Market: Lyon win

Odds: 4/11 @

Looking to open the 2022/23 campaign with back-to-back Ligue 1 victories, Lyon will welcome Troyes to the Groupama Stadium on Friday night.

Starting with the hosts, while Lyon might not have been at their best last weekend, Les Gones did open the new campaign with three points on home soil. Eventually picking up a 2-1 victory against Ajaccio, Head Coach Peter Bosz should be looking for his side to lay down an early marker here. Handed what has been a favourable start to the new Ligue 1 campaign, the Whites have their sights firmly set on clinching a European return this time around. Getting a new era at the Groupama Stadium underway, the one-time Borussia Dortmund boss did see his side sign off last season in the midst of an eye-cat…

St. Louis City will be desperate to snap a record six-game winless run in MLS when they host Colorado Rapids at CityPark Stadium on Thursday.

The Missouri-based side have just three wins from their 17 league matches this term, falling down to 11th in the Western Conference standings.

Bradley Carnell s men have not triumphed in MLS action since a 3-1 win over Chicago Fire in the middle of May, and were defeated 2-0 by FC Dallas last time out.

St. Louis coach Carnell referenced injury struggles, however, as his side continue to battle through a troubling period.

Obviously, it doesn’t take a genius to look at the roster and see where we are. We re not the first team to struggle with this.

Now we get challenged and now get to prove what we are as …

A football fan has been convicted of racially abusing Rio Ferdinand at a Premier League match.

Jamie Arnold hurled racist remarks and hand gestures at the former England defender, who was working as a pundit for BT Sport during the match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United on May 23 2021.

The 33-year-old had denied a racially aggravated public order offence but was unanimously convicted on Wednesday following a two-day trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court and will be sentenced on December 8, West Midlands Police said.

Pc Stuart Ward, the UK’s first dedicated hate crime officer within a football unit for West Midlands Police, said: “Abusing anyone for the colour of their skin is disgusting and can never, ever be condoned.

“Arnold is o…

Kylian Mbappe looks set to stay at Paris Saint-Germain, and reports of his decision to turn down a move to Real Madrid have been welcomed by the mayor of the French capital.

Anne Hidalgo, who has been serving as the mayor of Paris since 2014, was quick to react to news that the superstar striker is seemingly poised to extend his contract.

The saga that had seen PSG and Madrid in a tug-of-war over the France international s services looks to have been won by the Ligue 1 champions.

Widespread reports in France and Spain on Saturday assured that the decision has been made, and that 23-year-old World Cup winner Mbappe has picked his home city club over the Spanish champions.

Reacting to a report by RMC Sport, Hidalgo wrote on Twitter, Que bien!!!! , which t…

Bruno Fernandes scored a penalty with the last kick of an astonishing game as Manchester United stole a 3-2 win over a Brighton and Hove Albion side who struck the woodwork five times.

The Portuguese kept his cool in the 100th minute to settle matters at the end of a dramatic encounter at the Amex Stadium in which United rode their luck to the extreme.

Brighton, showing no signs of fatigue despite facing a fifth game in 13 days, hit both posts and the crossbar in the first half before breaking the deadlock via Neal Maupay s nerveless Panenka penalty after Fernandes fouled Tariq Lamptey.

United – needing a response to their limp opening-game loss to Crystal Palace – levelled within 187 seconds, though, Lewis Dunk unfortunate to divert past Mat Ryan from c…

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is adamant he will be able to get the best out of his Manchester United squad this season despite an erratic start to 2021-22.

Solskjaer s time in charge at United has generally been seen in a positive light among supporters, with first-team recruitment improving and many players considered deadwood under previous managers finally offloaded.

Additionally, the Norwegian secured back-to-back Champions League qualifications in his two full seasons at the helm — Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal only managed one each, while David Moyes was sacked before the conclusion to 2013-14, with United ultimately finishing seventh.

But arguably for the first time since becoming United manager, Solskjaer is now under pressure to challenge for the biggest t…

Diego Simeone believes Antoine Griezmann is starting to show the quality that Atletico Madrid re-signed him for.

Griezmann returned Atleti in a late loan deal from Barcelona at the end of August, just two years after the France forward swapped the Wanda Metropolitano for Camp Nou.

The World Cup winner scored 20 goals across all competitions for Barca last season, having initially struggled in his first campaign at the club.

Only Lionel Messi scored more for the Blaugrana in 2020-21, with Griezmann s tally just one short of Atleti s top scorer Luis Suarez (21).

Griezmann hardly hit the ground running on his return to Atleti, however. He had to wait until the end of September for his first goal, as he scored in a 2-1 win over Milan in the Champions League…

Harry Maguire has paid tribute to Paul Pogba following his match-winning goal in the 2-1 victory at Fulham, commending him for his form.

It was not so long ago that Pogba s United future appeared to amount to little, as his form at the start of the season was poor and his agent Mino Raiola claimed he was finished at Old Trafford.

Raiola s comments came as recently as December 7, two days after Pogba had played a pivotal role in a 3-1 comeback win at West Ham and on the eve of a crucial Champions League trip to RB Leipzig, that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s men ultimately lost and suffered elimination.

At the time, that West Ham game was Pogba s first Premier League start in over a month due to a foot injury, but since then he has rarely been out of the team, the time of…

Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool s owners expect me to sort it out when asked if he feared going the same way as compatriot Thomas Tuchel.

Klopp s fellow German coach was dismissed by Chelsea on Wednesday, with new Blues owner Todd Boehly cutting ties with the former Paris Saint-Germain boss in the wake of Tuesday s 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.

That was Tuchel s 100th match in charge of Chelsea in all competitions. In his 18 months at the helm, he guided the Blues to a Champions League success, a Super Cup triumph and Club World Cup glory, as well as three domestic finals.

Chelsea failed to win any of those three domestic finals, with two of them coming as penalty shoot-out losses to Klopp s Liverpool last season.

The Reds, meanwhile, …

Brentford are working on an offer of a new contract for Ivan Toney, according to the Mirror, lucrative enough to reflect his status as a star at the club. Apparently, it would have the striker earning six figures per week and become the club s best paid player ever.

The 26-year-old rose through the youth ranks at Northampton and joined Newcastle in 2015. He was never given a proper chance at St. James Park, and though he recently admitted he wouldn t have given one to himself if he was in their place at the time, he s certainly gone on to prove his doubters wrong.

Since joining Brentford for around £5 million in 2020, he s scored 53 goals and laid on 19 assists in 99 appearances in all competitions for the Bees, and earned a callup to the England squad. Manager Thomas …