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Arsenal 3 – 1 West Ham United

Arsenal 3 – 1 West Ham United. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says club great Arsene Wenger “picked the right moment” to go back to Emirates Stadium as he saw them underline their title credentials.

Arteta’s young team produced a second-half fightback to beat West Ham and move seven points clear at the top of the Premier League, which was resuming after the World Cup.

Wenger, who was the last Arsenal manager to win the title, made his first return since stepping down in 2018.

“His presence is something that has to be very, very attached to this football club so thanks [to him] for doing that because it means a lot for everybody at the club,” said Arteta.

“Hopefully he is willing to spend more time with us and be around us because he is such an influence.”

West Ham took the lead against the run of play when Jarrod Bowen was judged to have been clipped in the box by William Saliba, allowing Said Benrahma to smash a confident penalty down the middle.

There was a mood of frustration among the home fans until Bukayo Saka converted from close range after collecting Martin Odegaard’s mis-hit shot.

The equaliser gave added impetus to the Gunners and another home goal looked increasingly likely.

Five minutes later, it duly arrived. Gabriel Martinelli put the hosts ahead, catching out West Ham’s former Gunners keeper Lukasz Fabianski by tucking inside the near post from a tight angle when he seemed more likely to cross.

The points were sealed when Eddie Nketiah – starting in place of the injured Gabriel Jesus – spun sharply in the box before firing into the opposite bottom corner.

Arsenal extended their lead at the top over Newcastle, who moved second by beating Leicester earlier on Monday.

Reigning champions Manchester City – who go to Leeds United on Wednesday – are now eight points behind the Gunners.

West Ham are 16th and just a point above the relegation zone after their fourth league defeat in a row.

Arsenal fans are starting to believe Arteta’s side can genuinely maintain their push for the club’s first title since Wenger’s Invincibles in 2004.

And as Wenger watched and heard his name lovingly sang by the home crowd, Arteta’s young team added further encouragement to those dreaming of a long-awaited triumph.

“It is a really special day because Boxing Day is a beautiful day to play football and I thought the performance was at the level today that we deserve,” said Arteta.

“Hopefully he [Wenger] will like it.”

The match came on the third anniversary of Arteta’s first game as Arsenal manager, and significant progress has been made since then.

When the former Gunners midfielder took over, they were closer to the relegation zone than the top four.

Their current position – and mood around the club – is a measure of how they have come.

The Spaniard has built a new team in the past three years which bears little resemblance – in style and substance – to the one picked for his first game at Bournemouth in 2019.

Arteta will not be getting carried after this win over West Ham, especially with several significant fixtures – not least against Manchester City on 15 February – on the horizon.

But the Gunners sent a message with a clinical second-half performance and the omens are also in their favour.

The team who topped the Premier League table on Christmas Day have gone on to be champions in 10 of the past 13 seasons.

One of the key questions as the Premier League returned was how the Gunners would cope without key striker Jesus.

The Brazil international had knee surgery after being injured in Qatar and is expected to be out until late February, fuelling talk the Gunners might need to sign some cover.

But against West Ham, a first Premier League start of the season was handed to Nketiah – and the 23-year-old delivered.

After stretching the Hammers defence and creating space with his sharp movement, he capped an impressive all-round performance with a fierce finish and staked his claim to be Jesus’ replacement.

“Gabby will be a big miss but we all believe in Eddie,” Saka told Amazon Prime. “That’s all he needs, us to keep supporting him and we will keep encouraging him.

“Everyone in the team is chipping in [with goals] and everyone will be important.”

In contrast to the leaders, West Ham are struggling in front of goal.

They have been better than their league position suggests, according to their expected goals statistics, with converting chances being their main problem.

Few opportunities came against Arsenal, although the game might have panned out differently had Michail Antonio not been denied by Aaron Ramsdale shortly after the restart at 1-0.

Hammers manager David Moyes said before the match he has not been feeling pressure because of results, instead urging for perspective and togetherness across the club.

But a fourth straight league defeat leaves West Ham as one of the cluster of teams packed tightly together in the bottom half.

“I don’t think we’re in a relegation fight. Every team has a blip when it isn’t plain sailing and results don’t go your way,” said midfielder Declan Rice.

