Fulham 2-1 Arsenal(Jimenez 29, Decordova-Reid 59′ | Saka 5′)
CRAVEN COTTAGE – It has been an unhappy Twixmas for Arsenal with back-to-back defeats to West Ham and Fulham putting their title bid at risk of being snapped in two.
The Gunners led the Premier League table on Christmas Day but two bruising London derbies later and they have been knocked down to fourth behind Liverpool and Manchester City who have games in hand. They are only one point above Tottenham. Life comes at you fast. “Our worst performance of the season,” was Mikel Arteta’s analysis.
In truth, his side have toiled for much of this campaign and routinely unconvincing displays have been interpreted in one of two ways.
The first, more charitable reading, was that the regularity of their late comeback victories was a sign of enhanced mental fortitude that could carry Arsenal further than last year. Once it began to click, so the theory went, they could become unstoppable.
The second, more pessimistic view, was that the fine margins would only work in their favour for so long and that luck would eventually run out. Arsenal made a habit of winning tight matches; now they are losing them. The Gunners are now 10 points worse off than at the same stage last season.
Arsenal faltered but Fulham were magnificent. The home fans must have feared the worst when Bukayo Saka put the visitors in front after just five minutes, given their team’s nightmarish run of form featuring a pair of 3-0 defeats either side of a 2-0 loss across the festive period.
It came from a counter-attack executed at breakneck speed. David Raya bowled the ball out to Gabriel Martinelli who raced upfield as though he had been passed a baton in a 4x100m race. The Brazilian’s cross-shot was palmed into the air by Bernd Leno and bounced into the net off Saka’s big toe.
It was the perfect start for the Gunners after their midweek misery against West Ham but one that they failed to build on. “We didn’t generate enough today, our rhythm wasn’t good enough in attack and defensively we were second best in every action,” Arteta said.
It was stark how quickly panic and indecision flooded into their opponents, but Fulham deserve plenty of credit for their reaction to going behind.
William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes struggled to contain Raul Jimenez as he continued his remarkable rejuvenation. Alex Iwobi, deemed expendable by Arsenal, played like a man possessed. Joao Palhinha snapped at ankles and roared after blocking a Saka shot late on. Calvin Bassey was immense.
But Jimenez was the star. Over three years on from that career-threatening head injury he suffered against Arsenal, the 32-year-old is back to his best. A rare football feelgood story in 2023.
Arsenal failed to heed two warnings of his renewed threat. Jimenez tested Raya’s handling with a crisp, cushioned side-footed volley with his first effort and blazed over the bar from a corner with his second, before eventually converting the third.
Tom Cairney’s cross zipped through a narrow passageway in the Arsenal box to find his teammate careering into the box like a Mexican wrestler diving into the ring to score.
It was an expertly crafted goal, but Fulham had far less work to do to score the second. A corner pinballed around the six-yard-box before dropping to Bobby Decordova-Reid to lash past Raya. It was a goal steeped in nervousness, Gabriel swiping a panicked clearance off a stationary Takehiro Tomiyasu amid a mass of white shirts.
The floodgates opened as Arsenal attempted their comeback, a torrential downpour clearing the first few rows of the Johnny Haynes stand. But Fulham came closer to scoring the game’s fourth goal with Andreas Pereira leaving the woodwork wobbling with a venomous free-kick after Saliba had hauled Harry Wilson to the ground when arguably the last man.
There was no late salvage job for Arsenal this time. A year of sunny promise has ended under a gloomy cloud, raising fresh questions over what next year may bring.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/MGz2FdH
When John Mousinho was appointed Portsmouth manager in January 2023, most Fratton Park regulars saw it as a backwards step. Amid a sea of more popular and well-known candidates, his arrival on Portsea Island sparked more resignation than celebration.
Now 53 matches and just eight defeats into his reign, there’s no one else the club’s long-suffering supporters would rather have in the dugout. Before the 2-1 Boxing Day defeat at Bristol Rovers, Mousinho had lost just five games in League One, a record which put him level with Pep Guardiola during the equivalent period and means Portsmouth go into 2024 at the top of the table.
Not bad for a manager who didn’t even apply for the Pompey job after previous boss Danny Cowley and his assistant (and brother) Nicky were relieved of their duties.
“I knew that the job had come up, I actually knew the Cowleys really well from the pro licence [training course],” Mousinho tells i. “I felt for them when they lost their jobs here but I didn’t really think anything of it. I didn’t apply for the role – I never thought it would be a consideration.
“I was just keeping an interested eye on it as a player in League One. I was really surprised to get the call and once we started down the process it became apparent that it might be a possibility. But even to get the call in the first place was a real surprise.
“I’d always wanted to go into coaching, I’d always wanted to be a head coach or a manager. I just thought the pathway to a club like Portsmouth might be a bit different. I’d spent quite a bit of time at Oxford [as player and coach], so I thought that was a possibility, or maybe one of my former clubs or dropping down a couple of levels.”
Fittingly, Mousinho was a bolt from the blue.
Pompey finished the 2022-23 season with a spate of draws, ending with an 11-match unbeaten run but missing out on the play-offs by seven points. This season they have turned those one-point frustrations into something more substantial, helped by a welcome propensity for injury-time goals.
