Month: April 2019

Below, talkSPORT.com round-up everything that happened in the top flight of English football on Saturday and Sunday.

Tottenham 4-0 Huddersfield Town

Lucas Moura fired a hat-trick as Tottenham continue to enjoy the comforts of their new home with a 4-0 Premier League win over Huddersfield that strengthens their top-four hopes.

Any fears they might have had about struggling to settle in at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have been convincingly quashed after making it three wins from three there, with Moura earning himself a place in history with the first treble in the 62,062-seater arena.

Victor Wanyama put Spurs on the road to an easy afternoon as they have now scored seven goals and conceded none back on their own patch.

The lunchtime win sends Spurs back up to third and with three of their remaining six league games at their new stadium, Mauricio Pochettino’s men will be confident of coming out on top of a thrilling four-way battle for Champions League qualification.

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Spurs player ratings for win over Huddersfield

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Brighton 0-5 Bournemouth

Brighton crashed to their worst Premier League home defeat to leave themselves in serious relegation trouble as Bournemouth ended their recent slump in style.

Goals from Dan Gosling, Ryan Fraser, David Brooks, Callum Wilson and Junior Stanislas secured a thumping 5-0 victory for the visitors.

It was only the Cherries’ second win their last 10 matches, but it took them past the 40-point mark to end any lingering fears they had of being dragged into trouble.

For Brighton, though, the problems are mounting, their run to the FA Cup semi-final masking dreadful form which has seen them collect just eight points since the turn of the year.

Burnley 2-0 Cardiff City

Referee Mike Dean controversially reversed his decision to award Cardiff a penalty as the Bluebirds’ troubles deepened with a 2-0 loss against Burnley at Turf Moor.

Chris Wood deservedly gave the hosts a 31st-minute lead but Cardiff looked to have been presented with a great chance to equalise moments after the restart when Ben Mee was penalised for handball.

It was assistant Darren Cann who raised his flag but, after a discussion with Dean, the referee changed his mind, leaving Cardiff’s players and boss Neil Warnock furious.

Cardiff had two more strong penalty appeals turned down late in the second half and Wood made sure of the points with his 13th goal of the season in injury time.

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Ashley Barnes KISSES Joe Bennett during Burnley vs Cardiff game

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Fulham 2-0 Everton

Fulham secured just a fifth Premier League win of the season as Scott Parker’s already-relegated side outplayed Everton at Craven Cottage.

After their immediate relegation back to the Sky Bet Championship was confirmed last time out at Watford, the Whites ran out deserved 2-0 victors against a disappointing Everton.

Captain Tom Cairney opened the scoring with just the second Premier League goal of his career and his first since scoring against Everton for Hull in March 2010 and it was Ryan Babel who would wrap up a rare win for the home side.

Aleksandar Mitrovic passed up a number of first-half opportunities but Fulham struck twice in the second half to pick up their first victory since January and a maiden win for caretaker boss Parker.

Southampton 3-1 Wolves

Nathan Redmond’s first top-flight double in two years drove Southampton to the brink of Premier League safety with a 3-1 win over Wolves.

The 25-year-old’s brace sent Saints eight points clear of relegation favourites Cardiff, with Shane Long adding a third for the impressive hosts.

Willy Boly’s header had Wolves level at 1-1 but only for 118 seconds, as Redmond notched his second to stun the nonplussed Molineux men.

Salah, the Liverpool star, came back to haunt his former side with a thunderbolt against them during the Reds’ 2-0 victory at Anfield on Sunday.

The strike puts him alongside Sergio Aguero on 19 for the season – while last term Salah broke the record for most goals in a single Premier League campaign.

But the Egypt international’s emergence as one of world football’s most prolific forwards has taken former team-mate Cole by surprise.

Famed for its high mortality rate, the show used to star former Sheffield United director Sean Bean – a man who once rowed with Neil Warnock and, allegedly, made his wife and son cry.

Bean, who played luckless Ned Stark in the HBO hit, is a famous Blades fan and was on the club’s board for five years between 2002 and 2007.

