Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the English Premier League season came to a shuddering halt in a shock 2-0 loss to Bournemouth on Saturday that left them third in the standings with leaders Liverpool and second-placed Manchester City still to play this weekend.
Manchester United eased the pressure on coach Erik ten Hag with their first win in more than a month, a 2-1 victory over Brentford, while Aston Villa climbed to fourth in the standings by beating Fulham 3-1.
Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to thrash West Ham United 4-1 as the league returned from the international break, while Everton made it four games unbeaten with an easy 2-0 away win over Ipswich Town.
Photo: AFP
Brighton & Hove Albion beat Newcastle United 1-0, and Leicester City beat Southampton 3-2 away with a last-gasp goal, handing the 10-man hosts a club record 21 matches without victory in the English top-flight.
A brilliantly worked goal by Ryan Christie and a Justin Kluivert penalty gave Bournemouth a home win against 10-man Arsenal, with Gunners defender William Saliba shown a straight red card.
Already missing Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka through injury, Arsenal lost Saliba on the half-hour mark when a yellow card for bringing down Evanilson was upgraded to red after a Video Assistant Referee review, and it turned out to be the pivotal moment of the game.
Photo: Reuters
“I’m proud of us as a group of players, because to keep fighting and believing, that we believe that we can win, even with 10 men. I thought we played really well even with 10 men,” Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice said after his team’s third red card in eight league games.
Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund got on the scoresheet as Manchester United bounced back after conceding a controversial goal at Old Trafford, lifting them to 10th in the table.
“Every game we win is important,” said Ten Hag, whose job has been the subject of speculation.
Photo: Reuters
“This team, you see the togetherness, a fighting spirit. Today we had some determination to score goals, and that’s what we need,” he said.
LA LIGA
AP, BARCELONA, Spain
Luka Modric became the oldest player in Real Madrid’s history while also delivering the game-winning assist in a 2-1 victory at Celta Vigo in La Liga on Saturday.
At 39 years, 40 days old, the former Ballon d’Or winner surpassed the milestone held by Ferenc Puskas since 1966 by four days.
Modric went on as a second-half substitute after Celta pulled level.
The Croatia midfielder immediately made an impact when he threaded a through-ball forward for Vinicius Junior to score the 66th-minute winner at Balaidos Stadium.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said. “But we knew how to hang in there and got three important points thanks to a great pass by Modric. Luka always gives us something.”
Kylian Mbappe put the visitors ahead with a long-range strike in the 20th, only for Williot Swedberg to equalize in the 51st from a cross by Oscar Mingueza.
That set the scene for Ancelotti to look to his bench and call on Modric to set things right for the defending champion.
“There is nothing else to say about a fantastic game; he is a great professional and with a character. Real Madrid has been, and is, lucky to have him,” Ancelotti said when he was asked about Modric’s legacy with the club.
Modric has the most titles in the history of Real Madrid with 27, including six UEFA Champions League titles and four Spanish leagues.
BUNDESLIGA
AFP, MUNICH, Germany
Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl described striker Harry Kane as a “killer” after his 23-minute hat-trick carried the side to a 4-0 home win over VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.
The victory came after a three-game winless run in all competitions. Earlier on Saturday, RB Leipzig’s 2-0 win at Mainz sent them provisional top, before Bayern took over the Bundesliga summit on goal difference.
The match was still scoreless after 57 minutes before Kane stepped up and drilled home a long-range effort. Kane had not scored in four games for club and country, his longest drought since moving to Germany.
The hat-trick was Kane’s sixth for Bayern in the league as he brought up 57 goals in all competitions for the club.
“It was nice with that first goal, and the two afterwards showed what a killer he is,” Eberl said of Kane.
“There’s always talk when you don’t score for a while as a striker,” the England captain told Sky Germany. “I always believed in myself, my abilities and my teammates — that was clear today.”
The 31-year-old took the match ball home for chalking up another hat-trick and joked that his teammates “were probably a bit sick of signing them.”
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
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
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
FINAL WEEK LOOMS: PSG rose to 22nd place to set up another tense challenge against 24th-placed Stuttgart, while Man City require victory against Club Brugge Manchester City are on the brink of a humiliating UEFA Champions League exit after a stunning loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, while Real Madrid is no longer at risk after routing Salzburg. Man City blew a two-goal lead in a high-stakes clash of super-wealthy underachievers that PSG won 4-2 in Paris, who could still be eliminated alongside the English champions after the final round of games next week. Only the top 24 in the 36-team standings are to advance. Man City, the 2023 champions, are in 25th place, but could squeeze into the knockout playoffs round by beating Club Brugge. “We will
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