All-too-familiar questions about courage, backbone and durability surround Arsenal ahead of their trip to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the English Premier League this weekend.
Arsenal’s 14-game unbeaten run had lain strong foundations for a determined tilt at the festive fixture list, only for Arsene Wenger’s men to come unstuck in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Everton.
Wenger was left to voice time-worn complaints about an opponent’s “physical” approach after his side shriveled amid the Goodison Park roar, but Petr Cech is desperate to show Arsenal are no pushovers.
“You have to pick yourself up,” the Arsenal goalkeeper told the club’s Web site. “There is a big period coming up now with the games coming thick and fast, and there is no time to dwell on the defeat. Sometimes I think it is best if after a big game you play another big game. You have opportunities to win. It’s a kind of a six-pointer. It’s probably a perfect game for us.”
Arsenal’s defeat, courtesy of an 86th-minute header by Everton centerback Ashley Williams, was their first in the league since a slapdash 4-3 loss at home to Liverpool on the season’s opening weekend.
Compounding their disappointment, they now trail leaders Chelsea by six points, while all of the teams around them — Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United — won their midweek matches.
If there is a consolation for Arsenal it is that City are by no means firing on all cylinders themselves.
Guardiola’s side went four home games without a victory in the league prior to Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat of Watford, and recently fell to damaging losses against Chelsea (3-1) and Leicester City (4-2).
In the absence of the suspended Sergio Aguero, Nolito started up front against Watford and the Spanish forward is anticipating an open encounter at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow.
“It will be a hard game, but I guess Arsenal will come and try to get the three points, as that is their philosophy of football,” Nolito said. “It is also ours, so we will have to see who gets the points.”
City will be without midfielder Ilkay Gundogan after he injured his knee against Watford, with reports in Germany on Thursday suggesting he could miss the whole season with ligament damage.
Chelsea secured a 10th straight victory by winning 1-0 at Sunderland and can register 11 successive league wins within the same season for the first time if they win at Crystal Palace today.
Antonio Conte’s side are guaranteed to top the table on Christmas Day, but his players remain on high alert for signs of complacency.
“I know more than anyone, football goes week by week, month by month,” centerback Gary Cahill told Chelsea TV.
“We want to keep this going and continue the good spirit that’s in our camp at the minute. That’s the most important thing for us,” he said.
Liverpool stole past Arsenal into second place courtesy of a 3-0 win at Middlesbrough and now face the London club’s conquerors, Everton, in a Monday night Merseyside derby.
Adam Lallana, who scored twice at the Riverside Stadium, said Liverpool’s display was “not too far off the complete performance,” but revealed manager Juergen Klopp was not fully satisfied.
“The manager has already quickly said to us that there are things we can improve on,” Lallana said. “At times we can maybe get a little bit carried away and all of us maybe want to attack at times when we need to protect a bit more.”
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
RSS