CeeDee Lamb will begin the 2024 NFL season with a new contract.

The Dallas Cowboys signed the superstar to a four-year, $136million contract extension on Monday, according to multiple sources.

As part of the deal, he receives a $38million signing bonus - the largest ever for a wide receiver - and $100million in guaranteed money.

With an average annual value of $34million, he becomes the second-highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, totalling just less than the $35million Justin Jefferson received from the Minnesota Vikings in early June.

Heading into the final year of his rookie contract after being selected 17th overall in the 2020 NFL draft, Lamb had been holding out of training camp while seeking a new contract.

The 25-year-old has emerged as one of the league's top receivers, leading the NFL with a Cowboys franchise-record 135 receptions in 2023. His 1,749 receiving yards were also the most in a single season in team history and were 50 fewer than the Miami Dolphins' Tyreek Hill for the most in the NFL last year, while his 12 touchdown catches ranked third.

He was named an All-Pro for the first time this past season and finished third in Offensive Player of the Year voting.

In 66 career games in four seasons, the three-time Pro Bowler has 395 receptions, 5,145 receiving yards and 32 touchdowns. Only Jefferson (5,899), Michael Thomas (5,512) and Randy Moss (5,396) have more receiving yards through their first four pro seasons.

Dallas finished 12-5 last season to capture the NFC East crown, but again failed to advance to the conference championship, suffering a 48-32 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round of the play-offs.

The Cowboys, who haven't reached the NFC title game since winning the Super Bowl in the 1995 season, open this season on the road against the Cleveland Browns on September 8.

We're into the swing of the new Premier League season, with matchday two bringing plenty more thrills and spills.

Big wins for Chelsea and Manchester City were accompanied by hat-tricks for Noni Madueke and Erling Haaland, while Everton's miserable start to 2024-25 continued as they were thrashed 4-0 at Tottenham.

But who were the lucky winners and the unlucky losers to emerge from this weekend's set of fixtures, according to the underlying metrics?

With the help of Opta data, let's find out.

Lucky winners: Chelsea

While Chelsea's thumping 6-2 win at Wolves was the most emphatic victory of a goal-laden matchday, perhaps fortune smiled on the Blues as they got off the mark under Enzo Maresca.

Chelsea's six goals came from an expected goals (xG) figure of just 1.68, with the Blues giving up chances worth 1.96 xG at the other end. 

Madueke was joined on the scoresheet by Nicolas Jackson, Cole Palmer and Joao Felix as Maresca became the first manager in Premier League history to see his team score six goals in his first away game at the helm.

Unlucky losers: Wolves

It might be a tad generous to suggest Wolves were unfortunate after shipping six goals on home soil, four of them coming in a miserable second half as they attempted to chase the game.

However, it is certainly fair to say the scoreline did not tell the full story of a game in which Gary O'Neil's men managed 12 shots to Chelsea's 14 and bettered the Blues' 21 touches in the area, registering 25.

Chelsea's xG overperformance of 4.31 is the largest of the season by some margin, with Brighton and Spurs both outdoing their underlying figures by 1.57 in their victories over Everton.

No team managed a bigger overperformance than that throughout the entirety of last season, either, with Newcastle's eight goals from 3.92 xG versus Sheffield United the closest any team got.

Lucky winners: Arsenal

Chelsea's win at Molineux was one of just two games in the Premier League on matchday two where the victors lost the xG battle.

But on a weekend where justice was largely done, Arsenal could perhaps count themselves fortunate to leave Aston Villa with a 2-0 victory.

The Gunners accumulated just 0.87 xG to Villa's 1.28, but goals from Leandro Trossard and Thomas Partey maintained their 100% start to the season.

This is the third time they have won their first two matches of a top-flight campaign without conceding a goal, having previously done so in 1924-25 and 1971-72.

