Manchester United and Aston Villa paid a heavy price for having men sent off on in the English Premier League on Sunday, with United losing a tight derby to Manchester City and Villa surrendering a lead in a defeat by Tottenham Hotspur.
Sergio Aguero condemned United manager Louis van Gaal to a 1-0 defeat in his first Manchester derby after defender Chris Smalling saw red for the visitors before halftime.
Villa scored a first goal in six games to take the lead at home to Tottenham, but then had Belgian striker Christian Benteke dismissed for a moment’s indiscipline and conceded two late goals to go down 2-1.
Photo: AFP
The Manchester clubs’ 151st league meeting was decided by a goal from Argentina’s Aguero in the 63rd minute.
With Rafael da Silva missing the game, Smalling sent off and then Marcos Rojo forced off in the second half with a shoulder injury, a makeshift United defense comprising Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick and teenagers Paddy McNair and Luke Shaw came under increasing pressure.
The surprise was that City were pushed back and suddenly looked edgy once they had scored.
In the end, champions City were pleased to hang on for a fourth successive league win over their neighbors — the first time that has happened since 1970.
The other depressing historical note for Van Gaal was that he has now presided over United’s worst start to a season since 1986-1987, when Ron Atkinson was sacked and Alex Ferguson appointed.
Smalling picked up a foolish yellow card for raising his foot in attempting to block a clearance by City goalkeeper Joe Hart, then seven minutes before halftime he clearly fouled James Milner and was dismissed.
“I didn’t see the first yellow, but as a player if you know you have a yellow card you have to deal with that problem,” Van Gaal said. “I don’t think he dealt with it very smartly.”
United, who brought on Carrick for his first appearance of the season after a long injury, could have conceded two penalties before the interval, but referee Michael Oliver gave them the benefit of the doubt as City appealed for apparent fouls against Aguero and Yaya Toure.
The visitors were then forced into another defensive change when Rojo dislocated his shoulder and was replaced by 19-year-old Northern Irish centerback McNair.
Ten minutes later Toure’s pass sent Gael Clichy to the byline and he cut the ball back for Aguero to hook in his 10th league goal of the season.
United pushed forward and finally threatened with chances for Robin van Persie, Angel di Maria and Marouane Fellaini.
City were relieved to hear the final whistle.
“You miss a couple of chances and seem to lose a little control,” City captain Vincent Kompany told Sky Sports. “They played well towards the end, but we stayed strong for a clean sheet.”
Wayne Rooney, back in the United side after suspension, added: “Our pace caused them problems and they were panicking towards the end.”
While City are not firing on all cylinders, manager Manuel Pellegrini believes they can easily make up a six-point deficit on leaders Chelsea, just as they did to Arsenal a year ago.
“We have 28 more games to play, so nobody knows what will happen,” Pellegrini said.
Villa boss Paul Lambert was upset with the decision to send off Benteke — a major turning point in the match — after a melee involving Tottenham’s Ryan Mason.
“I’m not condoning what Christian did, as you can’t raise your hands, but he was provoked as well,” Lambert told Sky Sports.
Villa scored for the first time since Sept. 13 through Austrian Andreas Weimann in the 15th minute.
Fortunes changed after Benteke was dismissed. In the last 10 minutes Nacer Chadli equalized and just before stoppage-time substitute Harry Kane, who had replaced Emmanuel Adebayor, drove in a free-kick that was deflected in off Nathan Baker.
It was Kane’s first league goal of the season, to add to eight in the UEFA Europa League and League Cup.
HEATED RIVALRY: The pair had met 14 times previously, with Sabalenka winning eight of the encounters and entering the final as the favorite to take the title Elena Rybakina took revenge over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win a nail-biting Australian Open final yesterday and clinch her second Grand Slam title. The big-serving Kazakh fifth seed held her nerve to pull through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne in 2 hours, 18 minutes. It was payback after the Belarusian Sabalenka won the 2023 final between two of the hardest hitters in women’s tennis. The ice-cool Rybakina, 26, who was born in Moscow, adds her Melbourne triumph to her Wimbledon win in 2022. It was more disappointment in a major final for Sabalenka, who won the US Open
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
Denver superstar Nikola Jokic returned from a 16-game injury absence to post a 31-point, 12-rebound double-double on Friday and propel the Nuggets to a 122-109 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic had not played since suffering a bone bruise in the left knee he hyperextended in a game against Miami on Dec. 29 last year. The Serbian big man did not miss a beat. He led all scorers, connecting on eight of 11 shots from the field, and also handed out five assists with three steals while playing just 24 minutes, 32 seconds as the
DEADLINE DAY: Rennes’ Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off the move due to the Blues’ bloated squad Liverpool on Monday won the race to sign Stade Rennais defender Jeremy Jacquet on the quiet final day of the English Premier League transfer window, while Crystal Palace swooped for Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Jorgen Strand Larsen despite the collapse of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s move to AC Milan. The Reds agreed a reported fee of up to ￡60 million (US$82 million) for the highly rated Jacquet. However, the 20-year-old will not join the Premier League champions until the summer despite Liverpool’s need for defensive reinforcements. Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off
RSS