Alex Connor

Football Journalist

The Telegraph •

All Blacks stun Springboks in statement win

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry did not begin with the year’s greatest game, but a New Zealand victory against the odds, at high altitude in Johannesburg, has poured intrigue and interest on to a series which was already brimming with them.The All Blacks’ recent record at Ellis Park, the Springboks’ spiritual home, is by no means shabby – this was their fourth victory from the last six visits – but few fancied Dave Rennie’s galvanised Kiwis on Saturday, against the back-to-back world champions, after a...
The Telegraph •

Arsenal play like the champions they are as title defence starts with a bang

Mentally liberated and physically rested, Arsenal began the new Premier League campaign with a performance befitting champions. Gone are the anxieties of last season, when the title race gnawed away at their minds and bodies. Gone are the pressures of chasing a first Premier League trophy in more than two decades. Arsenal look slick, refreshed and hungry for more. “Champions of England, we know what we are,” sang the home supporters in this thrashing of promoted Coventry City. The players moved...
The Telegraph •

Max Dowman weaves his magic against Girona as Arsenal hit the ground running

Girona 1 Arsenal 4Teenage sensation Max Dowman was the star of Arsenal’s first pre-season match, as he scored one goal and assisted another in a 4-1 victory over Girona.Dowman, 16, was joined on the scoresheet by new signing Christos Tzolis, who struck with a low effort in his first game since his £34m move from Belgian side Club Brugge.Established attackers Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus also scored for the Premier League champions, who were largely comfortable against opposition from the Spanis...
The Telegraph •

England have to qualify for World Cup hard way after worst performance of Wiegman reign

When the Lionesses battled to a gutsy 1-0 victory over Spain in April, the question was: Can they win the World Cup playing like that?The answer appeared to be yes. That spirited and determined performance was only two months ago, but it felt a world away watching England brutally dismantled here on Spanish turf.The four goals they conceded were all poor, but Spain were superior in every department. They can certainly w...
The Telegraph •

Bunny Shaw’s FA Cup heroics show why Man City did all they could to keep her

A new £1m-per-year contract on Monday, an FA Cup trophy on Sunday. It has been quite the seven days for Khadija “Bunny” Shaw. After a month-long saga surrounding her future, Manchester City’s all-time leading goalscorer signed a new lucrative four-year contract at the start of this week. There is a world where this FA Cup final, where Shaw scored the first of City’s four goals against Brighton, would have been the striker’s last game for the club.
The Telegraph •

Spurs relegation fears deepen on night bitterest rivals celebrate winning league

Defeat again, the 17th of the season from hell, while 16 places above Arsenal claimed their seventh league title since Spurs won their last in 1961. The unbearable weight of all that history will have to be set aside for now because there is still a strong possibility that Spurs will be playing in the Football League next season. Their Premier League lives rest on them taking a point against Everton on Sunday – at their home stadium where they have won just twice all season.Afterwards, their new...
The Telegraph •

Hearts condemn ‘shameful scenes’ after captain ‘assaulted’ in Celtic pitch invasion

Hearts have condemned the “shameful scenes” at the end of their Scottish Premiership title decider at Celtic Park, after captain Lawrence Shankland was allegedly assaulted during a pitch invasion.Celtic fans poured onto the pitch following Callum Osmand’s injury-time goal which confirmed they had leapfrogged Hearts to the top of the table on a hugely controversial day in Glasgow.In a strongly-worded statement, the club said that they had no choice but to leave the scene immediately and board the...
The Telegraph •

Slot needs Houdini act to survive Liverpool demise

Good evening and welcome to our live blog for this Premier League game between Aston Villa and Liverpool, with both clubs aiming to seal their passage into next season’s Champions League.Villa are fifth, just one place behind Liverpool on goal difference, while high-flying Bournemouth sit sixth, four points behind tonight’s duo with two games remaining. However, a win for either side here at Villa Park would secure Champions League qualification. The losers could still be supplanted by Andoni Ir...
The Telegraph •

