Premier League

Barring a Manchester City disaster, the 2021-22 Premier League title race appears all but sorted as City defeated second-place Chelsea 1-0 on Saturday. The victory was City’s 12th straight in the league as the defending champions look set to win a fourth Premier League title in the last five seasons.

Despite the close score Manchester City looked the clear favorite throughout the 90 minutes. I apologize to my fellow Americans, but the attack force of Christian Pulisic, Romelu Lukaku and Hakim Ziyech was as dangerous as a dandelion.

Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo is hopeful he can recover from a minor muscle injury in time to feature in Saturday's Premier League match against Aston Villa.

The Portugal international missed United's 1-0 FA Cup third round win over Villa on Monday but is keeping his "fingers crossed" that he can return to action at the weekend.

The Sergiño Dest Chelsea rumors are at an all-time high for the 2022 winter transfer window. Dest has been seeking a move away from the Catalan club for some time now as the American has fallen out of favor with Barcelona’s new manager, Xavi.

Aston Villa have signed Brazilian international Philippe Coutinho on a loan deal until the end of the season from Barcelona, the Premier League club said on Friday.

He will be reunited with former captain Steven Gerrard, with the pair playing together at Anfield from 2013-15 and Gerrard now managing Villa.

Welcome, Philippe Coutinho!

There was but one major global international soccer tournament in 2021. For some reason, the coach who inspired an underdog victory in that competition wasn’t deemed worthy by FIFA to even be a finalist for the organization’s FIFA Best Coach of 2021 award. Not that we’re the least bit surprised; we’ve long learned to expect the worst from FIFA.

Few footballers captivate the planet like Phil Jones.

It all began back in 2013, when, at the age of 21 and having recently arrived from Blackburn, Sir Alex Ferguson said that Jones had the potential to become the greatest player in Manchester United's history, and it continued over the years as the defender smashed his face into every orifice in which a face does not belong.

Liverpool raced to a 2-0 lead after 26 minutes at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, only to watch Mateo Kovačić and Christian Pulisic bring Chelsea level before halftime in a match that finished 2-2 and gave Manchester City a 10-point lead at the top of the Premier League.   

Such has been City's relentless pace that both Chelsea and Liverpool entered knowing that a draw was as good as a defeat, and the Reds had to navigate the match without Jürgen Klopp on the sideline because of COIVD-19. 

LONDON - Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku was left out of the squad to face Liverpool at home on Sunday after saying he was dissatisfied with his role at Stamford Bridge.

The 28-year-old, who signed from Inter Milan in the close season for a club-record $132 million, told Sky Italy recently that he was unhappy with manager Thomas Tuchel's system. Lukaku also said he would like to return to Italy at some point in his career.

Asked about the Belgian international's comments ahead of the Liverpool game, Tuchel said they were "not helpful."