Bayern Munich had their lead reduced to five points as they lost their unbeaten Bundesliga record on Saturday in shocking emphatic style, going down 3-1 away to Borussia Moenchengladbach. It is only the second time Pep Guardiola’s Bayern have lost at all this season after they went down 2-0 at Arsenal in the Champions League in October. Gladbach coach Andre Schubert praised his side’s “sensational performance” while Guardiola said Bayern must learn from their mistakes. “We lost our control after they went 1-0 up and they started to couter-attack,” said the Spaniard. “We have to be able to learn from…
Author: David F.
Gonzalo Higuain should build on his sterling Serie A season to push his way into Ballon d’Or contention, says his coach at Napoli Maurizio Sarri. Napoli sit top of the league for the first time since 1990, when Diego Maradona led the ‘Partenopei’ to their second and last league crown, after Higuain hit a brace in a thrilling 2-1 victory over 10-man Inter Milan last week. The league leaders are expected to be welcomed by 16,000 travelling fans in Bologna on Sunday when they look to maintain a one-point lead over Inter, who host Genoa in Saturday’s late game. The…
The rising star of Jurgen Klopp battles Steve McClaren’s weak side this Sunday as the German’s re-energised Liverpool tackle the former England manager’s free-wheeling Newcastle United. Four consecutive wins has helped Liverpool move within sight of the Premier League top four and into the League Cup semifinals, while successive heavy losses to Leicester City and Crystal Palace have sent Newcastle careening into the relegation zone. Newcastle’s porousness and Liverpool’s attacking incisiveness could spell another bleak afternoon for McClaren, whose position is reportedly under threat after just two wins in 14 league games. But after a number of matches in which…
Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo continued their brilliant goal-scoring form as Watford beat Norwich City 2-0 at Vicarage Road on Saturday to climb into the Premier League’s top half. In the first top-flight encounter between the teams since February 1988, Watford prevailed through Deeney’s 30th-minute penalty and an injury-time goal by his strike partner Ighalo. Deeney now has five goals for the campaign and Ighalo nine, and their goals have put Watford well on their way to achieving the minimum objective of avoiding relegation. Victory took Quique Sanchez Flores’s side up to ninth place in the standings and kept Norwich,…
Tottenham equalled a 30-year-old 14-match unbeaten run with a 1-1 draw at West Brom on Saturday thanks to an calm-taken goal from teenage England international Dele Alli. The result leaves Spurs fifth in the Premier League with 26 points from 15 games. The last time Tottenham went 14 games without defeat during a stretch running from November 1984 to March 1985, Argentina’s Ossie Ardiles was running Spurs’ midfield, Peter Shreeves was in the managerial hot-seat and Band Aid’s “Do they know it’s Christmas” was in the pop charts. Spurs, kitted out in a bright purple away shirt at the Hawthorns,…
Manchester United could not score at Old Trafford for the second successive game as a 0-0 draw against West Ham United dropped them to fourth place in the Premier League on Saturday. Louis van Gaal’s side have now drawn a blank five times at home in all competitions this season, threatening their chances of regaining the domestic title and progressing in Europe. United, missing injured captain and top scorer Wayne Rooney with an ankle injury, created so many chances, but lacked a cutting edge in a dull encounter that will heap further pressure on van Gaal, who has been widely…
Olivier Giroud atoned for his sins for a first-half own goal as Arsenal defeated struggling Sunderland 3-1 on Saturday to move up to second place in the Premier League table. The London club took advantage of Manchester City’s 2-0 defeat at Stoke City and Manchester United’s failure to beat West Ham United by registering their first win in four league games. It was a timely boost ahead of next week’s must-win Champions League trip to Olympiakos, where Arsene Wenger’s side must prevail by two clear goals to reach the knockout phase. Joel Campbell scored the Gunners first goal in the…
Chelsea’s season went from bad to terrible when the reigning Premier League champions shamefully lost 1-0 at home to Bournemouth on Saturday to leave them just three points above relegation. Jose Mourinho’s side produced another disjointed display and were stunned in the 82nd minute when substitute Glenn Murray, who had only been on the field for two minutes, headed home after a goalmouth scramble. Chelsea’s eighth defeat in 15 Premier League matches since the start of the season left them in 14th place, 14 points behind fourth-placed Manchester United. Bournemouth moved out of relegation. “The guys did great before I…
Real Madrid came back stronger from their embarrassing exit from the Copa del Rey for playing an ineligible player in midweek by cruising to a 4-1 victory over Getafe on Saturday. However, they remain two points behind Atletico Madrid in third after goals from Diego Godin and Antoine Griezmann handed Diego Simeone’s men a 2-0 win at Granada. Karim Benzema was back in the Real starting line-up and scored his first two goals since being caught up in a blackmail scandal involving French international teammate Mathieu Valbuena inside 16 minutes. Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo then made it 4-0 before…
Glenn Murray’s 82nd-minute goal for Bournemouth condemned Chelsea to their wmost terrible defeat of a wretched season on Saturday, while Riyad Mahrez’s three goals fired Leicester City top of the Premier League. A run of three games without defeat in all competitions had suggested an upturn in Chelsea’s fortunes, only for Eddie Howe’s promoted Bournemouth to condemn the champions to their eighth defeat of the campaign. Murray was the match-winner at Stamford Bridge, scoring 99 seconds after coming on to leave Chelsea just three points above the relegation zone and turn the spotlight firmly back onto their manager Jose Mourinho.…
