Tottenham Hotspur on Monday surged to the top of the Premier League as Son Heung-min and James Maddison sealed a 2-0 win against Fulham.
Ange Postecoglou’s side extended their unbeaten start to nine league games thanks to Son’s opener and Maddison’s first goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since his close-season move from Leicester.
Tottenham leapfrogged Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool to go two points clear at the top of the table.
Photo: AP
Fulham are the only team to beat Tottenham this season, knocking them out of the League Cup on penalties in August.
However, they avenged that loss by recording a third successive league victory to strengthen their unexpected title challenge.
“They are both quality players. They are both leaders at the club,” Postecoglou said of Son and Maddison. “They work hard for the team and it is a credit to them.”
The north Londoners’ superb start to Postecoglou’s debut season have awoken dreams of the club’s first top-flight title since Bill Nicholson’s 1961 double winners.
While that ambitious target might yet prove beyond Tottenham, who have not won a major trophy since 2008, the Australian has undoubtedly had a huge impact on a club that was in turmoil when he arrived from Celtic.
A toxic combination of Tottenham’s poor results and dour displays under Antonio Conte last term, combined with Harry Kane’s close-season move to Bayern Munich, left many expecting another year of turmoil.
Yet Postecoglou has astutely guided Tottenham to calmer waters, winning over doubters with his down-to-earth personality and attacking game-plan.
Monday’s victory gave Postecoglou the record for most points gained by a new manager in their first nine Premier League matches, with his 23 surpassing the mark previously held by Mike Walker and Guus Hiddink.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS