Premier League
We suffered! Arsenal’s Arteta laments after Man City mauling
Arsenal remain top of the Premier League but manager Mikel Arteta’s body language after a 4-1 drubbing at Manchester City on Wednesday suggests he knows their title chance has gone.
His side wilted under City’s sustained onslaught and perhaps got off lightly as Kevin De Bruyne scored twice with John Stones and Erling Haaland also on target.
Reigning champions City will go top with a game in hand if they beat Fulham at the weekend having trailed Arsenal for more or less the whole season.
“I don’t know what is going to be required,” Arteta told reporters when asked if Arsenal must now win their remaining five games to have any chance of claiming the club’s first title since 2004. “For sure we have to lift the players up first because they suffered tonight.
“We need to do everything that we’ve done so far so well and start winning.”
While the loss to City will be seen as the pivotal moment in the title race, the truth is Arsenal had already lost the momentum they had built up in an awful April.
Successive 2-2 draws with Liverpool and West Ham United, having led by two goals, were followed by Friday’s chaotic 3-3 draw at home to bottom club Southampton.
It was a run that hardly fuelled Arsenal’s belief and with the Londoners badly missing the agility of injured defender William Saliba they were taken to the cleaners by City.
“The first 30 minutes all the basic things you have to do against a top team we didn’t do it and we got punished,” Arteta told reporters. “We played against an exceptional team.
“We’re an exceptional team as well — but today we weren’t at the races.”
City’s De Bruyne was quick to point out that they still have seven league games to negotiate and that they still trail Arsenal in the race, but even the most optimistic Arsenal supporters will now be settling for runners-up spot.
Not a bad achievement for a club that has not finished in the top four since 2016 and were not even considered to be title contenders at the start of the campaign.
“The stats at the start of the season said we’d finish sixth or seventh and we are where we are,” Arteta said.
“The players deserve a lot of credit to be where we are after nine months against this team. There’s still five games to go. I’ve been in this country 22 years and things change a lot.
“Today is a very difficult night but we have to stand up and look at the bigger picture. The fact we are competing toe to toe with this City team is incredible.”
-Reuters
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.
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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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.
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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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.
“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.
-Reuters
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