Erling Haaland has said he will not dwell on missed chances as he prepares for his Premier League debut with Manchester City.

The Premier League champions begin their title defence at West Ham on Sunday, and spread further fear throughout the league when they sealed the signing of Haaland in June.

However, his debut in a City shirt did not go according to plan as he drew a blank in the 3-1 Community Shield defeat to Liverpool, including hitting the crossbar from point-blank range late on.

Speaking to former Newcastle United and England striker Alan Shearer for BBC Sport and The Athletic, the 22-year-old outlined his process as a goalscorer, and why he will not allow those misses to be carried into future games.

"As a striker, I think it's really important that when you're in the game to not think too much," Haaland said. "If I'm going to go into my next game thinking about the chance I missed last game, it's not good.

"You have to go into the game hungry. It doesn't matter what happened before, if you scored three goals, if you scored zero goals, if you haven't scored in a while. You have to go into the game with the same mentality. And so I think about not thinking too much about it."

Haaland scored 86 goals in 89 games in two-and-a-half years at Borussia Dortmund, but admitted there is extra pressure that comes with playing for City, who have won four of the last five Premier League titles, including pipping Liverpool by one point last season.

"Yes, of course it's pressure," he said. "I'm playing for the champions... so there's pressure, but in my head, it's about trying to go out on the pitch smiling as much as I can and to try to enjoy the game. Because life goes fast and suddenly my career is over.

"You saw that with my father (who retired aged 30 due to injury), suddenly it's over. So it's about trying to enjoy every single minute of it because I'm really lucky to have this job and to be here.

"In the end, we just want to enjoy playing football, enjoy what our childhood dream was. There will be people talking about you, especially as a striker if you don't score, then the talk comes, but in the end you cannot choose what people say, what people read, what people think about you.

"This is something you just have to live with. And yeah, I kind of enjoy it."

Haaland also outlined his early impressions of working with Pep Guardiola, who has won four Premier League titles, four EFL Cups and an FA Cup since arriving as manager in 2016.

"He's demanding in his messages about what to do and about doing everything at 100 per cent," he added. "It doesn't matter if it's a normal kind of running exercise, do it at 100 per cent, like you do it on the pitch. Train as you play. Easy as that."

The imposing striker is hoping to bring something extra to City, who were eliminated from the Champions League in agonising fashion by eventual winners Real Madrid in the semi-finals last season. 

"We come as champions from last year, so we have to do the same kind of things they did and hopefully even better," Haaland said.

"In the important games be even better, the Champions League and the cups, and also to maintain all the time in the Premier League.

"It's not easy as we know. It's a difficult league, so many good teams, but it's about building on what they have been having here for so many years.

"I want to come in here and bring my own kind of things to the game and hopefully be better."

Dave Rennie says captain Michael Hooper has shown "true courage" by withdrawing from Australia's Rugby Championship opener against Argentina.

The flanker opted against facing the Pumas at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas on Saturday, as he is not in the right frame of mind to play.

James Slipper will step in to lead the Wallabies in Mendonza, with Hooper heading home and Fraser McReight getting a late call to take the number seven shirt.

Australia head coach Rennie praised Hooper for making such a brave decision.

"Michael's one of the most professional and impressive men I've coached I know this has been a difficult decision for him," he said.

"He's shown true courage by acknowledging where he is at and acting on it.

"We will support him in any way we can and I know the team will be focused on getting the job done tomorrow."

Hooper said: "While this decision did not come easily I know it is the right one for me and the team at this point in time.

"My whole career I’ve looked to put the team first and I don't feel I am able to fulfil my responsibilities at the moment in my current mindset."

Rugby Australia CEO Andy Marinos says Hooper will be given all the support he needs.

He said: "Michael is an incredible leader, it takes a brave man to identify where he’s at and come forward whilst having the best interests of the team at heart.

"His wellbeing is and remains the highest priority right now where Rugby Australia and the Australian Rugby community will do everything to support him and his family."

From a false nine to a true nine, Manchester City will roll out Erling Haaland as last season's Premier League champions show off their marquee addition.

City won the 2021-22 Premier League with 93 points despite lacking a target man, pipping Liverpool on the final day of the campaign.

