Category: Sports News

SINSHEIM, Germany: Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung Min struck in each half to help his side to a 3-2 win at Hoffenheim in Europa League action on Tuesday.

The victory boosted Tottenham’s chances of finishing in the top eight, as they currently sit sixth with 14 points heading into next week’s final group stage match.

Spurs midfielder James Maddison opened the scoring in the third minute with a powerful finish from a long pass before Heung Min doubled their lead after 22 minutes.

Hoffenheim slowly came back into the game, with striker Andrej Kramaric missing a golden opportunity when his header hit the crossbar.

After a VAR review, the referee however withdrew both the card and the penalty.

The home team’s hard work paid off in the 68th minute when Anton Stach received a cross following a quick counterattack to shoot home.

Heung Ming restored a two-goal lead with a flicked shot from a difficult angle in the 77th minute before Hoffenheim’s David Mokwa headed in Kramaric’s cross four minutes from time.

In other matches, a late goal from Troy Parrott gave AZ Alkmaar a crucial 1-0 home win over AS Roma while Olympiacos won 1-0 at Porto thanks to a late goal from Ayoub El Kaabi.

The German club were awarded a penalty after the hour mark when Spurs goalkeeper Brandon Austin was shown a yellow card for a collision with a Hoffenheim player.

LONDON: Mikel Arteta revealed Arsenal’s preparations ahead of their 3-1 win at Brentford were affected by a virus that hit his squad.

Several Arsenal star players fell ill ahead of a crucial Premier League clash early this morning.

Germany striker Kai Havertz was sent home with a virus, while England midfielder Declan Rice was only able to come off the bench in the second half.

Martin Odegaard was reported to be struggling with the virus ahead of kick-off and although he was fit to start the match, the Arsenal captain made a mistake that led to Bryan Mbeumo’s opening goal and was substituted in the second half.

But the Gunners made a stunning comeback at the GTech Community Stadium as they defied the pandemic to return to the title race.

Goals from Gabriel Jesus, Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli ensured Arsenal did not slip up.

“It affects the players on and off the pitch,” Arteta said after his team moved up to second place and closed the gap to six points behind leaders Liverpool, who have played a game less.

“It’s not too serious. But it’s not an ideal situation. In terms of symptoms, with Kai it’s very clear. He doesn’t feel well at all. He has very clear symptoms so stay away from him, put him in the car and go back to London.

“These things happen. During this period, there are always things that haunt you, infections, viruses, so I try to postpone the starting lineup as late as possible because you wake up in the morning and unfortunately receive surprises like this.”

Arteta hopes the virus will have subsided for his side’s visit to Brighton on Saturday.

AMSTERDAM: Manchester United centre-back Matthijs de Ligt was aggrieved by the sacking of club manager Erik ten Hag last month and was angry at the penalty decision which cost his compatriot his job.

A lengthy VAR review showed De Ligt tripping the leg of West Ham’s Danny Ings, a decision which left Ten Hag shaking his head and awarding the London club a penalty to claim a last-minute 2-1 victory.

Ten Hag was then sacked the following day.

“Normally, I often criticize myself and can get angry about things I didn’t do well. But this is not my fault, I can’t blame myself for it,” De Ligt told reporters yesterday ahead of the Nations League action with the national team Netherlands.

“The refereeing committee also called us to tell us it was not a penalty,” he said.

Howard Webb, the Premier League’s chief refereeing officer, admitted yesterday that West Ham were mistakenly awarded the penalty.

“He (Ten Hag) wasn’t very lucky. We played well in many games, but we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had. It’s a shame it had to end like that,” explained De Ligt.

The 25-year-old moved from Bayern Munich last August, having previously played under Ten Hag at Ajax.

“He brought me to Manchester, his aim was to achieve success with Erik.”

De Ligt has yet to meet new manager Ruben Amorim, who started his job on Monday after being signed from Portuguese champions Sporting Lisbon.

“He did well at Sporting. Hopefully, he can help us improve. Amorim is not my first coach and he will not be my last coach. I don’t want to move to Manchester United just because of Ten Hag.”

LONDON: Manchester United pressed the ‘reset’ button again after the dismissal of Erik ten Hag, with the team now under Ruud van Nistelrooy hosting Chelsea in the English Premier League this Monday.

Ten Hag was sacked after the team’s fourth defeat in nine league games saw United now 14th in the table – 12 points behind leaders Manchester City.

Nistelrooy was appointed as interim manager until Ruben Amorim left the Portuguese club, Sporting, who is reported to be taking over at United after the international break this November.

Nistelrooy, who has scored 150 goals with United, took over the task in a positive way when he scored a 5-2 victory over Leicester City in the League Cup last Wednesday, but Chelsea are clearly not an opponent to be underestimated.

Under the management of the new manager Enzo Maresca, the young squad seems to shine for Stamford Bridge to be back in the Champions League scene.

Chelsea are currently fifth in the league with Cole Palmer the mainstay of the team after scoring seven goals and providing five assists this season.

They are also looking to improve their poor record against United – who have only lost to Chelsea once in their last 13 Premier League games.

It became the basis for Maresca to research and do ‘homework’ to analyze Nistelrooy’s management when he was in charge of PSV Eindhoven before.

“I think Ruud (who steers United). He is my friend, we play together, we were together for a year at Malaga and we still have a relationship,” said Maresca.

“We started watching some PSV games. We’ve seen a lot of Manchester United games. I’m sad for Erik and at the same time happy for Ruud. Hope I can see him this Sunday.”

LONDON: Manchester United have sacked their manager, Erik ten Hag, following a poor start to the season with the English Premier League giants languishing in 14th place after nine games.

The decision to sack the manager from the Netherlands comes after two and a half years in charge of The Red Devils and yesterday’s 1-2 defeat to West Ham saw them record just three wins.

“Erik ten Hag is leaving his role as first-team manager of Manchester United,” the club said in a statement.

“Ruud van Nistelrooy will run the team as interim head coach, assisted by the current coaching team, while a new permanent head coach will be appointed.”

The position of the 54-year-old Dutchman was the subject of speculation for much of last season as United recorded their worst finish in the Premier League after finishing eighth.

However, a surprise win in the FA Cup final over Manchester City and coupled with the fact the squad was dealing with a host of injury problems gave the Ten Hag a ‘lifeline’.

He signed a new contract to extend his stay until 2026 and gets the chance to revive the 20-time English league champions.

The early results of the season however hint that Ten Hag will not achieve that.