Some good and some bad news for Salomon Kalou today at the Africa Cup of Nations.

We'll start with the good, the real good. Kalou opened the scoring for Côte d'Ivoire in their 2-0 win against Burkina Faso tonight. Peep Sal's excellent volley in visual form below.

The volley was the cherry on the top of what was another fine performance from the rarely used Chelsea vet.

Marco Reus, the rising star in the German Bundesliga having helped Borussia Mönchengladbach to a respectable fourth place during the winter break, will be leaving the club at the end of the season to play for Borussia Dortmund.

It was announced today on Mönchengladbach's website that the player will remain at the club for the 2011-12 season before signing a five year deal with the current German champions Dortmund for a transfer fee of 17,5 million Euros.

Liverpool ended 2010-11 in fantastic form, perhaps even convincing those most hopeful that with a tweak here and a winger there a legitimate run at the title wasn't entirely beyond the realm of possibility. With summer signalling that Damien Comolli and Kenny Dalglish were more interested in rebuilding than refining, though, that hope faced up to growing fears about all the that could go wrong with a largely new starting eleven as the season began.

City are proving to be a strong contender for the Premier League title this season and one player who has been instrumental in the Club's unbeaten run and fantastic form is Yaya Toure.

Toure who joined City last summer after a misunderstanding with his former club FC Barcelona,has proved to be one of the club's most important signings with the 28 year old defensive midfielder going on to become a key player in Mancini's line up.

Liverpool defender Martin Kelly has joked on Twitter that he and midfielder Jay Spearing had a bet over who would score their first senior goal for the club.
The tweet came after Kelly scored the Reds' second goal in their 2-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the League Cup quarter-final on Tuesday evening.

Liverpool have continued to be linked with a move for Manchester City and Arsenal target Marcos Reus, who has been in fantastic form for Borussia Monchengladbach.
The Reds boss Kenny Dalglish watched from the sidelines as Liverpool dominated the second half against table topping Manchester City but were unable to break the deadlock as Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw.

Luka Modric has been all but silent since the close of the August transfer window ended any talk of an immediate move to Chelsea. Since then, Spurs have emerged after a shaky start to head up the table into third, overtaking the Stamford Bridge side on the way.

After the Villa game however, where Luka edged the man of the match award ahead of two-goal Emmanuel Adebayor, the Croatian spoke about the team's form and the challenges that lie ahead.

Brazilian midfielder Ricardo Izecson Dos Santos Leite aka Kaka won't be making his much awaited return to the Brazilian national team after a calf injury ruled him out of the Selecao's upcoming friendlies against Gabon and Egypt.

The Real Madrid star who has been in fantastic form for Los Merengues these past few weeks will have to wait a little longer to play his first match for his country in more than a year.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has slammed reports that forwards Messi and Villa do not see eye to eye. These latest reports are emerging on the backdrop of former Barcelona player Zlatan Ibrahimovic's public rants and displeasure with the treatment he received while he was a Barca player.

Spanish newspaper Superdeporte claims that there is a trouble brewing at the Nou Camp between 2 of the clubs top players.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has slammed reports that forwards Messi and Villa do not see eye to eye. These latest reports are emerging on the backdrop of former Barcelona player Zlatan Ibrahimovic's public rants and displeasure with the treatment he received while he was a Barca player.

Spanish newspaper Superdeporte claims that there is a trouble brewing at the Nou Camp between 2 of the clubs top players.

Bayern Munich's Croatian striker Ivica Olic has threatened to leave the club if his role as a super substitute does not change soon. Olic has made only 5 appearances for the champions this season totaling a meagre 72 minutes of play.

The 32 year old striker has had an injury plagued career the past 2 years which have resulted in him falling down the pecking order in the eyes of coach Jupp Heynckes.

On September 1, I was one of the many people on Tyneside who were fuming that Newcastle United had failed to bring in a replacement for the number 9 shirt vacated by Andy Carroll.

Newcastle could not be faltered in the lack of trying however, almost signing Mali international Modibo Maiga from Sochaux, but after negotiations broke down it would seem like Ba, Best and Ameobi would have to do.

