Angel Reese has faced criticism throughout her collegiate basketball career. The difference between her number of admirers and trolls appears to be minimal. Nonetheless, she never fails to silence her detractors with her flawless on-court abilities. It turns out that she accomplished it again. Reese has quietly slipped under the radar and is once again in the spotlight, just as we were drooling over the achievements of her fiercest rival, Caitlin Clark.
The LSU No. 10 has consistently demonstrated how important God is to everything that happens to her. Following her recent selection to the SEC Player of the Year, First Team All-SEC, and All-Defensive Team, she once again wrote a powerful note to herself and
In another Instagram story, she shared a post by the official page of the Southern Eastern Conference. She also added a page from her diary and captioned the story, “I wrote this in November when everybody was against me. Keep showing up. Keep going. It don’t rain forever.”
Her diary entry also reads motivational and centering messages to herself like, “Focus on you. Know who loves you at a time like this. everyday the sun don’t shine but that’s why I love you tomorrow. Trust God. Grind.” “In three months, you will get the last laugh.”
Without a doubt, Angel Reese has proven her haters wrong in a huge way. While the NCAA tournament is far from over, the Bayou Barbie did get the last laugh after all through her impactful stats.
Angel Reese’s impeccable display at the SEC Watching Angel Reese on the court is a great spectacle more often than not. With her dominant defense and improved offense, Angel currently averages 19.1 points per game. She also collects 13.0 rebounds per game. To top it all, these numbers also bring her to the leader charts at the SEC. She is only the second athlete to do so in these categories in back-to-back seasons.
Mauricio Pochettino is facing a big decision when it comes to team selection tonight as Chelsea look to overturn their first leg EFL Cup semi-final deficit.
However, the official club website has hinted that one of their players could be about to start in an unfamiliar role at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues are welcoming Middlesbrough to West London as they look to make amends for their 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture.
Cole Palmer had a game to forget in the false nine role last time out, however he has responded since with the only goal in the derby against Fulham in the Premier League.
Pochettino will need to put his team together around a vast array of injuries that have been suffered all across the team.
The latest addition to that list has been Malo Gusto, who had been forced to play near enough every minute since his recent return to the side
The young midfielder is get fast-tracked in Chelsea’s academy and could make his Under-21s debut this week.
Landon Emenalo, son of former Chelsea technical director Michael, last week trained with Mauricio Pochettino’s first-team squad on his sixteenth birthday ahead of a liekly Under-21s debut tonight.
The midfielder is highly thought of at the club and is getting a major push in his development. He will on Monday night be part of Mark Robinson’s squad for the Premier League Cup match against Colchester United.
The versatile left-footer can play as a holding midfielder, in a box-to-box role, or as an attacking no10. He has even occasionally lined up at left-back.
The London-born youngster has previously played for the United States youth teams, his mother’s country of birth, and is also eligible to play for Nigeria just like his father.
His dad, Michael Emenalo, earned 14 caps for Nigeria in a career that saw him play at the 1994 World Cup and across seven different countries.
Since his retirement, Michael Emenalo became a recruitment executive at Chelsea before a similar role at Monaco. Most recently he was appointed director of football at the Saudi Pro League as the game grows in the Gulf state.
His older son Sebastian Emenalo, 17, is a promising basketball player
Klopp confirmed after Liverpool’s 4-0 win over AFC Bournemouth that Salah is likely to return to Merseyside from the Ivory Coast to be assessed by the club’s own medical staff.
The way this Liverpool side have dealt not just with the absence of talisman Mo Salah but several other key players in recent games should provide further belief that they have what it takes to win the Premier League title this season.
Klopp confirmed after Liverpool’s 4-0 win over AFC Bournemouth that Salah is likely to return to Merseyside from the Ivory Coast, where he is competing at the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt, to be assessed by the club’s own medical staff after the winger was forced off in the 2-2 draw with Ghana with what looked to be a hamstring injury.
But Klopp’s defiant Reds side are continuing to prove that they have the depth and talent to cope without him, and several other key players too, after hammering Bournemouth thanks to second-half doubles from both Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez.
It is a victory which gives them valuable breathing room over their closest title rivals Manchester City, who now sit five points behind Liverpool but with a game in hand.
“In the moment we find rhythm, we are strong,” Klopp said.
“It looks really, really good. But without rhythm, probably no one is strong, and we as well.
“We should start games better but it’s about 98 minutes today. It’s about winning the games in the end and as long as you stay in the game, pretty much everything that happens in the game is allowed.
“We don’t have to perform 98 minutes at absolutely top level, that’s pretty rare, and step by step we found our way in the game and we won it.
Salah was by far from the only notable absentee in their win over the Cherries. Wataru Endo also has international team obligations at the Asian Cup with Japan while Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dominik Szoboszlai, Andy Robertson, Thiago and several others were missing through injury.
Liverpool continuing to find a way to win despite not being at their best over the entirety of games is all the more crucial considering not just their own absences, but the fact City are soon set to reunite last season’s deadly duo of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, who have not played in the Premier League together since the opening day of the season.
