Trevor Steven: It’s time for Mohamed Salah and Liverpool to show they are winners March 12, 2019 For a few minutes of Liverpool’s Premier League win over Burnley on Sunday I kept my eyes trained solely on Mohamed Salah. In that brief spell he must have lost the ball four or five times. In the previous game at Everton, Salah wasted a couple of one-one-one chances against Jordan Pickford in which he [...]
With nine games to go, the battle for the Premier League Golden Boot looks set to go down to the wire March 7, 2019 At the front of every great team there is a goalscorer, charged with converting the team's chances into goals and delivering moments of quality that can change the course of a game. While the battle for the Premier League crown looks set to go down to the wire, there is another race that is starting [...]
Puma claws Manchester City away from Nike to grow their consumer impression March 6, 2019 Premier League champions Manchester City have signed a long-term shirt sponsorship deal with German sportswear brand Puma, ending a 7-year agreement with Nike. The move will put a different logo on players’ chests but also affect loyal fans. Media reports suggest the deal could be worth up to £65m a year over 10 years. Puma [...]
Jurgen Klopp blames windy conditions after Liverpool blow chance to regain Premier League lead March 3, 2019 A prickly Jurgen Klopp preferred to focus on the blustery conditions inside Goodison Park after his team drew 0-0 with Everton on Sunday but there is no escaping the conclusion that the Premier League title that Liverpool so crave is slipping from their grasp. Having fuelled hope of a first top-flight crown since 1990 by [...]
Has Liverpool’s new-found solidity turned Jurgen Klopp’s heavy metal football into pedestrian dad-rock? February 24, 2019 When Jurgen Klopp fine-tuned his Liverpool team in preparation for this season, he focused on making them more robust. Following the January 2018 signing of Virgil van Dijk, last summer saw the arrival at Anfield of an elite level goalkeeper in Alisson and an accomplished defensive midfielder in Fabinho. Until then devastating in attack but [...]
Our cup runneth over: Five reasons why the FA Cup has been a treat this season February 17, 2019 If unpredictability is at the heart of the FA Cup’s appeal then there is much to love about how this season’s competition is unfolding and the composition of the last eight. For the first time in five years – and only the second time in a decade – there will be just two teams from [...]
Never mind the Big Six, it’s all about the Premier League’s Big Three as Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham underline gulf in quality February 10, 2019 We all know about the Big Six, the Premier League’s half a dozen richest clubs who monopolise the top places in the table, effectively creating a two-tier division of haves and have-nots. It’s plain to see in the current rankings, with the biggest gap between positions anywhere in the top flight being the 12 points [...]
Manchester City’s team of winners gives them the advantage in the title race February 7, 2019 When it comes to winning titles, the current Manchester City side are the Premier League’s experts. Not just because they claimed the top-flight crown with a record points tally last season, but because each and every member of the team has a track record of success. There are those who have only won trophies at [...]
Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City become first Premier League clubs to install pioneering Intel True View technology February 7, 2019 It’s the world’s most watched sporting competition, but now the Premier League’s billions of viewers are about to get a new way to consume every goal, assist and save. Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City have become the first clubs in English football to sign up for Intel’s True View technology, which uses an array of [...]
Five talking points from Sunday’s Premier League matches: Manchester City dispel title doubts, Arsenal losing ground, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford inspire Manchester United, Leicester in limbo February 3, 2019 It took just 50 seconds for Sergio Aguero and Manchester City to dispel the notion that that the midweek defeat at Newcastle was anything other than an aberration; one of those freakish results that even the best teams usually succumb to once a season. City penned in Arsenal, Aymeric Laporte whipped the ball across goal [...]