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• Jamal Lowe replaces injured Leon Bailey in Reggae Boyz squad for CONCACAF Nations League

  Jamaica's Reggae Boyz have made a crucial adjustment to their squad for the September window of the CONCACAF Nations League, calling up Jamal Lowe to replace the injured Leon Bailey. Bailey sustained an injury during Aston Villa's 2-1 victory over Leicester City in the English Premier League on Saturday, forcing him to withdraw from the national team.

  Lowe, known for his versatility and attacking prowess, has been drafted in to fill the void left by Bailey. Lowe, who plays for Swansea City in the English Championship, will join the squad as they prepare for their opening match against Cuba at the National Stadium on September 6. This match is critical for the Reggae Boyz as they aim to start their campaign on a strong note.

  The Reggae Boyz coaching staff expressed their disappointment at Bailey's injury but extended their best wishes for his recovery. "We wish Leon a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back in action soon," a team spokesperson said. 

  Following the match against Cuba, Jamaica will continue their CONCACAF Nations League journey with another important fixture against Honduras. These matches will be vital for Jamaica as they look to advance in the competition and strengthen their position on the international stage.

   

   

• Premier League MD3: Lucky winners and unlucky losers

  The Premier League takes its first break for international fixtures over the next two weeks.

  But we had plenty of thrills and spills on matchday three.

  Everton were 2-0 up in the 87th minute against Bournemouth on Saturday, only for Sean Dyche's team to lose 3-2. Manchester City continued their perfect start, while Arsenal were held by Brighton, with Declan Rice sent off.

  On Sunday, Newcastle United overcame Tottenham and Chelsea drew with Crystal Palace, while the headline fixture of the weekend saw Liverpool hammer Manchester United.

  But which teams were lucky, and unlucky, on MD3?

  Lucky winners: Bournemouth

  Andoni Iraola claimed Bournemouth were fortunate to come from behind and beat Everton 3-2 at Goodison Park. The Toffees were leading by 2+ goals until the 87th minute – the latest a team has ever been 2+ goals ahead in a game they've gone on to lose in Premier League history.

  The full-time stats perhaps suggest a different version of events to Iraola's take. Bournemouth finished with a higher expected goals (xG) than Everton (2.22 to 1.97) while having 17 shots to the hosts' 18.

  But up until late on, Everton had complete control. Indeed, as of the 80th minute, Sean Dyche's team had mustered 18 shots, 11 more than Bournemouth.

  And just to hammer that home, 1.79 of Bournemouth's 2.22 xG came from the 81st minute onwards. While the Cherries deserve credit for a smash-and-grab, it is fair to say that Everton, who had five big chances but scored just two of them, will have been left scratching their heads as to how they capitulated.

  Unlucky losers: Chelsea

  Okay, so technically, Chelsea are not 'losers' - they drew 1-1 with Palace on Sunday.

  But, based on the metrics, they were extremely unfortunate not to beat Oliver Glasner's team.

  Chelsea had 13 shots and accumulated 2.4 xG, which was the third highest across the weekend's games, behind Brentford (2.78) and Man City (3.0), albeit a huge chunk of it came from Nicolas Jackson's close-range finish.

   

  Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson was in fantastic form, making some excellent saves to deny Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer and coming away with a goals prevented figure of 1.76, and ultimately, Eberechi Eze's stunner, which had an xG of just 0.06, was enough to claim a share of the spoils and frustrate Enzo Maresca.

  Lucky winners: Newcastle United

  Newcastle beat Spurs 2-1 at St James' Park, and Eddie Howe's team showed how clinical they can be.

  They had nine shots, 11 fewer than Tottenham, but actually amassed a higher xG total (1.83 to 1.26), showing that the opportunities they created were quality ones.

  Indeed, they converted both of their big chances, meaning they join Leicester City (1/1) as the only other team from the weekend to register a 100% big chance conversion rate.

  Unlucky losers: Arsenal

  Like Chelsea, Arsenal drew, but based on the underlying metrics, and even though they went down to 10 men when Declan Rice was sent off, they could be considered unfortunate not to have beaten Brighton.

  Mikel Arteta's team finished with an xG of 2.14, the fifth-highest total from the weekend, while also creating five big opportunities, from which players would have been anticipated to do better, only for the Gunners to miss four of them.

  On the flip side, Arsenal did face 22 shots going the other way, albeit those attempts did not account for a high xG (1.76).

• Norway boss Solbakken likely to step down after 2026 World Cup campaign

  Stale Solbakken has announced he is likely to step down as Norway head coach when his contract expires after the 2026 World Cup campaign.

  The former midfielder took over the national side in 2020 with the hopes of returning Norway to a major tournament. However, he has been unable to qualify for one despite having players like Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard among his ranks.

  Norway finished third in their qualification group for Euro 2024, six points below Scotland, having only won three of their eight matches.

  With the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico coming up in 2026, Solbakken's sights are set on playing on the world stage for the first time since France 1998, but he says his time with the national team will not extend beyond that if they do qualify.

  "I'll take this qualification now and then there's a high probability that I'll do something else after that regardless," he told reporters on Monday, adding he will remain in charge if Norway qualify for the World Cup and step down after the finals.

  "While I'm still young and virile, I want to do something else too - I've said no to a number of club jobs that really tempted me, but I'm determined to make one last attempt here, and then I think that's it.

  "I really enjoy being with the boys, but there are far too few [international] matches. The last seven or eight months have been a nightmare with four friendly games, and the last two leading into the boys' summer holidays."

  Solbakken was part of Norway's squad in 1998 when they reached the last 16, and at Euro 2000 in the Netherlands and Belgium, Norway's last appearance at a major finals, as they failed to make it out of the group. 

  Qualification for the 2026 World Cup begins in either March or June 2025, depending on the upcoming Nations League results, with Norway starting their League B Group 3 campaign against Kazakhstan on Friday.