Five things we learned from the Premier League weekend: Chelsea stumble, Palace home woes, Klopp in denial, Spurs scrape win, Burnley off the mark September 23, 2018 1. Chelsea stumble at last Chelsea’s perfect start to life under Maurizio Sarri was always going to be tested once they started their Europa League campaign and so it proved on Sunday at West Ham. Less than 72 hours after their win over PAOK in Greece, the Blues – featuring six of the same [...]
Manchester City’s loss to Lyon exposed some nagging problems and should be a wake-up call September 20, 2018 The 2018-19 season has long been earmarked as Manchester City’s big push for the Champions League. Pep Guardiola has had two years and three summer transfer windows to mould a squad capable of toppling the continent’s heavyweights and the manner of last term’s runaway Premier League triumph pointed to a team ready to challenge on [...]
Manchester City’s loss to Lyon exposed some nagging problems and should be a wake-up call September 20, 2018 The 2018-19 season has long been earmarked as Manchester City’s big push for the Champions League. Pep Guardiola has had two years and three summer transfer windows to mould a squad capable of toppling the continent’s heavyweights and the manner of last term’s runaway Premier League triumph pointed to a team ready to challenge on [...]
Tiger Woods v Phil Mickelson: Is the $9m match good for golf or a tacky sideshow? September 16, 2018 Over the next few weeks the attention of golf fans will be increasingly drawn to a genteel corner of France nestled by the Palace of Versailles, where Europe and the United States will resume hostilities in the finest traditions of the Ryder Cup. Once that’s over, however, an altogether gaudier spectacle will be competing for [...]
Tiger Woods v Phil Mickelson: Is the $9m match good for golf or a tacky sideshow? September 16, 2018 Over the next few weeks the attention of golf fans will be increasingly drawn to a genteel corner of France nestled by the Palace of Versailles, where Europe and the United States will resume hostilities in the finest traditions of the Ryder Cup. Once that’s over, however, an altogether gaudier spectacle will be competing for [...]
Why Fifa and the Premier League are at odds over an imminent overhaul of the transfer market September 6, 2018 The great and the good of football head to London later this month to settle a contentious matter: the recipients of the 2018 instalment of Fifa’s The Best awards. But an even thornier topic is also set to be debated in the capital, with many of the game’s most influential stakeholders in town. The issue [...]
Five things we learned from the Premier League weekend: Arsenal win leaves Emery with conundrum; Spurs fall at fortress Vicarage Road; and Alisson gaffe masks Liverpool progress September 2, 2018 Unai Emery heeded calls to fit both Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang into his starting XI today at Cardiff and the move paid off in a breathless 3-2 win. Lacazette was deployed centrally and thrived on the greater degree of involvement, setting up Aubameyang’s goal and smashing the late winner. Aaron Ramsey also revelled through [...]
Watford shed revolving-door policy and enjoy best ever start to a season August 30, 2018 In among the multiple English champions in the early Premier League pace-setters, one place above last season’s runaway title-winners Manchester City, is an incongruous name: Watford. With three wins from three fixtures so far, the unfashionable Hornets are enjoying their best start to a top-flight season. Not since 1982-83, when a teenage John Barnes was [...]
Why are Premier League clubs being paid in Bitcoin for their commercial deals with trading platform eToro? August 23, 2018 If 2018 has been the year of football dipping its toe into the world of cryptocurrency, then this week saw some teams go a little deeper into uncharted waters. On Tuesday, seven Premier League clubs including Tottenham and Crystal Palace announced that they had signed commercial partnerships with investment platform eToro. What made these deals [...]
Arsenal v West Ham: Old foes reunited as Unai Emery and Manuel Pellegrini meet again with new clubs August 23, 2018 Familiarity will be in the air at Emirates Stadium on Saturday when West Ham visit Arsenal. Most eyes will be trained on Jack Wilshere, who is set to face the club at which he spent his formative footballing years for the first time since his summer switch from north to east London, while Spanish forward [...]