FOOTAINMENT

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka believes the club can compete with Manchester City for this season's Premier League title, following victory in the north London derby against Tottenham.  Arsenal beat Tottenham 2-0 at the Emirates on Saturday but remain 12 points behind leaders City in sixth place. However, Xhaka is convinced Arsene Wenger's side can compete for championship honours this season, insisting "everything is possible in football". "I think in football everything is possible," Xhaka told  Sky Sports News. "Manchester City, at the moment, are on a very good run, they're doing very well and others have dropped points - which they haven't done - but it's conceivable that they could drop points as well." The 25-year old, who has featured for Arsenal in all 12 of their league games this campaign, admits City's recent performances are setting the highest of standards for those among the chasing pack. City ha

Mile Jedinak opened the scoring with a deflected free kick in the 54th minute, bringing the 77,060 crowd at Sydney's Olympic stadium to life. Captain Mile Jedinak led the way with a second-half hat-trick as Australia brushed aside Honduras 3-1 in the second leg of their intercontinental playoff on Wednesday to secure a place at next year’s World Cup finals. The midfielder settled his compatriots’ nerves with a deflected free kick and two penalties to give Australia a comfortable aggregate victory after the 0-0 draw in the first leg last week. Honduras were bidding for a third successive World Cup appearance but barely threatened the Australia goal until winger Alberth Elis scrambled the ball over the line in stoppage time. It will be a fourth straight appearance at the World Cup finals, and fifth in total, for Asian champions Australia, who played 22 matches over 29 months to achieve their goal. “It’s unreal,” Jedinak said. “We knew it was always going to be

A tearful Gianluigi Buffon said he was "sorry for all of Italian football" as he led a wave of international retirements after a World Cup play-off defeat by Sweden. Italy were held to a 0-0 draw in Milan on Monday night and failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 60 years. Sweden survived waves of attacks in the second leg of their European play-off on a night of unremitting tension and drama at a stunned San Siro where the cheers turned to boos after four-timnes champions Italy were left to rue their spurned chances, reprots Reuters. The Azzurri, who had not missed the World Cup since the 1958 finals in Sweden, had 75 per cent of possession, squandered numerous opportunities and had penalty appeals turned down in their increasingly desperate search for an equaliser. The Italy players, who along with their 69-year-old coach Gian Piero Ventura, are likely to face long inquests, collapsed onto the pitch in despair at the final whistle and eve

Cristiano Ronaldo laid hands on the latest of more than 150 personal accolades in his remarkable career when he was voted UEFA’s Player of the Season for the third time in four seasons. Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and veteran Italy and Juventus captain Gigi Buffon were second and third in the annual rankings voted by last season’s UEFA club group stage coaches and a journalists’ jury organised by European Sports Media. Dutch European champion Lieke Martens won the women’s player prize. Ronaldo ended 2016-17 in triumph with Real Madrid having become the first club to win the modern-era Champions League two seasons in a row to add to their world and Spanish league prizes. He scored 12 goals in Europe’s elite club competition including two in the 4-1 defeat of Juventus in the final in Cardiff. They took his total to a record 106, comprising 16 with Manchester United and 90 with Madrid. The Portugal skipper then led his European national team champions to the semi-finals of t