“It’s down to me as captain to keep everyone going and pushing. We still believe we are a top team. But we need to start showing that. It’s down to us.”

source – BBC Sport

26/12/2022
Aston Villa 1 – 3 Liverpool

Liverpool made a winning return to Premier League action as they restarted their bid to force their way into the top four with an entertaining victory over Aston Villa.

Goals from Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and teenager Stefan Bajcetic ensured the Reds recorded a third successive league win for the first time this season and reduced the gap to the Champions League places to five points.

While Liverpool’s first fixture after the World Cup break resulted in a Carabao Cup fourth-round defeat by Manchester City on Thursday, Salah’s fifth-minute opener – created by a couple of sublime passes from full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson – gave them the perfect start on their league return.

Darwin Nunez’s wastefulness prevented the visitors from extending their lead but they were able to add a second before half-time when Van Dijk’s shot deflected in off Ezri Konsa following a corner.

Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey had both squandered a couple of fine opportunities for Villa in an exciting first half but Unai Emery’s side were rewarded for their persistence after the restart when Watkins headed in Douglas Luiz’s cross.

However, Spanish 18-year-old Bajcetic’s first senior goal two minutes after coming on as a substitute, which followed great work by Nunez to sprint for a ball over the top, ended home hopes of a dramatic fightback at Villa Park.

While Jurgen Klopp said he was pleased that his sixth-placed side would resume their campaign “within punching distance” of the Premier League’s top four, he added prior to kick-off that he felt it was a “long arm still” following their early season struggles.

But, with a game in hand on fourth-placed Tottenham, the Liverpool boss must now feel confident of attaining their target in the second half of the campaign.

The Reds’ cause had received an early boost when Spurs drew with Brentford earlier in the day and their first-half double put them in position to take full advantage.

Robertson’s crucial role in the opener – setting up Salah with a first-time ball across the six-yard box after Alexander-Arnold’s stunning outside-of-the-foot pass – saw him overtake Leighton Baines as the defender with the most assists in the competition’s history (54).

Despite appearing comfortable at half-time it was certainly not job done for Liverpool against determined opposition and they were relieved to add a late third after withstanding spells of intense Villa pressure following Watkins’ lifeline.

Klopp’s side dropped 20 points from their opening 14 fixtures – two shy of the total number of points they let slip in the whole of the last campaign – but there are now signs of momentum for last season’s runners-up.

There may not have been a goal for Nunez to celebrate at Villa Park but the Uruguayan demonstrated flashes of the promise that convinced Liverpool to pay big money to sign him from Benfica in the summer.

There is certainly no doubt that he should have added to his tally of nine goals in 20 games for the club here – and on another occasion, such misses could prove costly.

The tenacious 23-year-old ended the match with the highest expected goals value of any player (1.15 xG) after landing four of his six shots on target – five of which were taken inside the penalty area.

But his 12 touches inside the opposition box – also a match-leading figure – hinted at his broader influence and his unpredictable movements caused huge issues for the Villa defence throughout.

Perhaps the clearest demonstration of his importance arrived in the build-up to Liverpool’s third.

With the match inside the final 10 minutes, Nunez refused to give up the chase and cut the ball back from the byeline to allow substitute Bajcetic to all but seal the three points and avoid a potentially awkward finish.

Despite defeat, there remains much for Aston Villa supporters to be optimistic about with the Emery era only just beginning.

The four-time Europa League winner was bidding to become the first Villa manager to win each of his first three league games in the club’s history and he will believe his side’s positive approach deserved more.

Watkins had already been denied by Alisson prior to Liverpool’s first and later passed up an opportunity from John McGinn’s back-post cross, while twice an off-balance Bailey failed to connect with the ball when well-placed.

This was another positive showing and they remain five points clear of the relegation positions following encouraging pre-World Cup victories over Manchester United and Brighton.

source – BBC

26/12/2022
Everton 1 – 2 Wolves

Rayan Ait-Nouri scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner as Wolves came from behind to win at fellow strugglers Everton and move off the bottom of the Premier League.

In manager Julen Lopetegui’s first league match in charge of the club, Wolves had fallen behind early when Yerry Mina glanced Dwight McNeil’s near-post corner into the net.

However, they levelled midway through the first period from a well-worked corner routine with Daniel Podence calmly sliding the ball past home goalkeeper Jordan Pickford from Joao Moutinho’s lobbed pass to the back post.

