Category: Football (Soccer)

Football (Soccer) News

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Sunderland 1-0 Newcastle, Crystal Palace 0-3 Manchester City and more: Premier League – live

Nick Woltemade’s own goal gave Sunderland a Tyne-Wear derby win, while Villa, Man City and Forest beat West Ham, Palace and Spurs respectively

Talking of Brobbey, it’s an absolute crime if he doesn’t get a song to this, no 1 on this day on in 1993.

If I was a rich club looking for a midfielder, I’d be very interested in Noah Sadiki, who has a bit of everything. My guess is Sunderland look to run Newcastle off the pitch in midfield – not easily done – and to play off Brobbey, with Enzo Le Fee their wildcard. If they can get him on the ball, they’ll hope he can pick runs in behind with balls slid down the sides of defenders, and I’d also expect plenty of crosses and box-crashing from the midfielders.

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Erling Haaland and Phil Foden fire Manchester City to win at Crystal Palace

Even in a week when they have beaten the mighty Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabéu, this must rank as one of Pep Guardiola’s most satisfying victories of the season.

It was Oliver Glasner who condemned the Manchester City manager to his first season without a major trophy since his first year in English football when Crystal Palace enjoyed the greatest day in their history at the FA Cup final back in May. So outsmarting one of the Premier League’s shrewdest operators would have provided Guardiola extra contentment, not to mention helping City move back to within two points of leaders Arsenal.

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European football: Real Madrid relieve pressure on Xabi Alonso with crucial win at Alavés

  • Rodrygo keeps Real within four points of Barça at top

  • Inter win 2-1 at Genoa, as Milan draw and Napoli lose

Rodrygo secured a crucial 2-1 victory for Real Madrid at Alavés in La Liga, ending a dismal run of form and keeping them within four points of the leaders, Barcelona.

Real, under pressure after two successive defeats in all competitions, broke the deadlock through Kylian Mbappé’s stunning first-half strike. However, a resilient Alavés levelled in the 68th minute through Carlos Vicente. The visitors restored their lead eight minutes later, courtesy of a counterattack led by Vinícius Júnior, whose assist was converted by Rodrygo.

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European football: Raphinha sinks Osasuna to consolidate Barcelona’s lead

  • Real Madrid, who play on Sunday, now trail by seven points

  • Leverkusen’s Terrier hits back-heel volley against Cologne

Raphinha struck twice late in the second half as Barcelona secured a hard-fought 2-0 victory over a resolute Osasuna side, extending their lead at the top of La Liga to seven points. Hansi Flick’s men now sit on 43 points, comfortably clear of second-placed Real Madrid, who have a game in hand and play at Alavés on Sunday.

Despite their control of the game, Barcelona struggled to break down Osasuna’s deep defensive block until the 70th minute when Pedri’s incisive pass cut through the visitors’ defence, finding Raphinha in his stride. The Brazilian forward took a controlled touch before unleashing a thunderous strike from the edge of the area, the ball arrowing inside the left post to finally break the deadlock. Raphinha sealed the win in the 86th minute. A deflected cross from Jules Koundé on the right found the Brazilian unmarked at the far post, and he calmly volleyed the ball into an empty net, giving the scoreline a more comfortable look.

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Arsenal 2-1 Wolves: Premier League – as it happened

Two Bukayo Saka crosses forced two own goals as Arsenal somehow found a way to win against committed Wolves

2 min: Doherty skittles Martinelli out on the left. An early free kick for Arsenal. Rice’s delivery is uncharacteristically poor, failing to beat the first man … and that first man is Doherty, who makes good his mistake by clearing.

Arsenal get the ball rolling. They haven’t lost at home yet this season, winning ten from 11. Godspeed, Wolves.

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Liverpool 2-0 Brighton, Chelsea 2-0 Everton, and more: football clockwatch – as it happened

Mohamed Salah returned but Hugo Ekitike got Liverpool’s goals as Cole Palmer notched on his return for Chelsea

Some goals have done in, and it’s Huddersfield 1-1 Wigan, Oxford 1-2 Preston, Salford 1-2 Colchester, Norwich 1-1 Southampton.

