..::Football IV::..

[Wolverine GTR]

Sheffield United 0-1 Liverpool: Henderson howler keeps Reds perfect

Liverpool maintained their 100 per cent start to the Premier League season as Dean Henderson's howler handed them a hard-fought 1-0 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.The Reds have swept all before them so far this season domestically but looked destined to drop their first points of the campaign against Chris Wilder's spirited side.

Blade goalkeeper Henderson gifted them a 16th straight league victory, though, allowing Georginio Wijnaldum's volley to squirm through his grasp with 20 minutes remaining.


The result means Jurgen Klopp's table-topping squad move eight points clear of reigning champions Manchester City, who head to Everton later on Saturday.

The Blades were far from overawed by their more illustrious opponents in the opening stages, twice coming close before the midway point of the first half.Oli McBurnie fired straight at Adrian after cutting in from the left in the third minute, while Callum Robinson lashed wide from 18 yards after being played in by John Fleck.Sadio Mane then squandered a golden opportunity to open the scoring shortly after the half-hour mark, slicing horribly over with just Henderson to beat.

The Senegal international misfired again shortly before the interval, striking the post from six yards after being teed up by Roberto Firmino.McBurnie headed over from an inswinging corner soon after the restart, while Oliver Norwood forced Adrian into a stop down to his right from 30 yards.

Yet the game's decisive moment arrived in the 70th minute when Wijnaldum's tame volley from the edge of the penalty area slipped through Henderson's grasp and trickled over the line.

The on-loan Manchester United keeper prevented Salah adding another with a smart stop, though one goal turned out to be enough for Liverpool on the road.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Atletico Madrid 0-0 Real Madrid: Points shared in goalless El Derbi

Real Madrid regained top spot in LaLiga with a goalless draw against bitter rivals Atletico Madrid in Saturday's El Derbi.Karim Benzema nearly snatched the victory for Madrid with his headed effort 15 minutes from time at Wanda Metropolitano, forcing a great save out of Jan Oblak.

Joao Felix and Saul Niguez went closest for Atletico, who registered just one attempt on target as their winless run in competitive meetings with Madrid stretched to a seventh match.


Both teams ultimately lacked quality in the final third, but it is Madrid - who have now gone three matches without conceding in the league - who will be happier after climbing above surprise package Granada at the summit.
Atletico put seven goals past Madrid in July's pre-season clash in New Jersey and looked the more likely side to make a breakthrough in the first half of this latest showdown.

Joao Felix twice went close for the hosts, dragging a shot wide of the target with the angle against him and blasting narrowly wide from 25 yards.Madrid had some promising moments of their own before the interval, though, with Toni Kroos testing Oblak twice in the space of three minutes late in the half.

Diego Someone introduced Angel Correa at half-time and the substitute headed over from a promising position four minutes after coming on.Madrid forward Gareth Bale skied a shot soon after and Luka Modric, brought off the bench in an attempt to inspire Madrid, pulled one wide.

The game temporarily sparked into life in the final quarter as Benzema's header was palmed to safety by Oblak, three minutes after Saul glanced agonisingly wide.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

‘Pogba is a complete midfielder’ – Mata says fellow World Cup winner is ‘very important’ to Man Utd


Paul Pogba is a “complete midfielder” in the eyes of Manchester United team-mate Juan Mata, with the Frenchman considered to be “very important” to the Red Devils.

Not everybody has shared that opinion of the 26-year-old since he returned to Old Trafford in the summer of 2016.Criticism has come his way on a regular basis, with plenty expected of United's record-breaking £89 million ($109m) asset.

Pogba’s struggles for consistency have done him few favours in the eyes of his detractors, despite his game having made him a World Cup winner and captain material with United.But Mata admits to being a big fan of the all-action playmaker, with his value recognised by those around him in Manchester even if others are struggling to see it.

The Spaniard told The Times: “Paul is a very important player for us.“He has fantastic qualities: physically, his vision’s very good, his passing’s very good.“He’s a complete midfielder. He’s got many things around him, social media life, but when you’re face to face with him, he’s very humble, a very nice guy, he has a good heart. I like him.”