It was no more than the visitors deserved in an entertaining encounter but one in which the attacking shortcomings of both sides came into focus.

Idrissa Gueye’s incisive pass to Anthony Gordon should have allowed the hosts to regain the lead but the Everton winger was superbly denied by Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa, while Neal Maupay twice failed to capitalise from promising positions.

It was far from one-way traffic though, Wolves forward Diego Costa was unable to get enough power on a diving header to beat Pickford, who also repelled Hugo Bueno’s placed effort after the break.

And while Everton saw Ben Godfrey’s late effort hacked to safety by Ruben Neves, Wolves went up the other end in the 95th minute to claim a valuable victory, with Ait-Nouri turning the ball past Pickford from Adama Traore’s cross.

The win took Wolves up to 18th, a place below Everton who has now lost their past four games.

In recent times there has been a distinctly familiar and frustrating feeling among Everton supporters unhappy with a lack of progress on the pitch.

And the sight of a manager under pressure is one that appears to be playing on a loop at Goodison Park, with this defeat met by a chorus of boos.

Frank Lampard’s team have now won just one of their past eight top-flight matches and despite temporarily lifting the gloom by establishing an early advantage they never looked fully in control.

In fact, both prior to and after Mina’s header, it was Wolves that looked the more capable and fluent side in possession.

There was a certain element of inevitability about the way things unfolded, with Everton, who have the second-worst record in front of goal at home in the Premier League, failing to make the most of their chances and then succumbing to a late Wolves counter-attack.

source – BBC Sport

26/12/2022
Leicester City 0 – 3 Newcastle United

Newcastle United cruised past Leicester City with three first-half goals to claim a sixth consecutive Premier League win and move up to second in the table.

Chris Wood kickstarted a dominant performance by smashing the opener from the penalty spot before Miguel Almiron glided past the Leicester defence to tuck away the second.

Joelinton headed the third from a Kieran Trippier corner for his second goal of the season as the Magpies demonstrated the clinical edge that the hosts were missing.

With England midfielder James Maddison out of the Leicester squad, as he continues to recover from a knee issue sustained before the World Cup, Brendan Rodgers’ side was toothless in attack.

Jamie Vardy was introduced off the bench to add pace to the Foxes’ attack in the second half, and he managed to get in down the side on a couple of occasions but there was no blue shirt to meet his crosses.

The Magpies are four points behind leaders Arsenal, who have played two fewer games. Leicester – who registered just two tame efforts on target in the final 10 minutes – remain 13th.

Newcastle was the form team in the Premier League before the World Cup break, having recorded successive wins over Everton, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Southampton and Chelsea.

England forward Callum Wilson was missing from the matchday squad because of illness, but the match could not have started better for the visitors as Joelinton was brought down inside the area by a swipe of Daniel Amartey’s leg with only a minute on the clock.

Wood drilled the ball down the middle to beat goalkeeper Danny Ward and open the scoring.

Leicester’s defence lacked intensity in the absence of the experienced Jonny Evans, and Almiron was the beneficiary for the second as he glided past the blue shirts to open up his body and find the far corner with a finish he practised so diligently in the warm-up.

The game was over as a contest before the interval when Joelinton was rewarded for his endeavour with a powerful headed goal as he completely lost marker Youri Tielemans.

Leicester failed to produce their first shot on target until the 82nd minute, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s tame effort failing to trouble goalkeeper Nick Pope.

The hosts will be hoping for playmaker Maddison to return from his knee injury quickly as they seek to move up the table in the weeks ahead.

But if Newcastle can keep up this run of form, they might just have cause to dream of a new year title push.

source – BBC

26/12/2022
Crystal Palace 0 – 3 Fulham

Goals from Bobby de Cordova-Reid, Tim Ream and Aleksandar Mitrovic inspired Fulham to victory over nine-man Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Dominant throughout, Marco Silva’s side were helped by Palace’s indiscipline in either half, which put a stop to their hopes of a fourth straight home win.

Tyrick Mitchell was shown a red card for a foul on Kenny Tete just three minutes after his side went behind, and James Tomkins followed him before the hour.

The result strengthens the visitors’ unlikely European push, as they sit in eighth, just two points off the top six.

Heading towards the half-hour mark, Palace, having struggled to impose themselves early on, almost took the lead.

