Preseason football gets underway in Southern California as the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angels Rams battle for supremacy in the City of Angels. Both squads had disappointing seasons a year ago, but to a much different effect. 

The Chargers went 10-7 in a strong regular season before utterly collapsing in a humiliating playoff loss in the Wild Card Round. The Rams bottomed out at 5-12, a steep decline and direct inverse of the year prior when they went 12-5 in the regular season and went on the become Super Bowl champs. 

Looking at the NFL odds, the Rams are actually a slight favorite at home for this preseason opener. How can that possibly be the case? I explain that and more in my full NFL picks and predictions for Chargers vs. Rams on Saturday,…

It’s taken 10 games, but bettors are finally bullish on the Bears. Chicago enters tonight’s contest against the reeling Carolina Panthers as 3.5-point home favorites. It’s an unfamiliar position for Matt Eberflus & Co., who have lost seven of their first nine outings and are sporting a dreary -54 point differential. The main reason for optimism in the Windy City is that the 1-7 Panthers have been even worse. Carolina is winless on the road and gave up 42 points in each of its last two games away from the friendly confines of Bank of America Stadium.

While there are a number of different subscription-based TV channels and streaming services available to watch this game… did you know that you can also live stream Panthers vs. Bears directly from legal sports bet…

The Baltimore Ravens will host the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship on Sunday, with Zay Flowers and the Baltimore offense poised to give the Chiefs serious problems at home this weekend.

Flowers emerged as the leading target for quarterback Lamar Jackson this season, as the rookie wide receiver out of Boston College added another weapon to an already potent attack. The Ravens are a small favorite in the NFL odds this weekend, and Baltimore will likely need to balance its offense as much as possible to punch its ticket in the Super Bowl odds.

We’ll look at what that game plan might look like in my NFL picks for Zay Flowers’ odds. 

Make sure to also check out our Chiefs vs. Ravens betting preview, AFC Championship props, and spotlight…

The Detroit Lions host the Seattle Seahawks tonight at Ford Field.

Seattle has gone a perfect 3-0 to begin the year but my Seahawks vs. Lions predictions expect that unbeaten streak to end in Week 4. Here are my best free NFL picks for Monday Night Football on September 30. 

Seahawks vs Lions MNF prediction

My best betLions -3.5 (-115 at FanDuel)

My analysis

When it comes right down to it, the Seattle Seahawks aren’t as good as their 3-0 record would suggest. Likewise, the Detroit Lions aren’t as bad as they’ve looked at times this year, and they’re still 2-1. 

The Seahawks certainly aren’t as dominant on defense as the stats indicate. They’ve benefitted from playing against a trio of terrible quarterb…

Early global 2010 World Cup ticket applications are strong but South African hosts have been slow in securing seats to the curtain-raiser Confederations Cup, organisers said Tuesday.

More than 506,000 worldwide online applications for World Cup tickets had been made since ticket applications opened on February 20.

The tremendous response is extremely exciting and gives us a great deal of confidence, said Irvin Khoza, chairman of the local organising committee.

It is now even more important for us to ensure that the Confederations Cup will be a success, he said.

Only 170,000 of the 646,000 available tickets for the Confederations Cup, traditionally seen as a curtain-raiser to the world s top football event, have been sold ahead of the eight nation tourn…

The new Ligue 1 season kicks off on Friday, with Monaco taking on Lyon in the opening match.

The transfer window in France does not shut until September 2, but it appears most teams in France s top flight have attempted to get their business done in time for the start of the new campaign.

Paris Saint-Germain cruised to the league title last season, though with uncertainty over Neymar s future will Thomas Tuchel s side find things so easy this season?

We look at the five best signings by Ligue 1 clubs heading into 2019-20.

Welcome, Joachim Andersen!

— OL English (@OL_English)

5. Joachim Andersen (Lyon)

Danish youngster Andersen enjoyed a breakthrough season in Serie A last term, impressing at the heart of Sampdoria s defence.…

As we gear up for matchday three in the Women s Super League, the chasing pack have an opportunity to make ground on Chelsea and Manchester United, who are both unbeaten so far.

The Opta Supercomputer is here to give the inside track on whom the winners and losers may be as we look ahead to each match-up.

Chelsea and United will not be in action due to fixture congestion as a result of the Blues Women s Champions League fixture on Tuesday next week. This will therefore be an early chance for Manchester City, Tottenham, and Arsenal to make inroads.

WSL history could be made this weekend too – if Jordan Nobbs laces up her boots and is selected for Aston Villa in their match away at Brighton, she will break the record for all-time appearances.

If Nobbs is …

Sunderland Manager Steve Bruce will expect his charges to maintain their great home form whilst Brian Laws will expect his Burnley team to fight for their lives with relegation beginning to look like a likelihood.

Sunderland had such a slump in the mid part of the season it is hard to believe that they have picked up enough points this season to be effectively safe with a handful of games to go, but such is their home form, with only two home defeats all season, that they deserve their retained status for this factor alone. Much has been down to the goalscoring exploits of Darren Bent, who is still pushing for an England place with 22 goals this season in the Premierleague. Sunderland have a fairly strong squad to pick from but injury doubts remain over the excellent but injury…

Marco Verratti has come to the defence of his Paris Saint-Germain and Italy team-mate Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The goalkeeper came in for criticism following PSG s recent Champions League elimination at the hands of Real Madrid, in particular for his error that led to Karim Benzema scoring the Spanish side s first goal at the Santiago Bernabeu in an eventual 3-2 aggregate loss for the Parisians.

Donnarumma has conceded six goals in his last two club appearances, but ahead of Italy s World Cup qualifying play-off against North Macedonia, Verratti wants Azzurri fans to remember his performances during the run to winning Euro 2020.

We need to be confident. Thursday will be an important match against a team that deserves to be here, Verratti told a news conference.<…

Manchester City will face Wigan Athletic in a re-run of the 2013 FA Cup final as the Premier League heavyweights avoided one another in the fifth-round draw.

Ben Watson s late header gave Wigan a shock 1-0 win at Wembley on that occasion, a result that preceded Roberto Mancini s dismissal as City manager.

The Latics, now in League One, claimed a top-flight scalp at the weekend as Will Grigg s brace saw off West Ham 2-0, while Pep Guardiola s men maintained their pursuit of honours on four fronts with a 2-0 victory at Cardiff City.

City were chasing a domestic treble in 2013-14 before Wigan beat them 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium in round six of that season s FA Cup.

Manchester United will travel to either Huddersfield Town or Birmingham City after Alexis…