Arsenal have one hand on Premier League trophy after lucky win over West Ham

This was the biggest VAR call since the controversial technology was introduced into the Premier League in 2019. The biggest in its chequered history. And it might have decided not just who wins the title but who is relegated. Yes, it was that big, that consequential, that dramatic. Certainly if Arsenal are champions they can thank VAR.It is hard to think of a single incident that had such a potentially profound effect. And not least because it also came deep into injury-time.We always want just...
The Telegraph •

Leicester give Northampton ‘painful thumping’ in feisty East Midlands derby

This was not just a thumping derby day win for Leicester Tigers. This was a wholesale destruction of Prem Rugby’s leaders and an emphatic statement of their own title credentials.It was based squarely on the broad shoulders of Tigers’ tight five of Nicky Smith, Jamie Blamire, Joe Heyes, Ollie Chessum and George Martin. As much as rugby evolves, there is something refreshingly old-fashioned about Leicester using the set-piece to bludgeon teams into submission.Northampton Saints, who lost second-r...
The Telegraph •

Furious Liverpool fans want Slot to go as boos ring out after Chelsea draw

There were grumbles at half-time, outright booing for one of Arne Slot’s substitutions and more discord at the final whistle, which once again asked Liverpool’s ownership the difficult questions about their manager’s future.No manager at Anfield has endured such hostility so soon after winning a league title, and yet it is present in every moment for Slot now. There were grumbles, and suggestions aplenty from the home crowd, as his team failed to press home the advantage of their goal in the six...
The Telegraph •

Sublime Bukayo Saka helps Arsenal make title statement

Even without Bukayo Saka in their starting XI, Arsenal have stayed in the Premier League title race and are one game from the Champions League final, but everyone at the Emirates knows that life is much easier with their famous No 7 around.The prodigal son returned to start his first match since his Achilles injury in the Carabao Cup final on March 22, and needed just 45 minutes to take care of the afternoon’s business. A cross swept on to the toes of Viktor Gyokeres for the first goal, a shot w...
The Telegraph •

Gonzalez stunner completes late Manchester City turnaround to crush Southampton’s FA Cup dreams

Pep Guardiola orchestrated this FA Cup semi-final victory, with his late changes eventually resulting in Nico González scoring a once-in-a-lifetime winner. He did so while wearing a bespoke hoodie emblazoned with “P” to commemorate his 10 years at Manchester City.Having a self-inspired fashion collection feels more fitting of a manager who has already left the building. Some believe this could be Guardiola’s final season and if that is the case, he has made the national stadium a second home for...
The Telegraph •

Ollie Watkins eyes World Cup spot after joining Aston Villa’s 100 club

Ollie Watkins says he is targeting a place in Thomas Tuchel’s England World Cup squad this summer, after rewriting the Aston Villa record books against Bologna.Watkins scored his 100th goal for the club as Unai Emery’s side cruised into the Europa League semi-final where they will meet Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest who beat Porto in their quarter-final.It meant Watkins became the first player in 66 years to reach the landmark for Villa. The last man to do that was the Northern Ireland...
The Telegraph •

Ten goals and 73 shots: Bayern knock out Real Madrid in one of great European ties

By the time Luis Díaz and Michael Olise put the finishing touches on an epic Champions League night, it was tempting to jeer them for stopping the fun.For neutrals, it felt cruel to be denied another 30 minutes of Bayern Munich versus Real Madrid. Not that anyone felt short-changed inside the Allianz Arena. This was one of the greatest Champions League double-headers in the competition’s history; 180 minutes of breathless entertainment ultimately decided by Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavin...
The Telegraph •