Unlucky losers: Aston Villa

Villa were a lucky winner on matchday one as they escaped the London Stadium with a 2-1 victory over West Ham, but there was to be no repeat against Arsenal.

Unai Emery's team only hit the target with three of their 11 shots, and striker Ollie Watkins was particularly wasteful as he failed to net from two efforts worth 0.87 xG.

That is the second-highest figure registered by a player who failed to score in a Premier League match this season, after Nottingham Forest's Nikola Milenkovic versus Southampton on Saturday (0.98 xG).

Novak Djokovic is hoping his Olympics success will spur him to US Open glory despite not playing since the Paris Games.

Djokovic became just the second player in the Open Era to win all four grand slams, the gold medal at the Olympics and the ATP Tour Finals after Andre Agassi.

The Serb triumphed at Flushing Meadows last year, winning his 24th major title, but one year on, is still waiting for the win that would take him clear of Margaret Court as the outright record holder.

He came close at Wimbledon but lost the final in straight sets to Carlos Alcaraz, who he then beat to claim his elusive gold medal earlier this month.

Djokovic, the number two seed for the tournament, will begin against Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot on Monday, and he believes his recent success will serve as the perfect springboard for a similar outcome in New York.

"I hope to never recover from that [Olympic triumph] because it's the best set of feelings that I ever had as an athlete," he told Eurosport.

"On the court but also off, when we went back to celebrate with our people, all of the Serbian Olympians that managed to win a medal.

"It was a very unique moment for me. I'll never forget it, and I'll try to use it as a great confidence boost for what's coming up in New York in the next few weeks."

At 87.1%, Djokovic holds the second-best win percentage at the US Open in the Open Era of players to have featured in at least 30 matches at the event, after Sampras (88.8%).

And the 37-year-old will be hoping that is a good omen as he aims to win a joint-record fifth title at the tournament.

Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have split the major trophies between them so far in 2024, while the last time Djokovic failed to win a single grand slam in a calendar year was in 2017.

Djokovic has not competed in the hard-court swing so far, instead choosing to recover, having struggled with a knee injury since the French Open in May, but he is sure that break will help his performance.

"I haven't had much time to recover or much time to train," he added. "I tried to get the most out of the few weeks that I had.

"I had more than all the other guys that played the tournaments, but that was a conscious decision that I made not to have any lead-up tournaments to the US Open because I just felt that the calendar is too congested this year with the Olympics.

"I needed my break, short but sweet, celebration, family quality time and then, of course, [I] started my training and trying to build my body, build my form for the start of the tournament."

Barcelona have started the LaLiga season with two consecutive wins despite missing several key players, raising expectations around the prospects of new head coach, Hansi Flick.

Topping the table along with Celta Vigo on six points, Barcelona travel to Rayo Vallecano, who are unbeaten after shocking Real Sociedad 2-1 and holding Getafe to a hard-fought goalless draw on Saturday.

"The goal in Barcelona should always be to win the league," Flick told a press conference on Monday.

"Sure, it's a long road, but we have started well, although everything can change quickly.

"Now we are happy about our start and we are confident. We are not looking ahead to May, our focus is to keep momentum in the next game.

"We are very satisfied with what the team is doing on the pitch. The quality of the training sessions is good, the players are very focused, the intensity is good, and you can see that in the matches."

Vallecano will rely on their raucous Vallecas Stadium on Tuesday to help stop in-form Barcelona, who convincingly beat tough opponents in Valencia and Athletic Bilbao to ease the pressure surrounding a club in turmoil on and off the pitch.

Barcelona endured a trophyless campaign last season, resulting in the controversial firing of Xavi, with Flick being brought in to help them regain the LaLiga title from Real Madrid. 

The club is having deepening financial issues as they try to reduce their first-team wage bill to comply with LaLiga's financial controls. If they cannot, they will not be able to register new signings, like Spain international Dani Olmo, who joined in a €60million deal from RB Leipzig.

The Spaniard scored 29 goals and added 34 assists across 148 appearances in all competitions for Leipzig, for whom he created 32 chances in 21 Bundesliga outings in 2023-24.

And at Euro 2024, Olmo became the first Spanish player to score in three successive European Championship games, despite only starting three of La Roja's seven matches. 

Ilkay Gundogan, one of their most influential players last season, left as a free agent to join former club Manchester City last week, while Clement Lenglet and Vitor Roque have both left on season-long loans.

Flick may still be without Olmo for their game against Vallecano, with the registration process out of the German's hands. 

"I'm hopeful I can finally can count on him tomorrow," Flick added.

"I also hoped for him in the last game, but things are the way they are. It would be fantastic, but we'll see what happens. It's something we can't control; neither the player, the team, nor the coach. We know it's a difficult circumstance.

"I've spoken to him, it's a difficult situation. Of course, he is not happy, but he knows the circumstances. He is fit and ready to play if the call comes."

James Rodriguez has sealed a return to LaLiga, joining Rayo Vallecano on an initial one-year contract.

James left Brazilian giants Sao Paulo in July following a sublime Copa America campaign with Colombia, winning the Player of the Tournament award as they reached the final.

Rodriguez laid on six assists throughout the tournament, breaking the single-edition record set by Lionel Messi at the 2021 competition (since records began in 2011).

He also led all players at the tournament for chances created, with 20, with 14 of those coming from set-pieces.

The 33-year-old, who spent six years with Real Madrid between 2014 and 2020, has now returned to the city with Rayo, who narrowly avoided relegation last term.

James has penned an initial one-year deal with Inigo Perez's side, with an option to extend his stay for a further 12 months.

Rayo have collected four points from their first two games of the season in LaLiga, beating Real Sociedad 2-1 and playing out a goalless draw with Getafe. They are next in action against Barcelona on Tuesday.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has blamed the Silver Arrows' struggles at the Dutch Grand Prix on an upgrade to the floor of the team's car.

Mercedes enjoyed a mid-season resurgence, triumphing at three of the last four races prior to the summer break, following a difficult start to the year.

Lewis Hamilton was victorious at the British and Belgian grands prix after team-mate George Russell triumphed in Austria, but neither driver was competitive in Zandvoort when the season resumed on Sunday.

Russell finished seventh and Hamilton was one place further back after qualifying in 12th, as McLaren's Lando Norris claimed a dominant win to close the gap to drivers' championship leader Max Verstappen.

Mercedes used a new floor for the race after abandoning the planned change at Spa, and Wolff admits the team may have got things wrong.

"I think these cars are a surprise-box. We've had six podiums in a row and that doesn't look like the car three weeks ago that was first and second," he told Sky Sports.

"You can't really end up with a result like this without any major factor playing in, and that's something we need to analyse in the next few days before Monza.

"Was it because we put something on the car that didn't help? Did we engineer something into the car that wasn't good?

"Then how do you justify these swings of performance? Sometimes we looked really good this weekend and then obviously today, in terms of degradation, that was not very impressive.

"Was it a setup? Was it the track? What is it that we got wrong? Was it the floor that we put on the car? Was it all of this together?

"So, hopefully we can sort it out until Monza and become competitive again. But the swing in performance from P1-P2 and P7-P8, there's a biggie in there. It's not something that was simply a setup decision in my opinion."

Pep Guardiola has hailed Erling Haaland for pressing "like an animal" and believes the Manchester City striker is in better physical shape than he was last season.

Haaland scored his 10th hat-trick for City as they came from behind to beat Ipswich Town 4-1 on Saturday, moving onto four goals from two Premier League appearances in 2024-25.

The Norwegian has now scored at least once against all 23 teams he has faced in the Premier League, with Harry Kane (32/32) the only player to have faced more sides in the competition while scoring against all of them.

However, Guardiola has been most impressed with Haaland's work off the ball, saying: "I like when he runs a lot. I like when he presses like an animal. I like it. It helps to score a goal.

