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It's been a rough season for Manchester United this year, with every impressive last-minute win quickly followed by another embarrassing draw or defeat.

Erik ten Hag has not had the season he would have hoped for after his impressive debut campaign in England, and one of the first signs something was amiss was his public spat with Jadon Sancho back in September.

Since then, the winger has been frozen out of the team and sent on loan to Borussia Dortmund in January.

There is certainly still a chance that the Englishman will be welcomed back to Old Trafford in the summer, but based on recent reports, the Red Devils could be about to sign the perfect replacement and wash their hands of him.

Manchester United transfer news

According to a report from ESPN, United are now leading the race to sign Crystal Palace star Michael Olise should he leave Selhurst Park this summer.

The report has revealed that the Frenchman has a release clause worth between £50m to £60m in his contract that will be activated in the transfer window and that United's new minority owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has made him one of the club's primary targets.

The three-time European champions are likely to face stiff competition for the winger's signature from Premier League rivals, but an earlier report from ESPN revealed that the club could offer former Palace player Aaron Wan-Bissaka as part of the deal to encourage the Eagles and ease their own PSR concerns.

Ultimately, any deal for the talented forward would represent a significant investment from the club, but it might just be worth it.

How Olise compares to Sancho

If United can push on with a deal and have the opportunity to sign Olise in the summer, would he be a genuine upgrade on Sancho?

Well, from a productivity perspective, the "magic" Frenchman, as data analyst Ben Mattinson dubbed him, has his English counterpart beat hands down. In his 16 games this season, he has scored seven goals and provided four assists, giving him an average of a goal involvement every 1.4 games despite his injury problems.

In contrast, the Camberwell-born ace has scored three goals and provided just two assists in 20 appearances, meaning he's averaged a goal involvement every four games, with all of said involvements coming in Germany.

What about under the hood, then? Is the comparison just as heavily weighted in the Palace ace's favour?

Unfortunately for the United man, while he produces more progressive passes and carries, makes more ball recoveries, takes players on more, and has a better pass completion rate per 90, he comes out second best in the majority of important metrics and by quite a way in some.

Olise vs Sancho
Stats per 90	Olise	Sancho
Non-Penalty Expected Goals + Assists	0.67	0.29
Non-Penalty Goals	0.53	0.21
Assists	0.35	0.07
Progressive Passes	5.04	5.41
Progressive Carries	4.96	5.55
Shots on Target	3.73	0.75
Passing Accuracy	73.2%	80.0%
Shot-Creating Actions	6.04	4.73
Goal-Creating Actions	0.80	0.55
Take-Ons	5.75	7.88
Success % of Take-Ons	56.9%	50.4%
Ball Recoveries	4.87	5.14
Aerial Duels Won	0.53	0.00
All Stats via FBref for the 23/24 Season

For example, the "phenomenal" Palace gem, as U23 scout Antonio Mango described him, produces a far higher non-penalty expected goal and assist figure, scores more goals, provides more assists, takes far more shots on target, has a higher success rate when taking players on, wins more aerial duels, and produces substantially more shot and goal-creating actions, all per 90.

Ultimately, while Sancho is still a talented player and is showing as much in the Champions League, his raw output and underlying numbers are clearly worse than Olise's, and so if United have the chance to replace him with the Frenchman this summer, they absolutely should, even at £60m.

Man Utd make first move to sign "magnificent" new gem to support Hojlund

The Red Devils are looking to add attacking depth.

By
Tom Cunningham

May 3, 2024

Arsenal are ready to table a £21 million bid to sign one club's star player, coming after claims in the last few weeks that he's already agreed to join Mikel Arteta at Hale End.

Edu's transfer admission as Arsenal eye new signings

Sporting director Edu, in a recent interview with TNT Sports, has already admitted that the north Londoners have their transfer targets for the window firmly in place – as the Brazilian seeks to back Arteta yet again.

£200,000-a-week Arsenal star holds pre-summer talks to join European club

There’s been a meeting behind-the-scenes.

ByEmilio Galantini May 22, 2024

Arsenal only just missed out on the Premier League title to Man City last season, coming within a whisker of the Sky Blues and chasing them down right to the final day of 2023/2024.

Despite losing out on their first domestic crown in 20 years, there were real positives to take from the campaign – namely their exceptional run of form towards the back end, attacking imperiousness and stellar form of some key players.

