declan-rice - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Have the Premier League’s financial rules kept Newcastle from being Newcastle?While the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules might have lost a shade or two off their teeth with the news today that Everton have had their 10-point penalty reduced to six on appeal (though they have another charge to dodge), that doesn’t mean they’re not having an effect. The desolate...

Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker saved Arsenal’s seasonWe spend a lot of time trying to unearth the little tactical nugget, or superlative performance from one player, or decoding the 3D art that most soccer matches at the highest level usually are to figure out why one team won or lost and why this team is higher in the table than the other. But someti...

Halfway point for the Premier League can only mean a couple (or a million) thingsWe’re now into the Premier League fan’s favorite time of year and it’s symmetrical that it lines up with a child’s favorite time of year, given both’s penchant for inexplicable screaming and crying. It’s holiday time, which means children and fans alike don’t have to do anything but sit around, neve...

Arsenal can thank Jesus and a late Declan Rice goal to stay on top

The English are pretty fascinated with their midweek evening fixtures. There are only a few per season, when the whole league trots out under the lights Tuesday-Thursday (instead of under the lights on Saturday and Sunday because the sun never actually appears in the UK between Halloween and St. Pat...

Arsenal is all grown up

While Arsenal ran Manchester City close for most of the campaign last season, when the chips were down in the spring they got mauled by the Citizens twice, as well as other boneheaded results that eventually left them up the track. It was this version of Arsenal’s first crack at a title challenge, s...

Darwin Nunez may be figuring it out

The overriding factor in judging Darwin Nunez last year had nothing to do with him. He had the misfortune of being a big-money forward purchased at the same time as Erling Haaland. ...

Arsenal are the Premier League’s new chaos masters and Chelsea can’t buy goals

It used to be Jürgen Klopp’s first Liverpool teams, and possibly the current one, that were considered the most raucous chaos merchants in the Premier League. They were equally capable of the most destructive football, going in both directions, equally capable of howitzer-ing their opponents or thei...

Newcastle keeps being Newcastle, which isn't quite good enough

What Newcastle’s “problems” are depend on what their own expectations are. While they’ve certainly cemented themselves as one of the land’s biggest clubs, they’ve rarely, if ever, been touted as potential title challengers this season. Certainly none of that noise is coming from within. It appears t...