Liverpool, unlucky to come home second on 92 points, have made a big investment in buying Darwin Nunez from Benfica, a penalty-box predator like Haaland.

The 90-point mark is widely seen as a benchmark for a team's greatness, but managers always see room for improvement.

Here, Stats Perform looks at how 90-point-plus teams from seasons past have bolstered their ranks, and how they got on afterwards.

100 POINTS

Manchester City are the only team in Premier League history to hit the 100-point mark, doing so in 2017-18, and they offloaded former kingpins Joe Hart and Yaya Toure at the end of that campaign, making just one big investment by signing Riyad Mahrez (£60million) from Leicester City.

Already a Premier League title winner with the Foxes, the Algerian winger has added three more league medals in Manchester, including one in his first season.

99 POINTS

Liverpool denied City a hat-trick of consecutive titles by triumphing in the coronavirus-interrupted 2019-20 championship, finishing 18 points clear of Pep Guardiola's team. The Reds then spent the thick end of £75million to acquire Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich, Diogo Jota from Wolves and Kostas Tsimikas from Olympiacos.

They recouped around half of that by selling Dejan Lovren, Ki-Jana Hoever and Rhian Brewster, before finishing with 30 fewer points in the following campaign.

98 POINTS

City's encore to their ton-up season was made remarkable by the fact Liverpool were hot on their heels, finishing just one point back. This 2018-19 title-winning effort by City was followed by captain Vincent Kompany taking flight for Anderlecht, while Danilo, Eliaquim Mangala, Fabian Delph and Douglas Luiz also said goodbye.

Guardiola invested wisely as Rodri (£62.8m from Atletico Madrid) and Joao Cancelo (£60million from Juventus) arrived. Both became staple members of the City side, but their first season on Premier League duty, as Liverpool romped to glory in front of empty stadiums, was probably best forgotten.

97 POINTS

Liverpool must have wondered what it would take to topple City after the seismic 2018-19 campaign, although the Reds' Champions League win showed they were firmly on the right track. This 97-point haul is the highest total any Premier League runner-up has secured.

Jurgen Klopp decided no big adjustments were required, investing in Takumi Minamino from Salzburg (£7.25m) and Harvey Elliott from Fulham (£1.5m, rising to £4.3m). He had done his serious spending the previous year, securing Naby Keita, Fabinho and Alisson.

95 POINTS

When big-spending Chelsea landed a then-record 95 points in the 2004-05 campaign, the response from the Blues, in the headiest phase of the Roman Abramovich era, was to splash more cash.

Shaun Wright-Phillips (£21m) and Michael Essien (£24.4m) were newcomers as Jose Mourinho evicted Mikael Forssell, Scott Parker, Mateja Kezman and Tiago. The result of that trading? A second consecutive title as the Premier League points mercury rose up into the 90s again.

93 POINTS

Two teams have had 93-point seasons: Chelsea in 2016-17 and Manchester City in 2021-22. Chelsea's post-season dealings were especially notable for captain John Terry moving on to Aston Villa. The club cashed in as Juan Cuadrado went to Juventus, Nathan Ake and Asmir Begovic left for Bournemouth and Nemanja Matic joined Manchester United. They acquired Antonio Rudiger (£31m), Tiemoue Bakayoko (£40m), Alvaro Morata (£60m), Davide Zappacosta (£23m) and Danny Drinkwater (£35m). The spree didn't help much, though. Chelsea trailed in fifth in 2017-18, Antonio Conte sacked despite an FA Cup win.

City made Haaland their priority this year but also added England midfielder Kalvin Phillips (£42m) and goalkeeper Stefan Ortega (free), while Julian Alvarez (£14m) arrived after being signed in January. Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Raheem Sterling left.

92 POINTS

Manchester United were the first Premier League side to top 90 points, in 1993-94, albeit in a 42-game competition. After that title, United's second in succession, Bryan Robson left to become player-boss at Middlesbrough and David May (£1.4m) was bought from Blackburn Rovers. United went chasing a hat-trick of titles in the subsequent season but found big-spending Blackburn too strong. The record £7million arrival of Andy Cole midway through the campaign could not rescue Alex Ferguson's side, who tallied 88 points, one fewer than the champions.

Liverpool's 92-point season came last time out. It remains to be seen how Nunez (£64m) copes with the Premier League spotlight. Among a string of departures was Sadio Mane, who left for Bayern Munich. Mane scored 90 goals in 196 Premier League games with Liverpool.

91 POINTS

Manchester United followed their treble campaign with a 91-point haul in 1999-2000, before signing up France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez (£7.8m). They tallied 80 points in 2000-01, enough to finish 10 clear of second-placed Arsenal.

With Wright-Phillips and Essien on board, Chelsea notched 91 points in 2005-06. At the end of that season, the Blues swooped for Michael Ballack (free), Andriy Shevchenko (£30m), Arsenal's Ashley Cole (£5m, plus William Gallas) and John Obi Mikel (£16m). They were second best to Manchester United in the following season's Premier League, but enjoyed FA Cup and EFL Cup wins.

90 POINTS

Two teams have scraped the 90-point mark, Arsenal doing so in their 'Invincibles' season of 2003-04, with 26 wins and 12 draws. They signed young Dutchman Robin van Persie (£2.75m) towards the end of that campaign and he arrived in the summer. Newcomer Mourinho led Chelsea to the following year's title, with Arsenal runners-up.

Manchester United got to 90 in 2008-09 – Cristiano Ronaldo's last season before his £80million Real Madrid switch. Manager Ferguson then brought in Antonio Valencia (£16m), Michael Owen (free), Gabriel Obertan (£3m) and Mame Biram Diouf (£4million), with Valencia the only one to become a regular. With Ronaldo gone, Chelsea edged out United by a point for the following year's title.

Nick Kyrgios started his Friday by finishing off his third-round win against Reilly Opelka, and his business was not finished until after 1am local time when he defeated Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (14-12) 6-2 in the quarter-final.

Due to length rain delays on Thursday, Kyrgios was one of five players forced to abandon their matches and return to finish them first thing on Friday, with Kyrgios and Russia's Andrey Rublev the only two to successfully navigate both.

Tiafoe defeated Botic van de Zandschulp 4-6 6-2 6-3 in the morning, but Kyrgios' ability to keep his service games short was a decisive factor, winning the ace count 35-14 and not conceding a single break all match.

Rublev had to deal with Maxime Cressy in the morning, winning 6-4 7-6 (10-8), setting up a quarter-final later at night against J.J. Wolf after the American defeated Holger Rune 7-5 4-6 6-3.

Rublev made his second match look far easier, cruising through 6-2 6-3 to earn a semi-final against Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka after he needed over three-and-a-half hours to beat Daniel Evans 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 7-5.

In an all-unseeded semi-final, Kyrgios will play Sweden's Mikael Ymer, who fought his way past Sebastian Korda 6-2 5-7 6-3 after the American beat Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 4-6 6-1 6-2 earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, down in Mexico at the Los Cabos Open, Daniil Medvedev earned his spot in the final by defeating Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6 (7-0) 6-1.

Medvedev will play England's Cameron Norrie for the title after he prevailed in arguably the match of the tournament against top-10 talent Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 3-6 6-3.

Despite being ranked fourth in the world, Paula Badosa came into her quarter-final showdown with the red-hot Coco Gauff as the underdog, but she played like a favourite en route to a 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 victory.

Usually one of her stronger weapons, Gauff's serve was a liability on Friday, with six double faults in the first set alone to drop the opening frame despite breaking Badosa twice.

In the second set, while Badosa was converting 92 per cent (11-of-12) of her accurate first serves into points, Gauff's figure was down at 53 per cent (eight-of-15) as the Spaniard's return game was at its best.

Badosa will meet seventh seed Daria Kasatkina in the semi-final after the Russian beat Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka 4-6 7-5 6-0. The longer the match went, the less effective Sabalenka became with her ability to return serve.

In the first set, which Sabalenka won, she was successful in 53 per cent (19-of-36) of the points against Kasatkina's serve, and that number plummeted to 14 per cent (two-of-14) in the decider.

Third seed and Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur was eliminated by ninth seed Veronika Kudermetova 7-6 (7-5) 6-2, and she will meet unseeded American Shelby Rogers in the second semi-final after she defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-4 6-4.

Meanwhile, in Washington at the Citi Open, Emma Raducanu felt the effects of her gruelling match 24 hours prior as she went down 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 to Liudmila Samsonova.

