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Arsène Wenger Confident Arsenal Can Prosper from Champions League Absence

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. (AFP)
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. (AFP)
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Arsène Wenger Confident Arsenal Can Prosper from Champions League Absence

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. (AFP)
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. (AFP)

For Arsène Wenger, the boot is on the other foot – well, almost. The Arsenal manager flagged up a trend at the end of last season when he noted that Chelsea and Leicester City, the two most recent Premier League champions, were unencumbered by the demands of European football during their triumphant campaigns.

“Because the league is so physically difficult, maybe it is very difficult to cope with both,” Wenger said. “We will see how Chelsea respond next season.”

Arsenal’s league campaign ended in frustration when they finished fifth, meaning they missed out on Champions League qualification for the first time since 1997. But at least they had freed themselves up for a clear run at the domestic title. Not quite.

One of the keys to Arsenal’s season will be how they contend with the Europa League, with the unique Thursday-Sunday scheduling that it entails. Will Wenger rest his first-choice players to have them firing for the more serious business of the league? Yes, he suggested. That would be the plan.

“I will always play a team that has a good chance to win the next game,” Wenger said. “In the Europa League, if we can afford sometimes to rest some players, we will do it. But we have to adapt to the level of the competition and see, first, what kind of group we play in.”

Wenger had earlier been asked how he felt before a season with no Champions League football. “For us, it is a good opportunity to focus completely on the Premier League,” he replied.

The manager has signposted his intentions and it may be a popular move to give some of the club’s younger players – such as Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock – an opportunity in the Europa League. Wenger intends to sell a clutch of players, including Calum Chambers, Mathieu Debuchy, Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs and Lucas Pérez, but his squad will remain extremely deep.

Wenger offered further insight into his feelings towards the Europa League when he said the winners ought not to be granted entry into the Champions League. He even revealed he had voted against the proposal, which came into force in the 2014-15 season. To him, a big club should not view the Europa League as a kind of insurance policy in terms of Champions League qualification.

“You cannot go into the season and think that,” Wenger said. “I was always against it [the Europa League winners qualifying for the Champions League] because, at some stage, it can influence the championship. If a team is in a position in April where they have more chance to win the Europa League, they can let some games go in the championship and not completely focus on the regularity of the competition.

“Apart from Manchester United last season, who won the Europa League [having started in the competition], all the years before it was always a team who was kicked out of the Champions League [that won it]. That’s why, when we voted in Geneva [for the route into the Champions League], I was always against it.”

Wenger’s numbers do not bear scrutiny. Since the format of the Europa League – then the Uefa Cup – was changed in 1999-2000, only seven clubs have lifted the trophy after dropping down from the Champions League. Arsenal almost won it in that first season, after entering through the Champions League, only to lose the final to Galatasaray on penalties.

Wenger’s team finished last season 18 points adrift of Chelsea but they showed in the FA Cup final they could get the better of them over 90 minutes. “Last year, Chelsea did not play in the European Cup and, certainly, they were a bit more consistent in the Premier League,” Wenger said. “In the final, we have shown that the gap was not as high, maybe. I expect Chelsea to fight for the championship again and for us, when we have made 75 points, as we did last season, the target is to get 10 points more. With 10 points more, you are in there.”

Wenger is still there, in situ at the Emirates Stadium after all of the uncertainty over his contract renewal last season, and he is gripped by that eternal optimism. “I am sorry I am still here,” he said, with a smile. “I can understand that you want to kill me but, at the moment, I survive.”

The Guardian Sport

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Sports

Tottenham Signs Savinho from Man City to Take Summer Spending to More Than $400M

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - March 7, 2026 Manchester City's Savinho celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - March 7, 2026 Manchester City's Savinho celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough/File Photo
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Tottenham Signs Savinho from Man City to Take Summer Spending to More Than $400M

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - March 7, 2026 Manchester City's Savinho celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - March 7, 2026 Manchester City's Savinho celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough/File Photo

Tottenham took its summer spending to more than $400 million by signing Brazil winger Savinho from Manchester City on Tuesday in a deal worth 85 million pounds ($115 million).

