Football / Sports

Top Transfer News

Arsenal in talks to sign Man City striker Jesus | £35m Vieira deal ‘close’

Arsenal are in talks to sign Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus while a potential £35m deal for Porto’s Fabio Vieira is getting nearer

Bissouma completes Spurs medical ahead of £35m move

Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma has completed his Tottenham medical ahead of a £35m move to north London.

Calvin Ramsay: Liverpool agree £6.5m deal for Aberdeen right-back

Liverpool have identified the 18-year-old right-back as a long-term rival for Trent Alexander-Arnold; Aberdeen set to bank a club-record £6.5m fee for the talented defender; Ramsay was named SFWA Young Player of the Year this season

 

Bayern set to meet Liverpool’s £42.5m Mane price

Sadio Mane is on the verge of sealing a move to Bayern Munich with the club preparing an improved offer in line with Liverpool’s £42.5 million valuation.

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Football / Sports

Diogo Jota brace fires Liverpool past Arsenal and into Carabao Cup final to face Chelsea

A match that finally took place, but there was no actual contest. Arsenal, it could be argued, still didn’t really play.

Liverpool reached a fifth cup final of Jurgen Klopp’s time, and the first in this competition in six years, by comfortably beating Mikel Arteta’s side 2-0 in the League Cup semi-final second leg. This one wasn’t about false positives but false advertising. It just wasn’t the game that was billed, and certainly didn’t live up the enjoyable chaos that the competition’s semi-finals often offer.

Arteta’s side clearly have so much promise but also some way to go, as they lost another big game. Liverpool, and especially Diogo Jota, were just too good for them. There was almost an inevitability about that given all the ructions of the last week and how the north London derby was postponed. Arsenal could point to a stretched squad and how Thomas Partey came on just hours after arriving back from the African Cup of Nations, only to be sent off in the aimless final minutes.

That ended up being indicative in another way, as it summed up how Arsenal were always stretching to try and bridge the gap to Liverpool, but Klopp’s side were too good.

A side without Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane just showed Arsenal how it’s done, giving a semi-final occasionally clouded by an acrimonious atmosphere a muted finish.

Perhaps the only question from the entire game was whether Jota intended the finish that effectively settled the contest, or mishit it. It is someway irrelevant to the game, given the end result was a goal either way, but it was a rare moment when Aaron Ramsdale looked culpable.

It’s possible he was unsighted, as Jota weaved his way towards the Arsenal box until he had a mass of bodies diving in from all angles.

Jota went for the finish, hitting a shot low to the right that almost trickled in. Ramsdale had been completely wrong-footed.

Such a slow shot similarly took some of the pace out of the game. Arsenal’s …

Football / Sports

Demarai Gray’s late strike ends Rafael Benitez’s side’s winless run

It looked like another night to forget for Everton’ when Richarlison was twice denied goals after being ruled offside by VAR, the first coming moments before Martin Odegaard gave the visitors the lead in stoppage time at the end of the first half. However, the Brazilian wasn’t to be denied a third time as he headed home the rebound to bring the scores level after Gray’s strike had hit the crossbar. Arsenal, who will feel aggrieved Ben Godfrey didn’t see red after his studs caught Takehiro Tomiyasu in the face in the first half, had a glorious chance of their own to retake the lead in the final 10 minutes when Eddie Nketiah headed against the post from inside the six-yard box, but it the points were Everton’s as Gray’s powerful effort hit the inside of the post and went in to start the home celebrations.

The victory sees Everton, who saw a small section of their supporters walk out in protest at the running of the club in the 27th minute, move up to 12th, relieving the pressure that was building on Benitez after an eight-game winless run. Meanwhile, Arsenal, who stay seventh, lose ground in the race for fourth after wins for West Ham, Tottenham and Manchester United at the weekend.

Everton have won three consecutive league matches against Arsenal for the first time since April 1986.

Everton have won 10 points from losing positions in the Premier League this season, more than any other side in 2021-22.

Arsenal have lost consecutive Premier League matches when scoring the first goal in each match, the first time they’ve done that since December 2016, with one of those defeats also a 2-1 loss against Everton at Goodison Park (the other was a 2-1 defeat to Man City).

Demarai Gray’s winner for Everton was scored after 91 minutes and 21 seconds, their latest winning goal in a Premier League match since December 2015 v Newcastle (92:46), and latest at Goodison Park in the competition since March 2014 v Cardiff (92:33).

Gray …

Football / Sports

Papastathopoulos Completes Arsenal Switch

Arsenal has completed the signing of Greek international Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Borussia Dortmund.
The Gunners have announced that the experienced defender has signed a “long-term contract” after joining for “an undisclosed fee”.
The 30-year-old, who won two league titles and one German cup with Dortmund, will wear the number 5 shirt for Arsenal.
Sokratis’s previous clubs include Werder Bremen, AC Milan, Genoa and AEK Athens, and he also has 79 caps from the Greek national team.
New Arsenal boss Unai Emery previously already added experience to his backline with the signing of Swiss veteran Stephan Lichtsteiner from Italian giants Juventus.
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Football / Sports

Leno Completes Arsenal Move

Bernd Leno has finalised a move to Arsenal from Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen.
The German club announced via Twitter that the transfer has been agreed, which makes the goalkeeper Unai Emery’s second signing as manager.
The arrival of the German international, who missed out on a spot in the World Cup squad, calls into question Petr Cech’s position at the Emirates.
The former Chelsea stopper was recently handed the number one jersey, but Leno will aim to be first choice at the North London outfit.
German publication Kicker recently reported that the fee agreed was around £21.9 million, but the figure has not yet been revealed by either club.
Leno spent seven years at Leverkusen, but did not win a trophy during that entire time.
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