Not long to go till the first Test between England and South Africa and our colleagues at TMS are clearly getting excited.

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer

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Everton are in talks with a United States-led consortium about a potential £200m takeover at Goodison Park.

The group, fronted by former San Diego Padres baseball team owner John Jay Moores and fellow entrepreneur Charles Noell, have been in discussions with Toffees owner Bill Kenwright in recent months.

Moores and Noell, who were previously interested in investing in Swansea City, have now turned their attention to Everton.

As revealed by The Times, negotiations will continue over the next few weeks, when the consortium is expected to perform due diligence on the club’s accounts.

Everton declined to comment on the latest interest, but there have been several parties pondering a deal to buy the Premier League outfit this year.

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Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe has declared himself a big fan of Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew ahead of the Boxing Day meeting between their sides at the Vitality Stadium.

"I have got a lot of time for Crystal Palace and Alan Pardew," 38-year-old Howe told BBC Radio Solent.

"The way they have played this season, they have been excellent to watch. They are a very attacking side with some very good players."

Ken Willox: The furthest I travelled on Boxing day was Aberdeen to Birmingham for the Spurs v Villa game a few years ago.

Wowzers Ken, that, my friend, is serious commitment.

Richard Todd: Ramsgate's finest darts player Kirk Shepherd "Young Gun" reaching Final of 2009 PDC World Champs magnificent achievement.

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Jack Lennon-French: If reports are right, Van Gaal is a bit like my advent calender....only got one day left.

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Scottish doubles specialist Imogen Bankier has announced her retirement from international badminton.

The 28-year-old was one of only four British players to compete at the London 2012 Olympics, playing mixed doubles alongside Chris Adcock.

Prior to that she won World Championship silver with Adcock in London in 2011 and she went on to win Commonwealth Games bronze with Robert Blair in her native Glasgow last year.

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West Brom expect further January interest from Spurs about Berahino but Pulis insisted the frontman - who scored 20 goals last season - must knuckle down if he stays.

"How long have we got until the window opens? I am going to be talking about the same old, same old, same old all the time," said Pulis, who, as you can tell of, was probably getting a bit cheesed off at this point.

"f Tottenham come in and they do the deal, they do the deal. If they don't come in Saido has got to get his head down and recognise and realise he has got to work hard, get in our team and start scoring goals again.

"I'm not going to tell Daniel Levy (Tottenham chairman) what to do and I'm not going to tell Jeremy (Peace, West Brom chairman), if he doesn't want to sell, what to do."

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A little more from Tony Pulis' press conference, held earlier on ahead of the Baggies Boxing Day clash at Swansea.

The gaffer says striker Saido Berahino is in line for a recall.

"We have got a tough Christmas period so the players will be played," he said.

"Given the way he has trained in the last couple of days, given the opportunity, hopefully he can show what he can do.

"We have two games in three days so we would definitely rotate the squad. We will start with players at Swansea which we won't start with against Newcastle (on 28 December). We will certainly rotate the side."

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Tiger Woods - normally a man for whom a smile often seems a struggle - is back in upbeat mood and expecting to win major championships over the next decade.

He had back surgery for the second time in 18 months in September and talked about retirement earlier this month.

Now the former world number one, who turns 40 next week, hopes to play competitively again early in 2016.

"Where do I see myself in the next five to 10 years? I am still playing golf at the highest level, winning tournaments and majors," he wrote on his website.

Rugbyfans: Beating the Scarlets 60-17 in a Christmas local derby game

Paul Garrett: When the Portland Timbers came from nowhere to take the 2015 MLS Cup.

Mike Bradley: going to my first ever football match at Colchester United's Layer Road with my dad, uncle and grandad.

Aw, lovely MIke. And here's a pic to remind you of the place.

Colchester have now, of course, relocated to a shiny new ground with the very catchy moniker, the Colchester Community Stadium.

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Coventry will continue playing at the Ricoh Arena until at least 2018.