He helped the club get themselves back into the Premier League for the first time since their 1994 relegation when Warnock led the team to a second place Championship finish in 2006.

The one-year spell back in the top-flight didn’t go to plan though, with Sheffield United succumbing to relegation on the final day of the campaign with a creditable 39-point haul.

And it was here Bean and Warnock clashed in what we’d like to think was coined the Battle of the Bastards – just like episode nine of Game of Thrones’ sixth season.

Solskjaer played under the legendary Scot for 11 years before retiring in 2007, and he still considers the space at the Carrington training ground to belong to his former boss, despite now having every right to park there.

According to The Sun, he told his staff: “It just doesn’t feel right parking there. It’s still the gaffer’s place.

A United insider said: “Sir Alex had his own spot. It’s a busy car park and we have been waiting for Ole to claim dibs on the bay after he started driving himself in.

“Ole is in before most of the staff but he is just as unassuming as we remember him.”

United named Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as permanent manager of the club following an improvement in form and performances.

Holloway thinks that the lift Solskjaer has given the Red Devils has merely ‘papered over the cracks’ at Old Trafford.

“I think their squad is full of people who are too selfish to wear that shirt in a way that Sir Alex Ferguson would have driven them to wear it,” Holloway told talkSPORT.

“That’s my honest opinion. I hope I’m wrong and hope I’m shot down but I’ve never been linked with Man United in my life but I would have died to be because of what Sir Alex stands for I believe in.

“I don’t see that in them. There’s too many of them who don’t do that. They’ve got major issues that have been papered over because Ole has got the crowd back on side.

“No what they’ve got to let him do is clear out an absolute horrible attitude at that football club deep down.

“Get them out and get people who are burning to wear that shirt in every minute.

Jack Harrison’s deft finish on 65 minutes was all that separated the two sides at Elland Road.

The Whites had been denied by two wonder saves from visiting goalkeeper Keiren Westwood during a dominant first half.

United were also left counting the cost of some wayward finishing, with Patrick Bamford in particular having an off-day.

But the relentless pressure finally paid off when Harrison fired home.

Westwood had to be at his very best to keep out a Tyler Roberts header after 13 minutes as the home side started to find their stride.

Gary Hooper could only hit the side-netting before Adam Reach had a shot blocked minutes later as Kiko Casilla failed to deal with Barry Bannan’s free-kick.

Egzjan Alioski blazed over under pressure from Westwood, before Roberts flashed an effort inches wide.

Casilla pushed Bannan’s curling effort around the post with a brilliant one-handed save in the 25th minute.

The Cherries ace has netted 12 goals this season, which has put him on the Blues’ radar.

Wilson, 27, was linked with a £50million move to Stamford Bridge in the January transfer window, despite signing a new four-year deal with Bournemouth last summer.

“I signed a long-term contract, I’m happy down there – I’m playing football,” he told the Daily Star.

“I’m happiest when I’m on the pitch. I never want to go and sort of be somewhere that I’m not going to play.

“I never want to see myself not playing at Bournemouth even, being on the bench and things like that.

LIVE ON talkSPORT

talkSPORT is your home of live football! Here's what's coming up on talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2…

• Southampton vs Wolves (Saturday, 3pm) – talkSPORT 2
• Manchester United vs West Ham (Saturday, 5:30pm) – talkSPORT
• Leeds vs Sheffield Wednesday (Saturday, 5:30pm) – talkSPORT 2
• Wigan vs Norwich (Sunday, 12pm) – talkSPORT 2
• Crystal Palace vs Manchester City (Sunday, 2:05pm) – talkSPORT

“Any player has aspirations to play for their country, like I’ve managed to do thankfully, and play in the Champions League – different big occasions and big stages.

“I’ve been linked (with big clubs) from a young age when I’m doing well – so I tend not to buy into it really.

“It can sway you off what you need to do and take away your focus.”

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe refused to entertain any offers for Wilson in January.

