Marseille (AFP) – Mercurial star Dimitri Payet scored twice, including a penalty courtesy of VAR, as Marseille opened the new French Ligue 1 season with a 4-0 demolition of Toulouse on Friday. Payet, who missed France's World Cup triumph through injury, opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time and added his second just after […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Jose Mourinho hailed captain Paul Pogba's willingness to put his body on the line to lead Manchester United to a winning start in the Premier League with a 2-1 victory over Leicester City on Friday. Less than a month since Pogba scored in the World Cup final to help France […]

Marseille (AFP) – Mercurial star Dimitri Payet scored twice, including a penalty courtesy of VAR, as Marseille opened the new French Ligue 1 season with a 4-0 demolition of Toulouse on Friday. Payet, who missed France's World Cup triumph through injury, opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time and added his second just after […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Paul Pogba assumed the responsibility of captain handed to him by Jose Mourinho to help Manchester United get off to a winning start in the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Leicester City on Friday. Less than a month since Pogba scored in the World Cup final to help […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho showed his faith in Paul Pogba by naming the midfielder captain for the Red Devils' Premier League opener against Leicester on Friday. Pogba had been linked with a move to Barcelona due to his frosty relationship with Mourinho, who dropped the French World Cup winner […]

London (AFP) – Arsenal manager Unai Emery is excited about his baptism of fire in the Premier League on Sunday even though he could have wished for an easier first opponent than champions Manchester City. The 46-year-old Spaniard, who has brought in five fresh faces in the close season since replacing French legend Arsene Wenger, […]

London (AFP) – Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri is satisfied Thibaut Courtois' departure to Real Madrid will not trigger further defections such as the Belgian goalkeeper's compatriot, playmaker Eden Hazard. Sarri believes Hazard is happy and does not have the same personal reasons as Courtois to move to Madrid — he wanted to be closer to […]

Turin (Italy) (AFP) – Leonardo Bonucci said Friday that superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's arrival at Champions League-chasing Juventus will mean the Italian champions won't start matches against Real Madrid "already 1-0 down". Ronaldo has been the bogey man in Europe for Juventus in recent years, scoring 10 in seven games against the Serie A side for […]

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Pep Guardiola says he is frustrated by Premier League champions Manchester City's failure to obtain a work permit for Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz. Guardiola had planned on using the 20-year-old, signed from Vasco da Gama for £10.7 million ($13.6million, 11.9million euros) last summer, in his first team squad this season, […]

London (AFP) – Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic may have spent over £100 million ($127 million, 111 million euros) on new players since gaining promotion to the Premier League but he says even they will have to prove worthy of a first team spot. "I'm not Santa Claus — there are no presents," Jokanovic told a […]

Doha (AFP) – BeIN Sports announced on Friday it will extend its contract by three years to exclusively broadcast English Premier League football matches in the Middle East and North Africa region. The contract means the Qatari broadcaster will show matches from the English top tier from next year to the end of the 2022 […]

London (AFP) – David Wagner is making no bold predictions for his Premier League minnows Huddersfield Town solely that success for the upcoming season will be to secure their status amongst the elite once again. The 46-year-old German believes his squad has the ability to repeat their feat of last season, in defying the pundits […]

London (AFP) – Roy Hodgson's reward for saving Crystal Palace's Premier League status last season is a one-year extension to his contract which he signed on Friday. The 71-year-old former England national coach was hired by Palace in September last year, replacing Frank de Boer after the club lost their four opening games without scoring […]

London (AFP) – Jurgen Klopp says he has high expectations for Liverpool's ability to challenge for the Premier League title after spending the most of any of his rivals in the close season. Liverpool spent a reported £176million ($225million, 196million euros) bringing in, among others, Brazilians goalkeeper Alisson and midfielder Fabinho and Klopp hopes to […]

Madrid (AFP) – After ordering football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to pay 18.7 million euros ($21.4 million) to settle a tax fraud claim, Spanish authorities have reduced the sum by two million euros, the El Mundo daily reported Friday. Spain's taxman and Ronaldo's advisors made the deal to settle claims the 33-year-old, who has since moved […]