Bruno, baby! Man United beat Liverpool in thrilling FA Cup encounter

By Jan 24, 2021, 1:53 PM EST
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Manchester United – Liverpool: Bruno Fernandes landed the final blow — a fantastic free kick — in a back-and-forth battle at Old Trafford on Sunday, securing a deeply satisfying 3-2 victory for the Red Devils who advanced to the fifth round of the FA Cup in the process.

[ FA CUP: Abraham hat trick guides Chelsea; Leicester bounce Brentford ]

Mohamed Salah broke the scoreless deadlock — something neither side could do when they met in the Premier League just seven days ago — with a delicately dinked finish in the 18th minute. Roberto Firmino found the Egyptian superstar in the smallest bit of space between Luke Shaw and Victor Lindelof, but found a way to fit the ball in and put Salah one-on-one with Dean Henderson as he raced off his line to no avail.

Manchester United didn’t need long to pull level, though, and it all started with a strong piece of defensive work from Paul Pogba as Firmino looked set to fire on Henderson’s goal. Pogba intervened and circulated the ball to launch a quick counter-attack which culminated in Marcus Rashford expertly playing Mason Greenwood in behind the Liverpool defense, and the 19-year-old was clinical with his finish from a difficult angle.

[ VIDEO: Weston McKennie goal adds to banner week for USMNT youngsters ]

Greenwood returned the favor to Rashford, not even three minutes into the second half, to give Manchester United the lead. 19-year-old defender Rhys Williams was dispossessed inside his own defensive third and the Red Devils wasted little time in snatching the ball off him before Greenwood slipped the ball in behind for Rashford to slide the ball under Alisson for 2-1.

Speaking of tragic defensive errors of a side’s own doing, Liverpool quickly drew level at 2-2 after Harry Maguire played Edinson Cavani into trouble deep inside Manchester United territory. All Cavani could do was play a high-risk, first-time sideways pass, which was quickly intercepted and sent forward. Eventually the ball fell to Salah for a simple, left-footed finish.

With 78 minutes on the clock, Fernandes, fresh off the bench 12 minutes earlier, provided the magical touch from 20 yards out.

Up next for Manchester United in the FA Cup will be a visit from fellow Premier League side West Ham United.

FA Cup 5th round draw

Manchester United v West Ham United
Everton v Tottenham
Swansea City v Manchester City
Barnsley v Chelsea
Wolves v Southampton
Leicester City v Brighton & Hove Albion
Burnley v Bournemouth/Crawley Town
Sheffield United v Bristol City

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Tottenham Hotspur hires Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou as next manager

By Jun 6, 2023, 8:15 AM EDT
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Tottenham Hotspur finally has a new boss: Ange Postecoglou has left Celtic to become the next Spurs boss.

Celtic granted permission for Spurs to speak with their trophy-collecting boss, and things progressed quickly as the 57-year-old looks set to oversee the club’s big rebuild.

Postecoglou will take over the club on July 1, and Spurs boss Daniel Levy issued high praise for the veteran manager.

“Ange brings a positive mentality and a fast, attacking style of play. He has a strong track record of developing players and an understanding of the importance of the link from the academy – everything that is important to our Club. We are excited to have Ange join us as we prepare for the season ahead.”

[ MORE: Recalling Zlatan’s “unicorn” career ]

Spurs suffered through an inconsistent 2022-23 season with Antonio Conte at the helm, followed by Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason in interim stints.

Tottenham will not have European football this season and is at risk of losing legendary center forward Harry Kane. The club has eight players including Kane going into the final year of their contracts, including Ivan Perisic, Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier, and Hugo Lloris.

Spurs finished eighth last season, 15 points off the top four despite spending much of the season inside of it. The club’s finished fourth just once in the past four seasons despite qualifying for the Champions League the previous four seasons.

Ironically, Celtic is being linked with pursuit of Brendan Rodgers and Jesse Marsch in the wake of Postecoglou’s departure

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Who is Ange Postecoglou?

Postecoglou, 57, was born in Greece and moved to Australia at a young age, starring for South Melbourne as a player and earning for caps for the Socceroos.

He is coming off a domestic treble with Celtic and won five of six trophies available to him in his two seasons with the Bhoys.

At Celtic, Postecoglou played with a 4-3-3 for much of the first half of his tenure but played a lot of this campaign in a 4-2-3-1.

Postecoglou won trophies as a manager with South Melbourne, Brisbane Roar, and Yokohama F. Marinos, claiming the Asian Cup during his stint as Australia national team coach.