After a summer overhaul, Mousinho has built a Portsmouth squad with the kind of robust edge required to escape a division they have been marooned in since 2017. A festive blip aside, the club’s supporters are already dreaming of sharing a division with Southampton again, although Saints’ own form may see that moment postponed for another year at least.
As 2024 begins, the road to promotion may well be more complicated than the simple hop down the M27, but Pompey’s form – both at Fratton Park and away from the south coast – looks likely to ensure they will be involved in the promotion fight until the business end of the season.
“Throughout my formative years as a footballer, Portsmouth had been a Premier League club, they had won the FA Cup and then obviously gone through a tough time with administration,” Mousinho says.
“I had played at Fratton Park seven or eight times and got the same feeling – it’s a proper old ground and it’s a club that’s steeped in history and gets crowds of 20,000 fans every weekend with the potential to go even higher.
“I had played in that atmosphere and, to be honest, I hated it. It was an intimidating place to go and play, it’s not just what you walk into, it’s the changing rooms, you walk up the steps in a tightly packed tunnel.
“There’s a feeling of nostalgia. This is one of the last old proper grounds. Other grounds are nicer, but they’re a bit more sanitised. Everything about the ground, everything about the city – it’s an island city and has that kind of island mentality. Football means everything to the people here.
“Yes, there’s a pressure that comes with it but I was always very aware of that when I took the job. I wouldn’t have taken the job if I didn’t think I was capable of handling that pressure and that responsibility.
“As much pressure as it brings, you get a huge amount of upside in terms of support. I asked the fans from the very beginning that whatever they thought of the appointment and however left-field it was, to get behind the boys. That’s exactly what they have done.”
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/IcFvCm9
Nottingham Forest 2-1 Manchester United (Dominguez 64′, Gibbs-White 82′ | Rashford 78′)
THE CITY GROUND — One step forward, two more back. If Erik ten Hag keeps up this pitiful dance then he will soon shift any Christmas excess, but he might not be Manchester United manager for much longer.
This week, Ten Hag insisted that Ineos, the club’s new minority shareholders, are looking forward to working with him. That’s probably dependent on certain factors that look shaky as United end the year.
Nottingham Forest were one team who United dominated home and away last season, but nothing good lasts long around this squad. If the home win over Aston Villa demonstrated United’s stomach for recovery, there’s only so many times you can hope to roll a dice and get the number you’re after.
Ten Hag’s team did indeed play when they were behind again, although they were gifted a goal by a goalkeeper in Matt Turner who we may not see again in Forest red for some time. The January transfer window opens shortly and Evangelos Marinakis will be seeking someone who can kick the ball without shinning it up in the air or passing it to an opponent.
But Manchester United, cannot, will not, always get out of jail. They were given 10 minutes extra at the end of the 90, to the astonishment of the City Ground. They were handed a lifeline. They were shown that, if they attacked Forest then they would be successful. And still they failed. It is some effort to lose a game once so miserably with these players against a team just outside the bottom three. It is another entirely to lose it twice.
The defending for the second goal was appalling. One clearance found Forest with four against three. Even then, when players sprinted back they ran beyond the ball and so left Morgan Gibbs-White free on the edge of the box. His finish – low, curled, powerful, into the corner – was superb. But good teams don’t leave opponents in five yards of space to shoot twice in the space of 18 minutes.
We have to credit Forest, who have already found a formula that works under Nuno and my goodness is it inspiring for the neutral and those who love this club. The fear that Steve Cooper leaving may cause everything to unravel was unfounded. Instead, evidence that, for all Cooper’s magic here, a change was probably needed because everybody had grown a little weary.
Premier League table
Since then, something has switched. Forest are still prepared to sit behind the ball, but there is greater attacking threat. If those behind the scenes at the club were worried about taking the supporters with them on this new stage of the journey, it is an easy sell when Morgan Gibbs-White is in majestic form and finally getting into the penalty area like never before.
Add in pace out wide and a steel in midfield (that Forest have always possessed since promotion) and you can see why Nuno backs himself to take them clear of the bottom three.
The energy around this ground is something else when they are asked to dig in and help by their football team. The cheers for Turner’s saves after his horrendous mistake (he was faultless from then on); the roars at every tackle won and set piece cleared.
Nuno has spoken at length about how important he believes this crowd are and how many points they can win. That playbook hasn’t changed from Cooper’s days to these.
Speaking of change, that same question has to be asked again. If you keep having to ask whether your manager is the right man for the daunting job, it begins to answer its own question. Ten Hag repeatedly talks about what Manchester United are not, but we see too little of what they are.
This is a reactive football team that was finally punished for being unable to react time and time again. That isn’t football – it’s televised Russian roulette.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/NvYm0jw
On Thursday evening, Al-Ettifaq’s X account posted a thread of Steven Gerrard’s post-match press conference that read like an extended joke. “I am the first to hold responsibility,” was the opening gambit. By the third post, Gerrard was saying that the club had the “financial capacity” to improve the squad.
By the fourth, Gerrard was bemoaning the lack of goalscorers at his disposal. He is the “first to hold responsibility” in the same way as you might hold the wrapped gift at the start of a game of pass the parcel between your hands. It’s a fluid situation.
