It's official! Ashley Cole dating Towie star Pascal Craymer

London: Towie babe Pascal Craymer recently confirmed that she is dating 33-year-old Chelsea star Ashley Cole.

The Essex brunette and former international gymnast had appeared on the ITV2 show last year where she briefly dated co-star Mario Falcone before he left her for his on-off girlfriend Lucy Mecklenburgh, the Daily Star reported.

The 25-year-old model had said at the time that she felt used after Falcone left her.

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Injured Falcao hopeful of making World Cup

Monaco: AS Monaco`s Colombian striker Radamel Falcao has revealed that he remains hopeful he can compete in the World Cup as he recovers from a serious knee injury.

"I hope that I can play in the World Cup, but it`s still too soon to be certain," said the Colombian at the Louis II Stadium to watch his team`s 3-1 win over Nantes on Sunday.

"I`m recovering quickly. Physiotherapy is going very well. I`m going to return to Spain to continue my recovery.

"The knee has responded very well, which allowed me to gain momentum in the work.

"I`m happy because the evolution is very positive. I`m a little ahead of what was expected, but we know very well that it`s day to day that we`ll see the evolution. I have the desire and motivation to return."

Falcao, 28, ruptured cruciate ligaments in his knee during a French Cup tie on January 22 and underwent surgery in Porto three days later.

The Colombian said he was delighted with the progress of his Ligue 1 team who are currently second in the championship.

"I`m delighted for Monaco, we keep winning. The win (Sunday) was very important. We`re still on track to achieve our objective -- Champions League qualification. I hope to play Champions League with Monaco next season," he added.

Colombia are drawn in Group C at the World Cup with Ivory Coast, Greece and Japan.

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Ayew brothers' French goal spree

Andre and Jordan Ayew -- sons of former Ghana football star Abedi `Pele` Ayew -- scored four goals between them in France at the weekend.

Older son Andre bagged a hat-trick as Marseille ended a long win-less Ligue 1 run by defeating Ajaccio 3-1 at home. 

Jordan, hoping to join Andre in the Ghana 2014 World Cup squad, put relegation-threatened Sochaux ahead in a 2-2 draw away to Bastia. 
ENGLAND

YAYA TOURE (Manchester City)

Initiated and finished the move that led to Premier League title contenders City`s third-minute opening goal in a 4-1 win over Southampton. The Ivorian made an incisive break that eventually led to David Silva being brought down in the box. Toure then sent Southampton goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga the wrong way from the penalty spot. 

MOHAMED SALAH (Chelsea)

The Egypt winger marked his first Chelsea start by having a key role in two of the London club`s three goals in a 3-0 win over Stoke. He broke the deadlock in the 32nd minute at Stamford Bridge when he turned in Nemanja Matic`s cut-back. He subsequently won a penalty after Andy Wilkinson`s poor challenge and although Frank Lampard`s 61st-minute spot-kick was saved by Asmir Begovic, the veteran England midfielder followed up to score.

GUY DEMEL (West Ham)

The former Ivory Coast defender scored a controversial equaliser although it wasn`t enough to prevent a 2-1 defeat by Premier League leaders Liverpool. The Reds had gone ahead towards the end of the first half before Demel brought the Hammers level shortly before the break. Former Liverpool striker Andy Carroll jumped for a corner and caught Simon Mignolet on the head, forcing the Liverpool goalkeeper to fumble the ball to Demel, who poked into the unguarded net from close range.

PAPISS CISSE (Newcastle)

The Senegal striker endured a tough afternoon as Manchester United won 4-0 at St James` Park. With the match still goalless, he turned a tame overhead kick straight at goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard, then went closer with a fine header that required the Dane, a replacement for the rested David de Gea, to dive to his left in order to make a flying one-hand stop that saw the ball turned over the crossbar.
SPAIN

RICHMOND BOAKYE (Elche)

The Ghanaian striker scored a vital winner deep into stoppage time to ease Elche`s relegation fears with a 1-0 victory over Getafe.

NOUREDDINE AMRABAT (Malaga)

Moroccan Amrabat was on target from the penalty spot as Malaga rose to 11th with a 4-1 thrashing of Granada in an Andalusian derby.

YOUSSEF EL-ARABI (Granada)

Another Moroccan, El-Arabi, registered his 12th La Liga goal of the season, but also missed a first-half penalty as Granada remain just four points above the relegation zone.

