A shaky Arsenal showed the mental strength manager Arsene Wenger was craving for, even if Olivier Giroud scored for both sides, by beating Sunderland 3-1 to go second in the Premier League on Saturday. With a tough Champions League match looming against Olympiakos Piraeus in Athens next week, and eight players currently on the injured list, Arsenal needed a win after a run of three disappointing league games. “I was more nervous than usual today because I knew it was a very important game for our season,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told reporters. “We were edgy, nervy in the first…
Author: David Folami
Louis van Gaal hailed his side’s attacking display against West Ham United but said they “forgot to score goals” after a demoralising fourth 0-0 draw in their last six home matches on Saturday. Manchester United had 21 attempts at West Ham’s goal at Old Trafford but just one of those was on target as the Reds again frustrated the home fans at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’. “You can train every day on shooting at the goal and you have to know that we are doing that,” the Dutchman told reporters. “We put players in the position to score but you…
Manuel Pellegrini has blamed injuries and a stressful fixture schedule for Manchester City’s shock 2-0 defeat at Stoke City but goalkeeper Joe Hart was pretty honest when he said their performance had been unacceptable. Premier League leaders City were torn apart inside the opening 15 minutes at the Britannia Stadium with Marko Arnautovic scoring twice for the rampant hosts and they barely threatened Stoke’s goal thereafter. While key players such as Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany were out of action City still boasted an attacking of Raheem Sterling, Wilfried Bony, David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne, a quartet…
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has said a top-six Premier League finish may be the best his team can hope for after an eighth defeat of the campaign against Bournemouth on Saturday. Substitute Glenn Murray’s 82nd-minute header at Stamford Bridge caused Chelsea a 1-0 loss that left them three points above the relegation zone and 14 points adrift of the Champions League places. Mourinho had previously insisted that Chelsea were still capable of breaking into the top four, but he admitted that he might have to revise his objectives after the champions’ latest abject result. “Before this game it was realistic…
New Valencia coach Gary Neville viewed on from the stands as Santi Mina’s late equaliser handed his side a surprise 1-1 draw at home to European champions Barcelona. Luis Suarez had put the visitors into a controversial lead as he appeared to be offside before scoring at the near post, but Valencia’s work rate was rewarded when Mina fired into the top corner five minutes from time. Real Madrid are now just four points behind Barca as they bounced back from their embarrassing elimination from the Copa del Rey for fielding an ineligible player in midweek with Karim Benzema, Gareth…
Manchester United will be without captain Wayne Rooney and defender Marcos Rojo for their Premier League clash against West Ham United, manager Louis van Gaal said on Friday. Rooney has been ruled out of Saturday’s game at Old Trafford with an ankle injury he picked up in the 1-1 draw with Leicester City at the weekend, while fullback Rojo has suffered a repeat of the shoulder dislocation he had last season. “Wayne’s injury is more heavy than we thought and it’s a nasty injury,” Van Gaal told the club’s website (www.manutd.com) on Friday. “When we go on it’s been getting…
Wayne Rooney will be unavailable for Manchester United’s games against West Ham in the Premier League and Wolfsburg in the Champions League because of an ankle injury. Manager Louis van Gaal confirmed the striker’s injury, which he suffered in the 1-1 draw at Leicester, was worse than at first thought. The 30-year-old, who has played 499 games for the club, will miss Saturday’s home game against West Ham and the European fixture in Wolfsburg next Tuesday. “It’s a nasty injury. He shall not play his 500th game (on Saturday) because he is more injured than I thought so we have…
Confidence is very high at Liverpool under new manager Juergen Klopp but the German knows the precious commodity, “like a small flower”, could be destroyed if his side allow complacency to slip in ahead of Sunday’s visit to Newcastle United. After seven wins in their last eight matches in all competitions, including a 6-1 mauling of Southampton in the League Cup on Wednesday, Klopp is riding a wave of enthusiasm and renewed belief at Anfield. Liverpool, whose struggle for goals had become seemingly endemic at the tail-end of Brendan Rodgers’s reign, have found the net 14 times in their last…
England managers should be appointed on a tournament-by-tournament basis and be sacked should they fail, according to Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew. In an interview with the Times newspaper on Saturday, Pardew made clear he would love to succeed Roy Hodgson, the 68-year-old whose contract expires after the European championship finals in France next year. “I don’t know about ‘the favourite’ but it’s a job I have specific views on,” said the Englishman, 54, whose Premier League side play at Everton on Monday. “To give yourself the best chance, the manager should be (appointed) tournament by tournament. You’re not building…
Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri said his only thoughts were on his side reaching the 40-point target that usually guarantees Premier League survival despite their rapidly shortening odds to win the title. Bookmakers will not be hitting the panic button yet after installing City as 2000-1 shots before a ball was kicked this season, but Saturday’s 3-0 win at Swansea City put the Foxes top of the table by two points after nearly one third of the season. With Riyad Mahrez’s hat-trick in south Wales securing victory, Leicester’s points tally reached 32 from 15 games and their title odds were…
After a nine-month ankle injury setback Franck Ribery was named on Friday in Bayern Munich’s squad for this weekend’s Bundesliga trip to Borussia Moenchengladbach. Coach Pep Guardiola revealed on Friday that the 32-year-old French midfielder was on the brink of making his return. And it was confirmed by the reigning three-time Bundesliga’s champions later on Friday that he would be in the squad for Saturday’s game. “Franck has been training well this week. After nine months he feels no pain, which is delightful news. I believe he’ll be back in the team before the winter break,” Guardiola told a press…
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…
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…