Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea may still be outside the top four but this weekend’s 2-1 win over table-topping Liverpool lightened the mood inside Stamford Bridge entering the October international break – and Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland was particularly impressed by one Blues star as they won late on.
The mood surrounding Maresca has taken a sour turn in recent times following a series of defeats – 3-1 to Bayern Munich, 2-1 to Manchester United and 3-1 to Brighton & Hove Albion – but a win over the Reds would’ve eased the pressure on his shoulders for now.
Moises Caicedo opened the goalscoring in the 14th with a beautifully-struck howitzer from outside the box before Cody Gakpo pegged the hosts back just after the hour mark at Stamford Bridge. Then, in dramatic fashion, teenage sensation Estevao popped up at the back stick to turn in Marc Cucurella’s cross.
Watch the highlights from Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Liverpool below:
Haaland Singles Out Chelsea Star Following 2-1 Win Over Liverpool
The Stamford Bridge faithful, elated at picking up three points against the reigning champions of the Premier League, erupted into raptures as a sea of blue shirts ran to celebrate with the match-winning 18-year-old. Even Chelsea boss Maresca joined the ruckus to earn himself his second yellow card of the evening.
At full-time, Estevao – who has earned the nickname ‘Messinho’ for his low centre of gravity and wicked turn of pace that allows him to beat players similarly to the Argentine – collapsed to the floor in jubilation.
The full-time noise was justified, too. Chelsea were a side who had gone an entire month without a win in the Premier League and Estevao’s last-gasp winner marked his breakthrough into proceedings, establishing himself as a key man for the reigning Europa Conference League and Club World Cup champions.
Haaland is among those captivated by the young phenomenon. The Manchester City striker watched the all-intense match-up and shared a snap of the Brazilian celebrating on his Snapchat – the picture was captioned ‘wonderkid’ as one of the greatest strikers in world football showed his seal of approval.
Chelsea have repeatedly relied on the brilliance of Cole Palmer since his arrival from Manchester City – but with the Englishman currently sidelined, Estevao could take over the mantle of stepping up in the more difficult moments, as evidenced by his latest display in Chelsea blue.
He initially agreed to join the west Londoners in the summer of 2025, but the 18-year-old – commonly admired as one of the best young players in the Premier League – remained at Palmeiras until he reached the age of 18 due to restrictions.
Plying his trade back in his homeland, the Brazilian became the youngest player to be named ESPN Brazil’s Player of the Year, while he also caught the attention of the Brazilian national team. He’s now chalked up seven caps for Brazil and the teenage sensation notched his first international goal in a 3-0 win over Chile.
Since switching Brazil for England officially, the blistering wide man has scored and assisted one apiece in nine appearances across all competitions. The 2007-born star has not hit the ground running like others have in the past, but delivering the final blow to Liverpool could be the start of something special.
WWE has revealed Roman Reigns‘ post-SummerSlam schedule, which has seemingly hinted at the possible outcome of this weekend’s match against Seth Rollins.
Reigns puts his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against his old foe, with the two once again meeting, only this time, with bigger stakes than ever before.
Reigns initially won the title back at WrestleMania, defeating CM Punk, before successfully defending his title against his cousin Jacob Fatu.
With an eagerly anticipated match-up at SummerSlam on the horizon, and Reigns’ schedule after the Premium Live Event revealed, it looks like the ending of this weekend’s clash may have already been spoiled.
Roman Reigns Takes on Seth Rollins at SummerSlam
Once again, the two former Shield members meet in the ring. A historic rivalry, and one which may be settled this weekend, as Rollins looks to take back his title.
The Visionary has been looking to regain gold ever since he was forced to relinquish it due to injury. Since then, Reigns has only kicked on, as he became champion in a legendary clash with CM Punk. It was so good that The Tribal Chief received his first-ever five-star match from Dave Meltzer.
What makes this weekend’s tussle all the more interesting is that the pair haven’t met one-on-one since Royal Rumble 2022. That night, Reigns retained the Universal Title. However, what bodes well for Rollins is, in one-on-one matches, he holds a slight edge, with five wins and four losses in their 10 matches.
Roman Reigns Post SummerSlam Schedule Revealed
Reigns’ next few months of appearances have already been revealed by WWE‘s social media page. He has already been confirmed to be at the Monday Night Raw after SummerSlam, which may be a sign that he will successfully retain his title and defeat Rollins. One quote tweet even said: “He shows up on Raw after SummerSlam lmaooo it’s so over for us.”
