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, [...]
Sunderland 0, Everton 3: I need to be a serial killer, insists hat-trick hero Romelu Lukaku September 12, 2016 Everton striker Romelu Lukaku insists he needs to develop into a penalty box serial killer after ending his goal drought with a destructive hat-trick as his side hammered winless Sunderland. Lukaku brought a 13-match barren spell to a close as the Toffees recorded a third straight Premier League victory and their best start to a top-flight [...]
Arsene Wenger tips Arsenal for Champions League challenge September 12, 2016 Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger insists the added maturity within his squad gives him increasing confidence that the Gunners can break free from the shackles of knockout stage obscurity and mount a sustained Champions League challenge this season. The north London club begin their European campaign with a showdown against big-spending Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc [...]
Crystal Palace full-back Pape Souare airlifted to hospital after car crash on M4 September 12, 2016 Crystal Palace full-back Pape Souare is set for a sustained spell on the sidelines after being airlifted to hospital having been involved in a car crash on the M4 on Sunday. The Selhurst Park club have confirmed that the 26-year-old, who joined Palace from French side Lille in January 2015, suffered thigh and jaw injuries and [...]