Jan Vertonghen believes FA Cup glory would be the catalyst for a period of sustained success at Tottenham.

Although Mauricio Pochettino has been hailed for the progress Spurs have made in four years under his leadership, silverware continues to elude the club.

Vertonghen was one of three Tottenham players included in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year on Wednesday, along with striker Harry Kane and Denmark international Christian Eriksen.

And ahead of Saturday s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United, Vertonghen predicted one trophy would soon be followed by more if Spurs win a tournament for the first time since the EFL Cup in 2008.

Everyone at the club is looking forward to games like Saturday and being in finals, Vertonghen said.

I …

Market: Werder Bremen draw no bet

Odds: 19/20 @

Looking to extend on their bright start to the new Bundesliga campaign, Werder Bremen will travel to Hesse on Sunday afternoon when they meet Darmstadt.

Starting with the hosts, while Darmstadt might have gained plenty of plaudits last season as they clinched an automatic Bundesliga return, the Lilies have struggled to find any kind of top-flight stability this time around. Suffering a real collapse away at Stuttgart last weekend as they slumped to a routine 3-1 drumming, Torsten Lieberknecht s men are tipped as a leading relegation contender this year. Heading into September’s international break with another worrying performance as they slipped to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of a high-flying Bayer Leverkusen, the…

Prediction: Bayern Munich to win 5-0

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VfB Stuttgart and Bayern Munich will face each other in the Bundesliga this coming weekend. The match between Die Roten and Die Bayern will be held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena and is scheduled to kick off at 5:30pm UK time on Saturday.

VfB Stuttgart

VfB Stuttgart are having a terrible season and could get relegated from the Bundesliga. Die Roten finished as high as ninth in the league table back in the 2020-21 season, but during the 2021-22 campaign, they slipped down to 16th. And now there is a distinct possibility that they will go down to 2. Bundesliga.

Bruno Labbadia’s side are 15th in the Bundesliga table at the moment with 19 points from 22 matches. VfB Stuttgart are level on …

Canada got their Women s World Cup campaign up and running with a 1-0 win over Cameroon thanks to Kadeisha Buchanan s first international goal, while Japan were held by Argentina on Monday.

Kenneth Heiner-Moller s side controlled much of proceedings in Montpellier, though did not craft an opening until Buchanan headed in on the stroke of half-time.

Having hit the woodwork prior to Buchanan s effort, Nichelle Prince squandered a golden chance to further Canada s lead just before the hour, and would have been made to pay had Claudine Meffometou directed her effort on target.

Ultimately Prince s miss mattered little, though, as Canada moved top of Group E, which also includes New Zealand and Netherlands.

FT! Canada earn 3 points against Group E opponents C…

When Juventus made Gianluigi Buffon the world s most expensive goalkeeper for a reported €53.5million in 2001, high expectations certainly accompanied the promising 23-year-old.

But few, if any, would have dared to predict he would still be at the peak of his powers some 17 years later.

Yet the evergreen Italian turns 40 on Sunday and appears to have lost very little if any of the command, agility and leadership he has shown throughout his immense career.

It seems likely that Buffon will hang up his gloves this year, having previously stated that only winning the Champions League will be enough to convince him otherwise, meaning the most Serie A appearances he can hope to reach is 646, one short of Paolo Maldini s record.

Nevertheless, he will go down a…

Roy Hodgson was left dejected by Crystal Palace s performance in Tuesday s 3-1 defeat to rivals Brighton and Hove Albion, insisting the Eagles cannot use a dubious penalty decision as an excuse.

Referee Kevin Friend awarded Brighton a controversial 24th-minute spot-kick when he deemed that James McArthur had fouled Jose Izquierdo despite winning the ball, with Glenn Murray slotting home.

Shane Duffy s red card handed Palace hope, but a goal from Leon Balogun and then a solo effort from fellow substitute Florin Andone put Brighton out of sight before the interval.

Luka Milivojevic converted a spot-kick late on, but Hodgson conceded there were no positives to take from an abject display.

Who knows [if it was a penalty]? We had to adjust it and we didn t…

Inter CEO Giuseppe Marotta hit back at suggestions Tottenham are annoyed by their pursuit of Christian Eriksen and is adamant they are completely within their rights to open talks with the midfielder.

Eriksen has less than six months left on his Spurs contract, allowing him to make a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club regarding an end-of-season free transfer.

Inter are reportedly attempting to sign the Denmark international this month, with the Italian club said to have offered €10million, though Spurs boss Jose Mourinho claimed such a bid has not been received.

Mourinho has been vocal in his annoyance at Inter s behaviour during the saga, accusing them of showing a lack of respect to Spurs.

But Marotta – who was supposedly seen having dinner …

Red Star Belgrade struck twice late on as they came from behind to defeat 10-man Olympiacos 3-1 in the Champions League.

Ruben Semedo s first-half goal had put the visitors in charge of the contest, however Yassine Benzia s controversial dismissal in the 57th minute proved a turning point.

Within five minutes the Serbian side were level courtesy of substitute Milos Vulic s curling low strike.

And Red Star completed their turnaround with two quickfire goals  Nemanja Milunovic and Richmond Boakye heading home Marko Marin corners as they moved second in Group B behind Bayern Munich.

Super-sub! Miloš Vulić

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague)

The visitors looked the bigger threat throughout the first half, with Miguel Ang…

Bayern Munich could be willing to dispense with the services of Arturo Vidal this summer, according to .

Vidal missed the last part of 2017/18 recovering from surgery on his knee, but he is expected to make a full recovery soon and join his teammates in pre-season training.

However, at the age of 31, he is about to enter the last year of his contract at the Allianz Arena and having signed Leon Goretzka on a free transfer from Schalke 04, the Bavarians seem reluctant to offer him a new deal. They are also reluctant to lose him without compensation next year so they may consider letting him go now in order to avoid it.

Atletico Madrid are expected to step in with strong interest as they seek to replace club captain Gabi with another experienced, hard-tackling cent…

UEFA s newly re-elected president Aleksander Ceferin has renewed his attack on the Super League and hit back at critics of the Premier League.

Ceferin has held the position since he was elected in 2016 and will now remain in the post until at least 2027 after running unopposed.

During his last term, the Slovenian had to contend with the initial threat of the independent European Super League in April 2021.

Despite its failure when several teams pulled out amid fan protests, high-profile clubs – notably Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus – continue to support the proposal which announced plans for an 80-team format earlier this year.

However, when addressing the UEFA congress in Lisbon on Wednesday, Ceferin offered up a starkly different assessment o…