Rampant Man City can smell Arsenal’s blood in the title race

Manchester City have their “free soul” and as this Premier League title race tightens, as the pressure might become inhibiting, Rayan Cherki might be the liberating difference.Contrast his maverick brilliance, his individual spirit, with just how uptight and tense Arsenal feel right now. They certainly have no one like him or, more accurately, no one allowed to play like him.For 45 minutes, this was an undeniably dull and flat performance by City, lacking in inspiration. It would have been a fir...
The Telegraph •

Ngumoha shows Liverpool their future as Salah proves he still has something to offer

Liverpool supporters sang the names of their departing heroes during this straightforward victory over Fulham at Anfield, while also getting a glimpse of the future in the prodigious talent of Rio Ngumoha.Thomas Tuchel was asked during the international break about his plans to take Max Dowman, 16, to this summer’s World Cup, yet Ngumoha has put a case together as a wild card with his breakthrough season.He became Liverpool’s youngest league goalscorer at Anfield with a stunning strike, confusin...
The Telegraph •

Rosenior refuses to respond to Fernandez agent’s comments as Chelsea hit seven

It came as no surprise that Chelsea waltzed past the challenge of a side sitting 62 league places below them and into the FA Cup semi-finals, yet their 7-0 victory over Port Vale brought welcome positive sensations back to Stamford Bridge.Too many recent Premier League defeats, a crushing Champions League exit and the niggling acrimony caused by the recent comments of Enzo Fernández and other senior players have sapped the enthusiasm in this corner of west London in recent weeks.Manager Liam Ros...
The Telegraph •

Arne Slot will struggle to win back fans calling for Xabi Alonso

There was half an hour of this torturous afternoon still remaining for Arne Slot when the “oles” started and not too long after that the Manchester City supporters had trained their sights on Liverpool’s beleaguered manager.Chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning” reverberated around the Etihad Stadium as the locals revelled in taunting Slot as City cruised into an eighth successive FA Cup semi-final and, in doing so, subjected Liverpool to their 15th defeat of the season. It was the hea...
The Telegraph •

Dissected: The humiliating Newcastle blunders that gifted Barcelona victory

Newcastle United’s European adventure ended in humiliation at the hands of Barcelona and there is no guarantee they will be back in the Champions League any time soon.This was a catastrophic defensive display; an embarrassment. Newcastle’s blunders gifted Barcelona five of their seven goals. Kieran Trippier’s foul on Raphinha, with less than 30 seconds to play until half-time, turned the tide after Anthony Elanga’s double had twice pegged Barcelona back.Lamine Yamal converted the penalty and New...
The Telegraph •

Pep Guardiola fury as touchline meltdown lands him two-game ban

Pep Guardiola’s eyes bulged and his jaw tensed. He was furious, teetering on the brink as he squared up to the fourth official, barely able to contain his rage. He had just been shown a yellow card for dissent but the anger still fizzed inside him. He stood there and glared, fists clenched, chewing gum manically.For a few seconds it looked like Guardiola would explode and do something really stupid. His designer jacket had already been thrown to the floor as he held his head in his hands and scr...
The Telegraph •

Liverpool’s old guard and academy talent help right wrongs at Wolves

Liverpool spent more than £450m last summer to rebuild their team, but this was an evening for the elder statesmen and home-grown talent of the club. Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah, with their Premier League titles and Champions League winners’ medals, booked a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Curtis Jones, from the club’s academy, also scored.All three have attracted interest from other clubs, and their position as regular starters was not guaranteed after the signings made before the camp...
The Telegraph •

Anthony Gordon smashes Newcastle records after Eddie Howe’s tactical masterstroke

Anthony Gordon smashed records like Usain Bolt as Newcastle United demolished Qarabag in the Champions League.There has been some debate on Tyneside about Gordon’s value as a centre-forward given he has always been a winger, but as with most things Eddie Howe has done as Newcastle manager, the shift in role looks like a masterstroke.Gordon has had to grow into the role, but he now looks comfortable in the position and Newcastle are much better with and without the ball.









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