Pogba is nursing his way through a frustrating period of injury problems at present, with a niggling knock preventing him from making the desired impact in 2019-20.
Much is expected of the France international this season after another summer of intense transfer speculation.

It has been suggested that interest from the likes of Real Madrid has turned Pogba’s head, with United legend Paul Scholes saying of a divisive figure: "I think it's quite clear he wants to move on."He wanted to go to Real Madrid, for whatever reason it didn't happen."I wouldn't be surprised if the same offer had been made like with Cristiano [Ronaldo] when he was at United.



"If they've asked him to stay for a year we'll see what happens, but I don't think he'll be a big loss to United."I don't think his form has been great anyway, over the two or three years he's been there. I'm sure there are more players who can do just as good a job."

Pogba has taken in five appearances for the Red Devils this season, registering two assists but still waiting on a first goal after missing a penalty during a 1-1 draw with Wolves in August.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Inter must recover for tough Barcelona and Juventus fixtures - Conte


Inter head coach Antonio Conte urged his players to take the intensity of their performances in Serie A into crunch games with Barcelona and Juventus.

Conte's side played virtually half of their 3-1 win over Sampdoria on Saturday with 10 men as they maintained their 100 per cent winning run.Inter secured victory on the road thanks to goals from Stefano Sensi, Alexis Sanchez and Roberto Gagliardini, while Jakub Jankto pulled one back for Sampdoria.

Sanchez, on loan from Manchester United, had a particularly eventful game as he scored his first Inter goal and was then sent off a minute into the second half for a second bookable offence.

Inter are two points clear of Juventus at the top of Serie A after six straight victories and Conte wants to use that as a springboard as they head to Camp Nou before hosting the Italian champions at the weekend."We need to recover our energy to make an intense match so we can make it difficult for Barca," Conte said. "I do not have to tell you the opposition teams we are playing.

"If you want to put Barcelona in difficulty, you have to play an intense game but at the same time you have to be good at limiting and not letting them play, otherwise it becomes a problem."You also have to be good at dribbling and building. This beginning in the league is the result of so much work and a lot of willingness on the part of the boys."

The victory saw Conte equal Roberto Mancini's best start to a season, although he still needs two more wins to overtake legendary Inter head coach Helenio Herrera's record of seven in the 1966-67 season.

But before looking to get close to that record, Conte must first steer Inter to their first win in this edition of the Champions League in Barcelona, having drawn their opening game 1-1 against Slavia Prague at the San Siro.

The two teams met in the group stage 12 months ago, with Barca winning the home leg 2-0 before points were shared in a 1-1 draw in Milan.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Juventus star Buffon 'very proud' after breaking Maldini's games record


Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon revelled in his record-breaking appearance after eclipsing Paolo Maldini for most games at club level.

Buffon - back in Turin after a season with Paris Saint-Germain - made his 903rd appearance for Juventus in Saturday's 2-0 Serie A win over SPAL to break Maldini's appearance record.

The 41-year-old Buffon matched Maldini's record in last week's victory against Hellas Verona before returning to the bench for Tuesday's trip to Brescia, however, the Juve star was back on the field for the visit of SPAL.

After surpassing fellow Italian great Maldini, Buffon told reporters: "It's a great satisfaction, I wasn't aware I was so close to this record two games ago, I found out at the last game. I was told I had reached Paolo [Maldini].
"It makes me very happy and very proud, proud for what I did, but as I said to your colleagues, I am happy because I got here not dragging myself, but as a high-level player. That's what I think I can say without being presumptuous."Therefore I also added, earlier on, that I will always thank my parents and my wife, which has been benevolent with me, but I can also say that there's something of my own in all this."

Buffon returned to Juve during the close season after a one-year spell at Ligue 1 champions PSG, having also previously represented Parma.Unlike Maldini, who spent his entire career with Serie A rivals AC Milan, Buffon's appearances have been spread across three clubs.

