Mitrovic returns to Fulham on permanent deal

England Under-21 international winger Andros Townsend is hoping to impress parent club Tottenham Hotspur while on loan at Queens Park Rangers, .

Townsend, who was playing second fiddle to Gareth Bale at White Hart Lane, joined QPR to find regular first-team football.

Townsend, 21, has been in fine form since joining QPR on loan until the end of the season on transfer deadline day.

The 21-year-old winger scored the match-winning goal and set up Jermaine Jenas 90th minute strike against Sunderland at Loftus Road on Saturday, helping the Super Hoops record consecutive league victories for the first time this season.

The England Under-21 international is keen to prove his worth to Tottenham Hotspur in the coming weeks, as Spurs ace Gareth Bale cont…

Villarreal moved into first position in the Spanish Primera Division with a 2-0 win over Racing Santander on Wednesday.

Joan Capdevila, who formed part of the Spanish team that won Euro 2008, opened the score after 27 minute.

And Llorente made it 2-0 five minutes later, after which the visiting side never managed to find their way back into the game.

Atlético Madrid won 1-2 at Getafe and are now second in the league. Sinama-Pongolle was responsible for both of Atlético s goals, of which the second came at eight minutes from the end. Albin scored Getafe s only goal.

Atleti do share the second place with city rivals Real Madrid, who achieved a very convincing win over Sporting Gijón.

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Paris Saint-Germain slumped to a dismal 2-0 defeat against Rennes in Ligue 1, with Karl Toko Ekambi and Arnaud Kalimuendo netting to amplify the pressure on Christophe Galtier.

PSG were booed off at half-time by the Parc des Princes crowd after Toko Ekambi broke in behind to hand Rennes a surprise lead, following a series of misses from Kylian Mbappe.

Things quickly went from bad to worse for the disjointed leaders, with former PSG forward Kalimuendo converting Lesley Ugochukwu s cross to provoke more fury from the home fans.

PSG s four-game winning run in Ligue 1 ended with a whimper as Rennes stood firm, and Galtier s under-fire side could see their lead at the summit reduced to seven points when Marseille visit Reims later on Sunday.

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After coming from behind to snatch three vital points of fellow Champions League hopefuls Chelsea last weekend, Jose Mourinho s Manchester City side will travel to Selhurst Park to face a Crystal Palace side who have now failed to win any of their last five matches.

Crystal Palace

Although admirably turning their season around under former England boss Roy Hodgson, the Eagles have begun to slip back to their old ways and Palace now once again find themselves at the heart of a relegation battle. With talisman Wilfred Zaha still sidelined, Hodgson s side have now failed to win any of their last five matches and carry on a remarkable run that has seen them fail to win a game without Zaha since April 2016. Drawing two and losing three of their last five, the Eagles now find thems…

Idrissa Gueye will continue his Premier League career having joined Everton from Aston Villa on a four-year deal.

Gueye, who has been capped by Senegal 32 times, moved to Villa Park from Lille in 2015 and made 38 appearances in all competitions as the club were relegated to the Championship.

The 26-year-old midfielder has signed a contract that will keep him at Goodison Park until 2020, with Villa coach Roberto Di Matteo admitting last Friday his release clause, reported to be set at £7.1 million, had been triggered.

I am very happy to be here at Everton and I am very happy and excited to put on the blue shirt to start the new season here, Gueye told Everton s official website.

Everton is a big team with big players and great fans. The manager told me …

New France coach Didier Deschamps will assume control for the first time in Wednesday s friendly against South American champions Uruguay.

Deschamps was appointed following the departure of Laurent Blanc, who left his position in the wake of France s disappointing Euro 2012 campaign.

Blanc had taken France to the European Championship as one of the favourites, with their 23-game unbeaten streak only ended by a 2-0 loss to Sweden in the last group match of the tournament.

But France finished second to England in Group D before bowing out of the competition in the knockout stage with a 2-0 defeat to eventual champions Spain.

That loss was marred by a row between Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri and reporters, while Paris Saint-Germain playmaker Jerem…

Saint Etienne ended their three-year losing French Cup record on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Bordeaux to reach the last 32 and keep coach Alain Perrin on course for an unprecedented Cup treble.

Bafetimbi Gomis grabbed the only goal of the game in the 76th minute on a treacherous and slippy surface at Bordeaux s Jacques-Chaban-Delmas stadium.

Bordeaux, coached by former Manchester United defender Laurent Blanc, were missing a host of their South American stars who had been given permission to stay on their Christmas vacation.

That would have delighted Perrin who coached Sochaux to the 2007 French Cup title and Lyon in 2008.

Meanwhile, Lyon s march to a possible second successive league and cup double was put on hold when their tie at fourth division …

Treating Barcelona captain Lionel Messi like a normal opponent will only end in El Clasico misery for Real Madrid, Raphael Varane has warned.

France international Varane and his fellow Madrid defenders will have their hands full when they square off against Barca s expensively assembled front three for the first time on Wednesday.

Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann have already scored four goals between them in December and will hope to help fire the champions three points clear of their LaLiga title rivals at Camp Nou.

Barca captain Messi remains the most obvious danger to the visitors 11-game undefeated streak and, though the Ballon d Or winner has failed to score in his past three Clasico appearances, centre-back Varane insisted every single Madrid player wou…

Ernesto Valverde explained Sergio Busquets was a late omission from Barcelona s Clasico line-up against Real Madrid due to a fever.

The Spain international was originally named among Barca s starting XI but was a late withdrawal with Ivan Rakitic taking his place.

Confusion reigned with some reports suggesting Busquets was going to be among the substitutes instead, but head coach Valverde confirmed it was illness that meant he missed the goalless draw at Camp Nou.

It is true that Busquets was feeling bad, he had a fever, before the game, Valverde told Movistar.

We thought we could have used him in the second half but not in the end. The coach makes the decision based on what he sees.

FORÇA BARÇA!

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)

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Bayern Munich are going down the right path if they do choose to hire Niko Kovac as Jupp Heynckes successor, according to the club s former defender Olaf Thon.

Speculation surfaced on Thursday that Bayern had struck an agreement with Eintracht Frankfurt coach Kovac, with a view to him taking over for next season.

Kovac has done a sterling job at Frankfurt and taken them up to fifth in the Bundesliga this term, giving them a strong possibility of securing European football for the 2018-19 campaign.

Thon feels the 46-year-old Croatian, who played for Bayern for two years from 2001, would be a popular choice, particularly given his existing relationships within the club.

At first I was a bit surprised, Thon, who played for Bayern from 1988 until 1994, told…