Arsenal on Sunday beat Manchester City 5-1 to keep their English Premier League title hopes alive, while Manchester United slumped to another meek 2-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace.
In the battle between the top two for the past two seasons, the Gunners prevailed to move within six points of leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.
“It is a great day for us, especially with the necessity that we had to win the game,” Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta said.
Photo: Reuters
Arsenal were gifted the perfect start inside two minutes as Manuel Akanji lost possession and Kai Havertz squared for Martin Odegaard to open the scoring.
Erling Haaland headed in his 250th career club goal early in the second half to bring City level, but the defending champions are a pale shadow of their former selves this season and conceded within 105 seconds of the restart when Thomas Partey’s shot deflected in off John Stones.
“It’s happened all season, we are giving away too many things,” City head coach Pep Guardiola said. “You cannot lose the control, it’s 95 minutes. You cannot finish in the way we played.”
Myles Lewis-Skelly would have been suspended if his controversial red card in a 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers the previous weekend had not been overturned.
The 18-year-old made the most of that reprieve by curling in Arsenal’s third for his first goal for the club.
Havertz fired low and hard into the far corner with City cut open at will by the Arsenal counterattack on 76 minutes, and another Arsenal teenager rounded off the rout when Ethan Nwaneri curled home in stoppage-time.
The defeat left City still in fourth, but now 15 points off the top and realistically dethroned after four consecutive seasons as champions.
Jean-Philippe Mateta was Palace’s hero with both goals in the second half as Manchester United suffered a fifth defeat in their past six home league games.
The win took the Eagles above the Red Devils in the table as Oliver Glasner’s side climbed to 12th.
Three consecutive wins for United had lifted the mood around Old Trafford, but it was back to square one for Ruben Amorim after another home display lacking in creativity and riddled with defensive lapses.
Kobbie Mainoo, who started as a makeshift centerforward, hit the post with United’s best effort of a bright opening before their attacking threat fizzled out.
Mateta opened the scoring on 64 minutes after Maxence Lacroix’s header came back off the bar.
Worse was to follow for United as Lisandro Martinez had to be stretchered off with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.
“I think it’s a serious situation,” Amorim said. “Licha is really important for us, not just as a football player, but the character he has, especially in this hard moment.”
Palace showed no mercy to secure the three points when Daniel Munoz charged through the middle of the home side’s defense and unselfishly squared for Mateta to knock in his sixth goal in five games.
Tottenham Hotspur eased the pressure on under-fire head coach Ange Postecoglou and fears that they could be dragged into a relegation battle with a 2-0 victory at Brentford.
The Bees were left to rue a number of missed chances against an injury-ravaged Spurs defense.
Brentford also lent the visitors a helping hand with the opening goal as Vitaly Janelt headed Son Heung-min’s corner into his own net on 29 minutes.
Yoane Wissa’s header came off the bar as Brentford pushed for an equalizer, but Spurs picked them off on the counterattack when Pape Sarr prodded through goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson’s legs from Son’s pass.
The victory lifted Tottenham to 14th and 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
SPEEDSKATER: Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s run at the Asian Winter Games without a medal since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990 Speedskater Chen Ying-chu yesterday made history as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games. Competing at the HIC Speedskating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 10.510 seconds in the women’s 100m event, finishing third behind South Koreans Lee Na-hyum and Kim Min-sun, who posted times of 10.501 and 10.505 seconds respectively. Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s drought at the Asian Winter Games since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990. This year’s Games mark Chen’s debut at the event. Previously excelling in roller speedskating, she won six medals at world championships before transitioning
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Australia yesterday won two of four races on the first day of the SailGP Sydney event on Sydney Harbour to finish the day atop the points table ahead of Britain and a French team who made an outstanding return after missing the first two events of the season. Australia also had a third and a second placing, finishing the day with 37 points, ahead of Britain with 32 points and France with 27. Britain won the second race of the day and Switzerland, who won the first race, were in fourth place overall. Australia’s prowess in the start box was again the