Arsene Wenger has warned his Arsenal stars that they cannot afford to lose any more ground in the Premier League title race if they want to overhaul leaders Chelsea.
Wenger’s side have fallen nine points adrift of their London rivals after a spluttering start to the season.
Arsenal have won only three of their nine league games so far and, with Chelsea unlikely to slip up against lowly QPR, they must improve that disappointing total this weekend when they play at home to bottom of the table Burnley.
Against that unpromising backdrop, Gunners boss Wenger acknowledges it will take a huge effort to climb to the top of the table and secure the club’s first league title since 2004.
“I don’t write us off — let other people do that, but Chelsea are in a strong position at the moment,” Wenger said. “I believe it would not be realistic to just think now that we’ll catch Chelsea very quickly.”
“We have to get consistent results to have a chance of coming back,” he said. “I’m more focused on the quality of our games and on the consistency of our results before we think about coming back on Chelsea.”
Fixtures:
Saturday (3pm GMT unless otherwise stated): Arsenal v Burnley, Chelsea v Queens Park Rangers, Everton v Swansea City, Hull City v Southampton, Leicester City v West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United v Liverpool (12:45pm GMT), Stoke City v West Ham United.
Sunday: Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur (4pm GMT), Manchester City v Manchester United (1:30pm GMT).
Monday (8pm GMT): Crystal Palace v Sunderland.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care