Premier League
LEICESTER 0-2 MAN UTD LIVE SCORE AND GOAL UPDATES FROM TOP FOUR DECIDER ON PREMIER LEAGUE FINAL DAY
Premier League relegation:
Watford and Bournemouth down as Aston Villa safe after final day
FULL TIME RESULTS
- Arsenal 3-2 Watford
- Burnley 1-2 Brighton
- Chelsea 2-0 Wolves
- Crystal Palace 1-1 Spurs
- Everton 1-3Bournemouth
- Leicester 0-2 Man Utd
- Man City 5-0 Norwich
- Newcastle 1-3 Liverpool
- Southampton 3-1 Sheffield Utd
West Ham 1-1 Aston Villa
GOAL! Leicester 0-2 United
United have sealed it!
Kasper Schmeichel gifts it to Jessie Lingard who slots home the confirmation goal.
Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s side are back in Europe’s elite!
14TH PENALTY KICK FOR UNITED THIS SEASON
Manchester United’s penalty at Leicester is their 14th Premier League spot-kick of the season, the most one side has ever won in a single campaign in the competition. Typical.
Red card!
Ex-United defender Jonny Evans receives a straight red.
That was a nasty challenge on Scott McTominay.
It’s over for the Foxes – but we’ll see them in the Europa League.
FULL TIME: Crystal Palace 1-1 Spurs
Manchester United are five minutes away into CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!
We are into the final five minutes at the King Power Stadium, Leicester’s Champions League dream that has flickered so brightly throughout this season looks as though it is about to be extinguished as George Hirst replaces James Justin.
Villa SCORE against West Ham United!
There’s been a huge goal at the London Stadium!
Jack Grealish gets it!
In spite of Bournemouth’s heroics and Watford’s half-comeback, it’s Dean Smith’s side who look to be safe!
HOW LEICESTER CONCEDED PENALTY
Jonny Evans and Wes Morgan both lunge in on Anthony Martial inside the box and Martin Atkinson shows little hesitation to point to the spot. VAR is checking but there is no way this will be overturned and neither should it.
Leicester all in
Leicester have to go for broke here. Since Chelsea stand little chance of losing to Wolves, their only hope of Champions League football is by scoring at least two.
Brendan Rodgers goes for the old triple substitution…
Dennis Praet, Demarai Gray and Harvey Barnes are on for Marc Albrighton, Youri Tielemans and Hamza Choudhury.
GOAL! Leicester 0-1 United
What a pressure point for Bruno Fernandes.
Kasper Schmeichel does his best to distract the man who only moved to Manchester in January.
But the Portuguese midfielder has no problem!
Penalty United!
Jonny Evans brings down Anthony Martial in the area…
Wes Morgan was also flying in from behind…
The sandwich gives way to a penalty…
Verdy hits the woodwork!
Jamie Vardy almost nets *the* goal!
He flicks a header towards the right post and David de Gea is scrambling again – but it clips the outside of the frame.
The spearhead of Leicester’s 2016 title success could still be their hero today.
IHEANACHO REPLACED
Still not much from the Foxes as they make their first change, throwing on Ayoze Perez for Kelechi Iheanacho.
Leicester City 0-0 Manchester United
Leicester are going to have to launch an all-out assault at some point. Now is not the time it seems as while they control the possession they are not forcing through much on goal as the rain pours down at the King Power Stadium.
Man Utd Playing for the win
United only need a point but they’re going all out for three at this stage.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has clearly asked his side to show some urgency and they’re hardly giving Leicester a sight of the ball.
Half an hour to go. What can Brendan Rodgers come up with?
SO FAR, ONLY TWO MATCHES ARE YET TO PRODUCE GOALS
- Leicester City 0-0 Manchester United
- West Ham United 0-0 Aston Villa
FACT FILE
At the age of 33, Olivier Giroud has become the oldest player to score in five consecutive Premier League starts, taking over from Jamie Vardy (32 years old). Zest.
As it stands
Jamie Vardy of Leicester City, by the way, is still leading the running for the Golden Boot
So it’s evenly poised between Leicester and United for the final Champions League spot.
And the same goes for Aston Villa and Bournemouth who are each playing to stay in the Premier League.
Meanwhile Watford seem doomed…
Half-time: Leicester 0-0 United
With Chelsea all but assured of a top four spot, it’ll be all eyes on the King Power Stadium in the second half.
And the pressure is on the hosts, as a point won’t be enough to leapfrog United.
