Category: Football (Soccer)

Ten-man Ipswich hold Villa, Marmoush scores three, while Arsenal, Brentford, Bournemouth and Fulham also win

Southampton: Ramsdale, Bree, Bednarek, Wood-Gordon, Walker-Peters, Smallbone, Aribo, Welington, Fernandes, Onuachu, Sulemana.

Subs: McCarthy, Manning, Sugawara, Archer, Taylor, Ugochukwu, Gronbaek, Dibling, Bella-Kotchap.

Mikel Merino came off the bench to score two late goals and keep Arsenal’s title hopes alive

9 min Odegaard teases a chip over the defence towards Trossard, who flicks a volley that is saved to his right by Hermansen. He was offside so it wouldn’t have counted.

7 min Arsenal are settling into their passing rhythm. Still no openings to speak of, never mind chances.

• Former players recall incident from game in 2003
• Van Nistelrooy: ‘It was a good rivalry, wasn’t it?

Martin Keown has apologised to Ruud van Nistelrooy for the notorious clash between the pair at Old Trafford in 2003 after they renewed acquaintances at Leicester on Saturday.

The TNT Sports pundit Keown was at the King Power Stadium to cover Leicester’s Premier League home fixture with Arsenal and caught up with Foxes boss Van Nistelrooy before kick-off.

Arsenal go to Leicester in Saturday’s early kick-off aiming to close the gap on Liverpool who host Wolves on Sunday

Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue King Power Stadium

Welington can beef up Saints, Ola Aina returns to SW6 and Raheem Sterling has the chance to roll back the years

• Premier League top scorers: Golden Boot race standings

It may have taken Brighton’s record signing a few months to settle in but the performance of Georginio Rutter in their thrilling FA Cup victory over Chelsea showed that the Frenchman was worth the £40m they paid Leeds in the summer. A brilliant header to equalise before setting up Kaoru Mitoma’s winner gave Fabian Hürzeler’s side the confidence boost they needed after their 7-0 mauling against Nottingham Forest, with Rutter justifying his manager’s decision to leave João Pedro on the bench. Rutter – who has seven goals in all competitions – did not start a Premier League game in January after struggling with a hamstring problem and Hürzeler has been mindful of protecting the 22-year-old, although he will be itching to face Enzo Maresca’s side for the second time in six days. “There were a lot of personal duels and he proved that he can win the majority of them, and that’s why I’m happy with him,” said Hürzeler. Ed Aarons

Southampton v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm

Time will tell if the Ineos chief’s severe cost-cutting pays off, but this is a club that has been mismanaged for years

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is making drastic cuts to Manchester United’s operation for fear that the club are on a fast-track to bankruptcy. Whether such seismic concerns are legitimate or unfounded, it reflects a tale of off‑field financial woe that matches the club’s 12 years in the title‑contending wilderness.

The failure to reel in a 21st championship or make a genuine challenge for one is a direct corollary of slow decline and mismanagement under Malcolm Glazer, and then his six children after his death in 2014.

Four goals, four red cards, one mass brawl plus enough controversy, fury and entertainment to elevate the fixture way above the Premier League norm; the Merseyside derby bid a fitting farewell to Goodison Park.

David “Mystic” Moyes had predicted the 120th and final Goodison derby would, by the nature of an emotionally charged occasion, be explosive. James Tarkowski triggered a detonator under the old place. The Everton captain volleyed in a stunning 98th-minute equaliser to ensure Liverpool went seven points clear in the title race rather than nine.