Tottenham face a fading force in Bayern Munich in the Champions League October 1, 2019 When Bayern Munich were knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage three seasons ago it appeared to mark the beginning of their decline. A 6-3 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid saw them exit the competition at the earliest stage since 2011. They rebounded with a sixth semi-final appearance in seven seasons in [...]
Manchester United 1-1 Arsenal: McTominay and Aubameyang trade blows as both sides underperform September 30, 2019 Received wisdom in football states that a draw leaves both teams happy – a point apiece, something to take from your efforts, at least you didn’t lose. Manchester United and Arsenal drew tonight, and yet such are the weaknesses of both sides that both managers should be displeased with a single point. United faced a [...]
Did Manchester United and Arsenal break each other last season? September 29, 2019 It was Arsenal who broke Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United towards the end of last season, or so the theory goes. United arrived at Emirates Stadium on 10 March at the height of Solskjaer’s reign, just days after their improbable Champions League comeback at Paris Saint-Germain – their 14th win from 17 games under the [...]
Chelsea must start turning good performances into points and improve record at the Bridge September 26, 2019 There was a peculiar feel at Stamford Bridge last weekend as the Chelsea fans applauded Frank Lampard and his team for a promising performance, despite losing 2-1 to Liverpool. The Blues had come out for the second-half already two goals down but played without fear, created chances, and made Premier League pace-setters Liverpool look vulnerable. [...]
United West Ham are showing the consistency to gatecrash the top six places September 24, 2019 When you get stuffed 5-0 on the opening day of the season with a load of new recruits in the team, people tend to react by heading straight to the bookies to back you to get relegated. Since their humbling by Manchester City, though, West Ham are unbeaten in five Premier League games, have conceded [...]
Premier League round-up: Heady Hammers; United striker light; Aubameyang saves Emery’s skin – again; and Howe’s Fab Four September 22, 2019 After an inauspicious start to the season, these are heady times at West Ham. Unbeaten in six games, no goals conceded in their last four and yesterday a win over Manchester United, thanks to goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Aaron Cresswell. The fixture list has not been the most daunting – United were the first [...]
Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool: Reds show title credentials in game of two halves at Stamford Bridge September 22, 2019 Liverpool showed their Premier League title credentials in a game of two halves at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. The Reds bounced back from a midweek defeat to Napoli by making it six wins from six in the top flight with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Chelsea. If the first half was all about the array [...]
Tottenham Hotspur refinance more than £600m of stadium debt to secure financial future September 20, 2019 Tottenham Hotspur have refinanced £637m of loans taken out to help build its new £1.2bn stadium. The club borrowed the lump sum from Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and HSBC to support the arena’s construction and were due to pay it back in full by April 2022. Read more: Olympiacos 2-2 Tottenham: Spurs stuck in [...]
Eintracht Frankfurt 0-3 Arsenal: Young guns paper over the cracks September 19, 2019 Crisis averted – for now, at least. Following the damaging collapse at Watford on Sunday, Arsenal and Unai Emery could hardly have asked for a better start to their Europa League campaign than a three-goal win at last year’s semi-finalists. Throw in exciting displays from youngsters Bukayo Saka and Joe Willock, who both scored, Pierre-Emerick [...]
Carlton Cole interview: Former West Ham striker on his career, new life as a coach and strawberry Haribos September 19, 2019 Carlton Cole can recall the moment he knew his race had been run. After his football career had taken him to three different countries in three years, through brief stints with Celtic in Scotland, Sacramento Republic in the United States and Persib Bandung in Indonesia, he was back in London on trial with AFC Wimbledon [...]