Nick Ames – Football Scout

Champions League best XI: Haland, Di Maria and Ter Stegen lead the way

The Champions League group stage is back, but who were the stars this week? Here’s the best XI from the first games.

The Champions League’s best performers from this week.
Goalkeeper: Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)
Barcelona were well under par in their 0-0 draw against Borussia Dortmund so it was fortunate they had a goalkeeper in such fine form. Ter Stegen brilliantly saved Marco Reus’ second-half penalty, recovering smartly to gather the ball before anyone could gobble up the rebound, and also saved twice more from his countryman at close quarters….

Premier League knee-jerk reactions: Arsenal will surpass Spurs, only VAR can stop City

The 2019-20 Premier League season has had two games to show us what we can expect, so we have some wild predictions based on what we have learned so far.

Only VAR can stop Manchester City’s title march

Permit us to jump ahead to the final day of the Premier League season on May 17: Manchester City have hogged 78% of the possession against Norwich, while raining in 30 shots on goal. Victory will seal them the title and they need it, with Liverpool cruising home against an already-relegated Newcastle.
ESPN Luck Index

ESPN’s Luck Index: Man City, Aguero unlucky? Man United lucky?

Marcotti: Luck Index 2019 lessons

City…

Arsenal the big winners, Man United and Chelsea losers in Premier League summer transfer window

The Premier League’s summer transfer window is closed, meaning there will be no more incoming players until Jan. 1. With the new season set to begin Friday when Liverpool host Norwich City, we take a look at the teams that did the business and those that didn’t seal the deals they were hoping for.

WINNERS

Arsenal

Who would have thought Arsenal could come out on top in a transfer window? They have strengthened key areas with the club’s record signing, Nicolas Pepe; the excellent Celtic left-back…

AFCON: Algeria favourites vs. Senegal as old friends Belmadi and Cisse reunite on the touchline

Steve Nicol says Riyad Mahrez and Co. are best positioned to win Friday’s African Cup of Nations final.

 For Djamel Belmadi and Aliou Cisse, there is the overwhelming sense that Friday’s Africa Cup of Nations final between Algeria and Senegal was written in the stars. It is not so long since they were lining up opposite each other at youth competitions in Champigny-sur-Marne, a dormitory town outside of Paris. On Friday they will walk out together in the crucible of Cairo International Stadium, holding their respective countries’ footballing fates in their hands.

“It is fate,” said Belmadi,…

The football has been thrilling, so why hasn’t Egypt embraced the Africa Cup of Nations?

Senegal are favoured to win the African Nations Cup final vs. Algeria, but Steve Nicol says Riyad Mahrez’s side is the team best positioned to win.
CAIRO — At any other time, it might have been the moment that held the whole world’s attention. In the final minute of Algeria’s Africa Cup of Nations semifinal against Nigeria in Cairo, Riyad Mahrez stood over a free-kick 22 yards out, puffed out his cheeks, stepped back and prepared to make history…
The Manchester City forward whipped a vicious shot around the wall and into the top corner, giving his country a first appearance in the final since 1990 and sending the Algeria fans, many of whom…

Premier League way too early 2019-20 predictions

Craig Burley makes his very premature prediction of Premier League’s top six next season one day after Manchester City secured the 2018-19 title.
Man City were only crowned 2018-19 Premier League champions yesterday, but it is never to early to start looking ahead to next season. Will City repeat? Which club will surprise? Who is in trouble? And finally which top-six club is headed for a transition season?
Nick Ames takes a way too early peak at the 2019-20 campaign and makes a few projections regarding the next edition of the Premier League.
Editor’s Picks

ESPN FC 100: The top players and managers in men’s soccer

Captain Marvel: Soccer’s greatest captains from Messi to Marta

– Viewers’ guide: Watch ESPN+ in U.S.
– Follow Transfer Talk LIVE
– Fantasy: Set lineups, check scores!

Manchester City to make it a hat trick

Pep Guardiola’s side squeaked it to another Premier League…

Manchester City’s title lead over Liverpool coming down to a matter of millimetres

Manchester City scraped to a narrow 1-0 win at Burnley to return to the top of the Premier League.

ESPN FC’s Craig Burley says that despite the tight scoreline, Manchester City were in complete control even if their attack wasn’t firing on all cylinders.

BURNLEY, England — It would be appropriate, after such a relentless chase between Manchester City and Liverpool, if this season’s title race was won by the slimmest of margins. It would feel impossibly cruel, too. How hearts must have sunk on Merseyside when, after feeling his wrist watch vibrate, referee Paul Tierney signalled Sergio Aguero’s scruffy close-range effort had crossed the line; it had beaten Matt Lowton’s desperate lunge by a mere 29.51 millimetres and Jurgen Klopp will not need…

Same old Arsenal? Gunners lack fight, leadership on the road again as top-four hopes take hit

Arsenal’s top four hopes took another major hit in a 3-1 defeat to Wolves, their second straight Premier League defeat.

The FC crew wonder if Arsenal should shift their focus to winning the Europa League following consecutive Premier League defeats.

For Arsenal, it feels as if normal service has been resumed. That is not to say they have rediscovered the carefree, devastating football of old. Instead it means that, on a chastening night in Wolverhampton, they presented the very worst version of themselves: leaderless, lifeless, utterly unresponsive to adversity.

Narrow wins at Watford and Napoli suggested that maybe, just maybe, they had arrested two seasons of woeful away form. But such a resounding 3-1 defeat to an excellent Wolves team…

Manchester City are boring their way to the title as Premier League also-rans struggle to keep up

Manchester City moved back ahead of Liverpool thanks to a brace from Raheem Sterling and a goal from Gabriel Jesus.

English Premier League: Gabriel Jesus (90′) Crystal Palace 1-3 Manchester City
If Manchester City retain the Premier League title, the signs are they will have done it the boring way.
Sunday’s win at Crystal Palace — beyond a nine-minute spell after Luka Milivojevic’s clever free-kick to make it 2-1 — not a contest. And that has become a consistent theme.
If you seek drama and tension, or perhaps simply to be moved by football, City’s Premier League games are probably not for you. They are exhibitions of control and it is difficult, when they perform with this kind of clarity,…

With defeat at Everton, Arsenal’s dismal road form could cost them top-four place

Everton hand Arsenal a 1-0 defeat, leaving them clinging to the 4th spot in the table by goal differential alone.

LIVERPOOL, England — It turns out that old habits die hard.

Arsenal would have put themselves resoundingly in the driving seat …

SIGN INTO YOUR ACCOUNT CREATE NEW ACCOUNT

CREATE ACCOUNT ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT?

FORGOT YOUR DETAILS?