Graham Potter is sure Brighton and Hove Albion remain in great hands after penning an emotional open letter to the club s fanbase following his move to Chelsea.
The 47-year-old replaces Thomas Tuchel as boss at Stamford Bridge, with the clubs new owners – led by Todd Boehly – opting to make a change after an indifferent start to the season.
Chelsea have won three, lost two and drawn one from six Premier League games, while their Champions League campaign started with a shock 1-0 loss at Dinamo Zagreb.
Potter quickly emerged as favourite and was appointed to the role on Thursday, although his first match in charge was delayed after Premier League fixtures were postponed this weekend as a mark of respect following the death of the Queen.
On Sunday, Brig…
Premier League data dive: Chelsea´s poor start continues at Southampton, Mitrovic scores again to do
Chelsea continued their frustrating start to the Premier League season with a disappointing loss at Southampton – which had previously been a happy hunting ground.
The Blues took an early lead but could not hold off a Southampton comeback, leaving Thomas Tuchel s side with just two wins from their opening five league games.
Brighton and Hove Albion s unbeaten start came to an end against Fulham at Craven Cottage, Crystal Palace conceded a late equaliser against Brentford, while Leeds United and Everton shared the spoils in a fiery 1-1 draw at Elland Road.
Here, Stats Perform unpacks the pick of the data from Tuesday s fixtures in the English top flight.
Which team impressed you the most this evening?
— Premier League (@premierleague)
Arsenal were deserved winners against rivals Tottenham in Saturday s north London derby, so say goalscorers Gabriel Jesus and Granit Xhaka.
The Gunners moved four points clear of Spurs at the top of the Premier League table with a 3-1 win at Emirates Stadium, dealing Antonio Conte s team their first top-flight defeat of the campaign in the process.
Thomas Partey joined Jesus and Xhaka on the scoresheet as Arsenal posted a third successive home Premier League win over Spurs – the first time they have done so since September 2013.
Only once have they put together a longer such run in the competition, beating their fierce rivals in a sixth consecutive match at home in April 2005.
Jesus – whose tally of eight goal contributions is only bettered by his rep…
Leicester City have announced the signing of Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Oliver Skipp ahead of the sides Premier League encounter on Monday.
Skipp, who made 106 appearances across five seasons with Spurs, has put pen to paper on a five-year contract for a reported £20m fee at the King Power Stadium.
The 23-year-old featured in 21 league games under Ange Postecoglou last year, five of which were starts, totalling to 694 minutes of action.
He enjoyed his best campaign during the 2022-23 season, making 31 appearances in all competitions and scoring his only goal for the club in a 2-0 win over Chelsea.
During that season, Skipp completed 659 passes, bettering the likes of Son Heung-min (644), Harry Kane (613) and Dejan Kulusevski (558).
Skipp r…
Jordi Alba is determined to stay at Barcelona until his contract expires in 2024 and hopes he could still be reunited with Lionel Messi at Camp Nou.
Spain left-back Alba has his focus on World Cup duties for the coming weeks, believing La Roja are well-placed to challenge in Qatar, with a first game against Costa Rica coming up on Wednesday.
At the end of the last transfer window, Alba was linked with a shock move to Italian giants Inter, but he said in an interview with Cadena Ser that nobody told me anything about that prospect.
My intention is to stay until the end of my contract because I think I can help; when I don t, I ll be the first to go, said the 33-year-old, a five-time LaLiga winner with Barcelona.
I ve improved and people who know realise …
Arsenal took advantage of Manchester City again failing to win a New Year s Eve game as the Gunners stormed seven points clear at the top of the Premier League.
A 4-2 win at Brighton and Hove Albion did the job for Arsenal after Pep Guardiola s men were held 1-1 at home by Everton, meaning City remain winless in all five of their Premier League games played on December 31, drawing four and losing one.
Third-placed Newcastle United also took a stumble, drawing 0-0 at home against Leeds United in what was a league-high fourth goalless stalemate for the Magpies this season.
Elsewhere, Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse became the fifth player to score an own goal and a direct free-kick in a Premier League game and the first since Gareth Bale for Tottenham against…
Bayern Munich will evaluate Leroy Sane s recovery from a serious knee injury before deciding whether to make another move for him, according to club president Uli Hoeness.
Manchester City star Sane was heavily linked with a switch to Bayern in pre-season, with coach Niko Kovac going as far as saying he was very confident the winger would join.
Anterior cruciate ligament damage suffered in the Community Shield clash with Liverpool in August ruled the Germany international out for up to seven months and scuppered the Bavarians hopes of signing him.
But Bayern are not necessarily giving up on the 23-year-old, though any potential deal in 2020 will depend on his rehabilitation.
We were very interested in him, Hoeness, who will leave his role as Bayern presid…
Gareth Southgate says England are ready to fight for European Championship glory having progressed from what he believes was the toughest qualifying group with two matches to spare.
After bouncing back from December’s World Cup quarter-final exit to France by winning in Naples in March, three further wins and a draw away to Ukraine put the Euro 2020 runners-up within touching distance of progress.
Unbeaten England only needed a point against Italy to wrap up qualification for next year’s finals in Germany but went on to secure all three thanks to an impressive 3-1 comeback victory at a sold-out Wembley.
qualification: secured
The are heading to Germany next summer!
— England (@England)
“Really pleased to win the game tonight,�…
Real Madrid returned to the LaLiga summit after coming from behind to beat Mallorca 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The hosts fell behind as the in-form Vedat Muriqi headed Mallorca into the lead, but Federico Valverde equalised before half-time with a marvellous individual effort.
Carlo Ancelotti s side completed the turnaround 18 minutes from time with Vinicius Junior finding the net for a fourth successive LaLiga game, before another impressive solo goal from Rodrygo and Antonio Rudiger s first strike for the club late on tied things up.
Los Blancos remain the only team in the big five European leagues to boast a 100 per cent record this season, having won their opening five league matches for the first time since 2009-10.
Mallorca had not won at Mad…
According to Fabrizio Romano, Alvaro Morata is on the verge of joining AC Milan from Atletico Madrid, after earning European glory with Spain.
The Rossoneri have apparently informed the La Liga side of their intention to trigger the €13 million release clause in his contract, which means the Rojiblancos are unable to do anything to prevent the experienced striker from leaving for San Siro. Morata has agreed a four-year contract with Milan, and all that s now left before the official confirmation of the transfer is for the 31-year-old to undergo a medical and the documents to be signed.
Morata became a professional player at Real Madrid, and he played for Juventus and Chelsea before joining Atletico, initially on loan, in 2019. A year later, his transfer to the Wanda M…