12:40 PM ET One of the most important roles that advanced stats can play in sports conversation is helping us to understand what’s real and what isn’t. Luck and randomness play such a large part of a given outcome — especially in the two sports I write the most about, college football and soccer —

6:01 PM ET Harry Kettle The coronavirus pandemic has made the transfer market uncertain — and you can find out when the windows open and close here — but here are the rumours floating around Europe’s big leagues and beyond. Click here to check out all the latest major completed transfers across Europe. Barcelona consider

9:20 AM ET Jose Mourinho has said Tottenham‘s hectic fixture list is “not human” and that he could be forced to field a youth team in the Carabao Cup to cope with the workload. Spurs start their Premier League campaign with a home clash against Everton on Sept. 13, beginning a hectic period which could

6:16 PM ET Nick JuddTransfer writer The coronavirus pandemic has made the transfer market uncertain — and you can find out when the windows open and close here — but here are the rumours floating around Europe’s big leagues and beyond. Click here to check out all the latest major completed transfers across Europe. Two-way

2:44 PM ET It seems like only yesterday that the 2019-20 season was wrapping up (well, maybe a month?) across Europe but after a quick breather and some UEFA Nations League fixtures as a sporting aperitif, it’s time for the 2020-21 Premier League season to begin. There’s a lot to preview, too, with some clubs

1:03 PM ET It took Julian Nagelsmann a week to get over RB Leipzig‘s loss in the Champions League semifinals to Paris Saint-Germain. He talks through their wins over Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid with me on Zoom, and evaluates where they fell short against PSG; you can sense him playing the matches again in

4:46 AM ET Gabriel Marcotti Think back, a little less than six months ago, and you’ll journey to apocalyptic predictions about the future of football. This was a time when leagues had stopped and it wasn’t clear whether they’d be returning at all; a time when a KPMG study suggested that the Big Five leagues

6:33 PM ET Just over an hour before kick-off at the Telia Parken Stadium, Gareth Southgate gently paced inside the centre circle of an otherwise empty pitch. It is difficult to know which was more ponderous: the England manager in those moments or the midfield performance that followed in a 0-0 draw in Copenhagen. Southgate

12:03 PM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent Manchester United‘s hopes of having fans back at Old Trafford for the start of the new season have been dented after the UK government and the Premier League both urged caution over test events. Talks have taken place over permission to use United’s game against Crystal Palace on Sept. 19

12:58 AM ET Portland Timbers star Sebastian Blanco will miss the remainder of the MLS season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, the club confirmed on Tuesday. The midfielder suffered the injury in the Timbers’ 2-1 win over rivals the Seattle Sounders on Sunday and will undergo surgery on Sept. 14 to fix the tear