"When you are connected defensively, you are connected offensively. His body language – imagine a central defender has the ball and he makes a sprint with this body and legs moving. It's scary.

"This is not negotiable. If you don't score a goal, it's fine. But you need to do it."

Haaland scored 27 top-flight goals to win his second Golden Boot last season, despite missing almost two months with a foot injury in the middle of the campaign.

Guardiola believes Haaland is over his physical issues, adding: "He feels good. Last season he always had problems in the hips, in the ankles, in the knee.

"This season of course he takes care of himself with the physios really well, but I had the feeling that he is sharper.

"After training sessions he stays longer to practice crosses and control. Last season it never happened because he was not perfect.

"With his body, he has to be perfect to perform at that level. That's why you have an incredible organisation to help the players to be comfortable to perform at their best."

Keegan Bradley was in disbelief after putting himself in FedEx Cup contention by winning his second BMW Championship title on Sunday.

Bradley, who was appointed as the United States' 2025 Ryder Cup captain last month, edged out Adam Scott to claim a one-shot victory at the event near Denver.

Scott pulled level with Bradley at the start of his final round but later bogeyed three straight holes as the American won his seventh PGA Tour title.

Bradley, who also won the 2018 tournament by beating Justin Rose in a play-off, now sits fourth in the FedEx Cup standings, behind Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama.

Following his victory, the 38-year-old set his sights on another triumph at next week's Tour Championship in Atlanta, having only just squeezed into the 50-player field at Castle Pines.

"Oh, man, it just shows why you've got to grind it out every week because you never know how fast it can switch," Bradley said.

"Now I go to Atlanta with a chance to win the FedEx Cup. I can't believe it. I'm so excited.

"I'm in a bit of a state of shock because there was a time a week ago about this time that I didn't think I was going to be coming here. 

"I had to have a lot of magical things happen for me to just play in this tournament, and when I got here, I was so grateful just to be here.

"I played with a real sense of calm all week, which is not the norm for me"

Antonio Conte believes he witnessed a turning point for his Napoli side as they strolled to a 3-0 win over Bologna in their Serie A home opener on Sunday.

Napoli were trounced 3-0 at Verona in Conte's first league game at the helm last week, but they bounced back with a comfortable win over the Rossoblu on Sunday.

The Partenopei's victory was their first on home soil without conceding since they beat Sassuolo 2-0 in August 2023, and Conte feels it was an important moment in his team's development.

"Today we had a great responsibility, that of giving a great response after the second half in Verona," Conte told reporters.

"I had no doubts, these guys are good guys. I see them working... and I got important answers.

"These are three points that are the start of our journey, my first three points as Napoli coach. 

"I was emotional, I really cared about it. It's a starting point, we know that we have a journey to make.

"We have to gain confidence and continue to give this sense of unity that we felt today. This makes me happy, we hadn't won for a long time and we did it against an important opponent. Now let's think about Parma."

Napoli had gone eight league games without a victory prior to Sunday's match, with their previous win coming by a 2-1 scoreline against Juventus in March.

Winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia contributed a goal and an assist, and he feels having Conte at the helm is close to a guarantee of success, saying: "I really wanted to get on the pitch and give my contribution to the cause to bring home a very important win.

"I am a footballer who always wants to learn new things, to acquire useful notions to continue my path of growth.

"Having Conte on the bench is certainly a guarantee. Let's hope we can take great satisfaction throughout the whole championship."

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone said Julian Alvarez needs time to find his feet after a 3-0 win over Girona, predicting the forward will be "incredible" for Los Colchoneros.

Atleti got off the mark for the new campaign with a comfortable win over last season's LaLiga runners-up, with Antoine Griezmann, Marcos Llorente and Koke scoring.

Alvarez was quiet on his first start following his €95million (£81.5m) switch from Manchester City, but Simeone is certain he will come good.