He played 220 matches for Parma at the start of his career, was used 25 times in a largely underwhelming campaign with PSG last time out and has now featured 658 times for Juventus.

Buffon has won an incredible nine Serie A titles with the Old Lady, while also lifting the Coppa Italia five times, including once with Parma.He also won a Ligue 1 title with PSG in 2018-19, during his only season outside of Italy.

However the Champions League is a trophy that has eluded the veteran goalkeeper, having lost in the final on three occasions - in 2003, 2015 and 2017.

 

[Arthur Curry]

Tottenham 2 - 7 FC Bayern Munich

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 Angers: Icardi gets up and running in Ligue 1

Mauro Icardi scored his first Ligue 1 goal with Neymar also on target as Paris Saint-Germain earned a routine 4-0 victory over in-form Angers at Parc des Princes.

Having opened his PSG account with the winner against Galatasaray in the Champions League in midweek, Icardi - who squandered a great chance early on - doubled his tally for the season with a simple finish 37 minutes into his first Ligue 1 start. Icardi's effort put PSG 2-0 up, with Pablo Sarabia's neat strike having given Thomas Tuchel's side a 13th-minute lead.

Idrissa Gueye joined Icardi and Sarabia in getting off the mark in Ligue 1 midway through the second half, before Neymar capped a fine individual display with his fourth goal of the season late on.

Icardi should have made the breakthrough 10 minutes in, only to mishit his shot after rounding Ludovic Butelle.But Sarabia made no such mistake, arrowing a low strike beyond Butelle after leaving a glut of defenders in his wake.

Rachid Alioui should have restored parity when he went through against Keylor Navas, but Angers' top scorer lashed his effort wide. PSG duly made Angers pay - Sarabia turning provider with a drilled cross in for Icardi to finish first-time.

Sarabia had his second assist just before the hour, albeit in rather fortuitous fashion. After seeing a volley cleared off the line, Sarabia's sliced follow-up fell to Gueye, who turned home into the left-hand corner.

Butelle made a terrific save to prevent Neymar adding a fourth but the Brazilian, superb throughout, was not denied again in the 90th minute, coolly slotting in after skipping past Angers' goalkeeper.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Liverpool 2-1 Leicester City: Last-gasp Milner penalty maintains Reds' winning run

James Milner scored a 95th-minute penalty to extend Liverpool's winning run to 17 Premier League matches in a dramatic 2-1 victory over Leicester City at Anfield.

The Reds looked set to ease to victory after Sadio Mane marked his 100th league appearance for the club with his 50th goal five minutes before half-time, but Jurgen Klopp's men missed chance after chance to extend their lead.

And Leicester, having scarcely threatened, struck through James Maddison with 10 minutes remaining as Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers threatened to end the Reds' streak on his first return to Merseyside since his departure in 2015.


However, there was time for late drama as Mane won a penalty having been clipped by Marc Albrighton moments after Mohamed Salah hobbled off with an ankle issue, allowing Milner to net a last-gasp winner.

Liverpool have now triumphed in 17 consecutive top-flight matches - one short of the all-time record - and lead Manchester City by eight points in the table ahead of the champions' Sunday meeting with Wolves.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was involved in much of Liverpool's best attacking play from right-back and crafted early opportunities for Milner and Roberto Firmino, yet both were squandered.

It was a ball from Milner on the opposite flank that led to the breakthrough, though, as Jonny Evans failed to cut out a pass in behind and was punished ruthlessly by Mane, who might have had a second before the break but shot straight at Kasper Schmeichel.

Salah was denied by Schmeichel shortly after the restart and Evans deflected the ball narrowly wide off Mane, while both Firmino and Andy Robertson went close.This profligacy set up a tense finish and Maddison looked to have snatched an improbable point as he fired under Adrian after good work from Ayoze Perez.

Salah then departed after a rugged challenge from Hamza Choudhury, but Liverpool did not give up and Albrighton tangled with Mane in the area, with a VAR check siding with referee Chris Kavanagh on the award of a spot-kick, which Milner rifled home.

