As the Europa League once again steals most of Thursday’s headlines, we have a stacked schedule from across the continent.

With European heavyweights such as Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen looking to book their respective quarter-final tickets, we could be set for a nervy night of Europa League action.

With eight Europa League showdowns on the cards in midweek, we have found a couple of eye-catching betting markets that are worth taking note of.

20:00 Liverpool vs Sparta Prague

With it announced back in January that Jurgen Klopp will be ending his nine-year stay at Anfield, Liverpool are desperate to make more history this season. While the Premier League giants might have eventually fallen short in their bid to punch a top-four finish among England�…

Frank Lampard will be the latest man to return to a club where he starred as a player if he agrees to replace Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea.

Derby County on Tuesday gave the Blues permission to speak to their former midfielder about the vacancy created by Sarri s departure for Juventus and the 41-year-old is expected to make an emotional return to Stamford Bridge, where he spent 13 years as a player.

Lampard scored 211 goals in his Chelsea career, setting a club record, and if he re-signs will be tasked with reviving the enthusiasm of supporters who struggled to warm to Sarri during a season of mixed fortunes.

Chelsea reached the EFL Cup final and won the Europa League in 2018-19, but fans voiced their dismay after results like the 6-0 hammering at Manchester Cit…

Michael Owen, who left Liverpool in 2004 and consequently missed the glorious chapter of their history the following season, reveals how close he was to returning to Anfeld after only a year with Real Madrid.

He ended up joining Newcastle, before signing for Manchester United in 2009 something that the majority of Liverpool supporters still haven t been able to forgive.

https://twitter.com/LivEchoLFC/status/1172208251816951808

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Mauricio Pochettino is hoping to have Reece James available for Chelsea s trip to Nottingham Forest following the club captain s return to training.

Chelsea confirmed on their official website on Friday that the England international is back in full team training after five months out.

James latest absence came as a result of undergoing surgery on a recurring hamstring injury, which forced him off in the 2-0 loss to Everton in December.

The 24-year-old has played just 452 minutes for Chelsea in all competitions this season down on the 1,936 he managed in 2022-23.

Back in full team training.

Our captain .

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)

However, James now has a chance of featuring in Saturday s match against relegation-threatened Fore…

Georginio Wijnaldum suggested the Netherlands must be more eager to score after a dominant display against Latvia only resulted in a 2-0 World Cup qualifying win.

Frank de Boer s Oranje bounced back from the 4-2 defeat to Turkey in their Group G opener with an excellent all-round performance in Amsterdam on Saturday.

The Netherlands had 36 shots in total – 16 more than the impressive 20 they managed in losing against Turkey – though only 11 hit the target.

Steven Berghuis and Luuk de Jong were responsible for the two goals, the former curling into the top-left corner before the latter headed in from Memphis Depay s corner.

The Netherlands had 96 touches in Latvia s box, the most since detailed Opta records began in August 2013, far surpa…

Erling Haaland was named in Manchester City s starting line-up for the Community Shield clash with rivals Liverpool, who had Darwin Nunez on the bench.

Haaland joined City from Borussia Dortmund last month in what has been a busy transfer window for the Premier League champions.

The Norway striker scored his first goal for the club in a pre-season friendly win over Bayern Munich and Pep Guardiola has selected him to start in the traditional curtain-raiser for the English season, which is being played at Leicester City s King Power Stadium this year.

Haaland will play down the middle, flanked by Jack Grealish and former Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez.

TEAM NEWS

XI | Ederson, Walker, Dias (C), Ake, Cancelo, Rodrigo, Bernardo, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Ha…

Sergio Aguero can lay claim to being the greatest striker in Premier League history, according to former Manchester City team-mate Richard Dunne.

The Argentina international confirmed on Monday that he would leave City when his contract expires at the end of this season, bringing an end to his 10-year spell with the club.

Aguero joined from Atletico Madrid in 2011 and has established himself as a City legend, his 257 goals representing a club record.

He has won four Premier League titles, one FA Cup and five EFL Cups at City, with a fifth top-flight title on the horizon this term and silverware still up for grabs domestically and in the Champions League.

With Aguero s stunning goal haul having come in 384 games, Dunne put the 32-year-old top of his all-…

According to Fabrizio Romano, Paulo Dybala will not be signing a new contract with Juventus, which means he ll be leaving the club at the end of the season as a free agent unless there s a significant change in the situation between now and then.

Apparently, the two parties had agreed a new deal back in October last year, but Juventus have since changed their proposal to make it less favourable towards the forward. Dybala has now rejected the latest proposal, which the club consider non-negotiable, and he has decided to open talks with other clubs about a free transfer in the summer.

Dybala joined Juventus from US Palermo back in 2015 for a reported fee of just over €40 million. Since then, the 28-year-old has gone on to score 113 goals along with 48 assists in 283 ap…

Antonio Conte vowed Inter should not be portrayed as Italy s footballing saviours as they battle for Europa League glory. 

A semi-final against Shakhtar Donetsk awaits coach Conte and his team on Monday in Dusseldorf, with the prospect of ending the season with silverware. 

Attentions have turned to Inter at home after Juventus fell to Lyon and Napoli lost to Barcelona in the Champions League last-16, while Atalanta bowed out to Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of the same competition. 

The Nerazzurri represent Italy s last hope for a European trophy this season, but Conte dismissed the notion they are playing for the nation. 

The former Italy and Juventus boss said in a news conference on Sunday: We don t consider ourselves the sav…

Paul Heckingbottom looks set to be sacked as Sheffield United boss in the wake of Saturday’s capitulation at Burnley.

The Blades were thumped 5-0 at Turf Moor, their 11th defeat in 14 matches this season, and lie bottom of the Premier League with only five points.

The club have subsequently postponed Monday’s pre-match press conference ahead of the midweek visit of Liverpool.

Full-time at Turf Moor.

— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited)

Former manager Chris Wilder is the favourite to replace Heckingbottom if the 46-year-old becomes the first top-flight boss to be dismissed this term.

Some away fans turned on Heckingbottom towards the end of Saturday’s defeat, during which striker Oli McBurnie was sent off before half-time for twi…