Bleating about any lack of resources is a bold choice in the Saudi Pro League, but takes the biscuit when you’ve just drawn at home to bottom-of-the-league Al-Hazem. Al-Ettifaq, aided by significant summer investment, started Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Demarai Gray and former Lyon striker Moussa Dembele, who was the third top scorer in Ligue 1 18 months ago.
Al-Hazem do not have access to the same resources. The only two senior internationals who started for them on Thursday were Aymen Dahmen, a Tunisian goalkeeper, and Faiz Selemani, a Comoros international signed from KV Kortrijk in Belgium. We’re talking levels here. Gerrard demanding greater investment after a miserable draw against the worst team in Saudi Arabia is a vibe and the vibes are not good.
But then misery is following Gerrard around the Gulf state. He has won none of his last nine league games and his team have scored three goals during that run. He has managed one league win since 21 September.
Seven of Al-Ettifaq’s designated foreign players are established internationals. They are now behind Damac (star foreign player: Georges-Kevin N’Koudou) and Al-Fateh (star foreign player: Cristian Tello). They have been given more advantages than most and Gerrard is wasting them.
There was a theory, when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was buying clubs and funding vast spending sprees, that moving here was a win-win for everyone who was happy to stick their fingers in their ears when anyone mentioned human rights.
This was a place where reality could be suspended for a fee, a bubble of extreme opulence that happened to have a football league on the side. You would either enjoy yourself immensely or skulk back to Europe and presume that nobody would ask where you’d been.
For ageing players, it made complete sense. A final payday in a world of gold-plated shinpads before walking slowly into the sunset with your pockets stuffed full. It didn’t really matter that the crowds were pitifully low and the global coverage was restricted to engagement-bait posts about Cristiano Ronaldo. You weren’t there for football anyway; everyone knew that.
But for managers like Gerrard, that wasn’t the case. Had he gone to Italy or Spain or France or the Championship or just about anywhere else but here after Aston Villa, it could feasibly have been spun as career development. This wasn’t that.
Gerrard said, live on Channel 4, that he looked at an offer from Saudi Arabia but wouldn’t be taking it. Then he took it.
Gerrard’s side have gone winless for the last two months (Photo: Getty)
For Gerrard, win-win became lose-lose. If he had done well, nobody in elite football would have cared particularly – this was no reputation restoring retreat. If he did badly, as is happening, it was further proof of his unsuitability for first-team management.
You wonder if others in Saudi Arabia may share this same epiphany, the blinding light that greets you as you leave the dark cinema, the realisation that you might have been used by a state project and tainted as a result. You can try and suspend reality but reality will find a way of catching you up.
There is a timeless, ageless quality to those superstar footballers of our youths. Their careers retained a deep permanence that made their retirements more emotionally significant.
But Gerrard is still young in managerial terms, younger than Eddie Howe, Roberto De Zerbi and Marco Silva. He did not need to do this. He still had time to rebuild his reputation, piece by piece and working day by working day.
Gerrard has lost his lose-lose. Two years ago he was being appointed by Aston Villa, winning four of his first six league games in charge and taking them from 16th to ninth in the space of four months.
He had done his youth coaching at Liverpool, found his success in Scotland. Hurdles had been cleared. Thoughts inevitably wandered towards Jurgen Klopp’s succession plans.
Now he’s virtually untouchable in top-level management. He went from the Premier League to the Saudi Pro League to no man’s league.
That produces, at least amongst most neutrals, a tinge of sadness. Gerrard clearly always loved football and fell short with club and country of the things he desired the most. If consecutive failures and decreasing returns mark you out as a coaching failure, he is being lost like so many others of that England generation who seemed to take little other than superiority complexes from the greatest managers they played under.
But then that’s the other trap of the Saudi Pro League: you largely lose your right to sympathy. If football management is a meritocracy, you earn your corn not just through performance but the decisions to take to move where and when and what for. If Gerrard didn’t foresee that he faced more reputational dangers than the 30-somethings he signed, he was a fool. He took the money and ran himself over.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/izNFykY
The heroic Lionesses led the sporting honours in the New Year list after their storming run to the Women’s World Cup final in Australia, where they lost 1-0 to Spain.
Bright received her OBE after leading the team to the final in Sydney a year after the Lionesses’ triumph in the 2022 European Championships.
The Chelsea skipper was named England interim captain in the absence of fellow defender Leah Williamson.
Manchester City forward Hemp, who scored three goals during England’s march to the Women’s World Cup final, said she was “honoured” to be recognised with an MBE.
England’s Mary Earps saves a penalty during the Women’s World Cup final against Spain (Photo: Stephanie Meek – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Hemp put England 2-1 up against Australia in the semi-final before setting up Alessia Russo for a third to seal an historic win and send the Lionesses to the final for the first time.
“I’m feeling very privileged and honoured to receive such a prestigious honour. It’s a huge achievement not only for me, but my family and everyone who loves our beautiful game. It’s been an incredible year,” she said.
“I’d like to dedicate my MBE to everyone that has supported me in my career so far, and everyone behind the scenes for continuing to push boundaries to get women’s football to where it is today. It’s truly a shared success.”
Elsewhere, England cricket legend Stuart Broad was awarded a CBE for services to the sport.
Broad retired in the summer after a 17-year international career, stepping down following the final Ashes Test over the summer.
Regarded as one of the greatest Test bowlers of all-time, the right-arm seamer took 604 wickets with England.
Stuart Broad of England gestures after the third day of the 5th Test between England and Australia at The Kia Oval in July 2023 (Photo: Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)
Former England batsman Marcus Trescothick, a mental health ambassador for the Professional Cricketers’ Association, is given an OBE for services to mental ill health.
In rugby union, ex-England captain and chair of World Rugby Sir Bill Beaumont was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) for services to the sport and to charity.
And Scotland’s record try scorer Stuart Hogg, who retired in the summer prior to the World Cup after 100 test caps, is made an MBE.
The British and Irish Lions fullback scored 27 tries for Scotland and was named captain in 2020.
Former Scotland rugby captain Rob Wainwright has been made an OBE for voluntary and charitable services to the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, which was founded in 2017 by his friend Doddie Weir. Scotland rugby legend Weir died in November 2022 aged 52 after a six-year battle with motor neurone disease.
Wainwright has raised more than £4 million for the foundation through founding Doddie Aid.
England’s most capped soccer player, ex-goalkeeper Peter Shilton receives a CBE, for services to football and the prevention of gambling harm, while ex-Scotland boss Alex McLeish and League Managers Association chair Howard Wilkinson were named OBEs.
World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont has been made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours list, for services to Rugby Union and to charity (Photo: David Davies)
Red Bull Formula One boss Christian Horner received a CBE for services to motor sport after winning 13 world titles.
Janie Frampton, one of the first female referees in the men’s professional game in England, was awarded an OBE for services to equality for women in sport in the UK and abroad.
Olympic and Team GB gymnast sisters Ellie and Becky Downie were named MBEs. The World Championship medalists have spoken out against abusive behaviour in gymnastics, with Ellie retiring from the sport aged 23 at the start of 2022 to protect her mental health.
Television broadcasters and household names Jeff Stelling and Hazel Irvine were recognised for their services to sport and charity with MBEs.
Stelling,who led Sky Sports’s Soccer Saturday coverage for 29 years, said his honour in recognition of his work with the Prostate Cancer UK charity is the “icing on the cake”.
BBC presenter Irvine has covered Olympics, World Cups and Wimbledon, becoming the youngest-ever presenter of the BBC’s flagship sports programme Grandstand in 1993.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/avmy9VS
Andre Onana could miss up to six Manchester United games after reluctantly agreeing to play for Cameroon at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) following pressure from the country’s president.
The United goalkeeper has been deliberating whether to take part in the tournament, that starts on 13 January, after he was sent home from the World Cup in Qatar last year following a fallout with coach Rigobert Song and FA president Samuel Eto’o over his willingness to play out from the back.
Concerns that he would lose his place in the United first team should he go, after making a difficult start to life in the Premier League, had caused Onana to delay making a final decision, one he is yet to officially announce despite being named in Song’s 27-man squad on Thursday.
He is understood to want to try to limit his time away from Old Trafford as much as possible and could attempt to be omitted from Cameroon’s pre-tournament training camp in Saudi Arabia, where they will play against Zambia in a friendly. This would free up Onana to face Wigan in the FA Cup on 8 January.
Sources have told i, however, the decision has been somewhat made for him, with Eto’o, Cameroon’s president Paul Biya and sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi all insisting Onana travels to Ivory Coast, otherwise they would enforce a Fifa ruling that would ban a player from competing for his or her club after refusing to represent their country.
“All of Cameroon follow the national team, all the country stops when the team is playing,” an insider said.
“Onana is the most famous athlete in the country now, ahead of [MMA and boxing star] Francis Ngannou. When he flies home, it is like the king has arrived. The problem is the pressure he has received from within Cameroon.”
Onana quit international football following last year’s World Cup, but agreed to return for the final Afcon qualifier against Burundi in September following pressure from the government and the Cameroonian FA, before being selected again in a friendly against Senegal and the Indomitable Lions’ World Cup qualification opener with Mauritius in November.
Eto’o and Onana have not reconciled their differences, the insider added. They “cannot be in the same room” as each other as it stands and regularly ignore one another whether they are forced to be in the same vicinity.
But such is the star appeal of Onana and lack of a credible alternative, Eto’o, who is understood to hold the real power over team selection, has insisted the United goalkeeper must line up for Cameroon’s Afcon opener against Guinea on 15 January.
Should Cameroon go all the way to the final, Onana could miss four Premier League matches and two FA Cup ties.
That means Erik ten Hag, who has stuck by Onana this season despite the former Inter Milan stopper’s struggles, will likely turn to No 2 Altay Bayindir, despite the Turkey international not having not played a single minute for the club in any competition this season.
The United goalkeeper is keen to remain in Manchester for a few more weeks (Photo: Getty)
The Onana blow comes at a crucial juncture for United, who put in arguably their best performance of the season in their thrilling comeback win over Aston Villa on Boxing Day.
