Monday, December 23

Tag: Arsenal

Hope for Arsenal and Liverpool: 10 reasons why Manchester City might still drop points
16Apr By adminNo Comments
Sports

Hope for Arsenal and Liverpool: 10 reasons why Manchester City might still drop points

It seems unlikely that north London denizen TS Eliot was an Arsenal fan, but his poetry suggests otherwise.“April is the cruellest month,” begins The Waste Land. “I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,” laments The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. “This is the way the challenge ends; not with a bang but a whimper,” was probably the first draft of The Hollow Men.Sunday was a disappointing day not just for Arsenal and Liverpool fans, but neutrals who wanted to see the three-way title battle continue. Liverpool’s 1-0 loss against Crystal Palace and Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Villa leaves Manchester City two points clear at the top of the league and, as frontrunners, Pep Guardiola’s side are near infallible.“I have known it all already, known it all,” moans Eliot. But cheer up, Tommy. There is...
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Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City: Every Premier League title-race fixture analysed
9Apr By adminNo Comments
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Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City: Every Premier League title-race fixture analysed

The Premier League remains a European outlier this season.Everywhere you look around the continent, title races have become virtual processions. Paris Saint-Germain are 10 points clear in France’s Ligue 1, Bayer Leverkusen are 16 ahead and one win away from winning the German Bundesliga title, while PSV Eindhoven have a nine-point cushion at the top of the Dutch Eredivisie.Elsewhere, Real Madrid lead by eight points in Spain’s La Liga and Inter Milan are 11 ahead of city rivals AC Milan with a game in hand in Italy’s Serie A.In England’s top division, however, things are a whole lot tighter. With seven games remaining, just a point separates table-topping Arsenal from third-placed Manchester City, with Liverpool sandwiched between on goal difference. Since the Premier League was launched ...
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Champions League draw: Man City thrilled, Barca-Napoli dream tie, quarter-final predictions
20Dec By adminNo Comments
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Champions League draw: Man City thrilled, Barca-Napoli dream tie, quarter-final predictions

The draw for the last 16 of the Champions League was made in UEFA’s Nyon headquarters this morning and Europe’s big guns will have largely liked the outcome.England’s two remaining representatives, Arsenal and Manchester City, were handed kind draws in Porto and Copenhagen, while Real Madrid were paired with RB Leipzig.Of the more established big guns, Barcelona face arguably the toughest task, having been paired with last season’s Italian champions Napoli.Here, our experts cast their eye over the draw and what could happen next.Which game are you most excited about?Oliver Kay: Napoli vs Barcelona. Both clubs are experiencing hangovers from last season’s title success, but what better than a tie like that to get them going? In terms of individual talent, tactical intrigue and the atmosphe...
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Every Premier League club’s stadium plans – from new stands to ground moves
23Nov By adminNo Comments
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Every Premier League club’s stadium plans – from new stands to ground moves

As the Premier League gets bigger and bigger, so – it seems – do the stadiums that play host to it.The vast majority of clubs in the top flight have either drawn up plans to expand their grounds to service the overwhelming demand or are poised to open gleaming new stands – or, in some cases, open new stadiums altogether.Here, our experts guide you through what each club has done to their home ground and what could come next, plus how we rated each stadium in our rankings published last month.Arsenal: Emirates StadiumCurrent capacity: 60,704What The Athletic said: “The Emirates has its critics, but it now delivers the atmosphere, facilities, accessibility and product any sports fan would expect from the Premier League.”The Athletic ranking: 4thWhen was the last redevelopment work done? Ars...
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Arsenal’s ‘embarrassing’ VAR episode, Hayes’ USWNT switch and ugly chants – The Briefing
6Nov By adminNo Comments
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Arsenal’s ‘embarrassing’ VAR episode, Hayes’ USWNT switch and ugly chants – The Briefing

