FA Cup betting tips: United to bounce back from defeat by Arsenal with win over Wolves March 14, 2019 WITH London sides winning four of the previous five FA Cup finals, it really is about time the rest of the country started pulling its weight and giving fans outside of the M25 a reason to cheer. Only Manchester United have disrupted the tide in that time, lifting the trophy in 2016 thanks to Jesse [...]
FA Cup quarter-finals: Competition presents a rare opportunity for non-Premier League Big Six sides to make their mark March 14, 2019 The best advertising strikes a chord with consumers and BT Sport’s publicity for its FA Cup coverage has neatly captured the mood around this season’s competition. In the advert, common grievances about football's oldest competition – not enough giant-killings, an unwanted break from fantasy football, a halting of league momentum – are aired. An oversized [...]
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 [...]
How Raheem Sterling became Pep Guardiola’s go-to guy and Manchester City’s most prolific attacker March 11, 2019 Raheem Sterling is still just 24 years old, but the fact that he made his debut seven years ago and has won 47 caps for England means his relative youth is obscured. The Manchester City forward has been performing at the top level and with such consistency for so long that his influence has been [...]
Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United: Unai Emery out-thinks Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to deliver deserved victory March 10, 2019 Something had to give. Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Manchester United had won all nine of their away games; Arsenal were unbeaten in 14 Premier League matches at home and had won eight in a row at Emirates Stadium. In the event it was the Gunners’ streak which continued as Granit Xhaka’s swerving shot and Pierre-Emerick [...]
Strike partnerships: Is the Premier League entering a new era of famous front twos? March 10, 2019 Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke; Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright; Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton – aka the SAS. Some of the Premier League’s best teams have been propelled by brilliant strike partnerships. As those names indicate, however, the heyday of the front two came in the mid to late 1990s. Recent years have instead [...]
Football Betting Tips: United’s European heroics could lead to league stalemate March 7, 2019 BARCELONA in 1999 and Istanbul in 2005 live long in the memory as the greatest Champions League comebacks in modern history, however we could have another contender after Manchester United’s epic night in Paris on Wednesday. The Red Devils looked dead and buried after their 2-0 first leg defeat at Old Trafford, but Marcus Rashford’s [...]
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 [...]
Only one of Southampton and Cardiff will survive in Premier League relegation scrap March 5, 2019 It's turning into a two-way relegation fight between Cardiff and Southampton to fill the final place in the Premier League's bottom three. For Huddersfield and Fulham it is already too late. The former are long gone and will already be preparing for next season in the Championship, while the Cottagers have got every decision wrong [...]