Arsenal begin Premier League campaign with ongoing kit blunder
Arsenal's Premier League debut saw a major kit design error. Fans are unable to buy the new kit online. The team managed to secure a 2-1 victory against Nottingham Forest, but they were wearing the wrong kit due to a manufacturing mistake.
2023-08-13 18:00
Eddie Howe relishing selection dilemmas as Newcastle prepare for packed season
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe is relishing the dilemma of having to disappoint players as he attempts to negotiate a path through a season which could see his squad stretched to its limits. The 45-year-old left summer signings Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento, as well as last season’s top scorer Callum Wilson, sitting on the bench for Saturday’s Premier League opener, but saw Wilson and Barnes come on and score in a 5-1 demolition of Aston Villa. Howe admitted in the run-up to the game that he had “five or six” difficult decisions to make in the light of a fresh £125million spending spree, Anthony Gordon’s pre-season form and the emergence of homegrown midfielder Elliot Anderson, but that is a problem he welcomes with a Champions League campaign looming. He said: “They’re dilemmas that are needed because we’re going to need the strongest squad possible, and the players who missed out today will play loads of games this season. “That’s just a fact because we’re in so many different competitions, we’re going to be stretched and we’ll also be needing their quality as well. “It’s going to be nice to be able to make those decisions. We need the strongest bench we can get this year with the amount of games we’re going to have, the amount of competitions we’re in. “It was certainly a difficult day yesterday to name the team. They weren’t easy decisions for me to make – decisions I had to make, of course, being in my position – and then you just hope the team performs and you get the benefit of that squad.” One of those decisions saw Howe hand a debut to £52m former AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali, and it paid off handsomely as the 23-year-old not only opened the scoring within six minutes, but produced a commanding display on his first appearance in England’s top flight. Villa’s record signing Moussa Diaby cancelled out the Italian’s early strike in short order, but his response was to play a pivotal role as Newcastle overwhelmed the visitors, Alexander Isak helping himself to a double either side of the unfortunate Tyrone Mings’ departure on a stretcher before substitutes Wilson and Barnes added their names to the scoresheet late on. Howe was understandably delighted, but equally confident there is more to come. He said: “We didn’t defend perfectly, so there’s stuff for us to improve – but it was a weird situation. I thought they (Villa) played well, but we could have scored more goals.” Opposite number Unai Emery headed back to the midlands hoping the news on Mings is not as bad as that which saw midfielder Emiliano Buendia ruled out for an extended period with a knee injury last week, but taking comfort from Diaby’s impressive debut on Tyneside. Emery said: “We haven’t had all bad news and one of the good things was to watch Moussa playing feeling good and adapting to the position we’re trying to get with him. He was good, he scored and he played well. “We had some good moments in the 90 minutes, but there a lot of things we had to do to control the match that we didn’t do within our system.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Owen Farrell waits to learn fate following sending off against Wales The key questions ahead of England’s World Cup semi-final against Australia Sean Dyche hopes Everton are close to solving their goalscoring problems
2023-08-13 17:59
Mbappe reinstated by PSG to first team
French superstar Kylian Mbappe was reinstated in Paris Saint-Germain's first team on Sunday after being sidelined for several weeks amid...
2023-08-13 17:53
'Not a nice feeling' as Sweden seek to inflict World Cup pain on Spain
Sweden will feed off the hurt of numerous near-misses when they face Spain in the semi-finals of the Women's World...
2023-08-13 17:48
Conor McGregor calls out KSI for bare-knuckle fight after Anthony Joshua wins by KO
Conor McGregor called out KSI for a bare-knuckle fight moments after Anthony Joshua brutally knocked out Robert Helenius on Saturday night (12 August). AJ caught his opponent with a big right hand in the seventh round to suddenly end the fight - and “Notorious” wasted no time stepping into the ring at the O2 Arena. “Greatness don’t rush... big congrats to AJ, big congrats to Eddie [Hearn]” McGregor said, acknowledging the result, before turning his attentions elsewhere. “I know your mate KSI is in the crowd and he couldn’t box eggs if he worked in an egg-boxing factory. If he wants to get in here, I’ll give him a final yoke, bare-knuckle if you want.”
2023-08-13 17:36
The key questions ahead of England’s World Cup semi-final against Australia
England advanced to the World Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 comeback victory over Colombia, and will play tournament co-hosts Australia in Sydney on Wednesday night. Here, the PA news agency breaks down some of the key questions ahead of The Lionesses’ meeting with the Matildas. How did they get here? England secured victories over Haiti, Denmark and China to reach the knockouts, scoring multiple times in a group stage contest just once with a 6-1 triumph over China. The Lionesses next faced Nigeria in the last-16, who held them to 120 goalless minutes before England booked their quarter-final place with a 4-2 win on penalties. England conceded for just the second time this tournament late in the first half of the quarter-final clash with Colombia at Sydney’s sold-out Stadium Australia, but they were level by the break thanks to Lauren Hemp’s alert stoppage-time effort and Alessia Russo completed the comeback after the break. What is England’s history in World Cup semi-finals? The Lionesses’ first appearance in the final four, eight years ago in Canada, ended in heartbreak. England were up against defending champions Japan, who took the lead through captain Aya Miyama’s 32nd-minute opener but saw it cancelled out by Fara Williams after just seven minutes. The 1-1 draw looked destined for extra time until Laura Bassett directed a clearance into her own net in the first minute of second-half stoppage time and broke down in tears while Japan celebrated their last-gasp luck. England ultimately beat Germany 1-0 through Williams’ extra-time penalty in the third-place playoff – still their best-ever finish in a global showpiece. Four years later, the Lionesses beat Norway 3-0 in the last eight in France to set up a semi-final with the United States, who beat England 2-1 en route to defending their 2015 title. The Lionesses finished fourth overall after losing 2-1 to Sweden in the play-off. How good are Australia? The Matildas are 10th in FIFA’s global rankings, six places below England, but can boast they are the only team to have beaten the Lionesses since boss Sarina Wiegman took the helm in September 2021. That victory came in April, when Sam Kerr and Charlotte Grant both scored at Brentford to snap Wiegman’s 30-game unbeaten streak as England manager with a 2-0 victory. Captain Kerr was unavailable for her side’s first two World Cup matches with a calf injury, yet the talismanic Chelsea striker’s absence might have actually benefitted the Matildas in the long run as others were asked to step up, with Hayley Raso and Mary Fowler among those who emphatically answered the call for the co-hosts. Kerr returned as a late second-half substitute in her side’s 2-0 victory over Denmark in the last 16, five days before the Matildas sealed their first-ever trip to a semi-final by beating France in the longest penalty shootout in Women’s World Cup history. Long gone are the days Australians feared their side could be knocked out at the group stage. Momentum – and an increasingly enraptured nation – are firmly on their side. What is the biggest challenge facing England? England will have to cope without star forward Lauren James as she serves the final game of a two-match suspension for stepping on the back of Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie. She was replaced by Ella Toone against Colombia, who after the match said: “She’s been amazing for us, but I’ve got to believe in myself and I’ve got to have that confidence going onto the pitch. I don’t let anything get me down, I don’t put that pressure on myself and I know my team-mates don’t either.” How will England cope with the crowd? Stadium Australia boasts more than 75,000 seats, most of which will be occupied by the home support. That does not faze England captain Millie Bright, who said: “For me, no matter who the fans are, you’re actually quite proud of it as well, we want that in a World Cup, we want it to be people turning on the TV and saying ‘god, look at the crowd, it’s incredible’. “As a player you feel that and you use it to your advantage as well, it’s not a disadvantage that there might be a lot of Australia fans there. “ Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Sean Dyche hopes Everton are close to solving their goalscoring problems On this day in 2016: Mo Farah retains Olympic 10,000m title in Rio Anthony Joshua confident fight with Deontay Wilder will happen ‘soon’
2023-08-13 17:00
Springboks captain Kolisi desperate for game time in warm-ups
Captain Siya Kolisi, Ox Nche and Jaden Hendrikse are desperate for game time after title-holders South Africa arrived in Britain on Sunday to continue their...
2023-08-13 16:57
Football transfer rumours: Man Utd scout Liverpool target; Neymar offer accepted
All the latest transfer rumours - including more on Neymar, Manchester United's interest in a new midfield target & Chelsea's goalkeeper plans.
