Month: January 2016

De Bruyne faces up to six weeks out

de Bruyne in action for Belgium

When Manchester City fans saw the discomfort their impressive midfielder Kevin de Bruyne was in during their 3-1 victory over Everton on Wednesday night, they had every right to assume the worst. Thankfully, though, the injury is not as bad as first feared.

The Belgian was taken off on a stretcher with his right knee fully strapped up after having scored the second goal and set up the third for his side on their way to winning the second leg on aggregate, securing a Wembley day out with Liverpool in the Capital One cup final.

The injury happened in injury time, and some had thought it may see de Bruyne out for the remainder of the season. But since then it has been announce he may only be missing for up to six weeks.

When speaking to Sky, de Bruyne’s agent Patrick de Koster said his client would work hard to come back stronger.

“Kevin told me the only thing he can do is work hard and come back.

“Kevin is sad. His dream is to always be playing football. He will miss games like the League Cup final and in the Champions League, which are important.”

Despite helping his side make it to Wembley, de Bruyne is almost certainly going to miss the final with Liverpool on February 28th.

The injury was the only downer on a big night for City, but manager Manuel Pellegrini is optimistic he’ll have de Bruyne back before the end of the campaign.

“We’ll see how important the damage is. It’s not the cruciate ligament.

“The doctor thinks, but he cannot be sure, that it’s a problem in his medial ligament.”

The good news for City fans is they are being seen by the bookies as the favourite going into the match with Liverpool. This guide to online sports betting available at online-betting.me.uk will have all of the relevant information ahead of the big tie at the end of February.

Everton keeper Joel Robles tried to lift the injured de Bruyne repeatedly as he lay injured on the ground, but has since taken to social media to apologise to the Belgian.

Mitchell Pearce stood down by Roosters

The Sydney Football Stadium

Sydney Roosters captain Mitchell Pearce has been stood down by his club following the release of a video where he appears to imitate a sex act on a dog.

Pearce’s advances were rejected by a female in the video, before he then picked up the dog whilst sat on the sofa. He was also accused of urinating on himself and the furniture in the flat, by the same woman.

Earlier on during the same day Pearce had posted a photo to his Instagram of he and his teammates embarking on a Sydney Harbour Cruise, following the conclusion of their morning training session. This all happened on Australia Day.

Love these blokes ✌🏻️

A photo posted by Mitchell Pearce (@mitchpearce_7) on

A spokesman for the NRL said “will work with the Roosters to ensure the matter is dealt with appropriately”.

The Sydney Roosters also released a statement, claiming they were to work closely with the the NRL integrity unit.

“The Sydney Roosters are aware of an incident involving Mitchell Pearce.

“The Club has advised the NRL’s Integrity Unit. The Club will conduct an internal investigation and will be making no further comment at this time.”

Expect this story to unravel even more in the coming days.

Which Premier League team travels the most this season?

The Premier League is the most watched football league around the world. Watched across the globe by millions and loyal fans, it also is the highest paid league with footballers paid wages that we can only dream of.

The Premier League season 2015/2016 has been a turbulent one so far, with Leicester surprising us all. It has been great to see the underdog lead the pack, but could this be because they don’t travel far to matches on average? Compared to teams like Chelsea, Liverpool and Man United?

Harrison and Rowley have done the number crunching figures and bring to you an infographic showing how much each Premier League travels over the course of the 2015/2016 season and the results we found were surprising. Newcastle, Sunderland and Swansea lead the top 3 positions as the most travelling teams. As they are situated far in the North it is understandable that they have to travel more then central teams. The teams in the bottom 3 that travel the least are Aston Villa, Leicester and West Brom, the Midlands teams.

Could travelling less be the reason why Leicester City are top of the league? With Newcastle the most travelling team could this be the reason why they are at the bottom of the league? Well we shall let you decide for yourself, in the meantime how does you team rank? Let us know!

Premier_league_table

Dylan Hartley: “I’ve learnt my lesson.”

Newly appointed England captain Dylan Hartley has claimed he has “learned from his lessons” following his appointment ahead of the Six Nations tournament.

Hartley takes over from Chris Robshaw of the Harlequins with immediate effect. Robshaw had held the captaincy for four years.

The new England captain may be a controversial choice to some, having been caught up in high profile acts such as gouging, biting and striking – receiving bans totalling 54 weeks for his actions.

“My rap sheet is well documented and I will get reminded of it daily.” he told the press.

Although Hartley admits he always held faith that he would eventually be able to break back into the England squad, he admitted he was surprised to find out that he would not only do that, but captain his nation too.

“Yes I am surprised, but I will take it with two hands.

“I am confident in myself as a player at Test level. I have captained my club for six years and have learned a lot there.

“I sometimes get it wrong but it has gone well for me at Northampton too. You need to get yourself at a level to be competitive and confrontational. It has gone wrong in the past but it will stay there.”

Now the England camp have shown their faith in the 29-year-old, will he commit any silly offences once more?

“No, of course not. I have learned from my lessons and it is for me to live with. Now I have to lead by example and answer the critics. I am a motivated person.”

Hartley reacted on his personal Twitter account:

Hartley speaks with the BBC’s Dan Roan today:

 

Two Brits progress in Aus Open qualifiers

Dan Evans in action

Dan Evans and James Ward have both progressed to within two victories of making the draw for the Australian Open, having progressed in the first found of the qualifiers.

Evans’ win saw him lose serve just once during his match with Italy’s top seed Luca Vanni. He defeated Vanni 7-6 (7-5) 6-4, and will face Israeli Amir Weintraub in round two of three.

Evans, 25, was born in Birmingham and turned pro in 2005. The Englishman is currently ranked 185th in the world, and reached a career high of 123rd in February 2014.

Ward was also in impressive form as he unleashed 16 aces in 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 victory over Canada’s Peter Polanski.

Born in England’s capital city, London, Ward reached a career high of 89th in the world in July 2015, and currently sits 155th at 28 years of age.

The Australian Open starts on Monday and marks the start of a new season of Tennis.

There was a pre-tournament scare for Aussie Nick Kyrgios as he pulled out of the opening match at the Kooyong Classic. David Goffin was awarded victory as Kyrgios pulled out with a reported foot injury, but later let his fans on Twitter know that it was just precautionary: