LIVE: UEFA Champions League

Manchester City were a class above en route to winning a third Premier League title in four seasons last term but Pep Guardiola s champions face a tricky beginning to the 2021-22 campaign.

Indeed, the Citizens play four of their fellow-dubbed big six sides in their opening seven fixtures, with a trip to Tottenham on the opening day starting their title defence.

City host Arsenal on August 28, before heading to Leicester City on September 11 after the international break. Back-to-back fixtures against Chelsea and Liverpool take place on September 25 and October 2.

The first Manchester derby of the season will take place at Old Trafford on November 6, with United returning for the reverse fixture on March 3.

A traditional busy Christmas period has City sch…

Phil Parkinson is struggling to come to terms with Bradford City s shock 4-2 win at Chelsea in the FA Cup fourth round.

Phil Parkinson believes Bradford City s astonishing 4-2 FA Cup fourth-round victory at Chelsea will take time to fully sink in.

Few gave the League One side much hope of avoiding defeat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and a routine home win looked on the cards when Chelsea took a 2-0 lead.

However, goals from Jonathan Stead, Filipe Morais, Andy Halliday and Mark Yeates saw Bradford mount an incredible comeback to send the visiting fans wild as they celebrated one of the greatest FA Cup shocks in the competition s long history.

In the first 20 minutes we did okay but then we conceded the first goal and gifted them a second, City boss P…

A plague of mistakes in their 5-2 loss to France on Friday left Switzerland frustrated with their performance at the FIFA World Cup.

France scored three times in the first half at the Itaipava Arena Fonte Nova to take control in Group E and Didier Deschamps men led 5-0 with nine minutes remaining in the match before Switzerland pulled two goals back to add a sliver of respectability to the scoreline.

Throughout the contest in Salvador, the Swiss, who are ranked 11 spots ahead of France in FIFA s rankings, could be seen pointing at each other in frustration as the likes of Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud and Mathieu Valbuena ran rampant up front.

Switzerland s Johan Djourou claimed after the game that he and his fellow defenders must improve ahead of their final ope…

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres admits he is desperate to avoid a repeat of his recent goal drought.

Torres went six games without a goal until he scored two in the Merseyside derby clash with Everton.

Torres said: “I hope that was my worst run without scoring for Liverpool. I don’t want to go that long again.

“I don’t know exactly what my longest run is without a goal but it’s definitely longer than six games. At Atletico Madrid it was sometimes difficult for me.

During my first year we finished mid-table and it was tough to score so I went a long time without doing so.

Here it is different because this is a really big club. We are challenging at the top of the …

Aston Villa have the release of eight first-team players following their success in winning Premier League promotion at the end of the 2018/19 season.

The names on the list are Mile Jedinak, Alan Hutton, Tommy Elphick, Albert Adomah, Ritchie De Laet, Mark Bunn, Micah Richards, and Glenn Whelan.

Whelan has expressed deep disappointment, not with the release itself which he says he had expected, but rather with the way he found out about it, according to . The 35-year-old didn t learn his fate from manager Dean Smith (though he did say he had a missed call from him), or anyone else from the club, but from a journalist.

Asked if he was going to continue playing, he replied that he wants to play for as long as he is able, and jokingly added that he had just had Rea…

The Mail Online understands that Southampton have failed in their latest approach for Birmingham City forward Che Adams.

The south-coast club had bids for the former England U20 forward turned down back in January and have now seen an £8m offer rejected by the Blues.

Last season was Adams’ third at St Andrews, and his twenty-two goals were more than the previous two campaigns combined.

The Saints current incumbent of strikers only managed fifteen in the league between them, with Danny Ings their joint top scorer with James Ward-Prowse.

Prior to his move to Birmingham, the twenty-two-year-old spent two years will Sheffield United having began his career with non-league Ilkeston.

Having looked in real trouble at the turn of the year, So…

West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan has revealed the club are interested in securing a permanent deal for on loan Liverpool striker Andy Carroll in the summer transfer window, .

Carroll, who joined Liverpool from Newcastle United for a transfer fee of £35 million  in January 2011, has bagged seven goals and two assists in 22 league matches for West Ham this season.

Hammers boss Sam Allardyce has preferred the 24-year-old striker to the likes of Carlton Cole, Ricardo Vaz Tê and January arrivals Marouane Chamakh (on loan from Arsenal), Sean Maguire and Wellington Paulista (on loan from Cruzeiro).

That decision has paid off in recent weeks, with Carroll having netted six times in his last 11 league appearances for the East London club.

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Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has declared his main career ambition is to win the Premier League with the Anfield club.

The Reds endured a tough campaign on and off the field in 2011-12, eventually finishing eighth, but their top scorer is desperate to top the table.

The Uruguayan told the Daily Mirror: If you ask me now what am I dreaming of for the rest of my career, I would tell you it is a championship with Liverpool.

That is all I want – and usually I get what I want.

I have a lot of self-confidence about this now, but before I joined Liverpool I can admit this now I was nervous.

I feared I would be surrounded by superstars in the dressing room, big-time Charlies, But I soon found out they are all really nice, down-to-earth guys. Now I …

Antony has thanked Ajax for making him a more complete footballer but suggested his future may lie away from the Eredivisie giants amid links with Manchester United.

Brazil international Antony is said to be the next name on United s list of targets after the Red Devils confirmed on Friday a deal is in place to sign Casemiro from Real Madrid.

The 22-year-old has impressed in his previous two full seasons with Ajax, but he is reported to have sat out training this week in order to push through a move to Old Trafford.

Speaking in an interview with Dutch outlet De Telegraaf published on Saturday, Antony did little to play down talk a transfer ahead of the September 1 deadline.

Asked if he can guarantee he will remain an Ajax player, the Sao Paulo academy pro…

Leeds United are interested in signing Josip Brekalo from Wolfsburg in the summer transfer window, according to . It has been reported by the Italian news outlet that Premier League club Leeds are among one of the admirers of the 23-year-old Croatia international midfielder.

Clubs from Italy and Spain are also interested in Brekalo. German club Wolfsburg are open to sending the Croatian on a loan deal with the obligation to make it permanent in June 2022 for €18 million. The 23-year-old made and seven substitute appearances in the Bundesliga last season, scoring seven goals and providing three assists in the process. The midfielder also played twice in the Europa League last season.

Leeds did well in the Premier League last season and will be aiming to challenge for …