By Alessandro Schiavone in Strasbourg Ben Chilwell admitted that he's still not where he'd like to be as he eyes a place in Thomas Tuchel's World Cup squad with England. Chilwell, who sealed a permanent move to Ligue 1 in the summer, helped Strasbourg overcome ex-club Crystal Palace in the Conference League last night. He told Capital Football: "For me what's nice and what's good here is that I am getting consistent performances where I can keep on building the level. "The m

Scene before kick-off in Strasbourg: Picture by Pennie Turrell UEFA Conference League Strasbourg 2-1 Crystal Palace Crystal Palace suffered the frustration of relinquishing a first-half lead and hitting the woodwork twice to no avail as their hopes of automatic qualification for the knockout stages of the Conference League took a blow last night in France. And yet, the one time the hosts hit the woodwork, they scored from the rebound. It was that kind of night for Palace who

By Alessandro Schiavone at Stade de la Meinau, Strasbourg Conference League Matchday 4 Strasbourg 2-1 Crystal Palace Goals : Mitchell 35' (CP), Emegha 53' (S), El Mourabet 77' (S) Crystal Palace snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as Emanuel Emegha and Samir El Mourabet rendered Tyrick Mitchell's maiden European goal useless in a 2-1 defeat. The clash, between two of the competition's top dogs, was labelled by many as an 'anticipated final' given the talent at both sides

Red sky at night, Gunners' delight : Picture by @YTJourno Champions League MD5 Arsenal (1) 3 Timber 22, Madueke 70, Martinelli 77 Bayern Munich (1) 1 Karl 32 Arsenal's strength in depth could hardly be clearer now. This feels like a very different season from ones gone by given the power of the bench. Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli both came on to tilt a tight battle Gunners' way, while a third sub, Riccardo Calafiori, claimed an assist for the all-important second goal

By Alessandro Schiavone at Stade Orange Vélodrome Olympique Marseille 2-1 Newcastle United Goals: Barnes 6' (N) 46', 50' Aubameyang (M) Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang rolled back the years as his quick-fire brace within four second-half minutes helped Marseille come from behind to see off Newcastle United 2-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Marseille fans thought they would be served up the same old rubbish in Europe's premier competition when the red-hot Harvey Barnes

Another episode in a fixture with a great recent history : Picture by @YTJourno Champions League MD5 Chelsea (1) 3 Kounde og 27, Estevao 55, Delap 73 Barcelona (0) 0 So much history behind it. And the fixture with the sexy background once again delivered - as far as Chelsea fans were concerned, that is. It may not have carried quite the visceral joy of that famous 4-2 win in the Ronaldinho era or the '3-0 up in 19 minutes' tie at the Bridge - The Blues had no Messi to contend

Playing his part at number 30 : Picture by @YTJourno It will have been music to his ears. When the substitutes board went up at Ashton Gate six minutes from time, the crowd rose as one to acclaim the man going off who had given everything to the cause. Take a bow Sinclair Armstrong. The striker was not among the Bristol City scorers in a fine 3-0 win over Swansea City which kept the Robins in fourth place in the Championship. He didn't steal the headlines with a hat-trick of

Above us only sky : Picture by @YTJourno Premier League Arsenal (2) 4 Trossard 36, Eze41, 46, 76 Tottenham (0) 1 Richarlison 55 When Manchester United won the old first division title back in 1967 - followed by their first European Cup win 12 months later - no one could have imagined how barren the next 25 years would be. Sure, there were some cup finals to enjoy, but that elusive return to the very summit of English football eluded them in the same way that the Invincibles s

Fulham (0) 1 v Sunderland (0) 0 Raúl Jiménez 84 By Kaz Mochlinski at Craven Cottage Premier League Matchweek 12 Fulham gained an absolutely vital victory over Sunderland with a Raúl Jiménez goal six minutes from full-time that significantly eased their fears of falling into the Premier League relegation zone. Having begun the weekend just one point above the bottom three, they left it late before getting the only goal of the game for a win which was thoroughly deserved after

By Alessandro Schiavone in Lille Friendly game: Brazil 1-1 Tunisia Goals : Mastouri 23' (T), Estevão 44' penalty (B) Lucas Paquetà missed a penalty as Brazil were held to a 1-1 draw by Tunisia in a friendly in Lille. Having replaced friend and Newcastle rival Bruno Guimaraes on the hour-mark, the West Ham midfield cog blazed over having previously converted 10 in a total of 11 spot-kicks and all seven for the Hammers. The last and only time he failed to guide home from the cl

By Alessandro Schiavone at Johan Cruijff Arena, Amsterdam Netherlands 4-0 Lithuania Goals : Reijnders 16', Gakpo penalty 58', Simons 60', Malen 62' Xavi Simons showed glimpses of his former inspirational RB Leipzig self as he awoke from a first-half slumber to get on the scoresheet in the Netherlands's 4-0 trashing of Lithuania in Amsterdam. With qualification to the World Cup already secured thanks to a 1-1 draw in Poland last week, the confidence-shot Xavi was given a rare

By Alessandro Schiavone at Stade de Luxembourg Luxembourg 0-2 Germany Goals: Woltemade 49', 69' (G) Less than a week after scoring in Brentford's 3-1 win over Nick Woltemade's Newcastle United, Kevin Schade was lucky to have him as the Magpies behemoth netted a double to save Germany's blushes in a 2-0 win over Group A basement side Luxembourg. It was an unconvincing victory with the Germans making hard work of it all in the first-half when the Brentford winger was still on t

