Head coach Garry Monk wants clarity on his Swansea City future after guiding the club to back-to-back Premier League victories.

Goals from Jonjo Shelvey, Pablo Hernandez and a Wilfried Bony penalty put Aston Villa to the sword in a 4-1 Premier League victory on Saturday, after Gabriel Agbonlahor had cancelled out Bony s earlier strike.

Swansea s first consecutive league wins since December 2012 leave them eight points clear of the relegation zone only Sunderland, who are 10 points behind with four games to play, can catch them and Monk is keen to know whether he has a future in his role after replacing Michael Laudrup earlier this season.

The mission I was given was to get the club safe, he said. We re still not mathematically, but I d be very surprised if what we ve g…

German World Cup-winning player and coach Franz Beckenbauer on Friday insisted veteran keeper Jens Lehmann was in top form, notwithstanding a couple of errors in his team s run to the Euro 2008 final.

Lehmann is on very good form right now. If Germany do not end up as champions it certainly won t be down to the keeper, Beckenbauer told AFP, with 38-year-old Lehmann having come in for some recent criticism.

Although Lehmann, who will play for Stuttgart after his move from Arsenal, played well enough in the 3-2 quarter-final win over Portugal he let in two more goals against Turkey in the semi which he might have stopped on another day.

Regarding those two goals he was left without cover by his defenders, said Beckenbauer, who said that Germany s inconsistency …

Germany s Spanish spy Christoph Metzelder says his side must take advantage of Spain s first appearance in a major final since 1984 when they face the Germans in Sunday s Euro 2008 final.

The 27-year-old Real Madrid centre-back has spent a season at the Bernabeu and he says Spain s lack of experience in the knock-out stages of a major tournament could help Germany win the Henri Delaunay trophy.

Spain have not been in a major final since they were beaten 2-0 by Michel Platini-inspired France at the Parc des Princes in 1984, while the bulk of the Germany team claimed third-place at the 2006 World Cup.

I know the Spanish have real respect for us, but there is a self-inflicted trauma in the team, it has taken them decades to move beyond the quarter-final of a tou…

As relayed by Fabrizio Romano, club president Joan Laporta has declared that Barcelona are keen on holding talks with Ousmane Dembele and his representatives over the possibility of the 25-year-old winger signing a new contract. They are happy with him and believe he is happy at the Camp Nou too, and they want him to stay there beyond 2024, which is when his current contract expires.

There is, of course, a possible motive of protecting a player s market value by not allowing him to enter the final 12 months of contract, but that s mere speculation at this point.

Dembele was already close to leaving Barcelona over a year ago and his previous deal was set to expire last summer, but head coach Xavi Hernandez gradually reinstated the France international into the team and h…

Competition: Premier League

Market: Chelsea to beat Arsenal

Odds:

The Premier League moves into its first fixtures of January in midweek as the league continues to heat up. Every side was given the chance to pick up a glut of points of December, and while some succeeded in doing this, others failed massively. With the season now well into its second-half, every side knows how important it is to embark upon a positive run of form. With this in mind, there is a huge battle at the top as Arsenal host Chelsea on Wednesday.

Arsenal have been in fairly good form lately, but it has not stopped them from losing ground on the teams above them. After 21 games they have 11 wins, five draws and five losses, while they have scored 38 times and conceded 26 …

that Atletico Madrid are keen on re-signing Diego Costa from Chelsea.

The twenty-seven year old looks set to leave Stamford Bridge at the end of the season, and a return to Spain looks likely though French champions Paris Saint Germain are also keeping an eye on the situation.

Costa swapped Madrid for London in the summer of 2014, and has since racked up seventy-one appearances in all competitions, scoring thirty-five goals while he was part of the squad that won the Premier League and League Cup double last season.

However, with the glory also comes controversy and the Spain international is growing frustrated with the reputation he has gained since playing in England.

Atleti lost the first leg of their Champions League quarter final to Barcelona o…

Wales face their stiffest challenge of the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign so far when they visit Belgium on Sunday.

Chris Coleman s men have exceeded expectations to sit top of Group B with seven points from their opening three matches.

Belgium favourites to win the group lurk three points further back having played a game fewer, and will want to build on their own solid start.

Marc Wilmots men thumped Andorra 6-0 in their opener before picking up a creditable 1-1 draw at Bosnia-Herzegovina also the opposition for Wales only dropped points so far.

But Coleman has his sights set on picking up at least a point in Brussels, where Wales drew 1-1 in October 2013 with Belgium having already sealed qualification for the World Cup.

We need to get somethin…

Competition: International friendly
Market: Scotland to win against England
Odds:

Scotland host England in an international friendly in Tuesday, and will certainly fancy their chances given their recent form. The Blues saw past rivals Republic of Ireland in an important Euro 2016 qualifier, and face an England side who have been scoreless at half-time in their last four away games. They were slow getting out of the blocks in their recently 3-1 win against Slovenia too.

Gordon Strachan’s side will be fully strengthened for their clash against the Three Lions, while England are set to ring the changes somewhat to the team to allow a rest to the experienced stars. With Scotland boasting home advantage as the tie will be played at Celtic Park Coral are backing…

Germans were unfurling their flags and applying the black, red and gold face-paints on Sunday morning as football fever approached its climax for the team s Euro 2008 final against Spain.

From Chancellor Angela Merkel downwards, Germans will be cheering on Schweini , Poldi and their teammates in a nation now much more comfortable with being patriotic ever since the 2006 World Cup was held on home soil.

In towns and cities across the country, hundreds of thousands were expected at public viewing areas to watch the match beamed in from Vienna from 1845 GMT onto huge screens and tens of millions will be glued to their TVs at home.

More than 400,000 people watched the last game in the specially erected Fan Mile around the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin alone, and the…

Manchester United winger Memphis Depay has refused to blame former manager Louis van Gaal for his underwhelming performances in 2015-16 and is confident he will soon be back to his best.

The Netherlands international failed to live up to high expectations at Old Trafford after joining from PSV and spent the majority of the second half of the season on the bench.

Depay does not want to point the finger at anyone, though, and has vowed to give his all in pre-season in order to win over new boss Jose Mourinho.

It s never nice to be criticised, but it s part of the game and I have to deal with it. The season did not go as planned and that hurt my confidence a bit, the 22-year-old told Fox Sport.

I do not want to blame the manager for it. I played some goo…