Philippe Coutinho was left out of Barcelona's opening day win over Real Sociedad. The news comes after the Brazilian was linked with a move to Arsenal. Spanish outlet Sport says Barca have proposed a swap deal with the Gunners involving Coutinho. The La Liga giants want Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in exchange for the former Liverpool man. They would also accept Alexandre Lacazette as a secon...Full Story »

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola cited Euro 2020, COVID-19 and Kevin De Bruyne's lack of match fitness as reasons for the Blues' disappointing opening weekend defeat to Tottenham. Jack Grealish had some bright touches on his Premier League debut for City, but it was not enough to prevent them from leaving empty-handed. Guardiola's side missed a host of early chances to pile the pressure on S...Full Story »

Steve Bruce lamented Newcastle’s defensive shortcomings but was left particularly flummoxed by the awarding of a penalty which he feels proved a “big turning point” in West Ham’s 4-2 victory.Efforts from Callum Wilson and Jacob Murphy were cancelled out by Aaron Cresswell and Said Benrahma as West Ham twice fought back from a goal down to leave both sides’ Premier L...Full Story »

Holders St Johnstone progressed in the Premier Sports Cup after twice coming from behind to defeat Arbroath 3-2 on penalties after Sunday’s thrilling encounter ended 2-2 following extra time.Ricky Little missed the first penalty for the Championship side and their chances appeared to be over when Dale Hilson missed the target, but Jason Kerr and Callum Booth both failed to convert for Sain...Full Story »

Boss Callum Davidson admitted that Arbroath gave his St Johnstone side a tough afternoon before the holders prevailed on penalties in the Premier Sports Cup with Ali McCann netting the decisive spot-kick to ensure a place in the quarter-finals.Davidson was pleased to progress 3-2 on penalties against the Championship side – with the scores 2-2 after extra-time – but admitted that Thu...Full Story »

Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass claimed his team selection had nothing to do with their Premier Sports Cup exit.The Dons fell to a 2-1 second-round defeat by Raith Rovers after Glass made seven changes for the trip to Stark’s Park.With the likes of Christian Ramirez, Lewis Ferguson, Scott Brown and Ryan Hedges on the bench, Aberdeen dominated the first half and led through Jay Emmanuel-Thom...Full Story »

Hibernian bounced back from their European exit to reach the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports cup with a 2-0 victory over Kilmarnock.Kyle Magennis and Kevin Nisbet found the net in the second half against the Championship side as the Leith outfit showed no signs of fatigue from a demanding run of games.Kilmarnock had to soak up pressure for large spells of the game but did go close in the fi...Full Story »

A much-changed Aberdeen side crashed out of the Premier Sports Cup after a second-half collapse against Raith Rovers.Jay Emmanuel-Thomas gave the Dons an early lead and they utterly dominated possession in the first half.But on-loan Stoke striker Ethon Varian netted just after the restart and Raith took the initiative before Dario Zanatta struck in the 71st minute to earn a 2-1 second-round vict...Full Story »

Ronald Koeman has been talking to the press ahead of Barcelona’s first game of the new La Liga season on Sunday against Real Sociedad at the Camp Nou. The Dutchman spoke about playing in front of fans, Lionel Messi’s departure and offered an update on a number of first-team players. Here, as usual, are the best bits: Koeman on playing Real Sociedad in front of fans We are reall...Full Story »

LEEDS UNITED fans mocked Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho from the Old Trafford concourse on Saturday. Rashford, 23, and new United signing Sancho, 21, were accused of "letting the country down" by the Leeds faithful. Jadon Sancho came on as a substitute against Leeds to make his Manchester United debut The fans were of course referring to the pair's misses for England in the Euro 2020 final ...Full Story »

Paul Pogba is targeting a free deal to Real Madrid next summer. The Manchester United playmaker, 28, will now run down the final 12 months of his current contract at Old Trafford before walking away to the Bernabeu for nothing. And Pogba will be one third of an amazing treble swoop by Real - with fellow French ace Kylian Mbappe and Norwegian striker Erling Haaland set to follow him to Spain. ...Full Story »

Salford boss Gary Bowyer blamed poor decision making as his side drew at home again in a goalless League Two stalemate with promoted Sutton.Matty Lund had the best moments for the home side but Sutton could have stolen it when Craig Eastmond went through, only to be denied by a fine save from Salford goalkeeper Tom King.It marks a frustrating start to the season for much-fancied Salford, who dre...Full Story »

Danny Cowley dedicated Portsmouth’s 2-0 Sky Bet League One win over Crewe to the club’s fans.Second-half goals from striker John Marquis and winger Marcus Harness saw Pompey maintain their 100 per cent league record.Head coach Cowley said: “It was a good day for the people of Portsmouth. It was good day today – this was for them.“It was a performance which warranted...Full Story »

Derek Adams praised striker Lee Angol after his dramatic last-gasp penalty earned Bradford a 2-1 win over Oldham in the new manager’s first home game in charge in front of a bumper 17,264 crowd.Angol, who joined the club from Leyton Orient this summer, had given the Bantams a 34th-minute lead when fellow striker Andy Cook flicked Richard O’Donnell’s long goal-kick into his path...Full Story »

David Martindale heaped praise on Max Stryjek after the goalkeeper made two “superb” penalty shoot-out saves to send Livingston into the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals.The Polish goalkeeper was the villain last weekend when he allowed Jack Mackenzie’s injury-time shot to squirm from his grasp and over the line in the 2-1 defeat to Aberdeen.But the 25-year-old was the Lions&r...Full Story »

Barrow manager Mark Cooper was not overly impressed by the quality served up by his new team in an exciting 3-2 victory over Hartlepool.But Cooper could not have been happier with the effort of his side, following up a midweek Carabao Cup success over Scunthorpe.Dimitri Sea came off the bench to score the winner for a second time in five days.However, the French prospect suffered a late head kno...Full Story »

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel underlined the importance of developing youth players after Premier League debutant Trevoh Chalobah enjoyed a “perfect afternoon” in the crushing win over Crystal Palace.Following a build-up dominated by Romelu Lukaku’s club-record £97.5million move from Inter Milan, rookie defender Chalobah sealed a resounding 3-0 success over the Eagles with a...Full Story »

Liam Manning revealed he was excited by what he saw from his new MK Dons side despite their 2-1 defeat at home to Sunderland.Goals either side of half-time from Sunderland pair Ross Stewart and Elliot Embleton were enough for the Black Cats to take all three points, despite Tottenham loanee Troy Parrott’s reply in Manning’s first game as head coach.Sunderland missed a penalty five mi...Full Story »

James McPake lavished praise on his Dundee players after they beat Motherwell 1-0 in the Premier Sports Cup at Dens Park.Just a week ago, the Dark Blues suffered a devastating 6-0 defeat in the Scottish Premiership at Celtic Park.However, McPake’s men bounced back strongly against the Steelmen to edge through to the quarter-finals of the cup thanks to a late Lee Ashcroft goal.McPake said: ...Full Story »

Marco Silva felt his Fulham side got exactly what they deserved as they thumped Huddersfield 5-1 in the Sky Bet Championship.Aleksandar Mitrovic opened the scoring in the ninth minute at the John Smith’s Stadium after defensive errors from Ryan Schofield and Sorba Thomas.Josh Onomah and Fabio Carvalho then scored two more in the last nine minutes of the first half after further defensive b...Full Story »