Clever play by Michael Olise freed Jordan Ayew inside the area, but he saw his effort crash off the bar.

Fulham made them pay moments later when De Cordova-Reid headed the visitors into a deserved lead as Mitrovic pounced on slack play from Joachim Andersen before finding his team-mate with a pinpoint cross.

The hosts’ misery was compounded further when Mitchell was dismissed after Tete reached a loose ball first and was caught by the Palace man.

Any chance of a quick Palace resurgence were quashed 12 minutes after the break. Tomkins, on a booking, appeared to elbow Mitrovic off the ball, resulting in a second red card of the game.

Ream then reacted quickly to Mitrovic’s knock-down from a corner to double Fulham’s lead on 71 minutes.

Referee Andy Madley checked the VAR monitor for a potential handball against the Serb, only to stick with his original decision, before Mitrovic made it three 10 minutes from time.

source – BBC

26/12/2022
Southampton 1 – 3 Brighton

Adam Lallana scored against his former club as Brighton dealt Southampton boss Nathan Jones a 3-1 defeat on his first Premier League home game in charge at St Mary’s Stadium.

Southampton were booed off by their own supporters at half-time after a header by former captain Lallana and an own goal by left-back Romain Perraud heaped more misery on Jones’ relegation-threatened side.

Solly March then added a third for the Seagulls in the second half, thumping a shot into the top corner from 20 yards out that Saints goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu had no chance of saving.

A penalty was awarded to Southampton in the 73rd minute after Samuel Edozie ran into Pascal Gross inside the area, and while Sanchez saved James Ward-Prowse’s initial effort, he could not keep out the headed rebound by the home skipper.

Southampton had come into the game on the back of Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup fourth round and they caused Brighton early problems when Moussa Djenepo’s cross was diverted out before a Ward-Prowse corner was punched to safety by Seagulls goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

The optimism faded, however, after Lallana found March out wide on the right and continued his run into the box, meeting the winger’s cross and guiding his header past Bazunu in the 14th minute.

Southampton fell further behind when Pervis Estupinan sent a low ball across goal which sent panic through the Saints defence. Perraud got there before March but the French defender could not adjust his feet and put the ball into his own net.

Saints stay 19th in the table, while Brighton move up to sixth before seventh-placed Liverpool take on Aston Villa at 17:30 GMT.

source – BBC

26/12/2022
Kane scores as Spurs fight back to draw with Brentford

England captain Harry Kane scored in the first Premier League match since the World Cup as Tottenham fought back from 2-0 down to draw with Brentford.

The Bees were on course for their first win over Spurs since 1948 after goals from Vitaly Janelt and Ivan Toney, before Spurs netted twice in the last 25 minutes.

Kane, who scored one penalty and missed another in England’s 2-1 quarter-final loss to France, pulled one back in the 65th minute with an excellent header from Clement Lenglet’s cross.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg made it 2-2 with a curling finish six minutes later – and neither side was able to find a winner, with Kane heading a chance against the crossbar.

The hosts had taken a 15th-minute lead through Janelt’s close-range effort after goalkeeper Fraser Forster, in his first league start for Spurs, could only block the ball into his path following Mathias Jensen’s volley.

Brentford doubled their advantage as Toney grabbed his 11th league goal of the season, reacting quickest to tap in after Christian Norgaard had headed on a corner, but it was not enough.

Toney, 26, was appearing in his first game since being charged by the Football Association with 262 alleged betting breaches. He has until 4 January to respond to the charges.

The result leaves Spurs fourth in the table while Brentford are ninth before the 15:00 GMT kick-offs.

source – BBC

26/12/2022
Man Utd trigger contract extensions for Dalot, Shaw, Rashford and Fred

Manchester United have triggered one-year contract extensions for a quartet of first-team stars, including England’s Marcus Rashford.

Negotiations continue with goalkeeper David de Gea, whose deal is due to expire at the end of the season.

Last week, manager Erik ten Hag said United would be triggering options for Rashford, England’s Luke Shaw, Portugal defender Diogo Dalot and Brazil’s Fred.

All four players would have been free to leave Old Trafford in June.

However, De Gea’s case is different.

If United triggered an extension, it would be on the £375,000-a-week salary the club committed to when they last extended De Gea’s contract in 2019, when he became the highest-paid goalkeeper in the world.