A rainy Wembley going through the motions : Picture by @YTJourno Key Facts : World Cup Qualifier England (1) 2 Saka 28, Eze 90 Serbia (0) 0 How the game panned out:  With England already qualified, the lack of any real devil in their play was understandable. Serbia had only an outside chance of qualification if they finished second in the group but they lacked the tools to do any harm. England were sloppy in attack but won with ease, even if they only carved out a modicum

Tottenham Hotspur (0) 2 v Manchester United (1) 2 Premier League Matchweek 11 Talking Points By Kaz Mochlinski at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium It was very, very nearly an unforgettable match. Equally, it was almost a game of great concern for Tottenham Hotspur. Ultimately, they did not do enough to deserve to end their three-month home run without a win in the Premier League. Manchester United scored two goals from their only two attempts on target. Spurs struck twice from t

Brentford (0) 3 v Newcastle United (1) 1 Barnes 27 Schade 56 Igor Thiago (pen) 78 Igor Thiago 95 By Kaz Mochlinski at the Brentford Community Stadium Premier League Matchweek 11 Brentford staged a scintillating second half comeback to recover from an undeserved deficit at half-time and defeat Newcastle United 3-1 with goals from Kevin Schade and another double for Igor Thiago. It took time for them to overcome Newcastle’s negative approach and they could have had more than on

By Alessandro Schiavone in Metz Metz 2-1 Nice Goals: Ali-Cho 35' (N), Hein 53' & Diallo 84' (M) Having had their Sundays off after featuring in respective 2-2 draws a day beforehand, Tottenham Hotspur's Pape Matar Sarr and Arsenal's William Saliba may have taken in a Ligue 1 cracker on television. And it was Pape Sarr's former team Metz who continued their fine resurgence after coming from behind to see off Nice 2-1 to make it three impressive wins on the spin. Nice, where Sa

Remembrance Day rendezvous : Picture by @YTJourno Premier League Crystal Palace 0 Brighton 0 It started as if we might be heading for goal fest and ended with the feeling we might never see a goal again for the rest of our lives. Draws between these two have become common currency in recent years and after the initial thrill of full-on attacks from both sides had subsided, a familiar cautionary holding pattern took hold. The second half had very little going for it. With five

Chelsea (0) 3 v Wolverhampton Wanderers (0) 0 Gusto 51 João Pedro 65 Neto 73 By Kaz Mochlinski at Stamford Bridge Premier League Matchweek 11 Malo Gusto scored the first goal of his career and Estêvão Willian increased his growing star status still further as Chelsea moved into second place in the Premier League with a 3-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Three goals in the second half eventually broke the stubborn resistance of the league’s bottom team, who came to Stamford

Back to back home wins : Picture by William Powell Wes t Ham recorded back to back wins at home in the Premier League for the first time since October 2024 as they came from behind against Burnley to win 3-2 at the London Stadium.  The London Stadium is normal quiet and subdued of late but after the unexpected win over Newcastle United last week the Hammers fans were back at their noisy best with the side seeking two home wins on the bounce.  The last time the Hammers had won

By Alessandro Schiavone in Arnhem Eerste Divisie Vitesse Arnhem 0-4 Cambuur Not sure a midfield trio of Nemanja Matic, Martin Odegaard and Mason Mount added to the other eight players would turn the tide at Vitesse Arnhem right now. Bottom of Eerste Division, Vitesse had to be really on it to cause a shock against promotion favourites and second-in-the-table Cambuur. Yet despite producing a couple of goal chances early on in the game and keeping the door shut for 21 minutes,

Bunting for glory : Picture by @YTJourno Premier League Tottenham Hotspur (0) 2 Tel 84, Richarlison 90+1 Manchester United (1) 2 Mbeumo 32, de Ligt 90+6 Spurs threw away a win in stoppage time against a depleted United to ruin what would have been the most dramatic of comeback wins. Trailing 1-0 with six minutes to play, and looking hopelessly out of sorts, Spurs suddenly came alive to nearly snatch it. Mathys Tel's goal five minutes after coming on as a late sub and an inju

Writing on the wall : Picture by @YTJourno Championship Watford (1) 1 Bola 6 Bristol City (1) 1 Twine 29 Watford's impressive second half pressure failed to bring them a fifth home win in a row but the signs looked mostly promising ahead of the final international break of the year. It has been a stop-start campaign so far but they created enough against Bristol City to have claimed victory. It needed several fine stops from City's keeper - Man United loanee Radek Vitek - to

By Alessandro Schiavone at Stadion Galgenwaard, Utrecht There's a famous saying that goes: 'Never go back to a place where you have been happy'. And maybe, just maybe there's a truth to that for Sebastien Haller who has gone from Utrecht juggernaut [51 goals in two-and-a-half seasons between January 2015 and summer 2017 for the club] to ghost. Less than three months after sealing a return home on a permanent basis, it's highly likely that Sebastien Haller already regrets that

Best feet forward : Picture by @YTJourno UEFA Conference League MD 3 Crystal Palace (2) 3 Lacroix 22, Sarr 45+4, 57 AZ Alkmaar (0) 1 Mijnans 54 Palace reasserted their grip on proceedings in the Conference League with a dominant win over Dutch side AZ to make it two wins from three games in the competition - leaving them in a good position to go on and claim a top eight place which would see them fast-track into the knockouts. They could afford to miss a first-half penalty a