English Premier League News
Manchester City are timing their title run-in perfectly, to give Pep Guardiola a fine chance of a seventh title in a decade and to break Arsenal’s hearts yet again.
For fans of each team squeaky posterior time is officially entered. For the neutral the final 11 matches for City and the Gunners promise to be a cannot-miss spectacle.
Continue reading...City closed the gap on Arsenal at the top thanks to two first-half goals from Nico O’Reilly
Newcastle get the ball rolling! “No-one actually believes we’ll win this game, do they?” sighs Toon fan Chris Paraskevas. “I mean the last time we won at the Etihad, the goal-scorers were Moussa Sissoko (now ruining his reputation at Panathinaikos with Rafa Benitez) and Ryan Taylor.”
The teams are out. Manchester City, in sky blue, are given a guard of honour by members of their 1976 League Cup winning side. The 50th anniversary of that victory, over Newcastle, comes up next week. The Toon in third-choice blue. As for the weather, Bert Challenor, the talent scout from Comedians by Trevor Griffiths, says it best: “I’ll never understand why they don’t run boats to Manchester.” We’ll be off in a minute.
Continue reading...James Milner showed he can still contribute during his record-breaking 654th Premier League appearance as Brighton won at Brentford. Milner’s inclusion meant he moved past Gareth Barry’s record tally in the competition and it proved an occasion to remember for the Seagulls after first-half goals by Diego Gómez and Danny Welbeck.
The pressure had mounted on Fabian Hürzeler after one league win in 13 games and he turned to the veteran midfielder in an attempt to arrest a worrying run of results after a recent start at Aston Villa. The 40-year-old produced an accomplished display on a landmark occasion before his 90th-minute substitution was marked with applause from both sets of supporters.
Continue reading...Manchester City take on Newcastle on Saturday night while Tottenham host neighbours Arsenal in Sunday’s derby
Saturday 3pm Venue Villa Park
Continue reading...Tottenham’s Tudor age begins with a north London derby, Guardiola ponders Haaland’s role and Wirtz has a chance to flummox Forest
Aston Villa, third in the Premier League, chasing Champions League qualification and the Europa League title, will be expected to beat Leeds on home soil. But Unai Emery’s side have struggled of late in games where the pressure is on and the onus is upon them to be the aggressor. After exiting the FA Cup to Newcastle, Marco Bizot’s moment of madness all but ending their hopes of reaching the fifth round, it is back to league duty. They eked out an ugly win over Brighton, just the kind of result they would be happy with this weekend, but recently they also lost at home to 10-man Brentford and to Everton. Before that they drew at lowly Crystal Palace, though Oliver Glasner’s side have been a bogey team for Villa. This week Bizot apologised for his rush of blood. Which Villa will turn up against Leeds? Ben Fisher
Aston Villa v Leeds, Saturday 3pm (all times GMT)
Brentford v Brighton, Saturday 3pm
Chelsea v Burnley, Saturday 3pm
West Ham v Bournemouth, Saturday 5.30pm
Continue reading...Club unhappy sanction applied in Championship
Premier League seeking additional punishment
Leicester City’s legal battle with the Premier League continues to rumble on as both parties formally lodged appeals related to this month’s decision by an independent commission to deduct the club six points.
It is understood the league believes Leicester should be punished additionally for the late submission of their annual accounts for 2023-24, to avoid setting a precedent, and said an appeal board will “urgently” hear the case to ensure it is resolved before the end of the English Football League season in May.
Continue reading...Bottom-of-the-table Wolves came from two down to end a nine-game losing streak against leaders Arsenal, and throw the title race wide open
2 min: It’s not a pleasant evening weather-wise. It’s raining in the West Midlands, and that rain could turn to sleet or snow later. Slapstick entertainment not yet off the menu.
Wolves get the ball rolling. “A quiet night is wanted, I think, from all parties, at least in the sense of avoiding the ghastly shenanigans on view in the notorious match last night,” begins Charles Antaki, who speaks for us all. “Raucous is good, animated is fine, full bloodedness welcome, but none of the other stuff, please. British football has been pretty free of it these last years, for which we should all be grateful.”
Continue reading...Thomas Clements is as big an Arsenal fan as anybody. He follows his team home and away and is even named after Mickey Thomas, scorer of Arsenal’s decisive second goal against Liverpool in their 1989 title win. However, whereas the majority of match-goers might take for granted the seemingly small things like travel, the journey to the stadium, entering and exiting the ground – for disabled supporters such as Clements, careful thought and planning goes into arrangements.
Thomas was born with cerebral palsy, a condition that impacts his movement and posture, and requires assistance to be able to attend match days. All of this is facilitated by Arsenal, who, like many Premier League clubs, are striving for inclusivity.
'Arsenal and the disability liaison team is great at facilitating my needs,' says Clements. 'Without them it wouldn't be possible'
Keane Lewis-Potter’s equaliser earned the Bees a deserved point as Arsenal dropped two in the title race
3 min: … but then Gabriel inexplicably toe-punts a wild backpass out for a corner. So careless. An early chance for Brentford to cause some of that six-yard-box chaos their manager was talking about before the game.
2 min: Brentford stroke it around a bit. Then Arsenal stroke it around a bit. One of those starts.
Continue reading...Burnley were dead and buried. Trailing 2-0 to the £48m striker Jørgen Strand Larsen’s first goals for Crystal Palace after half an hour, it looked inevitable that Scott Parker’s side would match their club‑record 17-match winless run in the top flight that dates all the way back to 1890.
Yet after all the misery since their last victory in October, everything changed in the space of seven scintillating minutes just before half-time. Burnley hit back through Hannibal Mejbri, Jaidon Anthony and an own goal from Jefferson Lerma to record only a second away win of the season since being promoted. It keeps alive their slim hopes of survival, although Parker will know it will take several more results like this to conjure up the greatest of escapes.
Continue reading...Manchester City’s week is moving along sweetly, this win closing the gap to three points to Arsenal, who travel to Brentford on Thursday. On Sunday, they defeated Liverpool at Anfield, on Wednesday they downed Fulham at home to reel off a 20th consecutive victory against them.
The rosiest moment for the title challengers was Erling Haaland’s 39th‑minute strike, a first in the competition from open play in nine games, though more concerning was his removal at the break, when City led 3-0.
Continue reading...There were big wins for City at the top of the table while Nottngham Forest fell short against Wolves and Burnley stunned Palace
Alessia Russo has just scored Arsenal’s fourth goal of the night. Sarah Rendell has the details.
That last news item makes this next email even more topical. “The LA Galaxy vs Los Angeles FC derby,” says Marek Wojenski in Connecticut, “is known as El Tráfico.”
Continue reading...Sunderland finally lost this season at the Stadium of Light, Virgil van Dijk making the difference with his second-half header
2 min: … the ball’s played back to Angulo, who tries to trick Alisson at his near post. The keeper reads the danger and claims. That’s got the home fans, already giving it plenty, going some. Meanwhile here’s Peter Oh: “Liverpool have had such bad luck with injuries, shipping comical last-gasp goals, and suspensions. How could things possibly get worse? Running into eleven Black Cats maybe? Sigh.”
1 min: It has been belting down on Wearside all day. It’s still raining. Windy as well. And Sunderland are on the front foot early doors, Mukiele in space on the right and winning a very early corner off Robertson. From which …
Continue reading...The world of soccer throws up no shortage of questions. In today’s column, we endeavor to answer three of them
Last season’s 17th place finish was meant to be rock bottom for Tottenham Hotspur; a nadir for the club in the Premier League era that was awkwardly offset by glory in the Europa League. There is, however, no glory in what Spurs are going through this season and no guarantee that rock bottom isn’t still around the corner.
Continue reading...To his extensive list of problems at Tottenham, Thomas Frank can add another. The manager is dealing with a ghost from the club’s more successful recent past. There were 49 minutes on the clock when the South Stand choir took up the song. “He’s magic, you know. Mauricio Poch-e-ttino.” The message was clear. They want their former idol back. They cannot persist any longer with Frank.
The only wonder here was that Newcastle, who had arrived on the back of three successive Premier League defeats and with numerous issues of their own, were not out of sight at the interval. If they were bright in the first half, Spurs were impossibly awful. Frank’s injury list numbered 10 players and he lost another one – Wilson Odobert – in the 34th minute. The captain, Cristian Romero, is suspended, of course. Nobody wants to hear excuses.
Continue reading...