The Crystal Palace players celebrate their 1-0 Championship play-off win over Watford yesterday
Crystal Palace are back in the Premier League after beating Watford 1-0 in the Championship play-off at Wembley yesterday.
The only goal of the game arrived in extra-time, as Wilfried Zaha was brought down in the penalty area and veteran striker Kevin Phillips dispatched the spot kick.
Deserved
It was a deserved victory in the end for Ian Holloway and his team. The Eagles were the better team on the day and Watford never really came out the blocks.
In Watford boss Gianfranco Zola’s words, Palace had a player that made the difference in Wilfried Zaha.
Going
Young attacker Wilfried Zaha is without a doubt one of the up-and-coming young …
Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has been fined £7,500 for breaching rules regarding his influence over Rangers.
Mike Ashley has been fined £7,500 by the Scottish Football Association (SFA) for his influence in Scottish Championship outfit Rangers.
The Newcastle United owner owns an 8.92 per cent stake in Rangers, and has been prohibited from increasing that beyond 10 per cent.
In January, it was announced the cash-strapped club would borrow £10million from Sports Direct, the retail company owned by Ashley.
Five Newcastle players have been loaned to Rangers, who are bidding to return to the Scottish Premiership after their financial woes saw them drop to the Third Division in 2012-13.
Last month, manager Kenny McDowell claimed he was oblige…
The Greek giants enter this game knowing they are undefeated in their last 10 games at home in the competition (W5, D5) and the strong starts have been something noticeable in them. Olympiakos have opened the score in eight of those 10 games and also enter this matchup in a good run of form. They are on an 18-game undefeated streak since losing to Tottenham in the UEFA Champions League back in November 2019 and have won four of their last five matches in all competitions. Undoubtedly, they are a tough team to defeat and that idea gets even stronger when playing at home. The Piraeus-based side is riding an eight-game winning streak on home soil, notching three or more goals in six of those contests. During that run they also secured a 1-0 win over Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), meaning they are…
Market: Fulham win
Odds:
Reigniting their promotion ambitions, Fulham will look to close the deficit on the top-two when they make the trip to the City Ground on Saturday afternoon.
Starting with the hosts, while Bristol City may have managed to grab a scrappy point away at Millwall last weekend, it does not cover what has been a worrying rut for the Robins. Hit with three consecutive defeats against Huddersfield, West Brom, and Leeds, Lee Johnson s men have lost their play-off status and are enduring their worst run since opening the New Year. Continuing to show some rather glaring issues at the back, there is no doubt that fans around the City Ground will have growing concerns over their side s problems on home soil. Including a 3-0 hammering against the Bagg…
Hong Kong tycoon Carson Yeung s takeover of Premier League club Birmingham has been rubber-stamped by the stock exchange.
Yeung took charge at St Andrews last month and Wednesday s announcement that shares in the holding company have been taken off the stock market was a formality confirming Birmingham s new status as a private business.
A statement from the City read: In line with the notification of the company s delisting that was made on 14 October 2009, the Company is delisted so that its shares are no longer admitted to trading on AIM.
The statement also confirmed Yeung, Vico Hui and Michael Wiseman as the sole directors of the company and club boards.
Yeung has pledged to invest around 40 millon pounds to help boss Alex McLeish keep Birmingham, c…
George Burley’s recent exit as Scotland manager has led to rumours and speculation over who will be the next man to try and take what’s been described by some as a poisoned chalice.
The list of candidates is long and getting longer by the day. It’s strange that the list of people who have ruled themselves out is also getting longer.
Rule outs
There are many big names that have already ruled themselves out of the position. Rangers boss Walter Smith is the latest decent manager to rule himself out.
Former Liverpool and Blackburn boss and also Scottish legend Graeme Souness has also decided against putting his hat into the ring. Birmingham boss Alex McLeish and Middlesbrough chief Gordon Strachan have both also snubbed the opportunity.<…
Ex-Brazil superstar Ronaldinho has become an ambassador at Barcelona.
LaLiga s champions announced on Thursday that the 2005 Ballon d Or winner will serve as a representative at various events, functions and educational talks, along with becoming part of Barcelona s Legends project.
Ronaldinho will join a group of former Barca players who will take part in matches and hold clinics and training sessions around the world.
Additionally, the 36-year-old will play a role in Barcelona Foundation events related to the charity UNICEF, along with the Masia 360 project to assist in training duties.
[BREAKING NEWS]
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona)
Ronaldinho, who last weekend received a rapturous reception when he visited another of his old employe…
Gianfranco Zola thinks it is only a matter of time before Mario Balotelli seals his return to the Italy team.
Balotelli has scored seven goals in nine appearances for Nice in 2016-17, although he has not played since November 6 due to a calf injury.
The former Liverpool forward last played for Italy in the 2014 World Cup, but Zola – who represented the Azzurri between 1991 and 1997 – thinks his international return after two and a half years away is not far away.
Zola told Omnisport: It seems to me that he is working very well and I wish that he can maintain and sustain that level of performance for much longer.
If he does that I m sure it will only be a matter of time before he is back in the national team.
Italy boss Giampiero Ventura has…
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes insists she has no time to monitor the Women’s Super League table, despite a scenario that could see her side seal a fourth straight title on Sunday.
The second-placed Blues, fresh from lifting their third consecutive FA Cup, are one point behind Manchester United, but have a game in hand on the league leaders, who have just two remaining in their campaign.
That means victory against West Ham on Tuesday and Arsenal on Sunday would be enough for Chelsea should United fail to beat Manchester City on the penultimate day of the season.
Hayes was adamant she is unaware of how invested her players might be in potential permutations, saying: “I promise you I’ve got so much to do I’m not privy to some of their ridiculous conversations, tha…
AC Milan’s unbeaten start to the year in Serie A continued with a 1-0 victory over Napoli at the San Siro.
Scudetto champions Napoli have failed to match the form which saw them win the title last season and were beaten by Theo Hernandez’s first-half strike.
The France international latched onto Rafael Leao’s through ball and fired into the bottom corner to secure Milan a sixth win in seven league games.
Fiorentina snapped a three-game winless run with a crushing 5-1 victory over Frosinone.
The hosts were out of sight by half-time through goals from Andrea Belotti, Jonathan Ikone and Lucas Martinez.
Nicolas Gonzalez made it four eight minutes into the second half and Antonin Barak completed the rout after Luca Mazzitelli’s brilliant free-k…