Football

Mauricio Pochettino's first game was on Wednesday against Saint-Etienne. Paris Saint-Germain was held to a 1-1 Ligue 1 draw as the French champions struggled to count their ball possession. In the first half, Moise Kean canceled out the opener of Romain Hamouma. But PSG was unable to find the net again as they let Lyon, open up a gap of three points at the top of the table.When Hamouma fired home first. Idrissa Gueye had been dispossessed in front of the field and Saint Etienne took the lead in the 19th minute. After a clever deflection by Marco Verratti from Kylian Mbappe's cross, Kean equalized three minutes later. PSG enjoyed almost 70% of possession but lacked endurance and inspiration in the absence of Neymar. He is still recovering from an ankle injury, while Mbappe had ye...

West Ham are looking at ending the unproductive spell of Felipe Anderson at Porto. They are seeking to safeguard the value of the Brazilian winger by finding him a new loan club. Anderson has struggled since joining Porto in October on a seasonal loan. He has made three appearances for the Portuguese champions in all competitions. In the summer, West Ham would look to sell Anderson and will struggle to get a high price if he barely played this season. Anderson may join another European club on a temporary basis this month if his spell at Porto is cut short. When they signed Anderson from Lazio in the summer of 2019 for £ 37m, West Ham smashed their transfer record. In his first season, he impressed, scoring 10 goals in all competitions as Manuel Pellegrini led the club in the Pr...

In spite of growing alarm behind the scenes about results, Frank Lampard might be given time to prove he deserves to remain in his place as Chelsea's boss. When they lost 3-1 at home to Manchester City on Sunday, Chelsea's faltering title bid suffered another setback. It has now placed Lampard in danger of being sacked before the end of his second season. It is unlikely that the humiliating loss by City would result in the 42-year-old being fired. As a possible replacement, Tuchel has been put forward. Tuchel led Paris Saint-Germain to the Champions League final last season before being sacked by the French champions last month. Following a run of four losses in six games, the burden on Lampard has increased. It has left the board increasingly worried about the team's lack o...

Moussa Sissoko and Son Heung-Min goals helped Spurs win against Brentford 2-0 on Tuesday. Tottenham Hotspur reached the League Cup final to set up a clash in April's showpiece match with Manchester United or Manchester City. Fellow London side Brentford started brightly but fell behind in the 12th minute. Unmarked French midfielder Sissoko headed in a fine Sergio Reguilon cross from the left, playing in their first semifinal in a major cup competition. Brentford had drawn level after the break when striker Ivan Toney headed home, but the goal was disallowed by VAR for a very close offside. Ethan Pinnock nodded a cross back across the face of goal. But Toney's grounded knee was ruled to be offside before he rose to head in from close range. Son gathering a fine pass from Tanguy N...

Ole Gunnar Solskjær has denied criticism from Jürgen Klopp and José Mourinho about the number of penalties won by Manchester United. He said that if they want to "spend time worrying" about it, it is up to the Liverpool and Tottenham managers. Solskjær indicated that Klopp may have been trying to manipulate referees. Klopp had said that United had won more penalties in two years than his team had during his more than five years at Anfield. The statement came after Liverpool lost at Southampton on Monday. Klopp thought he had denied Sadio Mané a straightforward spot-kick. "I don't count how many penalties they [Liverpool and Spurs] have, so I don't spend time on that if they want to spend time worrying about when we get fucked in the box," Solskjær said. United have won six penal...

Kieran Trippier's 10-week suspension for violating FA rules on gambling has been put on hold pending an appeal. Last week, the FA confirmed Trippier's suspension, effective immediately, having found him guilty of betting offenses. He was linked to his departure for Atlético Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2019. Trippier insists that he did not bet on or directly profit from bets made on his move. But did not show any intention of appealing against the prohibition. On Saturday, the Spanish club received notice from Fifa to make the England full-back eligible for selection. But he has not trained this week and was left out of the squad on Sunday to play at Alavés. Atlético will now prepare an appeal that will, in the first place, be brought to Fifa and then, if t...

Arsenal pulled off a classy 4-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on a snowy Saturday night at The Hawthorns for their third Premier League victory in a row. Arsenal's first-half goals were scored by Kieran Tierney and Bukayo Saka. While Alexandre Lacazette added two in the second to give Mikel Arteta an easy three points to close their festive season. Just after 20 minutes, the Gunners took the lead through Tierney. He beat his defender twice, cut into the penalty area, and smashed an irresistible strike past Sam Johnstone. When Emile Smith Rowe squared for Saka to finish a sequence he helped begin on the edge of the attacking third. It was an elegant team move that saw Arsenal double their lead minutes later. Just before half-time, Lacazette almost made it 3-0. But Johnstone st...

As he took over as coach, Mauricio Pochettino vowed to instill a "combative and attacking" identity for Paris Saint-Germain. The French champions revealed on Saturday the recruitment of Pochettino, their former captain, to replace the newly fired Thomas Tuchel. “This team has fantastic potential and my staff and I will do everything we can to get the best for Paris Saint-Germain in all competitions,” Pochettino said. “We will also do our utmost to give our team the combative and attacking playing identity that Parisian fans have always loved”. Pochettino took Tottenham to the 2019 Champions League final, signed a deal to coach PSG. He signed with an option for an additional year through June 2022, the club said. The 48-year-old Pochettino inherits a squad by PSG standards that a...

Bayern Munich returned from the two-week-long Christmas break looking rusty. But they shot on all cylinders when they battled back in a rip-roaring Bundesliga game on Sunday. They came back from two goals down to defeat second-bottom Mainz 5-2. Jonathan Burkardt fired Mainz ahead with a superb finish from 15 meters against the run of play. He shook off Jerome Boateng and Alexander Hack made it 2-0 from Daniel Brosinski's cross with a thumping header. Shortly after the break, Danny Latza missed a golden opportunity to add a third for Mainz. His shot was forced by Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to the post. As Lewandowski nodded a Serge Gnabry cross into his direction, Joshua Kimmich pulled one back. A close-range header before Leroy Sane equalized in the bottom right corner with ...

No one can argue that Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane does not make decisions. And this summer the Frenchman had to make three big ones in terms of his playing squad. Three players were let go in the summer, perhaps unexpectedly considering their quality. But time has shown Zidane to have made the right choice to decide to continue without Dani Ceballos, James Rodriguez or Gareth Bale. Dani Ceballos has excellent technical skills and Mikel Arteta wanted him to dictate the tempo of his Arsenal side. But the Gunners experienced a rocky start to the season. And the 24-year-old Spaniard was unable to guide them to safety. Interestingly, the reaction of Arsenal came on Saturday in a 3-1 victory over Chelsea, with Ceballos an unused substitute. Curiously, Arsenal's reaction c...