The Premier League is back! The 2019/20 season kicks off tonight as Champions League winners Liverpool take on newly promoted Norwich City. Despite no major transfers coming into Anfield over the summer, Jurgen Klopp says his team will still be improved for a new title bid: "This team is a good age with space for improvement. If we had found the solution for problems we might have during the season we would have done it. It was not there for a reasonable price. Nobody should think we did not look." The Premier League transfer window ended last night, with Everton snapping up Arsenal's Alex Iwobi after giving up on Wilfried Zaha. Arsenal signed Kieran Tierney from Celtic and David Luiz from Chelsea, and Inter Milan completed the signing of striker Romelu Lukaku from Manchester United in a deal that could be worth up to €80 million. The Premier League set a new spending record of more than £1.4 billion (€1.5 billion). Here is your essential Premier League team-by-team guide.
Garry Ringrose is the only survivor from the starting XV that pitched up last time out for Wales' Grand Slam coronation in Cardiff, as Joe Schmidt named his Irish team for their opening World Cup warm-up game against Italy at the Aviva Stadium tomorrow. Two days after becoming eligible on the three-year residency ruling, Jean Kleyn is given his debut and thus a chance to showcase his old school second-row physicality in the trenches.
Ahead of Saturday's first All-Ireland football semi-final between Dublin and Mayo, Seán Moran asks does the past offer Mayo any signposts to a different future? "The only match in the series that wouldn't have been won by 20 points was the 2015 replay when Dublin scored 3-15" - you can read that in full here. Jackie Tyrrell's column is of course looking ahead to next weekend's hurling final and how the puck-out battle will go a long way to deciding it: "When you crunch the numbers and look at the long puck-out stats in both semi-finals, it's very interesting. Kilkenny retained all of their six short puck-outs and Tipperary retained all four of theirs. Kilkenny went long 26 times and Tipperary long 25 times . . ."
Meanwhile Rory McIlroy carded a six-under-par 65 in the opening round of The Northern Trust as Tiger Woods struggled to a 75 in the first FedEx Cup playoff event. McIlroy is three shots off the clubhouse lead held by American Troy Merritt.
