Jürgen Klopp has said he would have to be a “real idiot” to question the character of his Liverpool team after one bad defeat, but immediate improvement on the Watford performance will be essential to overcome Chelsea in the FA Cup.
Liverpool lost their unbeaten Premier League run in startling fashion at Vicarage Road on Saturday and head to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday looking to avoid a third consecutive away defeat in all competitions. Klopp, expected to make several changes for his first FA Cup fifth-round tie, believes no Liverpool player performed at their usual level at Watford. But he insists faith in a team who remain on course to win the Premier League title in record time is unbroken. “I am not a little bit in doubt about the…
Two days after Southampton held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw at St Mary’s last weekend, the club’s new majority owner, Dragan Šolak, looks extremely pleased with his purchase. It was “an absolutely supreme performance playing against probably the best team in the world”, says Šolak, visibly excited by memories of watching his new team end City’s 12-match winning streak.
Born in Serbia and based in Switzerland, Šolak met the Guardian in a suite of offices tucked away in an elegant apartment block in central Milan, one of many places he spends time, he says. He plans to attend as many Southampton games as his travel schedule allows.
Southampton confirm takeover involving Serb magnate Dragan SolakRead more
Manchester City s bid for a third consecutive Premier League title starts away to West Ham on August 10.
City s first home game sees Tottenham visit the Etihad Stadium the following weekend, while they do not face expected title rivals Liverpool until November with the return date, which City host, set for early April.
A testing run of games from late February clashing with the Champions League knockout rounds sees City face Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool within five league fixtures.
But City, who won their last 14 games to see off Liverpool s challenge last term, appear to have a more straightforward run-in than the Reds on paper with Pep Guardiola s men ending the campaign at home to newly-promoted Norwich City.
Manchester City s 2019-20…
Aaron Rodgers admits he is on the last couple holes of his glittering NFL career, but the 40-year-old fancies his chances of winning his second Super Bowl ring with the New York Jets this season.
Rodgers joined the Jets last year after 18 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, who he inspired to victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Super Bowl XLV in 2011.
However, the four-time league MVP suffered a ruptured Achilles against the Buffalo Bills in Week 1 and missed the remainder of the 2023 season as the Jets went 7-10.
Now fully fit ahead of the Jets 2024 opener against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday, Rodgers is keen to make his 20th campaign in the NFL count as he approaches the end of his career.
I m on the last couple holes, Rodgers told Sky Sports.…
Premier League shareholders have agreed that the 2021-22 season will begin on Saturday, August 14.
A start date for the next campaign was announced on Thursday, while the competition will run through until May 22 when the final round of fixtures will be staged simultaneously.
The current season did not get underway until September 12 due to the coronavirus-enforced break during the first half of 2020, with top-flight action stopped in mid-March before eventually resuming on June 17.
However, next term will see a return to a more familiar Premier League calendar, with the opening games coming five weeks after the conclusion of Euro 2020.
The final of the delayed international tournament is scheduled to take place at Wembley Stadium on Sunda…
Week 5 in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League Group Stage had a lot of action between Tuesday and Wednesday. Unlike past matchweeks, this time it was extremely hard to choose only five players that stood above the rest on an individual basis.
Here are the top five performers during Week 4 of the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League group stage.
Robert Lewandowski – Bayern Munich
The Polish striker once again made his presence felt during Die Roten’s most recent Champions League. He did it in style, though, netting four goals in 15 minutes during Bayern’s 6-0 away win over Crvena Zvezda. We must keep in mind this is the second time a Bayern player scores four goals in a single UCL match this season. Serge Gnabry already did it when the Bundesliga giants defeated Tottenham …
France coach Didier Deschamps wants his side to build on their 1-1 draw with world champions Spain when they meet Italy away on Wednesday.
The French are level with Spain in their World Cup qualifying Group I after clawing their way back in Madrid courtesy of Olivier Giroud s stoppage-time strike.
Now, Deschamps side play Italy in a friendly in Parma in what will be their last fixture this season.
It s our last match before next year. Even if this is the same season. The next calendar year, Deschamps said.
So, yes, there were a lot of good things with this second half and this result in Spain.
Having continuity, it s not going to be the same context, the same team.
There are no qualification points to take, but the commitment of the…
Bayer Leverkusen will use last campaign s Europa League loss against Roma as motivation to get the job done this time, so says Xabi Alonso.
Leverkusen were knocked out by Roma after a goalless draw in the second leg of the Europa League semis last season, losing the tie 1-0 on aggregate.
But a few things have changed since then with Alonso s side, who are now on an extraordinary 48-match unbeaten run this campaign, ending Bayern Munich s 11-year stranglehold on the Bundesliga title to secure their first trophy since 1993.
They are also a step closer to a treble, having beaten Roma 2-0 away in the first leg last week and reaching the DFB-Cup final against Kaiserslautern.
We haven t forget (forgotten) last season, we felt it. We need to use this energy and…
A flat Week 1 was not foreseen but the schedule gods haven’t done the Atlanta Falcons any favors in Week 2, as Arthur Smith’s new team travels to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a week after an awful performance at home to begin the year.
While Atlanta is in need of a spark, Tampa Bay is coming off a hard-fought opening night win in which it got a little luck but nonetheless showed the heart of a champion.
Can the Bucs improve on their Week 1 performance to cover a massive spread against the Dirty Birds? Find out with our free NFL betting Falcons vs. Buccaneers picks and predictions for September 19.
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The Seattle Seahawks will draw their season to a close on Sunday, as the team takes their 6-10 record on the road to face the Arizona Cardinals before entering an offseason of uncertainty.
Fittingly, the likely end to the most successful era in the Seahawks’ history will happen at the site of the era’s low point, the last-second loss in Super Bowl XLIX at the hands of Malcolm Butler and the Patriots in Glendale.
Seattle heads to Arizona as 6.5-point NFL betting underdogs but can it throw a wrench in its division rival’s playoff seeding to close the year? Keep reading for our NFL picks and predictions for Seahawks vs. Cardinals.
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