By Tim Stannard

1) Neymar ruled out for season by Brazil medical boss

Well, that was fun while it lasted.

Neymar’s season for PSG is effectively over with the footballer having arrived in Brazil for an operation on his broken metatarsal and the PSG man’s national team doctor, Rodrigo Lasmar, ruling the player out for the next two-and-a-half to three months for the rehabilitation.

And by Sports Burst’s calculations…er…March…April…May…that is PSG’s domestic season done and dusted and does not even leave that much time for Neymar to get back into shape for the World Cup set to start in Russia on 14^th June or for Tite to tactically tinker in warm-up games ahead of the tournament.

French paper, L’Equipe is reporting that the operation is due to take place on Saturday, after an experimental procedure to temporarily transplant Ben Arfa’s foot onto Neymar and then swap them back was ruled out as too risky.

At least PSG were able to march on regardless without Neymar on Wednesday in a very comfortable 3-0 win over Marseille in the Coupe de France. In fact, there is a double bonanza as once again, Neymar will able to attend the birthday party of his sister without getting himself suspended or ‘injured’ which has been the process for the past four seasons.

2) Barca bemoan North Atlantic away day

The Neymar news has almost certainly warmed the cockles of the hearts of many a Barcelona fan ahead of a crucial clash in La Liga taking place on Thursday.

But Ernesto Valverde probably doesn’t give two hoots as the normally placid Barca boss is a little concerned over the timing of the clash against Las Palmas, a club located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Southern Morocco and Western Sahara.

The game is set to finish late on Thursday night local time, before a three-hour flight back to Barcelona – not exactly ideal preparation ahead of a huge game on Sunday with Atletico Madrid, a team that is now just four points behind after four goals from Antoine Griezmann against Leganes on Wednesday.

Valverde will have to decide whether to risk Luis Suarez against a struggling Las Palmas side, with the Uruguayan rabble-rouser just one yellow card away from missing the Atletico clash through suspension. However, Barca will definitely be without Nelson Semedo who is sidelined for the next five weeks with a leg injury.

Find out if Barca can react to Atletico Madrid’s pressure with the clash against Las Palmas kicking off live on beIN SPORTS at 2:50PM ET / 11:50AM PT. And tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for all the best of the action from La Liga in Thursday’s play.

3) Arsenal set for new Man City mauling

In fact, the XTRA will even bring you images of Arsenal’s latest defeat. Thursday’s scheduled loss is against Manchester City in a Premier League make-up game, just days after a Citizens arrest of Arsenal’s dignity in the English League Cup final.

As previously reported, Wenger spent Wednesday’s press conference grumbling about having his role as Arsenal boss questioned. Again. The 5-1 victory for Manchester City will lift the club to 16-points ahead of Manchester United in the standings and move the club one step nearer to what Pep Guardiola is claiming is the main target for his team this year. "We are fighting for the most important title of the season by far - the Premier League."

4) USWNT returns for SheBelieves Cup

A huge week to come for the USWNT with the return of the SheBelieves Cup, a round-robin tournament featuring the US, England, France and Germany – four of the top six ranked nations in the world.

Head coach, Jill Ellis, is under some pressure after finishing last place in last year’s tournament and having to deal with a roster going through a lot of changes and pressure from being, well, World Cup champions. This has some rumoring that Jill Ellis could lose her job at the helm.

The tournament gets under way in Columbus, Ohio with England taking on France followed by the US against Germany.

Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for a look ahead to this tournament as well as the MLS season to come.

WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?

The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. Sports Burst is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.