Tag: Football News

Watford were plunged into the relegation zone in the wake of Nigel Pearson’s surprise sacking as they were hammered by a Raheem Sterling-inspired Manchester City.

The defeat, coupled with Aston Villa’s win over Arsenal on Tuesday, means the Hornets’ battle to stay up will go to the final day of the season on Sunday, when they visit Arsenal.

Pearson became the Hornets’ third managerial casualty of the campaign on Monday, leaving Under-23 coach Hayden Mullins and his assistant Graham Stack in charge for their final two games.

And they could hardly have had a tougher first assignment than against City, who completed the double over them with this win, at an aggregate score of 12-0 – a joint top-flight record for one team against another in a single season.

Sterling took the game away from the home side before half-time, firing in a rising shot to open the scoring before doubling the advantage by following up his own saved penalty – awarded for a foul on him by Will Hughes.

Phil Foden added a third after Ben Foster had parried a Sterling shot before Aymeric Laporte nodded in from Kevin de Bruyne’s free-kick.

City’s fourth straight league win could have been even more emphatic but Gabriel Jesus had an injury-time header ruled out for offside.

This could well be important to Watford, with goal difference potentially a crucial deciding factor going into the weekend.

The defeat leaves the Hornets 18th, level on points but a goal worse off than Villa, with both three points ahead of 19th-placed Bournemouth.

Villa’s last-day opponents West Ham, on 37 points, are not yet safe from the drop, although a point from their game in hand at Manchester United on Wednesday will secure survival.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says he respects Arsenal on the pitch – but “not much off the pitch”.

City had their two-year European suspension overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) on 13 July.

City are understood to believe Arsenal were a chief instigator behind a collective request by eight Premier League clubs for Cas not to allow a delay to the ban pending appeal.

As the case was decided before the end of the season, no delay was needed.

Some senior figures within the game are annoyed City had their punishment for Financial Fair Play regulation breaches reduced, while the club are angry at the behaviour of some of their rivals.

Last week, Guardiola demanded an apology and told clubs to stop “whispering” about City behind their backs.

Chelsea, Burnley, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham and Wolves were the other seven top-flight clubs involved in the collective approach to Cas.

Jude Bellingham has completed his move to Borussia Dortmund from Birmingham for an initial fee of £25m.

The 17-year-old English midfielder completed a medical in Germany on Thursday after Dortmund persuaded him to move to the Bundesliga club over Manchester United, who had also made him an offer.

It is understood Birmingham will receive a guaranteed £25m up front, with fees worth ‘several millions more’ potentially added on depending on appearances, achievements and milestones.

Bellingham – who Dortmund say has signed a “long-term contract” with the club – said: “I can’t thank Birmingham enough for what they have done for me, not just this past year but since the age of seven.

“Of course I wish everyone associated with the club nothing but the best. Once a blue always a blue.

“However, I’m incredibly excited to have joined one of Europe’s biggest clubs. The direction they are heading in and how much they help to improve young players made it an easy decision for myself and my family.

“I can’t wait to perform in front of all the fans when they are back inside one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world.”

Bellingham – who only signed a professional deal with Birmingham this month – follows in the footsteps of Jadon Sancho, who moved to Dortmund in 2017 and has since gone on to become one the stars of the Bundesliga and an England international.

Dortmund courted the midfielder, who turned 17 in June, for more than two years, amid stiff competition from most of Europe’s top teams, including Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and, most notably, Manchester United.

United pulled out all the stops in their attempts to sign the box-to-box midfielder, offering him a tour of their training ground with Sir Alex Ferguson.

But the England U17 skipper has chosen Dortmund due to the club’s long history of developing young talent and their policy of giving them the chance to play in the Bundesliga.

Dortmund’s sporting director, Michael Zorc, confirmed Bellingham will be part of their first team, saying: “Jude Bellingham confidently chose BVB and, of course, was primarily concerned with the sporting perspective that we showed him.

“He has enormous potential that we want to develop with him in the coming years. He already has a surprising amount of quality in his own possession as well as against the ball, and on top of that, the player also has a strong mentality.

“We immediately see Jude as a reinforcement for our professional squad, but of course we will also give him the time to get used to the higher level.”

Bellingham will be available for Birmingham’s final game of the season, against Derby on Wednesday, and will then join Dortmund for pre-season training on July 30 and a training camp in Switzerland on August 10.

Bellingham, who will wear the No 22 shirt in Dortmund – has been sought after in England and in Germany even before he became Birmingham’s youngest ever first-team player at the age of 16 years and 38 days last August.

Jose Mourinho is trying to keep his players focused for their final matches against Leicester and Crystal Palace by telling them victories in both will secure the 2021 Europa League trophy.

Tottenham can no longer qualify for the Champions League and the Europa League a long slog of a tournament remains a much harder sell to players.

But Mourinho is trying to put a positive spin on being in Europe’s secondary competition by encouraging his stars to focus on the end goal.

It could be interpreted as over-confidence and critics will be quick to remind him of it if Spurs come up short. But he said: ‘I don’t care what you bring up and don’t bring up. I just want to motivate my players, and myself too.

‘I could think the Europa League will be a group phase I don’t want to say countries’ names or clubs because it would be disrespectful — with some countries where you have to travel eight or nine hours for a match.

‘And I could think of it as some matches at home in the best stadium in the world, if Boris Johnson allows, some spectators but not the full emotion of a big Champions League match.

‘I have won the Champions League before. The majority of my players have played in the Champions League final before. Others, they did not win it but they were constantly playing at the Champions League level. So we need to motivate ourselves.

‘I don’t want my players to be disappointed with the fact we don’t play Champions League. I want my players relaxed because they had a big target. This is a way to motivate the troops. If they think, “Oh, next year I have to play in the Europa League! There could be a qualification in the middle of September! I don’t want to do that”.

‘But if we say, “Come on, next season we are going to win the Europa League” that is a different feeling. So I talk about this extreme situation. It’s just an expression of motivation.’

Mourinho could also not resist another swipe at Manchester City after their Champions League ban for FFP irregularities was overturned. Trying to reclaim Champions League status will be Spurs’ main focus, of course.

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea endured a Wembley nightmare as Chelsea strolled to victory and set up an FA Cup final date with Arsenal.

United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ditched his usual FA Cup keeper Sergio Romero to keep faith with De Gea – but the experienced Spain international produced two horrendous errors either side of half-time to gift Chelsea two goals.

De Gea made a flimsy attempt to deal with Olivier Giroud’s flick in first-half stoppage time then weakly fumbled Mason Mount’s tame 20-yard shot into the net moments after the restart.

Chelsea’s excellent performance fully merited this victory and United’s abject misery after a dreadful performance was complete when captain Harry Maguire diverted Marcos Alonso’s cross into his own net at the near post with 16 minutes left.

Frank Lampard’s side were in complete control from first to last as they comprehensively ended Manchester United’s 19-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

Bruno Fernandes pulled a goal back from the penalty spot late on after Callum Hudson-Odoi fouled Anthony Martial but it could not even be described as a consolation as Chelsea closed out the win