Sergio Aguero could set a new Premier League record for goals on the opening weekend of a season in 2019-20.
Manchester City start their title defence at West Ham, where a hat-trick would make the Argentina attacker the most prolific opening-weekend goalscorer in the competition s history.
City s bid for a third consecutive title will likely be challenged strongly by European champions Liverpool again and Jurgen Klopp s side open their season at home to Norwich City, a favourite victim of the Reds.
Here, with the help of Opta, we look at two key facts for each of the opening-day fixtures.
Liverpool v Norwich City
This will be the first time that Liverpool and Norwich have met since a nine-goal thriller at Carrow Road in January 2016,…
Arsenal, Manchester City and Celtic found out their opponents for the Women s Champions League qualifying second round on Monday.
All three will play the first leg away from home, with Jonas Eidevall s side, who beat Rangers and Rosenborg to reach this stage of the tournament, facing BK Hacken.
The Swedish side reached the quarter-finals last year for the first time in the competition since the 2012-13 edition.
BK Hacken also played Arsenal in the last eight of the tournament during the 2011-12 season, with the Gunners winning 3-2 on aggregate.
Man City kickstart their Champions League campaign after finishing second in the Women s Super League last term against Paris FC.
The French side beat Real Madrid home and away last year but finished thi…
Luis Enrique hailed Spain sensation Pedri, comparing the teenager to Barcelona and La Roja great Andres Iniesta following Tuesday s Euro 2020 semi-final loss to Italy.
Italy booked their place in the final with a 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory over Spain after the enthralling showdown finished 1-1 at Wembley.
Despite Spain s frustrating outing after substitute Alvaro Morata cancelled out Federico Chiesa s opener, it was a memorable campaign for 18-year-old star Pedri.
Pedri became the first European player in major tournament history (World Cup and Euros) to start as many as six such matches at the age of 18 or below and Luis Enrique lavished the Barcelona midfielder in praise.
Well I think no 18-year-old has done what Pedri has done in any major competit…
Manchester City are the first team in Europe s top five leagues to score 100 goals in all competitions this season.
Pep Guardiola s men reached the landmark after 18 minutes of Sunday s Premier League match at Huddersfield Town, when Danilo s speculative strike took a decisive deflection off Christopher Schindler.
Paris Saint-Germain, who walloped Guingamp 9-0 in Ligue 1 on Saturday, are the next closest to three figures, but still 10 shy on 90.
Barcelona have scored 78 times this term, seven more than LaLiga counterparts Sevilla.
Tottenham (70) and Arsenal (68) both have more overall goals than Premier League leaders Liverpool (65).
100 Manchester City are the first team in the top five European leagues to score 100 goals in all competitions th…
Shane Long was again on-target as West Brom moved up to third in the Premier League table with a 4-2 victory at Sunderland
This weekend’s Premier League programme kicked off at the Stadium of Light, where West Brom defeated Sunderland 4-2.
The Baggies took the lead with a superb curling effort from Zoltan Gera.
Just before the interval Shane Long capitalised on an awful error from Sunderland keeper Simon Mignolet to score a tap-in.
Sunderland got a goal back in the 73rd minute through a deflected free-kick from Craig Gardner. West Brom restored their two goal lead in the 81st minute.
Liam Ridgewell was fouled in the penalty area and substitute Romelu Lukaku scored from the resulting spot kick.
Stephane Sessegnon got a goal back for the …
We may only be a week into 2022, but the first major international football tournament of the year is on the horizon, with the Africa Cup of Nations kicking off on Sunday.
It s been a long time coming as well – it was initially due to take place in June and July 2021 but was brought forward to January 2021 due to concerns about the weather. It then had to be pushed back a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Of course, fans and teams have had to put up with the usual posturing from those at certain clubs regarding the inconvenience of relinquishing players in the middle of the season, but despite that there remains a healthy selection of big names.
In fact, given the standard the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez and Achraf Hakimi usually play a…
I live for betting Week 2 of the NFL schedule.
We’re still early enough into the season where the playing field between books and bettors is fairly level and, thanks to a football-starved fanbase, the opening results are blown way out of proportion. That can open up opportunities to counter those knee-jerk reactions.
For example, NFL underdogs went a blazing 12-4 ATS overall in Week 1.
You would assume a guy who writes a weekly column giving his best NFL betting picks solely on teams getting the points would be ecstatic. However, many of my favorite Week 2 bets are teams giving the points. That made figuring out my top NFL underdogs picks for Week 2 a little tricky.
Luckily, overreaction from openers is leading the way like a fullback smack…
The NFL playoffs went to the dogs last year, with postseason pups posting an 8-5 against-the-spread mark – capped by Tampa Bay’s victory as a 3-point underdog in Super Bowl LV.
In fact, going back to 2017-18, postseason point spread underdogs are 29-17 ATS overall, covering in 63% of those tournament tilts. And the Wild Card Round has been the bigger purveyor of potent playoff pups, with NFL underdogs going 15-3 ATS the past four postseasons.
Will this trend continue or is this Wild Card run for dogs due for regression? Only one way to find out.
These are my favorite NFL Wild Card picks and predictions for those teams getting the points this weekend.
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NFL futures odds didn’t shift a whole lot after Week 17 but the Kansas City Chiefs did see their Super Bowl odds shorten from +450 to +400.
KC has made two of the last three Super Bowls (winning in 2020) and is currently second on the futures board, trailing the Buffalo Bills, who are ahead by a nose at +375.
With the Chiefs still capable of clinching that crucial No. 1 seed in the AFC here’s a breakdown of their Super Bowl 57 futures heading into Week 18.
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One week after shutting down Joe Burow, the Tennessee Titans will look to move to 3-2 straight up but will have to take on Shane Steichen and Anthony Richardson, who erased a 23-point deficit last week to the Rams only to fall in overtime. The Indianapolis Colts are slight favorites with a total set at 42.5 in NFL odds.
With Richardson another week removed from a concussion, possibly receiving some O-line help, getting Jonathan Taylor back, and just starting to touch on what this offense can be, should bettors be expecting another solid offensive output Sunday from the home side?
As NFL Week 5 odds take shape, here are my free NFL picks for Titans vs. Colts.