Category: Football (Soccer)

Football (Soccer) News

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Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

Newcastle’s new striker makes his mark, Emiliano Martínez is in Villa’s good books again and Noni Madueke’s dream week

Is Gianluigi Donnarumma a Pep Guardiola goalkeeper? He may or may not be, but he is an exceptional goalkeeper. Manchester United didn’t offer enough of a test even to begin to assess whether Donnarumma is good enough with the ball at his feet to allow City to play as Guardiola would like them to. Nor did they test whether his starting position is advanced enough to sweep up behind a high defensive line and prevent the sort of chances City yielded up to Tottenham and Brighton. But his save to keep out a Bryan Mbeumo volley, hurling himself to his right to push the ball wide, was spectacular, and drew congratulations from pretty much all his teammates. Even if he is not the perfect stylistic fit, Donnarumma’s presence, his commanding stature, the aura he projects, makes him the right goalkeeper for now as City begin the process of rebuilding with a notably young squad. Jonathan Wilson

Match report: Manchester City 3-0 Manchester United

Match report: Burnley 0-1 Liverpool

Match report: West Ham 0-3 Tottenham

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Haaland doubles up as City sweep United aside in Manchester derby

Erling Haaland urged Manchester City to “get our asses going”, then showed how with the second and third goals that sealed the 197th Manchester derby for Pep Guardiola’s side, and ended a run of two defeats.

This is no vintage City iteration – currently, at least – but witnessing how the prolific Norwegian took his opportunities, and performed throughout, suggests their main man is up for leading the revival.

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Burnley 0-1 Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened

After Hannibal’s injury-time handball, Mohamed Salah denied battling Burnley with his penalty

Many football fans – and those in the wider sporting world – are reeling from the sad death of Ricky Hatton, a fan like they are of Manchester City. He was a true local hero.

Arne Slot on Isak’s absence. “We’ve decided it is the best for him to have a proper week of training instead of every time going for five or ten minutes of playing. I can assure the fans that he will be involved on Wednesday - but this game came a bit too early.”

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Sheffield United to reappoint Chris Wilder as manager after sacking Sellés

  • Rubén Sellés lasts five games of Championship season

  • Wilder back in dugout having left the club on 18 June

Chris Wilder is poised to make a surprise return at Sheffield United and manage his boyhood club for a third time after the Blades sacked Rubén Sellés following six defeats from six games. United acted after Sellés’s side were dismantled 5-0 at Ipswich on Friday.

Wilder was dismissed after losing the Championship playoff final at Wembley and the Blades turned to Sellés, who narrowly avoided relegation with Hull City last season.

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European football: Juventus’s Vasilije Adzic snatches thrilling win over Inter

  • Napoli stay stop after Højlund scores in win at Fiorentina

  • Mbappé helps 10-man Madrid win; Kane double for Bayern

Juventus snatched a dramatic 4-3 win at home to Inter, with Vasilije Adzic netting a stunning added-time winner in a game in which a Thuram brother scored for each side, but Napoli stayed top with a 3-1 win at Fiorentina.

In Turin, Juventus took the lead in the 14th minute through Lloyd Kelly. Inter equalised on the half-hour mark with Hakan Calhanoglu’s strike but Juventus were back in front thanks to Kenan Yildiz eight minutes later.

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Championship roundup: Hansen’s late strike at Preston keeps Middlesbrough top

  • West Brom lose at home to derby so do not leapfrog leaders

  • Stoke second after beating Birmingham; Bristol City third

The substitute Sontje Hansen scored a stoppage-time equaliser three minutes after coming on to earn Middlesbrough, the leaders, a 2-2 draw at Preston. The 23-year-old came off the bench after Jordan Storey looked to have won it for Preston and provided the telling touch from close range after the hosts failed to clear their lines from a corner.

Lewis Dobbin put the visitors ahead with a sublime solo effort early on before the visitors got a deserved 72nd-minute leveller through Matt Targett. Storey put Preston back in front with an 88th-minute glancing header before the final twist in the tale.

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Robin Roefs heroics earn Sunderland deserved point at Crystal Palace

First the positive news for Crystal Palace. Oliver Glasner’s side are now 15 matches unbeaten in a run that stretches back to their 5-0 thrashing by Newcastle in mid-April. But having endured a dramatic end to the transfer window that saw chair Steve Parish pull the plug on captain Marc Guéhi’s move to Liverpool, Glasner was hoping for more from this meeting with promoted Sunderland.