On Thursday, Raducanu played in the longest two-set match of the WTA season as she eventually made her way through two tiebreakers against Camila Osorio in two hours and 49 minutes, and she ran out of steam after another tough tie-break against Samsonova.

Samsonova will play China's Xiyu Wang in the semi-final after another upset, knocking out fourth seed Victoria Azarenka in convincing fashion 6-1 6-3.

Estonia's Kaia Kanepi booked her place in the second semi-final after a 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-3 win against Anna Kalinskaya, where she will meet Daria Saville after the Australian got the better of Canada's Rebecca Marino 6-1 7-5. 

The Houston Astros received a big boost from new recruit Trey Mancini as he blasted a pair of home runs, punctuated by a grand slam, in his side's 9-3 away win against the Cleveland Guardians on Friday.

Mancini, who was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles this past week, has now hit a home run in each of his two starts for his new club. In doing so, he became the first player in the modern era to hit a home run in his first two starts for his first two teams, after also accomplishing the feat back when he began with the O's.

He struck first in the second inning, tying the game at 1-1 after Amed Rosario hit his own home run to begin the game for the Guardians, and Mancini's second home run of the game came with bases loaded in the third frame for the first grand slam of his career.

Arguably the best hitter in baseball this season Yordan Alvarez went two-for-five and notched his 73rd RBI for the season – the seventh most in the league – and his future Hall-of-Fame teammate Jose Altuve tallied one RBI from his three hits.

On the mound, Framber Valdez secured his 18th consecutive 'quality start' – defined by a pitcher going at least six innings while conceding three or fewer runs – finishing with three earned runs from seven hits and three walks in his six-and-a-third innings.

He now leads the league with 19 quality starts, and his streak of 18 consecutive is the longest since Jacob deGrom rattled off 26 in a row beginning in May 2018.

The win moves the Astros' record to 70-38 – one game behind the New York Yankees for the best record in the American League.

Yankees, Holmes blow late lead 

The New York Yankees led nearly the entire game before eventually falling 4-3 to the St Louis Cardinals, courtesy of a blown save from All-Star reliever Clay Holmes.

Josh Donaldson drove in a pair of runs for the Yankees, while AL MVP favourite Aaron Judge collected two hits and came home to score twice, giving their side a 3-2 lead heading into the eighth inning.

Determined to take no risks, the Yankees brought in Holmes an inning early to try and get to the ninth inning with their lead still in tact, but it was not to be as Holmes conceded a walk and two hits, the second being a two-run double from Paul deJong to steal the lead.

Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley made no such mistakes, closing the door and collecting the save.

Gibson produces near-perfect start for the Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Kyle Gibson had a perfect game through six innings in his side's 7-2 win against the Washington Nationals.

Gibson retired the first 18 batters he faced, striking out three as he relied on strong fielding behind him to accumulate quick outs. His bid for a perfect game was eventually broken up by a hit-by-pitch to begin the seventh frame, and a single from the next batter ended the no-hitter.

He finished with one earned run from two hits and one walk in eight complete innings, while Kyle Schwarber hit his 34th home run of the season to help on the offensive side of the ball. Only Judge has more home runs this season than Schwarber.

A poor second round from John Huh opened the door at the Wyndham Championship, with Brandon Wu, Kim Joo-hyung and Ryan Moore capitalising to claim a share of the lead at nine under heading into the weekend.

Huh was two strokes clear after his opening round nine-under 61, but he was 10 shots worse on his second trip around Sedgefield Country Club, shooting a one-over 71 to sit one off the lead.

Of the three leaders, Kim had the best round with his 64, posting seven birdies and one bogey, with Moore shooting a 66, and Wu getting around in 67. All three posted top-five putting days according to Data Golf's strokes gained stats, with Kim leading the field (4.61 strokes gained), Moore third (3.31) and Wu fifth (3.06).

One stroke off the lead along with Huh is American Russell Henley and South Korea's Im Sung-jae, with India's Anirban Lahiri part of the next group at seven under.

Japan's Satoshi Kodaira and Australia's Brett Drewitt are in the group tied for 10th at six under, England's Tyrrell Hatton is at five under, and Sweden's Henrik Norlander rode the second-best putting performance of the day to reach the weekend at four under.

