Sources: Madrid eye Jan. deals, keen on TAA​​

Mikel Arteta has hit back at anyone questioning Bukayo Saka‘s commitment to England by insisting he would “send an MRI scan” to prove the winger was injured during this month’s international break.

Saka was one of 10 withdrawals during England’s recent UEFA Nations League double header against Greece and Republic of Ireland, a situation which captain Harry Kane described as “disappointing” before suggesting that “it’s a tough period of the season and maybe that’s been taken advantage of a little bit.”

Saka was unable to complete Arsenal‘s 1-1 draw at Chelsea prior to the international break due to a thigh problem but capped a fine individual performance as he opened the scoring in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest at Emirates Stadium.

After Thomas Partey and teenager Ethan Nwaneri — with his first Premier League goal — completed the scoring in a comfortable win, Arteta defended the contrast in Saka’s absence for England and fine form for Arsenal.

“Well, we can send an MRI scan, it’s very simple,” Arteta said. “That’s a communication that was very clear between the medical staff of Arsenal and the England national team.

“He hasn’t done anything, he was away and needed time to heal. He’s done one training session.”

Arsenal secured their first league win since Oct. 5 to generate some positive momentum ahead of a difficult week which continues with Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Sporting CP.

“I sensed a great energy in the last 48 hours,” Arteta said. “The way everybody came back, I sensed a great togetherness and desire to change the situation and what has been a different period for us with all the situations that we had to come across. And the team is there straight away from the beginning. It was a flow, it was a dominance, there was an enthusiasm about it. That is what I demanded.”

United States striker Ricardo Pepi continued his rich vein of scoring form, netting a hat trick in PSV Eindhoven‘s 5-0 victory over FC Groningen in the Dutch Eredivisie Saturday.

Pepi, who scored for the U.S. in both legs of its Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal win over Jamaica in the recent international break, has now scored six goals in his past four appearances for club and country.

His hat trick put the 21-year-old top of the Eredivisie scoring charts, level on nine goals with FC Twente‘s Sem Steijn. Pepi has amassed that total despite starting just four times in his 12 appearances in the Netherlands‘ top division.

PSV top the standings, eight points clear of second-placed Utrecht but having played two games more.

Olivier Boscagli and Guus Til got the first and third goals for PSV, but it was Pepi who stole the show against the team he played for on loan during the 2022-23 season.

His first goal, in the 37th minute, was a superb solo effort, sprinting in from the right touchline and driving into the penalty area before chipping the ball over the Groningen goalkeeper.

Pepi’s second came in the 64th minute, after beating a defender and finding the bottom corner of the net. And the former FC Dallas starlet completed his hat trick with 12 minutes remaining with a well-placed header from 6 yards out.

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick was hugely critical of his team’s performance after the LaLiga leaders blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Celta Vigo at Balaídos on Saturday.

Goals from Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski either side of half-time had set Barça on course for three points, but Celta struck twice in the final six minutes, through Alfonso González and Hugo Álvarez, to earn a point after Marc Casadó was sent off.

Barça are now winless in two games having lost to Real Sociedad before the international break and they have failed to win any of their three league matches when Lamine Yamal, absent here through injury, has not started.

“Sometimes it happens that you see such a performance from a team,” Flick said in a news conference when asked to explain his side’s lacklustre display.

“I [didn’t] expect that we [could] play really bad like that but it’s like this. We have to stand up and go forwards. It’s one match.

“At the end, the best thing was we get one point. It’s the best thing about today, but we are not happy. The players are not happy, everyone is not happy, and I think everyone can play much better than today.”

Despite trailing 2-0, Celta matched Barça for large parts of the game and registered six more shots on goal than their opponents throughout the course of 90 minutes.

However, it took Casadó’s 82nd minute red card, awarded after he picked up a second booking, and a mistake from Jules Koundé for them to get back into the game.

Flick refused to blame either player for the result, though, and suggested his Barça side, who had won 11 of their opening 12 games before setbacks against La Real and Celta, had started to think it was too easy to win matches.

“Everyone said that Celta Vigo is difficult to play and you can see it today,” he added.

“At the end, it has to do with concentration and focus. Maybe sometimes it was too easy or they think it’s too easy to win, but it’s not easy. Everyone now wants to win against us and wants to play good against us.

“There were a lot of mistakes, a lot of bad passes, losing the ball, wrong decisions and that. It’s not about the red card. It’s not about Jules’ mistake. [It’s about] the whole team.

“It’s a result of how we played. We have to come back. When you are 80% or 85% or 90% you cannot win. It’s not so easy like that.”

Koundé took responsibility for his role in the draw, admitting he should have done better when messing up a back pass to goalkeeper Iñaki Peña in the 84th minute.

“We weren’t at the level required for the whole game and in the end we have been punished — starting with me, because I did not have a good game,” the France defender told reporters.

“There was a lack of concentration on my part. In what should have been a simple play, I committed a huge error. That mistake has hurt us.

“It’s a learning curve for everyone. We have not played well in the last two games. We have to get back to our level. When things are going well, it’s really easy, but now we have to be united and focus on recovering our best form.”

As well as Lewandowski and Raphinha netting their 20th and 13th goals of the campaign, respectively, there was some good news for Barça in the form of a first start in a year for Gavi.

The midfielder completed 75 minutes as he continued his return to fitness from the ACL injury he picked up last November, but he was disappointed with how the team threw the game away.

“I am happy to be starting for the first time in a year, but the important thing today was to get the three points and that’s not been the case,” he told reporters.

