Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has spent the majority of the season in apparent crisis, while Pep Guardiola this week spoke of his confidence that Manchester City would win an unprecedented fourth Premier League title in a row.
However, just three points now separate the rivals after United beat Chelsea 2-1 and the defending champions lost 1-0 against Aston Villa on Wednesday to extend their winless run in the league to four games.
“We are on a journey. We keep calm... We are going in the right direction,” Ten Hag said after he put a difficult few days behind him with a morale-boosting win.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Dutch coach had gone into the game on the back of a 10th defeat of the season against Newcastle United over the weekend and reports of player unrest in the locker room.
We “don’t get distracted from criticism around us, but we are very critical of ourselves,” he said. “We know we are not satisfied and happy. We always want to do things better.”
Two goals from Scott McTominay secured the win and moved Manchester United up to sixth — three points off fourth-placed Manchester City.
Guardiola faces tough questions as he was left to assess a winless run that saw Manchester City overtaken by Aston Villa.
“In these years we have found a way to win games, but we struggled a bit and we have to find a way,” Guardiola said. “It is my job to find a solution. The dynamic changes by winning games.”
Elsewhere, Liverpool won 2-0 against Sheffield United, Fulham routed Nottingham Forest 5-0, AFC Bournemouth beat Crystal Palace 2-0 and Brighton & Hove Albion downed Brentford 2-1.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
RSS