A summary of Saturday's action in the Premier League.
Timo Werner scored his first goal of the season as a much-changed Chelsea side crept into the fourth round of the League Cup by beating Aston Villa 4-3 on penalties after the Stamford Bridge clash ended 1-1 on Wednesday.
Arsenal took the race to the final day last season and are strongly tipped to end Manchester City's dominance this time.
Brighton & Hove Albion scored three times in the second half to fight back from two goals down and beat Manchester City
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard believes his side are a long way short of the levels of Premier League Champions Liverpool and Manchester City, who have set the benchmark in terms of consistency. Lampard's Chelsea, currently third in the league, visit title winners Liverpool on Wednesday, chasing the three points they need to secure Champions League football next season.
Headed goals from Anthony Martial and captain Harry Maguire earned Manchester United a hard-fought 2-0 win at toothless Chelsea on Monday amid more VAR controversy, putting them back in the hunt for a top-four Premier League finish. The VAR system made the headlines once again after two Chelsea efforts were ruled out and England international Maguire escaped sanction for a kick out at Michy Batshuayi.
Argentina host Chile at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires on September 5 before facing Colombia five days later in Barranquilla.
Liverpool's slim Premier League title hopes faded further on Saturday when Michail Antonio's late header earned West Ham United a deserved point with a 2-2 draw.
West Bromwich Albion secured a stunning 5-2 win over 10-man Chelsea at Stamford Bridge
Manchester City defender John Stones headed a controversial stoppage-time winner in a 2-1 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday that took them top of the Premier League and set a club record of 31 league games unbeaten.
Ruben Amorim is set to become the next manager of Manchester United with the Premier League club prepared to pay Sporting the 10 million euros ($10.79 million) release clause, the Portuguese club said on Tuesday.
Chelsea have made the first major transfer move ahead of next season after reaching an agreement with Germany's highly-rated RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner. The Premier League club announced on Thursday that they had struck an agreement with Leipzig on a transfer fee and on personal terms with the player, who had been strongly linked with a move to European champions Liverpool.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Chelsea have already opened the hotel on their Stamford Bridge stadium site to National Health Service staff in London, while the men's squad have donated money to the Chelsea Foundation to help support those in need during the crisis.
The couple, who got engaged in early 2023 in South Africa, shared their joyous news on Instagram with a combined post.
The 28-year-old's move from Serie A to the Champions League holders is expected to be 97.5 million pounds ($135.26 million).
A summary of Sunday's action in the Premier League.
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
Chelsea extended their impressive turnaround under new coach Thomas Tuchel with a 2-0 home win over in-form Everton on Monday as Kai Havertz played a key role in both goals on his return to the starting 11.
Images from Wednesday's action in the Champions League.
Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham scored a late opportunist double to secure a 3-0 home win for Chelsea over West Ham United in the English Premier League on Monday.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah ended his Premier League goal drought in style by scoring twice as the champions raided the capital again to crush West Ham United 3-1 on Sunday.
Several Chelsea players have not returned for pre-season training after testing positive for COVID-19, according to reports in British media.
Alexander Isak's early headed goal lifted Newcastle to a 1-0 victory over Arsenal on Saturday at St. James' Park, as Eddie Howe's men delivered a blow to Arsenal's title chase with their first win in six Premier League outings.
"Some decisions were not on our side," he said. "I think we were several times punished."
Imperious Liverpool extended their Premier League home winning streak against Arsenal to six on Saturday with an easy 4-0 victory that lifted them to second in the table.
Protests erupted in Minneapolis and other US cities on Tuesday after George Floyd, an African-American man, died following his arrest by the police.
Soccer's player transfer system will be in the spotlight and could even be on the brink of collapse on Friday when the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) announces its ruling on former France player Lassana Diarra's case against FIFA.
Lampard must re-energise the team to even hold onto Chelsea's tag as best of the rest behind Premier League champions Manchester City and runners-up Liverpool.
Chelsea have signed Germany's highly-rated attacking midfielder Kai Havertz from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen on a five-year contract, the Premier League club announced on Friday.
A consortium led by LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly and backed by Clearlake Capital has won the bid to acquire Premier League club Chelsea in a deal worth up to 4.0 billion pounds, Britain's Telegraph newspaper reported on Friday.
Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League following a 3-0 defeat at Bayern Munich on Wednesday, failing to make it past the group stage of the competition for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
The travel ban was extended on Tuesday until March 2.
Chelsea got their Premier League campaign on track after 20-year-old right back Reece James helped them to a 3-1 win at Brighton & Hove Albion with a spectacular goal on Monday.
Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United enjoyed comfortable wins in the English Premier League on Saturday as fans returned to stadiums after an eight-month absence.
IMAGES from the Premier League matches played on Saturday.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
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