Johnny Phillips

It is never wise to read anything into pre-season results but Chelsea’s match with Manchester City on their American tour late last night could well give a few more pointers after a tricky pre-season so far for the West London club.

Brandon Thomas-Asante’s move proposed move to Coventry City for a fee of around £2.5million looks like a cut-price sale and does not send out a brilliant signal.

The Championship is back and while it can never compete with the Premier League for quality it usually surpasses the top flight for drama and competition.

With the new Premier League season now under way, supporters up and down the land begin the nine-month marathon full of hopes and fears.

The second feature so firmly entrenched in my memory was the sight of a wooden fishing boat! At first glance I thought of the fishermen who followed Jesus as His disciples or of the lord stilling the storm with such serene words as “Peace! Be still!” But in truth it really is a boat that was confiscated by the Maltese Army in the Mediterranean Sea. It had been used by smugglers attempting to bring refugees from Libya to Italy. But this boat at rest on the floor of this gigantic cathedral was a stark reminder of the desire masses of people have for freedom and the intensity of their search for that liberty. This small craft barely 22 feet in length was filled with 100 refugees with no protection from weather and allowing for no provisions — not even water.

When James Anderson retired from Test cricket, one of the remarkable statistics wheeled out to emphasise his greatness was the fact that he took 436 wickets over the age of 30.

Youri Tielemans wasn’t the only one praising Amadou Onana after a brilliant debut for Villa at the London Stadium last weekend which caught the eye.

Not just coincidentally, all of these same men also held home run batting records. In other words, there was a positive correlation between the frequency of how many times each player succeeded in hitting home runs and the number of times he failed. Essentially, it was all dependent upon the opportunities he took in making the effort. Sports fans know that Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in a season, setting a record that lasted more than three decades. But fewer people are aware that he struck out 1,330 times. Even the best professional baseball players are only going to get a hit once for every three times at bat.

Taxes! If ever there was a word in any human language that could immediately command an audience's attention, that is the word guaranteed to waken even the most dullard sleepyhead.

It feels a tad early to be discussing title-deciding games, but if the league cannot be won in September then certainly it can be lost.