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Premier League

Man United lose again, Guardiola back to see City comeback win

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Premier League - Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - September 16, 2023 Brighton & Hove Albion's Ansu Fati shoots at goal REUTERS/Molly Darlington Acquire Licensing Rights

Manchester United slumped to a third Premier League loss of the season at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday as Pep Guardiola returned to see Manchester City side’s 3-1 comeback win at West Ham United.

Fightbacks were the order of the day as Liverpool recovered from falling behind to win 3-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the early kickoff and two goals deep into stoppage time earned Tottenham Hotspur a 2-1 win over Sheffield United.

After another tumultuous week off the pitch for Manchester United, the club needed the players to lift their supporters.

Brighton ran out comfortable 3-1 winners, however, to ensure United suffered three defeats in the first five matches of a league campaign for the first time since 1989-90, leaving them languishing 12th in the table.

United fell behind in the 20th minute when Danny Welbeck slotted home against his former club when left unmarked in the penalty area.

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Big-money signing Rasmus Hojlund, on his full debut, thought he had levelled before the break, but the ball was adjudged to be out of play when Marcus Rashford pulled the ball back to the Danish striker.

Brighton capitalised on that VAR reprieve as fine goals from Pascal Gross early in the second half and a Joao Pedro strike brought groans of dismay all around Old Trafford.

Substitute Hannibal Mejbri did get one back for the hosts with 18 minutes left but Brighton held on comfortably to move up to third on 12 points

“Definitely that (losing three from five for the first time in Premier League history) is something that bothers me, but also I have to seen the way we play,” coach Erik ten Hag said.

“It is about character, we have to see how strong we are, stick together. We have to be very disappointed and annoyed at ourselves. We will turn this. There is a demand on us.”

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NEVER-SAY-DIE CITY

Having recovered from back surgery, Guardiola would have been pleased with the fighting spirit of his team at London Stadium.

New signing Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland scored second-half goals to cancel out James Ward-Prowse’s strike and maintain City’s perfect record this season. They top the standings, two points ahead of Liverpool and three clear of Brighton.

City have now started a league campaign with five consecutive victories for the fifth time in their history, although their highest finish in any of those campaigns was third.

“I’d prefer to be here than to do a surgery that’s for sure,” Guardiola told the BBC.

“All game we played a fantastic game. Even when we were losing against at half-time. We were efficient, we were patient in the second-half. It was a big win after the international break. The team showed good spirit to survive.”

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Wolves dominated the first half at Molineux against an unusually sluggish Liverpool, Hwang Hee-chan stroking in a seventh-minute goal and Wolves missing other chances.

Liverpool came out transformed in the second half, however, drawing level when Mohamed Salah set up fellow striker Cody Gakpo for a tap-in.

Wearing the captain’s armband on his 200th Premier League appearance, Andy Robertson slid in Liverpool’s second from another Salah pass in the 85th minute and they added a third in stoppage time.

There were further scenes of jubilation at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Tottenham were heading for their first Premier League defeat under Ange Postecoglou as they trailed to Gustavo Hamer’s goal against the run of play in the 75th minute.

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But substitute Richarlison ended his goal drought with the equaliser in the eighth of 12 minutes added on and set up Dejan Kulusevski for the winner as Tottenham made it four wins in a row and 13 points from 15 — their best start to a top-flight season since 1965-66.

Late goals also helped Aston Villa storm back to beat Crystal Palace 3-1 and Fulham secured a 1-0 victory over Luton Town.

-Reuters

 

 

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Premier League

Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win

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Liverpool's Cody Gakpo, centre left, Ryan Gravenberch, centre, and Diogo Jota celebrate after the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park in London, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. AP

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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Premier League

Premier League rejects City request to delay next season’s games after Club World Cup

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 Premier League - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - September 28, 2024 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts REUTERS/Scott Heppell/File photo

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.

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“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

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Ten Hag’s Man United future not my call, Ratcliffe says

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FA Cup - Final - Manchester City v Manchester United - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - May 25, 2024 Manchester United co owner Jim Ratcliffe is pictured in the stands before the match Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge/File Photo

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.

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“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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