Swansea City must learn to kill off teams by scoring at least two goals, goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski said as the club seek to keep out of the Premier League’s relegation dogfight.
Swansea, unbeaten in four games, are yet to lose in the league under new coach Francesco Guidolin but they are fifth-bottom of the table, four points above the relegation zone.
“At the moment we are at the stage where I think we have to kill off the game rather than hold on to just the one goal,” Fabianski told British media.
“If we can score two we can have a lot more control of the game. If we score the first goal, I don’t want to say we concentrate on defending rather than attacking, but if we can get the second one it would help us.”
Cameroon, Scotland warm-ups for France
Euro 2016 hosts France will play home friendlies against Camer-oon and Scotland in the build-up to this year’s tournament, the French Football Federation said yesterday.
The French will face Cameroon on May 30 in Nantes and Scotland on June 4 in Metz. They also have scheduled friendlies in March against the Netherlands and Russia.
France take on Romania in the opening European Championship match on June 10 in Paris.
Switzerland and Albania are the other teams in Group A.
West Ham’s Tomkins out with calf injury
West Ham United will be without defender James Tomkins for tonight’s FA Cup fourth-round replay against Liverpool and the next few games, manager Slaven Bilic said.
Tomkins damaged his calf in Saturday’s 1-0 Premier League defeat at Southampton but Joey O’Brien is back in contention after recovering from an ankle injury.
“Joey is a good player. It is a big blow that Tomkins is out now. It is a good thing that we have Joey back. We are well covered,” Bilic told reporters.
Zabaleta expects Pep to ring the changes
Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta suspects there will be changes when new manager Pep Guardiola arrives during the close season but said the players are completely focused on challenging for titles in the current campaign.
“We need to deal with it. The club decided to announce this now after so many rumours, we really understand this. Now it’s just time to finish in the best way we can do this season,” Zabaleta said.
“We are all behind Manuel (Pellegrini). He’s been great for this club.
“We suspect changes but it’s normal. Now is not the right time to talk about the future because there’s a lot of time for this.
“We just need to be 100 per cent focused on the next games.”
We can play attractive football – Mata
Manchester United have shown they are capable of playing an attractive and attacking brand of football in their recent games, midfielder Juan Mata said after Sunday’s 1-1 Premier League draw at his former club Chelsea.
Despite their upturn in fortunes, United are still fifth in the league, six points behind fourth-placed Manchester City with 13 league games remaining.
“We’re playing a lot better now. The team spirit is good and as a collective group we’re doing well,” Mata told the club’s website.
“When you win and when you play good football, confidence grows. I think we’re showing now that we can play a high level of football and can play attractive, offensive football.”
‘Chinese spending spree just the start’
The spending splurge by Chinese clubs to secure top Europe-based talents is “crazy” and will do little to benefit the players or the game in China, according to Australia’s Shanghai-based striker Tim Cahill.
Since Cahill re-signed for Shenhua last October, CSL clubs have spent over €130 million in transfer fees on just four players.
“It’s crazy to see but this is only going to get worse,” the former Everton player told Australian broadcaster Fox Sports.
“This is going to be massive.
“I don’t know whether it’s going to help the league, but they’re investing. They’re doing great things.”
Ayre Q&A cancelled amid ticketing row
Liverpool have cancelled a question and answer session with chief executive Ian Ayre as the row over ticket prices continues.
Ayre was scheduled to answer queries sent in by fans via Twitter about the controversial 2016-17 pricing structure on the club’s television station at 6pm yesterday.
However, the event was cancelled by the club just over fours hours beforehand.
“LFC thanks fans for submitting questions for tonight’s Q&A however due to ongoing ticketing discussions, this will no longer take place,” said a statement on the club’s Twitter account.