During this transfer window, Spurs have already brought in Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali from Newcastle for a reported club-record fee of 100 million pounds ($133 million), days after purchasing another midfielder in Mateus Fernandes from West Ham for 85 million pounds (then $113 million).

The summer refresh under Roberto De Zerbi — setting out on his first full season in charge of Tottenham — now includes the 22-year-old Savinho, who joined City in 2024 for 40 million euros ($43.6 million) from sister club Troyes but hasn't lived up to expectations.

He scored two goals in 53 Premier League appearances and didn’t make Brazil’s squad for this year’s World Cup.

Referring to a transfer saga that has lasted most of this summer, Savinho said in a Tottenham statement: “It’s taken a while but I’m very happy to be here.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity at a brilliant club with one of the best managers in the world. As soon as I spoke to the head coach, I knew I had to come. He told me he wants to help me reach the highest level, and I believe we can do that together, as a team,” The Associated Press quoted him as saying.

De Zerbi hailed Savinho's “energy, imagination and quality,” saying: “He has the courage to attack defenders and the ability to change a game with his creativity.”

Tottenham began the Premier League season by fielding a much-changed starting lineup, containing Tonali and fellow new signings Jan Paul van Hecke, Marco Senesi and Andy Robertson, in a 3-0 loss at Brentford.

Spurs are rivaling Chelsea as the heaviest spenders in European soccer this transfer window.

It's another big sale by Man City Recently hired City manager Enzo Maresca said last week that Savinho had told him “since day one” that he wanted to leave.

It's a club-record sale from City, which also allowed Spain captain Rodri to join Barcelona in a deal worth 76.5 million euros ($88.5 million), has sold midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, goalkeeper James Trafford and defender Nathan Ake, and released stalwarts John Stones and Bernardo Silva this offseason.

The only senior outfield addition has been England midfielder Elliot Anderson, for a reported club-record fee of 116 million pounds ($155 million).

The transfer window shuts next Tuesday and there are likely to be a number of incomings at City before then, including potentially Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi.

Sports

Attacking Trio Can Be Chelsea’s Heart, Alonso Says After Debut Win

Football - Premier League - Fulham v Chelsea - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - August 24, 2026 Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Fulham v Chelsea - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - August 24, 2026 Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
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Attacking Trio Can Be Chelsea’s Heart, Alonso Says After Debut Win

Football - Premier League - Fulham v Chelsea - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - August 24, 2026 Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Fulham v Chelsea - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - August 24, 2026 Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso celebrates after the match. (Reuters)

Chelsea coach Xabi Alonso toasted ‌his winning debut in the Premier League by praising his front line of Joao Pedro, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer who put on a masterclass of attacking football in a 3-2 London derby win at Fulham on Monday.

"They are going to be a very important part to build around them, to build the team with them," the Spaniard told reporters.

"They need to take responsibility. They need to lead the rest. They need to inspire the rest because if they do great, the other ones will follow."

Joao Pedro put Chelsea ahead after 31 seconds when he latched onto a pass from Palmer, who was back in ‌the kind of ‌dazzling form that stunned the Premier League after his ‌move ⁠from Manchester City ⁠in 2023.

The Brazilian repaid the favor early in the second half when he set up Palmer to make it 3-1 to the visitors with an angled shot that flew between the legs of goalkeeper Bernd Leno.

That was after Rogers – the club’s record signing over the close season from Aston Villa - had marked his debut for the Blues by restoring their lead in the 41st minute.

Goals from Fulham’s ⁠Josh King and Gonzalo Garcia kept the hosts in ‌the game until the end but Chelsea’s ‌18 shots – six on target – helped send the visiting fans home confident of a big ‌improvement on last season’s dismal 10th-place finish.

The Chelsea supporters happily dusted off ‌their Cole Palmer song – something that was not heard much during that last campaign as he struggled with injury.

"I'm very happy for Cole because I have really enjoyed seeing him playing with this dynamism, with this freedom, with this responsibility, helping the team, ‌feeling important, and we need that for the team,” Alonso said.

"If Cole feels this way, we'll have a ⁠better team, a ⁠better Chelsea."

Fulham boss Alvaro Arbeloa - a former Liverpool and Spain teammate of Alonso who was also making his Premier League debut as a coach - said his side had made the challenge of facing Chelsea all the more difficult by conceding so early.

