Arsenal kept their noses in front of Everton in the race for the fourth and final UEFA Champions League qualifying berth with a comfortable 3-0 win at future FA Cup final opponents Hull City in the English Premier League on Sunday.
The Gunners welcomed Mesut Ozil back from a hamstring injury and he played a part in the 31st-minute move that led to Aaron Ramsey drilling the visitors in front.
In response, Hull midfielder Jake Livermore drove a low shot against the post, only for Lukas Podolski to emphatically volley home Arsenal’s second goal just before halftime from Ramsey’s chested layoff.
Photo: AFP
Podolski claimed his second goal in the 54th minute, tucking away the rebound after Hull goalkeeper Allan McGregor had blocked from the irrepressible Ramsey.
“We kept a clean sheet and we scored three goals, and overall I believe the performance was good,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.
“It’s in our hands. Do we win our games? So let’s just focus to win the games. We have a great desire to do it and I think we can, but it’s down to the quality of the performance in every game,” Wenger said.
The victory provisionally put Arsenal four points clear of fifth-placed Everton, but Roberto Martinez’s side trimmed their lead back to a point with a clinical 2-0 defeat of Manchester United.
It was United manager David Moyes’ first visit to Goodison Park since he left to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson last year and it was to prove a chastening one, as his side fell to their 11th defeat of a dismal campaign.
Leighton Baines, a one-time United transfer target, put Everton ahead from the penalty spot in the 28th minute after Phil Jones had blocked a shot with his hand and Kevin Mirallas added a second goal shortly before halftime.
“What I was pleased with was that the team showed a real focus in wanting to win the game,” Martinez said.
“We were very fresh. The squad is ready and that’s pleasing,” the Spaniard said.
Defeat for United means that last season’s champions can no longer qualify for the Champions League, after 18 successive seasons in the competition.
Asked if it hurt, Moyes told a TV reporter: “It does, because it’s part of this club and we want to be in it. We’ll do everything we can to get ourselves back in it as quickly as we can.”
INFIELD DUO: Cheng Tsung-che has a long road ahead to match Lee Hao-yu’s MLB hitting records, while a dispute over a salary cap plan might postpone the schedule Cheng Tsung-che of Taiwan has been traded to the Detroit Tigers, raising the possibility of an all-Taiwanese middle-infield pairing in next year’s MLB season, although a player strike is threatening to disrupt the calendar. The Boston Red Sox traded Cheng to Detroit on Thursday, a transaction log on the MLB Web site showed. The Red Sox received cash considerations in return, US media reported. Cheng would join infielder Lee Hao-yu of Taiwan on the Tigers roster, but while Lee established himself as a legitimate major league hitter this year, Cheng still has to prove himself. The 25-year-old made his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh
CD Tenerife striker Jesus de Miguel yesterday died as a result of injuries he sustained in a sickening collision with FC Andorra’s goalkeeper in a Spanish second division match. “Broken with pain, with a lump in our throat and unable to believe this is real, CD Tenerife announces the tragic death, at 8am, of Jesus de Miguel Alameda,” his club said in a statement. “No words can ease the pain, nothing can lessen this great feeling of sadness. Our thoughts are with the family, his close friends and Tenerife fans, who today are grieving over this terrible news.” De Miguel,
Irish middle-distance runner Ciara Mageean, who won European gold and competed at two Olympic Games, has died aged 34, her family announced on Sunday. “At 6:30am this morning, Ciara lost her battle with cancer surrounded by her loved ones,” said a statement posted on the athlete’s Instagram account. Mageean’s death comes just weeks after she married her long-term boyfriend in Belfast. She had been receiving treatment for bowel cancer, revealing her diagnosis in July last year and subsequently disclosing that the disease was at an advanced stage. Originally from Portaferry in County Down, Northern Ireland, Mageean established herself as one
Gael Monfils on Tuesday turned his tennis farewell into a message for his young daughter, Skai, telling her he hoped she would one day play in Paris as he thanked fans in the French capital for making his 22-year career a dream come true. The flamboyant Frenchman, who had planned to end his career this year with a final bow at this week’s Paris Masters, instead retired quietly last month amid the end of his marriage with fellow player Elina Svitolina. Paris gave Monfils a send-off to remember, with fellow French favorites Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon, Richard Gasquet and Benoit Paire joining
RSS