London - Arsenal defender William Gallas will not leave the club in January, according to quotes attributed to his agent Etienne Mendy in French paper Aujourd'hui Sport on Tuesday.

Gallas's position has been in doubt since his attack last weekend on what he named a lack of respect and professionalism shown by some of his team-mates in Arsenal's recent poor run of form.

As a result, he is no longer team captain as manager Arsene Wenger appointed Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas new skipper.

London - Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson moved on Tuesday to play down reports linking forward Carlos Tevez with a move to Real Madrid.

The Argentina international has seen his first-team opportunities at the Premier league champions limited this season by the arrival of Dimitar Berbatov, and has been linked with a number of clubs.

Ferguson, though, was adamant he would not be selling, and especially not to Real Madrid, whose lengthy pursuit of winger Cristiano Ronaldo he saw off this summer.

Rome - After weeks of embarrassing results, Roma seem to be over one of their worst ever season starts, which practically cut them off from the race for the Serie A title.

The red-yellows from the capital were again expected to be among the toughest opponents for title holders Inter Milan after coming second in 2007 and 2008, but their reputation and hopes were badly dented by six defeats in the first nine games.

With a 16-point deficit from the leading champions after 13 games, Roma had to cut down their ambitions at home.

But they still have good hopes to do well in the Champions League.

Melbourne, November 25: Aussie tennis ace Mark Philippoussis was reportedly spotted courting an attractive blonde at a Melbourne dance party over the weekend, while his current girlfriend Siobhan Parekh was shopping in Sydney around the same time.

Those who saw the pair at the Live One Day dance party in Brighton on Sunday have revealed that Philippoussis was getting cozy with a peroxide pretty, while one Paddington shop-girl said that the sport star''s girlfriend was shopping in Sydney that time.

London, Nov. 25 : All-rounder Andrew Flintoff believes that playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition will make all England players perform better in one-day cricket.

“India have developed new skills with bat and ball. We’ve been found wanting in this series. They have moved on their one-day game by playing a lot of Twenty20 cricket. The positions they get in to hit the ball and their scoring rate have changed,” The Sun quoted Flintoff as saying after his team lost the one-day series against India four games to nil.

“A few of us are keen on the IPL. The financial reward was mentioned but it will help our development. With the Twenty20 World Cup in England next year, it would be good if we got the chance to play,” he added.

London, Nov. 25 : Manchester United and Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo has been defended by his coach Alex Ferguson for reacting to the abuse dished out to him by Stoke City and Aston Villa fans.

The Sun quoted Ferguson as saying: “There has been some criticism that he could not take it on Saturday. But I wonder how many people would take it when they are walking down the street and so many people keep hitting you over the head with a baton. How many times can you take it?