According to a report in The Sun this morning, Liverpool aimed a speculative offer for Rangers hitman Nikica Jelavic as the transfer deadline approached on Wednesday night.
Reds manager Kenny Dalglish allegedly aimed a £9 million offer at the Glasgow side after seeing David Ngog, Raul Meireles and Joe Cole leave Merseyside on various deals.

Our ‘What To Watch For In Copa América" compilation of vignette-esque perspectives from our friends that manage some of the best football sites around continues. This time we focus on two of the most dangerous players in the Copa with Ben Shave, co-editor of In Bed With Maradona while writing for his personal site Cahiers Du Sport along with an array of other sites (PortuGoal, ITV.

By Stefan Bienkowski, writing from Glasgow

Arturo Vidal (Chile)

Considered by many, as the sole reason for Leverkusen's fantastic second place finish in the Bundesliga this season. The Box-to-Box midfielder contributed 10 goals and 12 assists for Werkself and will be well aware that his ambition and talent may have outgrown the Rhine side by the end of the summer.

Werder Bremen's Marko Marin has denied reports that he is set for a big move to the Premier League, and has insisted that he will stay in Germany for the time being.
The 22-year-old midfield sensation has been in fantastic form for both club and country, and has seen his stocks rise to new heights.

This one has been sort of floating around in the background for a bit, but this post at the ever reliable and always well sourced MLS Rumors seems to have kicked the speculation up a notch. Here is the original article MLS Rumors references, dated May 28th.

On the face of it, Djibril Cisse is the kind of player I'd love to see the Sounders going after.

Sergio Aguero has reportedly told the Athletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo that he wishes to leave the club in the summer, prompting interest from a host of clubs including Liverpool.
Aguero has been in fantastic form for Athletico Madrid this season, scoring 17 goals and providing 2 assists in 31 games for Los Colchoneros this season.

The King signed permanently this week, here's to a wonderful three years!... In a weekend of Eurovision madness can Liverpool tomorrow ensure Harry Redknapp's Spurs gain nul points after 90minutes of football? Three points for Liverpool would not only add to their fantastic form of late but it would also secure mathematically 5th place.

Gareth Bale may have been voted the PFA player of the year, but as always the decision was a completely ludicrous one. Bale is an awesome talent no doubt, a total revelation but he won the award purely because of ‘that' European performance against the reigning champions.

The decision was almost as baffling as the decision to award Ryan Giggs the same accolade last year, who ironically has had one of his best seasons in a United shirt this season, adapting effortlessly into central midfield.

Liverpool is set to raid Aston Villa for the clubs two England wingers Ashley Young and Stewart Downing who have both enjoyed am impressive season with the midlands club.
Former Watford midfielder Ashley Young is a long term target of Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish and appears likely to leave at the end of the season after refusing to enter into negotiations to sign a new contract.

Daniel Pacheco watched Norwich City return to the Barclays Premier League last night, six years after they dropped out of the English top flight.
The Canaries have been in fantastic form in recent months, helped by the arrival of Liverpool loanee Daniel Pacheco for the Npower Championship run-in.

Carlo Ancelotti spoke to Chelseafc.com after the win over Birmingham last night and said:

The side played very well because from the back we are playing quicker compared to the difficult period we had.
The strikers have more possibility to show their quality. This is good for the team.

Chelsea breathed new life into their Premiership title hopes with an emphatic victory over Blackpool at Bloomfield Road last night. Goals from skipper John Terry and a brace from Frank Lampard sealed a 3-1 victory over Ian Holloway's men to leave the Blues just 9 points behind leaders Manchester United, with a crucial game in hand.

Click here to watch Arsenal v Barcelona Live!

As we build up to Wednesday's massive Arsenal v Barcelona match, here's a look at the some of the head 2 head stats between Barcelona and Arsenal players.

Robin van Persie v Lionel Messi

In Robin Van Persie, Arsenal have a striker in the form of his career, with the Dutchman netting a fantastic 10 goals in the league in 2011 so far.

It's one thing to have supporters or analysts tell you who the best players, teams, or leagues are. Depending on who you ask or which metric you use, you can have endless arguments about quality. But why not go directly to the source and ask the professionals themselves? After all, they have to play the game week in and week out and see things on and off the field that spectators often don't or can't.