Tottenham do battle with Chelsea on Saturday while Manchester City host high-flying Bournemouth on Sunday
Saturday 3pm Venue Amex Stadium
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
Arne Slot has no excuses, Fulham and Palace are stretched and should Arsenal be wary of Burnley’s full-backs?
Burnley’s Kyle Walker and Quilindschy Hartman, Q to his friends, have been one of the finest full-back pairings in the Premier League this season. They are defensively disciplined but also have the ability to push forward and cause problems. Everyone expected as much from Walker, who has been one of the best right-backs in world football over the past decade, but it could have been difficult for Hartman, coming from the Eredivisie, to settle into a newly promoted team and face some of the best wingers in the world. The Dutchman has stuck to his defensive tasks supremely well but the task of marshalling Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze will be a true test. Regular assists are also making Hartman a real asset to Burnley. Two crosses produced Zian Flemming’s goals against Wolves, making it four assists in nine Premier League appearances. Arsenal should be wary. Will Unwin
Continue reading...Lionel Messi says MLS must loosen spending rules in order to thrive
Inter Miami star delivered remarks in an NBC interview
Messi reiterated his desire to play in the 2026 World Cup
Lionel Messi said that MLS must loosen its spending restrictions in order to become a top league in the world of soccer and said that he is hopeful that he will be physically able to contribute to Argentina at next summer’s World Cup.
In a rare interview with an American outlet, Messi sat down with NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In the interview, Messi was asked if he felt that soccer could become as popular in the US as American sports like football, baseball, and basketball. Messi said he thinks the sport could get there, but that teams need to have more freedom first.
Continue reading...With Arsenal clear and rivals stumbling, is the Premier League title race over?
Mikel Arteta’s side have experience of being top of the table but have been unable to finish the job in previous seasons
All the signs point to it finally being Arsenal’s season. But given that they have spent almost 800 days top of the table since last being champions in 2004, nothing will be taken for granted at this stage. After an outlay of more than £250m in the summer, Mikel Arteta has a formidable squad that has been able to cope with injuries to important players such as Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard – a problem that derailed them in three successive runner-up finishes.
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Arsenal’s title tilt is built on solid defence, Chelsea miss Cole Palmer and what happened to clampdown on shirt-pulling?
“One-nil to the Arsenal” may not be thrilling but it is certainly effective. Sunday’s victory over Crystal Palace was Mikel Arteta’s side’s third by that margin in nine Premier League games. Last season, Arsenal managed that result five times in the league, while also drawing 1-1 in seven matches. Clean sheets in just half of those might have made for an intriguing title race. For all the noise surrounding Arsenal’s attacking talent, their defence is just as vital. It is their solidity at that end of the pitch that will probably lead them to glory, with three goals conceded in nine top-flight games so far. Sunday also marked a century of games across all competitions since they have conceded more than twice. The last to put three past David Raya? Luton – remember them? – back in December 2023. Sam Dalling
Match report: Arsenal 1-0 Crystal Palace
Match report: Aston Villa 1-0 Man City
Match report: Brentford 3-2 Liverpool
Match report: Manchester United 4-2 Brighton
Match report: Everton 0-3 Tottenham
Continue reading...Tarling and Charlton grab GB’s first golds at Track World Championships
Tarling delivers a masterclass in the points race
Charlton emulates Wiggins with individual pursuit title
Great Britain secured their first gold medals at Track World Championships in Chile as Josh Charlton claimed his first world title with victory in the individual pursuit and Josh Tarling stormed to victory the men’s points race.
Tarling delivered a points race masterclass to land gold before Charlton picked up his first rainbow jersey in the individual pursuit – Britain’s first gold in the men’s event since Bradley Wiggins in 2008. Joe Truman claimed bronze in the men’s kilo.
Continue reading...Premier League team news: predicted lineups for the weekend action
Champions Liverpool pay a visit to Brentford on Saturday night while leaders Arsenal host Crystal Palace on Sunday
Saturday 3pm Venue Stamford Bridge
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
Marc Guiu faces Sunderland reunion, Manchester United seek a minor three-peat and Mohamed Salah has to step up
Leeds host West Ham in a Friday night match that, even at this early stage of the season, looks very much like a quintessential relegation six-pointer. Elland Road is a wonderfully atmospheric ground but given the local traffic congestion, getting there, particularly on a Friday evening, is invariably tortuous. The prospect of exacerbating that gridlock dictates that the club’s plans to expand Elland Road to 53,000 appear in potential jeopardy. Leeds city council will make a final, delayed, decision on the project on 27 November but, with 65% of the team’s fans driving to matches, there is concern about the inevitable extra traffic chaos. The club hope to reduce the percentage of match-bound car travel to 51%, but to do that public transport needs to improve; Leeds is the biggest city in western Europe without a metro system. Cycling? Anyone familiar with the area’s topography knows it is not a realistic option for the vast majority of fans. Louise Taylor
Leeds v West Ham, Friday 8pm BST
Chelsea v Sunderland, Saturday 3pm BST
Newcastle v Fulham, Saturday 3pm BST
Manchester United v Brighton, Saturday 5.30pm BST
Brentford v Liverpool, Saturday 8pm BST
Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest, Sunday 2pm GMT
Continue reading...Lionel Messi signs Inter Miami contract extension to 2028
Messi won MLS MVP in 2024, is favored to repeat
Deal will keep him in Miami for new stadium opening
Lionel Messi has signed a multi-year contract extension with Inter Miami, sealing a deal that will keep him in South Florida until the end of the 2028 season and is expected to be the last contract of his professional career.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in Miami’s announcement on Thursday, but Messi has been MLS’s highest-paid player by a distance since joining Inter Miami in the summer of 2023. His first deal paid him over $20m per year in guaranteed compensation – more the total payroll of about two-thirds of the 30-team league in 2025. His deal also includes equity in the club upon his retirement as a player.