He said he expects tricky early times wherever he goes.

“Wherever I’ve been, the initial part is always rocky, because my ideas are… well they’re not extreme to me but I can see how they can be seen as extreme from the outside. It takes a while. Usually it can take me six months, it can take me a year to really bed them in, depending on how many opportunities I have to change the playing squad and the staff and all those kinds of things.”

Brendan Rodgers, Jesse Marsch linked with Celtic job

By Jun 6, 2023, 8:12 AM EDT
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Ange Postecoglou is the next Tottenham Hotspur boss, and that’s opened up some juicy reports about who will replace the Greek-Australian manager at Celtic.

Postecoglou, 57, led Celtic to two dominant seasons, hauling five of six domestic trophies to the green side of Glasgow.

His mighty big shoes will take some filling, and two reported replacement options are very familiar to Premier League fans and ultimately to Leicester’s 2022-23 relegation campaign.

And one of those is very familiar to Celtic fans, as ex-Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers could return to the club he left in order to take the reins at the King Power Stadium.

[ MORE: Recalling Zlatan’s “unicorn” career ]

Rodgers, 50, won seven trophies in three seasons with Celtic and won the FA Cup with Leicester before parting ways with the club this Spring.

Rodgers left Leicester with the team in a downward spiral this season and one of the men who nearly took his seat at the KP is one of his rivals for the Celtic job.

That’s American manager Jesse Marsch, who was fired by Leeds this season and linked with Southampton and Leicester. Leeds, of course, was also relegated to the Championship.

Marsch had success with New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzburg but suffered through a short stint with RB Leipzig before his move to Leeds. He kept Leeds up last season but was in relegation danger this season.

He’s also been linked to the vacant Monaco and USMNT positions, with former Southampton leader and current USMNT director Matt Crocker said to be a long-term admirer.

Premier League 2023-24 season: Title odds, way-too-early predictions

By Jun 6, 2023, 8:00 AM EDT
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The Premier League’s 2022-23 season has finally come to a conclusion, allowing nerves to settle and a collective sigh from every single supporter.

That was wild.

[ MORE: PST’s big 2022-23 Premier League awards post ]

So what will Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and their 17 closest friends do for an encore?

And how likely is it that City repeats as Premier League champion for a fourth time, something that hasn’t been done since — checks notes, checks again, leafs through pages, scratches forehead — ever?

Below you’ll find the early odds on who will win next season’s Premier League, plus a bevy of absolutely rudderless predictions from what’s to come in the new campaign… all after the jump.

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Premier League 2023-24 season: Way-too-early predictions

It’s clear that Manchester City will be favored to win the Premier League again, but all it takes is a look back at last season to see how quickly things can go awry.

Liverpool was supposed to be Man City’s biggest rival for the 2022-23 Premier League Trophy, but it was Arsenal who led the table for much of the season and Manchester United who briefly joined in on the fun.

Tottenham and Chelsea fell off dramatically, while Newcastle United surged into the top four and several teams — Brighton, Aston Villa, Brentford — spent time as a hot-button underdog in the race.

Prediction No. 1: Erling Haaland will go back-to-back with the Golden Boot Award

Yeah, that’s not a wild prediction but it’s difficult to believe that Haaland won’t find another gear given that most players look more comfortable during their second year in Pep’s system. In fact, if Man City wins the Champions League this year, maybe Haaland’s focus will lead to 40 goals!

Prediction No. 2: The top-four and top-six races will be as insane as ever

It might be tempting to project drop-offs for Newcastle, Brighton, Brentford, and even Aston Villa given the potential for transfer tumult and the challenges of competing in Europe for all of those but the Bees, but at least two of the bunch will be alive in the top six picture provided health and a wise move or two.

And now think about this: Chelsea and Tottenham will only have the Premier League (and domestic cups) for their focus, while Liverpool will be able to prioritize the Premier League at least until it sees how it feels about the Europa League.

Prediction No. 3: Chelsea will adapt quickly under Mauricio Pochettino

Todd Boehly needs Mauricio Pochettino to work out. Mauricio Pochettino needs Mauricio Pochettino to work out. And Chelsea’s massive depth of talent should almost all be inspired for their second (or third, or fourth) chances at the club.

Sure there are questions regarding the atmosphere at the club but Pochettino’s going to have the rule of the roost from the first moment of preseason and he’ll have had lots of time to anticipate squad needs.

Chelsea just needs to score more goals and Pochettino will find finish from his men. Will it be enough to challenge for the league? It’s unlikely but the Blues should look a lot better with their focus on the league. And, hey, you wouldn’t rule out Chelsea claiming one of the cups!

