Blog (Page 86)

[ad_1] Erik ten Hag has confessed Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong would ‘strengthen any squad’ in the world amid consistent links with Manchester United. One of the longest transfer sagas of the summer window was United’s pursuit of De Jong, who was seen by many to be key to the way Ten Hag wanted to set up his Red Devils side. In the end, the deal never materialised and Man Utd opted to sign Casemiro instead – a signing that has proved to be a roaring success at Old Trafford. On this edition of The Promised Land, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott SaundersRead More →

[ad_1] Mikel Arteta has admitted he feels more confident in Arsenal’s chances of winning the Premier League title even after Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat to reigning champions Manchester City. City have climbed above the Gunners into first place, having played one game more, but were not always comfortable during the game and finished with a stunningly low 36% possession in the game – almost unheard of for a Pep Guardiola side. With Arsenal also guilty of sloppy errors for City’s goals, Arteta was confident in his side’s ability to go toe-to-toe with England’s best team of the past five years. “I have more belief after seeingRead More →

[ad_1] Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge continues this weekend as they visit Aston Villa and former manager Unai Emery. The Gunners’ trip to Villa Park is Saturday’s early kick-off (12.30pm) and comes less than three days after their 3-1 home defeat to Manchester City blew the title race wide open. The match will be broadcast live in the United Kingdom on BT Sport 1 and in the United States on USA Network and fuboTV. That’s the first of eight Premier League fixtures to be played on Saturday, with a glut of 3pm kick-offs to tuck into. Brentford take on Crystal Palace at the GTech CommunityRead More →

[ad_1] Real Madrid comfortably won their game in hand in La Liga on Wednesday night to reduce Barcelona’s lead at the top of the table back to eight points. Los Blancos blew away last place Elche, who remain 12 points from safety, in the first half at the Bernabeu, scoring three times before the interval. Real peppered the Elche goal with shots throughout the night – Karim Benzema had 10 of them himself – and were duly rewarded with the handsome win. Still missing Thibaut Courtois in goal, Carlo Ancelotti even took the opportunity to rotate his team. There were only eight minutes on theRead More →

[ad_1] The Premier League title race is only going to hot up as the weeks roll by with Arsenal and Manchester City the two favourites in England’s top flight. The two sides duked it out on Wednesday night with City coming out on top thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish. The 3-1 saw City go ahead of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table on goal difference, but Gunners fans will take some solace in the fact that they have a game in hand over their title rivals. Arsenal have bounced back from the disappointment of missingRead More →

[ad_1] Barcelona vs. Manchester United is the pick of the games in European competition this week. But with the action taking place in the Europa League, it is far from the vintage of 2009 or 2011 when these two clubs met twice in Champions League finals in the space of just three years. Both Barça and United have experienced falls from grace in recent seasons and it is only now that each appears to be getting back on track. Financial mismanagement was the problem at Camp Nou. United arguably had the opposite issue, spending far too much without any sort of strategy or long-term teamRead More →

[ad_1] The SheBelieves Cup returns during the February international break as preparations for the 2023 World Cup step up. The SheBelieves Cup is renowned for it’s blockbuster lineups, and this year is no different, with a selection of the world’s best sides going toe to toe over the course of the competition. What will the 2023 SheBelieves Cup have in store? Here’s everything you need to know about the tournament. The 2023 SheBelieves Cup takes place between Thursday 16 February and Wednesday 23 February 2023. Fixture double headers take place across three dates: Thursday 16 February, Sunday 19 February and Wednesday 22 February. The 2023Read More →

[ad_1] The Arnold Clark Cup returns on Thursday for a second rendition of the invitational friendly tournament that instantly became a cult classic among fans when it debuted in 2022 Defending champions England will play South Korea, Italy and Belgium in a round-robin format as 2023 World Cup preparations ramp up. The Lionesses’ Arnold Clark Cup triumph last year provided a momentum boost ahead of their subsequent Euro 2022 campaign – so what could be in store this time around? Walsh and Williamson played in midfield together at the 2022 Arnold Clark Cup / Molly Darlington – AMA/GettyImages Last year’s Arnold Clark Cup provided SarinaRead More →

[ad_1] Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has named a 21-player squad that will travel to Catalonia for the Europa League knockout playoff first leg against Barcelona at Camp Nou. Midfield enforcer Casemiro, who has an outstanding record at the iconic stadium from his years as a Real Madrid player is a welcome return in the squad due to his ongoing domestic suspension not applying to European competition. But Ten Hag has been forced to leave out centre-back Lisandro Martinez and January signing Marcel Sabitzer from the selection. Martinez has long since silenced his critics following a big money summer transfer from Ajax, quickly becomingRead More →

[ad_1] The highly-anticipated Champions League clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich was an insipid anti-climax as the Bavarians ran out deserving 1-0 winners. PSG, in the absence of Kylian Mbappe for much of the bout, lacked any sort of cohesion against Julian Nagelsmann’s evolving machine. A complex possession structure allowed Bayern to control large swathes of Tuesday’s contest and they grabbed the winner early on in the second half through Kingsley Coman. Mbappe’s introduction midway through the second period tilted the tide somewhat as the Frenchman had a couple of potential equalisers ruled out for offside – one of which was incredibly tight. Nevertheless,Read More →