The full-time whistle was greeted with scenes of jubilation from Klopp and the Liverpool supporters, while Perez appeared to clash with Robertson, prompting a melee that granted a gripping contest a suitably chaotic ending.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Real Madrid 4-2 Granada: Hazard scores first goal as Zidane's men hold on

Eden Hazard scored and assisted his first goals for Real Madrid as the LaLiga leaders held on to beat stubborn second-placed opponents Granada 4-2 to extend their lead at the summit.

The Belgium international lifted the ball over Rui Silva to get off the mark in his sixth match for the club, doubling the hosts' tally after Karim Benzema's early opener in Saturday's top-of-the-table clash at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Substitute Luka Modric added another from range for Madrid but surprise package Granada pulled one back from the spot after Alphonse Areola gave away a penalty, then Domingos Duarte set up a tense finale with his close-range finish.


But Zinedine Zidane's men saw out their first win in three matches, James Rodriguez striking in added time, to move four points clear of Granada and city rivals Atletico Madrid, who have a game in hand to play.
Madrid have now won their last nine league meetings with Granada, scoring 32 goals in total, and it took them 102 seconds to find the breakthrough in this latest encounter.

Gareth Bale picked out Benzema with an outside-of-the-boot pass and the France international made no mistake with his first-time finish from seven yards.Granada goalkeeper Silva was equal to attempts from Dani Carvajal and Federico Valverde, but he was unable to keep out Hazard's delightful effort at the end of the opening period.

Modric, brought on as a first-half substitute for the injured Toni Kroos, scored the goal of the match with an arrowed drive into the top-left corner just after the hour mark, only for Darwin Machis to pull one back after Areola brought down Carlos Fernandez in the box.

Duarte then turned in a flick-on from close range, but Madrid killed off any hopes of a memorable Granada comeback when James swept a side-footed finish into the bottom-right corner at the end of a counter-attack.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Bayern Munich 1-2 Hoffenheim: Adamyan brace deals champions shock defeat

Bayern Munich suffered their first defeat in 21 Bundesliga matches as Hoffenheim ran out 2-1 winners at the Allianz Arena courtesy of Sargis Adamyan's brace.

The Armenian striker scored either side of Robert Lewandowski's 11th league goal of the season to earn Alfred Schreuder's struggling side a shock victory over the champions, whose flat performance merited nothing more than a defeat.

Hoffenheim came into the game winless in four but found themselves up against a lacklustre Bayern side who offered precious little creativity before Lewandowski cancelled out Adamyan's opener.


The Bayern striker wore the look of a man dragging his team out of the mire as he headed home the equaliser but he could not spare Niko Kovac's blushes after Adamyan struck again 11 minutes from time and earned his side a memorable triumph.
An early lapse in Bayern's defence allowed Adamyan a clear run at goal inside the opening five minutes but he hesitated, allowing Jerome Boateng to get a leg in the way of his shot, which ballooned over the crossbar.Serge Gnabry had the ball in the net after 22 minutes after some fine build-up play by Robert Lewandowski, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Bayern were caught napping again nine minutes after half-time when Dennis Geiger robbed Kingsley Coman of the ball before playing in Adamyan, who cut inside two defenders and scored with a neat left-footed finish inside Neuer's near-post.Stefan Posch gave the hosts another scare when his angled drive flashed across the face of goal in the 64th minute as tension grew around the stadium.

Boateng floated a cross onto Gnabry's head with 22 minutes remaining and the winger's flick sent the ball curling just wide before Lewandowski rose unmarked to meet substitute Thomas Muller's chipped pass and powered a header into the far corner of the net.