2023-08-13 16:45
Chelsea confident of beating Liverpool to record Moises Caicedo transfer
Chelsea are close to a British record transfer for Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo after Liverpool already had a £111m bid accepted.
2023-08-13 16:30
Sean Dyche hopes Everton are close to solving their goalscoring problems
Everton manager Sean Dyche is confident the goalscoring problem which has affected the team for a year will be solved soon. Despite creating 19 chances against Fulham, the Toffees slipped to an opening game defeat at home – where the top-flight’s lowest scorers lost a record 10 league matches last season. Central to the issue is the continuing unavailability of injury-plagued Dominic Calvert-Lewin, whose lack of minutes in pre-season means he is still possibly a couple of weeks short of being ready. However, the arrivals of on-loan Arnaut Danjuma – who made his debut as a late substitute – and young Sporting striker Youssef Chermiti, watching from the stands, will hopefully help to ease the burden as current deputy Neal Maupay wasted a host of chances as he extended his woeful record to one goal in 30 appearances for the club. “Dominic will get some football this week, amongst others,” said Dyche, who is still looking for reinforcements but knows he must get more out of the limited resources he has. “He is at the end of his rehab period, so, in the next week or two, we’re going to be stronger, just by our own group and let’s see if we can get something in to help us as well. “Arnie (Danjuma) is getting fit, properly fit – he knows he’s a bit behind the curve. “I am confident we have to rely (on players) within the squad because this is what we are at the moment. If we can affect it, we will do.” Everton had only 41 percent possession but made the most of it and with better finishing could have had the game won by half-time. While the outcome was disappointing, the manner of the performance was more encouraging than the majority of the relegation scraps they had when Dyche took over in January and guided them to safety on the final day. “Some of the breakaways, some of the moments, some of the quality of chances were excellent,” the Toffees boss added. “One of our analysts said about xG, which I’m not that big a believer in but it’s still a reference point, was around three, which is high in the Premier League. “Inevitably, it’s only a measure but we’ve got to look at where we were and where we are now – and that, I thought, was a big shift. “Now we’ve got to find those moments to go and score goals. “But there’s a real strong sign there today, a strong sign of a good outfit there that is creating lots of chances and a lot of good things, so we’ve got to maintain the belief in that.” Fulham were fortunate to leave Goodison Park with a third successive win and boss Marco Silva admits there is plenty of improvements to be made. “We need more time to work, our pre-season was not at the level that it should be so we missed a bit of energy,” he said. “But we were able to win a football match and that shows we have the quality to work.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live On this day in 2016: Mo Farah retains Olympic 10,000m title in Rio Anthony Joshua confident fight with Deontay Wilder will happen ‘soon’ Lucas Glover holds onto lead in Memphis with Tommy Fleetwood two strokes behind
2023-08-13 16:00
Pace and power: Paralluelo gives Spain X factor at World Cup
Women's World Cup semi-finalists Spain might be defined by technique and a mesmerising passing game, but the player who gives them that precious...
2023-08-13 15:35
Anthony Joshua vs Helenius LIVE: Boxing result and reaction after AJ delivers brutal knockout
Anthony Joshua produced a devastating knockout against Robert Helenius to set up a blockbuster fight with Deontay Wilder. The Finn, who stepped in on short notice for Dillian Whyte after a failed a drugs test, produced a disciplined display to frustrate ‘AJ’ for several rounds. But Joshua eventually caught Helenius with a clubbing right hand in the seventh round, suddenly ending the fight, sparking celebrations at ringside, including Conor McGregor. Helenius had previously lost to Wilder, who was left in tears after stopping the 39-year-old in the first round in October. But now the Bronze Bomber is likely the next opponent for the Briton in one of the most anticipated fights in boxing history. The former two-time heavyweight champion could now face Wilder in Saudi Arabia, with negotiations for a January date already underway. Relive all the action, analysis and reaction from Joshua vs Helenius below. Get all the latest boxing betting sites offers Read More It’s time to stop taking Anthony Joshua for granted Anthony Joshua on Robert Helenius criticism: ‘Robotic? I became a champion being robotic’ Robert Helenius on accepting Anthony Joshua fight: ‘Nobody will remember a coward’
2023-08-13 15:25
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