Pep Guardiola believes there is still more to come from in-form winger Jack Grealish, who now feels he belongs at Manchester City after taking a season to settle in.
Grealish initially struggled for consistency after making a club-record £100million move from Aston Villa in 2021, but the England man has been excellent for City in recent weeks.
Grealish has already bettered his total of six Premier League goal involvements from last season, contributing to nine goals this term (four goals, five assists) – eight of those coming since the World Cup.
Kevin De Bruyne (20) is now the only City player to have assisted more goals than Grealish s eight across all competitions this season, and he both scored and assisted in last week s 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool.
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FORWARD: GARETH BALE
A slight variation to the theme this time – according to Wenger, at least. The Arsenal manager says they looked at the Wales star while he was a fresh-faced youngster at Southampton, while they were assessing emerging talents including Theo Walcott. Ultimately, Wenger decided against an offer. Bale went on to join Tottenham, where he was transformed from unwitting full-back to a man who eats full-backs for breakfast, before heading to Real Madrid, where he has won three Champions Leagues. I must confess it was a huge mistake as he can play in midfield, Wenger conceded in 2006. He struggled at the start at Tottenham, then they moved him to midfield and he has done exceptionally well.
STRIKER: DIDIER DROGBA
A hero in the eyes of Chelsea…
Top-of-the-league Sunderland extended their perfect start to the season as they beat Portsmouth 3-1 at Fratton Park to secure their fourth Championship victory in as many matches.
The visitors went ahead 31 minutes into the match through a Zak Swanson own goal and never looked back.
It was an unfortunate moment for Swanson, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time when team-mate Jordan Williams’ clearance rebounded off him into the goal.
Republic of Ireland international Alan Browne added a second his first since signing for Sunderland in the summer transfer window six minutes into the second half, before Romaine Mundle made it 3-0 and killed the game as a contest in the 56th minute.
Portsmouth made four substitutions on the hour, including the intr…
With all of England’s elite looking to sign off 2023 with their own respective statements, we certainly have a heavyweight Premier League schedule throughout Saturday.
As defending champions Manchester City look to make up some ground in this season’s title scrap, the likes of Luton and Nottingham Forest will be looking to extend on their charge for top-flight safety.
Ahead of a stacked Saturday fixture list, we have taken an in-depth look at some of the best available Premier League betting markets.
Saturday, December 30th
15:00 Manchester City vs Sheffield United
Marking their Premier League return with a crucial 3-1 victory away at relegation scrappers Everton on Wednesday night, Manchester City will now be hoping to find some essential top-flight stabi…
I love to play and I love to compete, this gives me the opportunity to do both, Howard said.
Since my retirement in October, my obsession for football has grown. The desire to win continues to drive me.
Those are the words of former Manchester United and Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard who has confirmed that he will be coming out of retirement in order to play for Memphis 901 FC.
The 40-year-old veteran has been retired for just over four months now, but it s clear to see that there s still a passion deep inside him to get out there and keep playing. He had spent three years with Colorado Rapids prior to making the decision to hang up his gloves, and now, he ll be making the switch to second-tier USL Championship side Memphis 901 he also part-owns and is a …
Napoli are undoubtedly the biggest disappointment of the season. The Partenopei side dismissed Carlo Ancelotti midway through the campaign, and their recent results have not improved since they currently sit 18 points behind the two league leaders, Inter Milan and Juventus. Not only this has been Napoli’s worst position after 17 matches since 2010, but it’s also a fair reflection of their awful form. Napoli have won just once in their last nine Serie A matches (W1, D5, L3) and most of their struggles have come at home where they have won just three of eight games thus far. They have a squad that’s strong enough to perform at a higher level, but it remains to be seen when they will stop underperforming. A win against Inter would be a great way to start, but they have won just once …
Steve Cotterill has left his role as manager of Shrewsbury.
The 58-year-old had already said his position at the club was uncertain and the Shrews have now confirmed his departure.
A statement read: “The club would like to place on record their thanks to Steve for all his hard work and commitment during the last two and a half years, taking us from a relegation place in League One to 12th in the table and also for working from his hospital bed during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Cotterill guided the club to 12th in League One last season and spent 49 days at the Bristol Royal Infirmary after contracting Covid and developing pneumonia in 2021.
Cotterill, who joined the club in November 2020, released a statement though the League Managers’ Association.
Lionel Messi is the player Rafael Benitez most wishes he could have worked with and the Spanish coach says he and the Barcelona talisman speak the same football language.
Benitez named Franz Beckenbauer, Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer as the former players he would have relished the chance to coach, but among current players Messi stands out for the former Real Madrid boss.
Messi featured in Barcelona s 4-0 LaLiga victory over Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu during Benitez s time in charge of Los Blancos, and the newly appointed Dalian Yifang coach said he had a meeting of minds with the five-time Ballon d Or winner.
Maybe Messi, replied Benitez when asked which player he wished he could manage in a fans Q A on The Athletic.
He is so good that I could mayb…
Tottenham Hotspur are competing with Arsenal for Micky van de Ven of VfL Wolfsburg, according to . The report has claimed that Arsenal are keeping tabs on the central defender, but it is their North London and Premier League rivals Tottenham who are leading the race to sign him in the summer transfer window.
Van de Ven is one of the best young defenders in the Bundesliga and is only 22 years of age. The defender has played seven times for the Netherlands Under-21 side and has yet to make an appearance for the senior side.
Last season, Van de Ven scored one goal and gave one assist in 33 Bundesliga appearances for VfL Wolfsburg. During the 2021-22 campaign, the defender made two starts and three substitute appearances in the league, providing one assist in the process.
According to a recent report from Corriere dello Sport, Edinson Cavani has rejected a potential move to Juventus due to his ties to Napoli.
Cavani, who has been without a club since leaving Paris Saint-Germain, is looking for what could be the final big move of his career at the age of 33. He spent seven years in the French capital but prior to that, he was with Napoli between 2011 and 2013.
The Old Lady has had a stranglehold on Serie A for many, many years now, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that there are plenty of clubs who are hot on their heels.
The Uruguay international quite clearly knows his value and he knows that he is capable of a move to one of the biggest clubs in world football, but even with all that being the case, he still values …