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Premier League

MAGNIFICENT LIVERPOOL! MAKE IT A CALENDAR YEAR UNBEATEN

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Liverpool made it an entire calendar year without a Premier League defeat as the runaway leaders beat Sheffield United 2-0 on Thursday.

Jurgen Klopp’s side moved 13 points clear of second placed Leicester thanks to goals from Egypt forward Mohamed Salah and Senegal winger Sadio Mane at Anfield.

Liverpool’s 19th win in 20 league games this season completed an incredible 12 months for a team at the peak of their powers.

The Reds haven’t lost in 37 league games since a defeat at Manchester City on January 3, 2019 and it looks certain they will win the English title for the first time since 1990.

With a game in hand to further bolster their advantage, it would take an astonishing collapse to deprive Liverpool of their holy grail.

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Winners of their last 18 home league games, Liverpool are unbeaten in 51 top-flight matches at Anfield dating back to April 2017.

As if it wasn’t hard enough to beat Liverpool already, they are proving more impregnable than ever lately.

This was their fifth consecutive top-flight clean-sheet – the first time they have managed that since 2007 – and they completed more passes than any team in one match in the Premier League era.

After a golden 2019 saw Liverpool crowned European and Club World champions, the next target is ending Manchester City’s two-year spell as champions after narrowly missing out last season.

Their sights set on domestic bliss, the new year started just as the old one finished, with Liverpool setting standards of excellence that rival anything achieved by City’s breath-taking team.

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Premier League immortality is within touching distance as Klopp’s men are already over halfway towards an unbeaten league season that would replicate the incredible feat of Arsenal’s 2003-04 Invincibles.

Even the strain of Liverpool’s sixth game in 16 days, which had left Klopp claiming he was down to 13 fit senior outfield players, couldn’t derail the leaders.

Liverpool hadn’t even kicked off when that number dwindled further as Naby Keita suffered a groin injury in the warm-up and was replaced by James Milner.

But Liverpool are far too polished to lose focus and they were in front within four minutes.

FLUSHED WITH SUCCESS

Their win at Bramall Lane in September had come thanks to a mistake from United keeper Dean Henderson and once again Liverpool benefitted from a Blades blunder.

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When Virgil van Dijk played a long pass towards Andrew Robertson, it should have been easy for George Baldock to deal with.

But Baldock lost his footing and fell over, allowing Robertson to advance and cross low to Salah, who got in front of Jack O’Connell to steer in a clinical close-range finish for his 14th goal of the season.

David McGoldrick tried to drag United back into it with a dipping strike from the edge of the area that Alisson Becker tipped over.

Salah went close to a second when his instinctive half-volley was pushed over by Henderson at full stretch.

Ahead of their first visit to Anfield for 13 year, Chris Wilder’s down-to-earth side took the unusual decision to train alongside the public on Stanley Park in the shadow of the famous stadium.

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The session was interrupted when a dog decided to use one of the training cones as a toilet.

That unpromising omen proved apt as the visitors’ hopes of a shock result were flushed away.

Salah was a constant menace and he met Trent Alexander-Arnold’s superb pass with a first-time drive that Henderson turned away for a corner.

Liverpool’s ability to press any opponent into submission and deliver the knockout blow with their lethal front three has made them virtually unplayable over the last 18 months.

United were the latest victims as Mane wrapped up the points in the 64th minute.

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Running onto Robertson’s pass, Mane broke into the area and took Salah’s return pass before firing gleefully into the roof of the net after his initial shot was saved

-AFP

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Premier League

Former Arsenal soccer player Partey charged with five counts of rape

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 Premier League - Arsenal v Manchester City - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - February 2, 2025 Arsenal's Thomas Partey during the warm-up before the match REUTERS/David Klein/File Photo

Thomas Partey, who formerly played for English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, has been charged with rape and sexual assault, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.

Partey, a Ghana international, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, with the charges relating to three women and the offences reported to have taken place between 2021 and 2022, the statement said.

Partey’s management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Aug. 5.

Partey, 32, was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59 million) in October 2020 and became a key member of Arsenal’s first team.

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He was first arrested in July 2022, though he was not named at the time and continued to play for Arsenal while investigations were ongoing.

-Reuters

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Rashford, Garnacho among five players seeking Man Utd exit

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Premier League - Manchester United v Newcastle United - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - December 30, 2024 Manchester United's Marcus Rashford warms up as a substitute during the match REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo

Five players including England forward Marcus Rashford and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho have informed Manchester United that they wish to explore a future away from the Premier League side, a club source said on Friday.

Brazilian midfielder Antony, Dutch defender Tyrell Malacia and England international Jadon Sancho are also looking to leave the club, the source added.

Rashford, who has made more than 400 senior appearances for United, has fallen out of favour with manager Ruben Amorim, played for Aston Villa on loan while United had their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 15th in the standings.

Amorim had called Rashford’s work rate into question, saying he would rather put a goalkeeper coach on the bench than a player not giving their all.

Rashford said he was feeling fitter and better since joining Villa, where he scored two goals in 10 league appearances.

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United also failed to qualify for the Champions League as they lost the Europa League final 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. Garnacho, who was a late substitute in the final, voiced his displeasure on social media after the loss.

“Up until the final, I played every round helping the team, and today I play 20 minutes, I don’t know,” he wrote in a post . “The final will influence (my decision), but the whole season, the situation of the club.”

Sancho was on loan at Chelsea, where he made 31 league appearances last season. Antony, who joined United from Ajax Amsterdam in 2022 for a reported initial transfer fee of more than $100 million, scored five goals in 17 LaLiga appearances on loan at Real Betis.

Malacia joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven on loan in February.

-Reuters

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Fernandes rejects Al-Hilal offer to stay at Manchester United

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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned down the opportunity to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in order to keep playing “at the highest level”, he said on Tuesday.

The Portuguese midfielder admitted that he had considered the move, which media reports said was worth four times his current salary, after being contacted by Al-Hilal’s president.

“There was that possibility, the president of Al-Hilal called me a month ago to ask me about it,” Fernandes, who is preparing to face Germany with Portugal, told reporters on Tuesday.

“It was a big offer, very ambitious. There was a waiting period for me to think about the future.”

Fernandes ultimately decided to stay at United and said he was motivated by his desire to continue playing at the top level and encouraged by his family and the club’s coach Ruben Amorim.

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“I would be willing to do it if Manchester United thought so,” Fernandes added. “I spoke to the coach Ruben Amorim who really tried to talk me out of it. The club said they would not be willing to sell me, only if I wanted to leave.

“I spoke to my wife and family, and she asked me what my personal goals were in my career.

“It would have been easy to move there but I want to keep myself at the highest level, playing in the big competitions and I feel capable of it. I am happy with my decision.”

The 30-year-old Fernandes scored 19 goals and provided 19 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions for United last season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time.

However, it was a season to forget for the team, as they finished 15th in the Premier League, their lowest league finish in half a century, and lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur.

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-Reuters

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