MANCHESTER CITY
Defeats to Crystal Palace and Leicester City without Fernandinho highlighted the Brazilian s importance to the champions. He is 33 and a successor must be a high priority for City, who have used Ilkay Gundogan and John Stones in that role with little success having missed out on Jorginho to Chelsea. City also have a problem position at left-back, where a succession of injuries to Benjamin Mendy have repeatedly left Pep Guardiola using square pegs to fill a round hole.
TOTTENHAM
Spurs signed nobody in the last transfer window and it does not appear to have harmed Mauricio Pochettino s side. But injuries have since affected his midfield options and a mooted move for Adrien Rabiot, who has made no secret of his desire to leave Paris Saint-Germain, make…
Monaco have further boosted Thierry Henry s midfield options with the signing of William Vainqueur on loan until the end of the season.
The 2016-17 French champions, mired in Ligue 1 s relegation zone, had initially elected not to sign the former Nantes and Roma midfielder from Antalyaspor because of a calf injury.
However, they had a change of heart after being convinced by the 30-year-old, who follows fellow midfielder Cesc Fabregas in moving to the Stade Louis II.
Explaining their decision, Monaco vice-president and general manager Vadim Vasilyev told the club s official website: William showed a determination and a willingness to get involved that led us to reconsider the situation.
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Dani Carvajal said he is happy for former Real Madrid team-mate Alvaro Morata ahead of his move to bitter LaLiga rivals Atletico Madrid.
Morata is poised to swap Premier League side Chelsea for Atletico on an initial 18-month loan deal, with the option to make the move permanent.
The 26-year-old forward left Madrid for Chelsea in 2017, however, the Spaniard has struggled at Stamford Bridge over the past year.
Carvajal has no hard feelings as Morata – who emerged from Madrid s youth system and won two Champions League titles as well as a pair of LaLiga trophies among others – closes in on Atletico.
They are decisions of each player. I do not judge him, Madrid full-back Carvajal told reporters following Sunday s 4-2 win against Espanyol.
If…
Lionel Messi reached the milestone of 500 career goals for Barcelona and Argentina against Valencia in La Liga on Sunday, but his side fell to a third consecutive top-flight loss.
The 28-year-old s strike in the 63rd minute at Camp Nou moved his tally for Barca to 450 goals, while he scored his 50th for his country with a penalty against Bolivia during last month s international break.
Messi had missed the chance to hit the landmark in Barcelona s Clasico defeat to Real Madrid, both legs of his side s Champions League defeat against Atletico Madrid and their La Liga loss to Real Sociedad as part of his longest goal drought for Barca in six years.
But he was on hand just after the hour as he guided home a low cross from Jordi Alba, but it proved merely a consolat…
Sean Dyche and Dominic Calvert-Lewin dedicated Everton’s 1-0 victory at West Ham to chairman Bill Kenwright.
The Toffees were playing their first match since the death of Kenwright on Monday at the age of 78.
It was a performance the lifelong Everton fan would surely have been proud of with Calvert-Lewin hitting a superb second-half winner.
“Firstly, and you can’t guarantee it, but it’s befitting to win after the week we’ve had following the sad loss of the chairman,” said Toffees boss Dyche.
“The players know the depth of the chairman’s love for the club, they’re well aware of that.”
Calvert-Lewin revealed the shock of the news affected everyone at Goodison Park.
“No-one was prepared for what happened this week and i…
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…