But he praised his players for sticking to his plan for an energetic, high-pressure approach which could have been rewarded with another equalizer to make it 3-3 had Antonee Robinson kept his lob over keeper Robert Sanchez on target.

"My players they did what they had to do," Arbeloa said. "I can’t be happy because we lost this game. We wanted to win for our fans. But I think this is the way that we have to play ... We're going to play in this way ... no matter who is in front of us."

Sports

Roger Federer Is Coming Back to Play at the US Open, but Not Interested in Coming Back to Pro Tennis

Swiss former tennis player Roger Federer (front) arrives to practice on the main court at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, US, 24 August 2026. (EPA)
Swiss former tennis player Roger Federer (front) arrives to practice on the main court at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, US, 24 August 2026. (EPA)
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Roger Federer Is Coming Back to Play at the US Open, but Not Interested in Coming Back to Pro Tennis

Swiss former tennis player Roger Federer (front) arrives to practice on the main court at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, US, 24 August 2026. (EPA)
Swiss former tennis player Roger Federer (front) arrives to practice on the main court at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, US, 24 August 2026. (EPA)

Roger Federer is actually nervous about his tennis.

The man who won five straight US Open championships during the height of his dominance of the sport is set to play again in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night for the first time since 2019. And he's not quite sure how the game that perhaps nobody ever made look more elegant will appear now.

“I haven’t played a singles set in, I don’t know, (Hubert) Hurkacz at Wimbledon maybe, so it’s been five years,” Federer said Monday, referring to his 2021 quarterfinal loss in his last Grand Slam match. “I don’t know how it’s going to go tomorrow. So, there is a lot of uncertainty but a lot of happiness that I can return to Arthur Ashe, a place where I have had so many beautiful moments.”

It's only one set of singles in an exhibition against Andy Roddick and one set of doubles with John McEnroe against Roddick and Andre Agassi. The winner of 20 Grand Slam singles titles should be fine for those.

But a return to tennis beyond that, competing in major tennis tournaments in his mid-40s like Venus and Serena Williams?

“No, no, no, no. No, not at all,” Federer said during a news conference. “Thanks for asking. I wasn’t sure if the question was going to get asked, but I’m happy you did so I can clarify in case anybody thought.”

At 45, Federer still looks fit, and said he enjoys working out in the gym. But he said he goes through long stretches where he is rarely on the court.

His lengthy absence from the US Open has done little to dampen his popularity, based on the amount of people around the grounds who were mentioning his name. The appearance of “Roger Federer” up on the big board for all to see again, ahead of his afternoon practice on Ashe, where Federer collected the trophy every year from 2004-08, was a welcome sight for his fans.

The trip to New York is a stop for Federer on his way to Newport, Rhode Island, where he will be enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Federer never really had the chance to say goodbye to New York as a player, because there was no way to know his loss to Grigor Dimitrov in the 2019 quarterfinals would be his last match. He had reached the French Open semifinals and the Wimbledon final earlier that year, falling to Rafael Nadal in Paris and then Novak Djokovic in a fifth-set tiebreaker at the All England Club.

It was easy to imagine him returning to the US Open the next year and making another deep run. But after falling to Djokovic in the semifinals of the Australian Open to begin 2020, he had knee surgery that February, then another procedure in May.

He returned to play in the French Open in 2021 but had to withdraw before his fourth-round match. After the loss to Hurkacz — where he appeared struggling and lost 6-0 in the third set — Federer had another knee surgery that August and knew there would be no more comebacks.

“The knee can’t do it anymore. It’s tired,” he recalled thinking. “The mind can’t be patient even more and wait for another couple years and see what happens.”

Federer knows Tuesday night won't be real tennis, joking that he and Roddick hopefully would be respectful and not try to drop shot each other. But it will be different from when he did return to Ashe a couple of years back to watch.

“They gave me an ovation because they saw me on the big screen, but I just feel, like, tomorrow and I guess today, as well, and Monday next week, it really gives me a true opportunity to say thank you and goodbye, which I think is important for some,” Federer said. "It’s a nice thing to do, for sure."