Premiership club Wasps and the League One side announced in a joint statement that Ricoh Arena operators, Arena Coventry Limited, had extended the current licence agreement with the football club until the end of the 2017-18 season.

The statement said it allowed both clubs to "plan ahead with certainty over the next two-and-a-half years."

Those England one-day and Twenty20 squads in full...

ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire), Reece Topley (Hampshire), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).

T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Reece Topley (Hampshire), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), James Vince (Hampshire).

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Bowler Steven Finn and all-rounder Ben Stokes have been named in England's 15-man squads for the one-day and Twenty20 series against South Africa.

Both players are also in the Test squad with Finn, 26, returning after a foot injury, while 24-year-old Stokes has recovered from a shoulder injury.

The five-match ODI series will start on 3 February, with the first of three T20s on 17 February.

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Newcastle have recalled striker Ivan Toney from his loan spell at League One Barnsley as they await news on Papiss Cisse's groin injury.

Senegal international Cisse is set to miss the Christmas programme as the Magpies seek a second opinion on the damage which forced him off during  Saturday's 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.

The Magpies signed Toney, 19, from Northampton in the summer.

Would Jose Mourinho be the right man to take over at Manchester United if Louis van Gaal is sacked? Former United keeper Raimond van der Gouw certainly thinks so.

"I saw the last game (a 2-1 home defeat by Norwich), and the players are out of confidence," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

When asked whether Mourinho would  bring the confidence back to the team, Van der Gouw said: "I think so. The manager is always responsible, but the players will have to look at themselves. It's not the manager who is kicking the ball, they can do much better."

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Good call Chris. It happened against Watford and you can watch it here., external

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Staying with cricket and a blow for England, with paceman James Anderson a doubt for the first Test against South Africa starting on 26 December.

Anderson, England's leading wicket-taker in Tests, was sent for scans on Tuesday after suffering tightness in his right calf muscle.

A decision on his involvement in the first Test in Durban is unlikely to be taken until Thursday.

"It's a concern," said coach Trevor Bayliss ahead of the four-match series against the top-ranked Test side. "He hasn't been able to bowl a lot of overs on this tour. He has bowled overs, though, so whatever it is it's not a terribly bad one."

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Joe Root might be two places higher than Steve Smith in the Test rankings for top batsmen, but it is the Australia captain who has been named cricketer of the year and Test cricketer of the year by the International Cricket Council.

He becomes the fourth Australian to lift the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy afterRicky Ponting,Mitchell Johnson and Michael Clarke.

South Africa's AB de Villiers won the ODI cricketer of the year award for the second year in a row.

There was an award for an Englishman... Richard Kettleborough named umpire of the year for the third time.

Aston Villa may be adrift at the bottom of the Premier League, but they picked up a point at Newcastle in their last game and Slaven Bilic believes they pose a significant threat to his West Ham side...

"Every game is difficult in the Premier League and Aston Villa are struggling, but they played a good game against Newcastle last week," he said.

"They are fighting for their lives and will have confidence from that away point. I am not expecting anything easier than Swansea, Stoke or Manchester United. They have some quality players who can hurt you."

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic has also been speaking to the press this morning ahead of their Boxing Day trip to Aston Villa. And he had some good news about injured midfielder Dimitri Payet...

"It is good news that Dimitri Payet is ahead of schedule. He should train with us after Villa and is with the fitness coaches now," said Bilic. "He might be involved in the Liverpool game [on 2 January] which would be a big boost for us."

He added: "Manuel Lanzini is progressing and will probably be available for the Southampton game. It looks like it will be the same squad as against Swansea for Villa, but we should have one or two back for Southampton." 

As you would expect, Arsene Wenger has played down talk of Arsenal winning the title, which grew in volume after the win over Manchester City...

"It is much too early to say who will win the Premier League. We are only halfway," said Wenger.

"Football is pragmatic. No-one can predict the future games. It has been a positive year and it looks like we are going the right way."