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Gary Neville takes charge of Valencia for the first time on Wednesday and the former Manchester United defender says he is counting down the hours to his first game at the Mestalla.

Valencia host Lyon in the Champions League needing a win to stand any chance of advancing to the knockout stage. 

"Someone said it's the first day of the rest of my life tomorrow," England coach Neville said on Tuesday. "I'm focusing on staying calm. It's impossible to get everything into the players in the next 48 hours."

Neymar has been named the La Liga player of the month for November in Spain.

This is not surprising as the Brazilian is on fire for Barcelona at the moment with 14 goals.

What is surprising is it is the first time that a Barcelona player has won the award, I mean last year they won the treble!

In summary Cristiano Ronaldo has won it twice in the three seasons it has been handed out but Lionel Messi, well he has never won this award.

Image source, PA

Swansea and Leicester have been asked by the Football Association to provide details about a tunnel clash between Ashley Williams and Riyad Mahrez on Saturday.

Swans skipper Williams, 31, and Foxes winger Mahrez had to be separated outside the home dressing room after Leicester's win at the Liberty Stadium.

Williams then attempted to follow Mahrez, 24, on to Leicester's team bus.

Image source, AFP

Aston Villa defender Joleon Lescott says if the club avoid relegation from the Premier League this season it will be one of the highlights of his career.

Lescott captained Villa against Southampton on Saturday and scored in the 1-1 draw at St Mary's, but the Midlands club remain bottom of the table and are seven points from safety.

"If we do avoid the drop - and I'm very confident we can - it would be one of my greatest achievements," Lescott, 33, told BBC WM 95.6.

Phil Wye
BBC Radio 5 live

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Purposefully poor pun klaxon... 

Off to Athens, fear Arsenal's Champions League tilt will come Acropo(lis). They've never won away to Olympiacos and the Greek champions have a 100% domestic record this season (P13, W13). Only Bayern Munich have beaten them.

Yellow card for that pun, Phil.

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Bad news for newly-installed England head coach Eddie Jones...

Exeter and England centre Henry Slade will be out injured for around four months, external so will almost certainly miss the Six Nations. He suffered a broken leg and ankle during the Chiefs’ 41-27 win over Wasps at the weekend.

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales

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Swansea City manager Garry Monk seems to have been on the precipice since Saturday’s 3-0 defeat by Leicester but, as things stand, he is still clinging on to his job.

The 36-year-old took charge of training of on Tuesday, with speculation mounting about his future.

Chairman Huw Jenkins is in London to receive an OBE, having had what he called a “usual chat” with Monk on Monday.

Former Swans boss Brendan Rodgers is among those to be touted as a potential successor to Monk but, for the time being, the former Swansea captain remains in charge at the Liberty Stadium.

Following the publication of a survey indicating that one in five referees in England has suffered physical abuse and nearly two-thirds experience verbal abuse on a regular basis, we asked for your stories on the topic.  

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It appears as though Jack Grealish's exile from the Aston Villa first team is coming to an end. The young midfielder has returned to training with the big boys after a spell with the Under 21s.

How Villa need a flying Grealish as well. Remi Garde's side are six points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League and next host Arsenal on Sunday.

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Managerless Fulham have appointed former Sheffield Wednesday manager Stuart Gray as "senior coach" but insist the hunt for a new head coach continues.

Strange times.  

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And finally it comes to an end.

That was quite remarkable. We've watched a lot of Jose Mourinho news conferences and rarely has the manager been so amenable and chatty with the media.

Maybe it's a new tactic. Or maybe he just woke up in a good mood.

Who knows. Either way, there was plenty of interesting stuff during that press conference - it's up to the team to do the business on the pitch now tomorrow.

Jose Mourinho is asked why he is so convinced owner Roman Abramovich will stick by him, and once again he gives a long, friendly answer...

"Because I think I did lots of good things for this club," he says. "He believed in me twice: one, when he brought me back to the club, and the second time when he gave me a new four-year contract.

"I don’t think the owner is a person to change with the wind. I know the wind of results is an important wind and I know this wind is really strong because the results in the Premier League are really bad."

So, it's all about the wind. Got that?

BBC Radio 5 Live

We are currently in the middle of one of the most unpredictable Premier League seasons ever. Something we have discussed at length in a feature on this very site.

BBC Radio 5 live will be continuing this discussion in a few minutes as part of 5 Live daily with Adrian Chiles.

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Jose Mourinho is in a talkative mood, isn't he?

Now he is discussing how Chelsea's bad run has changed and affected him as a manager.

"It is making me better - I never thought I’d be so strong and so highly motivated," he said. "Another defeat and the next morning I wake up with more desire to go to work. So it has made me know myself better and I have found myself stronger than I thought. 

"When you win all the time and always have happiness with results it is a wonderful life. When you have bad results it is more difficult and I have found myself really strong. So it is good experience.”

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Jose Mourinho on Chelsea's troubles: "Statistics are statistics, but if you analyse the numbers you can get some good information.

"Match after match we have beaten Chelsea records of high intensity work. In the last three matches we beat the record three times. So we run and work more than ever. 

"Our levels of ball possession are much higher than before. Our chances are higher than ever. But our number of goals is lower than ever. So football people like you are intelligent. You have the numbers, you can draw conclusions."

Will Chelsea be in the Champions League next term? They are currently 14 points adrift of the top four with the season nearing its mid-point but could also qualify by winning the Europa League/

"If you are knocked out of Champions League you should go home and focus on domestic competitions," Jose Mourinho said. "But because the rules say third in the group goes into the Europa League it is a good way for teams knocked out of the Champions League to win the competition and be back in the Champions League next season. 

"But we don’t want that, we want to be in the Champions League and to be playing Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. To do that, we have to win tomorrow."

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Jose Mourinho is now dissecting his side's ills in front of goal...

"We are having so many situations where you just need a tap in or one touch and we are not having that, that is for sure."

How do you solve that, Jose?

"It’s what I am trying all the time. Sometimes collective as a group sometimes with the individuals players that should be in those positions. I feel our work is really good. There is a contradiction between our work and what is happening on the pitch."

Journalist: If you lose your next game at Leicester, do you expect to lose your job?

Mourinho: There are no ifs. I win, or draw, or lose.

Journalist: But what about..

Mourinho: You are a pessimist guy, I am an optimist guy.

Journalist (trying again): Let’s say you lose, if that happens do you expect to lose your job?

Mourinho: There are no ifs.

End of exchange.

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Mourinho: “For me it’s another match. One more in the Champions League.

"I am behind Sir Alex Ferguson and maybe a couple more in my record in the Champions League. I am playing against a team I worked for. This is a group phase match which is a knockout match.”

Chelsea must avoid defeat to confirm their place in the last 16.

The second question is a long rambling one, essentially along the lines of, 'Jose, do you think you have lacked leadership on the pitch?'

No, responds Mourinho.

'Not at all?' says the journalist.

No, says Mourinho.

That clears that up then.