List of All Articles with Tag 'football'

Fantasy Premier League managers get one free transfer a week to make and with the competition in full flow some players may have saved up for two free switches to their teams while others will be considering a four-point hit or more to maximise their chances of success. With prices and form fluctuating on a daily basis over these opening weeks to the season here are five players who we think are worthwhile considering as the Premier League heads into the new gameweek, judging by upcoming fixtures and individual player form. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool - Midfielder (12.5) Possibly the most consistent midfielder in the Fantasy Premier League though still going under the radar. Liverpool’s Mo Salah has scored points in every gameweek so far with his best return (10) coming in the recent victory over Wolves. He’s sliding under the radar due to the lack of goals scored (for his own ridiculous standards) with just two in five games but it is the assists where Salah is cleaning up. He’s got four already this year and looks to be settling into a new role as a supplier for the rest of the forward line. At £12.5m he’s a pricey option but will almost guarantee points and could be a fine choice of captain if you want to move away from Erling Haaland. Odsonne Edouard, Crystal Palace - Forward (5.5) Speaking of, do you need someone to partner Haaland up top that isn’t too costly? Odsonne Edouard is that man. The Crystal Palace forward is coming up trumps this season thanks to more regular gametime for Eagles. In FPL terms he’s only blanked on two occasions and has four goals in five matches. Palace have only failed to score in one of their games (against Arsenal) and will be targeting Fulham, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest and upcoming fixtures they can win. If they do so Edouard will no doubt play a big role and put a couple in the back of the net. Sven Botman, Newcastle - Defender (4.5) The Newcastle centre-back is a slight risk as you are banking on the Magpies to keep clean sheets in order to profit from his skills. He’s a threat in the air from set pieces but doesn’t score many goals and any he does net should be seen as bonuses. It must be noted that Eddie Howe’s team have been poor in defence, shipping seven goals in five games and keeping just one cleansheet. However, their performance against Bournemouth at the weekend was encouraging and it is likely they will earn repeat shutouts against Sheffield United and Burnley over the next two weeks. A relatively cheap option for a defender, Botman may be worth selecting for short term gain. Pedro Neto, Wolves - Midfielder (5.5) A bargain option in midfield, Neto is a pick you make to try and maximise your differentials. He is in form returning 22 points from matches against Everton, Crystal Palace and Liverpool despite Wolves losing two of those games. A quick winger who loves taking players on, whipping in crosses and pinging shots at goal Neto has the basis covered for the goals and assists required from a midfield choice. Wolves should dominate against Luton next up before a clash with Manchester City should play into Neto’s counter-attacking strengths. Robert Sanchez, Chelsea - Goalkeeper (4.5) Chelsea’s results have been eye-catching for all the wrong reasons this year but their main problems have come in the forward line and, for the most part, they’ve been defensively solid across their five matches with the exception being a 3-1 loss to West Ham. Robert Sanchez is Mauricio Pochettino’s No. 1 pick, is guaranteed gametime and recently earned a 10 point with a cleansheet and three bonus points against Bournemouth. The Blues’ next three fixtures are all favourable with Aston Villa, Fulham and Burnley to come so Sanchez could be a canny choice if you’re looking to replace you goalkeeper. Read More Fantasy Premier League: 30 players you must consider for 2023/24 season James Maddison, Julian Alvarez and 5 players to target for FPL Gameweek 5 James Ward-Prowse, Raheem Sterling and 5 players to buy ahead of FPL Gameweek 4 Football rumours: Joao Palhinha in the sights of Bayern Munich for January swoop Messi favourite for men’s Ballon d’Or with four Lionesses on women’s list Football rumours: Al-Ittihad set to make record £215m bid for Mohamed Salah

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy will face questions from supporters at a Fans Forum at the club’s stadium on Tuesday night. It will be a rare public appearance from Levy with this set to be the first Fans Forum hosted by Spurs since Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure with Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte and now Ange Postecoglou all sitting in the managerial hotseat since. Postecoglou will be alongside Levy as part of a panel that includes new captain Son Heung-min, women’s head coach Robert Vilahamn and newly appointed women’s captain Bethany England, who helped the Lionesses reach the World Cup final last month. While Levy took part in a Q&A session at The Cambridge Union Society earlier this year, this will be an opportunity for Tottenham supporters to quiz the club’s long-serving chairman following a tumultuous 12-month period. Spurs have enjoyed an excellent start to life under new boss Postecoglou this season, but Levy was forced to part company with Conte in March while several fan protests occurred during the latter stages of the 2022-23 campaign with repeated chants at matches for the chairman to leave. A demonstration over increased match day ticket prices occurred before last month’s win at home to Manchester United and Tottenham remain without a director of football following Fabio Paratici’s resignation in April after he was given a worldwide ban for allegations of false accounting at Juventus. Levy also sanctioned the sale of record goal-scorer Harry Kane in August, but he did attend a Fan Advisory Board meeting with members from Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust, Spurs REACH and Proud Lilywhites earlier this month at Lilywhite House. It was revealed during the two-hour long meeting on September 5 that Spurs were set to replace Paratici with the appointment of a technical director while Scott Munn, the club’s chief football officer, will start later in September. Levy was asked during the meeting by THST representative Steve Cavalier what does success look like for the club and how is it measured? “This changes over time, but the most important thing for the club is to be a highly competitive team that wins and, importantly, entertains fans,” Levy replied according to minutes of the meeting. Levy later expanded: “The strategy to date has been to invest in the playing squads, build a new training centre and increased stadium capacity. “The focus now is to optimize those investments – both tangible and intangible – and drive revenues that enable the club to reinvest in players and create a winning club.” Meanwhile, Levy provided an insight into potential plans for the women’s team this season with scope to host more matches at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium due to the men’s side only having Premier League commitments between now and January. The most important thing for the club is to be a highly competitive team that wins and, importantly, entertains fans. Daniel Levy told a Tottenham FAB meeting “With no European fixtures this season, more women’s first team fixtures could be held at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium,” Levy told the FAB meeting. On the women’s team, Levy stated “it is a long-term project” and “while it currently loses a lot of money is a way of engaging a new fanbase” with an initial goal to challenge for the top-six in the Women’s Super League. Ahead of Tuesday’s Fans Forum, which will be a 90-minute Q&A session in front of 250 Tottenham supporters selected by a ballot, it was revealed by Spurs director Donna Marie-Cullen that a “full ticketing review” was in hand. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Football rumours: Scott McTominay emerges as alternative Bayern option On this day in 2020: Liverpool sign Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich The sporting weekend in pictures

What the papers say Potential ins and outs at Manchester United continue to attract plenty of attention with Scott Mctominay again linked with a move away from Old Trafford. The Daily Mirror reports the Scotland midfielder, 26, is a potential alternative for Bayern Munich if they are unable to lure Joao Palhinha, 28, from Fulham in the January transfer window. Israel youngster Oscar Gloukh is being linked with a move to Old Trafford, according to The Sun. Arsenal and Liverpool are also believed to be tracking the 19-year-old attacking midfielder from Red Bull Salzburg. Brighton are poised to swoop for Boca Juniors teenage left-back Valentina Barco, reports The Sun. The Seagulls are expected to make a fresh move for the 19-year-old Argentine before the transfer window opens. Nottingham Forest have reignited their interest in 17-year-old winger Tom Watson from Sunderland, according to The Sun. Social media round-up Players to watch Nico Williams: Aston Villa have joined Liverpool and Barcelona in monitoring the 21-year-old Spain winger at Athletic Bilbao. Hugo Ekitike: The 21-year-old Paris St-Germain striker is interesting West Ham and Crystal Palace.

Liverpool signed Spain midfielder Thiago Alcantara from European champions Bayern Munich on this day in 2020. The Spain international was in the last year of his deal with the Bundesliga club and arrived at Anfield for an initial fee of £20million. Thiago’s signing had been anticipated by supporters for some time and he went straight into the squad to face Chelsea, playing 45 minutes in a 2-0 win. Thiago told the club’s website: “I think it’s an amazing feeling. “I was waiting for this moment for a long time and I am very, very happy to be here. “When the years are passing, you are trying to win as much as you can – and when you win, you want to win more. “I think this club describes what I am as well. I want to achieve all of the goals, win as many trophies as possible. “It also (has) this kind of family (feeling) that I need because we (like to) have a very close relationship with the club and I think I will feel this, I will have this feeling, with this club as well.” Thiago, who played in Liverpool’s FA Cup final success in 2022, has made 97 appearances in his injury-hit three years at Anfield. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

VIDEO: Tua falls down and throws ball away in humorous fashion during Patriots game.

Deion Sanders' favorite son earned even more brownie points on Sunday afternoon by clapping back at a former foe still trying to seek revenge.

