Grealish, Saka and Chalobah shine in draws, while Newcastle are ready for reinforcements after a late winArsenal’s injury problems at left‑back have led them to explore signing Layvin Kurzawa from Paris Saint-Germain. But what if the solution lies closer to home? Bukayo Saka is 18 and earlier this season was being rightly lauded for his rich promise as a flying winger. But he has filled in at full‑back four times in the past month, most recently against Sheffield United on Saturday, and looks the part. Saka is tenacious, diligent, has speed and energy to burn and a knack of picking out teammates with his deliveries. “I think he could,” Mikel Arteta said when asked if Saka could carve out a...
If the champions of Europe win the title undefeated they will have to be recognised as the best of the Premier League eraThey’re coming for you, they’re coming for you. The class of ’99. Fergie, Eric, Andy and Dwight, they’re coming for you. So much for the league. And so much for Manchester United this season, who were once again awkward, eager opponents for the league leaders, without ever feeling like much more than a bump in the road.At the end of this 2-0 victory, as the weeks tick down through winter into spring, Liverpool will have something else in their sights now, a feeling of ascent beyond the everyday business of titles and cups. Related: Van Dijk and Salah...
There has been little sign of improvement since Solskjær took over and he looks ill-equipped to turn things aroundO n Friday 5 March 1909, Manchester United went to Burnley for an FA Cup quarter-final. The pitch was frozen, there was heavy snow and with 18 minutes remaining the referee, Herbert Bamlett, decided the match couldn’t go on. For United, the abandonment was fortunate: they had been 1-0 down but won the rearranged game 3-2 and went on, for the first time, to lift the FA Cup.Bamlett, having refereed the 1914 FA Cup final, turned his hand to management, taking charge of Oldham, Wigan Borough and Middlesbrough, guiding the latter to the verge of promotion when, in April 1927, he was...
Bournemouth need to find goals fast, Aubameyang’s red card has caused a headache at Arsenal and Ings is in England formBournemouth’s defending left a lot to be desired as they crumbled against Watford but their failure to penetrate Nigel Pearson’s improving side was equally alarming. No team has scored fewer goals in the Premier League this season and those front–foot displays of yesteryear – they scored almost 100 goals en route to promotion in 2015 and more than any team outside the top six last season – feel a distant memory following a ninth defeat in 11 league matches. “Historically we have always been free-scoring and we have always had goals in us,” their manager, Eddie Howe, said. “We have...
League One pair have cause for excitement this week but the rewards may be slim – so why not ditch replays until the semis?The FA Cup, once the competition that brought all of English football together, has become incredibly divisive. As the third‑round replays get under way this coming week, it will be hard not to notice that Wolves did not actually want an extra game at Old Trafford. It will be their 38th of an already long season, it will still be only mid-January, and Nuno Espírito Santo would have been perfectly happy for the matter to have been settled on penalties at Molineux.Traditionalists keen to hang on to the magic of the Cup will have been more encouraged...