Continue reading...Jack Nicklaus wins $50m verdict in defamation case over LIV Golf allegations
Jury rules Nicklaus defamed by former company
False claims tied him to $750m LIV Golf offer
85-year-old legend awarded $50m in damages
Jack Nicklaus, the 18-time major champion, has won a $50m verdict in a defamation case against his former company, bringing an end to one of golf’s most bitter business feuds.
A jury in Palm Beach County, Florida, found that Nicklaus Companies – the firm he founded and later sold – defamed him by spreading false claims that he had considered a $750m offer to become a public face of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League and that he was no longer mentally fit to manage his business affairs. The six-person jury ruled that the company’s actions damaged the 85-year-old’s reputation and exposed him to “ridicule, hatred, mistrust, distrust or contempt”.
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Arsenal’s title chase picks up pace, Yankuba Minteh gets one over on Newcastle and Wolves are in a tight spot
The high-stakes duel in one of the fiercest rivalries in the English game came down to a crucial in-game management decision. Arne Slot, a manager lauded for smart substitutions last season, took a gamble in the 62nd minute, making three changes that aggressively shifted Liverpool into a 4-2-4, leaving Curtis Jones and Florian Wirtz dangerously exposed in midfield. The gamble initially appeared worthwhile: after rattling a post twice, Cody Gakpo finally delivered a 78th-minute equaliser to breathe some life into the deflated Anfield crowd. But Ruben Amorim remained calm and trusted his vision. Liverpool were undone just six minutes later after Bruno Fernandes’s fantastic cross found Harry Maguire inexplicably alone at the far post, the lack of defensive bodies evident as he thumped in the winner. Slot was hoping for a high-risk, high-reward outcome but ultimately, United’s grit in the second half paid off. Amorim has his critics – droves of them – but his tactics, including starting Maguire, were vindicated to earn United’s first win at Anfield since 2016. Two league wins on the bounce is a first for Amorim at United. Are the wheels shifting? “It’s an embarrassing stat to have had,” said Maguire. “We have to start putting a bit more consistency together. We have set a benchmark.” Yara El-Shaboury
Match report: Tottenham 1-2 Aston Villa
Match report: Fulham 0-1 Arsenal
Match report: Nottingham Forest 0-3 Chelsea
Match report: Brighton 2-1 Newcastle
Match report: Manchester City 2-0 Everton
Continue reading...Premier League team news: predicted lineups for the weekend action
Out-of-form Liverpool host Manchester United on Sunday while leaders Arsenal visit Fulham on Saturday evening
Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue City Ground
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
West Ham’s lack of forward planning, Rodri’s fitness concerns and a crunch clash at Anfield
Ange Postecoglou is under increasing pressure at Nottingham Forest having failed to secure a win in his seven games in charge. Reports suggest Sean Dyche is waiting to take over, but history shows Evangelos Marinakis sways like the wind, and victory against Chelsea could be enough to save Postecoglou’s job for now. Goals have been a mounting concern for a team that have been beaten in four of their last five league matches and failed to score in any of those defeats. Failure to find their shooting boots will ensure Forest go three consecutive top-flight games without a goal for the first time since 1999. It will be a tough task against a buoyant Chelsea team, who entered the international break having beaten Liverpool. Moisés Caicedo was instrumental in the win against the defending champions, scoring the opener, and the 23-year-old leads the league in tackles (28) and interceptions (18). Elliot Anderson, whose total of 55 turnovers is also a league-high tally, will have his work cut out for him in what may be his toughest midfield battle of the season. Yara El-Shaboury
Nottingham Forest v Chelsea, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)
Brighton v Newcastle, Saturday 3pm
Burnley v Leeds, Saturday 3pm
Crystal Palace v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm
Continue reading...England among eight countries to ban players who sign up to rugby’s rebel R360 league
Statement says R360 players ineligible for internationals
Ireland and Scotland among those to impose sanction
The rugby unions for eight major nations have issued a joint statement saying that any players that join the breakaway R360 competition will be banned from playing for their countries.
England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, France and Italy have all agreed to bar their men’s and women’s players from the national setup if they sign up to the rebel event, which is being fronted by the former England player Mike Tindall.
More details soon …
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Mason Mount shows his worth, Oliver Glasner makes no excuses and Chelsea find a new defensive duo
Elliot Anderson spent much of Nottingham Forest’s 2-0 defeat on Tyneside reminding Eddie Howe how much he lost when Premier League spending rules demanded that the midfielder be sold to fend off the threat of a points deduction. That was back in the summer of 2024 and Anderson, now an England international, has rarely looked back since joining Forest. For much of the first half he eclipsed even Sandro Tonali and, overall, was comfortably Ange Postecoglou’s best player. Yet Anderson is human and when his loose pass offered Bruno Guimarães an opening, his subsequent attempt at a recovery tackle was mistimed and sent Guimarães crashing in the area. The Brazilian had already shot Newcastle ahead from 25 yards and from the spot Nick Woltemade scored his fourth goal in five starts. Tellingly, at the final whistle both Postecoglou and Howe made concerted efforts to console Anderson. If Forest’s manager is to survive and then thrive at Forest he will inevitably be heavily dependent on Anderson’s talent. Howe, meanwhile, would love to buy the Newcastle academy graduate back. Should Forest, with or without Postecoglou, continue to founder Newcastle may yet be in with a chance. Louise Taylor
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