Month: January 2020

He was originally named in Carlo Ancelotti’s starting XI for the game at the Etihad on New Year’s Day.

Bernard looked to be complaining of a knee injury as he received treatment during the warm-up.

It was decided he could not play in the match and Tom Davies was promoted to the team in his place.

Carlo Ancelotti also made four changes to his Everton side that beat Newcastle 2-1 with Yerry Mina, Lucas Digne, Seamus Coleman and Fabian Delph coming in.

Manchester City were again without goalkeeper Ederson as they hosted the Toffees at the Etihad Stadium.

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Lingard, the 27-year-old midfielder, has scored just twice over the past 12 months and often been criticised for below par performances.

His poor form was highlighted throughout the summer when Lingard posted an obscene video on social media, and Man United were told to sell a player who had ‘brought shame on the club’.

Jesse Lingard posts obscene social media video on Instagram

Lingard has frequently been criticised for being very active on social media and having interests outside of football, and Solskjaer revealed in the wake of the video storm he was to hold talks with the midfielder over his social media usage.

And the Man United boss believes Lingard has finally started to regain his focus on the game and show signs of improvement – which has coincided with him reducing how much time he spends online.

“Jesse has had his ups and downs as I’ve spoken about before,” said Solskjaer ahead of the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at home to Manchester City.

“But say the games against City and Tottenham, they are examples of how important he can be for us.

Ian Holloway gives his opinion on shocking Jesse Lingard video on social media

“Of course we want him back scoring goals and making assists, there is no one who runs as much as Jesse, he is a great trigger in the pressing, a bubbly character.

“I don’t think you see as much as you do on social media. He’s got his head down, I’ve known him a few years and he is getting back to the Jesse I knew.”

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Ibrahimovic, who was previously on Milan’s books between 2010 and 2012 before leaving for Paris Saint-Germain, was introduced as a 55th minute substitute in a goalless draw at home to Sampdoria after sealing his return to the San Siro.

The 38-year-old, who helped Milan to the Serie A title in 2011, has penned a six-month deal with the club.

Ibrahimovic had two headed chances but one was cleared off the line and the other was saved by Emil Audero on an otherwise uneventful evening in Milan.

The result leaves Stefano Pioli’s men 12th in the table, a whopping 23 points off their arch nemesis Inter at the top.

Things are looking a lot brighter for Ronaldo and co in Turin, with Antonio Conte’s men level on points with Inter after 18 games.

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The Portuguese superstar helped himself to a stunning second-half hat-trick as the champions – on course for a ninth successive Scudetto – secured a thumping 4-0 victory over Cagliari at the Allianz Stadium.

And Ronaldo, who turns 35 next month, once more wrote himself into the football record books as a result of his superb treble.

The former Real Madrid and Manchester United forward, who has scored eight goals in his last five league outings, notched the 56th hat-trick of his trophy-laden career on Monday.

Ronaldo is the first Portuguese to score a hat-trick in Serie A and just the second player in history to score a treble in Serie A, La Liga and the Premier League.

The only other player to achieve that latter feat is Alexis Sanchez, the former Arsenal and Manchester United frontman.

City have dominated the competition in recent years, winning it in four of the past six seasons.

They beat Chelsea on penalties last term to lift the trophy and will be looking to get past neighbours United and reach another final in March.

United crashed out in the third round last season and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be eager to bring the winning ways back to the club.

Leicester or Aston Villa will await the victors of the two-legged Manchester derby at Wembley later this year.

Naby Keita became the eighth player added to a growing injury list as he sustained a groin problem in their 2-0 Premier League win against Sheffield United.

Klopp is down to just 12 senior outfield players, plus new signing Takumi Minamino, and a number of youth team starlets.

Joel Matip, Dejan Lovren, Nathaniel Clyne, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xherdan Shaqiri, Fabinho and Rhian Brewster are all out injured for Liverpool.

“I won’t tell Carlo Ancelotti my line-up, but I will do what I think is right to do,” said Klopp, who fielded a youth team in the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat at Aston Villa last month as his senior side were in Qatar winning the Club World Cup.

“Some things I can decide by myself, and some things the medical department will tell me.

The Foxes have been phenomenal under Brendan Rodgers ever since he took over from Claude Puel in February last year.

They have won 14 out of their 21 matches, having lost just four, and remarkably sit above Man City in second in the table, having spent considerably less.

They have been so good they have almost rediscovered the scintillating form that propelled them to a miraculous Premier League title in 2015/16.

And once again the main man in their run has been the irrepressible Jamie Vardy.

Vardy has been one of the most lethal forwards on the planet this season, netting 17 goals in 19 league matches to put himself among some esteemed talent in world football such as Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe and new Borussia Dortmund sensation Erling Haaland.

The former Fleetwood forward has been in such prolific form this season that, despite missing the last two matches, he is still on course to threaten Mohamed Salah’s Premier League goalscoring record.

The Egyptian struck 32 times for the Reds in 2017/18 to become the Premier League’s record scorer in a 38-match season.

But before Salah made that piece of history, the overall record was 34 goals, held by Newcastle’s Andrew Cole in 1993/94, and Alan Shearer, for Blackburn the following season – both in 42 game campaigns.

Vardy’s incredible form in the run up to Christmas saw him score in eight matches in a row, and that has put him in good stead to break the record.

Luis Suarez is the only player who has had a better record (17 goals in 18 matches) at this point, having netted 19 of his 31 Liverpool goals in 2013/14 after 21 matches.