The Alabama Crimson Tide fell to No. 13 in the AP poll after an uninspiring win over USF. That ends a historic run for Nick Saban and the program.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta revealed he could substitute his goalkeepers during future Premier League matches after his side’s 1-0 win at Everton. Arteta handed summer loan signing David Raya his debut in place of England keeper Aaron Ramsdale at Goodison Park and the Spaniard saw little action as Leandro Trossard’s solitary second-half strike proved decisive. When asked about his decision to start with Raya, Gunners head coach Arteta said: “The same rationale about why Fabio (Vieira) played here or Eddie (Nketiah) or Gabriel Jesus. “I haven’t had a single question on why Gabriel Jesus didn’t start. He has won more trophies than anybody else, including me, in that dressing room.” Arteta, whose side were far from convincing as they extended their unbeaten start to the season with a fourth league win, said he would be prepared utilise two goalkeepers in one match. “I cannot have two players in each position and not play them,” he said. “David has tremendous qualities, like Aaron has, like Karl (Hein) has and we have to use them. “I am a really young manager and I have only been in the job for three and a half years and I have few regrets in what we have done. “One of them is that on two occasions I felt after 60 minutes and 85 minutes in two games in this period, to change the keeper in that moment and I didn’t do it. “I didn’t have the courage to do it. But I am able to take a winger, or a striker and put a central defender back and go to a back five to hold that result. “And we drew those games and I was so unhappy and someone is going to do it and maybe it (the reaction) will be, ‘oh! That is strange. Why?’ “Why not? Tell me why not. You have all the qualities in another goalkeeper and you want to do something to change the momentum, do it. “It is a regret that I have and my feeling is to get everyone engaged in the team. They have to play regardless of the competition. Do it. That is my message.” Everton defended bravely, but offered little going forward and rarely threatened to score their first Premier League goal in three matches at Goodison this season. The Toffees’ one point from five matches is their worst tally since 1994-95 and manager Sean Dyche admits he expected a greater return at this stage. “I thought we would have more points on the board by now but you can’t give the ball away that many times,” he said. “That link on transition was missing and we weren’t effective enough. We are conceding softish goals. “Our growth is where we are. There is a reality. Last season nothing was solved. I’ve said there is massive work to be done.”

One of the stranger jinxes in English football may be over. Arsenal had lost on their previous three trips to Goodison Park, twice to horribly out-of-form Everton teams. Maybe logic intervened on Mikel Arteta’s fourth visit back to his former club. Or perhaps Leandro Trossard did, the substitute’s wonderfully precise finish giving Arsenal a fourth victory in five league games this season. There was a sense Arsenal avenged February’s 1-0 defeat in Sean Dyche’s first game in charge of Everton, not merely reversing the scoreline but showing their skill to take the same method – a set-piece – to find a very different way of deciding a match. Not a thumping James Tarkowski header from a corner, but a well-worked routine that culminated in Martin Odegaard slipping in Bukayo Saka, whose cutback brought a deft finish from Trossard, angled in off the far post. If some of Arteta’s recruitment in 2023 has a contentious feel, Trossard is the sort of signing who can simply be celebrated: a £20m bargain, a creative force last season who has two goals already in this, a player whose versatility makes him an ideal substitute but who has the quality to be decisive. When Gabriel Martinelli went off injured in the first half, Arteta summoned Trossard rather than the benched Kai Havertz; his decision was richly rewarded. Another of his transfer-market gambits mattered less: while David Raya may depose Aaron Ramsdale more frequently, the goalkeeper’s debut was an inconclusive affair. Everton scarcely tested the on-loan Spaniard. If the game’s best saves, one before the goal and one after, came at Odegaard’s expense, with Pickford parrying two fine efforts, they reflected the growing influence of the captain after the break. And that, in turn, was a sign of his stature. As Arsenal demonstrated more urgency, much of the excellence came from the Norwegian. It is a recurring theme: many a time in Arteta’s reign, victory has stemmed from flair players – often Odegaard or Saka – showing their substance. As the game opened up, Odegaard seized the initiative. Which was welcome. A first half of dismal drabness brought back unwanted memories of a stalemate in December 2019 in Arsenal’s last game before Arteta and Carlo Ancelotti took charge of the respective clubs; Everton are on their fourth supposedly permanent manager of the Spaniard’s time in north London and, should 777 Partners complete a takeover, a second owner as well. Whether that entails visiting English football’s second tier remains to be seen. Everton’s start has produced a solitary point in five games. They have had three matches at Goodison Park and lost all without scoring. A relegation six-pointer beckons when Luton visit later this month. Their gameplan was to defend diligently in a narrow block and they were largely untroubled before the break. The one exception came when Martinelli latched on to Fabio Vieira’s perceptive pass and placed a shot past Pickford. A VAR check later and Eddie Nketiah was spotted offside in the build-up; it meant Martinelli’s wait for a first goal of the season continues, with injury bringing his departure soon after and perhaps extending his drought further. The 22-year-old headed straight down the tunnel before reappearing on the bench shortly afterwards, and there was concern in the voice of the Gunners boss afterwards when he told Sky Sports: “He [Martinelli] felt something, he felt it in his hammy [hamstring] so he will need to be assessed.” For Nketiah, meanwhile, it summed up an ineffectual display. If Arteta got other decisions right, perhaps he should have preferred Gabriel Jesus, a regular tormentor of Everton in his Manchester City days. His choice of Raya was both instructive and irrelevant; Ramsdale, in the PFA Team of the Year for last season, watched on. His new rival had a lone shot on target to field, a tame effort from Idrissa Gueye from long range. He held it. Everton were passive before conceding. They failed to launch an onslaught after going behind, in part because they just saw too little of the ball. They have no passer of the calibre of Arteta himself when he graced their midfield for six seasons. They eschewed possession at times, having just 22 per cent of the ball before the break. That figure rose to a meagre 25 per cent by the end. Throwing on centre-forwards, in Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Youssef Chermiti, made little difference when Arsenal controlled the game and, for Everton, other numbers make for miserable reading. They have failed to score in four of five league matches this season and failed to keep a clean sheet in any of them. These two clubs are on the longest unbroken stretches of top-flight football but there is no guarantee they will meet again after this season. Not after a limp display by Everton. It became a question of whether Arsenal had the wherewithal to break them down. Thanks to Trossard and Odegaard they did and the Goodison curse was lifted. Read More Mikel Arteta claims Gabriel Jesus ‘changed Arsenal’s world’ when he joined the club Everton sale to American firm agreed Everton savour Sean Dyche effect to stun Premier League leaders Arsenal Mauricio Pochettino shares Chelsea fans’ frustrations after goalless stalemate Everton v Arsenal LIVE: Latest Premier League updates Erik ten Hag wants to see ‘how strong’ Manchester United are after Brighton loss