Onana celebrated that success with real vigour, but will be powerless to oversee any lasting improvement at Old Trafford in the next month.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2Oh53Ex
Arsenal 0-2 West Ham(Soucek 13′, Mavropanos 55′, Benrahma missed pen 90+5′)
EMIRATES STADIUM — Arsenal could yet end 2023 at the top of the Premier League, but a damaging defeat to West Ham will give Mikel Arteta plenty to ponder as he plots a happier end to this season than last.
Another contentious goal will provide fuel to the online conspiracy theorists, but the concession of a second from a set-piece and a panicked response to going behind will worry even the most fervent of Arsenal believers. Nobody expected this.
Thanks to events in Newcastle last month we all know the word that would have been circling around Arteta’s brain after Jarrod Bowen was deemed to have kept the ball alive for Tomas Soucek’s opening goal: Desgracia.
The Spanish term that Arteta used when defending himself against an FA charge after his St James’ Park rant has connotations of misfortune which was apt for this latest VAR-troversy. The world’s most lucrative league didn’t have a camera angle that could definitively prove that the ball was out of play before Bowen tapped it across goal, and so it had to stand.
Had he done so a few yards over to the right, goal-line technology would have picked it up. Therein lies the limits of technology in its current guise. Thankfully, Amazon had the foresight to hire Mark Clattenburg to offer his expertise. “The ball looks to be slightly in play,” was the sheepish analysis from Saudi Arabia’s first true footballing trailblazer.
Whether the goal was legitimate or not, it was a mess of Arsenal’s own making, a belated Christmas present gift-wrapped for their grateful opponents.
What followed was entirely predictable: Arsenal domination versus West Ham submission. Defending a one-goal lead is the oldest trick in David Moyes’ book and one that has irked fans of a team featuring the attacking talents of Bowen, Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta. Fair to say it worked a treat here.
They rode their luck before the break, though. Bukayo Saka forced superhero reflexes from Alphonse Areola before lashing a strike off the base of the post soon after as the Hammers sunk deeper toward the Clock End.
Disaster struck from one of the visitors’ attempted breakways when Paqueta pulled up less than an hour after receiving treatment during the warm-up, the one negative to an otherwise perfect evening.
Arsenal raced out of the blocks after half-time, racking up the corners and the half chances. Declan Rice, taunted with chants of “what a waste of money” by the fans who used to idolise him, bent a vicious strike inches over the bar after the restart.
The game’s second goal came from a player facing their former club. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t Rice. Konstantinos Mavropanos made seven Premier League appearances for Arsenal across a forgettable 18-month spell before being moved on and wouldn’t have even played had Kurt Zouma or Nayef Aguerd been available. His hands went up in respectful celebration, but the wide grin betrayed his delight.
It was a superb header that satisfyingly caressed the underside of the bar on its way in and one that Gabriel Jesus failed to replicate moments later at the other end. Much as the Brazilian offers his lack of ruthlessness places a limit on Arsenal’s ambition. Ivan Toney’s reputation is growing each week.
Arteta lobbed one attacking player onto the pitch after another in search of a route back. Leandro Trossard briefly found himself playing as a defensive midfielder. Emile Smith Rowe missed a header, Saka had a penalty appeal waved away, but West Ham saw out the game relatively comfortably to vindicate Moyes’ tactics.
A horrible night for Rice got even worse in added time when he tripped Emerson Palmieri inside his own box. David Raya at least prevented the scoreline from getting any worse, thwarting Said Benrahma from the spot as West Ham fans chanted Rice’s name.
It was the Scot’s first win away at Arsenal in his 23rd attempt. An unforeseen masterclass that will delight his former foes on Merseyside.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/kbdQTo9
Brighton 4-2 Tottenham (Hinshelwood 11′, Joao Pedro 23′ pen, 75′ pen, Estpuninan 63′ | Veliz 81′, Davies 85′)
AMEX STADIUM – Inspired by the excellent Joao Pedro, Brighton signed off for the year by overwhelming a Tottenham side whose frantic late rally could not disguise the fact they were second best by a margin.
From the moment teenage full-back Jack Hinshelwood drilled home the opening goal, Roberto De Zerbi’s side were in control and on course for victory. Pedro capped an outstanding display with two expertly taken penalties either side of Pervis Estupinan’s long range third.
Spurs finally came to life when Alejo Veliz replied in the 81st minute, followed by a Ben Davies header five minutes later. The nine minutes of added time was unnecessarily nervy for De Zerbi and his players, while for Ange Postecoglou, the final period of the game only highlighted his frustration at the performance of his players earlier in the evening.
Both managers had spoken before the game about the impact of lengthy injury lists on their squad but while De Zerbi could draw plenty of positives from his reshaped side’s performance, Postecoglou was given more cause for concern and will no doubt be even keener to do business in the January transfer window.
There was an alarming frailty to the Tottenham defence, particularly on the right where Pedro Porro was unable to handle the threat of Pedro who was the architect of Brighton’s 11th minute opening goal.
Pedro cut in from the left flank, drawing a number of Spurs defenders before finding Hinshelwood. The full-back made the most of the space he had been given to drive a superbly struck effort into the roof of the net.