Outside the immediate aftermath, he is also set to appear two more times in August, on the 17th and the 28th, the latter being a double taping of Raw and SmackDown in Cleveland, Ohio.
However, the activity soon fades away, as he is only set to feature once in September. That event being in Mexico City on the 14th for Raw. Furthermore, he is only scheduled twice in October, though, one appearance will be at Money in the Bank. In the lead-up to the big event, he will be on Raw that same week, as it takes place in St Louis, Missouri.
With the news, some fans are fairly disappointed as it looks like Reigns is set to once again keep his championship. In addition to this, he also doesn’t seem to be too active after August, which also isn’t ideal.
He appears in the movie Street Fighter, which comes out in October. All the press for the movie may be a factor leading to this inactivity.
The Irishman returned to the Octagon for the first time in five years in Las Vegas, Nevada, though, the long-awaited fight with Holloway couldn’t have ended more abruptly and more disappointingly.
McGregor opened the fight up with a jumping switch kick. It’s fairly normal for him to begin proceedings with a flashy kick, only this time he buckled to the floor, with his knees unable to withstand the pressure.
In the aftermath of the fight, there was plenty of speculation regarding what happened, with Sutterer now posing more questions since seeing what McGregor has been doing following the injury.
Doctor Has Suspicions About Conor McGregor’s Injury
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas via Imagn Images
In the immediate aftermath of the fight at UFC 329, Sutterer gave his thoughts on the possible injury, saying: “So, actually seeing all this, my first thought would be a meniscus tear, specifically that lateral meniscus because of him grabbing on the outside of his knee.”
There was also speculation about whether or not McGregor was injured prior. He seemed fairly cautious at both the ceremonial weigh-ins and on the cage walk. However, the Irishman has since said that he wasn’t hindered in the lead-up.
Reflecting on the situation, Sutterer has now touched on the recovery and McGregor’s possible journey back to the Octagon, and he’s made an eye-opening claim about what the fighter has been doing in the aftermath.
“Starting to wonder what’s going on with Conor McGregor’s ACL tear. He’s posting a lot of pretty intense, knee-loading workout videos and seems to have great range of motion and function. If the plan is a return for IFW 2027, and he truly has a complete ACL tear, he needs to get that surgery done, and I’m surprised he hasn’t had it yet based on what’s been reported.”
Conor McGregor’s Future in UFC
With the anticlimactic ending of UFC 329, there’s no surprise that McGregor is eager to redeem himself. As Sutterer touched on, he’s been active on social media, posting some clips from his recovery.
In one of his posts, he talked about what may have led to the injury, and the intention of being back for next year.
“The white, orange and green machine, mosying on back to the office, up the office! Sorry I’m late, but the dry ice has the cage floor wet. It’s a no-contest now chop chop for the champ champ. I’ll see ya’s next year 100%.”
A trilogy fight with Holloway could be on the table. The Hawaiian fighter didn’t shut down the possible contest, saying: “He was talking about this 170 domain, he was talking about this different world. I wanna feel it. I’m down to come back in 2027.”
Both fighters seem to be looking for a return in 2027, so perhaps that could be the way forward.
Roberto De Zerbi has revealed that another signing at Tottenham Hotspur is imminent, with the club set to continue their busy start to the transfer window.
The Lilywhites have already added a number of players to their ranks, spending around £237 million in the process. Sandro Tonali has arrived from Newcastle United for £100 million, Mateus Fernandes has joined from West Ham for £85 million, while Jan Paul van Hecke was acquired from Brighton for £52 million.
On top of this, Martin Dubravka, Marcos Senesi and Andy Robertson have all signed on free transfers.
The attention now turns to strengthening the attack, and De Zerbi has told Spurs journalist Alasdair Gold that a new arrival is imminent.
New Tottenham Signing Imminent
Reuters/Andrew Couldridge
Tottenham have been heavily linked with Manchester City’s Savinho, although De Zerbi has hinted that another big signing could be N17-bound before the Brazilian.
“In the transfer market, when I want one player, I become like a shark, No chance to say no!” he told Football.London.
“The transfer market, it’s not finished for sure, but we completed 60% of our project in the transfer market. Now we have another bomba!”
