Prediction: Maccabi Haifa to win 2-0
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Hamrun Spartans and Maccabi Haifa will lock horns with each other in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Qualifying First Round this week. The match between the club from Malta and the team from Israel will be held at the Victor Tedesco Stadium in Hamrun and is scheduled to kick off at 9pm UK time on Tuesday.
Hamrun Spartans
Hamrun Spartans are one of the major clubs in Malta. Tas-Sikkina won the 2022–23 Maltese Premier League title. They ended the campaign with 69 points from 26 matches, as many as 19 points clear of second-placed Birkirkara. That has allowed Hamrun Spartans to enter the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League campaign at the first qualifying round.
Spartans have won …
Arsenal may not get a better chance to win the Premier League than this season, former boss Arsene Wenger has warned ahead of Wednesday s game with Manchester City.
Wenger managed Arsenal to three Premier League titles, but the Gunners have not finished top of the pile in England since the last of those triumphs in the 2003-04 campaign.
However, with Mikel Arteta now at the helm, the London side are three points clear of second-placed City with a game in hand heading into their meeting at Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal have stuttered of late, taking just one point from their past two matches, and legendary former manager Wenger has urged them not to let the opportunity pass them by.
You win [the title] when you can win it and you don t care too much about the…
While Tottenham might have been handed the chance to break into the Champions League spots on Saturday evening, Spurs fell to a shock 3-0 drumming away at Fulham.
Although Ange Postecoglou’s men might have been looking to make another top-four statement, it was Fulham who dominated large proceedings and took a more than worthy lead as the red-hot Rodrigo Muniz opened the scoring moments before the interval.
Flying out of the traps when returning from the half-time break and with both Muniz and Sasa Lukic breaching Spurs’ leaky defence just before the hour-mark, Marco Silva’s men certainly put in a season-best performance here.
Now winning three of their previous four Premier League appearances, some in west London could be eyeing a late European charge.
Everton have formally lodged an appeal against the two-point penalty imposed on the club earlier this month for breaching Premier League financial rules.
The Toffees indicated their intention to appeal last Monday, the same day the sanction was announced. The PA news agency understands that appeal has now been lodged.
The club admitted breaching the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) for permitted losses by £16.6million for the assessment period ending with the 2022-23 season.
The independent commission which imposed the sanction disclosed in the written reasons for its decision that the Premier League had initially sought a five-point penalty.
This was reduced to two by the commission, after mitigation was taken into account…
Harry Kane twice punished hapless Everton defending as Tottenham salvaged a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park on Friday, though it does little good for their dwindling top-four hopes.
Jose Mourinho s side were looking to bounce back from a deflating 3-1 defeat to Manchester United, yet they were underwhelming once again and arguably fortunate to leave Merseyside with a point.
Kane punished a Michael Keane error to reach 20 Premier League goals in a season for the fifth time, a record bettered by only Alan Shearer (seven) and Sergio Aguero (six), though their lead did not last long as Gylfi Sigurdsson equalised from the spot for an Everton side being orchestrated by the excellent James Rodriguez.
Sigurdsson doubled his tally in the second half as Everton threatened to mov…
Colombia inflicted Brazil with a second consecutive defeat, leaving them fifth in the World Cup qualifications in the CONMEBOL region.
Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli put the Selecao ahead in the fourth minute, but Liverpool s Luis Diaz scored twice in quick succession in the second half, turning the game in favour of Colombia.
Diaz s father was recently released from captivity, while his teammate Alisson Becker tragically lost his father in February 2021. The Brazil goalkeeper therefore felt for the Colombia winger during his time of trouble, probably more than most, and Diaz apparently felt the need to console Alisson after the game.
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Best odds: 87/100
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Manchester United are set to confront their haunting memories of last season s devastating seven-goal defeat as they embark on a brief journey to Merseyside to take on Liverpool. The highly anticipated match is expected to draw a record-breaking crowd of approximately 57,000 spectators at Anfield this Sunday,.
Both football powerhouses aim to bounce back from their recent setbacks, with the match serving as the weekend s headline Premier League fixture.
Liverpool
Thanks to a successful test event conducted on Monday, a section of Liverpool s reconstructed Anfield Road Stand is set to officially open ahead of schedule this Sunday, with the iconic stadium potentially hosting the highest number of spectators in the Premier Leag…
Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has conceded the club’s re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo “turned out wrong”.
Solskjaer was in charge when United brought the five-time Ballon d’Or winner back to Old Trafford amid much optimism and fanfare in August 2021.
At the time the transfer was viewed as a coup that could potentially fuel a Premier League title challenge.
Yet things soon unravelled as the team struggled and Solskjaer was sacked in November that year.
Ronaldo left the club in acrimonious fashion 12 months later.
Solskjaer told The Athletic: “It was about taking the next step to challenge for the title. And, unfortunately, it just didn’t work out.
“It was a decision that was very difficult to turn down …
Vincent Kompany says he is humbled after Manchester City unveiled a permanent statue of their former captain at the Etihad Stadium.
Kompany and ex team-mate David Silva have been honoured for their remarkable services to the club with large-scale statues on the east side of the stadium.
Created by sculptor Andy Scott, they were constructed using thousands of welded pieces of galvanised steel, and will be specially illuminated with blue-tinted lighting.
After joining from Hamburg in August 2008, Kompany made 320 appearances during 11 years with City, scoring 20 goals.
The Belgian captained the club to four Premier League titles – including their first top-flight success in 44 years in 2012 – as well as four EFL Cups and the 2019 FA Cup.
Kompany…
Diego Simeone was typically curt when asked about Jurgen Klopp s 2020 criticism of Atletico Madrid s style of play ahead of the teams reunion on Tuesday.
Atletico progressed to the Champions League quarter-finals in 2019-20 thanks to a 4-2 aggregate win over Liverpool, which was aided by a remarkable turnaround in the second leg.
Atletico found themselves 2-0 down early on in extra time, but two goals from Marcos Llorente before the halfway mark of the additional 30 minutes quickly turned the tie on its head, and Alvaro Morata sealed Liverpool s elimination right at the end.
Jurgen Klopp seemed particularly irritated by the defeat because of Atletico s methods, telling BT Sport at the time that he could not understand, with the quality they have the football the…