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Blackburn manager Steve Kean has confirmed that the club have rejected two bids for defender Christopher Samba.

Both QPR and Tottenham have been linked with a January move for the centre half, but the Scottish coach has reaffirmed the Lancashire team’s sentiments that Samba is not for sale.

“There were two bids from one club, that were refused, and there was a statement put out from the club to say that he is not for sale,” Kean told Sky Sports.

“It is a strong statement and that is the statement we are backing all the way. He is an important player and we want him to stay.

“We committed ourselves to Chris. He is not a long time into a long contract. There has been an offer that has come in and we have said no.

“There was interest in the last window and I believe there has been interest long before I was sitting here.

“There has been interest all along. It doesn’t surprise me, because he is a quality player for us and we would like to keep him. I would like to end it at that,” he stated.

Blackburn currently sit bottom of the Premier League table and Kean has promised to bring new faces to Ewood Park during the current transfer window.

Despite this, the under-fire trainer would not speak about rumours linking Fulham forward Andrew Johnson with the Lancashire club.

“I don’t want to mention any names. I said at the beginning of the window, we will try and get bodies in and try and get them as quickly as we can.

“It has been slow. It has been slow for everybody.

“I don’t want to name anybody. I don’t want to give you numbers. I don’t want to give you figures. But we have been very busy over the last eight, nine days.

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“We would like to be here announcing people and you seeing faces, as opposed to speculation,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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Marseille closed to within a point of Ligue 1 leaders Lille with a 2-1 win at Montpellier on Sunday, while Lyon fell in the capital.In a dress rehearsal for the Coupe de la Ligue final at the Stade de France on Saturday, OM came from a goal down to edge the hosts on Taye Taiwo’s late penalty.

Both teams had earlier gone down to 10 men in the ill-tempered clash, with Montpellier defender Abdelhamid El Kaoutari and OM forward Loic Remy handed red cards for an ugly spat deep in the second half.

Their suspensions mean the pair will automatically miss Saturday’s cup final.

The game broke open following a staid and chanceless first half, with Montpellier seizing control through striker Olivier Giroud in the 64th minute.

The towering forward turned the ball into the net off his left boot after being fed by Joris Marveaux.

But their lead would last all of five minutes before Andre-Pierre Gignac conjured up a wonder goal, having sprung the offside trap on Benoit Cheyrou’s long, defence-splitting bomb.

The drama kicked up a gear in the 78th minute after El Kaoutari gave away a penalty for tugging on Remy’s shirt.

The France international remonstrated with his marker, blows were exchanged and the pair were given their marching orders.

Taiwo kept his cool as he awaited the all-clear to take his spot kick, and four minutes later he sent OM into the lead and secured a vital three points for the defending champions.

Elsewhere, Paris-Saint Germain climbed to fourth on the table with a 1-0 win over title hopefuls Lyon.

PSG defender Zoumana Camara edged the hosts into the lead with a 76th-minute goal, his first of the campaign.

Lyon, who suffered just their second league clean sheet since September, remain third on the table but fall five points behind Marseille and six points off leaders Lille.

Finally, Arles’ relegation to the second division became a mathematical certainty as the bottom-placed side fell 1-0 at home to Valenciennes.

The visitors, without a win in their past seven league games and hovering above the drop zone by virtue of their superior goal difference, had top-scorer Gregory Pujol to thank after the striker’s rich vein of form continued with a 68th-minute winner.

Valenciennes rise to 13th on the table, three points clear of the relegation places, with seven games left in the season.

There are few players that move between fierce rivals. It is a rarity for a footballer to move from Newcastle to Sunderland, Liverpool to Everton, Arsenal to Tottenham and vice-versa, but one player has done just that by moving from Aston Villa to Birmingham and it has helped to kick start his career. Former Aston Villa midfielder Craig Gardner moved to St Andrews in the January transfer window for a sum of £3 million and he has gone from strength to strength in the blue half of Birmingham.

The move earlier this year was made even more surprising by the fact that Gardner spent the whole of his youth career at Villa Park, although he is a life-long Blue. In his five years at the club Gardner made over 50 Premier League appearances for Villa, but failed to hold down a first team place during his time at the club. This is the exact opposite at Birmingham where he has become an important first team player under Alex McLeish and has even been in great goal scoring form as well. He started off the season by scoring twice against Blackburn Rovers as Birmingham came from behind to win 2-1, and he also netted in the game against Bolton Wanderers.

