Liverpool took all three points from their trip to the London Stadium on Wednesday, where they took on West Ham in a rather exciting Premier League clash. The home side took the lead through Lucas Paqueta in the 12th minute, and Cody Gakpo equalized in the 18th. In the end, it was Joel Matip who settled the contest in the 67th.

The game

Both teams need as many points they can get between now and the end of the season, but Liverpool s need is arguably greater at this point as they fight to qualify at least for the Europa League, if they must miss out on the top four.

It was completely to be expected that the Reds take charge of the proceedings and take charge they did, ending the contest with the ball at their feet for 72% of the time and a total of 11 shots, four on ta…

Pep Guardiola is backing Xabi Alonso to make a success of his big break at Bayer Leverkusen.

Former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich midfielder Alonso was named head coach of the Bundesliga team on Wednesday.

It is the 40-year-old s most prominent role since retiring from playing in 2017, since when he has been building towards a top job, spending three years as coach of Real Sociedad B.

Like Guardiola, Alonso s playing career was spent largely as a deep-sitting central midfielder. Both men played for Spain, with Guardiola earning 47 caps and Alonso representing his country 114 times.

Alonso won a World Cup and two European Championships in Spain s golden era of success from 2008 to 2012, a period which coincided with Guardiola s reign as Barcelon…

Lionel Messi has now gone past Diego Maradona for World Cup appearances and goals – and the Argentina number 10 has pulled exactly level with his predecessor on two important statistics that showcase their creative brilliance.

Saturday s hard-fought 2-1 win over Australia carried Argentina into the quarter-finals, with Messi scoring the ninth World Cup goal of his career to put Lionel Scaloni s team 1-0 in front in the first half.

That nudged Messi ahead of Maradona s career haul of eight goals, while he has moved to 23 World Cup appearances during this tournament, two ahead of his late compatriot and fellow number 10 shirt wearer s previous national team record.

Messi is just one behind Gabriel Batistuta s record of 10 World Cup goals with Argentina, and he ma…

Leicester became just the second former Premier League champions to be relegated despite a 2-1 home victory over West Ham on the final day of the season.

The Foxes, who won the title seven years ago, needed to win and hope that Everton did not get three points in their clash at home to Bournemouth.

And for a large part of the afternoon that looked like playing out as they went ahead through Harvey Barnes and Wout Faes before the crushing news of Abdoulaye Doucoure’s goal for Everton came through.

Everton stay up on a dramatic final day, while Leicester City and Leeds United are relegated

— Premier League (@premierleague)

And with the Toffees hanging on at Goodison Park it condemned Leicester to the drop which represents a huge fall from gra…

Best Odds: 7/10

Bookmaker:

In what could prove to be an action-packed La Liga showdown on Thursday night, Girona will travel to Real Betis.

Real Betis

Starting with the hosts, dragging themselves to another European finish last season, Manuel Pellegrini’s men will be looking to carry on from where they left off back in May. With some around the Estadio Benito Villamarín dreaming of the chance to mount a genuine top-four charge this time around, the former Manchester City boss saw his squad lose just one of their final seven La Liga appearances last year. However, despite signing off the 2023/24 campaign with a gritty 0-0 stalemate away at history-makers Real Madrid on May 25th, Betis will know the importance of finding some crucial stability on home soil. In…

It is a major tournament held in England where the hosts are looking to end a long wait without silverware, but Germany stand in their way.

This feels awfully familiar.

Sarina Wiegman s Lionesses have captured the hearts of a nation, with fans flocking to watch them reach their first major tournament final since 2009 where they lost to *checks notes* Germany.

Meanwhile, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg s side have advanced to the final comparatively under the radar, with Die Nationalelf picking up impressive scalps of their own along the way.

It promises to be a fascinating contest at Wembley Stadium in front of what is expected to be a record crowd for any European Championship game  men s or women s  on Sunday.

A huge 90 minutes, maybe more, await…

Hugo Lloris made a grovelling apology to Tottenham fans after admitting sorry Spurs showed a lack of pride in their humiliating defeat at Newcastle United.

Tottenham were 5-0 behind after only 21 minutes at St James Park and at that point might have settled for a 6-1 defeat, which is how the game ended.

Hopeless defending and a lack of will from the visiting players saw them picked apart by hosts who moved third in the Premier League.

Tottenham s grip on fifth place is increasingly tenuous, with their season rapidly unravelling.

They were beaten at home by Bournemouth in their previous game and have tough assignments coming up against Manchester United on Thursday and Liverpool on Sunday.

At this rate of decline, they risk missing out on European …

Best odds: 16/5

Bookmaker:

Bulgarian side Botev Plovdiv will head to Slovenia for Thursday s Europa League qualifying match against NK Maribor.

The visitors hold a slight advantage going into the second leg, having secured a 2-1 victory at home in the first leg of the first-round qualifying tie.

NK Maribor

Maribor are participating in Europa League qualifying after securing a second-place finish in the Slovenian PrvaLiga last season.

Following their Europa Conference League qualifying campaign last season, Maribor return to the Europa League for the first time since a 3-0 defeat to HJK in the third qualifying round in August 2022.

Two years later, they are battling to reach the second stage of qualifying after a narrow defeat in Bulgaria…

Cristian Volpato s decision on his international allegiance is a personal one that should not be sped up , Roma head coach Jose Mourinho has said.

With the 18-year-old scoring two goals and contributing one assist in just 106 minutes of Serie A football for Roma, a fierce battle for Volpato s services at international level has emerged.

Born in New South Wales, Volpato is also eligible to represent Italy and has featured at youth level for the European side.

Australia had hoped the lure of World Cup football, with the Socceroos tackling France, Tunisia and Denmark in Group D in Qatar, would persuade Volpato to select his country of birth – with European champions Italy not qualifying for the tournament.

However, Volpato rejected the call-up, not wishing…

Phil Neville believes the Portland Timbers have not picked up the points their performances have warranted this season, but he knows the time has come for them to put their foot down ahead of Sunday s Cascadia Derby against the Seattle Sounders.

Portland sit 12th in the Western Conference standings, below the Sounders on goal difference, after going eight MLS matches without a victory.

Their 10 points through 11 games in 2024 represents their joint-worst return at this point of any MLS campaign (alongside 2014).

Neville, however, believes they have deserved more as they prepare for a run of three home games in their next four.

I think the first thing to say is we are not making any excuses – the results have not been as good as we wanted, he said.

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