Leicester City on Sunday pushed Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou closer to the exit door with a 2-1 win that extended Spurs’ dismal run, while Aston Villa’s hopes of UEFA Champions League qualification for a second consecutive season were dented by an understrength West Ham United.
Tottenham blew the lead on home turf as they crumbled to a sixth defeat in their past seven league games.
With only one win in their past 11 top-flight matches, Postecoglou’s side are languishing in 15th place, just eight points above the bottom three.
Photo: Reuters
It was another woeful result for the beleaguered Australian, who has faced mounting calls for his dismissal throughout a turbulent second season in charge.
Spurs are dangerously close to being sucked into the relegation battle, but Postecoglou believes his injury-ravaged squad are still fighting for him.
“When you are the manager of a football club, you can be very vulnerable and isolated. I don’t feel that,” Postecoglou said. “I feel like this group of players, not for me, are giving everything for the club. I have a group of staff that is really committed. I focus on that.”
Richarlison had headed the hosts in front, but two goals in four minutes at the start of the second half from Jamie Vardy and Bilal El Khannouss ended Leicester’s seven-game losing streak in the league.
While Postecoglou fights to save his job, Leicester head coach Ruud van Nistelrooy can breathe a little easier over his own future.
Leicester are now one place and one point above the relegation zone.
“It’s a massive win,” Van Nistelrooy said.
In Birmingham, West Ham battled back to earn a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa.
Jacob Ramsey’s strike was just reward for a fast start by Unai Emery’s side.
Graham Potter was forced to name four fullbacks in his starting lineup for the injury-hit Irons, who were without captain Jarrod Bowen.
However, the visitors rallied in the second half and were unfortunate not to take all three points after Emerson Palmieri’s header leveled.
Lucas Paqueta thought he had won the game in stoppage-time, but Tomas Soucek had strayed offside before teeing up the Brazilian to quell Potter’s jubilant celebration on the touchline.
Villa remain in eighth, four points off the top four, while West Ham are 14th.
Brentford benefited from penalty controversy to beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Selhurst Park.
Thomas Frank’s team earned a 66th-minute spot-kick when Maxence Lacroix fouled Nathan Collins.
Bryan Mbeumo’s spot-kick hit the post, but Palace’s reprieve was short-lived as the video assistant referee ruled that Marc Guehi had encroached before the shot.
The Brentford forward gratefully accepted his second chance by sending Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson the wrong way for his 14th goal of the season.
Kevin Schade netted in the 80th minute for Brentford, before Palace winger Romain Esse came off the bench to score with his first touch on his debut five minutes later.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS