Wilshere, Cazorla will be back soon

Arsenal's long-term injury absentees Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla are only weeks away from returning to first-team action, manager Arsene Wenger said ahead of Sunday's top-of-the-table Premier League clash against leaders Leicester City.

Cazorla hurt his knee during Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Norwich City on November 29, while fellow midfielder Wilshere is yet to feature this campaign, having broken his calf bone in pre-season and had surgery in September.

"They (Cazorla and Wilshere) are back running, they are on a fitness programme now so it means it is not a question of months anymore, it is a question of weeks for them to be back," Wenger told the club's website (www.arsenal.com).

Wenger also suggested striker Danny Welbeck, who has not featured for the Gunners since April 2015, could make his comeback from knee injury against Hull City in the FA Cup on February 20.

"He is doing well, it is a bit early for him maybe but he is now back to full power in training. It is a big possibility (he could be involved against Hull next week)," the Frenchman said.

Robinho agrees Mineiro deal

Former Manchester City and Real Madrid striker Robinho has signed for Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro, the club confirmed on Thursday.

"Robinho is Atletico's new signing," the Belo Horizonte team said in a short statement. "Robinho will sign for two seasons."

The 32-year-old Brazil international, who also had a spell at AC Milan, became a free agent at the start of the month after a six-month deal with Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande expired.

He scored three goals for the Chinese Super League champions and Atletico Mineiro secured his services despite interest from Santos, who were hoping to take him back to his first club for a fourth spell.

What makes Ranieri tick?

Claudio Ranieri's Leicester City were 5 000-1 outsiders to win the Premier League at the start of the season but, with 13 games left, they hold a five-point lead at the top of the table.

Ranieri is sparking a remarkable turnaround in Leicester's fortunes and Reuters has asked three players who worked under him during a previous Premier League stint at Chelsea from 2000-04 to offer an insight into the Italian coach's methods.

What was it like to work with Ranieri?

MARIO MELCHIOT

(made 165 appearances for Chelsea between 1999-2004)

"A player's fitness is important to Ranieri because he wants to make sure you can handle the game at your best and that you can focus until the end.

"He hates players that get tired and make silly mistakes. He's a real winner. He'll make sure you know every game in training counts so you take the winning momentum into the game on a Saturday."

GEREMI

(made 109 appearances for Chelsea between 2003-07)

"He was the manager who signed me. To work with him was a great experience, he was like a father to me.

"He was very demanding in training. He made sure he pushed us. He wasn't easy to work for.

"Footballers always complain when managers push them but it's important to work hard. When you train hard you are less exposed to injuries."

ED DE GOEY

(made 179 appearances for Chelsea between 1997-2003)

"He is a typical Italian coach who likes a lot of physical work, work on team shape and long training sessions.

"A lot of things are down to power and you can see that in the way Leicester are playing, they run a lot, they work hard and that's what gets them results."

What are Ranieri's best qualities as a coach?

Melchiot: "He knows how to press opposition teams like no one else. You'll know how to defend as a team better than you knew before.

"Everyone needs to help everyone else, if not he'll take you out of the team."

Geremi: "He's one of the best managers. He likes discipline too.

"The players at Chelsea didn't like the way he rotated the team but the squad was big with a lot of good players. If you see the squad now at Leicester, it's not as good as our one was.

"He had to manage the situation at Chelsea, keep most of the players happy and keep getting results."

De Goey: "He can adapt very well to opponents. He knows all their strengths and weaknesses, that's one of his strong points, but the team meetings sometimes used to be quite long at Chelsea because his English wasn't the best then."

Are you surprised how well Ranieri has done at Leicester?

Melchiot: "Yes I am and I'm sure a lot of people are because last season Leicester just survived relegation."

Geremi: "Of course I'm surprised. Usually in the Premier League you know who is going to be in the top positions.

"I just want to say well done to Ranieri and his players. Their success is coming from the way the manager is educating the players."

De Goey: "Yes, I think everybody is, but I think the key point is everyone is working his socks off for each other for the whole match.

"They go quickly from defence to attack with players like Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy up front."

Why do you think Ranieri is doing so well at Leicester?

Melchiot: "Deep down he wants to win the league badly and I'm sure the players know that too. But he won't let the media know it and that keeps the pressure off the players.

"In his last season at Chelsea we came second in the league. We were so close and I'm sure he doesn't want that to happen again."

Geremi: "At the start everyone said Leicester would get tired, they would start to lose, but they have an experienced manager who knows they have history to write.

"He won't panic in this situation, he'll know what to say, how to handle the squad. If he was a young manager he might be in trouble.

"I know he will be thinking of winning the league. They just have to believe they can win it."

De Goey: "Hard work is always the key to success. Nobody expected this from Leicester, they expected this from Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur.

"Now we have to wait and see how far they can go. It could depend on injuries and suspensions because if anything happens to Mahrez and Vardy they will miss their quality."

Lille hinders PSG's Euro hopes

Paris Saint-Germain head into Saturday's game at home to Lille with the spectre of next week's Champions League last-16 clash with Chelsea looming large over the runaway Ligue 1 leaders.