There are few fiercer rivalries in the Premier League than the one between Aston Villa and Birmingham and both teams’ sets of fans will be greatly looking forward to the match at Villa Park on Sunday 31st October. It’s a particularly good time for football in the Midlands, with both Wolves and West Bromwich Albion being in the Premier League too meaning that there are 4 clubs within 12 miles of each other. But will we see many more players cross the Midlands divide any time soon. It’s definitely worked wonders for Gardner:

With January fast approaching the media is clogged up with rumours about big money signings that could go through in the New Year and one player in the North East is of particular interest. Cheick Tiote has built up a reputation in the English game as one of the best holding midfielders of the past two years and so it is not surprise that interest is high.

Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea appear to be the front runners to sign the Ivorian international with a fee of over £25million being reported in some newspapers over the past month. Considering Tiote arrived on Tyneside for just £3.5million less than 18 months ago from FC Twente and the fact that some would say Toon owner Mike Ashley is extremely money motivated, would it be a surprise if the club cashed in on a £20million plus profit next month.

Geordie fans are desperate to hold on to their prized asset who returned to Premier League action at the weekend in a goalless draw at home to Swansea after over seven weeks on the sidelines. The likes of Kevin Nolan and Joey Barton along with Andy Carroll may have been the prominent players at St James Park last season but the supporters will not have missed Tiote’s rise in the team and his consistency level that was hard to beat in the Premier League.

But the big question is going to be whether Ashley allows his player to leave just as he did this time last year with the before mentioned Carroll who turned out to be a great piece of business for Newcastle. However, the profit from the Carroll deal is yet to be spent and so the club are in a good position financially, meaning the need to sell Tiote is minimal. Selling the naming rights of St James Park has also increased revenue and so the club that seemed to have a different issue each month in years gone by appear to finally be on the straight and narrow.

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The consistency in the board room has reflected their excellent start to the season and Alan Pardew is continuing his impressive management record at a very big club. So if Newcastle want to be taken seriously and have the possibility of challenging for European football in the next 18 months they have got to keep players like Tiote. There is no need to sell financially and so Ashley has got to reward the fans and Pardew with not only keeping the top players but adding to the squad so they can attempt to get on the same level as the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal in the near future. Demba Ba and Tiote will be at the African Cup of Nations in January and miss crucial games and will need to be replaced.

Newcastle cannot afford to become a selling club to the top teams and holding onto certain players will be just as good as a new signing at the Sports Direct Arena. Ashley has got to stand strong with the fans and the manager and a top half finish will definitely be on the cards this season with the ability to improve on that in the coming years. Things are still looking good in the North East but transfer windows are always a nervy time for Geordies, but that has to change.

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Braga coach Domingos Paciencia is adamant his side can overturn the 2-1 deficit in the reverse Europa League semi-final tie against Benfica.Paciencia’s side could not contain Benfica, who scored a 2-1 win at the Estadio da Luz on Thursday courtesy of a sumptuous free-kick from Paraguayan Oscar Cardozo.

Braga now welcome the Portuguese giants to the Estadio AXA next Thursday, and will be hoping their precious away goal will count in their favour in front of their home crowd.

“Defeat is not a good result but we know that everything is open,” 42-year-old Paciencia said. “We will try to come back at home and go through.”

“What I can say is that it will certainly be a different Braga than here.”

Paciencia admitted the occasion caused pre-match jitters within his dressing room, and that may have impacted on their display early in the game.

“We need to start better. We were very nervous because of the importance of the game. As the match went on we got better and in the second half we created chances,” he said.

“We could have scored one more but we know that 1-0 will be enough, so the players have confidence. Playing at home in front of our fans we will be great.”

Benfica manager Jorge Jesus, while lamenting his side’s failure to put more goals past their opponents, is confident his side is headed for the final in Dublin on May 18.

“We have won the first match,” he said. “It was like that against PSG and Sttutgart, so this result at home is nothing new for us.”

“We deserved more (or) at least to end with a two-goal advantage. Braga didn’t create any chances to score.”

“Their goal was from a set-piece situation and they didn’t create many difficulties for us. We go to Braga better than we started the tie. Of course I believe that I will go to Dublin, the result gives us that faith.”

Former Valencia playmaker Pablo Aimar, who is suspended for the corresponding fixture, reminded his Benfica team-mates that there was still another 90 minutes to play before they could think about the final.

Should they progress to Dublin, they will likely face bitter rivals Porto, who recorded a resounding 5-1 win over Villarreal in the first leg of the competition’s other semi-final.

“We knew that they would defend well – they came to prevent us from scoring,” the Argentine said.

“We created many chances to score, especially in the first half. A 2-1 advantage is narrow; the tie is still open. It will be hard to miss the second leg.”

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini claims Mario Balotelli will prove a better signing than Fernando Torres.

Mancini landed the 20-year-old Italian from former club Internazionale for a fee in the region of £25million last week.

