Premier League
WENGER MANAGES ARSENAL IN CUP SEMI WHILE SITTING WITH MEDIA
Cramped into the Stamford Bridge media tribune was an unfamiliar occupant leaping to his feet, bellowing disapproval and kicking seats in frustration.
According to Associated Press, It’s not surprising Arsene Wenger was so exacerbated.
After all, he was managing Arsenal in a League Cup semifinal.
Wenger was forced a dozen rows back from the Arsenal bench at Chelsea on Wednesday while serving the second game of a three-match touchline ban for misconduct toward a referee.
Wenger was more animated at times than his team on the pitch as the fatigue of strain of playing five games in around two weeks caught up on both teams as they labored to a 0-0 draw in the first leg.
The London rivals only met a week ago, although that draw was a 2-2 Premier League thriller. And they will face off again in two weeks to complete the League Cup semifinal at the Emirates Stadium when Wenger is due to be back in the dugout.
While Chelsea’s Antonio Conte was in the customary managerial position patrolling the touchline on Wednesday, with his players close by to receive direct instructions, Wenger was reduced to occasional exacerbated shouts.
For once the media didn’t have to strain to listen to Wenger’s howls. Every groan and muttered remark was in full earshot, every shake of the head clear to see and the benches reverberated from his kicks.
“What?!” Wenger shouted after Chelsea was awarded a free kick in the first half when Eden Hazard went down under Hector Bellerin’s challenge.
The French manager sprung out of his seat at the start of the second half when Danny Welbeck was penalized for fouling Moses.
And for the manager who bemoaned last week that “referees get away” without facing English press criticism, his targets were at close quarters. Not that Wenger interacted with the media during the game, while flanked by a security guard and coach Jens Lehmann at the end of a long row of seats.
“It was frustrating,” Wenger said later in the media room. “But the position was quite interesting because I was close to the bench and not too high up.”
If the sight of Wenger watching his own team play from the press box was unusual, so too was Alexis Sanchez being on the bench.
Wenger’s biggest call came before the match — dropping his star forward and only sending down instructions in the second half for the Chilean to be brought on.
It was a decision, Wenger insisted, that had nothing to do with Sanchez being targeted by Manchester City in the January transfer window.
“The team selection had nothing to do with the transfer market,” said Wenger, who has been willing to sell defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin to Valencia this week.
Sanchez can leave for free when his contract expires in June. “I want him to stay for longer,” Wenger said, optimistically trying to avoid being drawn into a discussion over a potential sale.
Would Sanchez have made the difference on the pitch from the start? Both teams were lacking the attacking sting to find a breakthrough in this stalemate.
Chelsea did look more likely to take the lead but was wasteful twice with headers. At the end of the first half, Fabregas nodded tamely straight at Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina. Midway through the second half, Andreas Christiansen headed off target.
“We must be more clinical,” said Conte, whose side also drew 0-0 at second-tier Norwich in the FA Cup on Saturday. “We have to improve with all the players, not only the strikers.
“When you have the chance, you have to score.”
There was a blow for Arsenal when Jack Wilshere, who was handed the captain’s armband to cap a recent resurgence in an injury-blighted career, limped off after spraining his left ankle.
“It’s a shame to lose him when he’s in such good form,” Wenger said. “It was by blocking a shot that turned his ankle. It was his good ankle.”
Wenger said Wilshere will miss Sunday’s Premier League game against Bournemouth. The midfielder could be back for the final part of January’s Arsenal-Chelsea trilogy on Jan. 24.
“To play three times in three weeks (against Arsenal) is very strange,” Conte said. “But it’s simpler to prepare the game because you know the team.”
The League Cup is the only domestic competition Wenger hasn’t won in more than 21 years at Arsenal.
It also offers his only prospect of domestic silverware this season, since Arsenal’s FA Cup defense ended at the first hurdle at Nottingham Forest on Sunday and the team is sixth in the Premier League.
Premier League
Salah uncertain about his future at Liverpool
Egyptian publication, Ahram has published that Liverpool’s Egyptian winger, Mohamed Salah, expressed uncertainty about his future with the club on Sunday, citing the impending expiration of his contract at the end of this season.
The 32-year-old shone on Sunday as Liverpool delivered a stunning 3-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford in a Premier League fixture.
Salah played a pivotal role in the win, assisting in the first two goals before finding the net for the third, bringing his goal tally to three in three games so far this season.
“I had a good summer and had a long time to myself to try to stay positive because as you know it’s my last year at the club, “Salah told Sky Sports after the game on Sunday.
“Nobody at the club has spoken to me yet about a new contract so. I just play this last season and then see at the end of the season.”
When asked about the possibility of playing for Manchester United, Salah responded that it is premature to discuss such matters.
“So far, we don’t know with which club, but so far yeah my last game here with Liverpool. It’s not up to me but nobody talk to me about a contract with the club. We’ll see.”
The Egyptian winger joined Liverpool in the summer of 2017 from Italian side AS Roma.
He has made 352 appearances across all competitions for Liverpool, scoring 214 goals and providing 92 assists.