But the home crowd's relief was short-lived. Hoffenheim continued to attack on the break and Robert Skov's low cross found Adamyan on the edge of the box, from where he sent the winning goal skidding into the bottom corner of Neuer's net.The Bayern goalkeeper went up for a corner as the champions desperately sought another leveller that never arrived.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Brighton and Hove Albion 3-0 Tottenham: Connolly shines as woeful Spurs lose Lloris to injury

Aaron Connolly scored twice and Hugo Lloris suffered a serious arm injury as Tottenham lost 3-0 at Brighton and Hove Albion to cap a dismal week.

Humiliated in a 7-2 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich in midweek, Spurs needed a response to ward off rumours of disharmony but encountered only more pain at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.Lloris bore the worst of it, the captain left in agony and taken from the field on a stretcher following a lengthy delay after landing awkwardly on his left arm in an incident that gifted the hosts a third-minute lead.

The goalkeeper dropped a routine Pascal Gross cross, stumbled backwards and was in too much anguish to keep Neal Maupay from nodding home the loose ball at point-blank range.

Connolly, 19, doubled Brighton's lead before the interval and completed a dream first Premier League start with an exquisite second in the 65th minute that sealed his side's first win over Tottenham since 1983.

Paulo Gazzaniga replaced Lloris - who received oxygen from medical staff - and he was retrieving the ball from the back of the net in the 32nd minute.

The substitute made the initial save after Connolly beat Ben Davies to Dan Burns' delivery from the left but could not prevent the teenager from converting the rebound.It took Tottenham almost 45 minutes to threaten Brighton's goal, Erik Lamela's attempt following a fine team move forcing Lewis Dunk to hack clear off his own line.

The influential Gross grazed the crossbar with a cheeky free-kick moments before Connolly scored his second, an arrowed right-footed shot into the far corner.Son Heung-min, Harry Kane and Lucas Moura were all unable to reduce the deficit as Spurs limped to another harrowing defeat.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

'It is dangerous as hell' - Klopp rages after tackle from Choudhury on Salah


Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was furious at the treatment meted out to Mohamed Salah in the Reds' 2-1 win over Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday .

The Egypt international limped off after a heavy challenge by Hamza Choudhury as time ran down at Anfield.Leicester’s England Under-21 international was booked for the tackle, but Klopp thought the cynical nature of the foul, plus the fact that his star man was forced off, warranted stronger sanctions.

"How can Mo be OK? How did he [Choudhury] only get a yellow card?” Klopp told the BBC. “Mo limped off the pitch. That’s hard. It was done to slow Mo down and that is not OK."“It’s just a challenge which I really don’t understand,” Klopp added at his post-game press conference.

“How he can do it, because the ball is far away. The player is full sprint to bring him down without the ball around, for me there is only one colour card.“I see in your eyes that I am probably the only one who sees it like this.“It is dangerous as hell. I don’t want to cause the boy [Choudhury] any problems but he has to calm down.

“He has to calm down. This is not the first situation like this. Super player but these kind of challenges… noThe Foxes caused Klopp’s men problems and almost ended their Premier League winning streak at 16.

When Salah was substituted the game was level at 1-1, with James Maddison’s goal in the 80th minute cancelling out Sadio Mane’s opener, his 50th goal for Liverpool. Mane won a penalty in injury time which veteran James Milner converted to seal all three points for Klopp’s team.

Klopp thought the scoreline reflected the game and praised Milner’s cool."The penalty was obviously a penalty,” he told the BBC.“I am happy with how we played, we got the result, that is super. We knew it would probably happen, we knew we were going to fight for the win and we did.

“Without luck we cannot win the amount of games we have won but over the 90 minutes, we deserved it, we deserved the three points.“James Milner held his nerve and that was superb.”

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Lloris stretchered off in agony after suffering dislocated elbow against Brighton


Hugo Lloris had to be stretched off in considerable pain as he suffered a serious injury to his left arm after gifting Brighton the lead in Saturday's Premier League clash.

The Frenchman dropped what appeared a routine catch from a cross from the left, allowing Neal Maupay to nod into the empty net from right underneath the crossbar to give the hosts the lead. A double by youngster Aaron Connolly would eventually see Brighton take all three points in a 3-0 victory.

Lloris was clearly in significant discomfort, with the Spurs goalkeeper receiving oxygen and eventually being stretchered off, to be replaced by Paulo Gazzaniga after a lengthy delay.

BT Sport reported that Lloris was screaming as he left the field on a stretcher and that, after being given morphine, he was rushed straight to hospital for further assessment.

Spurs later confirmed that Lloris dislocated his elbow, avoiding breaking the joint, but have offered no timetable for the World Cup winner's return.“We can confirm that Hugo Lloris sustained a dislocated elbow during today’s match against Brighton,” Tottenham said on their website.

“Our club captain was stretchered off as a result of the injury and will now return to London this evening after being assessed at a local hospital.“Assessment will continue this coming week to ascertain the full extent of the injury and the length of time he will require to undergo rehabilitation.”

The incident and subsequent goal happened inside the first three minutes of the first half and was the fastest Brighton have found the net in their Premier League history.Given the obvious severity of the injury, Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea immediately tweeted a message of support for the Spurs captain as he posted a praying emoji.

The defeat rounded off a dismal week for Spurs and manager Mauricio Pochettino, with his side having been hammered 7-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

The international break gives Spurs two weeks until their next fixture when they will face the Premier League’s bottom club, Watford, on October 19.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Get well soon Lloris!​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Southampton 1-4 Chelsea: Abraham nets again as Blues maintain momentum

Chelsea brushed aside Southampton 4-1 at St Mary's Stadium on Sunday to register back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time under Frank Lampard.In-form striker Tammy Abraham broke the deadlock with his eighth league goal of the campaign to join Sergio Aguero at the top of the competition's scoring charts.

Mason Mount and N'Golo Kante were also on target, either side of Danny Ings pulling one back, as Lampard's men netted three first-half goals for the second successive Premier League away trip.

Substitute Michy Batshuayi scored the only goal of a low-key second half to seal the win for Chelsea, who rise up to fifth in the table.

Abraham lifted Callum Hudson-Odoi's straight pass over a hesitant Angus Gunn to give Chelsea the lead 17 minutes in, the strike being awarded by goal-line technology despite Maya Yoshida's acrobatic clearance.The visitors doubled their tally seven minutes later as Mount took Willian's pass in his stride and fired past Gunn, but Southampton were given a lifeline when Ings got in front of Kurt Zouma to divert the ball home.

Chelsea's two-goal lead was restored before half-time, though, as Kante's long-range effort deflected off Jan Bednarek past a wrong-footed Gunn.

Ings rounded Kepa Arrizabalaga but could not find a way past covering Chelsea midfielder Jorginho on the line, while up the other end Gunn kept out Abraham and Hudson-Odoi, who was making his first league start of the season.

But Southampton ultimately offered little in the way of an attacking threat after the interval, with Chelsea instead adding to their tally a minute from time through Batshuayi's composed finish after he had exchanged passes with fellow substitute Christian Pulisic.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Arsenal 1-0 Bournemouth: David Luiz heads in to put Gunners third

David Luiz's first Arsenal goal secured a 1-0 win over Bournemouth at Emirates Stadium and lifted the Gunners to third in the Premier League.

The Brazilian defender's ninth-minute header settled a low-key contest on Sunday as Unai Emery's men extended their undefeated streak to eight games in all competitions.Callum Wilson failed to track the centre-back for the winner and later squandered a rare, clear-cut opening for an equaliser.

There were otherwise precious few opportunities for either side, the Cherries slumping to a seventh defeat in nine instances of this fixture.

Bournemouth had conceded five times in each of their three previous Premier League trips to London and fell behind early on this occasion.David Luiz darted clear of striker Wilson and glanced a header inside the far upright from Nicolas Pepe's corner.

Pepe next went close with a curling effort and had penalty appeals rejected when Diego Rico took a mixture of ball and man in the 23rd minute.

