Arsene Wenger has revealed Mesut Ozil rarely trains between matches as he looks to keep the German playmaker in peak condition for Arsenal's Premier League title charge.

Ozil has been the key figure in Arsenal's rise to the top of the table and has already provided a league leading 16 assists this season.

Aston Villa manager Remi Garde insists he won't quit even if his struggling side are relegated from the Premier League.

Villa are rooted to the bottom of the table as they prepare to face fellow strugglers Sunderland on Saturday.

Guus Hiddink has challenged his Chelsea flops to rediscover the winning formula as they start the new year with a tricky trip to Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Hiddink's side have drawn against Watford and Manchester United since the Dutchman returned for his second spell as Chelsea interim manager following Jose Mourinho's sacking.

African glory-seekers this year include South African Tokyo Sexwale, who wants to be FIFA president, and Ivorian Yaya Toure, bidding for an unprecedented fifth straight CAF Footballer of the Year title.

Another off-field event certain to capture the attention of a continent in which football is the dominant sport will be the 2018 World Cup groups draw with 20 African teams eying five places in Russia.

Klay Thompson scored 38 points and the Golden State Warriors showed they can win without star Stephen Curry Thursday with a 114-110 victory over the Rockets in Houston.

Curry missed his second straight game with a lower left leg bruise.

As a child soldier with Nepal's Maoists, Mira Rai learned to fire guns, disarm opponents and race down trails, little imagining her guerrilla drills would help make her one of the world's top ultra runners.

"It is like a dream, beyond anything I ever imagined. I was just a girl from a village," Rai told AFP.

Nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb will add some extra spice to this year's Dakar Rally in which Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah will bid to defend his title in Argentina and Bolivia.

The Frenchman will seek to follow in the footsteps of Ari Vatanen, who won the Dakar in his first attempt in 1987, back when it was raced in Africa.

Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez returns to Valencia, where he won two league titles with Los Che, fighting to hold onto his job on Sunday.

Madrid's awful 2015 began with defeat at the Mestalla which ended a 22-game winning run and led to the eventual sacking of Carlo Ancelotti after he failed to deliver a major trophy.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal remains in office after the most testing fortnight of his 18-month tenure, but he is not secure in his job just yet.

Van Gaal appeared to be in serious danger of being sacked following a run of four successive defeats, culminating in a feeble performance as his team were beaten 2-0 at Stoke City on Boxing Day.

Rafael Nadal is confident he will be "very competitive" in 2016 after a difficult 2015 during which the world number five struggled with his early form.

The Spaniard made a strong push at the end of last season to finish inside the top-five but his results in 2015 were the worst he has recorded in more than a decade as he admitted he was struggling with confidence.