Premier League
Man Utd humbled as Diaz double helps Liverpool humiliate rivals
Two goals from Luis Diaz and one from Mohamed Salah helped Liverpool stroll to a 3-0 victory at Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday, with Erik ten Hag’s side humbled by their fierce rivals.
Liverpool dominated a United team who could not keep pace with them in the first half, the visitors taking the lead in the 35th minute through a back-post header from Diaz after United midfielder Casemiro had given the ball away.
Casemiro was again at fault for Diaz and Liverpool’s second, again supplied by Mohamed Salah, with the Colombia international sweeping home three minutes before the break, sending United supporters off for their halftime refreshments early.
With United on the ropes, Liverpool smelled blood after the break, Salah adding a third 11 minutes into the second half, but the visitors settled for three as they maintained their 100% record this season under new coach Arne Slot.
“The goals are always self-inflicted,” United captain Bruno Fernandes told Sky Sports. “You need to commit a mistake to give them the goal. We don’t need to be pointing fingers at everyone. that won’t help us now.
“When you concede a goal you can’t just point at one mistake. We don’t have to look at the past. We just have to make it different. We lost the game, congratulations to Liverpool, they were more clinical. I don’t look at the stats but the game was tight.”
After a positive summer in the transfer market and fresh faces in the boardroom, last week’s last-gasp defeat at Brighton and Hove Albion gave United supporters a stark reminder of the improvements still needed on the pitch.
Sunday’s visit of a Liverpool side who had lost just one of their previous 12 Premier League meetings with United will have caused a great deal of concern pre-match.
Those more pessimistic fans were fearing the worst as Trent Alexander-Arnold appeared to have fired Liverpool into an early lead at Old Trafford, only for VAR to step in and save the hosts, adjudging Salah to be offside earlier in the move.
United settled into the contest without troubling Liverpool down the other end of the pitch, allowing the visitors to pick their moments when they came.
Casemiro’s wayward pass ensured the Slot’s side did not have to try too hard to unlock their rivals, Diaz applying the finishing touch to get Liverpool up and running.
Diaz’s third of the season was another fine finish, but another Casemiro will want to forget. The flying Liverpool forward has now scored more Premier League goals against United than any other opponent.
Yet another mistake in midfield, this time from Kobbie Mainoo, was ruthlessly punished by Salah in the second half, the Egyptian cementing his pace as the highest-scoring opposition player at Old Trafford in Premier League history — seven strikes.
The visitors thereafter cruised to a victory that means Slot is the first Liverpool manager to win his first meeting with United since Bob Paisley in November 1975, and just the second to do so away from home after George Kay in November 1936.
“Everything what you want to see as a manager you saw in this game,” Slot said. “There were difficult moments for us, United started really well but then we have disallowed goal and there was no negative reaction, kept on playing, scoring three, could have scored more.
“There were two important saves from our goalkeeper and the work rate was incredibly well without the ball and that makes it a very positive day.”
-Reuters
Premier League
Brighton end 10-man Arsenal’s winning start
Brighton and Hove Albion ended Arsenal’s winning start to the new Premier League season with a 1-1 draw at The Emirates on Saturday, with the home side holding on with 10 men after Declan Rice’s second-half sending off.
Arsenal dominated the first half and deservedly lead at half time after Kai Havertz finished brilliantly in the 38th minute, having been played in expertly by Bukayo Saka.
Four minutes into the second half, however, Arsenal’s task was made all the harder when Rice was sent off after picking up a second yellow card. Brazilian striker Joao Pedro fired Brighton level 12 minutes later.
Both sides missed golden chances to win the contest late on, but they each had to settle for a point that keeps Arsenal and Brighton unbeaten from their three games so far.
“We started the game really well,” Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta told TNT Sports. “We scored the goal, 1-0. We started the second half really good but then there is the decision that changes the game completely.
“If it (second yellow card) happens throughout the game in a consistent way it is fine but it didn’t. It is the inconsistency.”
After narrowly missing out on their first Premier League title since 2004 last season, Arsenal started the new term in perfect fashion.
With champions Manchester City also coming into this weekend’s fixtures with two wins from two at the start of the new season, Arsenal know any slip-up, even this early in the campaign, could be costly.
They appeared set to be course for a ninth successive league victory after a dominant first-half display. Skipper Martin Odegaard should have scored earlier in the opening period before Havertz lofted home his second of the campaign.
Rice’s second yellow for trying to stop Brighton taking a quick free kick, a decision that was met with consternation around the stands, turned the tide in the visitors’ favour.
Since Boxing Day 2019 – Mikel Arteta’s first game in charge of Arsenal – the Gunners have been shown 16 red cards in the Premier League, at least three more than any other side. But it was Rice’s first red in his 245th Premier League appearance.
Following his last-gasp winner against Manchester United last weekend, Pedro reacted first after Yankuba Minteh’s shot had been saved to pull Brighton level, and the game opened up thereafter.
Saka could have snatched the win late on, while Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya had to be at his best on several occasions to keep Brighton from earning all three points, but both seemed content with a draw after an exhilarating tussle.
“We didn’t create enough chances when they went down to 10 men, but we will go away and look at it,” Brighton captain Lewis Dunk said.
“We always believe we can win any game of football. We are in a good place and we know we can beat anybody.”
-Reuters
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