TURIN, Italy — Last month in Madrid, Atletico Madrid were entirely dominant against a Juventus side that offered absolutely no attacking threat and won 2-0. On Wednesday in Turin, Juventus were entirely dominant against an Atletico side that of…
Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saw his penalty stifled late by Hugo Lloris as the 185th North London derby ends in a 1-1 draw at Wembley.
Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris delve into the crazy finish to the North London derby, where Lloris denied Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the last moments.
LONDON — In recent years, the North London derby has come to be regarded as the Premier League’s most enthralling game: High on energy, high on goals, high on drama. By contrast, Tottenham and Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at Wembley on Saturday — at least until the closing minutes — was more reserved.
Neither side was capable of going full-throttle: Spurs did not press with any intensity and moved the ball slowly through midfield, while Arsenal dropped back and did not offer a consistent counter-attacking…
Romelu Lukaku’s double were his first goals for Manchester United in 10 games which paved the way for their 3-1 win over Crystal Palace.
Romelu Lukaku’s double were his first goals for Manchester United in 10 games which paved the way for their 3-1 win over Crystal Palace.
LONDON — After Manchester United defeated Crystal Palace 3-1 on Wednesday night at Selhurst Park, both managers agreed that United had been superior — and yet it was slightly difficult to pinpoint precisely what worked for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
Up front, Romelu Lukaku scored two goals, but his all-round performance was inconsistent, full of poor touches when trying to link with teammates. There was little combination play in the final third, with Alexis Sanchez again peripheral and…
After another disappointing performance for Liverpool’s front three, ESPN FC’s Steve Nicol tries to make sense of their goalscoring struggles.
While reflecting on Liverpool’s seven-year trophy drought, Steve Nicol says Jurgen Klopp’s side have a great chance at a double in 2019.
During Manchester United and Liverpool’s dull goalless draw on Sunday afternoon, it was unquestionably Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side who were affected more damagingly by injuries, with three players limping off before half-time. In comparison, Liverpool lost only Roberto Firmino, who was seen departing Old Trafford on crutches.
In a wider context, though, it’s the Firmino injury that carries more weight. The 0-0 draw might have been a disappointing result for Liverpool, but it also took them to…
Fernandinho is a classic box to box player but has adapted to life under Guardiola at Man City. He’s now more of a deep-lying creator.
Football has never been so obsessed with individual brilliance and star quality given the quality on show but not everyone can the hero. There remains a place for the humble, workmanlike and dependable holding midfielder. Here are five who have been in particularly good form this season.
Fernandinho, Manchester City
City’s title challenge seemed to falter during the Christmas period when they suffered back-to-back defeats to Crystal Palace and Leicester. Notably, it was also the first two matches…
With two aerial specialists in Mario Mandzukic and Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus are a bit of a throwback and present a unique challenge to any defence.
It might not provide the most enthralling technical football of the Champions League round of 16, but there’s something wonderfully intriguing about the tie between Atletico Madrid and Juventus, the first leg of which takes place on Wednesday evening.
These are effectively the two nearly-men of the last half-decade in this competition, both defeated finalists twice: Atletico losing to Real Madrid in 2014 and 2016, Juventus falling to Barcelona and Real in 2015 and 2017. But that status, and…
Despite Manchester City’s strong run of form, ESPN FC’s Paul Mariner explains why Liverpool remain his favourites to win the Premier League title.
The 2018-19 Premier League season offers the most intriguing title battle in many years, yet unfortunately, we won’t witness a genuine title-decider between Liverpool and Manchester City. The two contenders have already played each other twice — a boring goalless draw at Anfield early in the season, and then a 2-1 City win at the start of January.
Instead, the title might be decided by which team is better at breaking down minnows who are deploying a low block.
The phrase “low block” has…
A below-par Arsenal scraped past Cardiff City thanks to goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.
A below-par Arsenal scraped past Cardiff City thanks to goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. …
Since the formation of the Premier League in 1992, various different formations have dominated.
The 4-4-2 has long been considered English football’s default system, although there was a brief craze of 3-5-2 in the mid-to-late 1990s. Jose Mourinho’s impact in the mid-2000s meant many sides shifted to 4-3-3, before 4-2-3-1 started to become the most common system in the early 2010s. A couple of years ago, 3-4-3 became suddenly popular after the brief dominance of Antonio Conte’s Chelsea.
One…
Harry Winks scored with the final kick of the game to lead Tottenham past Fulham after losing Dele Alli to injury late on.
Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba combined once again vs. Leganes, showing again their unique understanding of one another.
Do you ever get a sense of deja vu when watching football?
Not just when your side throws away a lead in stoppage time yet again, or loses another derby, or concedes to an ex-player for the third straight game.
But more literal deja vu — when you watch a side scoring a goal they’ve scored again and again. Whether it’s through a deliberate strategy, or because two players’ natural characteristics fit together neatly, some teams have a very familiar type of goal. Here are four examples from…