They started slowly but have managed a few chances.
All the half-time scores
Arsenal 3-1 Watford
Burnley 1-1 Brighton
Chelsea 2-0 Wolves
Crystal Palace 0-1 Spurs
Everton 1-2 Bournemouth
Leicester 0-0 Man Utd
Man City 2-0 Norwich
Newcastle 1-1 Liverpool
Southampton 0-1 Sheffield United
West Ham 0-0 Aston Villa
Goal number 2 for Chelsea!
It’s a second goal in the space of two minutes for the Blues!
Mason Mount slides it into the path of Olivier Giroud, who smashes it home!
Unless they concede three, it’s mission accomplished for Frank Lampard.
Goal for Chelsea!
Chelsea have got what could be their Champions League goal!
Mason Mount has a free-kick in a position where it was asking to be scored.
And he chips it perfectly over the wall into the bottom left corner!
Manchester United 0-0 Leicester City
Half-chance for United. But it is arguably their best of the game as under pressure Marcus Rashford cuts inside onto his right foot inside the box, but he can only bend a shot wide of the post.
Chelsea 0-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
A slight change in focus for Wolves perhaps at the Bridge. They now have to win to secure a top six spot as Spurs lead at Crystal Palace.
They nearly fall behind though, with Olivier Giroud (below) heading just over the bar following a near post cross from Mason Mount.
Leicester almost score through Verdy
Jamie Vardy works to get a shot away…
Ex-Leicester man Harry Maguire is there to clear it!
Remember, the Foxes are outside the top four unless things change.
3-0 Arsenal
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang makes sure there’s no way back for Watford.
The Gabonese striker capitalises on some poor defending to hook it home!
He’s now just one goal behind Jamie Vardy in the race for the Golden Boot.
Manchester United 0-0 Leicester City
Meanwhile down the other end, Iheanacho lays the ball off for Youri Tielemans on the edge of the box, whose side-footed placed effort sneaks just past the wrong side of the post.
More concern for Vardy by the way. Aubameyang has scored again for Arsenal, putting him just one behind the Leicester striker in the golden boot race.
SCORES SO FAR after 36 MINUTES
SCORE LINES AFTER 34 MINUTES
- Arsenal 2-0 Watford
- Burnley 0-1 Brighton
- Chelsea 0-0 Wolves
- ‘Crystal Palace 0-1 Spurs
- Everton 0-1 Bournemouth
- Leicester 0-0 Man Utd
- Man City 1-0 Norwich
- Newcastle 1-0 Liverpool
- ‘ Southampton 0-1 Sheffield Utd
- West Ham 0-0 Aston Villa
Arsenal double lead
Kieran Tierney puts Arsenal 2-0 up!
The left-back tries his luck first time and Ben Foster is nowhere near it.
Watford have a mountain to climb now…
Leicester City 0-0 Manchester United
Half-chance for the Foxes. Marc Albrighton picks up a cross on the right side of the box, but under pressure from Brandon Williams he slices wide of the near post.
Chelsea 0-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Even enough start at Stamford Bridge. Wolves are looking to attack Chelsea but the Blues are looking keen to do their damage on the counter attack.
- TO FINISH IN THE TOP FOUR
- 3rd: MANCHESTER UNITED (63 points, GD: +28) WIN or DRAW with Leicester, or LOSE to Leicester if Chelsea lose to Wolves.
- 4th: CHELSEA (63 points, GD: +13) WIN or DRAW with Wolves, or LOSE to Wolves if United beat Leicester.
- 5th: LEICESTER (62 points, GD: +28) WIN against Man United, or DRAW with United if Chelsea lose to Wolves.
NDIDI ALMOST SCORE FOR LEICESTER AGAINST MAN U
It has been a fairly quiet start to the Champions League showdown at the King Power Stadium.
United are looking slightly brighter and Mason Greenwood has banged a header wide.
But they’ve been a bit shaky at the back and nearly gave away a goal to Wilfred Ndidi.
CHAMPIONS, MAN CITY LOSING…
Already-relegated Norwich are winning at Man City!
Oh wait! Onel Hernandez’s strike is cancelled for offside.
And now City are winning! Gabriel Jesus fires home from close range.
ARSENAL ONE GOAL UP!
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converts a spot kick after a very long check on a clumsy Craig Dawson challenge on Alexandre Lacazette.