Struggling to contain the home side, the last thing Spurs needed to do was help Brighton double their lead. But that’s exactly what Dejan Kulusevski contrived to do when Danny Welbeck attempted to volley a loose ball after Jan Paul van Hecke headed against the post from Pascal Gross’s corner.
The Spurs winger pulled at Welbeck’s shirt and, after being advised to review the incident by VAR, referee Jarred Gillett awarded a penalty that was calmly converted by Pedro. To add to Postecoglou’s growing list of problems, Kulusevski was shown his fifth yellow card of the season for the foul, ruling hm out of Sunday’s meeting with Bournemouth.
Brighton might have extended their lead with Milner sending a curling shot against the post and Vicario again denying Pedro after the forward had been sent clear by a misplaced Porro pass.
There had been few signs Spurs were capable of working their way back into the game before Richarlison’s first time shot was deflected onto the post in first half added time. And they managed to at least develop some sense of momentum early in the second half with the Brazil forward again coming close.
But Postecoglou’s side’s failure to pay closer attention to Estupinan from a corner allowed the left-back to drill a swerving, dipping 25-yard shot beyond Guglielmo Vicario into the top corner in the 63rd minute.
Player of the match: Joao Pedro
Gave the Tottenham defence a torrid time, capping his performance with two assured penalties.
Ten minutes later Pedro again sent Vicario the wrong way after Evan Ferguson was brought down by Giovani Lo Celso.
With the game apparently over Spurs finally woke up. Veliz struck from close range in the 81st minute and Davies headed a second five minutes late. The response though, had come too late.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/cuHlrAs
There is another quick turnaround in Fantasy Premier League with the Gameweek 20 deadline on Saturday morning.
If your head is spinning at the thought of making more transfers and choosing who to captain for the third time in a little over a week, fear not as things are settling down a bit soon.
The Premier League will pause for the FA Cup 3rd round fixtures on the first weekend of January, while Gameweek 21 will be staggered across two separate weeks, beginning on 13 January and ending nine days later.
FPL managers will have to start making plans to sell their assets involved in either the Africa Cup of Nations or Asian Cup which coincides with Gameweek 21.
Some highly owned players are involved in those tournaments including Mo Salah, Son Heung-min, Mohammed Kudus and Hwang Hee-chan, and each of them represent countries that will be expected to progress deep into those competitions.
Bournemouth, Brentford, Luton and Manchester City all have a game in hand and will therefore have a double gameweek at some point.
That could be particularly important for those looking to use their second Wildcard of the campaign, which is now in play. A reminder that the Wildcard enables you to make unlimited permanent transfers without incurring a points deduction.
Finally, thanks for reading i‘s Fantasy Premier League tips this year and for subscribing to our weekly newsletter if you have done so – we hope they have been useful!
This is an extract of i’s Fantasy Premier League tips. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every week this season for our full 11-player team, advice on the best captain and more!
Gameweek 20 fixtures
Saturday 30 December
*3pm unless otherwise stated
Luton vs Chelsea (12.30pm)
Aston Villa vs Burnley
Crystal Palace vs Brentford
Man City vs Sheffield Utd
Wolves vs Everton
Nottingham Forest vs Man Utd
Sunday 31 December
*Both kick-offs at 2pm
Fulham vs Arsenal
Tottenham vs Bournemouth
Monday 1 January
Liverpool vs Newcastle
Tuesday 2 January
West Ham vs Brighton
Julian Alvarez (Man City)
Judging by Sheffield United’s attempts at defending during their defeat to Luton, you’re going to want some attacking coverage from Manchester City this gameweek. With Pep Guardiola confirming that Erling Haaland will remain out until the New Year, Julian Alvarez looks like a sensible signing for this one.
“Still he’s not with the team,” Guardiola told Amazon Prime about Haaland before the Everton game. “He feels better with his bone but he hasn’t made one training session with us.
“Unfortunately December is so congested with so many teams. January is so congested. Hopefully in January he can come back with us.”
The Argentine ended an eight-game drought without a league goal during City’s midweek win over Everton and interestingly for FPL managers given Haaland’s absence, that strike came via the penalty spot. His gameweek total of eight points was his best since a nine-point score against Brighton back in Gameweek 9.
That goal should give his confidence in front of goal a boost ahead of a home match against a team battling against relegation. Sheffield United have by far the worst defensive record in the division, conceding 47 goals in 18 games and letting in 2.55 per game away from home.
Newcastle are toiling badly at the moment, but that should take nothing away from Nottingham Forest’s outstanding Boxing Day performance against them. Steve Cooper’s dismissal may have been poorly received by most Forest fans, but Nuno Espirito Santo has earned some credit in the bank for the way he set his stall out at St James’ Park.
Forest defended deep in that game but posed a significant threat on the counter-attack, particularly through the electric Anthony Elanga.
The Swede was predominantly stationed on the right wing but had a license to drift around the pitch, as he did to great effect in the lead up to Chris Wood’s hat-trick clinching goal with a driving run through the centre of the pitch.
Elanga assisted two of Wood’s goals to earn 10 points and on another day could have had an even bigger score after missing a golden chance to score or assist the New Zealander with a shot that was saved.
