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• Sterling wants clarity on Chelsea prospects

  Raheem Sterling wants clarity on his Chelsea future after he was left out of the Blues' squad to face Manchester City.

  Sterling was a surprise omission from Enzo Maresca's matchday squad for their opening Premier League fixture of the 2024-25 campaign.

  The 29-year-old, who joined Chelsea from City in 2022, had featured in all of the Blues' pre-season matches.

  However, after Sterling was left out of Sunday's clash against his former club, the winger's camp told Mail Sport that they were chasing clarity from the club.

  "Raheem Sterling is contracted to Chelsea for the next three years," a statement read.

  "He returned to England two weeks early to conduct individual training, and has had a positive pre-season under the new coach, who he has developed a good working relationship with.

  "He is committed, as ever, to delivering at the highest level for Chelsea and the fans, who he holds in high regard, and given his inclusion in official club pre-match material this week, our expectation was that Raheem would be involved in this weekend’s fixture in some capacity.

  "As a camp, we have always had positive dialogue with, and assurance from, Chelsea in relation to Raheem's future at the club, so we look forward to gaining clarity on the situation.

  "Until then, we will continue to support Raheem's desire to start the new season positively."

  Sterling was Chelsea's third-highest scorer in all competitions last season, netting 10 times in 43 games, slightly overperforming his 9.1 expected goals (xG), albeit he only converted four of 17 big chances, defined by Opta as an opportunity from which a player would reasonably be anticipated to score.

  Maresca, meanwhile, brushed off the selection choice.

  "It's a technical decision, nothing else to say," he told the media. "Managers are paid to make decisions and sometimes players don't like it."

  Chelsea have once again been busy in the transfer market, signing nine players, with winger Pedro Neto arriving in a move worth over £50million from Wolves last week.

  The Blues have a bloated squad, with coach Maresca having conceded they must focus on shipping players out, with England left-back Ben Chilwell – who was also left out of the squad on Sunday – having been told he can leave.

  Conor Gallagher was also absent, as he remains in limbo over a possible move to Atletico Madrid. Forwards Armando Broja and Romelu Lukaku were among the other big names left out by Maresca, with both players expected to depart.

  Chelsea's starting XI against City had an average age of just 23 years and 180 days, which is the second-youngest by any Premier League team for their opening match of a season.

• Brentford 2-1 Crystal Palace: Bees overcome Toney absence as Wissa scores winner

  Brentford made light of Ivan Toney's absence to start their 2024-25 Premier League campaign with a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace, as Yoane Wissa netted a second-half winner.

  Bees talisman Toney was left out of the hosts’ squad for Sunday’s game at Gtech Community Stadium, with Thomas Frank confirming before kick-off that decision was made due to transfer interest in the striker.

  But his absence was not felt as Bryan Mbeumo opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark, cutting onto his favoured left foot to stroke into the bottom-left corner.

  However, Palace – who saw strikes from Eberechi Eze and Odsonne Edouard disallowed in either half – came on strong in the second period and levelled through Ethan Pinnock’s own goal.

  The Eagles were caught out as the game became stretched, though, with Wissa converting from close range 14 minutes from time to seal the points for Brentford, moving them up to fifth in the early standings.

  Data Debrief: Mbeumo and Wissa fill Toney-shaped hole

  Frank's pre-match admission that Toney could leave in the final weeks of the transfer window will surely concern Brentford's supporters, with the England international's 36 Premier League goals for the Bees being a club-record tally.

  However, the next two players in the club's Premier League scoring charts, Wissa (27) and Mbeumo (23), appeared to relish the freedom of playing in a fluid front three and stepped up in Toney's absence.

  Wissa recorded a goal and an assist for the third straight Premier League game after doing do against Bournemouth and Newcastle United to end the 2023-24 season. He is the first player to achieve that feat since Riyad Mahrez did so for Manchester City in December 2021.

  Mbeumo, meanwhile, maintained his knack of troubling Brentford's London rivals. Since the start of 2021-22, only Bukayo Saka (12 goals, 14 assists) has bettered Mbeumo's 17 goal involvements (11 goals, six assists) in Premier League London derbies. 

• Motta expects Juventus to be competitive despite transfer need

  Thiago Motta is confident Juventus will be competitive at the start of the Serie A season despite having more work to do in the transfer market. 

  It has been a period of change at the Allianz Stadium, with Motta replacing Massimiliano Allegri as head coach after four years without a league title for the Turin giants, which followed a run of nine straight Scudetto triumphs.

  The Bianconeri have brought in midfielders Douglas Luiz and Khephren Thuram but are yet to strengthen their attack despite links with Teun Koopmeiners and Nicolas Gonzalez.

  Their struggles in the transfer market could mean the likes of Weston McKennie, who looked to be on his way out at the end of 2023-24, could return to the fold for their Serie A opener against Cesc Fabregas' Como on Monday.

  Motta, however, has faith in the players available to him, saying at Sunday's pre-match press conference: "First of all, McKennie is a useful and functional player for our needs.

  "Tomorrow we have 19 players to face the game, only 11 can play. I have the possibility to make five substitutions, no more.

  "We are in good shape, had good preparation, good training this week, with intensity, everything we want to see, and ready to face tomorrow's game."

  Juventus are also likely to offload Italy forward Federico Chiesa, among others, and though former Bologna coach Motta knows there is plenty of work to be done, he is focused purely on starting his reign with a win.

  "We are working hard to build a competitive squad together and today we are focused on playing a great game against Como. We will see the rest later," Motta said.

  "The most important thing is that, even if you don't like to talk too much about the game, we are focused on playing well, doing our job well and getting the result we want against Como.

  "All the players who come tomorrow deserve to be there, whether they play from the start or come in during the game, they do so on merit.

  "Nothing is taken for granted, we have to deserve it and we have to focus on ourselves and on tomorrow's game.

  "We are facing a team that has made it here from Serie B, they have won many games to get to this point, they have a lot of enthusiasm."