Stung by a last-minute defeat in the UEFA Champions League, Manchester City will attempt to make up ground in the Premier League title race when they host leaders Chelsea tomorrow.
A 90th-minute strike by former player Jerome Boateng condemned City to a 1-0 loss at Bayern Munich on Wednesday and left Manuel Pellegrini’s side without a victory in three matches.
Chelsea can open up an eight-point lead over the champions if they pull off a repeat of their 1-0 win at the Etihad Stadium in February and City midfielder Fernandinho says it is a game that his side must win.
Photo: AFP
“That is not easy for a big team such as City [to lose against Bayern], but the best way to recover our confidence and our best qualities is to win the next game,” the Brazilian said. “Already we think about the Chelsea game. We have to win this game because we have had a [2-2] draw against Arsenal and a [1-0] loss at home to Stoke [City]. We have to recover points to think about the top of the table.”
Chelsea are gunning for a fifth consecutive league victory, but their momentum took a blow in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at home to Schalke 04.
A breakaway goal by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar earned the German side a point after Cesc Fabregas had put the hosts ahead and Chelsea captain John Terry has urged his team to cut out the defensive errors that have seen them concede six goals in their first four league outings.
“The first four league games, we’ve been killing teams off. We didn’t do it [against Schalke], but it was disappointing to concede the way we did, from a counterattack from our own corner,” Terry told the club’s Web site. “It was our corner, we were attacking and we got caught on the break. It shouldn’t happen. It’s the second time already this season it’s happened.”
City will restore Sergio Aguero to their starting XI and seven-goal top scorer Diego Costa will return for Chelsea after the two players started their respective sides’ Champions League openers on the bench.
Arsenal also endured punishment at German hands in the Champions League, losing 2-0 at Borussia Dortmund, and have drawn their past three games in the league.
Today, Arsene Wenger’s side visit Aston Villa, who climbed to second place in the league table with an impressive 1-0 victory at Liverpool in their last game.
Liverpool survived a scare in the Champions League, winning 2-1 at home to Bulgarian newcomers Ludogorets Razgrad thanks to a 93rd-minute penalty by captain Steven Gerrard.
With Daniel Sturridge sidelined by injury, Liverpool have been laboring in front of goal, but ahead of today’s trip to West Ham United manager Brendan Rodgers has urged their fans to show patience.
“I remember this time last year I was asked if we were going to score enough goals and we ended up with 101 [league] goals,” Rodgers told a press conference on Thursday. “We’ve had to bring in a lot of new players because of the demands of the Champions League, so that naturally takes time and we’ve got players adapting to a new country.”
Having seen their side crush Queens Park Rangers 4-0 last weekend, Manchester United’s supporters will hope their team confirm their return to form at promoted Leicester City tomorrow.
Manager Louis van Gaal must decide whether to hand a first start to new signing Radamel Falcao, who came off the bench in the latter stages of the victory over QPR.
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has rather less pleasant quandaries to ponder after his team slithered to the foot of the table following last weekend’s 4-0 loss at Southampton.
Pardew spoke to owner Mike Ashley after Newcastle fans unfurled a “Pardew Out” banner at St Mary’s and he has called on his team to produce an improved display at home against Hull City today.
“The one thing that we both agreed on was that we really need to focus on this Saturday, and try and get a win for the football club,” Pardew said.
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
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
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
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later