Manchester United on Sunday slumped to a 3-1 defeat at home to Brighton & Hove Albion as Old Trafford remembered the legendary Denis Law, while Tottenham Hotspur’s troubles also persisted as they lost 3-2 at Everton.
Manchester City roared back into form with a 6-0 thrashing of Ipswich Town, while Nottingham Forest’s unlikely title challenge goes on after a 3-2 victory over Southampton took Nuno Espirito Santo’s men level with second-placed Arsenal.
On an emotional day as United paid tribute to one of the club’s greatest ever players in Law, Ruben Amorim conceded this version of the Red Devils is the “worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United.”
Photo: Reuters
A thrilling 2-2 draw at Liverpool and FA Cup victory over Arsenal earlier this month look like another false dawn for United fans.
After Amad Diallo’s late hat-trick papered over the cracks in a 3-1 win over bottom-of-the-table Southampton last week, Brighton exposed the glaring holes in the foundations of Amorim’s United project.
Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter struck for the Seagulls, who won for the third consecutive season at Old Trafford.
Photo: Reuters
United remain 13th, but enjoy a 10-point cushion over the bottom three.
“We can’t be comfortable in thinking that this is OK, because it is not,” United captain Bruno Fernandes said. “I’m not here to lose games and be in the position we are in at the moment.”
Before kickoff, tributes were paid to Law, who is the third-top scorer in United’s history, with 237 goals in 404 appearances.
A piper played Scottish anthem Flower of Scotland as the teams walked out, with United legends Alex Ferguson, Brian Kidd, Paddy Crerand and Alex Stepney on the pitch as a eulogy was read out over the tannoy.
Spurs are now winless in six league games after Everton boosted their survival chances with the first victory of David Moyes’ second spell in charge.
The goal-shy Toffees had failed to score in nine of their previous 11 league games, but struck three times before halftime.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s first goal since September last year opened the scoring, before a brilliant individual run and finish from Iliman Ndiaye.
Archie Gray’s own-goal compounded Tottenham’s misery.
Late goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison reduced the deficit, but could not prevent a 12th defeat in 22 games.
“It is a challenging situation for sure, when you are losing players the amount we are at the moment,” said under-fire Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou, who was without 10 first-team regulars. “It’s up to me to get us out of it and I’ve got to be good enough to do that.”
Everton pulled four points clear of the bottom three and within four points of 15th-placed Spurs.
Manchester City began the day in eighth, but looked much more like their old selves in smashing Ipswich to climb back into the top four.
Phil Foden continued his fine form with two first-half goals, either side of Mateo Kovacic’s strike.
Erling Haaland celebrated his nine-year contract extension by scoring in the second half, while Jeremy Doku and James McAtee were also on target for the defending champions.
Forest were equally rampant in the first 45 minutes to cut the gap on leaders Liverpool to six points and consolidate their lead in the race for a place in the UEFA Champions League next season.
Elliot Anderson, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Chris Wood scored for Forest before halftime.
Southampton salvaged some pride in the second half through Jan Bednarek and Paul Onuachu, but they remain on course for an immediate return to the Championship, 10 points adrift of safety.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that