The summer signing from Manchester United has performed well at the City Ground and will be eager to show that his former club were wrong to let him go when the teams meet this weekend. Here’s a stat that makes for grim reading for United fans: Elanga provided as many assists against Newcastle as Antony has during his entire Premier League career. Ouch.
Price: £5m Points: 71 Gameweek 20 fixture: Man Utd (h)
Gabriel Magalhaes (Arsenal)
Gabriel is a cheaper alternative to Saliba (Photo: Getty)
After being named on the bench for Arsenal’s first three Premier League games of the season Gabriel Magalhaes has since reclaimed his spot, starting and playing the full 90 minutes in 14 of their last 15 league matches.
Without wishing to tempt fate, his place in Mikel Arteta’s side feels secure, particularly since injuries to Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu restrict the Arsenal manager’s ability to rotate.
The Gunners have been resolute at the back all season. They have the joint best defensive record in the league with Liverpool having conceded 16 goals and have kept the joint most clean sheets with seven.
According to expected data, they have actually conceded more goals than they should have done based on the quality of chances they have given up. Clearly, they are a side to target from a defensive point of view.
William Saliba is the most popular Arsenal defender in FPL with over a third of managers picking him in their squads, but while the Frenchman is a great asset, he is considerably more expensive than his centre-back partner.
A saving of £0.6m goes a long way, particularly for a defender who carries a bigger goal threat. Gabriel’s header at Anfield pre-Christmas means he has scored more league goals (11) than any other defender since September 2020.
Bowen has an opportunity to be West Ham’s talisman (Photo: Getty)
Jarrod Bowen is generating plenty of market interest in FPL and with good reason. The West Ham midfielder, who has often played out of position as a forward, is the third highest scoring player in his position in the entire game with only the significantly more expensive duo of Salah and Son bettering his tally.
Both of those players will be unavailable from Gameweek 21 due to international commitments, which raises Bowen’s FPL appeal even more. West Ham have an encouraging fixture run too with Tuesday’s match-up with Brighton followed by fixtures with Sheffield United, Bournemouth and Manchester United.
The England international has only managed one double-digit haul all season (registering 12 points vs Brighton in Gameweek 3) but has been consistently among the points. He has registered attacking returns in five of his previous seven league games.
Bowen has been outperformed by his in-form teammate Mohammed Kudus since Gameweek 11, but like Salah, the Ghanaian will be taking part in the Africa Cup of Nations next month. With Kudus away the onus will be on Bowen to be West Ham’s talisman in the opening weeks of 2024.
Lucas Digne’s hamstring injury presents an opportunity for Alex Moreno to regain his place in Unai Emery’s starting line-up after a frustrating season to date. The left-back made a blistering start to his career at Villa Park after signing from Real Betis in January but has suffered an injury-hit second campaign in English football.
It remains to be seen how long Digne is unavailable for – keep an eye out for Emery’s press conference for news on he Frenchman’s condition – but if he is sidelined for the foreseeable future Moreno looks a great option.
The 30-year-old has created 24 chances (yielding three assists) in 25 appearances in the competition and scored on his previous start against Brentford in Gameweek 17. Despite only featuring for 40 minutes at Old Trafford on Boxing Day, Moreno had a high expected goal involvement of 0.33.
Villa’s next opponents Burnley have struggled for goals, managing just eight in nine matches on the road.
We could see what the goal, his first in the Premier League, meant to Rasmus Hojlund, his face stretched out of shape by the force of primal responses. In front of him, the Stretford End convulsed. Behind him, Erik ten Hag danced on the touchline, busting all manner of awkward avuncular shapes.
The goal had turned his night around. It might also have saved his Old Trafford career. At half time, Ten Hag was swept down the tunnel to the howl of boos. His abject Manchester United team were playing him out of a job, two down to Aston Villa with seemingly no way back.
And then, in an eerie evocation of another day in a distant epoch, Hojlund swung his left peg at the ball in an instinctive blur and watched it fly in off a post. It was United’s third goal in a febrile 22-minute spell in which Alejandro Garnacho gave his finest display in a red shirt and Hojlund changed the arc of history.
Those with longer memories will recall a similar outcome 33 years ago, when Sir Alex Ferguson took his team to Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup looking for gold. He was in his fourth season as Manchester United manager. Then, as now, the natives were restless. Brought in to resurrect the fortunes of a fading institution, Ferguson bought big but the alchemy that split the Old Firm atom in Scotland eluded him in Manchester.
The magic of Aberdeen remained stubbornly out of reach until Mark Robins stooped to head in a cross from the outside of Mark Hughes’ boot to send United into the fourth round.
Ferguson would go on to win the trophy and lay the foundations for the most successful period in the history of English football.
The conditions that allowed Ferguson to dominate are no longer in Ten Hag’s favour.
Football in the age of sovereign wealth funds and private equity muscle has stripped United of their economic advantage.
Ten Hag cannot spend his way out of the mess the club has become, but he might just be able to coach them towards a competitive space that gives the Ineos takeover of football operations something on which to build.
Ten Hag had become increasingly isolated in his conviction that the squad before us was worth our time. What we were seeing bore no resemblance to what he was saying. Talk of resilience, fight, togetherness, progress, talent, desire, etc. were just flighty abstractions parroted by a coach seemingly on the edge of insanity.
With Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s first lieutenant, Sir Dave Brailsford, in the director’s box, Ten Hag had to show his new masters something to persuade them that the Premier League table was not the reality but a false indicator of the true, bejewelled picture that would reveal itself in time.
Ten Hag revealed after the Villa win how he had spent many a session at the shoulder of Hojlund convincing the young Dane he had the credentials to thrive in the Premier League. He is after all, scoring at a goal a game for Denmark and exited the Champions League as the competition’s top scorer.
“When strikers don’t score it is always a problem but he has a strong character and a big personality, which is what a striker needs,” Ten Hag said.
“When he keeps investing, the goals will come and he will score more. I had several talks with him. I pointed out he scored a lot for Denmark and scored in the Champions League, so that demonstrated ability. He had to believe in it.”
Hojlund is essentially a raw recruit at a mature price. He has the all the elements a striker needs to prosper, save for experience. He cannot work any harder. But he can be smarter. Against Villa the ball fell before him and he responded instinctively. The requirement for thought was removed. Boom. Back of the net.
The signs were already there before the goal. The deployment on the right of right-footed Garnacho changed the dynamic importantly, allowing the Argentine rapier to beat defenders on the outside and fire in the kind of crosses that Hojlund needs, not to mention rattle in the goals.
It required other stars to settle in a new constellation to improve the whole. Kobbie Mainoo in tandem with Christian Eriksen behind Bruno Fernandes flourished in a reshaped midfield and Marcus Rashford looked reborn on the left.
To validate the Villa victory United must do it all again at Forest on Saturday without falling asleep at set pieces, just as Ferguson’s team did all those years ago. This has to be the start of something substantial for Ten Hag to hold on. After all, United beat Chelsea at a fair clip three weeks ago only to chuck it in against Bayern Munich, Bournemouth and West Ham.
The Ineos venture awaits ratification in the New Year. Ten Hag is also under review. The former is a formality. Ten Hag still has much to do to make the numbers work for him.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/frTqFn9
STAMFORD BRIDGE — On came Thiago Silva, who looked around the pitch, finding himself 13 years older than any of his Chelsea team-mates against Crystal Palace.
It was a quite extraordinary statistic to emerge at Stamford Bridge in a game in which Mauricio Pochettino fielded the youngest starting XI in the club’s history — the eighth youngest ever in the Premier League — then turned to a 39-year-old when a promising, initially vibrant performance was beginning to crumble.
It was indicative of Chelsea in the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital era: out with the old and in with the new, yet everything being a little too new, the young players undeniably talented but still so raw, the collective inexperience too significant for them to compete anywhere near where Chelsea expect to be competing. The injuries have taken their toll, with not quite enough oomph throughout the squad to cope with it.
With such a youthful line-up there was, nonetheless, a marvellous abandon to Chelsea’s first half, their opening goal and the individual unpredictability of Malo Gusto to create it.
Picking up the ball on the right, around half-way, Gusto sprung the move with a dribble and pass in to Christopher Nkunku on the edge of Palace’s penalty area, then took off in the direction he had just passed the ball.
Nkunku’s first attempt at a through ball failed, but by then Gusto had made a bizarre 40-yard cross-field overlap. Nkunku slipped him free on the left, from where he played the ball across for Mykhailo Mudryk to convert.
There was a swagger to Nkunku, finally making a first start after an extended period out injured following a £52m move in the summer, that reverberated throughout the entire Chelsea side. Mudryk was sharp, Nicolas Jackson was confident, Conor Gallagher was leaping in to block a shot then leaping to his feet to control the ball with his laces before it dropped to the turf.
How they were not ahead by several goals at half time was baffling.
Jackson played a delightful back-heel pass for Mudryk to burst into Palace’s box, but the Ukrainian’s dink was blocked by the on-rushing Dean Henderson.
Jackson did brilliantly to beat Joachim Andersen to a Chelsea clearance, then shrug him onto the floor before laying into Nkunku’s path, only for Nkunku to swing and miss the ball completely.
Still, there was clear evidence of naivety. When a poor pass to Gallagher inside Chelsea’s half was easily cut out and left them exposed, Pochettino literally hopped up and down in his technical area in apoplexy.
That attack fizzled out, but a defensive switch-off ended up costing them an equaliser in first-half stoppage time. From the left Jordan Ayew crossed to the far post where Michael Olise was completely free, controlling the ball with his chest before smashing it past Djordje Petrovic with a fine half-volley.
It appeared as though neither Moises Caicedo or Levi Colwill knew which of the pair was supposed to be marking the Palace forward. Had either of them done so, Chelsea would likely have been ahead at the break.
Palace were on top in the second half but Silva’s introduction in the 58th minute rebalanced the team, while the young legs did all the running around him. It almost wasn’t enough, then 21-year-old Noni Madueke came from the bench to win then covert a penalty in the 89th minute.
But when Silva halted a dangerous Palace attack deep into stoppage time it was the Brazilian’s name that echoed around the Stamford Bridge stands.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/A7QxWeD