This is quite the feat given Vardy failed to score in the 4-0 Boxing Day defeat by Liverpool and has been absent in the last two matches due to the birth of his child and a minor calf injury.

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January 3, 2019 was the last time they lost in the top flight – a 2-1 defeat at Manchester City – taking their unbeaten league run to 37 matches.

And they weren’t particularly tested in their latest clash as the Blades offered little going forward.

The real battle Jurgen Klopp’s side faced appeared to be with fatigue as a bright start given to them by Mohamed Salah tailed off and only when Sadio Mane struck midway through the second half was a 19th win in 20 matches this season secured.

A groin injury to Naby Keita in the warm-up forced Liverpool into a late change with James Milner promoted to the starting line-up, reducing Klopp’s options further for Sunday’s home FA Cup Merseyside derby – a match you can listen to LIVE on talkSPORT, kick-off 4:01pm.

Most of the Reds’ starting XI will be now hoping to have a welcome nine days without a match but such is the rapidly reducing nature of the squad – now missing eight players – that weary legs may be pressed into action again.

The Reds, who beat Wolves last time out, are romping away with the Premier League title race having only dropped two points all season.

Jurgen Klopp’s side enjoyed a stunning 2019 and they’ll be looking for more success in the New Year.

They kick off the new decade by welcoming Sheffield United to Anfield with the Blades impressing in their first term back in the top-flight.

Chris Wilder and co, who lost at Manchester City on Sunday, put up a great fight when they were narrowly beaten by Liverpool in September.

The Championship high-flyers squandered several golden opportunities in an impressive showing in north London, and were eventually made to pay for that after the interval.

Reiss Nelson’s second-half goal was enough to send the Gunners through, who will now travel to Bournemouth at the end of the month.

England Under-21 winger Nelson finished from close-range to settle a tie which saw the second tier leaders more than match their top-flight opponents for a large majority of the contest.

A decade on from a memorable FA Cup shock at rivals Manchester United, Leeds looked set to once again ruffle the feathers of the established order, only to fall agonisingly short after a fine display in front of a vast away following at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta, taking charge of just his fourth match, must have displayed the half-time attributes of someone like his opposite number Marcelo Bielsa – whose first foray into management came when his counterpart was just eight years old – as Arsenal were a different prospect after a dismal first-half.

Leeds wasted a glut of chances to take the lead and make it a jittery night for Arteta and the home fans, Patrick Bamford coming closest when he rattled the frame of the goal.

But, after the break, Arsenal responded to whatever Arteta demanded of them and Nelson’s tap-in on 55 minutes was enough to seal a hard-fought victory.

Nicolas Pepe, having already enjoyed an early run at the Leeds defence, was the first to draw a save out of debutant Illan Meslier in the visitors’ goal.

But it was the second-tier side who were using the ball better in the opening stages, working it into dangerous positions without finding an end product.

They eventually tested Emiliano Martinez as Jack Harrison stung the palms of the stand-in Gunners goalkeeper, who was then helpless as Patrick Bamford’s strike cannoned back off the crossbar moments later.

Arsenal – as they have been so often this season – were creating their own problems as a number of misplaced passes out of defence from the likes of David Luiz and fit-again Rob Holding saw them caught out by a Leeds side full of pressing players.

Arteta’s surprise decision to deploy Sokratis Papastathopoulos at right-back was also looking questionable as the Greece international was easily beaten for pace by Ezgjan Alioski, who then angled a shot wide.

Despite all of Leeds’ attacking play, they should have been behind on the half-hour mark but Luiz could only head Mesut Ozil’s corner wide having been picked out free in the box.

At the other end, Martinez had to spring across his goal to keep out Alioski’s close-range header after the winger once again got the better of Sokratis.

Yet another opportunity went begging for the away side as Robbie Gotts, another man making his Leeds debut, miscued a strike as the Arsenal fans began to grow restless.

The Chelsea midfielder admitted getting caught photographed in unsavoury situations has been a ‘big lesson’.

Barkley made his first appearance in three months on Sunday, as the Blues advanced to the FA Cup fourth round with a 2-0 win against Nottingham Forest.

It’s been a rollercoaster season for the 26-year-old already, who has irked boss Frank Lampard on several occasions.

Barkley was snapped dancing shirtless in a Dubai nightclub in the summer which although it didn’t look good – Chelsea weren’t massively concerned because he was on holiday.

The England midfielder was then caught on camera being escorted to a cashpoint by two police officers in September withdrawing money to pay a taxi driver after a late night row over spilled chips.

Blues chiefs were incensed, and Barkley has acknowledged that embarrassing incident is one that shouldn’t have occurred, vowing to curb his partying lifestyle.

“It is that 10 seconds when you are not looking like a professional when you have got to let your hair down but then you can’t forget about your job,” he explained.

“It was unfortunate of me to get caught in that position and it will happen many times to players because you know what phones are like nowadays. I am just keeping my head down and it won’t happen again.

“It’s a big lesson. You have got to be aware of your surroundings when you let your hair down for any player out there.

You have just got to be aware of what’s around you. It is just more about being with the right company and in private.”

He added: “When you play in the Premier League, you are a high profile player, so it is about keeping low-key and switched on.

“It is just nowadays that you have to be careful because everyone is wanting to catch you out.

“When you are on holiday or away you need the right people around you.

“I have made that mistake and it won’t happen again but I am sure it will happen to young players in the future.

“We all make mistakes but it is about being aware.”