Balotelli scored on his City debut after bagging the winner in Thursday's 1-0 Europa League play-off victory over FC Timisoara.

Mancini turned to Balotelli after failing to prise Spain striker Torres away from Liverpool during a lengthy summer transfer saga.

However, the Italian coach has no regrets about the route he has taken, with the two strikers set to go head-to-head in Monday's clash with Liverpool at Eastlands.

"Torres is a fantastic striker but I think it was difficult for Liverpool to sell him because he's such an important player for them," explained Mancini.

"But it's good for us that we got Balotelli instead.

"Balotelli could be even better than Torres because Torres can only play as a striker. Balotelli can play as a striker or as a winger.

"What is sure is we are talking about two fantastic players.

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"In my view, there are eight or nine fantastic strikers in the world – and Torres and Balotelli are two of them.

"Then there's (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic, (Cristiano) Ronaldo, (Carlos) Tevez and (Lionel) Messi. They're all fantastic players and we've managed to get one of them."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

It’s been something of a rocky road for Everton this season. David Moyes’s men had their traditional slow start to the season and after a small recovery, back-to-back defeats have again hampered their progress in the Premier League. The Toffees currently sit in 12th position in the Premier League table, which is two places behind their opponents at Goodison Park on Saturday.

Newly promoted Norwich City have had a very encouraging start to the season. The Canaries have just snuck into the top half after a 4-2 win against Newcastle at Carrow Road, and Paul Lambert’s men have definitely shown that they’re no pushover in the top division. Norwich have just one away win to their name, a 2-1 victory against Bolton back in September, but will be full of confidence heading to Goodison.

Heading into this week’s game, unsurprisingly as the home team, Everton are strong favourites, priced at 4/7*. The Toffees are also 10/1* to win 3-1, while for Everton to be leading at half-time and at full-time is 4/3*.

What about our market of the week? Well, with Norwich’s free-scoring nature and their somewhat leaky defence, there are likely to be goals in the game. It’s evens* for there to be more than 2.5 goals in the game, which is pretty likely.

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*odds correct at time of writing

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Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon is expected to be fit for Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final second-leg against Real Madrid.Spurs were without the speedster during the 4-0 thrashing at the Bernabeu after he withdrew due to illness minutes before the first whistle.

Lennon took no part in the 3-2 victory over Stoke City in the English Premier League on Saturday, but manager Harry Redknapp expects him to be ready by Wednesday.

“Aaron wasn’t well again on Friday and not well enough to play against Stoke,” Redknapp said.

“He did some work on Friday with the fitness coach and then joined in with a little game but didn’t feel well enough.”

“I think he will be fit enough to play on Wednesday.”

Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia has suggested he could leave the club if manager Arsene Wenger brings in a replacement.

The Gunners have been strongly linked with Fulham shot-stopper Mark Schwarzer in recent times and the Spaniard has admitted the media reports are proving to have an unsettling effect on him.

"To be honest, it is so difficult to concentrate because Arsenal is a big club and speculation is always in the news and everywhere," Almunia told the London Evening Standard.

"The only thing I can do is keep working because I have a contract here and I have to do what the manager wants from me.

"I have not spoken to him. If somebody comes in, I will have to talk about my future at Arsenal. That is it. I cannot talk now, because the talking would be for nothing.

"I have to work and if one day I am not good for Arsenal, I will talk. That is no problem. I am very happy here.

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"The only news I have is from third parties – people at the training ground. When I go out and when I come back from training, I switch off."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has defended his side from criticism from Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in relation to the Premier League club’s transfer indulgences.

The former West Germany international has been vocal in his disapproval of the Etihad Stadium outfit’s expenditure in the transfer market, and has asked Fifa to penalise the English club according to Financial Fair Play regulations.

In the build up to the two teams meeting in Manchester on Wednesday, Mancini has stuck up for the big-spending club.

“I don’t understand Rummenigge’s behaviour against Manchester City,” Mancini told The Guardian.

“This has been six months now that he talks against us because of financial fair play. He also says that he hopes Napoli get through to the second stage [instead of City]. I don’t know what his problem is with us.

“Manchester City are working for financial fair play for the next two years, so I don’t understand what has happened with Rummenigge.

“There are other teams in Europe that have problems with financial fair play, not just Manchester City. Rummenigge knows his football – he was an incredible player – but I don’t why.

“Every team is worried about Manchester City because now and in the future we could become one of the top clubs in the world,” he concluded.

Mancini also confirmed that Aleksandar Kolarov would miss the clash with the Bundesliga giants due to injury, whilst Micah Richards is due to undergo a late fitness test.

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City need to beat the Bavarians and hope Napoli do not overcome Villarreal at El Madrigal to progress to the knockout rounds.

By Gareth McKnight

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