Petr Cech’s howler on Tuesday rocked Arsenal as they crashed to a shock 3-1 defeat at Swansea City, while Liverpool cruised to victory over Huddersfield Town.
Arsenal goalkeeper Cech’s miscued attempt to clear allowed Jordan Ayew to slot home Swansea’s second goal at the Liberty Stadium.
It was the killer blow for Arsenal, who had already seen Sam Clucas equalize just one minute after Nacho Monreal put the visitors ahead from Mesut Ozil’s pass in the 33rd minute.
Clucas claimed his second four minutes from time to finish off Arsenal, who have now won just once in their past five league games.
The result leaves Gunners manager Arsene Wenger still searching for his first away win of this year, despite a second-half debut for substitute Henrikh Mkhitaryan following his move from Manchester United.
The Gunners are in sixth place, trailing eight points behind fourth-placed Liverpool in the race to qualify for the UEFA Champions League via a top-four finish.
The arrival of Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, set to sign on the transfer deadline yesterday, cannot come soon enough for Wenger.
“We will know more about that tomorrow morning,” Wenger said of the Aubameyang move.
The result also completes remarkable back-to-back victories for Swansea over Liverpool and now Arsenal.
They are out of the relegation zone and have transformed their season with three wins in five league games under new boss Carlos Carvalhal.
At John Smith’s Stadium, Liverpool got back on track in emphatic fashion thanks to goals from Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah in a 3-0 win.
The Reds had endured frustrating defeats against Swansea in the league and West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup.
However, Juergen Klopp’s men dominated possession throught the match, and from the moment Emre Can rocketed home a long-range opener in the 26th minute, the result was never in doubt.
Firmino extended Liverpool’s lead on the stroke of halftime when he somehow squeezed the ball home from the byline after being played in by a clever Sadio Mane back-heel.
Klopp had left Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk on the bench, but the absence of the club-record signing was hardly noticed as the Reds continued in cruise control.
Salah completed the scoring from the penalty spot in the 78th minute after Can was tripped up in the box.
A Mark Noble penalty helped West Ham shrug off the disappointment of their embarrassing FA Cup fourth-round defeat at Wigan Athletic with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace.
Roy Hodgson’s much-improved Eagles grabbed the lead in the 24th minute when Christian Benteke rose to steer an Andros Townsend cross home from close range.
However, the Hammers were level just before the break after Javier Hernandez was brought down by James Tomkins in the box.
Hernandez came closest to a winner when his 51st-minute effort was brilliantly saved by Wayne Hennessey.
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