Prediction No. 4: The relegation picture will be a bit more predictable

That’s not saying a ton given the Premier League’s bottom half was absolutely bonkers this season, but hear us out. West Ham, Wolves, Everton… the list of clubs that were surprisingly in or near the bottom three was long. It’s natural, usually a bit too much so, to predict that promoted teams will struggle but there are reasons to think all three sides will take some time to adjust to the level.

Burnley’s star of the season was Southampton loanee Nathan Tella and the Clarets will have several big questions to answer when it comes to loan players and the transfer market. Sheffield United still has Sander Berge and a few other stalwarts from their PL campaign but has to hope Iliman Ndiaye is ready to make the jump. and Luton Town has to make a huge adjustment quickly. That’s not to say some or all of the new boys won’t stay up, but it’s difficult to project a Fulham-like quickstart for any… at least right now.

Prediction No. 5: Declan Rice, Harry Kane to be Player of the Year contenders

Many expect Declan Rice to leave West Ham United for a Premier League power — Bayern Munich has also been linked — and the Irons midfielder will not take too long to adapt to a new system. That’s because Rice’s skill set is very versatile and what he does best is the simple stuff. Regardless of which “Big Six” club he joins, Rice will get a lot of love because he’s the type of player who makes everyone else’s job easier.

As for Harry Kane, the 30-goal man is on a mission to chase down Alan Shearer. Whether that continues at Tottenham as he goes on a free agent tour of the world, or if it happens in a leading role at Manchester United or another English club, it’s safe to say we’re going to see the best out of Kane assuming he stays healthy.

Premier League 2023-24 title odds

(One of our betting partners is BetMGM) BetMGM is one of our Official Sports Betting Partners and we may receive compensation if you place a bet on BetMGM for the first time after clicking our links.

Manchester City: -175
Manchester United: +800
Arsenal: +900
Liverpool: +900
Chelsea: +1200
Newcastle: +1400
Tottenham: +4000
Brighton: +5000
Aston Villa: +12500

Manchester City vs Inter Milan: How to watch Champions League Final, odds, predictions

By Jun 6, 2023, 8:00 AM EDT
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Manchester City is on the chase for a historic treble and standing in the way is Inter Milan, one of Europe’s precious few clubs to claim such an honor.

[ LIVE: Manchester City vs Inter Milan ]

The Premier League winners three times running have an FA Cup under their belt after beating Manchester United on June 3 and the final jewel in their treble crown awaits with a win in Istanbul on June 10.

[ MORE: How to watch Premier League in USA ]

Pep Guardiola could lead a second club to a treble after he did it with Barcelona in 2008-09, and they would give heated rivals United domestic company on the treble stage right down the road.

Guardiola says it’s now okay to talk about the treble. We agree, and we’ve laid out why the achievement is so special after the jump.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Manchester City vs Inter Milan.

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How to watch Manchester City vs Inter Milan live, stream link and start time

Dates: 3pm ET June 10, 2023
Online: Live updates via NBCSports.com
How to watch: TUDN, Paramount+

What Premier League clubs have won the treble?

Manchester United won the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League in 1998-99.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils are the lone Premier League club to win it.

That’s it. For now.

How many times has the treble been won?

Nine times in history has a team won its domestic league, top domestic cup, and the European Cup.

Bayern Munich and Barcelona have each done it twice, with Bayern doing it in 2012-13 and 2019-20 and Barca pulling it off in 2008-09 and 2014-15.

Celtic was the first to win a treble, doing it in 1966-67, while Ajax was the next in 1971-72.

PSV Eindhoven then won it in 1987-88 before Man United made it happen 11 years later. Inter Milan is the only Italian team to pull it off, winning in 2009-10.

(UEFA.com)

Champions League Final odds (Betting odds provided by our partner, BetMGM )

BetMGM is our Official Sports Betting Partner and we may receive compensation if you place a bet on BetMGM for the first time after clicking our links. 

Man City (-250) vs Inter Milan (+625) | Draw over 120 mins (+380)

Over 2.5 goals (-160). Under 2.5 goals (+110)

Champions League Final predictions

Joe Prince-Wright: Man City 2-1 Inter Milan
Andy Edwards: Man City 3-1 Inter Milan
Nick Mendola: Man City 2-0 Inter Milan

Manchester City team news, injuries, lineup options

QUESTIONABLE: None

Inter Milan team news, injuries, lineup options

QUESTIONABLE: Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Joaquin Correa. OUT: Dalbert.