West Ham United 3, Watford 1: Andy Carroll makes it six in six as Slaven Bilic urges Hammers to keep up chase for historic Champions League place April 20, 2016 West Ham United 3, Watford 1 West Ham manager Slaven Bilic reiterated his determination to gatecrash the Premier League's top four after his side kept up the chase by brushing aside under-strength Watford on Wednesday night. Striker Andy Carroll's sixth goal in as many games and two penalties from captain Mark Noble put the Hammers in charge before [...]
Arsene Wenger accepts blame as supporter unrest leads to threat of 20,000 empty seats for West Brom match April 20, 2016 Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admits the collapse of his team’s title challenge could lead to a club record low attendance for a Premier League fixture when West Brom visit on Thursday evening. The Gunners have been sucked into a now-traditional scrap for a Champions League place by a dismal run that has yielded just 18 [...]
Euro 2016: France to prolong state of emergency across tournament April 20, 2016 France will extend its state of emergency for a further two months in order to cover Euro 2016. Over 2.5m football fans are expected to converge on France for the month-long football tournament, and security services want the extra powers granted to them by an official state of emergency to help ensure their safety. Read [...]
Newcastle United 1, Manchester City 1: Pellegrini adopts brave face despite City opening Champions League door to rivals April 19, 2016 Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini brushed off his side’s failure to overcome relegation-haunted Newcastle despite their draw opening the door to rivals Manchester United in the race for a top-four finish. The Magpies recovered their poise following a contentious opener from City’s prolific marksman Sergio Aguero — his 100th Premier League goal — to earn [...]
Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur: this is how to come out on top in a title race – and how to let it slip April 19, 2016 Suddenly pressure is mounting on Leicester in this, the most exciting Premier League season yet, after they dropped points against West Ham on Sunday and Tottenham cut their lead to five points 24 hours later. I can relate to the experience of both teams from my playing days at Everton, where we won the Division One [...]
Euro 2016: Uefa chooses Hawk-Eye technology used at Wimbledon for goal-line technology system April 19, 2016 The Hawk-Eye system used at Wimbledon and in the Premier League will provide goal-line technology at this summer's Euro 2016 tournament and in next season's Champions League. Uefa picked Hawk-Eye ahead of three other technology providers to provide referees with alerts whenever a ball has officially crossed the goal line. Referees in the Premier League, [...]
Fifa president Gianni Infantino urged to raise Qatar human rights abuses on visit to 2022 World Cup host April 19, 2016 Fifa president Gianni Infantino has been urged to use a visit to Qatar to voice concerns over the gulf state's treatment of migrant workers. The recently-elected head of world football's governing body travels to Russia and Qatar this week to meet with the organising committees of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively. Despite constant controversy [...]
NFL: US court upholds $1bn concussion settlement as “imperfect but fair” April 19, 2016 A US court has upheld the National Football League's $1bn (£699m) concussion settlement with a collection of retired players who suffered brain damage from playing the sport. Over 5,000 former American football players brought the lawsuit against the NFL but up to 21,000 could be covered by the settlement. The agreement was described as "imperfect [...]
Stoke City 0, Tottenham Hotspur 4: Spurs will fight until bitter end, two-goal hero Harry Kane warns Premier League leaders Leicester April 18, 2016 Prolific Tottenham marksman Harry Kane vowed that his side will relentlessly pursue Premier League leaders Leicester until the bitter end after ripping Stoke to shreds. Two goals apiece for lethal duo Kane and midfielder Dele Alli not only cut the Foxes’ advantage at the summit to five points but also sounded an ominous warning that Spurs are [...]
Jamie Vardy faces missing two Leicester City games after striker is hit with FA charge for angry reaction to red card against West Ham April 18, 2016 Premier League leaders Leicester could be forced to cope without top scorer Jamie Vardy for the next two games after the England striker was charged with improper conduct by the Football Association. Vardy was charged for his angry reaction to being shown a second yellow card in an incident-filled 2-2 draw at home to West [...]