Football

It is time to end the empty words and repetitive statements and for affirmative action to be taken. Against racists. Against anti-semites. Against homophobes. Against sexists. Against anyone who thinks it is acceptable to turn up at a football match and snarl and sneer and shout discriminatory abuse from the terraces. Football is sliding back […]

Welcome to the BetBright STATZONE, where we give you the stats and you make the decisions! No rest if you’re a Premier League football player at this time of the year as we head into another full set of fixtures this weekend for ‘Match Week 17’ We get going on Saturday lunchtime with Man City […]

A further depressing aspect of the Raheem Sterling abuse story is the attention it stole from his display. Sterling was Manchester City’s best player by some margin, indefatigable in his harassment of the Chelsea defence. When Pep Guardiola spoke of the pride he felt in his team’s performance despite it ending in a first defeat […]

The ball was up in the air. Everything was. It was the fourth minute of five added on to a match already eventful in terms of goals, chances and refereeing decisions. Martin Dubravka, the Newcastle United goalkeeper, had just parried Diogo Jota’s shot. For 37 minutes Newcastle had played with ten men following DeAndre Yedlin’s […]

The day after the wearers of yellow vests ran riot in central Paris, any fears Leicester might show a yellow streak in their visit to Racing’s mind-bogglingly quirky indoor stadium in the north-west of the French capital were put to bed. Still, Leicester will probably need to win all three of their remaining pool matches, […]

What a gutting late winner for the Newcastle fans. The home support clad in black and white must have howled at the header from Wolves’ defender-turned-attacking dynamo Matt Doherty, who nodded in the deflected save from Martin Dubravka in the third minute of injury time. Until then it had been pretty equal, including after the […]

The group stage of the 2018/19 Champions League comes to an end this week, so we reveal what’s left to play for across all eight sections ahead of the action on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Group A Borussia Dortmund’s failure to beat Club Brugge last time out means Atletico Madrid are in pole position to […]

Mohamed Salah was able to gratefully rifle home a close-range finish, after some questionable goalkeeping from Asmir Begovic in the 25th minute at the Vitality Stadium, enraging home fans who felt that the Liverpool forward was in an offside position in the build-up to his goal. As a long-range effort from Robreto Firmino was struck, […]

Chelsea Kepa Arrizabalaga 7/10 Calm with the ball at his feet, as the young Spaniard was used a lot due to Man City’s high pressing. Made own error late on, as he gave possession away cheaply, but made a great save to spare his own blushes. Not called into action anywhere near as much as […]

After the first serious wobble of Maurizio Sarri’s tenure, Chelsea really need a win this weekend. Unfortunately they are up against Manchester City, so that is far from guaranteed. Having lost to Wolves in the midweek, the Blues have now won two of their last five in all competitions and are 10 points off top […]

Bournemouth Asmir Begovic 3/10 Should have done better in the build-up to the opening goal, parrying a shot into Salah’s path that started the beginning of the end for the home side. Was sent the wrong way on two occasions in the lead-up to Salah’s third of the afternoon. Not a performance he’ll remember. Charlie […]

Things are looking up for Nottingham Forest as they head into their run of festive fixtures this weekend when Preston North End visit The City Ground. The Reds are unbeaten in their last five games and have kept clean sheets in all of their last three home games, which makes a bet on Forest To […]

With the agony of the north London derby slowly dissipating like sorrowful mists on the ocean, Tottenham are ready to sail on into their busy December fixture schedule. Having recovered from derby defeat with a win against Southampton on Wednesday evening, Spurs now face a trip to Leicester and a chance to put even more […]

Golden Tate stands 5ft 9in in his heels. In the context of an NFL dressing room packed with alpha beef this wide receiver looks like an intruder in fancy dress. Some high-pitched dissenters in Philadelphia’s unforgiving Lincoln Financial Field shared that view until he fell across the line on Monday night with his first touchdown […]

Pep Guardiola’s restless search for perfection at Manchester City takes him to some odd places. And I’m not talking coordinates on a map. “At Watford, at 2-0, we were not the best side. We can do many things better.” Who’d be a guest in Guardiola’s head? Some perspective: Liverpool have made their best start to […]