Everyone plays football for different reasons. For some it’s the love of the game, others for money or fame and still more do it to impress the opposite sex. But winning free pizza for playing football is a prize everyone can appreciate. That’s exactly what goalkeeper Chris Neal won by helping Fleetwood Town shut out Leciester City in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday at Highbury Stadium.
The institution that is Arsene Wenger was handed a three-match touchline ban and a $54,250 fine for a confrontation with referee Mike Dean after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with West Brom on Sunday. The Wenger ban is nothing new for the Frenchman, who served a four-match touchline ban for a similar behavior last year. And Wenger didn’t even deny these accusations, fully admitting to what he said and standing by his criticism.
The 230th edition of the Merseyside derby takes place this afternoon at Anfield in the 2017-18 FA Cup Third Round — the 24th time the rivals have met in the world’s oldest football competition and the first since Liverpool’s epic 2-1 victory over Everton in the semifinals of 2012.
Pep Guardiola has it all backwards when it comes to the festive schedule. In a postmatch interview after his side beat Watford 3-1, Manchester City’s manager discussed the busy fixture list and how the English FA doesn’t care about its players. That’s not what we’re taking issue with; we totally agree with that. What we think Guardiola, perhaps the best coach of this generation, is wrong about is why people watch football.
“We’re going to kill them,” Guardiola said of playing two matches in three days. “Here in England they don’t protect their players.”
Adama Traore is soccer’s Usain Bolt. He’s a Bugatti. He’s Sonic the Hedgehog. He’s Jimmy John’s. He’s stupid fast and you won’t even see it coming.
In a match against Aston Villa recently, Middlesbrough’s Adama Traore won a foot race that he wasn’t even involved in. While two players chased after the ball like two pups playing with a chew toy, Adama blew both of them away — and it wasn’t even close.
Will Philippe Coutinho transfer to FC Barcelona? According to Google, that’s all anyone wants to know in 2018. We’re not here to give you a definitive answer, but to break it on down like the 2 Live Crew utilizing a system developed by The Walking Dead’s Eugene Porter. Here’s Philippe Coutinho’s rumored transfer from Liverpool to Barcelona broken into the categories of “What We Know,” “What We Know We Don’t Know” and “Things We Are Unaware Of. Wholly.”
If you’re like most of the (of age) world, you went out and had a few too many drinks on New Year’s Eve. Maybe you’re not feeling too bubbly this morning after all the bubbly at midnight. Fortunately, we’ve got just the thing for you: magnificent Premier League goals.
Arsenal and West Brom drew 1-1 on Sunday in a match that didn’t really get going until the final 10 minutes. But catching the eye more than the insipid performance from the Gunners was the odd choice of Arsenal kit, which was all red for the first time since 1978. Social media was not exactly impressed.
When a pitcher throws a no-hitter in baseball, there is always at least one play in which the pitcher keeps his perfect game intact not through anything he does but through a brilliant play from his defense. If Manchester City is trying to throw a no-hitter by going unbeaten this season, Sunday’s match was a prime example of succeeding not because of what City did, but because of what Crystal Palace didn’t do.
All is not well with Manchester United. There are injuries afoot, and the injuries are happening to the most fun players.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was not in the squad against Southampton because his knee, which he injured catastrophically near the end of last season, has an issue. Lions do not heal like humans, it's true, but lions are also killed and eaten by other lions as soon as they become too slow and weak to defend themselves.