Premier League news live: Latest on Xabi Alonso, injury updates and more

Wrexham lost £5.1million ($6.4m) during the 2022-23 season which culminated in the club being promoted back to the English Football League (EFL).

The deficit posted for the financial year to June 30, 2023, came despite turnover almost doubling. It means co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney oversaw a loss of a little over £8m in their first full two seasons at the helm.

An increase in the wage bill during the 2022-23 title-winning season partly explains the increased losses, as total salaries rose from £4.05m the previous year to £6.9m.

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Arsenal have announced that midfielder Ethan Nwaneri has signed his first professional contract with the club.

As revealed by The Athletic, Nwaneri committed his future to the north London side in the summer of 2023 by signing scholarship forms with Arsenal and agreeing to a professional deal for when he turns 17 in March 2024.

The teenager turned 17 on March 21 and his professional deal has now been confirmed by the club.

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Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali has been charged with further betting offences by the Football Association (FA).

The Italy international, 23, is already midway through a 10 month ban, imposed in October, after being found guilty of breaching rules on gambling by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).

The ban also includes a further eight months rehabilitation, including therapy as well as 16 public appearances in Italy at amateur clubs, federal training centres and addiction charities.

However, with that suspension covering bets laid while under the jurisdiction of the Italian FA, the English FA’s charge covers alleged gambling since he joined Newcastle from AC Milan in a €70million transfer in July.

Speaking in October, Tonali’s agent Beppe Riso stated at an event in London that his client had been suffering from a “gambling illness”.

An FA statement on Thursday read: “Sandro Tonali has been charged with misconduct in relation to alleged breaches of The FA’s Betting Rules.

“It’s alleged that the Newcastle United midfielder breached FA Rule E8 50 times by placing bets on football matches between 12 August 2023 and 12 October 2023.

“Sandro Tonali has until 5 April 2024 to respond.”

Liverpool have received a major boost with the news that Andy Robertson avoided serious injury in Scotland’s friendly defeat to Northern Ireland.

Scan results on his ankle showed no bone or ligament damage and the left-back, who limped off late in the first half at Hampden Park on Tuesday, is expected to be sidelined for days rather than weeks.

Robertson is a doubt for Liverpool’s home Premier League clash with Brighton on Sunday but if he misses that game he should be back in contention for next Thursday’s visit of Sheffield United.

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Tottenham Hotspur are letting go five of the club’s longest serving scouts as part of the ongoing restructuring of their football staff.

Ian Broomfield, Augusto Benito and Colin Jackson are all leaving as part of Tottenham’s transformation of their scouting team.

The move is part of a complete review of football operations dating back to the arrival of chief football officer Scott Munn in September 2023.

Tottenham then appointed Johan Lange as technical director in October 2023, with Rob Mackenzie following as Tottenham’s new chief scout.

Mauricio Pochettino has described Romeo Lavia's situation as "sad" after the midfielder was ruled out until the end of the season.

Chelsea confirmed on Wednesday that the 19-year-old would miss the remainder of the campaign due to a thigh injury.

He has only played once for Chelsea this season after joining from Southampton for a fee of £53million ($66.9m) plus £5m in add-ons last summer. The Belgian arrived at the west London club with an ankle injury and missed almost five months at the beginning of the season.

Pochettino said: "Yes, it's really difficult situation for him. He's sad. He's not happy because he only plays 30 minutes. For a new player arriving at the club. It's a thing that sometimes happens in football.

"When the club signed him, he arrived with problems from Southampton. He could not train with us in the first months. When he started to be ready to prepare, he suffered a problem in his feet. And then he recovered, played only 30 minutes and got injured. From December, we didn't have the possibility to train with him because he was never available or really close. After December, four months, never we had the possibility to train with him. Really sad news."

Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that Ben Chilwell is a doubt for Chelsea's clash against Burnley this Saturday due to a potential knee injury.

The 27-year-old was called up to Gareth Southgate's England squad for the friendlies against Brazil and Belgium and featured in both matches.

Pochettino, however, says the defender wasn't able to train on Thursday due to the issue.

He said: "We still need to assess a few players like Chilwell after playing two games. I think he got a knock on his knee. Today, he wasn't ready to train. We will see what will happen tomorrow if he can be in the squad."

Chelsea also confirmed that goalkeeper Robert Sanchez is undergoing a "rehabilitation programme", while defender Trevoh Chalobah is in partial team training.

Former Manchester City and Real Madrid forward Robinho was arrested in Brazil last week to begin serving a nine-year prison sentence for rape.

An Italian court found the 40-year-old guilty, alongside five other Brazilians, of a group sexual assault of a woman back in 2013 while he was at AC Milan.

A hearing of judges at Brazil’s superior court of justice ruled on Wednesday that the decision made in Italy was also valid in the South American country.

Brazil does not extradite its nationals leading Italy to seek for him to serve his sentence in his home country.

As things stand, Robinho will be held in an individual cell until late 2027, when he may be moved to a ‘semi-open’ regime. He will only be eligible for full release in 2033.

Brighton & Hove Albion's top scorer Joao Pedro has resumed training after missing the last eight matches through injury.

The Brazilian forward has been sidelined by a hamstring problem since scoring his 19th goal in 32 appearances in the 4-1 home win against Crystal Palace in early February.

Roberto De Zerbi's side have lost half of the games Joao Pedro has sat out, including a 4-0 drubbing at Roma in the first leg of their exit from the last 16 of the Europa League, a 1-0 defeat at Wolves in the last 16 of the FA Cup and a 3-0 loss at Fulham in the Premier League.

Brighton, in eighth place in the table, visit title challengers Liverpool on Sunday as they try to qualify for Europe via a high league finish for a second season.

Manchester City captain Steph Houghton has announced she will retire from playing at the end of this season.

Houghton, 35, began her career in 2002 with Sunderland, going on to play for Leeds United and then Arsenal before joining City in 2014.

The defender captained England from 2015 until her international retirement in 2021, making 121 appearances for her country.

“Taking the decision to retire, is such a difficult thing to do,” Houghton said in a statement. “Whilst age comes to every player, it makes it no easier having to say the words out loud.

"Football has been my life; my passion and I have loved the career I have had."

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Liverpool and Manchester United have announced that the club’s foundations have launched a joint programme to tackle tragedy chanting in football.

Tragedy-related abuse is an ongoing issue within the game — particularly with Liverpool and United supporters in recent weeks — with supporters referencing Hillsborough, the Heysel disaster, and the Munich air disaster in an attempt to taunt opposition fans.

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Crystal Palace and England goalkeeper Sam Johnstone is expected to miss the remainder of the season and Euro 2024 with an elbow injury.

Johnstone, 31, was set to start England’s friendly with Belgium on Tuesday night before suffering the injury in training ahead of the game.

He was subsequently stood down from the squad and has now undergone surgery on the problem before embarking on a lengthy recovery period.

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LAFC is finalizing a deal to sign French forward Olivier Giroud, sources briefed on the deal tell The Athletic.

The agreement would be for Giroud to join LAFC this summer when his contract with AC Milan expires.

He would join LAFC after Euro 2024, which runs from June 14 through July 14. MLS’s summer transfer window opens on July 18.

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Emma Hayes believes that Chelsea should "expect to be" in the Champions League semi-finals, as they secured their spot in the last four following a 1-1 draw with Ajax at Stamford Bridge.

Mayra Ramirez broke the deadlock for Chelsea 33 minutes into her Champions League debut in the first half, giving her side the lead on the night.

Despite Chasity Grant's second-half goal for the visitors, Chelsea secured their spot in the semi-final with a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory.

It is the fifth time in seven seasons that Chelsea has qualified for the semi-finals. They will face either Barcelona and Norwegian side Brann in the next round.

Hayes said, as quoted by Reuters: "If you look at our record in the Champions League, even in the last five years, it was only once we didn't qualify from the group. We've made the latter stages every year.

"We expect to be here, I should say that. I don't make any excuses. We should be at this level, and we should be at the semi-finals. Of course we have a little bit more depth to be able to do things like make six changes tonight than we've ever had.

"But we haven't won anything. We're in the place we want to be. I don't know who the opponent will be, but we're ready."