Month: July 2020

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ARSENAL BANISH GUENDOUZI FROM FIRST TEAM TRAINING AFTER ARTETA BUST UP

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has not included Matteo Guendouzi in first-team training since their disagreement in the aftermath of the Brighton defeat over two weeks ago.

The spaniard has dropped Guendouzi for the Gunners’ last four games after the midfielder clashed with Brighton’s Neal Maupay during Arsenal’s loss on June 20.

The Gunners boss last month alluded to “internal issues” which have seen the French midfielder miss those matches; all of which have been won by the north Londoners.

And The Athletic has claimed that Guendouzi has been training alone with a fitness coach after the boss seemingly ran out of patience with his player.

It is claimed that Arteta and technical director Edu were left unimpressed after holding a crisis meeting with the player following the Brighton incident.

Guendouzi had also drawn Arteta’s ire during the mid-season trip to Dubai in February – but returned to the line-up after being given a second chance by his boss.

But it seems Arteta has been left frustrated by Guendouzi’s response to his latest punishment.

The publication also claims that the boss, while aware that the midfielder possesses undoubted talent, is frustrated that the midfielder is yet to apologise.

Arsenal, it has been suggested, have also explored the possibility of using him in a swap deal in the summer transfer window.

Club chiefs are expected to meet with Guendouzi’s representatives in the coming days to discuss the situation.

Last month Arteta declared: “Whatever internal issues we have we will deal with them privately and I am never going to make any of that public.

“All the players that are here, I am counting on them. If they want on the boat, they are more than welcome and that’s always my mindset.”

Arteta has refused to answer questions as to why Guendouzi, after escaping a Football Association ban for grabbing Brighton striker Maupay around the throat, has not even made the bench since.

But, pushed to explain what his “on the boat” comment meant, Arteta explained the situation ahead of the win over Wolves.

He said: “Players that respect the values we want to implement, that they are 100 per cent committed to our culture, and players that are accountable every day for what we demand from them.

“Players that are ready to help each other, fight for each other and enjoy playing together.

“That is what I mean by being on the boat. If you behave like this every day, you are very very welcome here and we want to get the best out of you and help you to enjoy your profession with us.”

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Son and Lloris clash as Tottenham win

Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho says the half-time clash between goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and forward Son Heung-min was “beautiful” and “something needed for the team to grow up”.

Captain Lloris ran over and shoved Son in the back before the players went down the tunnel, with the pair having to be separated by their team-mates.

But they embraced at full-time after a 1-0 Premier League win over Everton.

Lloris said there was “no problem” after Monday’s match.

An uneventful encounter at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium almost boiled over when France World Cup winner Lloris reacted angrily towards Son, unhappy that the South Korea international had not tracked back to help prevent a chance for Toffees forward Richarlison.

“It just belongs to the changing room – outside you can say whatever you want. What happened between me and Sonny is part of football sometimes,” added Lloris.

“At the end of the game you could see we were more than happy.”

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ANTONIO CONTE FUMES AT INTER DEFEAT

Antonio Conte hopes Inter players feel at least “one per cent” of his disappointment following their 2-1 Serie A defeat to Bologna at the San Siro on Sunday evening.

Inter had forged ahead in the first half courtesy of Romelu Lukaku before Bologna’s Roberto Soriano received a red card for dissent after 57 minutes.

Lautaro Martinez could have all but wrapped up the win from the penalty spot five minutes later but Lukasz Skorupski kept out his tame effort.

That gave the impetus to the visitors, who roared back to steal a stunning winning thanks to goals in the final 16 minutes from Musa Juwara and Musa Barrow, either side of a red card for Inter’s Alessandro Bastoni.

Conte, who spent close to an hour in the changing room with his side before talking to the media, could not hide his frustration and says his players should be angry at their display.

“The disappointment is enormous, at least as far as I’m concerned,” Conte told reporters. “I hope this disappointment that I feel is also felt by the players for at least one per cent.

“I am angry at myself because I’m the manager. I have my responsibilities; I am the one who directs the situation and it is right that I am very angry first of all with myself. Then I think that the players must also be with themselves.”

The setback leaves Conte’s side four points behind second-placed Lazio and just one ahead of Atalanta in the battle for UEFA Champions League qualification.

Conte is under no illusions that he is expected to win trophies at Inter and says he fully expects to be scrutinized when things do not go well.

“Situations are evaluated only by facing them,” he added.

“For me this is the first year of working with Inter and I have taken a situation with many situations to improve. At the same time, I also say that it is right to challenge everyone, me first.

“I was brought here for a winning project and to bring Inter back to winning things. Clearly, the victory does not come overnight, but many situations leave a lot of bitterness. You think you are at a level and instead you are at a much lower level.

“From here to the end we will all have to prove that we deserve Inter. Otherwise it is right to make other decisions too.”

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Inter title bid over

The 10 men of Bologna staged a stunning comeback to deny Inter Milan the chance to move within a point of second-placed Lazio in Serie A.

