English Premier League News
Manchester City win a whirlwind game against Fulham, Barcelona extend their lead at the top of the table
Elsewhere … England are playing Ghana in a friendly. Join Yara El-Shaboury for that one.
Barcelona: Joan García; Koundé, Cubarsí , Balde, Gerard Martín; Pedri, Eric García; Olmo, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha; Lewandowski.
Continue reading...In the past, moments like Chelsea’s shorthanded goal might have sent Arsenal reeling. No longer
The gap at the top is five points. Arsenal have now played two of their three toughest away games of the season. They’ve come through a potentially extremely tricky week with reputation enhanced, despite being without one of their starting centre-backs for all three games and both for one of them. If there is any sense of disappointment, it is only that they failed to beat Chelsea, whom they have become accustomed to getting the better of, despite having a man advantage from the 38th minute on Sunday.
But really there shouldn’t be any disappointment. Coming out of the international break, having conceded a late equaliser to Sunderland in their previous game, Arsenal looked potentially vulnerable. Despite having been by far the most impressive side this season, their lead over Manchester City was only four points. They were without Gabriel, who probably ranks alongside Declan Rice as their most important player. They faced Tottenham, Bayern and Chelsea over the course of eight days, and Manchester City appeared to be beginning to gather momentum.
Continue reading...Ruben Amorim is happy to ‘steal’ from others, Phil Foden is central to City and Thomas Frank is in trouble at Tottenham
As Barney Ronay has noted, Arsenal are facing a weekly renewal of the Game You Just Have to Win If You Want to Be Champions. Did this represent a Game You Just Have to Win Because Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo Was Sent Off? Yes and no. The hosts will naturally be more pleased with a point in the context of the first-half red card, while Arsenal perhaps looked a little jaded and below their best overall. But Enzo Maresca’s side were excellent throughout, despite having to play so much of the match with 10 men, and they deserved something from it. Compared with some Chelsea v Arsenal encounters from the olden days (when more overtly physical iterations of the Blues traditionally used to crush the fragile Gunners) there were no signs of weakness, mental or otherwise, from Arteta’s Premier League leaders in a fierce and physical derby. They will experience few harder tests than this, and a point was fair. Luke McLaughlin
Continue reading...Arsenal would surely have taken a draw beforehand, against a Chelsea team that have emerged as surprise title rivals in recent weeks – and especially when they realised they had to play without William Saliba, who injured himself in training on Saturday.
It was a different story when, in the 38th minute, Chelsea were reduced to 10 men after Moisés Caicedo’s X-rated challenge on Mikel Merino. It was one of those that made you wince upon each replay, the stand-in Arsenal striker fortunate to emerge unscathed.
Continue reading...Moises Caicedo was sent off for a nasty tackle on Mikel Merino, who later equalised after Trevoh Chalobah’s opening goal
5 min All a bit stop-start for now, with another stoppage when Rice is penalised for a foul on Caicedo.
Caicedo then shoves Merino (I think) out of his way off the ball.
Continue reading...Alexander Isak broke his Premier League duck as the fallen champions got back on track
Andy Flintoff gets in touch: “Looking at that Liverpool line-up, the two players with squad numbers >11 could so easily be switched with Endo & Salah with not a lot of positional changes required, which would leave it with a very retro looking 1-11.”
Arne Slot has been explaining his team selection to Sky Sports.
Continue reading...Just when Ruben Amorim must have thought his luck would never turn, Manchester United managed to inflict Crystal Palace’s first home defeat in the Premier League since February and end their own five-year wait for a victory at this ground after a first half when their opponents should have been out of sight.
Oliver Glasner’s side had been rampant and deservedly took the lead through Jean-Philippe Mateta’s retaken penalty but they could not make their dominance count. Having failed to score in four previous league meetings that included three defeats, like the proverbial London buses United struck back twice in nine minutes through Joshua Zirkzee – his first goal in the Premier League for almost a year – and Mason Mount to snatch the points.
Continue reading...Fulham started fast, helped by a howler from Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario and a mutinous atmosphere among the home support, as the pressure on Thomas Frank intensified
55 seconds: No.
