Norwich City secured promotion to the Premier League with a 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Carrow Road on Saturday.

Daniel Farke s side needed only a draw to guarantee their place in the top flight next season, with third-placed Leeds United six points behind them with two games remaining.

The Canaries went one better, though, with superb goals from Marco Stiepermann and Mario Vrancic sending them back to the top of the Championship and guaranteeing they will play Premier League football next season.

Sheffield United had moved top with a 2-0 win over Ipswich Town, but Norwich looked set to overtake them once more when Stiepermann drilled a good finish beyond Jayson Leutwiler with 13 minutes played.

The party atmosphere in East Anglia increased whe…

Diego Costa regrets initially leaving Atletico Madrid for Chelsea but feels everything has fallen back into place after an acrimonious parting of ways with former coach Antonio Conte.

The Spain international joined Chelsea after scoring 27 times for Atletico in the 2013-14 LaLiga campaign, encouraging the Premier League side to part with a reported £35million (€40m).

Costa was a success in England, scoring 52 times in the top flight across his three seasons at Stamford Bridge, but his final year was mired by reports of a rocky relationship with Conte.

The Italian was understood to have fallen out with Costa in January 2017 when the striker was linked with a move to the Chinese Super League.

Although they appeared to bury the hatchet and Costa went on t…

Perhaps taking a page out of legendary Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson s playbook, it is out with the old at Manchester City and in with the new in what has been a busy transfer window to date.

On the back of winning a fourth Premier League title in five seasons, City have waved goodbye to long-serving and reliable midfielder Fernandinho, while sanctioning the exits of forwards Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling – the latter s move to Chelsea going through on Wednesday.

It is undoubtedly a risk from City s perspective, not least with Jesus and Sterling joining fellow big-six clubs Arsenal and Chelsea respectively, but one the reigning English champions feel is worth taking as they freshen up their side.

Plenty of focus will undoubtedly be on new arrivals E…

Jamie Carragher does not believe former Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard will use Aston Villa merely as a stepping stone to the top job at Anfield.

But Carragher also knows Gerrard would love to become Liverpool manager one day if he first made a success of his new role with Villa.

Gerrard was confirmed as Villa s latest head coach on Thursday, replacing Dean Smith at the helm at Villa Park after a five-game losing streak.

Smith led his boyhood club back into the Premier League and reached an EFL Cup final, winning 39.6 per cent of his 139 games in charge in all competitions.

Gerrard has had a rather different task at Rangers in the meantime, finally cutting short Celtic s run of consecutive Scottish Premiership titles at nine by triumphing in 2020-21.<…

Liverpool and Wolves could be involved in another deal, while Arsenal s shortlist reportedly includes four players.

Premier League champions Liverpool confirmed the signing of Diogo Jota from Wolves on Saturday, with Ki-Jana Hoever heading in the opposite direction.

But the business between the clubs may not end there.

TOP STORY – WOLVES TARGET OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN

Wolves are eyeing a move for Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, according to the Mirror.

The report comes after Liverpool signed star midfielder Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich earlier this week.

Oxlade-Chamberlain arrived at Anfield from Arsenal in 2017, and made 43 appearances in all competitions in 2019-20.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain emerges as …

John Stones is confident Manchester City will continue to perform at an elite level following a period of change, with the Premier League champions recruiting the likes of Erling Haaland and Kalvin Phillips amid the departures of several big names.

Meanwhile, Stones  City and England team-mate Phil Foden has hailed Pep Guardiola s style of management as the biggest factor in creating a harmonious atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium.

Having clinched a second consecutive Premier League title – their fourth in six seasons under Guardiola – with an exhilarating comeback victory over Aston Villa in May, City have used the transfer market to kick-start an evolution of their squad.

Haaland and Phillips represent City s two marquee signings during the off-season, whi…

Oscar Tabarez branded Edinson Cavani a scoring expert after his superb goal gave Uruguay a 1-0 victory over Chile and sealed top spot in Copa America Group C.

Cavani showed tremendous instincts to flick Jonathan Rodriguez s delivery past Gabriel Arias with his head in the 82nd minute at the Maracana on Monday, booking a quarter-final meeting with Peru.

Although Tabarez acknowledged the Paris Saint-Germain striker produced a far from exemplary display, he felt his goal was one that only a select few players could have scored.

That s the way Cavani is. He made a few mistakes, but he never gave up. He did three different roles during the match, but he never lost his main feature. He is a goalscorer, said the Uruguay boss.

It was a good cross, but the ball …

Thomas Muller says Bayern Munich have fond memories of facing Juventus after they were drawn against the Serie A title-holders in the Champions League round of 16.

The Bundesliga heavyweights saw off Juve in the 2012-13 quarter-finals on their way to winning the European Cup, while they also faced the Turin side in the 2009-10 group stage, drawing 0-0 in Bavaria before thrashing the Italian club 4-1 away.

Now led by Pep Guardiola, Bayern must overcome last season s beaten finalists as they seek to add to their five European crowns.

Juventus have a very clever team and Mario Mandzukic is obviously a great striker. We all know him from his time at Bayern, Muller told the club s official website.

We have nothing but good memories of Juventus in the Champio…

Megan Rapinoe hailed her United States team-mates as an example for the country to follow but told a huge crowd celebrating their Women s World Cup triumph that she will not be running for president, saying: I m busy.

During the victory parade through New York, the 34-year-old forward stoked the fire of her spat with president Donald Trump, which began during the tournament when she said that she and her colleagues would not be going to the White House if they lifted the trophy.

Having helped defend the title on French soil, Rapinoe reiterated her stance when it comes to visiting the president  a job she cheekily rejected was in her future plans.

I couldn’t be more proud to be a co-captain of this team with Carli [Lloyd] and Alex [Morgan], she said. It s an…

Inter boss Antonio Conte is holding out hope of a deal for Romelu Lukaku after Manchester United reportedly ended talks over a possible swap deal with Juventus involving Paulo Dybala.

Striker Lukaku has long been believed to be Conte s top transfer target but the Nerazzurri have been unable to match United s asking price, despite making what CEO Giuseppe Marotta described as a fair offer.

It seemed a move to Juventus was looking more likely as the Serie A champions discussed a deal that would also see Dybala move to Old Trafford.

However, widespread reports on Sunday said United have ended interest in the Argentina international due to his wage demands, the agent fees involved and concerns that he does not particularly want to join Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s side.