Stoke City are the only English side left in the Europa League after reaching the knock-out phase of the tournament.

Fulham lost 1-0 to Twente in their last match and failed to qualify.

At the start, there were seven British clubs in the competition but all fell by the wayside, bar the Potters.

Stoke have set a milestone in Europe this season, having gone past the group phase of the Europa League for the first time in their history and remained unbeaten in the first nine matches played (from 10

Qualifying third round: Hajduk (home) 1-0, (away) 1-0.

Play-off: FC Thun (away) 1-0, (home) 4-1.

Group: Dynamo Kiev (away) 1-1; Besiktas (home) 2-1; Maccabi Tel Aviv (home) 3-0; Maccabi Tel Aviv (away) 2-0; Dynamo Kiev (home) 1-1; Besiktas (away) 1-3.

Other football items of interest for December:

• Sunderland name Martin O’Neill as their new manager, replacing the sacked Steve Bruce.

• England are drawn in Group D with France, Sweden and joint-hosts Ukraine in the Euro 2012 finals.

• Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp and midfielder Scott Parker are named manager and player of the month respectively.

• Arsenal and Chelsea qualify for the knock-out stage of the Champions League as group winners. Yet, Manchester City (home Bayern Munich 2-0) and Manchester United (away Basel 1-2) will continue their continental excursion in the Europa League after finishing third in their group.

• Wayne Rooney has his Euro 2012 three-game ban reduced to two matches.

• The opening season record of 14 games without defeat for Manchester City is halted by Chelsea who beat the leaders 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.

• In a second replay of the FA Cup, Football League members Yeovil Town suffer a home defeat to Fleetwood Town of the Conference League.

• Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is fined £40,000 and banned eight matches by an FA disciplinary panel after being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

• Yaya Toure, of Manchester City, is voted CAF African Player of the Year.

• Suarez is named Sky Sports Player of the Year.

• Michael Neill is appointed manager of Northern Ireland.

• Suarez is banned for one match and fined £20,000 by the FA after he made a rude gesture towards Fulham fans in Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat in early January.

Leading marksmen

English Premier League
17 − Van Persie (Arsenal)
15 − Ba (Newcastle United)
14 − Aguero (Manchester City)
13 − Rooney (Manchester United)

The Championship
15 − Lambert (Southampton)
11 − McCormack (Leeds)
10 − Sharp (Doncaster), Vaz Te (Barnsley)

Scottish Premier League
12 − Jelavic (Rangers)
11 − Daly (Dundee), Hooper (Celtic)

Average attendances
1. Manchester United - 75,486
2. Arsenal - 59,948
3. Manchester City - 47,000
4. Newcastle United - 46,484
5. Liverpool - 44,911
6. Chelsea - 41,666
7. Sunderland - 38,631
8. Tottenham Hotspur - 36,072
9. Aston Villa - 34,540
10. Everton - 33,834
11. Stoke City - 27,291
12. Fulham - 25,272
13. West Bromwich Albion - 24,989
14. Norwich City - 23,549
15. Bolton Wanderers - 23,433
16. Blackburn Rovers - 23,172
17. Wolves - 22,572
18. Swansea City - 19,759
19. Wigan Athletic - 17,681
20. Queen’s Park Rangers - 16,913

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