Arsenal strikeforce is my best ever, says Arsene Wenger January 25, 2015 Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes his current repertoire of attacking players is his deadliest yet after the FA Cup holders swaggered into round five and assumed the status of favourites. Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil both scored their first goals since lengthy injury absences, while evergreen playmaker Tomas Rosicky crowned a man-of-the-match display with a [...]
Football Comment: Blues stars unprofessional and City disrespected cup January 25, 2015 I DON’T blame Jose Mourinho or Manuel Pellegrini for their teams’ shock FA Cup defeats to lower-league opponents on Saturday; I believe the fault is with the Chelsea and Manchester City players, who have let their managers down. Mourinho’s pre-match remarks about the disgrace of losing to inferior sides show that he would have prepared [...]
Farrell and Eastmond join England injury list January 25, 2015 SARACENS fly-half Owen Farrell and Bath centre Kyle Eastmond joined England’s lengthening list of Six Nations injury worries as their clubs progressed to the European Rugby Champions Cup quarter-finals yesterday. Farrell was withdrawn with a knee injury during Sarries’ 18-6 defeat at Clermont Auvergne, while Eastmond damaged his shoulder in a decisive 20-15 victory over [...]
Diafra Sakho returns to save below-par West Ham January 25, 2015 WEST Ham manager Sam Allardyce hailed top scorer Diafra Sakho after the striker returned from injury to head the Hammers into the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in four years. Sakho showed few signs of the back problem that controversially precluded him from joining Senegal’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations [...]
Murray stays up late to maintain grand slam run January 25, 2015 RELIEVED Andy Murray admitted he had been lucky after beating 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov at the Australian Open to reach a 16th consecutive grand slam quarter-finals. Murray finally saw off Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-5 in a fluctuating match that lasted three and a half hours and finished after midnight in Melbourne yesterday. The [...]
Jose Mourinho defends Chelsea preparations and downplays knock-on effect January 25, 2015 CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho has issued a robust defence of his approach to the FA Cup after his decision to field a much-changed team against Bradford backfired spectacularly on Saturday. The Blues suffered one of the biggest shocks in the competition’s storied history when they crashed out 4-2 at home to the League One side, [...]
Michael Carberry ends Kevin Pietersen’s Big Bash final hopes January 25, 2015 FORMER England batsman Michael Carberry’s rapid half-century helped Perth Scorchers beat one-time team-mate Kevin Pietersen’s Melbourne Stars to reach the Big Bash final in Australia yesterday. Carberry hit 50 off 36 balls as Perth racked up 144-7 – enough for an 18-run victory as Melbourne were dismissed for 126 despite Pietersen and compatriot Luke Wright [...]
Art review: Rubens and his Legacy at the Royal Academy January 23, 2015 Royal Academy | ★★★☆☆ How do you celebrate an artist when you only have access to a meagre handful of his best works? You curate an exhibition dedicated to his “legacy” and fill it with the works of every great, good and terrible artist ever to have had a passing thought about said artist. [...]
Film review: Beyond Clueless explores a golden age of teen movies January 23, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★☆ Fairuza Balk’s sultry croak guides us on a hypnotic journey through the teen movie genre in Charlie Lyne’s debut feature Beyond Clueless. Lyne skilfully marries heartfelt affection and academic distance in his cine-essay comprised of hundreds of clips taken from films released during one of the great golden ages of the [...]
Theatre review: Bull at the Young Vic January 23, 2015 Young Vic | ★★★☆☆ Mike Bartlett’s one act play, Bull, gives us a Hobbesian view of office-life with backstabbing and conniving aplenty. And at a scant 55 minutes, it’s “nasty, brutish and short”. Tony, Isobel, and Thomas, are a trio of grasping would-be Apprentice-types, awaiting the arrival of their boss, Carter, who will decide [...]