PSG were frustrated in their attempts to rework a congested fixture list as league officials rejected the club's request to reschedule this weekend's encounter, leaving Laurent Blanc's men just two full days to prepare for Tuesday's first leg.

Reaching the last four of Europe's premier club competition is the principal objective for PSG this season, but on Thursday Blanc received the Qatari owners' unequivocal backing after penning a contract extension until 2018.

"I'm very happy, also for my staff. A coach is nothing without his staff. For us, continuing the adventure is a show of faith but also a big responsibility," Blanc said of his renewal.

"The club has ambitions both nationally and in Europe, and we'll do all we can to reach those objectives."

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi insisted he never had any doubts that the former France coach was the right man to take the club forward.

"I always had confidence in Laurent Blanc, I never thought about appointing another coach," said Al-Khelaifi, adding he had "always believed in (Blanc's) ability to take the team to a higher level each season".

PSG are well on course to sew up a fourth successive league title, with a huge 24-point lead over nearest rivals Monaco, but Saturday's match at the Parc des Princes is the seventh in an eight-game series in little over three weeks.

"The calendar can't get any tighter than that. If you talk to me about the fixture list, I get heated, so it's better to avoid it," Blanc said after Wednesday's 3-0 victory over Lyon sent holders PSG through to the quarterfinals of the French Cup.

"As of Sunday, we'll start preparing for the game against Chelsea. The game against Lille, with all respect to Lille, is badly timed."

Second-place Monaco can widen the gap between themselves and the chasing pack in the race for France's other automatic Champions League qualifying spot when they visit Saint-Etienne, who are six points adrift in fourth, on Sunday.

Ben Arfa out

Third-place Nice, above Saint-Etienne on goal difference, host Marseille although Claude Puel's Champions League hopefuls will be without leading scorer Hatem Ben Arfa after the France international was ruled out for around a month with a hamstring injury.

Lyon have forced their way back into European contention with successive 3-0 wins over Bordeaux and Angers, and Bruno Genesio's side will seek to bounce back from their cup exit at home to Caen.

"We've shown we have the quality to compete at the top of the table from here until the end of the season," Genesio said following the defeat in Paris, with teenage striker Maxwell Cornet adding to that sentiment.

"We've managed to pick ourselves up in the league. We have to continue to work hard ahead of Sunday's match," said Cornet, who was disappointed Lyon were unable to build on a promising start again PSG in midweek.

Slumping Angers, losers of five of their past seven matches, will aim to arrest their slide and reignite an unlikely European challenge away to Rennes on Friday.

Nantes and Lorient, who both progressed to the last eight of the French Cup on Wednesday, meet in a Brittany derby on Saturday, while Montpellier host fellow strugglers Toulouse with both sides bidding to avoid relegation.

Fixtures (kick-off 1900 GMT unless stated)

Friday

Rennes v Angers (1930)

Saturday

Paris Saint-Germain v Lille (1600), Gazelec Ajaccio v Troyes, Montpellier v Toulouse, Guingamp v Bordeaux, Nantes v Lorient, Reims v Bastia

Sunday

Lyon v Caen (1300), Saint-Etienne v Monaco (1600), Nice v Marseille (2000)

Celtic braced for Aberdeen challenge

Celtic manager Ronny Deila is confident his players will respond in the right fashion as they face up to a tough Scottish Premiership title challenge from Aberdeen.

The Hoops only top the table on goal difference, albeit with a game in hand, after slipping to a 2-1 defeat by the Dons at Pittodrie on their last league outing.

That defeat came just three days after Celtic's League Cup semifinal defeat to Ross County, who are the visitors to Parkhead on Saturday.

The Glasgow giants returned to winning ways last weekend when they knocked minnows East Kilbride Thistle out of the Scottish Cup and Deila says his players are determined to get back on track in the league as they aim to make it five championships in a row.

"They are going to be hungrier. They know it's very important to keep momentum, win games and put on performances," the Celtic manager said.

"I'm very impressed by what Aberdeen have done. We have won a lot of games in the league this season, losing three times, so they have done very well and all credit to them.

"Up in Aberdeen is always a tough game. We should have done more there but now we need to just get back on track again.

"You need to react even better if you are pushed from behind."

Celtic's hopes of a domestic treble were ended following Ross County's 3-1 win at Hampden. Deila dismissed the idea that his side would be out for revenge on Saturday but felt they would have a point to prove against Jim McIntyre's team.

"Revenge is the wrong word but at the same time we really want to bounce back after the semifinal," said Deila.

- Momentum -

"We have to take with us the first 12-15 minutes when we created a lot of chances and do that for 90 minutes.

"It's about getting momentum now, getting on the right track, winning football games. If we do that, everything will be good, we'll get confidence in the team and play well.

"We have prepared well and are looking to the game.

“The most important thing is winning but we also want to win by playing beautiful. We want to do both, but if I had to choose I would choose the first one.

"You can't say we have been unlucky but some of the circumstances have been a little bit difficult because two weeks ago we were talking about us playing fantastic football and scoring lots of goals, the most that have ever been scored under me.

"And then we went into the semifinal and we started very well and it looked like it would be a very good game for us and it turned around."

Celtic could be boosted by the return of attacking midfielders Kris Commons and Australian international Tom Rogic.

Aberdeen, who have won their last four matches and are unbeaten in 12 league games, will attempt to keep the pressure up on Celtic when they travel to take on Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Monday.

Fixtures (1500 GMT unless otherwise stated)

Friday

Dundee v St Johnstone (1945 GMT)

Celtic v Ross County, Hamilton v Dundee United, Hearts v Partick Thistle, Motherwell v Kilmarnock

Monday

Inverness CT v Aberdeen (1945 GMT)

Aubameyang sets sights on Hanover

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will hope to add to his phenomenal tally of 30 goals in all competitions already this season when Borussia Dortmund host Hanover in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

The Gabon striker is enjoying a superb campaign and has scored more goals on his own than struggling Hanover have managed all season.

Hanover lie bottom of the table, seven points from safety, and have mustered only 19 goals in the league all season, while 'Auba' has netted 20 times in as many Bundesliga games for Dortmund.

The 26-year-old netted his 30th goal in 31 games in all competitions on Tuesday when Dortmund reached the German Cup semifinals with a 3-1 win at Stuttgart.

To compound Hanover's problems, they will be without Japan midfielder Hiroshi Kiyotake, their top scorer with three goals, who has a foot injury.

Hanover have lost all of their last six league games while Dortmund are unbeaten in their nine home league games this season with eight wins and a draw.

Second-placed Dortmund are looking to bounce back from last Saturday's goalless draw at Hertha Berlin and know how important their African striker is.

"For us, it is extremely important that he's a goal threat up front and that he scores," said Dortmund's Germany winger Marco Reus, who has scored nine goals in 15 league games.

"Auba knows that if he gets the chance in front of goal, he has to score and he works hard every day in training to score as many goals as possible."

With an eight-point lead over Dortmund at the top of the table, Bayern Munich are at Augsburg in the Bavarian derby on Sunday, fresh from Wednesday's 3-0 Cup quarterfinal win at 10-man VfL Bochum.

Franck Ribery and Mario Goetze could feature as they work their way back to fitness after a leg and groin injury respectively.

Augsburg, who are just above the relegation places, host Liverpool in the Europa League next Thursday and have won just one of their last five games.

But their trainer Markus Weinzierl is the only coach to have beaten Pep Guardiola's Bayern twice in the league.

Augsburg shocked the Bavarians in each of the last two seasons, albeit after the league title had already been decided.

- Wolfsburg seek boost -

Wolfsburg, who are winless in their last seven league games and play Belgian side Gent next Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, are at home to Ingolstadt.

Dieter Hecking's Wolves have picked up just one of a possible nine points in the second half of the season so far.

They will be without striker Bas Dost, who has a foot injury, and forward Maximilian Arnold, who is out with a knee problem.

Fifth-placed Bayer Leverkusen are at Darmstadt without injured Mexico striker Javier Hernandez, who tore a buttock muscle on Tuesday in their Cup defeat to Werder Bremen.

Meanwhile, Hoffenheim are at Bremen on Saturday in a key relegation battle with both sides in the bottom three.

Hoffenheim have won just twice all season and are currently second from bottom, five points adrift of Bremen, who lie in the relegation play-off position.

The Sinsheim-based club will be playing their first match under their new coach Julian Nagelsmann, who at 28 becomes the youngest coach in Bundesliga history.

He replaces the 62-year-old Huub Stevens, who resigned on Wednesday, walking away from football with an acute abnormal heart rhythm that requires surgery.

Bremen are buoyed by reaching the German Cup semifinals after winning 3-1 at Leverkusen on Tuesday and striker Anthony Ujah has scored in each of his three games against Hoffenheim.

Fixtures (all times 1430 GMT unless stated)

Friday

Mainz 05 v Schalke (1930)

Saturday

Borussia Dortmund v Hanover 96, Wolfsburg v Ingolstadt, Stuttgart v Hertha Berlin, Werder Bremen v Hoffenheim, Darmstadt v Leverkusen, Cologne v Eintracht Frankfurt (1730)

Sunday

Hamburg v Borussia Moenchengladbach, Augsburg v Bayern Munich (1630)

Techiman City confirm Abubakar capture

Newly-promoted Techiman City FC have confirmed the capture of experienced trainer Yusif Abubakar as head coach for the upcoming Ghana Premier League campaign.

The former Heart of Lions coach parted ways with the Kpando side after failing to ensure their survival in the league last term.

Club president of Techiman City, Charles Kwadwo Ntim, announced his outfit have engaged the former Heart of Lions coach for a two-year period. “We are working with Yusuf Abubakar, former Heart of Lions coach,” he told Joy Sports.

Abubakar has rich coaching experience in the Ghana league having had stints with Berekum Chelsea, Medeama SC, Hearts of Oak and King Faisal.