Showing posts with label Arsenal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arsenal. Show all posts

Friday, 27 December 2013

Review of EPL: Boxing Day win puts Arsenal top of the table



THEO WALCOTT'S double spared Arsenal's blushes at West Ham, while there were also wins for Chelsea, Southampton, Newcastle and Manchester United.

THEO WALCOTT'S second brace in 12 days took Arsenal back to the top of the Barclays Premier League, at least temporarily.

Fit-again England flyer Walcott spared Arsenal's blushes at West Ham as Arsene Wenger's men came from behind to win 3-1 at Upton Park.
Jay Rodriguez scored twice and set up a Rickie Lambert goal as Southampton heaped yet more misery on Cardiff manager Malky Mackay.

Mauricio Pochettino's Southampton swatted Mackay's men aside in Wales, top-scorer Rodriguez making the early inroads before Lambert completed a 3-0 drubbing.
Loic Remy scored twice and missed a penalty as Newcastle overwhelmed nine-man Stoke 5-1 at St James' Park.

Remy's double and Yoan Gouffran's eighth league goal of the season helped the Magpies build on last weekend's 3-0 victory at Crystal Palace.

Yohan Cabaye notched a fourth from Mathieu Debuchy's assist, while Papiss Cisse scored his first goal in 10 games as the tie wound up a complete mismatch.

Stoke had Glenn Whelan and Marc Wilson sent off in a frenetic first half, and those dismissals ultimately turned the game in Newcastle's favour.
The visitors took the lead when Oussama Assaidi slotted home, but Whelan picked up two yellow cards in the space of six minutes for Stoke's first dismissal.

Then Wilson produced a professional foul on Remy for his early bath, only for Remy to miss the resulting spot-kick.
Dwight Gayle's first goal in eight games stole a priceless Crystal Palace victory at Aston Villa.

The former Peterborough striker's brilliant last-minute effort secured a 1-0 win for Tony Pulis' side at the end of a gritty Villa Park contest.
Scott Parker's late strike, his second Premier League goal of the season, secured Fulham's second win in six league games at Norwich.

Rene Meulensteen's men came from behind to claim 2-1 victory at Carrow Road and leapfrog West Ham as they moved out of the relegation zone.
Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard's red card gifted Sunderland a 1-0 victory at Goodison Park.

The American stopper struggled to deal with Leon Osman's undersold back-pass, and paid the price when he tripped Black Cats midfielder Ki Sung-yueng.

Ki netted the resulting penalty, with Joel Robles unable to stop Sunderland taking the lead after replacing Osman.

And the visitors held out to grind to victory.

Jose Mourinho kept his promise to mix up selection for Chelsea's home clash against Swansea, restoring Ashley Cole at left-back.

And the England defender promptly repaid that call by laying on the pass that allowed Eden Hazard to score the decisive goal in a 1-0 victory.

Tottenham's first-half lead lasted just two minutes in Tim Sherwood's first match in full charge of Spurs.

Christian Eriksen's free-kick put the home side ahead but Spurs were pegged back by Jonas Olsson's goal after 38 minutes.

Spurs pushed and pushed after the break but could not find a winner, with the match ending in a 1-1 draw.

It had been a dream start but a nightmare finish for Hull City defender James Chester in the day's lunchtime kick-off, as he scored for both teams in Hull's agonising 3-2 defeat to his former club Manchester United.

Chester and David Meyler handed Steve Bruce's side a 2-0 lead after just 13 minutes at the KC Stadium.
Alvaro Negredo proved the match-winner as he took advantage of an error by Simon Mignolet to preserve Manuel Pellegrini's side's 100 percent home record in the Premier League

Thursday, 26 December 2013

Boxing Day war: Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City battle top spot

There will be no exchange of gifts in the English Barclay Premier league today as most teams will seek to keep opponents away from their boxes.

Manchester City versus Liverpool leads the pack. Perhaps one of the most crucial games of the season for both teams as they battle it out to be the best in the league going into 2014.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says he is down to 17 fit players as Jon Flanagan battles a hamstring problem ahead of the Boxing Day trip to Manchester City.

Captain Steven Gerrard, who has a hamstring problem, and striker Daniel Sturridge, who is recovering from an ankle injury, are both out until January. And the Premier League leaders are struggling for numbers as they prepare to visit a City side who have won all eight of their home games in the competition this season.

Arsenal travel to East London on Boxing Day to play a West Ham side who are struggling to stay above the relegation zone, after a 3-1 defeat to Manchester United last weekend.

Chelsea will be hoping for a late Christmas present on Thursday with victory over Swansea and results going their way could see Jose Mourinho’s team return to the top of the tree for the first time since September.

Monday’s goalless draw between Chelsea and Arsenal demonstrated this might be the tightest Premier League season ever, as with Mourinho’s men currently occupying the final Champions League spot, only two points separate the top five after 17 matches.

