Ugo Monye: I know how exhausting the 10 match Lions tour of New Zealand will be for players — but none will turn down the chance to go September 20, 2016 Former British and Irish Lions tourist Ugo Monye insists the pride will overwhelm the pain for players selected in Warren Gatland’s squad for next summer’s gruelling tour of New Zealand. Leading figures of the club game have warned that the month-long trip will take its toll on players’ bodies and lead to injuries in the [...]
Tottenham rocked as ankle ligament damage set to sideline striker Harry Kane for up to two months September 19, 2016 TottenhamT striker Harry Kane is set to sidelined for the next two months with the ankle injury picked up during his side’s Premier League victory over Sunderland on Sunday. Kane underwent two scans yesterday, which showed that the 23-year-old had escaped a fracture but had sustained ligament damage during a collision with Black Cats defender [...]
Crystal Palace 4, Stoke City 1: Eagles boss Alan Pardew insists victory vindicates his summer changes September 18, 2016 Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew insists his side's hammering of winless Stoke City is a vindication of the tactical and personnel changes he implemented during the summer. The Eagles have now won-back-to-back matches for the first time this year as strikes from James Tomkins, Scott Dann, James McArthur and Andros Townsend consigned Stoke, who replied late [...]
Watford 3, Manchester United 1: Some players are not coping with pressure of representing United, fumes Jose Mourinho September 18, 2016 Furious Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has accused some of his players of failing to deal with the pressure of playing for the club after slumping to a third straight defeat against Watford. United had hauled themselves level through Marcus Rashford after Etienne Capoue’s first-half opener, only for substitute Juan Zuniga to restore Watford’s lead [...]
Return of £34m maverick David Luiz can shore up Chelsea defence against Liverpool, says Antonio Conte September 15, 2016 Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has backed a retrained David Luiz to cope with Liverpool’s in-form strikeforce when the Brazil defender makes his second Blues debut on Friday night. The Reds visit Stamford Bridge six days after they hit four past Premier League champions Leicester and having done the same on their last visit to London [...]
Betting: No Euro Blues for Chelsea who look good for a win at the Bridge September 15, 2016 Big nights under the lights tend to come midweek when Chelsea meet Liverpool. Between 2004 and 2009, the pair met 10 times in the Champions League, seeing out some classic encounters. This season, however, it’s a Friday night where Blues meet Reds, with neither side involved in Europe for the first time since the 1993/94 campaign. [...]
The Amazon Echo is an artificially intelligent speaker and virtual assistant that can play music, order curries and hail an Uber September 14, 2016 The Amazon Echo is a hands-free speaker that you operate using voice commands. Inside it (well, somewhere in the cloud to be precise) lives Alexa, an artificial intelligence and essentially Amazon’s version of Siri. Alexa’s machine-learning algorithms and rapidly expanding skillset make her smarter as time goes on: so while today she can play music, [...]
Counties vote for domestic cricket shake-up and new city-based Twenty20 competition September 14, 2016 Domestic cricket is set for one of the biggest shake-ups in its history after counties voted to introduce a new eight-team city-based Twenty20 competition. First-class counties, along with law-making body the MCC, voted 16-3 in favour of the creation of the new tournament which will take place in addition to the existing 18-team T20 Blast. [...]
Manchester United: Are the football finance kings in danger of becoming a busted flush with an ageing business model? September 14, 2016 Earlier this week, Manchester United announced a staggering £515m in revenues. I tip my hat to their commercial team, because whilst the TV money flowing through from the Premier League represents a significant chunk of this you have to admire how they have built competitive advantage on others. When you consider that their EBITDA figure is [...]
Why Tottenham and West Ham’s stadium experiments could count against them – and what decided the Manchester derby September 13, 2016 It would be a very different mood at Tottenham going into their opening Champions League game against Monaco on Wednesday if they had not beaten Stoke so soundly on Saturday. A draw or defeat would have compounded concerns about a hangover from last season’s failed Premier League title challenge and a slow start this term, [...]