Sunderland coach Sam Allardyce has said he has massive respect for his Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger and was keen to end his long-running disagreement with the Frenchman. Allardyce, who has not defeated Arsenal since May, 2010 and lost his previous eight matches against Wenger, has a well-documented feud with the Frenchman, which was inspired largely by Wenger’s accusation of attempted gamesmanship. Allardyce said he no longer deployed such tactics as the two sides prepare for their Premier League clash on Saturday. “It was about my life in the early years. My life’s not like that now. I’m completely different now,”…
Arsenal and Spain’s midfielder Santi Cazorla could be out of action until March although manager Arsene Wenger was not ready to commit to a time frame for the injured midfielder until he hears from a specialist. Cazorla hurt his knee in the 1-1 draw with Norwich City on Sunday, but stayed on the field as Wenger had already used up his substitutions, with the Frenchman saying the Spaniard had ended the game “on one leg”. “It’s possible, yes,” Wenger told reporters on Friday when asked if Cazorla could be out of action until March as had been widely reported. “Until…
In some ways, Christmas has come early for Bayer 04 Leverkusen fans thanks to a certain pint-sized Mexican. Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez has been scoring goals for fun in recent weeks, earning him the Bundesliga’s Player of the Month accolade for November, not to mention a whole host of Bundesliga best-marks along the way. Continuing his prolific late-October run of form – six goals in his last five matches in all competitions – Hernandez added to his tally with consolation strikes in losing efforts to AS Roma in the Uefa Champions League and 1. FC Köln in the Rhine derby, before…
Borussia Moenchengladbach captain Granit Xhaka says his side has every chance of proving to the German league on Saturday that runaway leaders Bayern Munich can be defeated. Xhaka and Gladbach’s stars are relishing the prospect of testing themselves against Germany’s top team at Borussia Park with their side fourth in the table while Bayern are already eight points clear. “It’s clear Bayern are at a different level at the moment, where, if we’re being honest, no other team in Europe or the world is at,” the Swiss midfielder told German Sky Sports. “But Bayern are also beatable. Every team is…
Amazing memories of Diego Maradona’s enduring spell in Italy’s top flight are up once again as Napoli savour their place at the top of Serie A after 25 years ahead of Sunday’s trip to Bologna. The year was 1990 and Maradona, who had helped Napoli to their first league title three years earlier, was in his pomp as Napoli strode towards their second and last ‘scudetto’. Unbeknown to fans, it would be the last time Napoli sat top of the Italian league table for 25 years – a wait that ended Monday when Gonzalo Higuain struck twice in a 2-1…
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have revealed plans to organise international friendlies for the Super Eagles to fill in the up coming Fifa windows. Amaju Pinnick, the president of the football body, says plans are in top gear to engage African Champions, Ivory Coast and European giants Italy to play the Eagles. Pinnick disclosed this in an interview that discussions are underway to get the two countries on board as the Eagles get ready for the Fifa 2018 World Cup and the Afcon 2017 qualifiers. “We are still discussing, but nothing is concluded yet but we wish to play African…
Super Eagles yet again further dropped seven places on the latest rankings released by the world football governing body, Fifa on Thursday. Coach Sunday Oliseh’s Eagles were categorised among the worst mover as the three-time African champions dropped to 66th position among football playing nations and 14th in Africa. Eagles fate was not helped within the period of ranking as their 2018 World Cup opponents, Swaziland which they barely overcome were not among the top ranked countries. Ivory Coast are now ranked first in Africa replacing hitherto Africa’s best, Algeria which dropped to the second spot. Belgium will finish the…
Laurent Koscielny could be fit to play this weekend, but Arsenal do not know how long they will be without star attacker Alexis Sanchez, manager Arsene Wenger revealed on Thursday. Koscielny and Sanchez both limped off in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Norwich City, the former with a hip injury, the latter with a hamstring problem, while midfielder Santi Cazorla suffered a blow to his knee. Arsenal have not yet established the likely length of Sanchez and Cazorla’s absences, but Wenger is hopeful that Koscielny will be able to line up in Saturday’s home game with Sunderland. “We will make…
Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy can make history for the second weekend running when the Premier League’s early-season over-achievers visit down-sliding Swansea City on Saturday. Vardy’s goal in the 1-1 draw against Manchester United saw him set a new Premier League record of scoring in 11 consecutive matches, going past the mark set by United old boy Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2003. Should he score at Swansea, Vardy will equal an even more historic mark: Jimmy Dunne’s English top-flight record from 1931-32 of scoring in 12 successive games for Sheffield United. But the England striker has played down the significance…
Spain midfielder Juan Mata expects Manchester United to get back the winning formula as they aim to step up their Premier League title challenge against West Ham on Saturday. Louis van Gaal’s side have lost just one of their last 15 games and could return to the top of the table if they beat the Hammers at Old Trafford and other results go their favour. Yet the perception remains that all is not entirely well at United, with their recent run containing too few victories, while entertaining play has been in short supply. Van Gaal’s methods have been called into…