Premier League
Chelsea held by Liverpool in first game after Potter’s sacking
Chelsea wasted a host of chances to beat Liverpool as the troubled Blues were held to a 0-0 draw on Tuesday in their first Premier League match since Graham Potter’s sacking.
Potter was axed on Sunday after the former Brighton manager’s disastrous reign climaxed with a wretched home defeat against Aston Villa.
Chelsea are seeking their third permanent manager of the campaign, with Potter hired in September following Thomas Tuchel’s shock dismissal.
In the meantime, Bruno Saltor, a member of Potter’s backroom staff, made his managerial debut as Chelsea interim boss.
Bruno managed to coax a lively performance from Chelsea, but – as was so often the case under Potter – they paid the price for a lack of cutting edge.
Chelsea remain 11th, leaving them with an uncertain future despite the massive investment in new signings made by Chelsea owner Todd Boehly since he took over last year.
“These have been emotional days and the players have been able to keep focused. It’s a difficult season for them. To come back from what we have had in the last few days is incredible,” Bruno said.
“I have asked the players to play with their hearts and I think we saw that on the pitch. We create chances and I think we deserved to win.”
Liverpool hardly looked much better as a third successive league game without a win damaged their faint hopes of finishing in the top four.
Eighth-placed Liverpool are seven points behind fourth-placed Tottenham in the race to qualify for the Champions League.
“I saw a lot of great challenges, people flying into tackles and that’s what we need,” Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said.
“That’s what we have to build on it. If things don’t go your way you have to fight through this and make steps. Sometimes smaller ones, sometimes bigger ones. This was a smaller one.”
In response to Liverpool’s dismal 4-1 defeat at Manchester City on Saturday, Klopp dropped Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold as the Reds boss made six changes.
It was Chelsea who made the stronger start of the two troubled teams and Mateo Kovacic’s shot was blocked on the line by Ibrahima Konate.
Reece James saw his fierce finish disallowed for offside against Enzo Fernandez, while Wesley Fofana was narrowly off target with a headed chance.
Chelsea’s Kai Havertz dragged a good chance wide from N’Golo Kante’s pass.
Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez forced good saves from Kepa Arrizabalaga as Liverpool finally threatened just before half-time.
Kovacic blazed a glorious chance over soon after the interval, while Havertz’s effort was disallowed for handball when the German’s shot hit Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker and rebounded into the net off his arm.
Leicester’s first game since Brendan Rodgers’ departure on Sunday ended in a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa at the King Power Stadium.
The Foxes, led by caretaker bosses Mike Stowell and Adam Sadler after Rodgers’ exit by “mutual agreement”, have now gone seven league games without a win and sit second bottom of the table.
Ollie Watkins put Villa ahead in the 24th minute and although Harvey Barnes equalised after 35 minutes, Leicester’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was sent off in the 70th minute for a second booking.
Bertrand Traore’s 87th-minute curler, his first goal for Villa since 2021, piled on the misery for Leicester.
Leeds climbed out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 win against fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest at Elland Road.
Orel Mangala bagged his first goal in English football to fire Forest ahead.
But Jack Harrison equalised eight minutes later with a close-range finish after Keylor Navas spilled Marc Roca’s shot.
Luis Sinisterra put Leeds in front in first-half stoppage time, cutting inside and curling his shot into the far corner.
Leeds are two points clear of the relegation zone, while Forest are outside the bottom three on goal difference.
Third-bottom Bournemouth remain in deep trouble after a 2-0 home defeat against Brighton.
Albion took the lead in the 28th minute through teenage forward Evan Ferguson’s audacious backheel, with Julio Enciso’s first goal for the club wrapping up the points in injury time.
– AFP
Premier League
Mourinho seeks winner’s medal and bonus if Man City are stripped of titles
Jose Mourinho cheekily said he is looking to add a fourth Premier League medal to his glittering cabinet if Manchester City are stripped of their titles and rivals Manchester United are awarded the Premier League trophy for the 2017-18 season.
Mourinho, who won three titles with Chelsea, guided United to a second-place finish behind City in that campaign, 19 points behind Pep Guardiola’s record-breaking side.
City, who have won the English title a record four times in succession, were referred to an independent commission in February 2023, with the various charges dating from 2009 to 2018. They have always denied any wrongdoing.
Should City be found guilty of some or all of the charges they could face penalties or huge fines, points deductions, being stripped of their titles or even be demoted from the top flight.
