With all due respect to the folks who work at NBC, we here at The18 are not done echoing the anger and disappointment at the broadcaster’s abrupt abandonment of soccer fans across the U.S. While we won’t go so far as to cry #PeacockOut (the streaming service has its place), we can’t stay quiet over the fact NBC’s greed is getting in the way of our enjoyment of the Premier League.
Match-by-match facts and statistics ahead of the third round of the Premier League on Sept. 26-28
(All timings in GMT):
Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester United (1130)
* A victory for Brighton would be the first time they have picked up back-to-back league wins since November last year.
* Brighton's Pascal Gross has scored three goals, including two winners, in his last four games against United.
West Ham United assistant coach Alan Irvine has confirmed boss David Moyes will still be in charge for Sunday's Premier League game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, but from home as he is still self-isolating.
Moyes and players Issa Diop and Josh Cullen, had to leave the London Stadium ahead of their League Cup tie against Hull City on Tuesday after they returned positive tests for COVID-19.
Irvine, who took charge against Hull and secured a 5-1 victory, said Moyes will be remotely available to make all the decisions during the match this weekend.
Tottenham Hotspur have advanced to the League Cup fourth round via a bye after their match against Leyton Orient was called off due to a number of Orient players testing positive for COVID-19, the Football League (EFL) said on Friday.
Spurs' third-round match against Orient was cancelled on Tuesday, a day after the fourth-tier club revealed the positive tests and closed their Breyer Group Stadium and training ground facilities until further notice.
It's about that time. The weekend is approaching, you just sat through a meaningless Carabao Cup match where your favorite team casually trotted out a pack of 15-year-old reserve players and took an L to a League Two side, and the Premier League is back this weekend. Time to fix that FPL roster that scored you 29 points last week and find this week's Son Heung-min to captain. We're here to help with the best FPL Week 3 picks out there.
On Dec. 11, 2018, Manchester City and the Columbus Crew agreed on an estimated $7 million transfer fee for American goalkeeper Zack Steffen. After 653 days, the Pennsylvania native can now officially say he has played for Manchester City. The monumental Zack Steffen debut that us American outlets hyped up ended up being a quiet occasion.
It appears that the Kepa Arrizabalaga experiment is ending for Chelsea. The club announced the signing of goalkeeper Edouard Mendy from Stade Rennais on Thursday for a fee of $26 million. The Senegalese international allowed just 0.76 goals per game in Ligue 1 last season, second in the league, but is he the solution to Chelsea's goalkeeping headache, or will he be just another overpaid, underperforming shot-stopper?
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says his side are "evolving" and that German playmaker Mesut Ozil will find it difficult to break into the squad.
Ozil, whose contract is set to expire next June, did not feature towards the end of last season and was not named in Arsenal's matchday squad for the first three games of the new campaign.
Chelsea midfielder Kai Havertz got off the mark with a hat trick in a 6-0 thrashing of Barnsley at Stamford Bridge in the third round of the League Cup on Wednesday.
Havertz, who joined Chelsea from Bayer Leverkusen for 71 million pounds ($90 million), started both of his side's Premier League games against Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool but showed his class against Championship (second tier) side Barnsley.
Fantasy Premier League is kind of a big deal here at The18. Friendships are strained over trash talk and sometimes it seems like people put more effort into perfecting each week’s lineup than their day-to-day duties.
When I joined The18 this year I had plenty of soccer knowledge but knew nothing about the arbitrary rules of Fantasy Premier League. But I had an idea: using the latest in data science and machine learning to derive the best possible fantasy team to conquer The18’s FPL league.