Barnet s Edgar Davids has inspired his side to their first victory of the season a 4-0 win over Northampton on debut as player-coach.

The Dutchman and one-time Champions League winner handed himself a first professional start since turning out for Crystal Palace in October 2010 and also took the captain s armband for the game.

On-loan Notts County defender Krystian Pearce opened the scoring in the second half after Davids won his side a corner, with Andy Yiadom doubling the home side s lead shortly after.

John Oster added a third with a long-range effort, before Anthony Edgar wrapped up the points in stoppage time.

The Bees remain rooted to the bottom of League Two despite Friday night s rare three points, but the presence of the 39-year-old appears to …

Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has warned his team-mates not to disrespect Hannover ahead of Saturday s Bundesliga clash.

Hannover are trailing the Bavarians by 14 points in the league table, but Schweinsteiger feels that they are a team to be reckoned with, likening them to Germany s national side.

Hannover have really developed in recent years and play some very clever football, Schweinsteiger told Bild.

They always wait for their opponents to charge forward, and then try to win the ball and launch a quick counterattack.

Their style of play is quite similar to what Germany did at the 2010 World Cup. That s how Hannover play. They have fast and technical players like (Jan) Schlaudraff who fit this style perfectly.

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Tomas Soucek s strike earned West Ham a 1-1 draw against Tottenham and prevented their London rivals from making their best-ever start to a Premier League season after five matches.

Antonio Conte s side led at half-time at London Stadium through a Thilo Kehrer own goal at the end of a slick attacking move from Spurs, who earlier had a penalty awarded and contentiously overturned.

But Soucek fired past Hugo Lloris in the 55th minute to get West Ham back on level terms and the hosts, who brought on club-record signing Lucas Paqueta for his debut, looked the more likely to win the match from that point. 

Despite failing to see out the win, Spurs remain unbeaten on 11 points from five matches, while West Ham are up to four points for the season after recovering from…

Top flight Portuguese outfit Sporting Braga on Thursday said they had signed Cameroon international striker Albert Meyong Ze from Spain s Levante on a two-year contract.

Meyong has signed a contract to the end of the 2009/2010 season, Braga announced on their website.

Meyong, 27, caused a stir last season in playing in Portugal for Belenenses after already playing for both Levante and Albacete in Spain whereas FIFA regulations stipulated that a player may only appear for two clubs in a single season, even if he may be on the books of three.

Belenenses lost six points as a result after Portugal s Naval lodged a complaint.

…

Vahid Halilhodzic has demanded a reaction from Japan against South Korea, having seen his side succumb to an opening-day defeat in the East Asian Cup.

Halilhodzic watched his domestic-based team throw away a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 against North Korea on Sunday as Japan s lack of star quality was exposed by a tidy, well-drilled outfit in Wuhan.

With the competition falling outside the official FIFA calendar, Europe-based talent such as Shinji Kagawa, Keisuke Honda and Shinji Okazaki are all absent from the competition.

While Yuki Muto took advantage of his opportunity to register the opener at the weekend, following a goalless draw against Singapore in World Cup qualification in June, Halilhodzic is facing his first real test as Japan boss.

The f…

Calum Chambers is facing six to nine months out after he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, Arsenal have confirmed. 

Chambers, who spent last season on loan at Fulham, sustained the injury in the first half of Sunday s Premier League loss to Chelsea when he fell awkwardly.

The 24-year-old defender will miss the rest of the 2019-20 campaign after undergoing surgery in London on Thursday and is set for a long period of rehabilitation.

Everyone at the club will be supporting Calum to ensure he is back on the pitch as soon as possible,  a club statement read.

Chambers has made 14 appearances for Arsenal this season, helping to fill in for injured defenders including right-back Hector Bellerin.

Arsenal also confirmed Scotlan…

Chelsea v Fulham

Six points behind the leaders and only four games left. It really is ‘last chance saloon’ for Chelsea as any dropped points will be the end of their title hopes. With a game against Barcelona to come in four days time, I wonder if Hiddink will accept that the Champions League is a far better bet than the Premier League?

Fulham continue to shock and amaze and they are in pole position to pick up the last Europa League qualifying place. They are tough to beat but they have only won two away from home all season.

SoccerNews prediction: 2-0

Manchester City v Blackburn

City have a chance of qualifying for Europe which didn’t really seem likely a few weeks ago. Eleven wins at home have been the main rea…

Edson Braafheid scored at both ends as Twente came from behind to beat Groningen 4-2 in the Eredivsie Europa League play-off semi-final.

Twente came into the second leg with a 1-0 aggregate lead, and their European bid looked all the more likely when Braafheid gave them a 12th-minute lead.

Braafheid was on the scoresheet again just ten minutes, only this time putting the ball past his own keeper and handing the visitors a way back in the tie.

And it soon got worse for Twente when Slovenian winger Andraz Kirm popped up to give Groningen the lead.

The game remained level as the closing stages approached but Felipe Gutierrez, who scored the only goal of the first leg, struck again late on to give the hosts an aggregate lead with just seven minutes to go.

According to A Bola, Portuguese side Sporting CP are willing to do whatever it takes in order to keep hold of Bas Dost. The 29-year-old, who was assaulted by ultras not too long ago, hasn t ruled out continuing on with Sporting despite the fact that Sevilla are said to be very interested in acquiring his services. Dost has a phenomenal record in Portugal with 70 goals in 90 appearances since moving there in 2016, which tends to be the general theme that he follows wherever he goes in his career.

Since his early twenties Dost has been rising up through the ranks of European football courtesy of his consistency in front of goal, and it ll be interesting to see whether or not he lands a big move prior to his career coming to an end. Dost recently retired from international footbal…

Cash-strapped Portsmouth continued to hold talks with British tax authorities on Tuesday in a bid to avoid becoming the first English Premier League club to be wound up.

Her Majesty s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are set to take Portsmouth to London s High Court on Wednesday in order to have the club, bottom of the Premier League, wound up because of a multi-million pounds unpaid tax bill.

But if Pompey can come to an arrangement with HMRC they will avoid going into administration and so evade the risk of a points deduction which would all but condemn them to relegation and life in the second division Championship next season.

Portsmouth are looking for new investors after Hong Kong businessman Balram Chainrai effectively became the club s fourth owner in a matter…