Premier League
Man City topple Arsenal at the top!
Manchester City are top of the Premier League for the first time since February 17 thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Pep Guardiola’s men were pushed until the end by Fulham, who stuck doggedly with the in-form champions throughout the match.
Far more experienced top-flight sides might have crumbled when Erling Haaland netted his 50th goal of the season from the penalty spot after just three minutes.
However, Fulham managed to find a leveller a little over 10 minutes later through Carlos Vinicius, who has struggled for goals since he became a regular starter in the absence of the suspended Aleksandar Mitrovic.
It took a touch of class from Julian Alvarez to restored the visitors’ advantage in the first half, superbly curling home what proved to be the winner.
It was Fulham who looked most likely to score again as the game neared its conclusion, but City held on to move above Arsenal.
Haaland made no mistakes with his powerful penalty just three minutes in after Tim Ream, who has been a mainstay of the Fulham defence this campaign, was judged to have brought down Alvarez in the box.
The goal all-but killed any forward momentum from Fulham who reverted to a defensive formation to try and curb City’s attacking threat.
Jack Grealish had a low drive saved by Leno in the 14th minute, but Fulham found an equaliser against the run of play just moments later.
Vinicius, who had only scored two goals previously this season, thrashed a fine finish past Ederson in the 15th minute.
The forward, who has been criticised by the home fans in recent weeks for his lack of end product, was in the right place after Harry Wilson flicked the ball down into his path, and made no mistake with his left-foot strike.
Fulham were dealt a blow in the 20th minute with the loss of on-field captain Ream, who slipped trying to make a tackle and landed awkwardly on his arm.
City maintained their pressure on the Fulham defence, with Leno called into action again to tip a Grealish effort onto the bar and Antonee Robinson denying Alvarez at the far post.
The visitors restored on 36 minutes, with a stunning curled strike into the corner from Alvarez.
The Argentinian held off the defenders to create an opening outside of the box before taking his shot.
City started the second half in the same manner they finished the first, with Leno diving low to his right to deny a low effort from Haaland.
Andreas Pereira was carried off on a stretcher following a coming-together with Manuel Akanji, forcing manager Marco Silva into his second unplanned change of the afternoon.
Fulham had a chance to score a second leveller when Vinicius was played in down the left side of the box, but Ederson was just able to gather and deny the forward a shot at what would have been an empty goal.
Tempers flared briefly between Grealish and Kenny Tete as Fulham felt they should have been given a penalty when Bobby De Cordova-Reid was brought down in the box, but Hooper waved play on.
The game finished in tense fashion, but City are back at the summit of the Premier League – a point ahead of the Gunners having played a game fewer.
Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to remain top of the Premier League as Arsenal and Manchester City came from behind to win on Saturday.
City were 3-2 victors over Fulham to stay one point behind Liverpool, alongside Arsenal who saw off Southampton 3-1.
Arne Slot has now won nine of his first 10 games since succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, but was frustrated that the visitors invited a late onslaught from the winless Eagles.
Jota prodded the Reds into the lead from Cody Gakpo’s cross on nine minutes.
The Portuguese international was then guilty of missing two big chances to extend Liverpool’s advantage.
Palace failed to make them pay, but victory came at a cost for Slot as goalkeeper Alisson Becker limped off with a hamstring injury.
“If you score the second you break them mentally,” said Slot. “All the fans kept believing in a result because it was only 1-0, even though in my opinion we were the dominant team.”
Fresh from a dominant win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Arsenal were expected to sweep aside winless Southampton.
But the Saints shocked the Emirates 10 minutes into the second half when Cameron Archer fired in his first Premier League goal since a summer move from Aston Villa.
The lead only lasted three minutes before Kai Havertz scored for the seventh consecutive home game.
Gabriel Martinelli was introduced after an hour and took just eight minutes to make his mark with a finish on the volley from Bukayo Saka’s cross.
Having set up Arsenal’s first two goals, Saka pounced on a loose ball to score the third himself.
Fulham’s outrageous opener
Rodri’s season-long absence due to a serious knee injury is expected to be a major blow to City’s chances of retaining the title for a fifth consecutive season.
But it was the Spaniard’s deputy Mateo Kovacic who scored twice to turn the game around for the champions at the Etihad.
The visitors had not lost since the opening night of the season at Manchester United and led thanks to Andreas Pereira’s finish from an outrageous backheel assist by Raul Jimenez.
Kovacic’s deflected effort quickly brought City level before a cleaner strike less than two minutes into the second half made it 2-1.
Jeremy Doku then smashed into the top corner from outside the box to give City a two-goal cushion, which they needed.
Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham hope on 88 minutes, but City held out for a 17th consecutive win against the Cottagers.
West Ham eased the pressure on new boss Julen Lopetegui by ending a run of three home defeats to start the new season.
Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta struck for the Hammers in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, who are still waiting for their first Premier League win 22 years.
There were six goals before half-time as Brentford beat Wolves 5-3 to leave the visitors still rooted to the foot of the table.
Leicester secured their first league win of the season as Facundo Buonanotte’s strike beat Bournemouth 1-0.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag faces a huge match if he is to remain in charge when the Red Devils visit Aston Villa in the pick of Sunday’s action.
-AFP
Premier League
Premier League rejects City request to delay next season’s games after Club World Cup
The Premier League has rejected Manchester City’s request to postpone the first two games of the 2025-26 season to help the players recover after their FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the U.S., the club’s manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.
City and Chelsea are the two English clubs who have qualified for the expanded month-long Club World Cup set to start on June 15. The Premier League’s season will begin in August.
An increasingly packed soccer calendar has been a concern among a growing number of players and managers. A report by global players’ union FIFPRO said some players get only 12% of the year to rest.
The Premier League did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
City midfielder Rodri said in September that players could be close to strike action over the time they are required to play. A knee ligament injury has since put him out for the season.
“I don’t know if we will play more games than the treble year (2022-23)… maybe we’ll play less games,” Guardiola told reporters.
“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don’t postpone these games so that will be the moment of, oh, what do we have to do?”
He said the Club World Cup will make it even more difficult for clubs to manage player workload.
-Reuters
Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said a decision about under-fire manager Erik ten Hag is not his call, and was reticent about whether he still has faith in the team’s boss amid their worst start to the Premier League season since 1986-87.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” Ratcliffe told the BBC. “I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.
“That team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April — Omar (Berrada, CEO), (Sporting Director) Dan Ashworth — they only arrived in July.
“They’ve only been there . . . you can count it in weeks almost — they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.”
Ten Hag’s job was the subject of speculation for much of last season en route to the team’s lowest Premier League finish of eighth. After an FA Cup final victory over Manchester City and an end-of-season review, however, Ten Hag signed a new contract to extend his stay at Old Trafford until 2026.
“Our objective is very clear, we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously, that’s very clear,” Ratcliffe said.
Ten Hag continues to plead for patience from fans with the team languishing 13th in the Premier League table, having lost three of their six opening games. They were headed towards defeat by Porto in the Europa League on Thursday before Harry Maguire scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a 3-3 draw.
-Reuters
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