Hull’s Harry Maguire is dreaming of England, Spurs are better placed than ever to best Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal and Aitor Karanka continues to divide opinionThe Dozen: the weekend’s best Premier League photos In a cartoon history of Arsenal’s ongoing run of springtime top-four escapology acts – the battle, above all, to stay ahead of Spurs – Arsène Wenger would probably be depicted right now wriggling furiously inside a sealed lead trunk, still rattling his padlocks but descending towards the seabed. Tottenham are six points ahead of Arsenal with 11 games to play, to Arsenal’s 12. Tighter spots have been negotiated. But as Spurs beat Everton to take their half of the weekend’s London-Merseyside derby exchange it was hard to avoid...
The Swedish striker spares the blushes of José Mourinho’s side while Paul Pogba is clangingly inept during their 3-2 EFL Cup final victory at WembleyIt is tempting to say Zlatan Ibrahimovic stole this EFL Cup final from Southampton but only if having the craft, skill and bloody-mindedness to drag Manchester United’s misfiring collection of high spec parts across the line really counts as anything other than an act of champion will.What is certain is that United won the first honour of the José Mourinho reboot in the most uneven way, producing a performance at Wembley that clanked and juddered and tripped over its own feet but was still enough to overcome a more fluent Southampton team by virtue of the...
The new signing continued his rich vein of scoring form but defensive frailty cost Saints dear as Manchester United won the League Cup final 3-2Manolo Gabbiadini probably does not know too much about the late Bobby Stokes, who became one of Southampton’s greatest heroes after scoring against Manchester United in a Wembley showpiece. That was in the FA Cup final of 1976, when Stokes conjured the only goal of the game to secure the club’s first piece of major silverware.Gabbiadini did everything within his power to update those old images; to reacquaint the club with that glorious feeling and his performance was the outstanding facet of a gripping EFL Cup final. The January signing from Napoli scored twice to haul his team...
Liverpool’s defence needs to find cohesion fast, Lincoln felt the force with Alan Power and Bastian Schweinsteiger is welcomed back by José MourinhoIt was an afternoon when the ball would not go in for Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The Chelsea attacking midfielder was twice denied by the Brentford goalkeeper, Daniel Bentley, and, when he clipped over him on 58 minutes, the effort came back off the crossbar. Loftus-Cheek had two other moments when he jinked inside the area but could not find a finish. It was, nonetheless, an eye-catching performance from the 21-year-old – in front of the watching England manager, Gareth Southgate – in which he advertised both his power and the deftness of his touch. Could it offer him a...
After years of increasing success, Claude Puel has guided Southampton to Wembley after a tricky start but owner Katharina Liebherr could yet sell the club to Chinese investors“It’s not bad, eh?” Claude Puel said, with a wry smile, of Southampton’s feat of reaching a major final for the first time in 14 years. Although it is not job done just yet, a sturdy showing over 180 minutes against Liverpool answered many of the Frenchman’s critics – if he still has any.It has taken time for Saints supporters to warm to Puel, who has had to put on a brave face at times, but he could yet go down in history alongside Lawrie McMenemy, the only manager to have won a...