“We won the Europa League and finished second in the Premier League. I think we still have a chance to win that league,” Fenerbahce boss Mourinho told reporters ahead of their Europa League clash against United.
“Maybe they punish Manchester City with points (deductions) and maybe we win that league. They have to pay me the bonus and give me the medal.”
Mourinho was the first manager since Alex Ferguson’s last season in 2012-13 to bring United the closest to winning the league title again but he was sacked in December 2018 after a poor run of form.
Ferguson is United’s most successful manager and although he is set to step down as a global ambassador after the club’s part-owners INEOS ended his multi-million pound contract, Mourinho said the 82-year-old did not need the position or the money.
“The ambassadorial role… I don’t know in depth the situation. It doesn’t matter why, what (happened). Sir Alex has the most important thing, which is the love and respect of every Man United fan around the world,” Mourinho said.
“That is more important than an ambassadorial role, it is more important than a few pounds that he can make that he doesn’t need.”
-Reuters
Premier League
Mourinho says Man Utd ‘will succeed sooner or later’
Jose Mourinho says struggling Manchester United “will succeed sooner or later” as the Fenerbahce boss prepares to take on his former club in the Europa League on Thursday.
United manager Erik ten Hag is under pressure after a poor start to the season, which has included draws in their first two European matches — against Twente and Porto.
But Mourinho, who has also managed a string of other high-profile clubs including Chelsea, Real Madrid and Tottenham, said United had potential and he wants them to succeed.
“Maybe you English guys think I’m bluffing, think I am playing mind games,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday. “I’m not playing anything — they have a better team than the results are showing.
“I studied them the maximum I could with my staff and my analysts. We watched everything in the Premier League, we watched everything in the two matches, Twente and Porto — there is work there.
“They will succeed sooner or later. Hopefully sooner and hopefully before one day I go back to the Premier League and they become my opponents.
“At this moment they are just my opponents for one match.”
‘I wish them the best’
Mourinho, who managed United between 2016 and 2018, winning the League Cup and Europa League, was asked why his former club had struggled over the past decade.
“Honestly, I didn’t lose one minute thinking about it,” he said. “I wish the best to Man Utd since the moment I left.
“I left with a good feeling for the club, with a good feeling for the fans and I want the best for them, so if things are not going amazingly well for them it’s not something that makes me happy, but at the same time I have no time.”
The 61-year-old suggested that during his own reign at Old Trafford, the United hierarchy had not had the same patience they were showing towards Ten Hag.
“What happened for sure, because it’s very objective, is that they kept faith with the coach, they support the coach, who is staying season after season and that means stability, means trust and they are giving him conditions to keep developing his job,” he said.
“That was a difference in relation to me because as you know we won the Europa League, we finished second in the Premier League.”
Mourinho, who was named as the new Fenerbahce coach in June following his sacking by Roma, said United would be at “maximum strength” for the match in Istanbul.
“One thing are the results that Manchester United are having and another thing is the potential of the team,” he said. “The potential of the team is high.”
He added: “If I have to say now which are the two biggest candidates to win the Europa League, I think it’s easy — Manchester United and Tottenham.
“The Premier League is a different level of quality, intensity, pace, tactical culture — a different level of everything.
“Tomorrow, I think we are going to play against one of the two strongest teams.”
-AFP
Premier League
Arsenal defeat ‘accident waiting to happen’ after card – Arteta
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his side’s defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday was “an accident waiting to happen” after William Saliba was sent off in the first half.
Bournemouth won 2-0 thanks to goals from Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert after Saliba was shown a red card for a challenge on Evanilson after 30 minutes as Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the campaign.
It is the third time this season Arsenal have been forced to finish a match with 10 players, leaving Arteta frustrated that his side’s lack of discipline cost them points.
“We are obviously very disappointed with the result and gutted because we have to play again in that context,” he said. “This time was even more difficult than the previous two we faced this season.
“Playing for 65 or 68 minutes with 10 men at this level is just an impossible task. It’s an accident waiting to happen, not to get the points.
“I cannot fault the team for their effort, their commitment, how intelligent they are to play in the way that we have to do it.”
Declan Rice was sent off in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at home to Brighton earlier in the season, while Leandro Trossard was also shown red in the 2-2 draw against title rivals Manchester City.
Arsenal host Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday.
-ESPN
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