paulmbanks, Author at The Bank

West Ham United vs Everton FC Team News, Rice, Masuaku, James

May 7, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

West Ham United hosts Everton FC on Sunday, in a match-up of two sides that desperately need points in order to reach their European qualification goals of this season. The Hammers have a golden opportunity to pull level on points with fourth place Chelsea this weekend, as the Blues will visit a very fired up Manchester City squad.

Taking points from a visit to the Etihad is always a tough proposition, but when the Cityzens have the added motivation of clinching the league title with a W, well it’s even more formidable.

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Filed Under: Football/Soccer

New Sir Alex Ferguson Film Premiering on UCL Final Day

May 6, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Thursday saw Manchester United qualify for a European final as they finished off AS Roma in the UEFA Europa League semifinals. Yes, they lost 3-2, but with the 6-2 advantage from the first leg, they went through 8-5 on aggregate. Had Arsenal actually been able to take care of business, we would have ended up with two all-England European finals.

It would have been an all European Super League final four too! In other Manchester United news today, a new documentary, about club patriarch Sir Alex Ferguson, was announced.

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Filed Under: Football/Soccer, Manchester United

Eden Hazard in Trouble for Celebrating with ex-Chelsea Teammates

May 6, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Real Madrid supporters are still waiting for Eden Hazard to produce at their club in the manner that he has in all the previous stops of his career. The Belgian has not come even remotely close to living up to his stellar reputation nor his astronomical price tag.

Given what happened last night, in Madrid’s 2-0 loss to Chelsea and thus elimination from the Champions League, we could say now that Hazard may never live up to the hype at Madrid. Hazard was caught laughing and smiling with his former Chelsea teammates after they knocked his current team out of the UCL semifinal. There’s probably no coming back from this.

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Filed Under: Chelsea, Football/Soccer

Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction at Manchester City

May 6, 2021 By paulmbanks 2 Comments

Chelsea visits Manchester City on Saturday for a blockbuster Premier League fixture that will be the third meeting between the two sides this season. An even bigger edition of the series, the fourth match between these two clubs in 20/21, will transpire on May 29 when they meet in the UEFA Champions League final.

Chelsea leads the all time series with 69 wins to City’s 59. They’ve played to a draw 39 times. Earlier this season, Chelsea ousted City from the FA Cup in the semifinal round while City cruised past Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge the last time these two sides met in the Premier League.

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Filed Under: Chelsea, Football/Soccer, Manchester City

Chelsea FC Team News vs Manchester City: Mateo Kovacic

May 6, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Chelsea and Manchester City will meet this Saturday in the Premier League competition, and that means when they clash in Istanbul later this month it will marke the third time the two English giants have met, in three different competitions, in a span of just six weeks. On Tuesday night, Man City eliminated PSG and advanced to the tournament final.

Last night saw Chelsea FC become the first club to send both their men’s and women’s teams to the UCL final in the same season, as the men ousted 13 time European Cup/Champions League winners Real Madrid.

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Filed Under: Chelsea, Football/Soccer, Manchester City

Christian Pulisic to Become the First American to Play in a UCL Final

May 6, 2021 By paulmbanks 1 Comment

We’ll have an all-English UEFA Champions League final this season as Chelsea will face Manchester City in Istanbul on May 29. Kickoff time has not been set, but most likely it will be 7 GMT/2 EST. It will be televised on BT Sport in the UK and CBS in the US.

This match will mark the first time that an American will feature in the UCL final, in Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic. Captain America came on tonight in the 67′ as a substitute and closed the game out. Up 1-0, Chelsea were looking for breathing room, up 1-0 in the match and 2-1 in the tie, but needing one more scoring strike to finish Real Madrid off.

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Filed Under: Chelsea, Football/Soccer

2021 MLB Mock Draft Version 1.0

May 5, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The Major League Baseball Draft is July 11-13. Welcome to our first 2021 MLB mock draft, team needs have not been taken into account at this time. Some player descriptions have been filled out, but the others will be completed at a later date.

You can find out which way BetQL’s model is picking for tonight’s MLB games by checking out their site. They have the latest in in-depth baseball prediction model analysis, and what is a mock draft, but very predictive analytics.

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Filed Under: Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, MLB, New York Yankees

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Says Sunday Fan Demonstration Went Too Far

May 5, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Entering last weekend Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stated his belief that the club’s fans have the right to protest, but that they must be peaceful in doing so. This past Sunday was anything but peaceful as a couple hundred or so United supporters broke into Old Trafford, stormed the pitch, committed vandalism and reportedly injured a dozen police officers.

The chaos that resulted after the fan demonstration against Glazer family ownership of the club got United’s home match with Liverpool canceled, and on Wednesday Solskjaer reaffirmed his position.

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Filed Under: Football/Soccer, Manchester United

United Owner Avram Glazer Refuses to Apologize for Super League Plot

May 5, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Manchester United are still picking up the pieces after Sunday, when a group of supporters stormed Old Trafford, crashed the pitch, committed vandalism and got the biggest game in England canceled.

This belligerent subset of the United fan base showcased their discontent for the club’s ownership, the Glazer family, and got the Liverpool match called off. MUFC manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said the Sunday demonstration went “too far.” In the wake of all this, Sky News caught up to Avram Glazer, one of the club’s owners, but he refused to speak with them.

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Filed Under: Football/Soccer, Manchester United

Thomas Tuchel Preparing as if He Might Face Sergio Ramos

May 4, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel met the media today ahead of tomorrow night’s Champions League semifinal second leg against Real Madrid. The session yielded two major topics of newsworthiness- the potential return of team captain Sergio Ramos, and a potential contract extension for the Blues boss.

The west London club have the home field advantage tomorrow night, plus an away goal from the first leg. However, Tuchel knows that the Reyes Del Europa (Kings of Europe) are going to pose a tougher challenge in the return game now that they’ll have their central defender star man back in the fold.

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Filed Under: Chelsea, Football/Soccer

Michigan LHP Steven Hajjar: MLB Draft First Round Prospect Profile

May 4, 2021 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

There is a lot of varying opinion about where Michigan Wolverines left-handed pitcher Steven Hajjar might go in this summer’s Major League Baseball draft. There is consensus though that he’s the most blue chip prospect in the Big Ten.

His MLB Draft stock is actually much higher than anyone else in the league, and his status as a lefty no doubt as something to do with that, as there is always a premium placed on southaw prospects. All drafts are just a roll of the dice, you never know what you’re going to get, and the baseball draft is no different.

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Filed Under: Michigan Wolverines, MLB