Steve Bruce has finally been sacked as head coach of Newcastle United by their new Saudi-backed owners, nearly two weeks after they bought the club. The consortium knew that to leave him in post for last Sunday’s home game with Spurs risked spoiling the carnival atmosphere inside St James’ Park, yet they allowed him to complete his 1,000th career game in management, which Read More
Struggling Newcastle find themselves in the unusual position of being the Premier League’s headline act at the start of their Saudi-led revolution this weekend. So often consigned to the margins during decades of underachievement, all eyes will be on the club on Sunday when they host Tottenham in their first match since the controversial takeover that has Magpies fans dreaming Read More
With almost two months to wait until we know the winner of the 2021 Ballon d’Or, France Football have released the 30 nominees for the award which didn’t take place last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony will take place on November 29, and with no clear favourite, we have one of the most open Ballon d’Or races in decades. Read More
Oleksandr Usyk is the new unified heavyweight world champion after dethroning Anthony Joshua with an incredible performance in London. The Ukrainian put on a masterclass in front of 65,000 fans inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, outclassing Joshua over 12 rounds, and hurting the defending champion on numerous occasions. The scorecards – 117-112, 116-112, 115-113 – were all for Usyk and there Read More
Martin Odegaard scored his first goal since his permanent switch to Arsenal on Saturday to further ease the pressure on Mikel Arteta as Sadio Mane helped fire Liverpool to the top of the Premier League. Defending champions Manchester City dropped two points at home to Southampton after a 0-0 stalemate while struggling Wolves lost their fourth match in five against Read More
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick to overtake Pele as the top international goalscorer in South American football history on Thursday as Argentina cruised to a 3-0 victory over Bolivia in their 2022 World Cup qualifier. Messi pounced for his 77th, 78th and 79th international goals to keep Argentina firmly on course for a place at next year’s finals in Qatar Read More
Leicester will face Napoli, Spartak Moscow and Legia Warsaw in Group C of the 2021-22 Europa League. West Ham will play Dinamo Zagreb, Genk and Rapid Vienna in Group H. Scottish champions Rangers have been drawn against Lyon, Sparta Prague and Brondby in Group A, while Celtic are in Group G with Bayer Leverkusen, Real Betis and Ferencvaros. In the Read More
Defending champions Atletico Madrid got their Spanish Liga season underway with a 2-1 win at Celta Vigo on Sunday as Barcelona braced for “a leap into the unknown” without Lionel Messi. Angel Correa gave Atletico the lead after 23 minutes after being set up by Thomas Lemar. Correa added a second goal in the 64th minute just five minutes after Read More
Chelsea have completed a £98million deal to bring Romelu Lukaku back to the Premier League. Talks with Inter Milan reached a conclusion on Saturday after days of negotiations over the fee and structure of the transfer. The 28-year-old landed at Biggin Hill airport on Wednesday evening ahead of his move back to Stamford Bridge, having passed the main part of his medical in Milan Read More
Anthony Joshua’s world heavyweight title defence against Oleksandr Usyk will take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 25 September. Joshua, 31, will risk his IBF, WBA and WBO belts against the Ukrainian, who is his mandatory challenger. Usyk, 34, has not fought for a title as a heavyweight but held all four belts a division lower at cruiserweight. Joshua was Read More
Romelu Lukaku paid tribute to his Inter Milan team-mate Christian Eriksen after scoring against Russia to help world number one side Belgium start Euro 2020 with a win. Denmark midfielder Eriksen collapsed on the pitch earlier on Saturday in the Group B game with Finland and received emergency treatment on the field. There was some doubt as to whether Belgium’s Read More
Inter Milan player Eriksen, 29, is “awake” and undergoing tests in hospital after collapsing on the pitch and receiving CPR; UEFA confirmed Eriksen has been “stabilised” and that Denmark vs Finland would restart at 7.30pm UK time after being suspended due to a “medical emergency” Christian Eriksen is “awake” and undergoing tests in hospital after collapsing on the pitch as Read More
Manchester City have won a third Premier League title in four years after closest challengers Manchester United were beaten by Leicester City. Pep Guardiola’s side are now 10 points ahead of second-placed United, who have just three games remaining. It is the seventh time City have finished top of the English football pyramid and the fifth in nine years. Manager Read More