Leandro Trossard’s goal ended Arsenal’s woeful run at Goodison Park but the nature of their 1-0 victory over Everton was far from convincing for would-be Premier League title contenders. The Belgium international’s second league goal for the club he joined in January was a paltry return for the dominance the Gunners enjoyed but it proved enough to halt a sequence of four defeats and a draw in L4. But it was enough to extend this season’s unbeaten run and lift them back to within two points of leaders Manchester City and behind only Tottenham and Liverpool on goal difference. For a team who enjoyed so much possession, Mikel Arteta’s side created very little with it until Trossard’s 69th-minute breakthrough – highlighted by starting centre-forward Eddie Nketiah’s paltry 10 touches before he was withdrawn three minutes before the goal. Arsenal will have wished he had one fewer as it was his lay-off returning from an offside position which resulted in Gabriel Martinelli’s first-half goal being ruled out for offside. On-loan Brentford goalkeeper David Raya was similarly underemployed having been handed his debut as part of Arteta’s rotation policy between the posts and the manager will not have learned much about his fellow Spaniard against an Everton side short on shots and attacking intent. However, squeezing out a win on a ground which has recently proved a huge stumbling block for the north Londoners will have at least given the Gunners boss some satisfaction and the travelling support sang their appreciation of a scoreline with which they have become synonymous. Not so his Everton counterpart Sean Dyche, whose side have now lost all three home matches this season, have only one point and remain in the bottom three and facing a third successive relegation dogfight. While they posed little realistic threat, they did not do much wrong in frustrating their opponents for long periods and the return of Dominic Calvert-Lewin as a second-half substitute and winger Dwight McNeil starting his first game of the season should offer some grounds for optimism. But with only two goals, both scored at Sheffield United immediately before the international break, and with summer signing Beto showing every inch of the “rawness” Dyche claimed he had, something has to improve up front. The same could have been said for Arsenal on this occasion as they did not really pick up the pace until the start of the second half when Martin Odegaard forced Pickford to parry a fierce shot. But desperation was started to show on the hour when the players frantically appealed for handball after Oleksandr Zinchenko’s drive from distance hit the diving James Tarkowski but his arm was tucked into his body. Both managers decided a change of strikers was what needed to change their luck in the 66th minute and Calvert-Lewin – wearing a protective mask after a recent facial injury – and Gabriel Jesus arrived at the same time. But it was first-half substitute Trossard who made the difference from an Arsenal short corner. The ball was worked between Zinchenko and Odegaard to Bukayo Saka whose cutback was cleverly steered in left-footed via the far post by the Belgian for his first goal since February. However, it was not much of an improvement on a forgettable first half, in which Everton matched the visitors for shots on target (one) despite having only 20 per cent possession, and the only real talking point was Martinelli’s disallowed 19th-minute goal. Beto, making his home debut, charged down Gabriel and the ball rebounded to Nketiah, who laid off to Fabio Vieira to thread a pass in for his team-mate to curl a shot past Jordan Pickford only for VAR to chalk off the effort. It was Martinelli’s last involvement as injury forced his replacement by Trossard. Abdoulaye Doucoure wanted a penalty after breaking from midfield, lobbing Declan Rice, and cutting inside onto his right foot only to be clipped by William Saliba but referee Simon Hooper saw no infringement. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Ryan Fox savours ‘pretty special’ BMW PGA Championship win Mauricio Pochettino shares Chelsea fans’ frustrations after goalless stalemate Ryan Fox wins BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth after Ludvig Aberg fades

Not a great look.

Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is prompting complaints from fans and college football pundits alike.