That’s great news for Aston Villa, who are staying up as things stand…
Leicester City host Manchester United on the final day of the Premier League season knowing that this is it.
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers made three changes with Marc Albrighton, Kelechi Iheanacho and Hamza Choudhury all starting.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka returned to replace Timothy Fosu-Mensah for the third-placed visitors, a point and two places above Leicester.
Keep up with all the action from the Champions League decider at the King Power, plus the goals from across the Premier League’s final day, right here.
Leicester starting XI: Schmeichel, Justin, Morgan (c), Evans, Albrighton, Ndidi, Choudhury, Tielemans, Thomas, Iheanacho, Vardy
Subs: Ward, Bennett, Mendy, Praet, James, Barnes, Gray, Perez, Hirst
Man Utd starting XI: Dea Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire (c), Williams, Matic, Pogba, Greenwood, B Fernandes, Rashford, Martial
Subs: S Romero, Bailly, Fosu-Mensah, Fred, James, Lingard, Mata, McTominay, Ighalo
Liverpool losing
The first goal of the afternoon comes almost straight away at St James’ Park.
And the champions are the first team to concede!
Dwight Gayle gives Newcastle the lead against Jurgen Klopp’s weakened side.
Arsenal get penalty
And VAR is causing havoc almost straight away at the Emirates!
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converts a spot kick after a very long check on a Craig Dawson challenge on Alexandre Lacazette.
That’s great news for Aston Villa…
New signing Matthijs de Ligt grabbed his first goal for Manchester United while Marcus Rashford scored for the first time since March in a 3-0 Premier
League victory at Southampton on Saturday after a shaky start to the season.
Alejandro Garnacho added a late goal for Erik ten Hag’s side who started the day 14th in the standings after back-to-back losses. They now have six points from four matches while newly promoted Southampton remain without a point.
Southampton dominated early on but squandered a chance to take the lead in the 34th minute after United goalkeeper Onana saved Cameron Archer’s poor penalty, sparking an immediate shift in momentum at St Mary’s Stadium.
A minute later, De Ligt headed in a sumptuous ball from Bruno Fernandes after Christian Eriksen’s short corner.
“I think if you get three points from three games it’s not enough so there was some pressure, but I think today we played very well,” said De Ligt, a summer signing from Bayern Munich.
Rashford, who had gone 13 games without a goal, then ended his drought when he was left unmarked on the edge of the box to bend a diagonal shot in the far corner in the 41st.
Ten Hag had been criticised for starting Rashford but he has stuck by the much-maligned 26-year-old — who had not found the back of the net since United’s 2-0 win over Everton on March 9 — saying pre-game that Rashford needed only a goal or an assist and “then he will fly”.
“It’s very important,” the Dutchman said after the win. “It is so huge for him, for every striker, when the season starts you want to be on the scoring list. Now he has his first, I’m sure more will come.”
Archer’s penalty miss spoiled a stellar first league start for Southampton’s Tyler Dibling. The 18-year-old, who had scored for England’s Under-19 side in a loss to Germany four days earlier, drew the penalty when he dribbled at Diogo Dalot only to be taken down by the defender in the box.
That was the turning point, as the hosts were almost immediately punished for the miss but goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale tipped a low shot from Joshua Zirkzee just wide of the net.
“It was a turning point for us,” Onana said. “I’m happy for the guys, we had a great game, now we move on.”
What started as a solid afternoon for Southampton had a wretched ending as Russell Martin’s side failed to register a shot after the missed penalty and were reduced to 10 men in the 79th minute when defender Jack Stephens was sent off for a high tackle on Garnacho.
The Argentine forward smashed the ball in with almost the last kick of the game to seal the win for the visitors.
United finished with 20 shots to the home side’s six.
-Reuters
Arsenal face a daunting set of fixtures starting with a trip to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, with influential midfielders sidelined this weekend, but Mikel Arteta’s side can take heart from their recent record in north London derbies.
Having been held to a draw by Brighton & Hove Albion in their last outing, Arsenal are two points off the pace after champions Manchester City and Liverpool had perfect starts.
Letting points slip in the past two campaigns has punished Arsenal in the title race. With City and Liverpool playing on Saturday, Arsenal could potentially be staring at a five-point gap ahead of Sunday’s short trip to face their neighbours.
Arsenal will wear their away kit in the derby for the first time in 38 years due to a colour clash but two men who will not be wearing their black strip are skipper Martin Odegaard and midfield partner Declan Rice.