Musa Barrow struck the winner from inside the box late on, just six minutes after Musa Juwara equalised.

Romelu Lukaku had opened the scoring when he tapped in the rebound after Lautaro Martinez’s header hit the post.

Martinez missed the chance to double his side’s lead from the spot, after Bologna’s Roberto Soriano was sent off.

Both sides finished with 10 men as Alessandro Bastoni was shown a second yellow card with the score poised at 1-1.

Antonio Conte’s Inter remain third in the table, four points behind Lazio, while Bologna move up to ninth.

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SHEFFIELD UNITED BOSS DEMANDS MORE FROM JOHN EGAN

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has demanded more goals from John Egan after the Republic of Ireland defender scored his first of the season to earn a point at Burnley yesterday afternoon.

The central defender capped a fine performance with an excellent finish 10 minutes from time, volleying home Billy Sharp’s flicked header to cancel out a first-half strike from Burnley’s stand-in skipper James Tarkowski.

It was only Egan’s second goal in a United shirt since arriving from Brentford at the start of last season, the other goal coming last season in a 2-1 win at home to Norwich.

“That should have been his 10th goal of the season, not his first,” Wilder said.

“I am quite critical of John, he has been brilliant for us but goals from centre-halves add to the collection and we’ve certainly not done enough.

“John gets into some great positions, but he will be the first to admit July 5 shouldn’t have seen his first goal of the season.

“But brilliant finish and to get something out of the game in the manner we did was good.”

The goal competed a collection for Egan, meaning he has now now scored in each of the four top divisions in English football.

“Thanks for reminding me, totally forgot about that,” Egan said afterwards on Sky Sports.

‘ll take that all day. I’ve been knocking on the door for a while and it’s something I need to add to my game so I’m happy I got one today…

I always know when he’s in the box he’s going to get a head to it.

You have to gamble I suppose, a striker’s instinct from a centre half!

Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me! I totally forgot about that. It’s a great feat to have.

Obviously the main aim is to try and get one in the Premier League and I need to add to that now, and add it to my game going forward.

“We didn’t show a lot of quality today, but we showed good character to get the result at the end.”

Egan’s first Premier League strike, in his 31st Premier League game, came 2308 days after his first goal in English football, for Southend in March 2014 in League Two.

Burnley goalscorer Tarkowski thought his side deserved victory.

“I thought they started really well, big saves from (Nick) Popey early on, and then I thought we came into it ourselves and caused problems for them.

“We got the goal then looked solid throughout the game and then one set-piece has cost us the three points in the end. They are a real handful, they get the ball forward. Two up front which is never easy to deal with, but I thought we defended really well except the set-piece which cost us.”

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Mourinho Blast Arsenal supporters

Jose Mourinho says Arsenal have little “to celebrate” after they appeared to mock Tottenham’s Premier League defeat at Sheffield United on social media.

Highlights of Arsenal’s FA Cup win at the Blades on Facebook were captioned: “It’s not easy beating Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.”

“You only enjoy the problems of others when you are also in trouble,” said the Spurs boss.

Arsenal are seventh in the top flight, with Spurs four points back in 10th.

The Gunners have not won the Premier League since the Invincibles season of 2003-04, with their last major honour coming when they lifted the FA Cup for a record 13th time in 2017.

Tottenham reached the Champions League final in 2019 but have not lifted a piece of domestic silverware since winning the League Cup in 2008.

Arsenal have also won the league on six occasions since Spurs’ last top-flight title in 1960-61.

However, Mourinho believes attempts to poke fun at Tottenham say more about Arsenal than it does his club.

“I think if they were top of the league or fighting for top four in a really good moment they wouldn’t enjoy the problems of others,” Mourinho added.

“They don’t have much to celebrate, they have to get every opportunity to do it. They are in a very similar situation to us in the table.

“To be the champion of north London means nothing for me because I think you have to be much bigger than that and have much more ambitions than that.”

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Real Madrid edge closer to Title

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Sergio Ramos scored the only goal for a second consecutive game as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao to move closer to the La Liga title.

Ramos slammed home a penalty – just as he did on Thursday against Getafe – after Dani Garcia fouled Marcelo in a decision given by VAR.

He has scored five goals in seven matches – all wins – since the restart.

Defending champions Barcelona took the gap back to four points when they beat Villarreal 4-1 on Sunday night.

Real Madrid’s win over Athletic Bilbao was a game of few goalscoring chances, with Thibaut Courtois making only one save.

Courtois became the first goalkeeper to keep 17 clean sheets for Real in a single La Liga season since Francisco Buyo in 1994-95.

Zinedine Zidane’s side only need to win three of their remaining four games to secure a second La Liga title since 2012

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Barcelona keep slim hope for title

Barcelona kept alive their slim La Liga title hopes with an excellent victory at in-form Villarreal.

They took an early lead when Pau Torres turned in Jordi Alba’s cross but Gerard Moreno levelled for Villarreal.

