The 68-year-old has faced calls to leave the Gunners – who face Stoke on Sunday – after their failure to qualify for the Champions League last season, as well as their 14-year wait to win another Premier League title.

But Wenger believes a lack of success on the pitch may not be the only factor in the criticism coming his way, telling BeIN Sport: “When you age, you focus on doing well for your club and ignore all the rest. The older you get, the more it becomes age discrimination.

“I accept if the results are not good enough then you have to take the consequences. But overall that perpetual thing of how long you have been at a club, how old you are, I find that a bit difficult to take.

“But all the rest I have to accept because I am in a public job and have to make results and I accept I will be judged on results.”

Wenger has won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups during his 22 years with Arsenal and believes that, when he does finally leave the Emirates, the club’s fans will remember him for what he did for the club.

Arsenal are currently sixth in the Premier League – 13 points off the top four

He said: “I am maybe naive enough to believe that with the time going on, with perspective and context what will stand out is what I have done for my club and not so much the result of the last game or how much I will be applauded when I stop one day.

“I’m a little bit fed up of all that modern thing about completely taking care of image. I’ve always worked my whole life with the idea of who you are rather than how you look so I’m not too concerned about that.”

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Source: Sky Sports

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The Armenian playmaker has not started a game since the defeat at Chelsea on 5 November and has not been in the matchday squad for the last four games.

Mkhitaryan became Mourinho’s third signing when he joined from Borussia Dortmund for a £30m fee 18 months ago.

But BBC Sport understands there has been a “breakdown of trust”.

Speaking before Sunday’s trip to West Brom, Mourinho said: “If a player is not happy and brings with the request a number we consider good for us, I would never say no.

“That is my approach as a manager. Every player has a price.”

Last January, Mourinho allowed Memphis Depay to join Lyon and Morgan Schneiderlin to move to Everton.

He subsequently released Bastian Schweinsteiger from his contract so he could take up a lucrative offer with Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer.

Defender Luke Shaw is another potential January departure, although the indications have been that the former Southampton player intends to remain at Old Trafford for the rest of the season.

Marouane Fellaini’s contract expires at the end of the season and, so far, United’s efforts to persuade the Belgian to sign an extension have failed.

However, Mourinho likes the midfielder and selling him is not thought to be an option, particularly as Fellaini knows he can maximise his earnings in the summer if he left for free.

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Source: BBC

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Sam Vokes’ 81st-minute strike gave Burnley a 1-0 win at St Mary’s Stadium and put them on level points with fourth-placed Chelsea, who host Manchester United on Sunday.

Swansea’s 1-0 defeat by Brighton at the Liberty Stadium, coupled with Bournemouth’s 92nd-minute winner at Newcastle, saw the Welsh side fall to 18th, with the Cherries leapfrogging them into 17th place.

Elsewhere, Rajiv van La Parra’s stunning first-half strike gave Huddersfield a 1-0 win against West Brom, condemning the Baggies to their third successive league defeat and they are without a win in nine games.

In Saturday’s early kick-off, Peter Crouch scored a late equaliser as Stoke came from behind twice to draw 2-2 with Leicester.

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Source: BBC Sport

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The Reds were on top for long periods and peppered the United goal with 19 shots, but a combination of outstanding goalkeeping by David de Gea and poor finishing denied them a decisive moment.

The most noteworthy incident of an uneventful first half was De Gea denying Joel Matip from close range with a brilliant reflex save with his outstretched left boot, before Mohamed Salah fired the rebound wide.

United offered very little quality in attack although Simon Mignolet had to smartly parry Romelu Lukaku’s fierce attempt before the interval.

Liverpool dominated even more after half-time but Emre Can wasted their best chance when he volleyed over the bar from eight yards after being picked out by the impressive Joe Gomez’s precise cross.

The point was enough to take United – with nine clean sheets in their past 10 league games – to the top of the table, one point ahead of Manchester City, who host Stoke City at 15:00 BST.

History repeats itself

It’s almost a year to the day Liverpool and United played out a goalless and drab stalemate in the same stadium, with the hosts subdued by a vintage Jose Mourinho masterclass in defensive organisation and discipline.

Twelve months on, this game was only marginally better despite Liverpool taking the match to United after the break.

A year ago, United were grateful for two fine second-half saves from goalkeeper De Gea to dent Can and Philippe Coutinho.

This time the Spaniard produced a magnificent save with his foot to keep out Matip from close range on his way to his 18th Premier League clean sheet of 2017.

This was only Liverpool’s third clean sheet in 13 games this season but Mourinho will have been the happier manager at the final whistle.

The visitors had just 38% of possession – a 3% improvement on their last visit – yet they produced a dogged defensive display to stop Liverpool from scoring for only the second time this season in the Premier League.

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Source: BBC

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Chelsea say midfielder N’Golo Kante will be missing for another three weeks after picking up a hamstring injury on international duty.

The 26-year-old limped out of France’s 1-0 win against Bulgaria last weekend and will be out of action until next month.

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte says the midfielder will need a scan.

Fellow midfielder Danny Drinkwater is “progressing well” from his calf injury but is not ready to make his debut.

There was a boost for Conte with the news that striker Alvaro Morata should be fit to face Roma on Wednesday.

The former Real Madrid forward pulled his hamstring in the 1-0 defeat by Manchester City before the international break.

“He is a big loss for us because we know very well the importance of Kante to our team,” said Conte. “We don’t have another player with his characteristics.

“We may have to adapt some defenders into midfielders.”

David Luiz has played in midfield before but Conte said he would prefer not to move him, with youngsters Ethan Ampadu or Kyle Scott options to face Crystal Palace on Saturday.

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Reinhard Rauball, the DFL president, wants to move the German deadline to August 1, after the Premier League’s clubs voted to move theirs to August 9, 2018.

The subject will be discussed at a meeting in December and, if the motion is passed, Rauball wants the deadline to be adopted across Europe and will consider putting forward proposals to UEFA.

Reinhard Rauball wants to push forward further proposals to UEFA

Rauball told SportBILD: “I will bring forward a motion to shorten the transfer period. If a corresponding decision is taken, it would be put to vote at the member’s meeting in December.

“If the majority of the 36 professors are in favour, a corresponding application will have to be sent to the international federations via the DFB.

“This year, there has been trading that is no longer justifiable. That’s why a peg must be put in. You can do it that way. ”

The DFB chief has also called for an examination of FFP rules

The December meeting will consist of the DFL, Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs and, like the Premier League, changes would come into effect for next summer.

Rauball has also called for Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules to be examined after Paris Saint-Germain, whose transfer dealings are being investigated by UEFA, signed Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

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Source: Sky Sports

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Fifa has rejected Leicester City’s application to register midfielder Adrien Silva after the club missed the deadline by 14 seconds.

The Foxes agreed to sign the midfielder from Sporting Lisbon for £22m near the close of the summer transfer window on 31 August.

Silva’s registration was not completed in time with football’s governing body meaning the deal was not finalised.

Leicester are in the process of trying to appeal against the decision.

The Football Association has been in touch with Fifa and will look to help Leicester with its case.

A Leicester spokesman said: “We are working with Adrien and Sporting Clube de Portugal to overcome some issues relating to the player’s registration and exploring all options to find a resolution.”

Leicester still hope to complete the deal but Sporting President Bruno de Carvalho added: “The transfer of Adrien is already completed. Hopefully Leicester find a solution for him.”

France-born Silva, 28, is a product of Sporting’s academy and has had loan spells at Maccabi Haifa and Academica.

He has earned 20 international caps and played during Portugal’s run to winning Euro 2016.

Leicester also sold midfielder Danny Drinkwater to Chelsea for £35m in the final moments of the transfer window.

‘A deadline is a deadline’

Registering a player is not just about sending a single file, it’s a group of forms which need emailing/faxing/posting over to Fifa by the 23:00 BST transfer deadline.

In this case, Leicester had successfully sent through most of the paperwork on time, bar one form, and because that form arrived late the whole process was rejected. It reminds me of doing my GCSEs and being told that however good my paper was, it would score a zero if I forgot to put my name on.

You have to send a passport, a copy of the contract and several other items before the deal is done. Fourteen seconds might seem like a ludicrous amount of time to squabble over but a deadline is a deadline and if Fifa row back on this now then imagine other clubs saying ‘hold on three years ago we missed it by 25 seconds’, it would never end.

The only way Fifa could still allow this to happen while standing by their deadline is to ratify Adrien Silva’s registration and say that because the documents were on their way (in the post, in the cloud, whatever) that it meets their criteria.

Fifa’s statement sounds pretty resolute though, they have listened to the Football Association’s case on Leicester’s behalf and simply palmed them off by referring them to the regulations.

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Alexandre Lacazette headed the Gunners ahead 94 seconds into his top-flight debut, Shinji Okazaki nodding in the equaliser just two minutes later.

Vardy slid the visitors ahead from Marc Albrighton’s cross, only for Danny Welbeck to stroke level on half-time.

Leicester took the lead again when Vardy headed in Riyad Mahrez’s corner before Arsene Wenger made an inspired double substitution which sparked Arsenal’s comeback.

The Gunners boss introduced Aaron Ramsey and Giroud after 67 minutes – within 20 minutes both players had scored as Arsenal turned defeat into victory.

Ramsey smashed in an angled drive – from a corner which was won after Mesut Ozil handled in the build-up – before Giroud showed athleticism and strength to meet Granit Xhaka’s corner.

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Source: BBC Sport

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The launch featured coverage of the Community Shield game between Premier League champions Chelsea and Arsenal, ahead of the kick-off of the Premier League season next week.

The English Premier League coverage is made possible by a collaboration between Citi FM and Talksport UK, who have been partners for almost a decade.

The traditional season curtain-raiser is a repeat of last season’s FA Cup final, in which Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1.

Citi FM’s coverage of the EPL also recently welcomed Premium Bank as its latest sponsor.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Below is the directive of the Disciplinary Committee:

Reference is hereby made to the Decision of the Player Status Committee dated 27th January, 2017 and the related Enforcement Decision by the Disciplinary Committee dated on 7th July, 2017, which directed your club, Asante Kotoko SC to pay Intervest FC, Proton Sports Services and Global Stars SC their respective shares of the transfer fees in relation to Dauda Mohammed’s transfer on or before Friday, July 21, 2017.

Paragraph 12 of the Enforcement Decision of the Disciplinary Committee states as follows:

“PURSUANT to Article 63(1)(c) of the GFA Disciplinary Code, should Asante Kotoko SC or Global Stars SC fail to comply with the final deadlines given under clauses (a) to (d) above, the following sanctions shall apply:

1. Asante Kotoko SC or Global Stars SC shall suffer a three (3) points deductions from the club’s accumulated points for each match played after the deadline.

1. in addition, Asante Kotoko SC or Global Stars SC shall suffer an indefinite transfer ban, should Asante Kotoko SC or Global Stars SC fail to pay the amounts in full, three (3) months after the deadlines.

1. in addition, Asante Kotoko SC or Global Stars SC shall suffer demotion if Asante Kotoko SC or Global Stars SC fail to pay the amounts in full one(1) year after the deadline (July 21, 2018 and July 26, 2018 respectively)”

Intervest Football Club has informed the Ghana Football Association that the club has not received any payment from Asante Kotoko SC as at the time of writing their letter to the GFA on Wednesday, 26th July, 2017.

Having been given the final deadline of on or before Friday, July 21, 2017 to pay Intervest FC, Proton Sports Services and Global Stars SC, the Disciplinary Committee urgently draws attention of Asante Kotoko SC to the provisions of Article 63(2) of the GFA Disciplinary Code (as amended) concerning this matter:

Article 63 (2) of the GFA Disciplinary Code (as amended) which states:

“If a club disregards the final time limit, the GFA shall implement the sanction threatened”.

THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE HEREBY IMPLEMENTS THE ENFORCEMENT DECISION AS FOLLOWS:

1. THAT PURSUANT to Article 63(1)(a) of the GFA Disciplinary Code, Asante Kotoko SC is herby fined an amount of One Thousand Ghana Cedis(GH¢1,000.00), payable to the GFA upon receipt of this letter for failing to comply with the Players’ Status Committee Decision and the related Enforcement Decision of Disciplinary Committee within the stipulated time.

1. THAT PURSUANT to Article 63(2) of the GFA Disciplinary Code, your Club, Asante Kotoko SC having failed to comply with the final deadline on or before Friday, July 21, 2017, the following sanctions shall apply:
   1.     suffer a three (3) points deduction from your accumulated points for each match played after Friday, July 21, 2017.
   2. suffer an indefinite transfer ban, should Asante Kotoko SC or Global Stars SC fail to pay the amounts in full, three (3) months after the deadlines.
   3. suffer demotion if your Club fail to pay the amount in full one(1) year after the deadline. (Monday, April 9, 2018).

Please accept for STRICT COMPLIANCE, failing which the sanctions threatened above shall be applied AUTOMATICALLY by the Disciplinary Committee, the Premier League Board and the FA Cup Committee in accordance with Article 63(2) of the GFA Disciplinary Code until Asante Kotoko SC obeys the said Decision.

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Source: Ghana FA

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