The Premier League is set to suspend fixtures until April, with at least seven clubs having players in quarantine.

Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has lost his captain Séamus Coleman for the upcoming Euro play-off in Slovakia but believes his successor Stephen Kenny should be satisfied with the Uefa Nations League draw.

Having left his seat in Tallaght just before the winning strike, the Ireland manager says he had already seen enough of the midfielder’s performance to give him “plenty to think about” as he ponders his squad for the Euro 2020 play-off against Slovakia.

Look, they’re going to make this 10 times harder than it needed to be, writes Steven Kelly.

NEWCASTLE in New South Wales is a coastal, coal city a few hours north of Sydney.

Welcome back, dear reader. Fixture list oblige, it’s been three weeks since this column last appeared — but hasn’t our enforced separation done us all some good, hey?

Kevin Kilbane has proposed to his Dancing On Ice partner Brianne Delcourt after four months of dating.

It took an own goal from Ro-Shaun Williams to seal the tie, and a questionable VAR decision to rule out a Shrewsbury opener to make it happen.

At Vicarage Road, Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton were drawing 2-2 with Watford and had been reduced to 10 men. They made an immediate substitution, but did not sit back and try and defend their one point.

I’ll bite the bullet and boldly predict it’s inevitable; we are going to be playing in next season’s Champions League — and that’s as much as you’re going to get.

IT said it all about the predicament in which Manchester United find themselves that their 2-0 defeat to Burnley at Old Trafford on Wednesday night felt like a huge deal for the visitors but, in a very strange way, just more of the same for those home supporters who clogged the exits with ten minutes still to play.

Primarily a left-back, Robinson will provide competition for Republic of Ireland international Enda Stevens, who has played every minute Sheffield in the Premier League this season.

There was still tension in the air at Anfield — but now they believe, writes Chris Hatherall.

Let’s get this nonsense over and done with, writes Steven Kelly.

I’m done. Seriously. Retirement is an actual option now.

Happy new year, and let’s start as we are likely to go on in 2020; with black facetiousness.

We all enjoy feasting on football over the festive period, but the congestion of the last fortnight has forced a dagger into the heart of the FA Cup third round.

Down with the bunting, box up the tinsel. The league is over and we can all relax in the afterglow of our trophy gluttony. No late-campaign jitters, sleepless nights worrying about goal difference and whether our little star will shine brightest. It’s over and everyone knows it is.

Seamus Coleman has been in football long enough that very little surprises him any more

These are the standout quotes from the world of punditry in 2019...

There’s something iconic about the mix of red and blue.

Allegations of racism again marred the weekend’s football schedule, with Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger the victim during his side’s win at Tottenham.

Separated by a few feet in the Goodison Park directors’ box, and several decades of experience on their managerial CVs, Carlo Ancelotti and Mikel Arteta viewed a drab and dour stalemate which offered little insight into which appointment will ultimately prove the right approach from these two slumping giants of the English game.

You have to admire Ole Gunnar Solskajer’s determination to end up back where he started.

Carlo Ancelotti and Mikel Arteta will not face each other on the touchline today when Everton meet Arsenal at Goodison. The incoming gaffers will wait in the wings, ‘running the rule’, no doubt gaining an insight into the size of their tasks.

Mikel Arteta has been appointed Arsenal’s new head coach, the Premier League club have announced.

The clash between Real Madrid’s new midfield hope, and Barcelona’s returning central figure, could go a long way to deciding tonight’s La Liga Clasico.

Rory McIlroy is by a distance the Irish sportsperson of the decade, writes Kieran Shannon.

It’s been said that if your romantic relationship can survive race week in Galway, well, it’s a union worth pursuing, such are the potential pitfalls on the track and in the snugs of those hallowed, cobbled streets.

Ireland international winger Aiden McGeady is being turfed out of Sunderland.

Solskjaer enjoys a wonderful return to form

Early in Wednesday night’s Premier Sports broadcast, Eamon Dunphy settled on a key fact to underline the crisis facing a proud club. He’d repeat it several times throughout the evening: “Everton have never been relegated.”

John Giles was excused Premier League punditry duty tonight to be granted the freedom of the city of Leeds.

Liam Brady is "looking forward to a good row with the lads", after it was confirmed that the famous RTÉ football panel will be back in the harness next week — on Premier Sports.

Mourinho starts as he means to go on at Tottenham...