Newcastle moved to within one point of Premier League safety with an impressive win over Champions League-chasing Leicester City. Joe Willock put the visitors ahead with a cool finish after pouncing on an error from Foxes defender Caglar Soyuncu. Paul Dummett doubled the Magpies’ lead, rising above Wesley Fofana to head past Kasper Schmeichel from Matt Ritchie’s corner, before Callum Read More
Nine of the original European Super League clubs, including the Premier League’s ‘big six’, have been given a financial punishment by Uefa. The nine – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, plus AC Milan, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid – have also committed to the European governing body and its competitions. However, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Read More
Stuart Dallas scored an injury-time winner as 10-man Leeds United beat runaway leaders Manchester City at Etihad Stadium. Dallas gave the visitors a surprise lead three minutes before the break with a low shot that went in off the inside of a post. However, the dismissal of skipper Liam Cooper for a tackle on Gabriel Jesus before the opening period Read More
Harry Kane is expected to tell Tottenham he wants to leave if they fail to qualify for the Champions League next season. As first reported by The Athletic, Kane will not make a final decision on his future until after the European Championships but the failure to compete for major trophies is increasingly concerning for the England striker. However, any departure would Read More
The Carabao Cup final between Tottenham and Manchester City will have 8,000 fans in attendance after it was confirmed as a pilot event to test the return of big crowds. A proportion of tickets will be made available to both clubs for the game at Wembley Stadium on 25 April. Rick Parry, chair of the English Football League (EFL), said Read More
Tottenham’s Gareth Bale has revealed he plans to return to Real Madrid next season after the end of his loan spell this summer. Wales captain Bale has spent the season on loan at Tottenham but he has a year left on his Real contract of £31m-a-year, which expires at the end of the 2021-22 season. But speaking at a press conference ahead of Wales’ opening World Read More
Leicester City reached their first FA Cup semi-final for 39 years with a fully deserved win over Manchester United at the King Power Stadium. Brendan Rodgers’ side will face Southampton at Wembley with Chelsea and Manchester City meeting in the other semi-final. Leicester, who lost to eventual winners Tottenham in the 1982 semi-final, were the more vibrant and positive team Read More
Jose Mourinho is under huge pressure to deliver top-level European football, with failure set to cost the Tottenham boss his job. A season in the European wilderness will place significant strain on the club’s finances that has already endured major blows by their failure to qualify for this term’s Champions League and the Covid pandemic. And while Mourinho’s position is under greater internal scrutiny following Read More
Arsenal came from behind to secure a fully deserved north London derby win and inflict damage on Tottenham’s hopes of a place in the Premier League’s top four. The Gunners were vastly superior until a Spurs rally in the closing stages but fell behind to a piece of genius from Erik Lamela – on for the injured Son Heung-Min – Read More
Manchester United will play seven-time Champions League winners AC Milan in the last 16 of the Europa League. AC Milan, who sit second in Serie A, are yet to win the competition while United’s only triumph was in 2017. Arsenal, finalists in 2019, face Greek side Olympiakos, who knocked them out in the last-32 stage last year. Tottenham will play Read More
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel hailed Timo Werner’s contribution to a 2-1 win at bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United despite the German international’s Premier League goal drought extending to 11 games. Werner set up Mason Mount’s opener and won the decisive penalty, converted by Jorginho, as Chelsea closed to within a point of the top four with a third win in Tuchel’s four Read More
Liverpool reignited their title defence by ending a five-match winless run in the Premier League with a dominant win at Tottenham. Roberto Firmino tapped the Reds ahead on the stroke of half-time when Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier hesitated in dealing with Sadio Mane’s low cross. Trent Alexander-Arnold drilled in the second before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s stunner gave Spurs a glimmer Read More
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