At Norwich, whose goal came from Jovon Makama, Southampton missed a first-half penalty and have now equalised through Ryan Manning.

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Championship roundup: Fatawu strikes from own half as Leicester sink Ipswich

  • Winger’s 65-yard lob helps Foxes to 3-1 win

  • Coventry stay top; Boro tighten grip on second

Abdul Fatawu scored from inside his own half as Leicester cruised to a 3-1 win against Ipswich at the King Power Stadium. Fatawu’s remarkable lob from about 65 yards doubled Leicester’s lead two minutes before half-time, after Bobby De Cordova-Reid lashed home from distance on eight minutes.

Leicester sealed the points on 52 minutes when Jordan Ayew converted Ricardo Pereira’s cutback before substitute Jens Cajuste scored for the visitors after an error from goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk.

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Sunderland and Newcastle steeled for resumption of football’s ‘most intense derby’

Eddie Howe says revitalised derby rivals will be a tougher mental test for his side than the Champions League

Midnight was fast approaching when Eddie Howe faced a curve-ball question: if he could be offered a draw at the Stadium of Light on Sunday would he accept it?

If the typically straight-bat answer – “no chance, we prepare to win every game” – was expected, Howe’s subsequent reaction spoke volumes about Sunderland’s recent metamorphosis.

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Schmaltz, theatre and sharp teeth: Wrexham reveal the hard truth about football | Barney Ronay

With the arrival of US hedge funders at Wrexham, there is no pretence any more. This is just another project, as it always was

Tea and cake. Cobble-close streets. Collectivism. Sugar rush. Hollywood fairytales. And also, as of this week, a minority owner with historical links to celebrity paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Wait! Welsh cakes! Welsh tea! Aggregated tourism benefits. The sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea. And also, at one remove, historical links to deceased celebrity paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

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Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Gabriel Jesus is looking to impress, Daniel Muñoz is tough to replace and is this it for Mohamed Salah at Liverpool?

This season Chelsea have held Arsenal after going down to 10 men and have beaten Barcelona, Liverpool and Tottenham. They have also dropped points against Atalanta, Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton, Leeds, Qarabag and Sunderland. It is clear that winning against smaller sides remains a problem for Enzo Maresca. Chelsea rise to the big occasion but inconsistency flares when they are expected to win. They do not like playing against deep defences – Maresca has often reacted with dismay when opponents switch to a back five to counter his carefully formulated plans – and can be forgiven if they are edgy about hosting Everton on Saturday. David Moyes’s side have just recorded clean sheets at Bournemouth and Manchester United. They will back themselves to neutralise Chelsea’s attacking talents. Jacob Steinberg

Chelsea v Everton, Saturday 3pm (all times GMT)

Liverpool v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Burnley v Fulham, Saturday 5.30pm

Arsenal v Wolves, Saturday 8pm

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Basel 1-2 Aston Villa, Celtic 0-3 Roma and more: Europa League – as it happened

A good night for English clubs in Europe; not so much for Scotland’s representatives

Stuttgart 3-1 Maccabi Tel Aviv. Some bonus content here. No need to thank us! And there really is no need to thank us, because it comes courtesy of our old MBM and Clockwatch pal Kári Tulinius. “Stuttgart looked like they were heading to the most comfortable of home wins when they went 3-0 up after yet another defensive rick by Maccabi, when the normally reliable Alexander Nübel tried to save Roy Revivo’s shot with a hand so weak it seemed like it was made out of cottage cheese. The comedy defending moment still goes to the visitors, though, who let in an opener after a covering defender simply fell on his behind while tracking a high ball, giving Lorenz Assignon all the time in the world to measure the aim on his volley.”

Callum O’Dowda swings a ball in from the left wing. Barnabás Varga heads into the top-right corner from close range. He couldn’t miss, partly because the nearest defender, Emmanuel Fernandez, was the wrong side of the striker, facing upfield, then span around in confusion, making no challenge whatsoever. Comically poor defending.

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