It has been 20 years since Arsenal and Manchester United‘s thrilling FA Cup match. It was a game that had everything from red cards, glorious goals and here, talkSPORT.com ponders what if Dennis Bergkamp scored THAT penalty in the dying moments?

What happened?

United and Arsenal were battling on all fronts domestically in the 1998/99 season. The former were on the verge of sealing the treble, but the latter were looking to win a second successive League and Cup double.

The rivals, and hands down the two best teams in the land, were evenly matched throughout the campaign, but in the end United pipped the Gunners to the Premier League crown by a point on the final day of the season and dumped them out of the FA Cup in the semi-final in the process.

That league campaign was breathtaking and is perhaps forgotten about due to Man United’s clean sweep on the trophy front.

Arsenal, with Patrick Vieira, Tony Adams, Nicolas Anelka and Bergkamp were a well-balanced side blessed with flair, toughness and a very mean defence. Between January and May the back four conceded just six goals.

Only one team could halt their quest for total domination again and in the semi-final replay at Villa Park on 14 April, Arsenal were beaten in extra-time thanks to a memorable Ryan Giggs goal.

But before that there were 90 minutes of pure drama.

David Beckham and Bergkamp scored two great goals, Roy Keane was sent off with around 15 minutes remaining and, as full-time edged closer and people anxiously checked their watches, Ray Parlour was brought down by an exhausted Phil Neville in the 18-yard box.

Penalty to Arsenal.

“I would have had my house on Dennis Bergkamp scoring the penalty,” Parlour later said.

“I remember asking the referee David Elleray how long was left and he said, ‘This is the last kick of the game’. It was Dennis versus Schmeichel and he saved it.”

Cue euphoria from United.

But what if he didn’t miss?

Well, Giggs would not have scored his wonder goal and Arsenal would have contested the FA Cup final against Newcastle instead. United’s treble dream would have been over, much to the delight of Liverpool fans; the Reds having celebrated their own treble success – First Division, European Cup and League Cup – 15 years earlier.

It was neck-and-neck in the title race at the time – a point separated them – and a win could well have provided Arsenal with the boost needed to win the league instead.

Barton is said to have confronted Reds boss Daniel Stendel in the tunnel following Saturday’s game, which ended in a 4-2 victory for the home side at Oakwell, and South Yorkshire Police are investigating.

Harvey told BBC Radio 5 Live: “As an off-the-field matter the tunnel is still in the domain of the referee but we will work closely with everybody to ensure it’s not a case of who deals with the matter but actually the matter is dealt with properly.

“The police investigation is ongoing so we need to leave the details for them to deal with.”

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “We are aware of something that has taken place in the tunnel after the game and we are investigating.”

Paul Pogba’s brace bailed out United as the Red Devils stuttered to a fortuitous 2-1 win at OId Trafford.

Tuesday’s huge Champions League quarter-final challenge in Barcelona looms large, but attention first turned to securing a return to European football’s top table next season.

United moved within two points of the top four as a pair of Pogba penalties sealed victory at Old Trafford, but those in attendance will know how fortunate Solskjaer’s side were to have secured a point, never mind three.

Felipe Anderson saw an early opener wrongly ruled out for offside, but the Brazilian cancelled out Pogba’s contentiously-awarded penalty shortly after half-time as the Hammers capitalised on David De Gea’s poor throw.

The United goalkeeper made amends as Manuel Pellegrini’s men pushed for a winner, producing an outstanding one-handed save from Michail Antonio shortly after the West Ham substitute rattled the goalframe.

Yet the visitors returned to the capital empty-handed after Pogba smashed home his second spot-kick to keep up United’s top-four charge on an evening when the performance clearly alarmed Solskjaer.

“You want to win games, especially at this stage of the season, you know that points are so vital,” Solskjaer said.

“We know we didn’t perform and we know we should perform better, but we’ve got away with three points.

“I’ve been in that dressing room so many times on the other side and the other coach says, ‘We played well today but…’