Premier League: Pardew admits fearing for his job before last-minute winner February 23, 2014 NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 vs ASTON VILLA 0 RELIEVED Newcastle boss Alan Pardew admitted to fearing for his job until striker Loic Remy marked his return to the side with a 90th-minute winner against Aston Villa yesterday. Victory eased the pressure on Pardew, whose job had come under increasing scrutiny following a run of four home [...]
Premier League: Rodgers: I don’t want us to grind out boring wins February 23, 2014 LIVERPOOL 4 vs SWANSEA CITY 3 LIVERPOOL manager Brendan Rodgers insists he will stick with his swashbuckling approach to football, despite coming close to dropping points during yesterday’s seven-goal thriller at Anfield. A set of braces from Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson mean Liverpool are the top scorers in the Premier League, yet the Reds [...]
Magath: We’ll beat the drop February 20, 2014 NEW Fulham manager Felix Magath is “sure” his team will avoid Premier League relegation this term and has targeted six wins from their final 12 games to achieve that goal. The Cottagers are bottom of the table and four points adrift of safety ahead of tomorrow’s trip to 17th-placed West Brom. A run of five [...]
Old rivals are set for Twickenham thriller February 20, 2014 HARRY MADLEY AND BEN CLEMINSON PREVIEW THE WEEKEND’S SIX NATIONS AND PREMIER LEAGUE ACTION THE LAST time England played at Twickenham was back in November when World Cup winners New Zealand narrowly beat them. Returning to their home patch for the first time since that agonising 30-22 defeat, captain Chris Robshaw will demand that they [...]
Back Spurs to cut the mustard against nose-diving Norwich February 20, 2014 PLUNDERING points from former employers is this weekend’s aim for Tim Sherwood and Chris Hughton. Neither manager can enjoy long-term job security, but Sherwood at least knows his immediate future is at Tottenham as he returns to Carrow Road, having represented Norwich close to 100 times as a player. Spurs have won seven of 10 [...]
Scorelines didn’t do justice to Bayern and Barca’s dominance against Arsenal and Man City, but these charts do February 20, 2014 English clubs came off a resounding second best in the Champions League this week, even if the 2-0 defeats suffered by the 10 men of Arsenal and Manchester City barely did justice to the dominance of Bayern Munich and Barcelona. But where the scoreline, and the shooting boots of Mario Mandzukic, failed, these passing [...]
Football Comment: English teams are too tired to cut it in Europe February 19, 2014 WHEN Arsene Wenger woke up this morning I hope he was thinking about the Premier League rather than the Champions League. Because it’s time for him to change his priorities this season. Arsenal are not going to come back and win in Munich. For a team who has spent so much of this season at [...]
Robben backs Arsenal to end wait for trophy February 18, 2014 BAYERN Munich winger Arjen Robben believes Arsenal are sufficiently equipped to finally end their nine-year trophy drought this season. Arsenal host Bayern at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg of their last-16 clash and are also fighting for the Premier League title as well as the FA Cup, having reached the quarter-finals at the [...]
City only team in Manchester, says Pellegrini February 17, 2014 MANCHESTER City manager Manuel Pellegrini has dismissed rivals Manchester United as a realistic threat, claiming his team have become the only club in the city. Barcelona, dubbed “the most important club in the world” by Pellegrini, visit the Etihad Stadium tonight in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash, as City’s bid to [...]
FA Cup: Mourinho is embarrassing for Chelsea, says Wenger February 16, 2014 AT EMIRATES STADIUM ARSENAL 2 vs LIVERPOOL 1 ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger last night labelled the recent jibes fired his way by Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho as “silly” and “disrespectful”, after watching the Gunners battle their way into the FA Cup quarter-finals. Goals either side of half-time from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski proved enough [...]