Luke Shaw needs England reward, Aubameyang shining at right time and Barkley’s Villa strugglesIt has been two and a half years since Luke Shaw last featured for England, in a 2-1 defeat to Spain. The left-back, however, is probably Manchester United’s most in-form player at the moment, consistently producing the goods. In defence he has looked assured all season, lifting his game since Alex Telles’ arrival from Porto in the summer finally added much-needed depth to a squad where many were sleepwalking into the side. On Sunday Shaw was again diligent against a high-on-confidence Riyad Mahrez, who struggled to make an impression for Manchester City, but things got even better with his superb run and composed finish at the other...
David Luiz might well recommend a holiday in Rwanda, but with the situation there of international concern this sponsorship looks increasingly strangeIn January this year the Foreign Office urged the Rwandan government to look into allegations of “deaths in custody, enforced disappearances and torture”. The logistics of this shouldn’t be too difficult. The allegations are against the Rwandan government itself.Six months ago Paul Rusesabagina, the hotelier whose peaceable role in the 1994 genocide was portrayed in the film Hotel Rwanda, was bundled on to a plane in Dubai to face what his family have called a sham trial on terrorism charges. Related: Chelsea's Timo Werner hones his quality and homes in on scoring | Barney Ronay Related: Hotel Rwanda dissident...
United cross town to City for a Manchester derby, while there’s a big old meeting of strugglers on Sunday lunchtimeIt’s been a bad week for Steve Bruce. Saturday’s draw with Wolves means Newcastle have won just two of their last 15 league games, and are now hovering just above the drop zone. Bruce’s post-match comments – “unfortunately Matty didn’t get the directions on quick enough” – appeared to blame substitute Matt Ritchie for not passing on tactical instructions shortly before Wolves’ equaliser, which led to a training-ground argument between the pair this week. Ritchie has since apologised but morale seems to be low, particularly with mounting injuries. Callum Wilson, Miguel Almirón and Allan Saint-Maximin have scored more than half of...
Nominally a versatile full-back the Portuguese played an elusive anti-role, popping up in places you would least expectOn a mild Sunday Cancelo evening at the Emirates Gündogan Stadium, Manchester Fernandinho City restored their Cancelo 10-point lead at the top of De Bruyne Fernandinho the Premier League with Gündogan a comprehensive victory over Arsenal. Bernardo after being blown Fernandinho away in the early Stones Fernandinho part of Zinchenko the game, Arsenal gradually Sterling Bernardo came into Cancelo the match more and Mahrez more as it went on, but were ultimately Fernandinho unable De Bruyne to strike Cancelo the Gündogan telling Cancelo blow.Quite disorienting, isn’t it? Hard to follow. Probably very annoying. This, in essence, is what it is like playing Pep...
With Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard and Emile Smith Rowe, Arsenal can finally face manager’s old club on their own termsThe last time Arsenal hosted Manchester City for a top-flight fixture Mikel Arteta looked on and, inwardly at least, shook his head. He was five days from becoming their manager and, barking orders alongside Pep Guardiola in the away technical area, there were shorter-term preoccupations. It would have taken superhuman self-possession not to notice the gloom enveloping the Emirates, though, and the bad feeling affected him enough to be one of the first points he raised at his unveiling.“I was a little bit down after the game when I felt what was going on,” he said. “It wasn’t only the performance,...