While Odegaard is out for several weeks nursing an ankle injury sustained in Norway’s Nations League victory against Austria in midweek, Rice is suspended following a controversial red card against Brighton for kicking the ball away.
Form usually goes out of the window in north London derbies, which often produce spicy encounters, but Arsenal have had the upper hand in the last two seasons, winning three and drawing one of the last four league matches against Spurs.
The hosts also have injury worries with forwards Richarlison and Dominic Solanke plus defender Micky van de Ven missing their 2-1 loss at Newcastle United, though the latter two are expected to return.
FORCED ROTATION
With Arsenal’s midweek Champions League game at Atalanta and a trip to City the following weekend, Arteta will be forced to rotate his squad or even change his formation.
Since new signing Mikel Merino is also injured, he may have to play the versatile Kai Havertz in a deeper role. Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus has also been sidelined, while striker Eddie Nketiah moved to Crystal Palace on deadline day.
“He could play Leandro Trossard or even Raheem Sterling, but that’s a big ask for a winger to play up front at a new club,” Sky Sports pundit and former Arsenal forward Paul Merson said, adding the club should have signed another striker.
“You might get away with it for two or three games playing a false nine, but you wouldn’t want to go seven, eight, nine games with one,” he added.
The weekend kicks off with 14th-placed Manchester United looking to put their early season troubles behind them as they travel to promoted Southampton, who are without a point so far.
Erik ten Hag is in his third season as United boss but a 3-0 humbling by Liverpool — whose manager Arne Slot was taking charge of just his third game — rang alarm bells among the Old Trafford faithful although the Dutchman has the club’s backing.
Leaders City host sixth-placed Brentford, while second-placed Liverpool, the only Premier League team yet to concede a goal this season, welcome Nottingham Forest.
Ipswich Town travel to third-placed Brighton seeking a first win following their return to the top flight, while bottom side Everton, with three straight losses, travel to Aston Villa.
-Reuters
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has signed a new long-term contract at the Emirates Stadium, the Premier League title chasers announced on Sept 12.
The Gunners said in a statement that the 42-year-old Spaniard, who has reportedly agreed a three-year deal, “has been a key figure in re-establishing us as a force back at the top of English and European football”.
Arteta, who became Arsenal boss in late 2019, said he felt “extremely proud”.
“I feel extremely lucky to work every single day with good people and the ambition we have here,” he said.
“I feel very inspired, I feel challenged, I feel supported and I want to do much more than what we’ve already done together.”
Arsenal co-chairman Josh Kroenke said he was delighted with the new deal.
“Mikel is a dynamic and passionate manager, who is relentless in the pursuit of excellence,” he said.
“He has a deep understanding of Arsenal’s values, and since joining us as head coach, he has taken the team to another level in an Arsenal way.”
Arteta, who had been working as an assistant coach under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, replaced compatriot Unai Emery as Arsenal boss in December 2019.
He won the FA Cup in his first season in charge – his first silverware as a manager.
Arsenal have finished as runners-up to City in the Premier League for the past two seasons.
Last term, they went agonisingly close to lifting the trophy for the first time since 2004 before being pipped by City on the last day of the season.
Arteta’s men, who face north London rivals Tottenham on Sept 15, are currently fourth in the table after two wins and a draw.
They begin their Champions League campaign next week against Atalanta.
‘Wonderful values’
Arteta, who played 150 times for Arsenal and captained the side, called for calm in August regarding his contract situation, insisting his focus had been on the transfer window.
“We are on it and we will take care of that in the right moment,” said Arteta, who had previously been linked with Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.
“I don’t think anybody has to panic. I am in the place where I want to be and am really happy.
“Hopefully, the club thinks the same thing and the players I work with, who in my opinion are the most important ones.”
Arsenal strengthened in the summer transfer window, bringing in a clutch of players including Raheem Sterling, Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori.
There are still questions over whether they have enough firepower to overhaul champions City after their failure to sign a striker to compete with inconsistent Germany forward Kai Havertz.
But Arsenal sporting director Edu has no doubts about Arteta’s ability to keep the club on course for sustained success.
“It’s a very positive and proud moment for everyone at the club and an important part of what we’re all working towards,” Edu said.
“Mikel has shown his qualities since the very first day he joined us, not only as a football manager, but as a person with wonderful values.
“We have a strong belief in what we are doing and what we want to achieve together. Mikel’s new contract gives us stability and clear direction as we aim for new heights.”
–AFP
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