Soccer

3:35 PM ET While Chelsea were far better against Aston Villa than in their limp 3-1 defeat at Arsenal, the football world is still waiting for Frank Lampard’s side to return to top form. Monday’s 1-1 draw was not the result Chelsea wanted, or needed, to get their season back on track. Instead, things are

8:00 AM ET Mikel Arteta was entitled to breathe a sigh of relief after Arsenal‘s 3-1 victory against Chelsea on Saturday ended a seven-game winless streak in the Premier League and took the edge off what was beginning to look like a defining, and potentially decisive, week for the Gunners’ manager. Just imagine how intense

11:18 AM ET Major League Soccer concluded its season with Columbus Crew SC‘s MLS Cup victory on Saturday night, and with preseason preparations for the upcoming campaign set to begin as early as one month from now, attention is already turning to 2021. But before we look too far into the future, ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle

5:24 PM ET Jose Mourinho doesn’t like statistics being used to assess a football match. Just last week, the Tottenham manager complained that, too often, they are like “badly cooked meat or fish” when used out of context, but here is one stat that the Portuguese cannot argue against — Spurs have now collected just

4:11 PM ET Tottenham Hotspur conceded a late goal off a corner kick as Wolverhampton Wanderers nabbed a 1-1 draw in Premier League action on Sunday. Spurs are now riding a four-game winless streak and miss a chance to go into third place in the Premier League standings. Instead they now sit in fifth place

6:20 AM ET Sam Marsden Moises Llorens Lionel Messi will miss Barcelona‘s La Liga game against Eibar on Tuesday after being after being given extra time off at Christmas by the club. Messi, 33, returned to Argentina last week after Barca’s 3-0 win against Real Valladolid and has been granted permission to remain in his

4:20 PM ET LONDON — Mikel Arteta desperately needed a result to back up his rhetoric, and Arsenal beating Chelsea 3-1 on Saturday, is precisely it. It is a popular refrain among managers attempting to arrest a decline to cite the importance of hard work, but you suspect Arteta means it more than most given

10:48 AM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent LEICESTER, England — Manchester United‘s Premier League title ambitions were not dealt a significant setback by a 2-2 draw against Leicester, but there was evidence at the King Power Stadium that they are still growing into their role as genuine contenders. The result maintains momentum during a hectic run of

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5:30 PM ET Frank Lampard has said Chelsea have been disadvantaged in the title race by being forced to play twice in 48 hours over Christmas, accusing the Premier League of taking football “back in time” and compromising the integrity of the competition. Chelsea travel to Arsenal on Boxing Day for a 5:30 p.m. GMT

5:55 AM ET Paris Saint-Germain have sacked manager Thomas Tuchel after a disappointing start to the season, sources have told ESPN. PSG have already lost four matches in Ligue 1 this season and enter the winter break in third position in the table, a point behind Lyon and Lille. – Stream ESPN FC Daily on

11:52 AM ET Over the past six months, Manchester United‘s Harry Maguire has played 38 matches in all competitions, logging a total of 3,421 minutes. In the six months before the coronavirus stoppage — so, mid-September 2019 to mid-March 2020 — he put in 40 matches for 3,552 total minutes. Teammate Bruno Fernandes has logged

Dec 23, 2020 The transfer window reopens on Jan. 1 and to judge by what we’re hearing from clubs and agents, the twin forces of COVID-19 and bad contracts will dominate. The former because the global pandemic has left clubs short of immediate cash (zero or few spectators in the stands, rebates on TV money)

1:50 PM ET Thomas Tuchel can’t say that he didn’t see it coming. The now-former Paris Saint-Germain manager — sources told ESPN the German has been relieved of his duties — had sensed for some time that he was swimming against the tide. He knew that the Ligue 1 defeats at home against Marseille and

4:00 AM ET The coronavirus pandemic saw the summer transfer window impacted across Europe, though some clubs still pushed through some big-money moves. Now we’re on to January and not much has changed, with loan moves, free transfers and cut-price deals on the agenda. 2 Related January is traditionally a quieter window, though with many

6:13 PM ET LIVERPOOL, England — Something is beginning to stir at Manchester United, maybe even the reawakening of a club that has appeared to be sleepwalking through the past seven years since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement as manager. A 2-0 Carabao Cup quarterfinal win at Everton is by no means the golden moment of

8:53 AM ET Atletico Madrid and England defender Kieran Trippier has been suspended for 10 weeks and fined £70,000 following a breach of betting rules, the English Football Association (FA) said on Wednesday. Trippier, 30, denied seven alleged breaches of FA Rule E8, which were said to occur in July 2018, and requested a personal

5:32 PM ET When it comes to Lionel Messi, you could be excused for thinking that there are no more records left to break but the Barcelona great has set a big one — and it was one he almost missed altogether. With his 65th minute strike against Real Valladolid on Dec. 22, Messi scored