Romelu Lukaku has returned to Chelsea.

Seven years after leaving Stamford Bridge, the Belgium forward has become one of Europe s leading strikers, and the Blues have now paid a club-record fee – believed to be £97.5million (€115m) – to secure his signature.

Lukaku leaves Inter having led them to their first Serie A title in more than a decade, scoring 24 goals for the Nerazzurri in Serie A last term.

The 28-year-old brings strength, pace and supreme finishing to Thomas Tuchel s side – arguably the one area of Chelsea s squad that was lacking last term, albeit they still went on to win the Champions League.

Chelsea are not shy of attacking talent, with Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech having all arrived in 2020, while Mason Mount thrived …

Congo booked their first Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final since 1992 with a 2-1 win over Burkina Faso to top Group A.

Thievy Bifouma helped book Congo s place in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals with the opening goal in their 2-1 win over Burkina Faso on Sunday.

For the first time since 1992, Congo have progressed to the last eight of the tournament after Claude Le Roy led them to the top of Group A with seven points.

A quiet opening 4
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5 minutes saw Burkina Faso have the better of the chances, but they were punished early in the second half.

Thievy put his body on the line to meet Ferebory Dore s low cross, the striker sandwiched between Steeve Yago and goalkeeper Germain Sanou as he registered his second goal of the tournamen…

One of the biggest QB matchups of the year is Saturday night, when Justin Herbert takes on Russell Wilson a… wait. This is a preseason game, and the Los Angeles Chargers had already decided Herbert wasn’t going to play in the preseason while the Seattle Seahawks star may or may not make an appearance.

Regardless, there’s still NFL betting action to be had when the Chargers and Seahawks meet at Lumen Field in Seattle. This will be their final preseason games before the start of the NFL regular season, so both of these teams will want to go into the year on a positive note.

Will Los Angeles hang around against Seattle without most of its starters? Find out in our Chargers vs. Seahawks preseason picks and predictions for Saturday, August 28, with kickoff set fo…

Welcome to December football. With Thanksgiving in the rearview, the 2021 NFL betting slate officially slides into winter like Tom Brady scrambling for a first down on a broken play. 

With three months of results, data, and trends behind us, the Week 13 lines are pretty sharp. But if your modest models and predictive power ratings are coming up short against the spread, try shopping for that perfect spot this holiday season. 

We’re talking about NFL spot bets: uncovering value hiding in the schedule. These are our top letdown, look-ahead, and schedule spots for Week 13 betting.

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A quick rundown of the NFL standings sees 14 teams with 2-2 records entering Week 5, including the entire NFC West. 

That’s almost half the league splitting their first four games of the 2022 season. Parity seems to be the name of the game, as even those clubs that top the tables are far from invincible. 

There are still a number of questions unanswered as football bettors enter October and if things are going to be this tight, we need to find some subtle angles to get the best of the bookies.

Situational betting — AKA spot bets — is another layer of analysis to add to your clubhouse sandwich of capping, weighing how the schedule could impact the outcome when betting NFL Week 5 odds.

Here are my top spot bets: Letdown,…

It’s hard out there for a running back… and maybe even harder to bet on RB NFL player props.

Between the number of injured stars and depleted offensive lines, we’re left with few appealing options for backfield bets — and even fewer instances of the NFL odds offering great values in the RB market.

It’s a wasteland of RB committees and game-script-dependent backs (with ugly game scripts looming this week), but I think I’ve found one back with Week 4 odds to bet on, but otherwise I’m sticking to the pass-catchers to keep delivering as per usual.

After targeting a trio of WR yesterday, today I’ve got two more wideouts (plus one RB for balance) to cash in vs. juicy matchups this week — read on to see why they’re my fav…

After a brief hiatus last week, the Sack and Tackle Props column is back in action for Week 14 odds. Yours truly took a trip to Vegas, but now I’m ready to dive into the NFL odds for defensive player props.

Speaking of Sin City, I have a play on this week’s game in Vegas as the Raiders face a Vikings safety that has been filling up the stat sheet.

I’m also riding a red-hot Bucs rookie and backing Dolphins end Bradley Chubb in a juicy Monday Night matchup versus Tennessee. Here are my best free sack and tackle NFL picks for Week 14.

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The Carolina Panthers were a blackhole for bankrolls in 2023, finishing 2-15 SU and 4-11-2 against the spread, the worst bet in the NFL.

The funny thing about bad teams is that they eventually get so bad, they become good bets. The market swings so drastically that even the worst wagers can’t collapse under all those extra points. 

We’ve seen the ATS fortunes of bad football teams flip-flop season to season, and the Panthers definitely have the point-packed lines to do so in 2024. Carolina is an underdog in every game, drawing an average spread of +4.

Futures odds and win totals don’t have much faith in the Panthers making a 180 pivot under new head coach Dave Canales, but can Carolina at least cover some spreads?

It’…

Mauricio Pochettino has told Nicolas Jackson to be smarter and stop picking up yellow cards for complaining to referees, with the Chelsea striker already only one booking from a one-match ban.

Although the former Villarreal forward has shown plenty of promise since joining Chelsea for £32m in June, he has struggled to keep his emotions in check at times and has been booked four times in six appearances. Each caution has been for talking back to the officials and Jackson, who has scored once, has been warned about his behaviour by Pochettino.

Premier League team news: predicted lineups for the weekend actionRead more

It is a worry for Chelsea’s head coach, who also spoke to Enzo Fernández about improving his disci…

Atletico Madrid will have an early showdown with Real Madrid as they take on their rivals in the second month of the 2019-20 LaLiga campaign.

Diego Simeone s side have finished behind Barcelona in successive seasons in Spain but will be aiming to go one better this time around.

Atletico are expected to lose striker Antoine Griezmann to reigning champions Barca, though the club-record signing of Joao Felix from Benfica will help to fill the void.

And Los Rojiblancos have the opportunity to get some points on the board early doors as only one of their opening six opponents including promoted Mallorca finished in the top nine of the division last season.

Opening-day opponents Getafe will provide a tough early test, though, and Atletico also take on a…