The option for a shorter contract on reduced terms for the 32-year-old Spaniard has been raised.

Without an agreement by 1 January, De Gea, who earlier this season became the 11th player to make 500 appearances for United, will be able to agree on pre-contract terms with an overseas club.

source – BBC

20/12/2022
Lionel Messi named best player as Kylian Mbappe wins Golden Boot #FIFAWorldCup

Argentina’s Lionel Messi was named best player and France’s Kylian Mbappe won the Golden Boot award following a sensational World Cup 2022 final.

Messi, 35, led Argentina to their third World Cup title, scoring twice in the final as they beat France in a dramatic penalty shootout.

He netted seven goals in seven games and became the first player to score in each round of the same World Cup since the last-16 round was introduced in 1986.

He is also the first player to win the Golden Ball award twice since it was introduced in 1982 after also winning the honour in 2014.

Mbappe was the top scorer with eight goals, including a hat-trick in the final.

It was the first treble in a World Cup final since Sir Geoff Hurst’s in 1966, when England beat West Germany.

Mbappe, 23, scored twice in normal time and once in extra time as 2018 champions France lost the showpiece at Lusail Stadium.

The Paris St-Germain forward also created history when he became the first player to score four goals in a World Cup finals, having also netted in France’s 2018 victory over Croatia.

Mbappe, who took his total tally of World Cup goals to 12, became the youngest player to reach double figures in the competition.

He joined Brazil’s Vava and Pele, West Germany’s Paul Breitner and France’s Zinedine Zidane as the only players to score in multiple World Cup finals.

Messi, who captained Argentina in what is expected to be his last tournament, netted his 97th and 98th goals for his country in the final.

He has scored 13 goals in the competition and has contributed to 21 total goals in World Cup history – more than any other player.

Messi also won the Silver Boot for finishing second in the goalscoring charts, while Frenchman Olivier Giroud took the Bronze Boot for netting four goals in six matches.

Mbappe was named the Silver Ball winner as the second-best player in the tournament and Croatia’s Luka Modric picked up the Bronze Ball after guiding his country to third place.

Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez kept three clean sheets as he helped Argentina win the World Cup and was given the Golden Glove award.

He played every minute of the tournament and saved Frenchman Kingsley Coman’s spot-kick in the final shootout.

Morocco’s Yassine Bounou and England’s Jordan Pickford also kept three clean sheets as their sides reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively.

Argentina and Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez, 21, was named Young Player of the Tournament after a string of impressive performances in Qatar.

He started the final win over France and scored his only World Cup goal in the 2-0 victory over Mexico in the group stage.

Elsewhere, England won the FIFA Fair Play Trophy for the fewest bookings throughout the tournament.

18/12/2022
Argentina beat France on penalties #FIFAWorldCup

Lionel Messi finally achieved his World Cup dream as Argentina won their third crown on penalties following one of the greatest finals in the tournament’s history at Lusail Stadium.

Argentina won 4-2 in the shootout after a spectacular game which developed into the much-anticipated confrontation between the 35-year-old maestro Messi and his France opposite number Kylian Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick – the first in a World Cup final since 1966 – but still ended up on the losing side.

Messi looked to be securing the one major honour missing from his glittering collection in comfort as Argentina cruised into a two-goal lead, only for an explosive intervention from Mbappe to turn a spectacular encounter on its head with two goals inside a minute late on.

Messi had given Argentina the lead from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute following Ousmane Dembele’s foul on Angel Di Maria. It made him the first player in World Cup history to score in the group stage, last 16, quarter-final, semi-final and final of a single tournament.

He then contributed a delicate touch within a magnificent counter-attack that ended with Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister setting up Di Maria for the second 13 minutes later.

Argentina were untroubled until the closing stages, only for Mbappe to give France a lifeline from the penalty spot with nine minutes left – then restore equality with a magnificent volley moments later.

Messi bundled Argentina back in front in extra time, but Mbappe completed his treble from the spot two minutes from the end of a frantic, chaotic added spell.

And so it went to penalties, with the two greats opening the scoring. But Argentina and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez saved from Kingsley Coman, before Aurelian Tchouameni missed, leaving Gonzalo Montiel to win the World Cup.

Messi, a World Cup winner, at last, collapsed to his knees in the centre circle and was engulfed by jubilant Argentina teammates.

source – BBC

18/12/2022