STEPHANE MBIA (Sevilla)

Cameroonian Mbia opened the scoring with his second goal for Sevilla as the Andalusians moved within three points of fourth-place Athletic Bilbao with a 4-1 win over Espanyol.
ITALY

GERVINHO (Roma)

He may have failed to score, but the Ivorian was pivotal in Roma`s 3-1 win away to Cagliari, which closed the gap on Juventus to five points and led indirectly to the sacking of the Sardinians` coach, Diego Lopez. Gervinho set up Mattia Destro for the first of his hat-trick of goals and was involved in the move that saw Alessandro Florenzi roll the ball across the face of goal for Destro`s third.

FAOUZI GHOULAM (Napoli)

A week on from a solid performance for Napoli in a 2-0 win over Juventus, the Algerian defender was left frustrated after a 1-0 defeat at Parma which all but ended Napoli`s bid for second spot. Ghoulam had a free-kick opportunity in the second half but fired over the crossbar. Napoli remain third, but are 12 points adrift of second-place Roma.
GERMANY

IBRAHIMA TRAORE (VfB Stuttgart)

The Guinea midfielder put in a superb cross for Romania`s Alexandru Maxim to score for Stuttgart in a 2-0 win over Freiburg, which lifted his team out of the relegation places. The 25-year-old showed great pace to sprint through the Freiburg defence and square to Maxim.

DOMI KUMBELA (Eintracht Braunschweig)

Bundesliga bottom side Braunschweig`s Democratic Republic of Congo-born captain gave his side the lead in their 3-0 victory against 10-man Hanover 96 in the Lower Saxony derby with an easy tap-in for his ninth goal of the season with 14 minutes gone.
FRANCE

ANDRE AYEW (Marseille)

The Ghana winger grabbed a hat-trick in the 3-1 win over rock-bottom Ajaccio but the Marseille fans still jeered their struggling team. It was the 1993 European champions` first win since the end of February but wasn`t enough to lift them above sixth place.

JORDAN AYEW (Sochaux) 

Andre Ayew`s brother, on loan from Marseille, scored his team`s first goal on the stroke of half-time in a 2-2 draw at Bastia, but Sochaux remained second last, eight points from safety.
RUSSIA

CHISAMBA LUNGU (Ural Yekaterinburg)

The Zambian winger was a constant threat down the wing, creating a series of chances for his team during a 1-0 win at Spartak Moscow before being yellow carded and substituted late in the game.. 

SEYDOU DOUMBIA (CSKA Moscow)

The Ivorian became the leading Russian league scorer this season with the second goal as CSKA triumphed 3-1 at Samara. Doumbia, who set up the opening goal, struck on seven minutes with a lob.

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Sherwood on brink as Tottenham's season takes new twist

London: Tottenham Hotspur`s rapidly unravelling season took another twist on Monday with first team coach Tim Sherwood set to be replaced in the summer, according to media reports.

The former England midfielder, a Premier League title winner with Blackburn Rovers, was handed an 18-month contract in December following the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas but results since have been inconsistent.

Tottenham would not comment on Sky Sports report that the 45-year-old Sherwood would be relieved of his duties in the summer, although more light should be shed on the matter later when Spurs host Sunderland in the Premier League.

Sherwood`s future has been the source of much speculation since he publicly slated his team for a "lack of guts" after a 4-0 thrashing by London rivals Chelsea last month.

Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal has been linked with the Tottenham job once his World Cup duties are over.

"It`s just one stage at a time and I`ve got six cup finals between now and the end of the season," former Spurs midfielder Sherwood told reporters ahead of the Sunderland match.

"It`s really important to me that we show the fans something to make them optimistic about next season.

"It was a case of just cracking on. But whatever decisions I make are my decisions. If I`m going to go down, I`ll go down my way."

Despite selling their best player Gareth Bale to Real Madrid in August, Tottenham were strongly tipped to challenge for a top-four finish in the Premier League after investing nearly 100 million pounds in new signings.

However, the likes of Spain striker Roberto Soldado, Brazil midfielder Paulinho and Argentine youngster Erik Lamela have failed to gel, costing Villas-Boas his job before Christmas after heavy defeats by Man City and Liverpool.

The straight-talking Sherwood, who was promoted from working with the club`s under 18s, did initially make an impact with Tottenham maintaining their push for the top four - the standout result being a New Year`s Day victory at Manchester United in which rejuvenated striker Emmanuel Adebayor scored.

Performances have tailed off alarmingly though and Tottenham went out of the Europa League to Benfica in March and also suffered league defeats against Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, virtually ending their hopes of qualifying for next season`s Champions League.

Before Monday`s home clash with bottom club Sunderland the club were seventh in the table, eight points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with a game in hand.

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