Wilson should have brought Bournemouth level five minutes after the interval but, after bursting onto Dominic Solanke's pass and gliding past Bernd Leno, the England striker pulled the ball across the face with the goal at his mercy.
Arsenal started to live dangerously and needed goalkeeper Leno to tip behind a deflected Jack Stacey cross just prior to the hour.

But the lapse in concentration was fleeting and, having failed to take advantage, Eddie Howe's side could ultimately have few complaints about a third league defeat of the season.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Manchester City 0-2 Wolves: Traore double stuns insipid champions

Adama Traore's double means Manchester City remain eight points behind Liverpool at the Premier League summit as Wolves stormed to a 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The Reds' last-gasp win over Leicester City a day earlier opened up a sizeable lead over Pep Guardiola's side, who were unable to reduce the deficit after an insipid display.

City were second best to their well-drilled opponents for long periods, with Traore's two breakaway goals in the final 10 minutes handing Nuno Espirito Santo's side a thoroughly deserved three points.

The result means the Premier League champions have already lost two of their eight league games this season, while Wolves move up to 11th after just their second win of the campaign.

Wolves squandered a glorious opportunity to take a fifth-minute lead, Patrick Cutrone skewing horribly wide after being played clean through by Traore.
A sloppy pass from Riyad Mahrez almost cost his side midway through the first half, but two superb blocks by Fernandinho denied Raul Jimenez and Cutrone.Jimenez then failed to get a shot away quickly enough when bearing down on Ederson after another wayward pass from City, this time from Nicolas Otamendi.

A sluggish City failed to test Rui Patricio inside the opening 30 minutes, although the Wolves goalkeeper did keep out Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker's efforts from outside the penalty area shortly before the interval.

City went agonisingly close to taking an undeserved lead in the 67th minute when David Silva's wonderful free-kick from 25 yards crashed back off Patricio's crossbar.

Substitute Bernardo Silva saw a goal-bound strike blocked 15 minutes from time – a reprieve that was clinically capitalised on by Traore soon after.The Spaniard superbly slotted past the onrushing Ederson from Jimenez's pass after an incisive counter-attacking move to stun the home faithful.

The 23-year-old then wrapped up a notable win in stoppage time, again latching onto a Jimenez pass and clipping past Ederson in what was almost a carbon copy of his first goal.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Newcastle United 1-0 Manchester United: Longstaff debut goal compounds Solskjaer's misery

Manchester United's dismal form continued as Matty Longstaff's debut goal earned Newcastle United a 1-0 Premier League victory and piled the misery on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Having rattled the crossbar in the first half, Matty Longstaff - partnering his older brother Sean in midfield - fizzed in the winner with a superb 72nd-minute strike at St James' Park.Things would have been different had Harry Maguire converted a simple chance before the break, while Fabian Schar denied Marcus Rashford a tap-in just prior to Newcastle's goal.

But it was 19-year-old Matty Longstaff who had the final say as Steve Bruce, on his 400th Premier League game as a manager, secured a first win over the Red Devils, whose winless run on the road has stretched to 11 matches in all competitions.

Matty Longstaff sparked the match into life in the 28th minute, rattling the crossbar with a dipping long-range effort.

Sean Longstaff turned provider with a fantastic pass for Miguel Almiron soon after, only for the Paraguayan to hesitate when one-on-one with David De Gea - Maguire charging back to make a vital block.

Maguire should have made Newcastle pay for Almiron's profligacy but failed to direct a free header on target from six yards out.

Almiron wasted no chance in getting his next shot off, though failed to direct his effort anywhere near the target after latching onto Allan Saint-Maximin's pass.Bruce introduced Andy Carroll with over half-an-hour to play and the change almost paid dividends when he connected with Matty Longstaff's cross, but turned his header over.

Schar made a vital intervention to prevent Rashford tucking home Daniel James' cross and Newcastle swiftly made his good work count.

Saint-Maximin led the charge, with Jetro Willems, who had been played onside by Andreas Pereira, supplying the cut-back for Matty Longstaff to hammer home his first goal and secure a vital win to lift Newcastle out of the bottom three.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

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[ThisaraMalintha]

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