Wilkimedia Commons Exclusive by Alessandro Schiavone at Epet Arena, Prague Europa League MD 4 Sparta Praha 1-3 AFC Bournemouth Goals: Singateh 35' (SP), Adams 57', Evanilson 81', Rayan 90' David Brooks has revealed that Bournemouth are aiming to emulate Chelsea and Tottenham by going all the way in the Europa League this season. Despite this being the Cherries’ maiden European campaign in their 127-year history, Marco Rose’s men have made a perfect start to the competition, w

Exclusive by Alessandro Schiavone in Paris Ligue 1 PSG 2-0 Lyon Goals: Mayulu 72', Godts 84' How can anyone go from being one of the Premier League’s top-performing centre-backs to a Ligue 1 struggler? This is the baffling case of ex-Bournemouth star Illia Zabarnyi, who was once on Chelsea and Tottenham’s wishlist. Luis Enrique had as much faith in him as Mikel Arteta currently has in Viktor Gyokeres. And the lack of playing time in big matches was a reflection of that. The U

By Alessandro Schiavone at Stade Roi Baudoin, Brussels Nations League Matchday 2 Belgium 0-1 France Goal: Olise 88' Defender Maxence Lacroix has started four games for Chelsea this season and has had to watch on as the opposition scored a staggering 10 times. Remarkably, he has been a crucial cog in France keeping back-to-back clean sheets against Turkey and Belgium in the Nations League in the past four days. Newspaper L’Équipe, something of a footballing Bible in France, de

By Alessandro Schiavone at Gtech Community Premier League Matchday 5 Brentford 3-0 Chelsea Both midfielders. Both born in the early 80's. But there were miles between the footballers Keith Andrews and Xabi Alonso. In every sense of the word. What Andrews could not provide in grace and flair, he made up for in spirit, grit and tenacity. Bite and spite. He was all thunder and fire. Meanwhile Xabi Alonso was the type of footballer who ran the business without having to get out o

Both pics by Wikimedia Common Exclusive by Alessandro Schiavone at Elland Road, Leeds Walter Benítez admitted that his hopes of ever becoming Argentina’s No.1 goalkeeper are slim due to the presence of Emiliano Martínez. The 34-year-old’s Blues career may not have got off to the best of starts after shipping 10 goals in just four Premier League fixtures. But the man from Mar del Plata has won one World Cup and two Copa América titles with La Selección. He also kept his countr

By Football Reporter at Gtech Community Stadium Aaron Hickey revealed that Igor Thiago didn’t get words of encouragement from his Brentford teammates during his goalless start to the season . That is because the Samba juggernaut’s innate positivity didn’t require any external intervention during a difficult spell. The former Club Brugge hitman had gone seven Premier League games without a goal either side of an underwhelming World Cup with Brazil. And after his tap-in goal in

By Alessandro Schiavone in Gelsenkirchen Schalke 04 0-3 Real Madrid Goals: Mbappé, Huijsen, Espi (RM) Achievements in football might have a short memory. But antics and football supporters certainly don’t. And football took a backseat when Marc Cucurella was introduced after the hour mark. The ex-Chelsea left-back, making his Real Madrid debut in Germany against Schalke 04 yesterday afternoon, replaced Álvaro Carreras and was met by a chorus of whistles. The freshly crowned W

Photo by Alessandro Schiavone By Alessandro Schiavone While Spain reached the final of the FIFA World Cup courtesy of a convincing 2-0 win over France in Dallas yesterday, one particular detail may have been lost on Tottenham Hotspur fans: Pedro Porro's strike pulled their club level with Chelsea on three goals in World Cup semifinals. Up until yesterday’s clash between the neighbouring countries, the Blues were 3-2 ahead in these London charts thanks to Oscar (1) and Schurrl

By Alessandro Schiavone There’s a time and a place to score a hat-trick. And Patrik Schick yet again picked his game wisely as Bayer Leverkusen thumped RB Leipzig 4-1 in a high-stakes game to sneak back into the top-four after direct contenders Hoffenheim and Stuttgart shared the spoils in a 3-3 thriller earlier on Saturday afternoon. Chelsea's 3-1 demolition by Nottingham Forest, covered by our London specialist Yann Tear earlier today, once again exposed the west Londoner

By Alessandro Schiavone While Arsenal look increasingly likely to cement their serial bottlers status once more on current form following their 2-1 defeat at Man City yesterday, their hated rivals from down the road Tottenham Hotspur are flirting with a shock relegation, and two-time European kings Chelsea could miss out on the Champions League once again, with fifth-placed Liverpool now holding a SEVEN-point lead. And that with only five fixtures left to negotiate before