Manchester United bounced back from their surprise home defeat to rock-bottom West Brom with a battling 2-0 win at Bournemouth, as Jose Mourinho made good on his threat to drop those who underperformed on Sunday.
That loss to West Brom handed United s bitter rivals City the Premier League title and Mourinho s side looked eager to put things right at the Vitality Stadium, ultimately cruising to a victory which sees them head into Saturday s FA Cup semi-final clash with Tottenham in confident fashion.
For all of Mourinho s changes, the breakthrough came through Chris Smalling, one of the four players to keep their place in the team, as he was left with an easy finish following good work from Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard.
Bournemouth were by no means outclassed b…
Kevin De Bruyne insists he does not give much thought to being rejected by Jose Mourinho and thinks his difficult time at Chelsea was a useful learning curve.
The Belgium international was sold to Wolfsburg in January 2014, when Mourinho was Chelsea manager, after struggling to break into the first team at Stamford Bridge.
De Bruyne has been a revelation since returning to the Premier League with Manchester City in 2015 and has been the driving force behind his side s charge towards the Premier League title this season.
City will win the league if they beat Mourinho s Manchester United in the derby clash at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, but defeating his old boss adds little extra motivation for the 26-year-old.
Big weekend in the Premier League ahead <…
Jurgen Klopp is frustrated about the EFL Cup semi-finals being played over two legs after Liverpool set up a tie with Arsenal.
The Reds showed great character to come from two goals down to draw 3-3 at home with Leicester City in Wednesday s quarter-final contest, subsequently going on to win in the penalty shootout.
Diogo Jota scored off the bench in the second half and Takumi Minamino levelled with almost the last kick of the game – he would have sealed progression had he not missed his penalty, but Caoimhin Kelleher then denied Ryan Bertrand and the Reds Portuguese forward got the job done.
The semi-final draw pits Liverpool against Arsenal in a double-header to be played during the first two weeks of 2022, and Klopp – who has routinely spoken out about pl…
Arsenal have announced that Cedric Soares, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ainsley Maitland-Niles have all tested positive for coronavirus.
The trio were not included in Arsenal s squad for Sunday s Premier League clash with Norwich City as they are serving a period of self-isolation.
Cedric, Tomiyasu and Maitland-Niles follow team-mates Albert Sambi Lokonga, Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers in contracting COVID-19 over the past fortnight.
Mari and Chambers were back among the substitutes for the trip to Carrow Road, but Chambers remained absent from the matchday squad.
Despite the rise in positive cases in their squad, Arsenal have yet to have a match called off due to coronavirus-related reasons this season.
Cedric, Tomiyasu and Maitland-Niles all miss out…
Napoli striker Goran Pandev is backing Jose Mourinho to lead Real Madrid to glory in this season s Champions League.
The Macedonia international was part of the Inter Milan side that recorded a historic treble under Mourinho in 2009/10 and he still has the utmost respect for the Portuguese coach.
While Pandev acknowledges that Madrid face stiff competition for this season s Champions League crown from Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, he still expects Mourinho to land the title.
He is an extraordinary coach. The best of all, the forward told Il Mattino.
He can win the Champions League and my hope is that he does it again this year.
Madrid are a great team. They are all great sides at the semi-final stage so it is difficult to make…
Mexican midfielder Giovani dos Santos has set himself for a breakout season in La Liga after joining Villarreal from Mallorca.
Dos Santos signed for Villarreal on July 9 and the 24-year-old Mexican believes he can help the club, which is based in a small town of the same name just 64 kilometres north of Valencia, challenge the elite of Spanish football in their first season back in La Liga.
Villarreal were relegated at the end of the 2011/12 La Liga campaign, before finishing second in the Segunda Division last season to rejoin the Spanish top tier, but Dos Santos remains convinced the team from a town of just over 50,000 people can challenge the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Villarreal is a team that in the last years has always been fighting for the UEFA Champi…
Lazio secured their sixth Coppa Italia title as a Senad Lulic strike gave them a 1-0 over Roma at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.
Lulic s effort was the decisive factor in a fiery encounter in which both sides had plenty of chances to secure both bragging rights and silverware after finishing outside the European places in Serie A.
Roma made three changes to the side which beat Napoli in their final game of the league season. Marquinhos and Federico Balzaretti coming in for Vasilis Torosidis and Dodo in defence, while Daniele De Rossi
replaced Panagiotis Tachtsidis.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Petkovic opted to keep stick with much of the side which fell to a 1-0 loss at Cagliari, Stefan Radu taking the place of Andre Dias at the back and Libor Kozak dropped in favour of
Hernanes.
Laz…
Kevin Gameiro recovered from a saved penalty to score twice as Sevilla took a huge step towards the Copa del Rey final with a 4-0 first-leg victory over Celta Vigo on Thursday.
Barcelona all-but secured their progression to the final with Wednesday s 7-0 hammering of Valencia and, despite seeing a first-half penalty saved, Gameiro s brace after the break ensured five-time winners Sevilla look set to meet the holdersin the end-of-season showpiece.
Unai Emery s men dominated the early stages before Gameiro s spot-kick was saved by Ruben Blanco 28 minutes in.
Sergi Gomez s header struck the Sevilla woodwork soon after but the hosts recovered and led at the break courtesy of Adil Rami s powerful header.
Gameiro then made amends for his penalty miss wi…
Andre Silva scored his first competitive goals for AC Milan as they romped to a 6-0 victory over Shkendija in the first leg of their Europa League play-off tie at San Siro.
The 21-year-old, a €38million signing from Porto, and Riccardo Montolivo each scored twice, while second-half finishes from Fabio Borini and Luca Antonelli put Vincenzo Montella s side on the brink of the group stage.
Milan, who handed a competitive debut to new captain Leonardo Bonucci, were in control from the outset and scored all three of their goals in a rampant first 27 minutes.
Silva converted two clinical finishes and Montolivo scored a tap-in to end a three-year wait for a Rossoneri goal and send the home crowd, who numbered in the region of 40,000, into raptures.
Borini bur…
West Ham s hat-trick hero / Image via zimbio.com
West Ham and Arsenal played a tantalizing thriller at Upton Park on Saturday afternoon with Andy Carroll grabbing the spotlight with his eight-minute hat trick.
Gunners raced to a double lead in the first-half, but were wiped out thanks to three quick goals from Andy Carroll, before Koscielny closed the scoreline in this six-goal stalemate.
Here are the five things we learned from the 3-3 draw at Upton Park:
Title race over for Arsenal
Die-hard Gunners will still deny it, but their team is very well out of the Premier League.
Plenty of things can happen until the end of the season and this campaign has already proved to be highly unpredictable, but without the maximum three points against W…