Will Zalatoris responded to a poor opening round with a 66 to sneak one stroke inside the cut-line, Adam Scott and Michael Gligic are right on the cut-line at two under, and pre-tournament favourites Shane Lowry and Corey Conners missed out by one stroke.

Thomas Tuchel says "nobody wants to touch the number nine" at Chelsea, joking that the shirt is "cursed".

The Blues begin the 2022-23 season with the number vacant following Romelu Lukaku's return to Inter just a year after he moved back to Stamford Bridge in a record transfer.

Lukaku did not reach the heights expected of him and joined a long list of players who have struggled to deliver for Chelsea while wearing the number nine shirt.

That jersey previously belonged to Mateja Kezman, Fernando Torres, Radamel Falcao, Alvaro Morata and Gonzalo Higuain.

Given the history, Chelsea have found suitors for the number hard to come by, and Tuchel said: "It's cursed, it's cursed, people tell me it's cursed!

"It's not the case that we leave it open for tactical reasons, or for some players in the pipeline that come in and naturally take it.

"There was not a big demand for number nine, when like players sometimes want to change numbers. But, surprisingly, nobody wants to touch it.

"Everyone who [has been here] longer than me at the club tells me, 'ah, you know, like he had the nine and he did not score, and he had the nine and he did also not score'.

"So, now, we have a moment where nobody wants to touch the number nine."

Raheem Sterling is the sole attacking player Chelsea have signed so far in this transfer window, but he will don the number 17 favoured by fellow wingers Eden Hazard and Pedro.

Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw has landed on the injured list, one day after he left his start at San Francisco with lower-back pain. 

Kershaw, who missed a month earlier this season with inflammation in a pelvic joint, has spent time on the injured list for back-related issues in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020.  

He walked off the mound after throwing a few warmup pitches before the bottom of the fifth inning in Thursday’s 5-3 win over the Giants.  

"I just felt something kind of lock up there in the fifth and couldn’t really throw after that. Something in my back again," Kershaw said. "Just more back stuff." 

The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner and nine-time All-Star is 7-3 with a 2.64 ERA in 15 starts with 88 strikeouts in 85 1/3 innings this season.  

Manchester United great Gary Neville is "a little bit disappointed" with Cristiano Ronaldo and the ongoing saga surrounding his future.

Ronaldo is widely reported to be seeking an exit from Old Trafford before the close of the transfer window on September 1, due to his desire to continue playing in the Champions League.

That has put new United boss Erik ten Hag in a difficult position, with Friday's news conference ahead of their Premier League opener against Brighton and Hove Albion dominated by questions on the future of his number seven.

Neville said earlier this week United should allow Ronaldo to leave and has now followed up those comments by urging the 37-year-old to come out publicly to make his feelings clear.

"I'm a little bit disappointed in him," Neville said on Sky Sports. "He's letting the manager go into those press conferences...

"Cristiano now is at a good age, he's been the best player in the world along with [Lionel] Messi in the last 10 years, he's got all that experience in the world.

"Would it be too much to ask for him to come out and do an interview to clear things up, tell us what he's actually thinking and what is actually happening? Would that be too much to ask?

"Is he just not going to do an interview in the next few weeks? Obviously, we're going to ask for him, is he going to come out, stand up, do the interview and not let everybody else have to answer the questions for him?

"I think that would be something that would be a start. I am disappointed, because it's the clarity that we haven't got, and the reason Erik ten Hag has been a little bit jumpy in his press conference is because he's been asked difficult questions, and he's probably not even telling us the truth of it, because he can't.

"The reality of it is if a Champions League clubs comes in for Cristiano Ronaldo in the next two weeks, I think we know that he wants to take that move, it's emerged over the last few weeks. But at the moment, no one has come in for him.

"That's why the club is saying at this moment in time that they want him to stay, but I think if somebody came in, he would go. 

"Should Manchester United be waiting until the final two weeks of the transfer window to see as to whether the star centre-forward leaves? I don't think they should be in that position. Do they just say no, you're staying, come what may? That would be clarity.

"But then there's a big risk that Ronaldo in a few weeks' time throws his toys out of the pram, says he's leaving. It's the sort of thing that could happen, and that's why I think it's a little bit unpalatable."