an instance comes on the back of other issues involving players like Mario Balotelli and Kevin-Prince Boateng in recent years.

Cassano roundly condemned such incidents and staunchly refused to mark them out as individual instances, stating that he felt them to be part of a larger pattern.

“It is something that I still cannot understand,” the striker said. “We are all equal; white, black, yellow.

“Unfortunately, sometimes black players are targeted. Now it’s Koulibaly, and in the past there was Balotelli and Boateng. I don’t understand why.

“They say that in Italy there is no racism – I say there is. I have the impression that Italy is a racist country.”

Though Cassano was not asked further on the wider issues of racism in the sport, numerous other high-profile incidents have beset the European game this season.

Raheem Sterling was verbally abused at his side Manchester City’s clash with Chelsea, while Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a banana skin thrown at him during a derby clash with Tottenham.

Cassano officially confirmed his retirement last year after exploring a potential return to the game with Serie C side Virtus Entella.

Despite a career filled with accomplishments, Cassano admits he could have reached even greater heights had he applied himself more. 

“I only did 50 percent of what I was capable of doing,” Cassano said. “I was a disaster area sometimes and I hated training.

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“If I had done what I should have done over the course of 15 years, I would have been like (Lionel) Messi.”