“We had the game controlled, but the red card completely changed things. Then, in two moves they’ve scored two goals. The first goal was silly, you have to clear the ball.

“And then with a man less it is difficult to keep the three points. It doesn’t matter what team you are, if you’re lacking concentration, this can happen. You’ve seen it here. We have to learn from this. We keep going.”

Barça are five points clear of second-placed Atlético Madrid, but Real Madrid, currently third, could move within one point of them if they win their two games in hand, starting with Leganés on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola has suggested that if Liverpool beat Manchester City at Anfield next weekend his team could already be out of the Premier League title race.

City lost their fifth consecutive game in all competitions and third straight league game with a heavy 4-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Guardiola’s side face Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday before travelling to Anfield five days later.

Liverpool can move eight points clear if they beat Southampton on Sunday and Guardiola was asked after losing to Spurs whether an 11-point gap — if City lose to Arne Slot’s team — would be too much to overhaul even at this stage of the season.

“Yeah, it’s true,” he said. “We’re not thinking about winning or losing [the title], we are not in the situation to think about what is going to happen at the end of the season.

“If in the end we don’t win it’s because we don’t deserve it. We won it in the past because we deserved it.

“What we have to do now is [beat] Feyenoord. That is the most important thing — first for the qualification for the CL [Champions League] — and step by step the players will be better.”

Not only have City lost five consecutive games for the first time in 18 years, they’ve also conceded 14 goals during the run. Defensive injuries haven’t helped and there were more problems against Spurs when John Stones was forced off at half-time.

“We are a bit fragile right now, that is obvious,” Guardiola said.

“We have to break the results because the victories help us to be more positive and confident and we have to do it. But after eight years here I knew sooner or later we would drop. I never expected to lose three Premier League games in a row but we have been incredibly consistent again and again and again and now we cannot deny the reality that sometimes happens in football and life is here.”

Meanwhile, Tottenham are up to sixth after a blistering display of counter-attacking football. James Maddison scored twice on his 28th birthday before second half goals from Pedro Porro and substitute Brennan Johnson.

“You don’t come to a place like this expecting it is going to be as convincing as it was for us,” Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou said.

“City test you in every football way possible.

“After a really disappointing game last game [against Ipswich] we got back to our core beliefs. Credit to the lads, they were outstanding. We had to weather a storm and then grew into a game. I’m so pleased for the players. It furthers our progression.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman acknowledged she was battling a back injury in Saturday’s NWSL Championship but refused to use it as an excuse for her team’s 1-0 loss to the Orlando Pride at CPKC Stadium.

The United States star reaggravated an ongoing back injury in September, when she was wheeled off the same field as Saturday’s match.

“I’m not gonna make an excuse — it’s not hiding the fact that my back’s not feeling great,” Rodman said after Saturday’s loss. “I decided to stay in the game. I could have pulled myself out. That’s not an excuse but I wasn’t the Trin that I wanted to be today.”

Rodman played the full 90 minutes as the Spirit tried to find an equalizer.

“I stayed with Trinity because I think that the team we had on the pitch was the best 11 players to win the game,” Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez said.

Rodman has dealt with back spasms and related issues since her rookie season in 2021, when she helped the Spirit win its first and, to date, only NWSL Championship. She was left off the USWNT roster for away games against England and the Netherlands in the next two weeks to allow her to rest and heal after a long 2024.

Rodman scored three goals at the Olympics and started all six matches to help the USWNT win a fifth gold medal in August.

The Spirit had 26 shots to the Pride’s nine on Saturday, but Pride forward Barbra Banda scored the game’s only goal in the first half.

Rodman registered five shots but was largely limited throughout the match by Orlando’s defense. And she pointed to her team’s inability to finish opportunities as ultimately being the difference

“We still had hope the entire time, but I think the cards weren’t falling for us in front of the goal,” Rodman said. “That’s credit to their defense. Their defensive line did a phenomenal job. They were shutting me down for sure. We went down, we’re used to that, but we couldn’t get that late winner again.”

Rodman looked like she might have another opportunity to run at a fullback sitting on a yellow card, as she did in each of the Spirit’s two previous playoff matches.

Pride defender Kerry Abello received a yellow card in the 31st minute for tripping Rodman on a potential counterattack. But instead of that becoming a vulnerability for Orlando, the Pride tightened up their defending, as they had all season long.

“They know I love 1-v-1s,” Rodman said. “Getting her a card halfway through the first half is an ideal situation for myself, but as soon as she got that card, they’d bring forwards to drop and help.”

Abello’s yellow card was one of six in the match, four of which were shown to Spirit players.

The game’s lone goal came after Orlando midfielder Angelina won a challenge against Spirit midfielder Leicy Santos, sending Santos to the ground before playing Banda in behind.

“From my perspective, I saw two hands pushing her down,” Spirit defender Casey Krueger said. “I could be wrong. I’d love to go back and look. We questioned the ref on it and that was the decision, so it’s a tough pill to swallow.”

“I don’t want to say no comment but I think she was a lot more receptive to hearing the Orlando Pride talk than us,” Rodman said. “A ref’s gonna do what they’re gonna do but I don’t think she was as open to hearing what we had to say.”

Banda’s goal was one of only three on frame for the Pride on Saturday. Orlando held off a late surge from the Spirit to clinch the club’s first NWSL Championship.

“You could see the players throwing their bodies on the line, working together, tracking back, trying to stop a service or get close to them, blocking shots. It’s no different than what we’ve done all season long, especially in this championship game,” Orlando head coach Seb Hines said.