by Tim Stannard (@Stannardsports)

1) King Zlatan plots next move as Benitez makes return to England

Sports burst likes to wrap its working week up nice and early. By Tuesday morning if possible, to leave lots of contemplative wiggle room. PSG are the same way. Dropped points by Monaco on Friday and a narrow 9-0 win against Troyes, saw PSG winning the French league title for the fourth year in a row and King Zlatan with three months until the end of the season to dither over the chosen club to be graced by His imperial presence and eternal light.

It probably won’t be PSG though, with Le Zlatan joshing that the only way He will stay in the French capital is if the Eiffel Tower is replaced by an icon in His image. Meanwhile, Laurent Blanc has revealed that the rest of the season will see a lot of rotating as the club now focusses all of its French force on the Champions League. One player he hopes to have fit for this mercurial mountain is Marco Verratti. The midfielder has now flown to Qatar to have some attention given to his groin.

If you close your eyes, hold your nose and jam cheese in your ears, then the city of Leicester is a bit like Paris. But there’s even more in common, as ‘Lie-chester’s’ football team are trying to match PSG by winning the EPL. That journey into dreamland continues on Monday against a Newcastle United team, which has Rafa Benitez at the helm, after taking over the Toon on Friday. Catch all the highlights and reaction of this Premier League porker on the XTRA from 10PM.

2) Conte to announce ‘arrivederci’ to Italy to save some souls at Stamford Bridge

One of the worst kept secrets in football after Cristiano Ronaldo’s height boosters in his boots could be revealed on Monday with Antonio Conte expected to announce that he will be leaving his current role of Italy manager to take over Chelsea. The Italian press report that Conte is set to meet with the Italian FA big cheeses to discuss his plans for a return to club management.

Now, here’s a screeching soccer segue. Antonio Conte is set to manage Chelsea. Jose Mourinho used to manage Chelsea. When Mourinho was at Real Madrid, Aitor Karanka was his assistant. And Aitor Karanka has been the talk of the Championship over the weekend, with the Spaniard expected to walk out of the promotion-chasing club after falling out with his players, having questioned their desire to go up to the EPL. Karanka did not travel to London for the side’s defeat at relegation-threatened Charlton, and his future hangs very much in the balance. You can catch Middlesbrough’s next clash against Hull City on Friday, live on beIN SPORTS from 3.40PM ET, and find out who is sitting on the bench.  

One Championship manager, who has definitely gone is Nottingham Forest’s Dougie Freedman, who was fired on Sunday after losing five of the team’s past six games.

3) Barcelona have reported bid for Dembele shot down

The hour is never too early for some transfer rumors. And Barcelona are leading the way, first off with a list of candidates for center-back being bandied about in the Spanish press, as well as a report that the club have had an offer of $40m for Rennes man-of-the-moment, Ousmane Dembele, rejected. And speaking about La Liga, the latest round of action continues on Monday with a relegation sizzler between Granada and Espanyol. The action kicks off on beIN SPORTS from 3.25PM ET or catch all the highlights on tonight’s EXTRA at 10PM ET.

4) Blow for Inter as Icardi ruled out for a major month

A former Barcelona youth-teamer is set to miss the next month. Not a huge story, aside from the fact that the footballer happens to be Inter’s Mauro Icardi, who has a knee knack suffered in Saturday’s win against Bologna. Although the upcoming international break will help smooth over matters a tad, the Argentinean will sit out the weekend’s epic rumble against Roma.

5) Nadal gets tough with drugs test taunts

A week after Maria Sharapova’s confession over a positive drugs test and the repercussions keep on whacking through the world of tennis like a Serena back-hand. Rafa Nadal has said that enough is enough in regards to insinuations that he has been receiving a chemical helping hand and announced that is planning to sue French government minister, Roselyne Bachelot, who doubted the veracity of a recent seven-month absence from the game for Nadal as being due to injury.