Month: October 2024

Erling Haaland returned from injury to keep Manchester City’s title charge on track as Pep Guardiola’s side secured a 2-0 victory over relegation-battling Nottingham Forest.

Josko Gvardiol’s near-post header was all that separated the two sides at half-time as he fired City in front from a Kevin De Bruyne corner.

Forest were left to rue big opportunities missed in the opening 45 minutes, with Chris Wood and Murillo both having gilt-edged chances to find an equaliser at the City Ground.

But Guardiola, overseeing his 300th Premier League game as City boss, called upon Haaland in the second half, and the Norway international duly delivered to double City’s lead and nudge the reigning champions back to within a point of leaders Arsenal, who beat Tottenham ear…

The Bundesliga returns on Friday, with champions Bayern Munich hosting Hoffenheim in the opening match of the 2018-19 season.

Unsurprisingly, Bayern are overwhelming favourites to win the title for a seventh season in a row, despite new coach Niko Kovac being less than two months into the job.

This year, though, there is a notable shadow hanging over some of the star performers at the Allianz Arena: namely, the World Cup.

The trip to Russia proved an unhappy one for their Germany contingent, whose defence of the trophy ended at the group stage, while their foreign internationals did not enjoy themselves much more. Even winner Corentin Tolisso had little by way of a decisive impact on France s triumph, although he did at least return a player brimming with confide…

Saturday s game is a vital match for both sides as Chelsea look to reclaim their place at the top of the premier league and fight off the very real and strong threat of Manchester United and Arsenal, whilst three points would make West Ham begin to look safe, but a loss could draw them right back into the relegation mire if other results don t go their way.

Chelsea have for so long been regarded as most people s favourites for the league this year we have hardly nnoticed Arsenal and Manchester United creep up on them. The Stark reality is that Chelsea are now second in the league, albeit trailing by two points with a game in hand. Arsenal are very very close behind and are in a rich vein of form. With Cech, Boswinga, Essien and Cole all out injured they do have key men missing …

Sam Morsy s stunning stoppage-time goal salvaged a point for Ipswich Town as they fought back to earn a 1-1 draw with Southampton at St Mary s.

With both sides winless in their first four games of 2024/25 after winning promotion together from the Championship last term, Saturday s match was played out at a relentless pace from the off.

Teenager Tyler Dibling, one week on from a positive performance against Manchester United, put Southampton ahead early on, taking in Adam Lallana s pass and producing a composed one-on-one finish.

Russell Martin s team were closing in on a huge victory when Morsy struck five minutes into stoppage time, sending a 20-yard volley into the top-left corner via the help of a slight deflection off Jan Bednarek.

The result keeps bo…

The Serie A season could finish without a champion if Italy experiences a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has announced.

At a meeting on Monday, the governing body s proposal to use either a play-off system or an algorithm to calculate final standings in the event of all matches not being completed passed a federal council vote – despite opposition from some clubs.

Serie A will resume on June 20, having been suspended on March 9, with the season now set to conclude on August 2.

If health and safety concerns mean all matches cannot be completed, the preference would be for a yet-to-be determined system of play-offs to decide final league positions.

In the event of play-offs not being possible, an algorithm …

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski has revealed he held talks with Alex Ferguson over a move to Manchester United in 2012.

The Poland international was regularly linked with a switch to Old Trafford while at Borussia Dortmund, where he spent four trophy-laden seasons.

However, a transfer failed to materialise and he instead joined Dortmund s domestic rivals Bayern on a free transfer in 2014.

He has scored an incredible 266 goals in 307 appearances for Bayern and was the leading scorer in each of the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League last term as the Bavarian giants won a stunning treble.

Lewandowski was last week recognised for his form over the past year as The Best FIFA Men s Player for 2020, but his career could have gone down a diffe…

The Baltimore Ravens have had an extra week to dwell on an ugly home loss, but they’ll look to use that as fuel when they host the Minnesota Vikings — who also badly need a win — in a Week 9 inter-conference showdown.

Minnesota is coming off a disappointing loss to Dallas’ backup QB on Sunday Night Football and NFL betting lines have the Vikes as 5.5-point underdogs at M&T Bank Stadium this Sunday.

Here are our best free NFL picks and predictions for Vikings vs. Ravens on Sunday, November 7.

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It hasn’t been the best summer for the New England Patriots who replaced offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels with one defensive-minded coach and another special teams coach.

Now the sharp betting community is piling on the Miami Dolphins ahead of the Week 1 matchup in the Florida heat and late bettors are left asking themselves what this New England offense might be Sunday.

Find out where my best bet lies in my NFL picks and predictions for Patriots vs. Dolphins. 

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Sundays full of football, plus Thursday and Monday action, and a constant focus on Super Bowl odds is back for another year when the season kicks off on Thursday night.

Let’s all say it again one more time: The NFL is back!

Everybody and their dog (and probably also their tigers, ravens, cardinals, and any possible animal) has advice for how to approach the plethora of NFL odds available, and giving their best bets — but we’ve got the goods that everybody needs to see — the official NFL picks from the Covers staff!

We’ve polled our best pro football betting minds for their favorite plays for the upcoming season, getting their selection to win the Super Bowl, a regular season MVP pick, and best NFL futures play.

Check out where our cre…

Coming into this season, most pegged the Buffalo Bills to contend for a Super Bowl, and while they may yet do so, the product through nine games has been inconsistent at best. Now they return home to face a Denver Broncos side that many expected to take a step forward under Sean Payton, but that’s also failed to materialize. The NFL odds have the Bills laying seven points as home favorites with the total sitting at 47. 

While there are a number of different subscription-based TV channels and streaming services available to watch this game… did you know that you can also live stream Broncos/Bills directly from legal sports betting sites?

Caesars, BetRivers, and Fanatics Sportsbook are three of our most trusted NFL betting sites — and the only platf…