Aston Villa handed Arsenal a lifeline in their bid to bag a Champions League place as free-spending Manchester City’s away day blues worsened in the English Premier League on Sunday.
Villa blew their chance to open an eight-point gap over the Gunners as lowly visitors Stoke scored two last-gasp goals in a shock 2-2 draw at Villa Park.
Villa could have moved one point behind Chelsea and Liverpool, whose hopes of catching leaders Manchester United have all but faded.
But Stoke’s heroics left Martin O’Neill’s team three points off second and third place and only six points clear of Arsenal.
Inconsistent Manchester City were sunk 1-0 at West Ham, who moved up to seventh.
Meanwhile, Blackburn claimed a 2-1 win in a relegation battle at Hull City and Bolton beat visitors Newcastle 1-0.
Stiliyan Petrov and John Carew scored for Villa but Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross scored in the 88th minute before Glenn Whelan blasted in a superb equalizer.
The Potters remain second-bottom in the table.
Star striker Robinho had another off-key game as misfiring Manchester City lost to the Hammers, with Wales midfielder Jack Collison scoring the only goal, 71 minutes in.
“That is the beauty of football. Sometimes if you have passion and if you have belief you can be successful and I think Jack Collison is an example of all of that,” West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola said.
Blackburn gave their Premier League survival hopes a boost in a fiery game at the KC Stadium.
Stephen Warnock and Keith Andrews scored for Rovers in the first half.
Hull’s Dean Marney and Blackburn’s Morten Gamst Pedersen were sent off.
Ian Ashbee pulled a late goal back for Hull, who have just one of their last 18 league games.
Bolton boss Gary Megson saw Ricardo Gardner score the only goal of the game at home to Newcastle, having earlier agreed a new contract at the Reebok.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two