Robbie Brady maintains he’d rather be in Sligo than Serbia tonight.

There can be no doubt Usain Bolt is now, in his own words, a living legend.

Just because you haven’t seen that back of his from the terraces this summer doesn’t mean you’ve seen the back of him.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Theo Walcott last night hastily reached a short-term agreement which means the England winger won’t leave the club this week.

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew will target either the Champions League or a trophy to establish the club as a force in English football once again.

The champions of England, Spain, Italy and Germany could all be in the same group when the draw for the Champions League takes place in Monaco today (5pm).

Any club hoping to lure a big name away from Newcastle during the remaining days of the summer transfer window would have to make an astronomical offer to succeed.

Luka Modric finally ended months of speculation after signing a five-year contract with Spanish champions Real Madrid yesterday in a deal believed to be worth in the region of £33million (€41,700,000).

Manchester United commercial director Richard Arnold claims the club are only starting to scratch the surface of the mammoth global opportunities available to them.

The first African-born player to captain Ireland, Cameroon native Noe Baba, will lead out the Under-17s tonight against Azerbaijan in his new home of Castlebar (6pm).

Stoke City 0 Arsenal 0

Manchester United 3 Fulham 2

Sprint king Usain Bolt provided the inspiration for Manchester United’s Premier League win over Fulham yesterday according to the charismatic Jamaican.

Republic of Ireland 4 Oman 1

Despite all of the new faces who responded when opportunity knocked for them in Fulham last night, Giovanni Trapattoni indicated immediately after the game that he doesn’t expect to make more than one significant change to his usual first 11 for next month’s World Cup qualifier against Germany.

Sean St Ledger misses out on tonight’s friendly against Oman at Craven Cottage but the defender will always have happy memories of this ground.

“Robbie! Robbie!”

Denis Irwin has defended embattled Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni, but conceded the Italian faces a mammoth task to guide the Republic to the 2014 World Cup in Rio.

Robin van Persie’s 30th international set the Netherlands on their way to a hard-fought 2-0 victory in their opening World Cup qualifier against Turkey last night.

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo yesterday admitted John Terry had tarnished the image of the club but refused to confirm whether he remains captain.