Diego Costa chalked up his 50th Chelsea goal at Crystal Palace on Saturday to cap a stunning return to form.

The Spain international s headed effort from a Cesar Azpilicueta delivery was his 13th Premier League goal of the season more than he could muster in the entire 2015-16 campaign.

Despite those goalscoring heroics, his fifth yellow card of the season means he will miss Chelsea s Boxing Day clash with Bournemouth.

50 – Diego Costa has scored 50 goals in all competitions for Chelsea; 17 more than any other player for the club since his debut. Warhead.

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)

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Giovani dos Santos marked his international return with a goal as Mexico claimed a 2-1 win over New Zealand in a friendly on Saturday.

Featuring for the national team for the first time since July 2015, Dos Santos opened the scoring at Nissan Stadium from the penalty spot.

But the LA Galaxy attacker s effort was cancelled out by Marco Rojas early in the second half in Nashville, Tennessee.

Marco Fabian ensured victory for Juan Carlos Osorio s Mexico, who had crushed the Kiwis 9-3 on aggregate in their 2014 World Cup qualifying play-off.

Fresh from winning the OFC Nations Cup, New Zealand s defeat was their first since March 2015.

Jordan Silva, Hedgardo Marin and Jesus Gallardo all started for Mexico, who were without Javier Hernandez, as they wer…

Market: Hannover win

Odds: 11/8 @

Hoping to find a route into the promotion spots on Friday evening, Hannover will make the trip to Heidelberg when they meet a struggling Sandhausen.

Starting with the hosts, while Sandhausen might have been last seen snatching a late 1-1 draw away at St. Pauli, it does not cover what has been a worrying start to the 2022/23 campaign. Despite picking up a 1-0 win at home against Dusseldorf on August 5th, Alois Schwartz s men now find themselves in the midst of a five-match winless run. Likewise, managing to muster just a pair of points on their downbeat run of form, the Heidelberg-based outfit have really shown some extended issues at both ends of the pitch. Now holding just a three-point buffer from slipping into the relegation …

Ghana face neighbours Nigeria in a charged west African derby here Thursday with the prize a ticket to the Africa Cup of Nations final.

The semi-finalists who face off at Luanda s 11 November stadium made it through in wildly contrasting fashions.

While four-time winners Ghana impressed in their 1-0 quarter-final win over hosts Angola, Nigeria laboured to a goalless extra-time draw with Zambia, only prevailing on penalties, with Israeli-based goalkeeper Victor Enyeama converting the decisive spot kick for a 5-4 win.

Despite their far from impressive performance Ghana coach Milovan Rajevic is too wily a coach to take Nigeria s form in Benguela at face value.

If you just look at Nigeria s quarter-final performance it can create a false impression, warned …

that Manchester United are ready to turn their attention to Southampton’s Nathaniel Clyne after Dani Alves agreed to join Paris Saint Germain.

Clyne has emerged as one of the best players in his position in the Premier League over the past eighteen months, and his form for the South Coast club earned him his first international call up last November.

Since signing from Crystal Palace in the summer of 2012, he has racked up ninety-five appearances for Southampton, scoring five goals.

United had been linked with a move for Barcelona’s Dani Alves, though he is set to agree a deal with French Champions PSG in a move which could see him link up with fellow Brazil internationals Thiago Silva, Lucas Moura, Marquinhos, David Luiz and Maxwell.

However, m…

Lucas Leiva has hailed the impact of Jurgen Klopp as the Liverpool manager prepares to take charge of his new team at Anfield for the first time.

Liverpool welcome Rubin Kazan to Merseyside in the Europa League on Thursday, five days after the Klopp era got under way with a promising 0-0 draw at Tottenham.

And Brazilian midfielder Lucas had nothing but praise for the former Borussia Dortmund coach at Wednesday s pre-match media conference although he joked that he could not really say anything else with the German sitting next to him. 

I can t say anything bad! Lucas quipped.

It s been really good, really positive. The game against Spurs was a little step in the way we want to go.

We want to be a successful team, he s been a success before. He…

Prediction: Manchester City to win 3-0

Best Odds:

Bookmaker: 

Fulham and Manchester City will face each other in the Premier League this weekend. The game between the Cottagers and the Citizens is slated to kick off at 8pm UK time on Saturday and could be a very interesting game of football.

Fulham

Fulham are in danger of getting relegated to the Championship at the end of the season. The Cottagers are third from bottom in the Premier League table at the moment with 26 points from 28 matches, level on points with 17th-placed Brighton and Hove Albion, who have played 27 games.

Scott Parker’s side have been playing well in recent weeks, and last weekend, they picked up all three points against defending English champions Liverpool. Mar…

Best odds: 3/4

Bookmaker:

Wolverhampton Wanderers are set to welcome Liverpool to the Molineux on Monday evening for what will be the 29th Premier League game of the season for the two teams.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Having narrowly missed out on European qualification last year, Wolves are nowhere near that goal this time around, and even with 10 rounds to go, it seems comfortably avoiding a role in a late relegation battle will be all they can do.

Nuno Espirito Santo s team are currently in 13th place with 35 points to their name, 11 less than Everton in sixth and only nine more than Fulham in 18th. As for their recent form, Wolves won two of their last six Premier League games, drawing three and losing only away to table toppers Manchester City by 4-1…

QPR have revealed that they have reluctantly accepted a transfer request from striker Jamie Mackie.

The Scotland international has been strongly linked with a switch to the London club s Championship rivals Nottingham Forest, and now appears ready to force through a move to the City Ground.

Jamie Mackie has today (Thursday) submitted a transfer request, which the club have reluctantly accepted, a statement on QPR s official website read.

The 27 year-old has informed the club of his desire to leave, having found first team opportunities limited at Loftus Road in the last six months.

As previously stated, no player will leave QPR unless the club’s valuation is met. The club will be making no further comment at this time.

Mackie joined QPR from Plymouth Arg…

Ajax youngsters Daley Blind and Joel Veltman have signed new contracts with the Eredivisie champions.

The duo are products of the prestigious Ajax youth academy and are the latest in a long line of homegrown players to shine in the first team at the Amsterdam Arena.

Blind, son of former Ajax defender Danny Blind, broke into the Ajax first team during the 2010/11 season and has become a regular in Frank de Boer s side.

The 23-year-old full-back has signed a new three-year contract with the club after making 44 appearances last season along with his international debut for Netherlands against Italy.

Central defender Veltman, 21, has had less exposure at senior level compared to Blind, but the promise he has shown in his seven Eredivisie appearances to date have con…