Liverpool’s search for a penalty-taker goes on, Mauricio Pochettino appeared unruffled after defeat at Old Trafford and Manchester City don’t look invincibleNext Sunday, Manchester City host Arsenal at 1.30pm and Manchester United play Chelsea at 4pm; it really is amazing just how often the fixture list throws up these coincidences! And whatever happens in the first game, the pressure will be on those playing in the second, because if City win, those teams will be fighting to stay in touch; if they do not, they will be fighting to take advantage of a rare City slip. So how do Arsenal make that happen? Well, their attacking trident of Mesut Özil, Alexis Sánchez and Alexandre Lacazette are good enough to give...
The sight of the away end emptying long before the final whistle was blown in the 2-0 defeat at Leicester City told its own storyDavid Unsworth spent the majority of this match standing on the edge of his technical area. Occasionally he instructed his players to do something, while there were other moments when he could be seen encouraging those in white and grey with a firm clap. But more often than not he simply stood there, staring forward and perhaps wondering what on earth he has got himself into. Related: Leicester City 2-0 Everton: Premier League – as it happened Continue reading...
Arsène Wenger must continue with golden front trio; Christopher Schindler was a great buy for Huddersfield; Manchester City defence is as key as their attackThis was the first time Arsène Wenger had started Mesut Özil, Alexandre Lacazette and Alexis Sánchez in his XI. Yet until Everton went down to 10 men Arsenal were hardly a goal machine, having struggled to a 2-1 lead when Idrissa Gueye was sent off. At this point Özil was on the scoresheet, and by the final whistle Lacazette and Sánchez had also registered. Wenger, of course, cannot rely on the opposition having a man getting his marching orders every game. But even before this happened there was cause for optimism: Sánchez created Özil’s strike while...
Michael Appleton will take the 2015-16 champions to Swansea on Saturday, which is where Claudio Ranieri had his last stand before Shakespeare took overThe conversation lasted only a couple of minutes and there was little by way of explanation when Jon Rudkin, Leicester City’s director of football, delivered the news to Craig Shakespeare that he was out of a job only four months after he had been appointed manager on a three-year contract.It was not the sort of day that the 53-year-old had in mind when he drove through the gates at the club’s Belvoir Drive training ground earlier that morning and prepared to watch a number of his fringe players take part in a friendly match against a team...
Everton’s defence has gone walkabout, Swansea and Southampton are serving up stodgy fare and Antonio Conte may rue being in a tougher league than Serie AChris Hughton, the Brighton & Hove Albion manager, said it all when he highlighted how his team had not been “out of sight” against Arsenal, just as they had not been against Manchester City on the opening weekend of the season. On both occasions, the final scoreline of 0-2 hinted at respectability. Which, in truth, was Brighton’s priority. The gap to the Premier League’s top six clubs yawns like a chasm and Hughton’s approach at the Emirates Stadium – an approach born out of necessity – was characterised by damage limitation. Hughton used a 4-5-1...