"Top players demand things to happen, people go to the stadium to watch them. We know what Julian brings and what he can give us," Simeone said.

"We will try to exploit his best qualities, as a first striker or second striker, or on the wing... 

"He is still missing connections but that will come with training and matches, he has only just arrived but we have to give him time."

The Argentine coach then heaped praise on Llorente, who also added an assist for Koke's goal from right-back.

Simeone added his fine form will boost competition with fellow right-back Nahuel Molina, saying: "I am very happy to see that after one or two years looking for an important place for a player with his characteristics, we have found a spot for him.

"This calls for Molina to improve, to show the World Cup and Copa America winner he is.

"We need competition. Because Llorente will not always be able to play at the same pace and we have another great player like Molina who will do the same as Marcos in that position." 

Aaron Judge hit two more home runs to become the fifth player in MLB history with three seasons of 50 or more, and the New York Yankees went deep five times in all en route to a 10-3 rout of the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.

Judge connected on a two-run homer in the first inning to join Babe Ruth (four times), Mark McGwire (four), Sammy Sosa (four) and Alex Rodriguez (three) as the only players with three 50-homer seasons. The American League MVP front-runner added a solo shot in the seventh, one of three consecutive homers that helped the Yankees earn their fourth win in five games and extend their lead to 1 1/2 games over the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East.

Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres also homered for New York. All three finished with two hits, with Torres driving in four runs on the day and Soto two.

Judge's 50th homer came with Torres aboard and erased an early 1-0 deficit after Colorado scratched home a run in the top of the first. Charlie Blackmon led off the game with a walk against Marcus Stroman, advanced to third on an Ezequiel Tovar single and an error, and scored on Brenton Doyle's fielder's choice grounder.

The Yankees extended the lead to 4-1 in the second inning with four consecutive two-out singles off Colorado starter Austin Gomber, including run-scoring hits by Torres and Soto.

Drew Romo singled in Jake Cave in the fourth to allow the Rockies to close the gap, and they got within 4-3 an inning later when Doyle drew a walk against Stroman and came home on Ryan McMahon's two-out double.

The Yankees pulled away in the seventh, however, when Soto, Judge and Stanton all homered in succession off reliever Jeff Criswell.

Judge's blast was his seventh homer in six games and put him on pace for 63, one ahead of the AL-record 62 he hit during his 2022 MVP season.

Torres pushed the margin to 10-3 in the eighth when he followed singles by Alex Verdugo and DJ LeMahieu with his 11th homer of the season. 

Stroman (9-6) received the win after striking out five and allowing three runs in five innings. Gomber (4-9) lasted six innings while surrendering four runs.

Bregman, Diaz homers help Astros earn split with Orioles

The Orioles lost ground to the Yankees in the AL East race with a 6-3 defeat to the Houston Astros, who were boosted by back-to-back home runs from Alex Bregman and Yainer Diaz in the seventh inning that snapped a tie game.

Bregman's two-out shot off Burch Smith broke a 3-3 deadlock, and Diaz took the Baltimore reliever deep on the very next pitch to give the AL West leaders a two-run advantage.

Zach Dezenzo added a two-run double to help Houston earn a split of this key four-game series. Dezenzo, Bregman and Mauricio Dubon all finished with two hits.

The Orioles managed just two hits on the night, though one was Ramon Urias' three-run homer that tied the game in the fifth inning.

Houston had gone up early by scoring three times in the fourth inning, all with two out. Jeremy Pena began the rally with a single and then raced all the way from first on Victor Caratini's base hit to account for the game's first run.

After Ben Gamel followed with a single, Dezenzo extended the margin to 3-0 with a double off Baltimore starter Dean Kremer.

Houston's Yusei Kukuchi didn't allow a hit until Eloy Jimenez's lead-off single in the bottom of the fifth, but the left-hander later walked Emmanuel Rivera to set the stage for Urias' game-tying homer on a 1-2 pitch.