While Guéhi was barely troubled as he eased back into his role on the left side of Palace’s three-man defence with the minimum of fuss, they deservedly left with a point after thriving in the role of spoilers.

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Nick Woltemade makes instant impact on Newcastle debut to see off Wolves

Anonymity and Nick Woltemade were already well on the way to becoming strangers but, after this, there seems zero chance of the Germany striker ever being able to blend seamlessly into the background on Tyneside.

Given that Woltemade’s awkwardly angular 6ft 6in frame is topped by a curly mop of bright blond hair and his distinctive moustache screams 1970s rock star – or perhaps a shambolic yet brilliant television detective of the sort ideally suited to Death in Paradise – he was already hard to miss.

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Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo spot-on to see off Brighton revival

Antoine Semenyo scored one goal and set up the other as Bournemouth beat Brighton 2-1. Alex Scott netted his first league goal since December 2023, with Kaoru Mitoma equalising for the visitors.

The Cherries handed a surprise top-flight debut to Veljko Milosavljevic, their 18-year-old transfer deadline day signing, with the centre-back Bafodé Diakité injured. At the other end of the age spectrum, the 39-year-old James Milner replaced Carlos Baleba in Brighton’s starting lineup.

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Portsmouth’s John Swift: ‘Rivalry with Southampton is so big that the game feels like a final’

Pompey midfielder considers playing in first South Coast derby league meeting in 13 years bucket-list worthy

Inside a blue and white dugout at Portsmouth’s training ground John Swift is reliving the childhood he spent a few miles away, across the harbour in Gosport. He maps out the view he had from his front door on Dukes Road and the Forton park sports court that was his playground. It was while enjoying a kickabout there with friends, approaching his 11th birthday, that his mother, Pauline, called him in to advise he was being released by Pompey. “I remember, quite vividly, sitting on the sofa as my mum read me the letter,” he says. “And then I was almost just like: ‘Can I go back out and play?’”

At that age it was hard to comprehend what it really meant and a couple of weeks later he was representing Pace Youth, a team in Totton, the other side of Southampton. As Portsmouth prepare to face Southampton in the Championship on Sunday, the first league match between fierce rivals in 13 and a half years, the rivalry is not lost on Swift. The last meeting came in the Carabao Cup third round in 2019, when Saints ran out 4-0 winners. Then, Southampton were in the Premier League, 51 places above third-tier Pompey. Now they are equals in the Championship.

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Philogene fires hat-trick in Ipswich’s rout of rock-bottom Sheffield United

Jaden Philogene scored a hat-trick as Ipswich thrashed the Championship’s bottom side Sheffield United 5-0. The heavy defeat heaps pressure on to Blades head coach, Rubén Sellés, who has now lost all five matches since taking over at Bramall Lane in the summer.

George Hirst and Jack Clarke were also on the scoresheet as Ipswich chalked up their first win of the season and their first at Portman Road since beating Chelsea in the Premier League in December.

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Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Ange Postecoglou makes his Forest bow, a new-look forward line at Newcastle and a Manchester derby to forget

Ange Postecoglou never won a north London derby while in charge at Tottenham, drawing one and losing three, so starting life in the Nottingham Forest dugout away to Arsenal might not be the ideal situation. It has been a whirlwind week for the 60-year-old who has replaced Nuno Espírito Santo and it will be fascinating to see what changes are made to the team’s style. Nuno is a cautious coach and would have plotted a counterattacking approach at the Emirates Stadium, but there are no guarantees with Postecoglou. Pragmatism is a word rarely associated with the Australian but he needs to get his players onside quickly after the unfortunate departure of his predecessor, who was not dismissed for footballing reasons. It might make more sense to tweak what has already been constructed on strong foundations, especially considering he will have little time with the squad after international duty and before a Saturday lunchtime kick-off. Being able to adapt is a sign of strength in a coach and Postecoglou needs to show he has learned from errors made at Tottenham when he refused to change. Will Unwin

Arsenal v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Bournemouth v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Crystal Palace v Sunderland, Saturday 3pm

Everton v Aston Villa, Saturday 3pm

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