Friday, 16 August 2013

Suarez in Liverpool’s First-team after Apologising

Forward Luis Suarez trained with Liverpool's first-team squad on Friday according to Sky sources, after apologising to his team-mates for his conduct this summer.
The Uruguay international had been frozen out of first-team sessions after publicly demanding a transfer but the rift between player and club now appears be closing.

Suarez will definitely not feature in Saturday's Premier League opener at home to Stoke. He has six games left to serve of the 10-game ban he received for biting Branislav Ivanovic of Chelsea last April.

Despite his oft-stated desire to play Champions League football and a pair of bids from Arsenal, Liverpool have remained firm in their stance that he is not leaving and it appears increasingly likely that he will still be at Anfield when his suspension is completed.

Sky Sports reporter Vinny O'Connor said: "Luis Suarez has apologised to (manager) Brendan Rodgers and apologised to his team-mates over his general conduct.

"He has started his re-integration into the Liverpool first team and trained with them on Friday.

After last weekend's friendly defeat to Celtic in Dublin, Rodgers confirmed Suarez would need to say sorry before any reintegration took place.

"Initially there will be a recognition that (there needs to be) an apology to his team-mates and the club," he said.

"When he is back from his international trip (Suarez went to Japan with Uruguay in midweek) we will assess it from there.

"He is a world-class striker and when he is committed to the cause we will welcome him back with open arms."

Initially there was some suggestion while he was on international duty that the player's stance had mellowed, with Uruguayan newspaper El Observador quoting him as saying: "For now, owing to all the affection of the people, I would be staying."



Information from Sky Sports was used in this report.

Monday, 22 July 2013

Liverpool to consider Suarez sale

The wantaway striker is set to make his first-team return against Melbourne Victory, but his manager says the Arsenal target could leave if the Reds receive a suitable offer

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has conceded that Luis Suarez could leave the club if a suitable offer is received.

The striker touched down in Melbourne on Sunday ahead of his first involvement in the Reds' pre-season tour after being afforded additional time off following June's Confederations Cup.

Suarez made his desire to leave Liverpool public last month - with Arsenal set to test Liverpool's resolve with a £40 million offer after seeing an initial £35m bid rejected - and Rodgers has admitted he cannot rule out an Anfield exit for the Uruguayan.

"The reality is that he's a player who is very much valued at Liverpool and unless there's any sort of offer that comes in that is anywhere near his value, there's nothing to consider, and we haven't had that," Rodgers told the club's official website.
"As we've always been as a club, I'm quite relaxed about it.

"We'll chat to him at some stage, like we do with all the players, but he's back, he's in great spirits and he's obviously an integral part of the group.
"You could see his closeness with his team-mates last night when they were all seeing him for the first time in a number of weeks.

"He'll join training today [Sunday] with all the other players and over the course of these next few weeks we'll communicate."

Information from Goal.com was used in this report.

Friday, 12 July 2013

Done Deals in The English Premiership League (EPL)




Below are some of the Done Deals in The English Premier League Transfer Market
Player                                            To                                                                           From                     
Victor Wanyama                            Southampton                                                       Celtic                     Full Ownership
Wilfried Bony                                Swansea City                                                     Vitesse                 Full Ownership
Roque Santa Cruz                          Malaga                                                                 Man City              Free Transfer
Kevin Davies                                 Preston North End                                                Bolton                   Free Transfer
Matthew Upson                             Brighton                                                               Stoke City            Free Transfer
Gerard Deulofeu                          Everton                                                                 Barcelona    
Loan
Mark Schwarzer                               Chelsea                                                                Fulham            Free Transfer
Jozy Altidore                                      Sunderland                                                         AZ                  Full Ownership
Joel                                                        Everton                                                         Atl. Madrid         Full Ownership
AntolĂ­n Alcaraz                                  Everton                                                            Wigan                   Full Ownership
Goran Popov                                     West Brom                                                         Dynamo Kiev     Loan
Grant Holt                                           Wigan                                                                Norwich City   Full Ownership
Arouna Kone                                     Everton                                                                   Wigan  
 Full Ownership
Matthew Kilgallon                           Blackburn                                                            Sunderland         Free Transfer
Paulinho                                          Tottenham                                                         Corinthians         Full Ownership
Christopher Samba                         Anzhi Makhachkala                                         QPR                       Full Ownership
 Marco van Ginkel                            Chelsea                                                          Vitesse   
 Full Ownership
Marc-Antoine Fortune                  Wigan                                                                   West Brom         Full Ownership
 Francis Coquelin                              Freiburg                                                               Arsenal               Loan
Nicolas Anelka                                   West Brom                                                         Juventus              Free Transfer
Jonjo Shelvey                                    Swansea City                                                     Liverpool             Full Ownership
Vito Mannone                                   Sunderland                                                         Arsenal                 Full Ownership
Kolo Toure                                          Liverpool                                                         Man City              Free Transfer 

Information from goal.com was used in this report