Bregman and Diaz's power displays would put the Astros back in front in the seventh, and Houston scratched home another run in the eighth. Gamel walked before advancing to third on a Dezenzo single and an error by Urias, then scored on a sacrifice fly from Jake Meyers.

The Orioles put the lead-off man on in the ninth when Gunnar Henderson drew a walk off Josh Hader, but the veteran closer later got a game-ending double play to seal the win and notch his 28th save.

Kikuchi yielded just two hits despite surrendering three runs in 5 2/3 innings. Kremer struck out five while permitting three runs in six innings.

Diamondbacks finish sweep of Red Sox, extend win streak to six

Eugenio Suarez's go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning lifted the surging Arizona Diamondbacks to their sixth straight win, a 7-5 comeback victory over the fading Boston Red Sox.

Suarez went 4 for 4 to cap a huge series in which the third baseman drove in 10 runs to help the Diamondbacks to a three-game sweep. Geraldo Perodomo added a solo homer while knocking in a pair of runs in the finale.

With his team trailing 4-3 in the sixth, Suarez followed Pavin Smith's single and a walk to Adrian Del Castillo with a drive over the Green Monster in left field off Boston starter Tanner Houck that put Arizona ahead.

Perdomo provided some insurance with a solo homer in the top of the ninth. Justin Martinez gave up Tyler O'Neill's solo shot in the bottom of the inning that brought Boston within 7-5, but retired the next three men he faced to record his sixth save.

The Red Sox fell to 6-11 over their last 17 games despite building a 4-0 lead after four innings, with Triston Casas quickly putting them ahead with a solo homer off Merrill Kellly in the first.

Casas and Wilyer Abreu singled in the fourth to put two on for Rafael Devers, who crushed Kelly's pitch over the center field wall for his 200th career homer.

Houck (8-9) held the Diamondbacks scoreless through four innings but ran into trouble in the fifth, as he walked two batters around a Suarez single to load the bases with none out.

Arizona proceeded to manufacture two runs on a Perdomo groundout and Corbin Carroll's sacrifice fly, and another on Jake McCarthy's RBI single which cut the lead to 4-3.

Kelly moved to 4-0 on the season despite permitting four runs with five strikeouts in six innings. Houck was tagged for six runs on seven hits and walked four over six innings.

Carlos Alcaraz insists his recent ankle concern is nothing serious and that he will "be at 100%" for this year's US Open.

The Spaniard is seeking his second triumph at Flushing Meadows, where he was victorious two years ago, as well as a third major of the season following his success at the French Open and Wimbledon.

Although, there were briefly question marks over Alcaraz's participation in the year's final slam after he pulled out of practice on Friday with an ankle injury. 

Nevertheless, he said the reason for not continuing the session was precautionary above anything else.

"After a few hours after finishing my practice, I have not felt anything and everything is fine and under control," said Alcaraz, who begins his campaign against Li Tu on Wednesday "I think it is not going to be anything serious. 

"We will take care of it in the next few days and we will be extra cautious. I think it was just a scary moment, but I am sure I will be at 100%."

Alcaraz also reflected on his Olympic gold medal match against Novak Djokovic earlier this month, in which the Serb avenged his Wimbledon showpiece defeat to complete a career golden slam.

The Spaniard admitted it was a defeat that hurt, but made him more determined to go the extra step in four years' time.

"It was one of the most important finals of my career, my life," he said. "I know the Olympic Games is every four years, so I don't know if I'm going to have another chance to win the gold. I'm going fight for it, for sure, at the next Olympic Games.

"It was a difficult moment [for me to] deal with, losing the gold medal in a really close match when I had opportunities, but in front of me, I had a really good player that day.

"[Djokovic] was fighting for the same thing as me and he deserved it, and days after the Olympics, I realised that I won the silver medal. It was a great achievement for me."