Arsenal 2-1 Everton

Man United 0-1 Arsenal

Arsenal 3-0 Bournemouth

Tottenham 2-3 Arsenal

Arsenal 5-0 Chelsea

However, to keep chase with City, who've really set the standard over the past few years, Arsenal will need to keep evolving as a team and upgrade Arteta's squad wherever necessary. Reports suggest Arsenal want a new goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward this summer, with Edu previously revealing the type of player they're after.

"We already have our targets,” said Edu to TNT.

"We have planned a lot ahead and I will be worried if we don’t score a lot of goals and if we’re not creating chances, which is the opposite because we create a lot and score a lot of goals.

“The plan is to try to get better every year and I think we are in a good moment. Let's see if we can keep improving. Many times in certain conversations to recruit the players you don't see the character of the player or the character of the player does not fit well with what we are trying to do and then you have to move on and try to find what we’re really looking for.

“If you see all the signings we’ve made since we started together, everyone is almost the same, young, energetic and passionate, and good talents with big, beautiful futures ahead of them.”

Defensively, one name who's been heavily linked lately is Fenerbahce full-back Ferdi Kadioglu. The 24-year-old, who can play at both right and left back, was the subject of a recent theory from journalist Yağız Sabuncuoğlu.

Sabuncuoğlu shared his belief earlier this month that Kadioglu has agreed to join Arsenal, coming after the reporter spoke with his father – though he didn't expressly confirm that information.

Arsenal readying £21 million bid for Kadioglu

Now, Turkish news outlet Sabah have shared yet another update, and they claim that Arsenal are readying a £21 million bid to sign Kadioglu after having their first offer rejected, so perhaps there is subtance to claims of discussions with the player.

The Gunners are believed to be pushing hard to sign Fenerbahce's in-form defensive ace, who could provide exceptional back up to the likes of Ben White

Rajat Patidar has been appointed captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025, which begins around March 21. The development was contrary to wide speculation that Virat Kohli would lead RCB again after they did not retain Faf du Plessis, their captain from 2022 to 2024, before the mega auction.RCB made the announcement in Bengaluru on Thursday at an event attended by team director Mo Bobat, head coach Andy Flower, and Patidar. He is the eighth captain for RCB and has played three seasons for the franchise since joining them in 2021 and has grown into one of their key batters, scoring 799 runs in 28 matches at a strike rate of 158.85.”I could speak for quite a long time about Rajat, but I’ve settled on three main things that I thought might be interesting to share,” Flower said. “The first one is there’s a calmness and a simplicity to Rajat that I think will stand him in really good stead as a leader and a captain, particularly in the IPL. As we know, the IPL is one of the premier competitions in the world and there’s pressures involved in that, and I think the calm, simple demeanour that inherently lives within Rajat is going to serve him really well in the hurly-burly of that tournament.Related

• For RCB, Rajat Patidar might be just what the doctor ordered

• Mo Bobat: 'Virat doesn't need a captaincy title to lead'

• Samson expected to be fit in time for IPL 2025

• Pant unveiled as LSG captain, says he will give '200%'

• IPL begins March 21 weekend; WPL to start from February 7

“And his decision-making will be tested like all of ours is. But I think these qualities will stand him in really good stead. We watched Rajat very closely as he captained Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament and we really liked what we saw around those qualities.”The second thing I’d say about him, he’s inherently quite a quiet guy, but observing him, he cares about the people around him, he cares about the people that he plays with, that he shares a dressing room with. And I think that’s a quality that means that he will instantly have the respect and care from other people. As a leader, those qualities are important. In that people will follow you and get behind you.”And then the third thing that stands out for me about him is that he’s got a stubbornness and a strength and a steeliness about him. I’ve seen it myself when I’m trying to coach him in the nets and he won’t listen to me, but you see it in the way that he plays. You see the bravery with which he takes on the game and I think that quality within him will be really important for him through the ups and downs, the inevitable ups and downs that come along with playing in the IPL, and now stepping up another gear into leading a big franchise in the IPL.”Bobat confirmed that Kohli was an option the team management had thought about.”With our retentions, it’s probably worth noting that we obviously retained three players, three Indians, and of those three, it’s worth saying that both Virat and Rajat were obviously credible captaincy options for us going into the auction,” he said. “And then at the auction itself, we spent quite a lot of time thinking about leadership characteristics. We didn’t necessarily want to go into the auction and have our heart set on a captain because we felt that was quite a dangerous approach and then you end up probably overvaluing somebody potentially.”Rajat Patidar has been a part of RCB for the past three IPL seasons•AFP/Getty Images