“In general we just started playing better, the midfield as well,” Klopp said of his side’s second-half showing.
“That’s important. I’m not 100% which goal it was we scored where we won the ball back but that would not have happened in the first half, I’m pretty sure, because we didn’t push up.
“It was a super deserved win which didn’t look like that for a long time in the first half.”
If Klopp could have picked any of his players to open the scoring, it would probably be the much talked about Nunez, who his manager recently claimed could “cannot be more unlucky” when it came to his finishing of chances.
Liverpool continuing to find a way to win despite not being at their best over the entirety of games is all the more crucial considering not just their own absences, but the fact City are soon set to reunite last season’s deadly duo of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, who have not played in the Premier League together since the opening day of the season.
“In general we just started playing better, the midfield as well,” Klopp said of his side’s second-half showing.
“That’s important. I’m not 100% which goal it was we scored where we won the ball back but that would not have happened in the first half, I’m pretty sure, because we didn’t push up.
“It was a super deserved win which didn’t look like that for a long time in the first half.”
If Klopp could have picked any of his players to open the scoring, it would probably be the much talked about Nunez, who his manager recently claimed could “cannot be more unlucky” when it came to his finishing of chances.
Liverpool continuing to find a way to win despite not being at their best over the entirety of games is all the more crucial considering not just their own absences, but the fact City are soon set to reunite last season’s deadly duo of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, who have not played in the Premier League together since the opening day of the season.
“In general we just started playing better, the midfield as well,” Klopp said of his side’s second-half showing.
“That’s important. I’m not 100% which goal it was we scored where we won the ball back but that would not have happened in the first half, I’m pretty sure, because we didn’t push up.
“It was a super deserved win which didn’t look like that for a long time in the first half.”
If Klopp could have picked any of his players to open the scoring, it would probably be the much talked about Nunez, who his manager recently claimed could “cannot be more unlucky” when it came to his finishing of chances.
Liverpool continuing to find a way to win despite not being at their best over the entirety of games is all the more crucial considering not just their own absences, but the fact City are soon set to reunite last season’s deadly duo of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland, who have not played in the Premier League together since the opening day of the season.
“In general we just started playing better, the midfield as well,” Klopp said of his side’s second-half showing.
“That’s important. I’m not 100% which goal it was we scored where we won the ball back but that would not have happened in the first half, I’m pretty sure, because we didn’t push up.
“It was a super deserved win which didn’t look like that for a long time in the first half.”
If Klopp could have picked any of his players to open the scoring, it would probably be the much talked about Nunez, who his manager recently claimed could “cannot be more unlucky” when it came to his finishing of chances.
He had no such bad luck with his opening strike, beautifully curling into the bottom right corner at the start of the second half after some fine build-up play had seen man of the match Jota expertly feed him inside the box to slot home.
Liverpool might be without many of their starting 11 at the moment but having Portuguese international Jota back from injury is a huge boost for Klopp, and he brilliantly smashed beyond Neto at his near post after being played in down the right by substitute Cody Gakpo to double his team’s lead.
Jota then added his second and his side’s third of a superb second-half showing with just over ten minutes to go. The impressive young Conor Bradley had picked him out with a low cross into the box and after making a mess of his first attempt, regained his composure to fire beyond Neto and put the game out of sight for the home side.
Nunez was the target of plenty of jeers from the home support, which is not uncommon for the Uruguayan striker when he travels away, but he has become a hero among his own supporters despite his often frustrating wastefulness in front of goal.
But the chanting of his name from the away end after he added a fourth for his side in added time, sliding in to finish Joe Gomez’s excellent cross, proved what the 24-year-old is capable of when he is on his game, and was followed by a chorus of “Liverpool, top of the league”.
And based on their latest showing, there is every reason to believe they can stay there come the end of the season.
Former England youth star Harry Mallinder is the latest player to joining the NFL via the IPP after Louis Rees-Zammit; The Wales winger shocked the rugby world when he announced the move just before Wales announced their Six Nations squad
Former England prospect Harry Mallinder joins Wales winger Louis Rees-Zammit in joining NFL through the International Player Pathway program.
Mallinder played for Northampton from 2013 through to 2021 and before moving to Japan where he was at the Black Rams Tokyo and has registered as a kicker/punter, while Rees-Zammit has registered as a running back/wide receiver.
Tottenham have opened talks with Club Brugge about a deal for winger Antonio Nusa.
Spurs have been tracking the Norway winger’s progress for some time and are now looking to act quickly to get ahead of competition and secure a potential star of the future.
Tottenham already signed Timo Werner as a winger on loan from RB Leipzig this month, so Nusa would find a lot of competition for places and would benefit more from staying where he is in the short term.
Nusa was a player they looked into signing last summer and he has been tracked by a number of Premier League clubs including Brentford.
His signature would be seen as a coup for Spurs, who have acted bullishly in the January window to sign centre-back Radu Dragusin ahead of Bayern Munich and former Chelsea forward Werner.
