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Arch-rivals at opposite ends of the table, league leaders Lille and relegation-threatened Lens square off in Ligue 1 on Saturday.

Lille are unbeaten in eight games and looking for their fifth consecutive victory when they take to the field at the Stadium Lille Metropole.

Their run has taken them four points clear of the chasing pack, but Paris Saint-Germain, Rennes and Lyon are all poised to pounce on a slip from the leaders.

Centre-back Adil Rami, capped six times for France, insists the squad are reluctant to consider mounting a sustained challenge for the championship.

“It’s not like us to say that we’re fighting for the title,” Rami said.

“There are more traditionally successful teams than ours. So we remain humble, it’s a victory for us to be here among many others and now we have to carry on working and going forward.”

Forwards Moussa Sow and Gervais Gervinho have been influential this season, scoring 15 and 10 goals respectively.

But they have been ably assisted by Belgian Eden Hazard, who was singled out for special praise by coach Rudi Garcia.

“We expect a lot from these talented players, on their capacities to be decisive,” Garcia said.

“He’s been decisive these last two games and that’s great, for sure.”

Struggling at the other end of the table this season, Lens have won two games in a row to move clear of the relegation zone, including a come-from-behind 2-1 win over St Etienne.

They also beat Caen 2-0, but are still only one point clear of the bottom three.

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“What we did is super important,” defender Franck Queudrue said.

“Already to have come from behind against St Etienne and (winning) against Caen, grabbing six points and exiting the relegation zone.”

Lens’ mini-revival has been prompted by the arrival of new coach Laszlo Boloni, who will have his work cut out for him as he attempts to make it three wins from three up against the in-form table toppers.

As it stands, Jack Wilshere will be a free agent at the end of the season when his contract at Arsenal expires.

The England international has been in talks with the North London outfit for some time regarding fresh terms, but an agreement is yet to be made.

Wilshere has struggled throughout most of his adult career with injury problems – issues that have kept him on the sidelines for large chunks of time.

Last season, in order to get some more minutes under his belt, the midfielder was sent to Bournemouth on loan.

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At the end of the campaign, the 26-year-old broke a bone in his leg, but since recovering, Wilshere has featured more regularly for Arsenal.

In total, the midfielder has started 27 games in all competitions, scoring two goals and creating four assists.

According to the Daily Mail, in a bid to keep Wilshere, Arsenal have increased their initial contract offer of £90,000 per week to in excess of £100,000 per week.

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In response to questions about his future, the midfielder told Soccer Saturday:

“We are still in the same position really. Not much has changed. We are still talking. Obviously the boss has left which has changed things a little bit because I don’t know who is going to be the manager next year and that can change things. But we are still talking and I am hopeful and the club is hopeful we can get something done.”

Arsenal fans have given their thoughts on the situation via Reddit.

Comment from discussion Jack Wilshere is “hopeful” he will agree a contract extension to remain at Arsenal. – Sky Sports.Comment from discussion Jack Wilshere is “hopeful” he will agree a contract extension to remain at Arsenal. – Sky Sports.Comment from discussion Jack Wilshere is “hopeful” he will agree a contract extension to remain at Arsenal. – Sky Sports.Comment from discussion Jack Wilshere is “hopeful” he will agree a contract extension to remain at Arsenal. – Sky Sports.Comment from discussion Jack Wilshere is “hopeful” he will agree a contract extension to remain at Arsenal. – Sky Sports.Comment from discussion Jack Wilshere is “hopeful” he will agree a contract extension to remain at Arsenal. – Sky Sports.Comment from discussion Jack Wilshere is “hopeful” he will agree a contract extension to remain at Arsenal. – Sky Sports.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has stated that he will still be in charge at Anfield next season.

The Northern Irish manager has failed to inspire his team to reach the same heights that they achieved last season and as such there have been some rumblings in the media that the former Swansea City coach’s position could be under threat.

However, despite the rumours, Rodgers has stated that he will “150 per cent” still be in charge of the Reds next term.

“I’m constantly reviewing with the owners,” The Telegraph report Rodgers as saying.

“There is probably a lot more made of that than what it actually is. There is nothing different. There have been a number of reviews.

“Throughout the season I’ve had great communication with the owners, I’ll speak with them at the end of the season like I did last year, like I did at the end of my first year, and like I’ve done intermittently throughout the season.

“It is very clear in terms of the model of how it works here. That doesn’t change. There are constant questions asked of me in terms of strategy and the model. You have to remember the owners have had great success in terms of working and how they want to work.

“Everyone here is aligned to that and have that belief in what they’ve brought to the club.

“For us it is really analysing this year in terms of all the plans, all the changes that took place last year, review that, how can we be better equipped to move forward and challenge. That will be the review.”

Liverpool put together an impressive run of form in the early part of 2015 but the side’s luck changed when it reached the crucial business end of the campaign.

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Inconsistency in the Premier League has cost the Merseysiders a place in the top four and hence Liverpool will not play in the Champions League next season.

The Reds were also beaten by Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi-finals, putting in an abject performance to ensure that the season would end without silverware.

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England goalkeeper Joe Hart has welcomed the increased competition for a starting spot that Ben Foster has brought to the squad.

The West Brom stopper, who has recently come out of international retirement, has been included in the Three Lions’ set-up for their up-coming World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Montenegro after some impressive domestic displays.

Hart, who has had a shaky season with Manchester City, believes that Foster’s inclusion will be of great benefit to Roy Hodgson’s squad, and feels that increased levels of competition are good for all involved:

“It’s great to see Ben,” he told Sky Sports.

“He is a consistent performer, someone I get on well with.

“It’s good to have keepers like that around. There are three top quality keepers here plus Jack Butland and John Ruddy, and everywhere you look there is good talent.”

But, Hart is confident that he can keep his place as England’s number one goalkeeper:

“Is Foster good enough to push me? Yes, but I’ve felt that every time I’ve come away with England.

“I’m in that privileged spot at the moment. I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do, I love it, I’ll keep working and training hard if there are no keepers or 1,000 keepers.

“That number one spot is one I want to keep and last summer (Euro 2012) was a real high point in my career, a dream.”

Hart has come in for some criticism this term for his level of performance for Manchester City.

The Sky Blues have struggled to keep pace with local rivals Manchester United, with a number of their top stars failing to produce the sort of form they managed in their Championship winning campaign.

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Hart admitted that the criticism has been tough, but that it has not eroded his confidence:

“My season has not been brilliant,” he added. “It’s had its good times but it’s football. It’s what I love doing.

“Sometimes you take knocks, you take opinions, but you’ve got to be strong.”

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According to Football.London, West Ham United could be ready to let striker Jordan Hugill, rated at £7.2m by Transfermarkt, leave on loan this summer just a few months after they signed him, as long as they retain their Premier League status.

The Irons only brought the centre-forward to the London Stadium in a £10m deal from Championship club Preston North End during the January transfer window, but he has played just 22 minutes of Premier League football since then across three substitute appearances.

The latest of those came in the 3-0 win against Southampton last month, and it is certainly no surprise that Football.London reports that the east London outfit are ready to let the 25-year-old leave – albeit perhaps only on a temporary deal – at the close of the campaign.

Meanwhile, Leeds United looked to be one of the favourites for promotion to the top flight following a positive start to the season that saw them top the Championship standings in September, but they have fallen away gradually and now face a battle to even secure a top-half finish.

Manager Paul Heckingbottom will already be thinking about making changes to a squad that have once again underachieved this term over the course of the summer, and he will want players that can help the Yorkshire giants finish in the top six at the very least next year.

Hugill is certainly one of the players that should be on his radar, whether it is simply a loan deal or even a permanent one.

Here are three reasons Leeds must sign the out-of-favour striker…

It seems increasingly unlikely that Lasogga, who came under criticism from his own supporters on Twitter last month following comments he made about his future, will remain at Elland Road when his loan spell comes to an end at the end of the season, and Heckingbottom will be searching for a new target man to replace the Hamburg man – and Chris Wood, in truth – should he not return.

Even though he is only 6ft tall, Hugill has become well known for his strength and his ability to win the ball in the air, and the West Ham striker has all of the attributes needed to be a success for Leeds next term.

Heckingbottom may feel that he needs more individuals with that Championship experience and know-how next season if he is to finally get the club back into promotion contention, and Hugill would certainly fit the ball if that turned out to be the case.

The 25-year-old scored 23 goals in 100 matches at that level for Preston prior to his move to the London Stadium in January, while he showed that he isn’t afraid to battle with opposition centre-backs given he won 155 aerial duels in 27 league games for North End this term, as per WhoScored.com.

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Hugill showed great enthusiasm via a post on the club’s official Twitter account when he signed for West Ham in January, and was clearly excited to have joined a big Premier League club.

While the move may not have worked out thus far, it’s clear that the 25-year-old has the right mentality to succeed and to want to prove a point, and he would certainly be similarly excited if he clinched a deal to join Leeds given the size of the club, their history and their passionate fan-base.

Do you agree, Whites fans? Let us know below.

At the beginning of the season hardly anybody had heard of Harry Kane.

Fast forward nine months and the Tottenham striker has scored 23 goals, scored on his England senior team debut and won the PFA Young Player of the Year as well as being nominated for the Player of the Year but while most of the Premier League players are looking forward to having a rest and going on their summer holidays the 21-year-old could be set to carry on playing if he goes out to join the England U21 team at the European Championships in the Czech Republic.

Kane’s manager, Mauricio Pochettino, has already stated that he does not want the youngster to travel with the England team but he is not planning to stand in his way if he wants to go. The Englishman wants to go to the European Championship but the demands of his first full season in the Premier League are starting to take its toll.

As well as having to handle the physical strain of playing 50 games over four competitions there has been the mental strain that has come with being the new face everybody in the country knows about. Many at Tottenham are concerned that Kane could be trying to take on too much too young and the fears he could burn out seem to be genuine. Since scoring for England against Lithuania in March, Kane’s influence in games, for the London club, have dipped. While his work rate hasn’t decreased Spurs have only won one game since the International break and that was a 3-1 win in which Kane scored. It can hardly be a coincidence and further shows Kane’s importance to Tottenham.

It remains uncertain on how involved the 21-year-old will be in Spur’s post season tour but the reasons are staking up as to why Pochettino will be hoping Kane can get the summer off to recover and be ready to start again in August. The England boss, Roy Hodgson, has previously criticised the club for the possibility of taking Kane on the post-season tour to Australia worrying that by the end of the season he will be too worn out to play but the gaffer remains adamant that Kane should still play in the tournament for England. Speaking in March he said, “If he needs a rest, there’s a great opportunity when the season ends before our Under-21’s get to together.”

Whatever happens the final decision has to be down to Kane. Too much too quick could falter his future- look what happened when Theo Walcott was taken to play for England by Sven Goran Erikson. Kane wants to do everything at the moment but there needs to become a time when he needs to take a step back and rest for his own sake. Playing for England is an honour at any level but if it ruins the rest of your career that it is definitely not worth it.

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Kane is a star of the future we need to nurture him not exploit him.

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In the world of football, nothing ever stays the same. Players age, clubs decline and managers come and go. The beautiful game constantly moves forward, and unfortunately that means someone has to get left behind.

Newcastle are a club who’ve suffered problems to say the least this year. They’re arguably suffering from second season syndrome after finishing way above expectations in fifth at the end of their 2011/2012 Premier League campaign.

So perhaps it’s time to get rid of the deadwood, especially now that Alan Pardew is watching over somewhat of a French revolution at St. James’ Park, and the club brought in five new faces in the January transfer window.

Click on Cheick Tiote to see five suggestions for Newcastle players that have had their time, and should be sold for scrap in the summer

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As reported by The Daily Mirror, Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Ruben Neves this summer.

What’s the story?

It’s expected to be a busy transfer window for Mauricio Pochettino and Spurs this summer as they look to bring talent to the club that can help them make a more consistent bid to win the English Premier League next season.

One player on their radar is English Championship stand-out Ruben Neves, who inspired Wolverhampton Wanderers to promotion this season.

That’s according to The Mirror, who say Neves is one of three Portuguese internationals that Spurs are interested in signing.

Rated at £13.5m by Transfermarkt, does the midfielder have the ability to make the step up to a top six English side?

Is he good enough?

Neves has taken the Championship by storm this season, undoubtedly the best player in the league and showing enough ability that suggests he is more than capable of performing at a higher level.

The technical central midfield player has demonstrated he is adept at imposing himself on matches and dictating play for Wolves, having the confidence to dominate matches.

While that domination is less likely immediately at Spurs, he deserves the chance to show what he can do at a bigger side, especially under a manager like Mauricio Pochettino who can bring his game on further.

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Still just 21 years of age and having already won senior caps with Portugual, his potential is huge and Tottenham shouldn’t sleep on trying to sign him before others get involved.

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As the season edges towards its conclusion and the competitions around the world are coming to their end it is the time where individual honours are considered. In the Premier league, the list for Player of the Season is an exhaustive one and picking a winner is a decisive topic.

For all of Hazard’s scintillating performances for Chelsea and Harry Kane’s heroics at The Lane, it is another player plying his trade in London who should be picking up the end of season prize.

Back in July 2014, when Arsene Wenger finally persuaded Stan Kroenke to delve £35m deep into his pockets, Alexis Sanchez was secured from Barcelona. On the back of a superb World Cup and his most prolific season to date at Barcelona, The Gunners had undoubtedly acquired one of the best talents on the planet.

It was a signing which some expected would help to catapult Arsenal to their first title in over a decade. In that respect some could argue his signature has failed to live up to expectations. But that would be taking an extremely harsh viewpoint on the Chilean’s first campaign in England.

Without the winger’s startlingly impressive early season form, Arsenal would have already faded into the kind of irrelevance their last opponents, Liverpool, now find themselves in. 13 goals in an 18 game spell between October and January kept his side in touch with the early front runners when few of his teammates seemed to have the ability or fight to do likewise.

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As can be expected the Chilean’s white hot early season form was to cool. But his performances allowed his teammates to warm to the task.

In only eight months he has become a talismanic figure at The Emirates: a leader on the pitch. The only player whose performances have had such a significant impact on their team is Harry Kane at Tottenham but Sanchez has inspired others; he has led his colleagues to a level that they have rarely reached in their careers.

Mesut Ozil is beginning to flourish, at first independent of Sanchez and maybe even to the detriment of the Chilean. But the duo’s combined performance against Liverpool was enough to strike fear into the heart of every other team in the country.

Sanchez’s first season in England may end without a league trophy but his individual performances have helped to spur his side on, potentially to an FA Cup win and probably to their highest placed League finish in years.

Where you have to feel Kane is peaking in his duties at White Hart Lane, you feel the former Barcelona man still has so much more to offer. He has galvanised a side who felt they could not contend with the big boys anymore and rid them of their inferiority complex.

With one of the very best players in the world they no longer feel fear.

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His first year in England has seen him achieve so much and his adaptation to life in English football has been rapid. He has instantly become one of the best players in the nation’s game having had almost no settling period.

Sanchez has simply been the best player in the supposed best league that the world has to offer.

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transfer target Loic Remy has come in for criticism from his boss at current club Marseille.

Magpies boss Alan Pardew has been hoping to sign the striker during the January transfer window after the departure of their leading goal scorer Demba Ba to Chelsea last week.

Remy, also linked with QPR this month, has scored 28 goals in 53 starts for the Ligue 1 giants since joining in 2010 from Nice.

But he has struggled this season finding the net just three times in 19 appearances and he remains without a goal since November.

And Marseille coach Elie Baup has questioned Remy’s form, and suggested the France international may stay at the club until the summer.

In an interview with Mirror Football, he said of his forward, “He seeks primarily to regain his touch. The physical side, he has found. He must now partner that with the co-ordination of movements and feeling of the game.

“For a year, every transfer window, we have been talking about his departure. But he is still there – maybe he still will be in the summer.

“As this is the third transfer window where we are talking about his departure, he is not focusing on it.”

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Remy, 26, is in Morocco at a training camp this week, while Newcastle have officials in France trying to wrap up a deal. QPR boss Harry Redknapp is also thought to be keen on a striker he also targetted last season when he was Tottenham boss.

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