Lionel Messi brilliantly won the ball in midfield before feeding Luis Suarez – who curled in from 20 yards – and the Barca captain then backheeled to Antoine Griezmann, who scored a magnificent chip.

Ansu Fati blasted in a late fourth.

Barca’s front three of Messi, Suarez and Griezmann clicked perfectly in one of their best performances in recent months.

Messi has now reached 19 La Liga assists this season, the most of any player since he reached that figure in 2010-11.

He was unlucky not to score as he had a goal ruled out by the video assistant referee for offside and hit the crossbar with a late free-kick.

Barca are four points behind Real Madrid with four games to go and need their old rivals to slip up at least twice to have a hope of retaining their title.

Villarreal had won five games and drawn the other since La Liga restarted following the coronavirus pandemic.

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“I LIKE HIM”: KLOPP REACTS TO TRANSFER LINKS WITH BAYERN’S THIAGO ALCANTARA

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has expressed his likeness for Bayern Munich’s Thiago Alcantara amidst heavy transfer links to the premier league champions.

After the win over Aston Villa, Klopp claimed that he doesn’t wish to answer transfer related questions. However, he did mention that Thiago is a very good player and he likes the Bayern Munich star.

Klopp said to Liverpool Echo: “Would you be surprised if I don’t give an answer on that, just because I never answer these kinds of questions. Thiago Alcantara is a really good player. Like a lot of other players out there, I like (him) a lot. But that’s all I have to say about that.”

It will be interesting to see if the 29-year-old ends up at Anfield this summer.

Liverpool could use a central midfielder of his quality and it would be a tremendous signing for them. He would add craft, flair and technical ability to their midfield. The Reds have been missing that extra bit of creativity from the middle since Philippe Coutinho’s departure.

Recent reports state that Thiago could cost around €35m. The player wants a new challenge now and a move to Anfield would be ideal for him as well.

The Reds are one of the best clubs in the world right now and they will be challenging for the Premier League and the Champions League next season. Thiago could certainly help them achieve those goals.

The only downside of the move is that Thiago is injury prone and his availability could be an issue over the course of the season. If he can stay fit, he could prove to be a world-class signing for Liverpool.

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Liverpool maintain 100 percent home record with win over Aston Villa

Following their 4-0 mauling at the hands of Manchester City on Thursday, Juergen Klopp’s side struggled to break down a determined Villa.

Liverpool made it 17 wins out of 17 at Anfield after goals by Sadio Mane and Curtis Jones handed the champions a 2-0 win over Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday which pushed Dean Smith’s side deeper into trouble.

Following their 4-0 mauling at the hands of Manchester City on Thursday, Juergen Klopp’s side struggled to break down a determined Villa.

Klopp fielded another strong side but with the ground empty and the title already in the bag, there was a lack of edge to Liverpool’s play.

The visitors’ were solid and organised and could even have gone ahead in the 52nd minute when Anwar El Ghazi forced a fine save out of Alisson.

But Mane broke the deadlock in the 71st minute, meeting a low ball from Naby Keita with a firm shot that rattled in off the underside of the cross-bar.

Following their 4-0 mauling at the hands of Manchester City on Thursday, Juergen Klopp’s side struggled to break down a determined Villa.

Klopp fielded another strong side but with the ground empty and the title already in the bag, there was a lack of edge to Liverpool’s play.

The visitors’ were solid and organised and could even have gone ahead in the 52nd minute when Anwar El Ghazi forced a fine save out of Alisson.

But Mane broke the deadlock in the 71st minute, meeting a low ball from Naby Keita with a firm shot that rattled in off the underside of the cross-bar.

Substitute Jones scored the second, a minute from the end, with the 19 year old hooking home after Mohamed Salah headed an Andy Robertson cross into his path.

The goal was Jones’ first in the Premier League and came a day after he signed a new five-year contract with the club.

“That’s Curtis in a nutshell. He signed a new contract yesterday which is good for him and good for us. We’ll have a lot of fun with him,” said Klopp.

Liverpool are now unbeaten in their last 57 Premier League home games with 47 wins and 10 draws and they have won 24 home games in a row.

Klopp said the blustery conditions at Anfield had impacted the game.

Liverpool not focused on records, says Juergen Klopp

Liverpool are on course to beat Manchester City’s mark of 100 points in a Premier League campaign but the champions are not focused on breaking records, manager Juergen Klopp has said.

Liverpool, who won 2-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday thanks to goals by Sadio Mane and Curtis Jones, need 12 points from their final five games to beat City’s tally from the 2017-18 season.

“We didn’t come here and have the numbers we have because we thought about breaking records. We were always focused 100% on the game and that will not change,” said Klopp, whose side made it 17 wins out of 17 games at Anfield this season.

“If we want to have record points pretty much we have to win all the games, it’s not complicated. The boys know it and it’s not necessary to mention it to this group.”

Liverpool next visit 15th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday.