Category: English Premier League

Bruno Fernandes created the only goal for Matheus Cunha as Man Utd held firm to move 10 points clear of Chelsea

2 min “After more than 40 days without internet here in Iran; I finally managed to get online,” writes Karen Asad. “You can’t imagine how difficult that is! anyway I’m looking forward to my first live blog in almost two months. I can testify that football is a great distraction from the raging war surrounding us. Here’s hoping a United win!”

1 min Man Utd kick off from left to right as we watch.

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Tottenham led twice but conceded in both first- and second-half stoppage time and remain in the bottom three

5 mins: A big punt forward from Kinsky towards Solanke, who seems to pretty deliberately take out van Hecke. They both go down and the ball bounces forward, with Simons haring after it. He’s not far away from getting it, either, but Verbruggen comes out to huff it away in the nick of time. Again, the referee lets play continue.

3 mins: Lots of people running around as the game starts with a high tempo. But then Danso stops Minteh completing a one-two and thereby concedes a free-kick on halfway.

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Is this the moment a rough patch turns into a full blown crisis for Eddie Howe? As Alex Scott shone in Bournemouth’s midfield and Adrien Truffert’s late winner prompted wild visiting celebrations, it certainly looked that way.

Newcastle’s manager has now presided over four straight defeats and, with his team stuck in 14th, any vision of European qualification seems a fast receding speck in the distance.

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Bernd Leno saves the day for Fulham to secure draw that dents Brentford’s European ambitions

1 min Brentford kick off, lump the ball forward and Igor Thiago wins a corner!

“Given today’s match between two solid London sides,” says Peter O’Connor, “a poser. If there were an independent state of London, where would its football league figure among the Big Five European leagues?”

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Manchester City v Arsenal is a rare late-season title decider and comes with a set of surprising plotlines

OK, so it was all building to this, then. The slow‑burn plotlines. The room‑temperature action sequences. The winter afternoons on the sofa watching men wrestle unhappily, staring out of the window as the frigid wind tousles the clouds, wondering about the death of all things, and also why referees not only have to speak now but speak in the same awkward Yorkshire bingo‑caller voice.

All of this. It’s all actually fine. Because it turns out this was just delayed resolution, cinematic build, the sporting equivalent of a really long closeup of a man in a wide-brimmed Mexican hat narrowing his eyes and chewing a cigar. And now we get the payoff. The Etihad on Sunday afternoon. The clink of spurs. The tick of the clocktower. Townsfolk huddled at the saloon-bar shutters. Get ready for an old-school shootout.

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• Arsenal coach sees trip to Etihad as ‘a big opportunity’

• Bukayo Saka still unavailable with an achilles problem

Mikel Arteta will go all out for victory in Sunday’s Premier League title showdown at Manchester City and has not thought for “one second” about setting up for a draw.

Arsenal are six points clear of City, albeit they have played an extra game, and a stalemate could move them decisively towards the trophy they crave. According to Opta’s projections, Arsenal would have an 89% probability of winning the title if it finished all square at the Etihad Stadium.

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Jamie Jackson and Ed Aarons look ahead to the crunch Premier League meeting between Manchester City and Arsenal

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Manchester City host Arsenal as both aim to gain a huge advantage in the title race while Everton welcome Liverpool to Hill Dickinson Stadium

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue Gtech Community Stadium

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• ‘Twenty-two years without title … if they win it’s over’

• City manager enjoys watching rivals despite criticism

Pep Guardiola believes if Manchester City replicate their second-half Carabao Cup final display against Arsenal “for 95 minutes” in Sunday’s pivotal title meeting with Mikel Arteta’s side they will win, though the manager expects his opposite number to make adjustments for this key clash.

Arsenal dominated initially when the teams met last month at Wembley before City gradually became ascendant, Guardiola’s side in control after the break as two goals from Nico O’Reilly claimed the trophy. Guardiola was asked if City would prevail again at the Etihad Stadium if they perform as they did at Wembley. “If we play like the second half during 95 minutes and they play like the second half during 95 minutes, we are going to win,” said the manager.

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A seismic clash between City and Arsenal, Tottenham need leadership, and could Eddie Howe recall Yoane Wissa?

Josh King learned of the difficulties that come with being a Premier League player at Liverpool on Sunday. The 19-year-old was withdrawn at the break after a tough first half at Anfield as Marco Silva wanted to change things when two goals down. It will be interesting to see how King reacts to the half-time hook when he is next called upon, whether he uses it as inspirational fuel or sees it as an undeserved irritation because he was not solely to blame for Fulham being behind. Silva will have a quandary over whether to start the youngster again or leave him stewing on the bench, offering a further reminder of what is required at the top level. King has impressed over the season and, sometimes, at this stage of a player’s development, it is a good idea to see what lessons are learned from a challenging moment. Will Unwin

Brentford v Fulham, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Leeds v Wolves, Saturday 3pm

Newcastle v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm

Tottenham v Brighton, Saturday 5.30pm

Chelsea v Manchester United, Saturday 8pm

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• ‘Etihad is the ultimate test – bring it on,’ says midfielder

• ‘We have six games to go and we know how big it is’

Declan Rice has insisted Arsenal must be better at Manchester City on Sunday if they are to press their Premier League title claims.

The midfielder is conscious of his club’s curious situation: six points clear of City at the top of the table, albeit having played an extra game, and the only English team in the Champions League semi-finals. But the mood is edgy and Rice is aware that the fans have concerns over the style of play.

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Michael Carrick branded Lisandro Martínez’s red card for pulling Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair as “shocking” and said Manchester United may appeal as the defender faces a three-match ban.

If the sending off in United’s 2-1 defeat by Leeds at Old Trafford on Monday night stands, Carrick could be without his two first-choice centre-backs for Saturday’s trip to Chelsea as Harry Maguire may be suspended for a second match. Martínez was sent off after 56 minutes when Paul Tierney, after reviewing the incident on the monitor, ruled it a red-card offence, with Leeds 2-0 ahead.

Carrick said: 'The arm [is] in the face of Lisandro and he is off balance and grappling. He goes to touch his shirt and gets a red card for it.

'It is not aggressive, there is no jolt, no tug. We have got to be careful where the game is going. It is a shocking decision, absolutely shocking. The red card, that is really concerning. I know he touched his hair. There is a difference to really aggressively touching it.'

• ‘A shocking decision’: Carrick fumes over Martínez’s red card for hair pulling

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Chants of “Daniel Farke, Daniel Farke” rang out from the travelling faithful after this seismic Leeds win lifted them six points clear of Tottenham, whose plight darkens further after the visitors pulled off a first league win at Old Trafford since February 1981.

It means Michael Carrick has lost a home game for the first time as Manchester United’s interim manager. His team lacked control throughout, a state not aided by Lisandro Martínez’s silly 56th-minute red card for yanking Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s ponytail, and he is now suspended for three matches, though the club may appeal.

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• Defender thought to have medial knee ligament damage

• Argentine may still recover in time for World Cup

Tottenham’s deepening relegation concerns appear to have been heightened by the loss of their captain, Cristian Romero, for the remainder of the season.

Romero was reduced to tears as he left the pitch after 70 minutes of Sunday’s 1-0 loss at Sunderland, following a coming together with the striker Brian Brobbey that led to the Argentinian clattering into his own goalkeeper, Antonin Kinsky. Romero, it is believed, has sustained medial knee ligament damage that will take around eight weeks to heal.

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De Zerbi looks past Simons, Arsenal fans are not helping their team and Ngumoha can give PSG something to think about

Football is such that, when you’re down, there’s a good chance the game boots you in the solar plexus, and that’s exactly what happened to Tottenham at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland’s winner coming by way of a deflection. But you can also take steps to help yourself and, though Roberto De Zerbi’s midfield setup made some sense – he picked three hard-runners in order to compete with Sunderland’s physicality – even pre-match, it wasn’t clear who would create their chances. It’s true that Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Mohammed Kudus are out injured, but in that context, it is surely even more important a place in the XI, whether in midfield or out wide, be found for Xavi Simons, left on the sidelines until the 85th minute. Simons is not perfect, but of the players De Zerbi has available he is the only one with the imagination and technique to make things happen. He may lack physicality, but what Spurs need more than anything is quality. Daniel Harris

Match report: Sunderland 1-0 Tottenham

Match report: Arsenal 1-2 Bournemouth

Match report: Chelsea 0-3 Manchester City

City improve in good weather, says Guardiola

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