Paris Saint-Germain have their Ligue 1 crown back after Sunday s stunning 7-1 victory wrested the championship from Monaco, but the inevitability of this triumph coupled with their inability to meet expectations in Europe makes it something of a damp squib.

Club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi famously said in 2013, following a quarter-final elimination at the hands of Barcelona, that PSG s aim was to win the Champions League in the next five years .

While detractors can say such a bold and ambitious statement cause unwanted pressure for players and coaches, the fact it came from Al-Khelaifi meant it was on him as well.

PSG s transfer business at the start of the season gave every indication Al-Khelaifi was not going to accept failure on his pledge, as Neymar arriv…

The 2008-09 season has come to an end and it is time to look at who has been hot and who hasn’t in this season’s EPL.

Hot club

The trophy winners were Manchester United in the Premier League and Carling Cup and Chelsea in the FA Cup. Other notable performances came from Everton, reaching the FA Cup final and finishing fifth in the league again, Liverpool, making a real challenge for the Premier League title for the first time in a long while, Aston Villa making good progress and Hull and Stoke staying in the Premier League.

Also worthy of a mention are Fulham for qualifying for the Europa league after only escaping relegation on the last day on goal difference just one season before. That was a remarkable performance.

The winne…

NFL action continues for a fourth straight day Tuesday, as the Seattle Seahawks travel to SoFi Stadium to take on the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams have gotten healthier with the extra rest and now sit as 7-point favorites ahead of the contest. 

We’re betting on this Rams defense to win battles against a Seattle team that hasn’t posted more than 330 yards of offense (outside of the Houston game) and will be without Tyler Lockett. We’re also putting some money down on L.A.’s passing attack in our NFL prop picks for Seahawks vs. Rams. 

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The Dallas Cowboys will look to bounce back from a heartbreaking overtime loss in Week 10 as they face the 8-1 Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Vikings are riding-high from a huge comeback win in Buffalo and look to carry that momentum into Sunday.

Which players hold the best betting value ahead of America’s Game of the Week? Find out in my free NFL player props for Cowboys vs. Vikings. 

Also, be sure to check out Ed Scimia’s full Cowboys vs. Vikings betting preview. 

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Christmas is nearly here, and so are the NFL playoffs. You’ll often find juiced prices on teams that “want it more” at this time of year, but I think there are some postseason hopefuls being dangled at playable odds.

I’m mixing a fairly low-risk moneyline parlay with a more aggressive same-game parlay as I look to secure a winning holiday weekend in Week 16, so please join me as I discuss the NFL odds and share my free NFL picks for Sunday, December 24.

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A betting line and what it represents is rather mundane and straightforward to most bettors: they log onto their book, take a glance at the lines, and make their bets. But the reality is that those lines actually represent an evolving and nuanced market deserving of more attention from bettors.

This is especially true for the NFL, as the lifetime of a line for any given game spans nearly two weeks whereas in other sports a line may be on the board for 24 hours at most.

In the NFL, the chronology of a line usually looks something like this:

•    Lookahead lines open two Tuesdays or Wednesdays before they kick-off•    Lookahead lines close as that week’s Sunday games kick off•    Lines reopen as the Sunday afte…

Brazil will be the name every nation wants to avoid when the FIFA World Cup draw is made on Friday.

The competition s most decorated country will play host to the world s greatest football nations in 2014, with home advantage sure to boost their chances of claiming a sixth global crown and first since 2002.

Luiz Felipe Scolari s men will be one of eight seeded teams in the draw, which will be held at the Costa do Sauipe Resort in Bahia, but a number of big names could be pitched into a group-stage battle with them.

Included among the unseeded countries are the Netherlands, the 2010 runners-up, and 2006 champions Italy, who were not in the top seven of FIFA s world rankings when the seedings were determined in October.

France and Uruguay s qualification via the pl…

After many, many months of speculation, David de Gea has pledged his future to Manchester United in the form of a new contract.

The Spain international has agreed to fresh terms that will run until the end of the 2022-23 season, with the option of a further year.

De Gea is one of United s senior players these days, having joined the club from Atletico Madrid as a 20-year-old in 2011 as one of the final major signings made by Alex Ferguson before his retirement two years later.

Fergie brought in a fair few goalkeepers during his 27 years at Old Trafford. Some of them proved shrewd, pivotal signings. Some did not.

Here, we run the rule over all the keepers to join during the reign of the great Scot

There’s no place like home  

— David …

Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc is confident another successful year awaits as they prepare for Sunday s Coupe de France trip to CFA outfit Wasquehal.

PSG enjoyed a near perfect 2015 as they emerged victorious in Ligue 1, the Coupe de la Ligue, the Coupe de France and the Trophee des Champions.

Blanc has no intention of resting on his laurels, though, and wants more silverware in the coming 12 months.

The year 2015 has been great for us in every way, Blanc said at a news conference.

It was a good year both in terms of results and in terms of the way we played. The players now all know how to play together and that is the biggest success of the past year.

I hope for more of the same in 2016. It will be difficult because everyone expects…

Robin Le Normand has completed his move from Real Sociedad to Atletico Madrid, the 11-time La Liga champions confirmed on Saturday.

Le Normand, who featured in all but one of Spain s record fourth European Championship winning campaign, has signed a five-year deal for a reported £25million fee.

The 27-year-old made 43 appearances in all competitions for La Real last season, keeping 15 clean sheets and scoring twice.

Le Normand arrives as part of a defensive shakeup for Diego Simeone, with Mario Hermoso, Gabriel Paulista, Stefan Savic and Caglar Soyuncu all leaving the club so far.

The Spaniard won 165 of his 275 contested duels in La Liga last season with a success rate of 60%, the highest within the Sociedad squad.

Atletico are expected to …