Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka could make his long-awaited return against Fulham in the Premier League on Tuesday after recovering from a hamstring injury, his manager Mikel Arteta said.

The 23-year-old England international, who has scored nine goals and provided 14 assists in 24 matches in all competitions for Arsenal this season, has been sidelined since December.

“Saka is ready to go,” Arteta told reporters on Monday. “All the careful things are already done. Now it’s about putting him in the grass at the right moment. But he’s pushing because he really wants to.

“Bukayo is a massive weapon that we have. We know the impact he has in the team and how important his role and contribution is to our success. It’s great to have him back again.”

Arsenal, who trail Premier League leaders Liverpool by 12 points with nine games remaining, host Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final next week.

“It is the energy that he (Saka) transmits. He has missed the thing that he loves the most in his life — which is to be around the team, to play, train and compete at the highest level,” Arteta added.

“The fact that he is able to come in the most important part of the season is a massive boost for him and the team as well.”

Arsenal’s Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori was injured on international duty.

Calafiori, 22, had to leave the pitch towards the end of Italy’s 2-1 defeat by Germany in the first leg of their Nations League quarter-final.

“It was really unfortunate how that injury happened but it could have been much worse,” Arteta said.

“(Dutch defender Jurrien) Timber has been ill for long but he has felt much better in the last few days, so he is available.”

Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw at Fulham in December. “We had a good time to reflect and reset and put ourselves in a good position to go into the most exciting part of the Premier League season,” Arteta said.

-Reuters

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 The battle for a place in the Champions League is the focus of attention in the final two months of the English Premier League season, with the title race and relegation battle seemingly a foregone conclusion.

Liverpool are storming clear with a 12-point lead over Arsenal at the top, while at the bottom Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton are set for an immediate return to the second-tier Championship.

A strong season by English sides in European competitions means it is almost certain that a top-five finish will secure a place in next season’s Champions League.

And the race to be in Europe’s elite club competition has never been more open as the Premier League’s middle class has taken advantage of a woeful season for Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

Chelsea and Manchester City occupy fourth and fifth on 49 and 48 points respectively with nine games to go but both also still have plenty to do after their struggles for consistent form.

Here is a look at the prospects of four surprise Champions League challengers.

Nottingham Forest (third, 54 points)

Forest may have plenty of historical pedigree in continental competition, but they have not been in the European Cup since they were defending champions in 1980.

After a 23-year absence from the Premier League and just battling to avoid relegation in the past two seasons, the Tricky Trees have stunned everyone to sit behind only Liverpool and Arsenal at the top of the table and have made it to the FA Cup semi-finals.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s men have a seven-point cushion in the race for a top-five finish and a favourable fixture run-in.

Forest face only two sides in the top half, Chelsea and Aston Villa, in their final nine games.

Brighton & Hove Albion (seventh, 47 points)

The Seagulls have taken 13 points from a possible 15 to roar back into Champions League contention in Fabian Hurzeler’s first season in charge.

The wheels could have come off for the 32-year-old when his ultra attacking line-up away to Forest in February backfired in a humiliating 7-0 defeat.

At that point, Brighton had won just twice in the Premier League in 12 games, but they have bounced back impressively to keep dreams of a first-ever foray into the Champions League alive.

Fulham (eighth, 45 points)

Fulham are another club never to have reached Europe’s elite level but are back in the running after their own mid-season stumble.

Marco Silva’s men won just twice in 10 games between late November and mid-January, but have beaten Forest, Newcastle United and Tottenham in their last six league maches.

However, they face a tough run if they are to qualify for Europe for the first time in 14 years.

The Cottagers face Arsenal and Liverpool in their next two and host City on the final day of the season.

Bournemouth (10th, 44 points)

The Cherries’ chances of a first-ever European adventure have suffered in a run of one point from their last four league games.

Andoni Iraola’s men appeared to be tiring before the international break and showed signs of fatigue in an FA Cup quarter-final loss to City over the weekend after taking a first-half lead.

The visit of struggling Ipswich on April 2 gives Bournemouth the perfect chance to kickstart their pursuit of the top five in what is likely to be the final few months before this squad is broken up.

Iraola himself is reportedly the man Tottenham want to succeed Ange Postecoglou if the Australian does not deliver the Europa League.

Milos Kerkez and Antoine Semenyo have been linked with Liverpool, while Dean Huijsen is attracting interest from Real Madrid.

-AFP

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Manchester United plan to build a new two billion pound ($2.59 billion) 100,000-seat stadium that will be the biggest in Britain, next to the existing Old Trafford, the club announced on Tuesday.

“Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the world’s greatest football stadium, at the centre of a regenerated Old Trafford,” United’s co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said in a statement.

The British billionaire had been open about his desire for a new, state-of-the-art “Wembley of the north” since he became a minority owner in February of last year, and the club have been studying whether to redevelop the existing stadium, which has been the club’s home since 1910, or build a new one.

United appointed Foster + Partners in September to develop a masterplan for the area around Old Trafford as part of a regeneration project.

The club unveiled architectural designs for the new stadium, which will feature an umbrella design, at an event on Tuesday morning in London.

“This has to be one of the most exciting projects in the world today,” Norman Foster, Foster + Partners’ executive chairman, said in a statement. “It all starts with the fans’ experience, bringing them closer than ever to the pitch and acoustically cultivating a huge roar.

“The stadium is contained by a vast umbrella, harvesting energy and rainwater, and sheltering a new public plaza that is twice the size of Trafalgar Square.”

The stadium will be part of a wider regeneration of the Old Trafford area, with British finance minister Rachel Reeves recently giving government backing for the plans.

United say the project could create as many as 92,000 new jobs and will lead to the construction of 17,000 homes, and will be worth an additional 7.3 billion pounds per year to the British economy.

Old Trafford has not had any major redevelopment since 2006 and criticism of the 74,140-seat stadium, England’s biggest club ground, has grown in recent years, with issues around its leaking roof and recent rodent sightings.

-Reuters