Fulham kick off. Earlier today, Phil Foden scored the fastest goal of the season after 59 seconds for Manchester City against Leeds … only for Newcastle’s Malick Thiaw to beat that mark by four seconds against Everton a couple of hours later. Something’s clearly in the air today, so can anyone better that here?
Continue reading...Malick Thiaw scored twice as Newcastle ended their run of away defeats with a crushing victory
A wicked inswinging corner from Lewis Miley is headed in from three yards by Malick Thiaw. It was a good header, steered decisively wide of Pickford, but the delivery from Miley was outstanding.
19 secs: Pickford denies Elanga! An early chance for newcastle. Woltemade sturns Keane expertly in the centre circle and slides a simple pass that allows Elanga to stretch his legs. He’s too quick for O’Brien and slides a slightly tame low shot that is pushed round the post by Pickford. No matter, because from the corner…
Continue reading...Igor Thiago scored twice in the last 10 minutes to help Brentford beat Burnley, who have now lost their past four league games, in an exciting finish at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The Brazilian opened the scoring in the 81st minute from the penalty spot before Zian Flemming responded with a spot-kick of his own a few minutes later.
Continue reading...When Phil Foden struck the winner in the second minute of added time Pep Guardiola’s leap was laced with relief at Manchester City’s pursuit of Arsenal still being live. They are back up to second, four points behind the Gunners, who travel to Chelsea on Sunday. This was Leeds’s fourth straight league reverse but the fight shown augurs well for Daniel Farke’s job security.
City had spurned a two-goal interval advantage after Dominic Calvert-Lewin, a half-time substitute, terrorised the hosts. The 28-year-old scored in the 49th minute, then claimed the penalty that led to Lukas Nmecha’s 68th-minute equaliser, rattling Josko Gvardiol enough for him to scythe the striker down.
Continue reading...Top two clash when Arsenal travel to Chelsea on Sunday while Liverpool aim to break their poor run at West Ham
Saturday 3pm Venue Gtech Community Stadium
Continue reading...Cherries fans wait on word of Semenyo, Gueye’s red card could leave Everton blue and Nuno needs new plans
With Thomas Frank, Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa, Christian Nørgaard and Mark Flekken leaving Brentford in the summer, the Bees looked the established club most likely to go down, thereby allowing a promoted one to stay up. In the event, though, they’ve made a solid start to life under Keith Andrews, more or less alternating wins and losses to sit 13th in the table, five points above the relegation zone. Burnley, on the other hand, find themselves roughly where most people thought they’d be: second-bottom having lost three games in a row. As it happens, they’ve not been that bad, asking difficult questions of more exalted opponents with tidy midfield play, before succumbing to defeat anyway. Ultimately, conceding two goals a game is not sustainable, but it’s worth noting that one of Burnley’s three league victories came against Sunderland, a side whose physical, intense and forward-thinking style is not dissimilar to Brentford’s. If they can get their passing going, they’ve a chance. Daniel Harris
Brentford v Burnley (Saturday 3pm, all times GMT)
Manchester City v Leeds, Saturday 3pm
Sunderland v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm
Everton v Newcastle, Saturday 5.30pm
Continue reading...A year to the day since Ruben Amorim fielded his first Manchester United XI, his latest iteration folded in a capitulation to 10-man Everton, who ended United’s unbeaten sequence at five games.
Idrissa Gueye’s bizarre red card for slapping Michael Keane, his centre-back, gave United most of the match to overcome Everton, who had previously won once at Old Trafford in 32 years before Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s 20-yard strike gave a delighted David Moyes a first victory here as a visiting manager in the Premier League.
Continue reading...Eberechi Eze’s hat-trick and Manchester City’s loss to Newcastle means Arsenal are in control of their own destiny
So it turns out those who had already handed the title to Arsenal were right after all.
It’s absurd, of course, to start handing out the title in November but a feature of modern football is how obsessed it becomes so early with title races. It’s perhaps a legacy of the Pep Guardiola-Jürgen Klopp rivalry’s peak, when being champion meant amassing more than 95 points. It made sense then to scan the track far ahead for any potential hurdles because there were so few. But less than a third of the way through this season, Manchester City, who remain probably the biggest danger to Arsenal, have already dropped as many points as they did in the entirety of 2017-18, their 100-point campaign.
Continue reading...