In a video released by RCB, Kohli congratulated Patidar on the appointment, emphasising that he has earned the right to be in this position.”The way you have grown in this franchise and the way you have performed, you have really made a place in the hearts of all the fans of RCB all over India and they get really excited to watch you play,” Kohli said. “I’ve seen Rajat evolve in the last couple of years as a player. He has got the chance to play for India. His game has improved many levels in the last couple of years.”The way he has led his state team as well and the responsibility that he’s taken and has shown everyone that he has what it takes to lead this amazing franchise and I just wish him all the very best and I would request all the fans to show him absolute support, get right behind him and know that he will always and always do what’s best for the team, what’s best for this franchise.”Discussions within the group confirmed to the coaches that Patidar was the right choice, Bobat said.”We spent some time discussing things with the likes of DK [Dinesh Karthik, the batting coach], who’s obviously a really important part of our management team now. [We] had multiple conversations with Virat, even had some discussions with Rajat and I say discussions, they probably felt a little bit more like interviews for Rajat. But Andy and I spent some time talking to Rajat about his captaincy aspirations and what struck us was that he was very determined and ambitious about leadership and captaincy and he really wanted to do this and that was really important for us to understand and feel.”Bobat also said that they wanted an Indian captain to lead RCB this time around.”Andy and I felt quite blessed that we had quite a few to choose from,” he said. “Whether we went Indian or overseas was an important discussion point for us. We felt quite strongly that an Indian captain was preferable.”That’s nothing against any overseas options, but we were really keen on an Indian option primarily because it’s an Indian competition on Indian pitches against predominantly Indian players. So somebody who’s got that local knowledge and insight is really, really helpful for us.”While this will be 31-year-old Patidar’s first captaincy stint in the IPL, he has captained MP in the 2024-25 season of the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (where they finished runners-up) and the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. Those tournaments were his first full-time assignments as captain in domestic cricket.”I had a conversation with Mo last year,” Patidar said. “I told him before getting the captaincy of RCB, I want to captain a state team. When they told me about this, that it could be between Virat and Rajat, I was happy. I can’t express my reaction.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“I really feel good right now. If I talk about my way of captaincy, I’m not that much expressive, but at the same time, I’m aware of the situation of the matches. So I think for me it’s important to back my players and stand with them and give the sort of involvement where they feel relaxed and confident. So yeah, I’m lucky that I am surrounded by one of the best people in the team and we have a group of leaders as well where their experience and ideas will definitely help in my new leadership role and growth as an individual also.”Patidar was the second-highest run-scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 428 runs in nine innings at an average of 61.14 and strike rate of 186.08. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he made 226 runs at an average of 56.50 and strike rate of 107.10.RCB have not won the IPL title yet, though they have been finalists three times, the last of which was in 2016. They have made the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, including in 2024, when they won their last six league matches to get into the top four but then lost the Eliminator.With RCB appointing Patidar, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) are the only teams yet to name their captains for the upcoming season. Shreyas Iyer, KKR’s captain last year, will lead Punjab Kings (PBKS) this year, while the former DC captain Rishabh Pant is now leading Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy strengthened his case for selection in India’s ODI squad by taking his second five-wicket haul in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, but his performance could not prevent Rajasthan from eliminating Tamil Nadu in the pre-quarterfinal stage of the tournament.While Varun finished as the top wicket-taker with 18 scalps in six matches, the knockout game’s defining performance came from Rajasthan opener Abhijeet Tomar, whose 111 in the first innings set the foundation for a 19-run victory. They will play Vidarbha in the quarterfinal on January 12.Rajasthan were on course for 300-plus after losing the toss, cruising at 182 for 1 in the 32nd over when Varun took three wickets in three overs to trigger a slide. He first bowled Mahipal Lomror for 60 with a wrong’un that drifted in, pitched and squared the left-hander to hit the top of off stump.Having broken the 160-run stand between Tomar and Lomror, Varun then bowled Deepak Hooda with a carrom ball as he attempted a mow towards the leg side. His third wicket was the centurion Tomar, holing out to long-on for 111 off 125 balls. He picked up two more wickets to finish with 5 for 52 in nine overs.Rajasthan lost nine wickets for 83 and were all out for 267 in 47.3 overs. Left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore and seamer Sandeep Warrier picked up two wickets each.Tamil Nadu responded with a rapid opening partnership of 60 in 6.5 overs before Khaleel Ahmed bowled the slower opener Tushar Raheja for 11 of 20 balls. N Jagadeesan raced to a half-century, hitting Aman Shekhawat for six fours in an over that included five wides to cost Rajasthan 29 runs. His dismissal for 65 off 52 balls, however, caused panic in Tamil Nadu’s chase.B Indrajith and Vijay Shankar kept the innings going and at the start of the 36th over, Tamil Nadu needed 83 runs with five wickets in hand. The run-out of S Mohammed Ali for a run-a-ball 34, however, swung the game Rajasthan’s way.Shekhawat, the fast bowler who had Indrajith caught behind, bowled Vijay Shankar for 49, and sealed the game by dismissing Varun for 18 in a close finish. He finished with 3 for 60 as Rajasthan, runners-up of the previous Vijay Hazare Trophy, entered the final eight by bowling Tamil Nadu out for 248 in 47.1 overs.