They have a two-week break from action and do not play again until the FA Cup fourth-round tie against Manchester City on January 26 – and they might need Hojbjerg to start in that game.
Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr are away at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). James Maddison and Giovani Lo Celso are currently injured although there is hope one or both might be available in 10 days.
Hojbjerg played 90 minutes in the 2-2 draw at Manchester United on Sunday – only his fifth start in the Premier League this term – as manager Ange Postecoglou named only six subs on the bench due to the shortfall
Jordan Henderson says financial considerations had nothing to do with his decision to join Ajax instead of returning to the Premier League.
Henderson finalised his switch to the Dutch side on Thursday when Saudi Arabian club Al Ettifaq agreed to end his three-year contract after just six months.
Reports suggested the former Liverpool captain would have faced a large tax bill on his earnings in Saudi Arabia if he had signed for a Premier League club but he insisted the move to Ajax was purely a sporting decision.
“Don’t believe what you read in the press,” Henderson said. “It had nothing to do with anything but football.
“I felt it was the perfect opportunity to come to such a huge club and showcase what I’ve tried to do my whole life – to dedicate myself to football.”The welcome here has been incredible and I’m overwhelmed to be given the opportunity at a great football club and to repay the faith shown in me.
“Over the next two-and-a-half years, I will give everything to get the club back on track and to be as successful as possible.”
Bayern Munich are interested in signing Newcastle and England right-back Kieran Trippier, according to Sky in Germany.
With Bayern facing difficulties in agreeing a loan deal with Paris Saint-Germain for Nordi Mukiele, the focus is now turning to Trippier
Bayern, managed by former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, have discussed the 33-year-old intensively over the last two days.
Trippier has seven assists in 19 Premier League matches for Newcastle this season but his performances have dipped in recent weeks.
The right-back was responsible for multiple mistakes leading to goals in Newcastle’s 3-0 defeat at Everton and their 4-1 loss at Tottenham.
Trippier’s clumsy backpass was also responsible for Chelsea snatching a late equaliser in the Carabao Cup quarter-final loss against Newcastle, which the Magpies lost on penalties.
The England international was one of the first major signings for Newcastle’s Saudi Arabia ownership when he joined for £12m from Atletico Madrid in January 2022.
Frank said that Toney – who was fined £50,000 and warned about his future conduct for 232 breaches of the FA’s betting rules – is “very committed” to the Brentford cause, and praised his “special character”.
“He’s buzzing like an Under-8,” the Bees boss said when questioned about Toney’s prospective return. “I’m looking into the eyes of a player that’s very committed.
“He will start tomorrow [against Nottingham Forest] and will captain the side. I’m pretty sure he’s ready.
“He’s a special character, a fantastic person to be around. The energy he brings, the smile, the positivity, is a massive thing.
“He drags people – he wants to win. It’s a massive boost. It’s like a new signing. There’s an argument for him being the second-best striker in the league, in my opinion.”
The 27-year-old made his England debut during a European Championship qualifying win against Ukraine last March and has scored 32 goals in 64 Premier League appearances for Brentford.
Speaking about links with other clubs, amid interest from Arsenal and Chelsea in Toney, Frank said: “It’s 99-point-something he will stay here. He’s very committed to be here and help the team.
“I spoke with him yesterday and that’s the only thing on his mind. We only have that zero-point-something chance of craziness in football – you can never rule everything out. We’ve had no offers for him. None.”
Frank added: “It’s classic Ivan – perfect timing. He will thrive in that environment [at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday].
Speaking about links with other clubs, amid interest from Arsenal and Chelsea in Toney, Frank said: “It’s 99-point-something he will stay here. He’s very committed to be here and help the team.
“I spoke with him yesterday and that’s the only thing on his mind. We only have that zero-point-something chance of craziness in football – you can never rule everything out. We’ve had no offers for him. None.”
Frank added: “It’s classic Ivan – perfect timing. He will thrive in that environment [at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday].
Gary Neville believes Tottenham can finish above Liverpool and Arsenal in the Premier League this season should they keep their players fit.
Spurs’ 2-2 draw at Manchester United moved them level on points with fourth-placed Arsenal and five behind leaders Liverpool heading into the second half of the campaign.
Manager Ange Postecoglou was without first-team regulars Heung-Min Son, Pape Sarr, Yves Bissouma, James Maddison, Giovani Lo Celso, Dejan Kulusevski and Ben Davies at Old Trafford yet were the better side – and Sky Sports’ Neville belives they can finish as high as second when they’re back
If they keep their players fit, they are a certainty to finish in the top four and I think they can get to second and third,” said Neville.
“With those players back, and if they can get through these next few weeks, I genuinely think they can be better than Arsenal and Liverpool this season.
“It might end up being a good draw in the FA Cup against Manchester City. Go out of that and concentrate completely on the league. But they do need to win a trophy.
“If he wins a trophy, great, but we know in the past when teams have had a really explosive season, they’re not usually in Europe or competition
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