Manchester United’s dismal season lurched into crisis on Saturday after a 1-0 loss at home to Newcastle United condemned the champions to their fifth defeat of the campaign.
Yohan Cabaye’s goal just after the hour gave Newcastle their first victory at Old Trafford since 1972 and consigned United to back-to-back home defeats in the league for the first time since May 2002.
Having lost 1-0 to Everton on Wednesday, United have now lost as many games as they did in the whole of last season’s title-winning campaign and David Moyes’ side could fall 15 points behind leaders Arsenal before the weekend is out.
Photo: Reuters
However, the United manager refused to admit defeat in his side’s title defense, telling BT Sport: “I stand firm that we’ll be very close to it and I hope we’re in and around it when it comes to the end of the season.”
United restored Robin van Persie to their starting XI following a four-game absence with a groin strain, but the closest they came to scoring was a Patrice Evra header that hit the post early in the second half.
Newcastle hit the champions with a sucker-punch in the 61st minute, with Moussa Sissoko galloping down the right flank after winning a duel with Evra, before cutting the ball back for Cabaye to sweep home.
United remain rooted in ninth place in the table, 12 points below Arsenal, while Newcastle are now only three points off the Champions League positions in seventh.
United’s misery was tempered slightly after Manchester City and Chelsea dropped points, but it means Arsenal could stretch their lead to seven points if they won at home to Everton yesterday.
Chelsea slipped to third place after on-loan Liverpool winger Oussama Assaidi scored a fine last-minute winner to earn Stoke City a 3-2 victory at the Britannia Stadium.
Jose Mourinho’s side were on course for a point after Andre Schurrle claimed a brace either side of goals from Peter Crouch and Stephen Ireland, only for Assaidi to cut in from the left and dispatch a glorious decisive strike at the death.
City fell one place to fourth, five points behind Arsenal, after drawing 1-1 at Southampton.
Sergio Aguero gave City a 10th-minute lead by dispatching a low cross from Aleksandar Kolarov, but Dani Osvaldo produced a stylish equalizer before the interval, slipping past Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta before curling home.
Liverpool capitalized on Chelsea and City’s slip-ups to steal into second place above Chelsea on goal-difference by winning 4-1 at home to West Ham United in a game that saw three own-goals.
A Guy Demel own-goal put the hosts in front in the 42nd minute and they stretched their lead early in the second half through Mamadou Sakho, before Liverpool centerback Martin Skrtel put through his own-goal.
Luis Suarez headed in his 14th of the season in the 81st minute, with a Joey O’Brien own-goal completing the scoring after West Ham captain Kevin Nolan had been sent off for an ugly foul on Jordan Henderson.
Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to win for the second time this week in a 2-1 victory at bottom club Sunderland that lifted Andre Villas-Boas’ side up to sixth.
Spurs prevailed through a close-range Paulinho strike and a John O’Shea own-goal at the Stadium of Light after Adam Johnson had exploited a Hugo Lloris error to put Sunderland ahead.
Goals from Cameron Jerome and Marouane Chamakh saw third-bottom Crystal Palace close to the brink of safety with a 2-0 success at home to Cardiff City, while Gary Hooper and Leroy Fer scored to give Norwich City a 2-0 win at West Bromwich Albion.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB