Scott Murray's Blog, page 2
August 24, 2025
Crystal Palace 1-1 Nottingham Forest: Premier League – as it happened
El Casico wasn’t a classic
2 min: Nothing doing on the pitch yet. In the stands, the Forest fans launch the first aural salvo, informing the home support that Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis “does what he wants”.
Palace get the ball rolling. El Casico is go!
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August 23, 2025
Arsenal 5-0 Leeds: Premier League – as it happened
Viktor Gyökeres and Jurriën Timber both score twice as the Gunners rout Leeds, though injuries to Martin Ødegaard and Bukayo Saka remove some of the gloss
Leeds get the ball rolling. Arsenal soon take it off them.
… and now the players ready for tonight emerge. Arsenal in their traditional red and white, Leeds in second-choice blue. A genuine buzz in the stadium, a heady mix of first-home-fixture-of-the-season excitement and new-signing thrill. We’ll be off soon, but just before kick-off, there’s a moment of applause in memory of former Arsenal director and board member Richard Carr, who died recently.
Continue reading...August 22, 2025
West Ham 1-5 Chelsea: Premier League – live reaction
Chelsea thrashed the Hammers to pile the pressure on Graham Potter
A big blow for Chelsea / boost for West Ham before kick-off. Cole Palmer has tweaked something in the warm-up, and is out. Estêvão, Chelsea’s new 18-year-old wing sensation, takes his creative brief.
Chelsea will sport their new third kit this evening. Take a quick glance, and you could be forgiven for thinking they’re cosplaying as Scotland. Closer inspection of the commemorative golden disc will however reveal two words that categorically clear up that particular confusion in double-quick time. Chelsea also become the latest club to go retro with their crest, reviving the mid-80s lion sprawled across the letters CFC, as though elegantly wasted on a chaise longue.
Continue reading...August 16, 2025
Wolves 0-4 Manchester City: Premier League – as it happened
Tijjani Reijnders announced himself to the Premier League with a goal, an assist, and a glorious dinked pass in the build-up to the opener. Not a bad debut, all told
4 min: City have settled quickly. They’re already dominating possession. Bobb slips Reijnders into space on the right but the £34m signing from Milan runs the ball out for a goal kick.
2 min: Doku scampers down the left and crosses deep. Haaland is lurking, so Moller Wolfe is taking no chances, and heads behind for the first corner of the match. Silva swings it in, but it’s cleared easily enough.
Continue reading...August 15, 2025
Liverpool 4-2 Bournemouth: Premier League season opener – as it happened
A heartfelt tribute to Diogo Jota, a wonderfully exciting topsy-turvy six-goal thriller between two front-foot teams … and some thoroughly depressing racial abuse directed at Antoine Semenyo
More from Iraola, this time on the £57m exit of centre-back Illia Zabarnyi … “It is difficult when someone like PSG, winning the Champions League, comes for one of your players … I knew it was going to happen … I am very happy for him but it will be a big miss.”
… and his replacement Bafode Diakite, a £34m capture from Lille just a couple of days ago … “He is a great defender … it is probably risky to start him away here! … but he has experience in the Champions League … he will know the atmosphere … it will be a big test for him because he doesn’t have connections, the things you need with a team-mate … but we trust the player and hope he performs well.”
Continue reading...August 13, 2025
Paris Saint-Germain 2-2 Tottenham (PSG win 4-3 on pens): Uefa Super Cup – as it happened
Lee 85, Ramos 90+4; Van de Ven 39, Romero 48
PSG become first French side to win Super Cup
The teams are out! Marquinhos leads out PSG with the European Cup in his arms. Cristian Romero heads the line for Spurs carrying the Europa League trophy. Both teams are in their first-choice garb: PSG in blue and red, Spurs in lilywhite. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
Pre-match postbag. “The stereotype of the Brazilian player is a hyper-skilled player who uses incredible dazzling talents to leave defenders grasping at air as they are left in the dust. As an Everton die-hard I loved Richarlison because he was so physical, such a bull, more English than Brazilian. The times he saved Everton from relegation with brutish, bloody-minded animal ferocity will always be loved by many Everton diehards” – Mary Waltz
Continue reading...August 8, 2025
Birmingham City 1-1 Ipswich Town: Championship opener – as it happened
Blues were the better team, but Ipswich kept fighting and snatched a point with an injury-time penalty
3 min: A bit of time and space for Anderson out on the left. He’s got four team-mates to find in the Ipswich box, but seriously overhits his cross, which sails harmlessly into the stand behind the goal.
2 min: A rare old atmosphere at St Andrew’s this evening. Expectation ahoy. A quiet start on the pitch, however.
Continue reading...August 3, 2025
The Women’s Open 2025: Miyū Yamashita wins at Porthcawl – as it happened
Miyū Yamashita holds off Charley Hull’s spirited charge at Royal Porthcawl
Rhodes scores hole-in-one as ball goes in-off snooker style
An opening bogey for Andrea Lee. Then the final pairing take to the course, with Kim A-lim and Miyū Yamashita parring the opening hole. Suddenly there’s a little bit of separation at the top of the leaderboard. Meanwhile Kim Sei-young rapidly undoes exactly half of all her good work on the front nine, with double bogey at 10. She slips back to -4, and that’s golf in a nutshell.
-9: Yamashita (1)
-8: AL Kim (1)
-6: Hull (2), Khang (2)
July 22, 2025
England 2-1 Italy (aet): Euro 2025 semi-final – as it happened
The champions looked to be going out in normal time but Michelle Agyemang rescued Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses before Chloe Kelly won it in extra time
You could argue that Italy are betting with house money tonight. According to our pre-tournament preview, their realistic aim was to “reach the knockout stage and if they succeed they will look to make their mark among Europe’s elite”, so in that respect all of their goals have already been met. England, as defending champions and second favourites, don’t have that free-hit luxury. “I suspect we’ll have some sort of an idea of what kind of evening we’re in for after about 62 seconds,” writes Adam K. “I’m hoping England are switched on from the start this time.”
If England are to progress, they’ll need to keep tabs on Cristiana Girelli. The veteran striker has scored 61 goals for her country in 122 appearances, the last two coming last Wednesday to secure victory against Norway. Sophie Downey profiles Le Azzurre’s talisman.
Continue reading...July 20, 2025
The Open 2025: Scottie Scheffler wins at Portrush – as it happened
Scottie Scheffler claims his fourth major with victory at Royal Portrush in the 153rd Open
Rory McIlroy is out and about, soundtracked by the usual ozone-layer-bothering roars. An iron straight down the middle. An approach straight down the middle and over the flag. He’ll have a 20-foot putt coming back for birdie. Matt Fitzpatrick has some work to do, though, having dispatched his tee shot into the rough down the left, then sent a flyer over the back of the green. Meanwhile Hideki Matsuyama’s eagle putt at 12 shaves the hole, Tyrrell Hatton’s bunkered tee shot at 2 leads to bogey, and here’s how the top of the leaderboard looks right now.
-14: Scheffler
-10: Li
-9: Fitzpatrick
-8: Matsuyama (12), R Hojgaard (3), Hatton (2), English (1), Gotterup (1), McIlroy
-7: DeChambeau (13), Fleetwood (11), Hall (7), MacIntyre (3), Henley (3), Schauffele (2)
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