Welcome to The Briefing, where every Monday during this season The Athletic discusses three of the biggest questions to arise from the weekend’s football.This was the weekend when Arsenal stuttered, Manchester United staved off a crisis for another week, Sheffield United got their first win of the season and Luis Diaz displayed astonishing levels of resolve to score Liverpool’s equaliser at Luton Town.Here we will consider Mikel Arteta and Arsenal’s response to Newcastle’s winner, just how big a deal it is that Emma Hayes is taking the USWNT job and why ‘Always the victim…’ is not harmless terrace banter…What is the real embarrassment: the refereeing or Arsenal endorsing Arteta’s complaints?Maybe managers shouldn’t give interviews straight after games.Frustration is high, emotions heighte...
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Bad language, worse jokes and riot police: What really happens in the tunnel
3Nov By adminNo Comments
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Bad language, worse jokes and riot police: What really happens in the tunnel

“I’ll see you in the tunnel.”There was a time when that was more than a throwaway line on the pitch, even if some players found a way to make sure that they never showed up.“One of my standard challenges was to (jump and) head the ball and put my studs down someone’s back — which you’d get sent off for now,” Liam Ridgewell, the former Aston Villa, Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion and Portland Timbers defender, tells The Athletic. “I did it to the late, great Papa Bouba Diop at Fulham.”Ridgewell, now a coach with MLS side Portland, pauses as he thinks back to what happened next.“You know that GIF when Jim Carrey wipes his mouth and changes his demeanour? Well, Bouba Diop turned around, rubbed his back and went: ‘What. Did. You. Just. Do?’ And I thought: ‘S—.’“He said: ‘I’ll see you in...
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Premier League stadium rankings: All 20 from worst to best – so you could shout at us
19Oct By adminNo Comments
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Premier League stadium rankings: All 20 from worst to best – so you could shout at us

Welcome to The Athletic’s Premier League stadium rankings, an exercise in entertainment, creating arguments nobody can win and questionable mathematics.Before we start, we should beg for forgiveness. This is an almost impossible task and however we choose categories, weight categories and then mark the teams is going to annoy you. It’s a subjective topic and there isn’t a right answer.All we ask is that you know we have put far too many hours into all this, tried to make it as fair as possible, and are not deliberately trying to upset anyone.So take a seat — or stand, if you prefer — maybe get one of those squeezy stress balls and enjoy. Hey, you might even agree with some of it.Coming to this order has been a long, methodical process involving a working group that broke the scoring into ...
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How the sole of the foot sparked a tactical revolution in football
14Oct By adminNo Comments
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How the sole of the foot sparked a tactical revolution in football

Antonio Vacca can remember the moment well.In truth, the Italian is unlikely to forget it anytime soon, given he not only gets to see his “little theory put into practice” every time he watches Brighton & Hove Albion play on television, but he also has Roberto De Zerbi’s initials tattooed on him.The story Vacca recalls goes back to De Zerbi’s time in charge of the Serie C club Foggia, between 2014 and 2016, and an incident in a training match that fundamentally changed how the Brighton manager viewed build-up play, and, ultimately, contributed to one of football’s modern tactical trends.As a keen futsal and five-a-side player in his home city of Naples, Vacca developed an instinct to use the sole of his foot as a method of receiving possession. “I found it easier to stop and control t...
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The Premier League’s Saturday 3pm blackout: UK football’s invisible games
4Oct By adminNo Comments
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The Premier League’s Saturday 3pm blackout: UK football’s invisible games

When Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle United took to the pitch on Saturday, it was the first time in 18 years that the previous season’s top four teams had all played Premier League matches at 3pm on the same Saturday.Those teams’ games formed part of an unusual glut of six fixtures at that time, with just one Premier League fixture on Sunday (Sky, which shows Sunday matches in the UK, has not given a reason for this, but it is likely to have something to do with avoiding a clash with their Ryder Cup golf coverage). The thing is, though, unless you were one of the lucky ones with a ticket, if you live in the UK you could not watch any of those six Saturday matches live. Well not legally, anyway.That is because there is a rule that states no football games can be b...
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