22 years after his first Surrey game at The Oval, Thursday could be Batty’s last

Matt Roller30-Sep-2020

Still got it – Gareth Batty, who turns 43 next month, belts out an appeal•Getty Images

22 years after his first appearance for Surrey at The Oval, Gareth Batty has accepted that Thursday’s T20 Blast quarter-final against Kent could be his last.It would be foolish to rule out the possibility of him extending his playing career, not least after a Blast campaign in which he has conceded a miserly 6.31 runs per over and recovered from a hamstring injury within two weeks. But at the ripe old age of 42, with his contract up at the end of the season and a coaching position at the club on the table, this may be his final week as a player.”We’ll get to the end of the season and then we’ll have a sit down,” Batty said. “I have a coaching role [already] so it’s about what is right for the group moving forward. We have to move forward as a club and if that means the claw replaces the pretty average old offspin, so be it.”If we do decide I don’t play, we’ll be going out for dinner. I’ll buy Vikram [Solanki] and Stewie [Alec Stewart] a slap-up meal for the first time ever, we’ll have a glass of something and I’ll say thanks, to move forward. The exciting bit is that whatever happens, I’m winning.”ALSO READ: ‘Old blokes win stuff’ – Why experience is key in the T20 BlastIn the absence of the injured Jade Dernbach, Batty captained Surrey for the first seven games of their Blast season before his hamstring problem. They began the tournament with a threadbare squad due to injury and international call-ups, but the number of available players has swelled since: Laurie Evans and Jamie Overton arrived on loan ahead of permanent deals next year, while Rory Burns, Jason Roy and Ben Foakes are back from England bubbles and Hashim Amla arrived from South Africa.”We played an intra-squad practice game yesterday and I think at one point we had 21 players all fit and available for selection,” Batty said. “It’s a bit of contrast to six weeks ago when we were scrambling around for 11.”There will be some disappointed boys, but hopefully it stands us in good stead – if we can get over the line tomorrow – with three games in three days. That is pretty full on, so having bodies available and ready to go – and obviously they are quality players – is an advantage for us.”There will be a dilemma at the top of the order, with a decision to make over who bats where between Roy, Amla, Evans and breakout star Will Jacks, while youngsters Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson may be squeezed out in order to accommodate more experienced players.Batty has been particularly impressed by Overton – whom he dubs Surrey’s “own Andre Russell: bowls rockets, and smacks it out the ground” – since his move from Somerset, and quipped that after a lean summer with the bat in international cricket, Roy has been saving his best for his county.”He knew he’d get back at some point and thought he’d save them for the good lads,” he laughed. “In our last game he showed what a good player he is: he’s world-class. When Jason plays like that you can count on one hand the better players in the world.”It’s obvious, but four into three doesn’t go so, someone will bat fractionally out of position. It will be covered off with that player, and no stone left unturned. We are very fortunate to have four exceptional players in the top order, and someone will have a change of role.”Surrey’s record in T20 has been underwhelming in recent years – they have not reached Finals Day since 2014 – but things have been different this year. They have exploited home conditions to their advantage, playing on used, central pitches to create enormous square boundaries to support their spinners and allow their seamers to bang the ball in, and are on a seven-match winning run heading into Thursday’s quarter-final.Vikram Solanki is in his first season as Surrey’s head coach•Getty Images

Batty was effusive in his praise for Solanki, and in particular the pre-match planning and preparation that he has put into place in his first season as head coach, and insisted that regardless how he fares against Kent, he will be playing with a smile on his face after wondering if he would step onto the pitch at all this year.”Whenever I get on the cricket field now it feels like a day out,” he grinned. “[Covid-19] puts things into perspective, it really does. I’m very aware that I’m pretty much done, but it’s nice that you can still contribute in a positive way.”There’s been some really good cricket played [this season] and there’s been a progression in how people are playing the game. People are learning from how different competitions around the world are accelerating T20 cricket. It’s not the same old mundane ‘he’s going to do this, he’s going to do that’, [teams are] trying to move the game forward.”Kent are a very dangerous team. We’re very aware of that. They’ve got some very fine players who tore it up with England this year, on a bit of a high. Hopefully we’re all going out there to fulfil our roles and help Surrey over the line. If some old sod manages to get a few wickets you’ll see a smile on his face; even if he doesn’t, there will still be a smile.”

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+ Novela de Gerson perto de definição, Chelsea pensa em reforços para o ataque… O Dia do Mercado

Assim que o time se reapresentar na terça-feira, a comissão técnica de Miguel Ángel Ramírez terá em mãos a condição física de cada atleta e vai definir a escalação.

A principal novidade pode ser o volante Patrick, que voltou de contusão na estreia do Brasileirão e foi bem.

Caso o pantera volte ao time, Caio Vidal será o escolhido para deixar o grupo de titulares. No ataque, Yuri Alberto e Mauricio devem ser mantidos.

Confira a provável escalação: Marcelo Lomba; Renzo Saravia, Lucas Ribeiro, Víctor Cuesta e Moisés; Rodrigo Lindoso, Edenilson e Taison; Caio Vidal (Patrick), Yuri Alberto (Thiago Galhardo) e Mauricio.

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Clarke was named an Officer and Larsen a Member in the general division

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jun-2020

Lyn Larsen poses with the 1988 Women’s World Cup trophy•Getty Images

Michael Clarke has been named an Officer (AO) and Lyn Larsen a Member (AM) in the general division of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s latest birthday honours list.Clarke was recognised for “distinguished service to cricket as a player at the national and international level, through leadership roles, and to the community”. He played 115 Tests, 245 ODIs and 34 T20Is and retired in 2015 as the fourth-highest run-getter for his country in both Tests and ODIs. He was the captain when Australia whitewashed England 5-0 in 2013-14 to regain the Ashes. Under him, Australia also won the 2015 ODI World Cup.In an Instagram post, Clarke thanked his family, friends and team-mates for their support throughout his career. Larsen, the former Australia Women allrounder, was honoured “for significant service to cricket as a player, selector, manager and coach at the elite level”. She played 15 Tests and 49 ODIs from 1984 to 1992 and led Australia to the 1988 ODI World Cup title. Larsen was instrumental in the integration of the International Women’s Cricket Council with the ICC as well.More than 20 Australian cricketers have received Order of Australia honours to date, including Donald Bradman, Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor, Belinda Clark, Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden, Dennis Lillee, Bob Simpson, Keith Miller, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Alan Davidson and Dean Jones.

After watching his Leeds United salvage a late draw against Watford to stay within touching distance of new Championship leaders Ipswich Town, Daniel Farke provided a crucial injury update on three players.

Leeds injury news

Now into the final stage of the Championship season, every moment counts as Leeds will likely find out after their 2-2 draw against Watford. The Whites had the chance to take advantage of Leicester City's earlier loss against Bristol City, but were left kicking themselves after a frustrating game against the Hornets. Now, with seven games to go, the West Yorkshire club sit second, one point behind Ipswich and one ahead of Leicester City, who have a game in hand.

Leeds making checks on Koni De Winter but deal would have to be fast

The Yorkshire club could try to hijack the move…

ByTom Cunningham Mar 28, 2024

What won't help Leeds' pursuit of promotion is their growing injury concerns. Farke was forced to cope without Ilia Gruev, Pascal Struijk, Stuart Dallas and Wilfried Gnonto against Watford, which showed at times. Gnonto has been in particularly good form in the second half of the campaign, finally finding his best form in a Leeds shirt again.

The news doesn't get any better for Leeds fans either following Farke's post-game update that Gnonto is set to miss the next three weeks of action. The German said (via the Yorkshire Evening Post): "Willy Gnonto, the first diagnosis was at least three weeks out. A muscle injury, hamstring strain.

"I have trust in him because he is always professional in his rehab and also I have big belief and hope in our physios and our doctors, they are doing an excellent job.

"Perhaps there is a chance to bring him in slightly earlier but if I have to give you a realistic timeframe, realistically from the scan it says about three weeks, perhaps even a few days more, and more or less the same for Connor Roberts, also three weeks. We hope to bring them perhaps back even a bit earlier because we have a crazy schedule also in the upcoming weeks, but we have to wait."

Games that Gnonto will miss

At the most crucial stage of the season, Gnonto is on course to miss at least four of Leeds' final seven games in a major blow for Farke and potentially his side's title hopes. The Leeds boss will simply hope to see the Italian make a far quicker recovery to fight back to full fitness before the end of the campaign arrives.

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09/04/2024

Leeds vs Blackburn Rovers

13/04/2024

Those at the club will be well aware of the quality that they'll now be without until at least mid-April, with Joe Gelhardt saying via BBC Radio Leeds when asked to describe the Italian when he first joined: "Very sharp, very fast. He’s lively. He’ll play anywhere across the front four. He’s a lovely lad and I’m sure he’ll do very well for us.”

Wrexham cruised to a comfortable win over Reading in League One to reignite their promotion charge after a recent draw with Bolton.

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• Wrexham won 3-0 at SToK Cae Ras
• Palmer opened scoring in first half
• Cannon got third straight after half-time

• TELL ME MORE

  A quarter of the game had elapsed by the time Ollie Palmer broke the deadlock with a header from just outside the six-yard box. Fans then didn't have to wait very long for the second, although it needed a few bites of the cherry after Jack Marriott's initial effort was saved and James McClean hit the post, Elliot Lee was the one who successfully gobbled up the rebound to create daylight.

  Soon after the break it was a case of 'Cannon by name, cannon by nature', as midfielder Andy Cannon made it 3-0 with a thunderbolt from outside the penalty area. Wrexham were up and cruising by then, ceding control of possession to Reading but carving out chances here and there, all the while limiting the wasteful Royals to just a single shot on target. There was also the welcome sight of Paul Mullin off the bench after minor spinal surgery in summer meant he hadn't played since April.

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• DID YOU KNOW?

  Since the start of last season, Wrexham have scored more home goals than any other team in the top four divisions of English football and that wasn't about to change at SToK Cae Ras in this one.

• Getty Images Sport
  

  THE MVP

  Wing-back Ryan Barnett was the architect of Wrexham's ultimately decisive first half goals, both made and scored courtesy of his crosses into the box. He only got assist credit for the first, mind, headed in by Palmer, due to the second from Lee being the rebound from a rebound.

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• THE BIG LOSER

  It's a very long way from Berkshire to north Wales and Reading fans who made the trip won't have been impressed by their team's attempted finishing. Wrexham score a lot of goals, but they are capable of conceding them in numbers too and had they managed any more than one out of 12 shots on target (Wrexham had seven of 12 on target), this one might have been slightly closer.

Mary Earps has hailed Jordan Pickford's penalty save for England against Switzerland during the Three Lions' shootout victory at Euro 2024.

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England won on penaltiesPickford saved Manuel Akanji's first penaltyThree Lions into Euro 2024 semi-finalWHAT HAPPENED?

Earps attended the F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone, and was approached by Martin Brundle to give her opinion on Pickford's exceptional performance against the Swiss. The two sides played out a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes and the Three Lions then scored all five spot-kicks, after Pickford saved Akanji's first.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Pickford has a remarkable record for the Three Lions in shootouts. He has saved a penalty in every single shootout he has played in, with a total record of four saves from 14 spot-kicks.

WHAT EARPS SAID

Earps told Brundle: "Brilliant that they won, obviously goalkeeper's union, a great save from Jordan so yeah, let's keep going, let's win the thing!" The stopper was then asked about her forthcoming move to PSG and replied: "I'm really excited about it. But I had to come here first. I said no, no wait! I have to come here first!"

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GettyWHAT NEXT?

England play the Netherlands on Wednesday in their Euro 2024 semi-final. They are bidding to reach their second consecutive European Championship final.