Beefy Bites: Arsenal see red again as Newcastle United close the gap
Newcastle give themselves a scare but gain ground at the top of the Premier League
Red cards were the order of the day for two high-flyers in the Premier League on Saturday.
Arsenal and AFC Bournemouth both paid the price with home defeats, leaving the door open for Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest to take advantage. Elsewhere, there were losses for Rangers and Celtic, a drawn Melbourne derby, and yet another win for Coventry City.
Here’s your Monday lunchtime weekend round-up.
Red cards cost Arsenal and Bournemouth dear
There’s nothing like settling down to watch Match of the Day knowing there are a couple of straight red cards to enjoy. On Saturday, it was the turn of Arsenal – again – and AFC Bournemouth.
Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off for the Gunners – again – and paid the price for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity despite the foul taking place in midfield. The absurd positioning of goalkeeper David Raya left the referee with no option.
Bournemouth went down to ten men thanks to the dismissal of Illia Zabarnyi for a foul on Wolverhampton Wanderers wing back Rayan Aït-Nouri. There was more controversy about this one but going studs-up over the ball is likely to draw a red card whether the boot rolls over the ball or clears it entirely.
Either way, it was a costly one. Like Arsenal, Bournemouth ended up losing 1-0 at home. With Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest meeting on Sunday, both losing sides left themselves with a problem.
Magpies hold on. Just.
Sunday’s early kick-off at St James’ Park was a cracker for the neutrals and took Newcastle past Bournemouth into fifth, three points behind third-placed Forest.
The Magpies scored all four goals in the space of eleven first-half minutes, cancelling out Callum Hudson-Odoi’s opener and then some, but inexplicably ceded control of the game in the second half. Forest had the chances to grab a point.
According to Fotmob, Newcastle had an expected goals (xG) value of 2.01 in those eleven extraordinary minutes, nearly two-thirds of their match total.
They got the job done in the end but Eddie Howe will be spending a fair amount of time in the coming days reviewing their defending from set pieces. Forest’s second and third goals came from corners that were dealt with very poorly indeed.
Sky Blues dreaming of the play-offs under Frank Lampard
Coventry City have won seven of their last eight games in the Championship and soared up the table as a consequence. Saturday’s 2-1 win against Preston North End banished a long winless run against Paul Heckingbottom’s side and kept the Sky Blues one point outside the play-off places.
With Blackburn Rovers defeated comfortably by Swansea City, Coventry’s latest win means there are now two teams above them by that single point. Neither is in anything like the form Frank Lampard has squeezed out of his team this side of New Year’s Day.
Jack Rudoni and Bobby Thomas both headed in their fourth goals of the season, behind only Ellis Simms with six and Haji Wright on seven. The American international is close to a return having been unavailable for Lampard’s entire time at the CBS Arena. Coventry are in very good shape.
Clement canned as Old Firm suffer twin defeats
Celtic and Rangers both lost in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday. Celtic's part in that makes it unusual but their defeat by a resurgent Hibernian was – for them, but certainly not for Hibs – inconsequential.
The same can't be said of Rangers’ home loss against St Mirren. As a standalone result, it won't make a fat lot of difference to their season. It was, however, the last straw. Manager Philippe Clement was finally sacked on Sunday with the Gers thirteen points behind Celtic after their fifth league defeat.
The lowlight of Clement’s time in charge was Rangers’ Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Queen’s Park but Stephen Robinson and St Mirren finished the job by beating Rangers for the second game in a row.
Mikael Mandron’s powerful low finish and a super strike beyond Jack Butland by Toyosi Olusanya provided the Buddies’ goals and that was that for Clement, and not before time. St Mirren hadn’t won at Ibrox since 1991.
No Melbourne Victory victory over city rivals City
Australia’s A-League Men’s season is approaching crunch time and both Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City are close enough to the dotted line to have some work left to do if they’re to qualify for the finals.
They drew 2-2 in a game that matched the scorching heat of Victoria. Marco Tilio gave City an early lead with an excellent first-time finish across the goalkeeper in the fifth minute but Zinedine Machach equalised from the penalty spot as tempers flared in first-half stoppage time.
In the third minute of the second half, Clarismario Santos powered the Victory in front. They looked for some time like they would take all three points.
Their captain, Roderick Miranda, was fortunate not to be shown a second yellow card for the foul in the box that gave City their equaliser. Victory goalkeeper Mitch Langerak should also have been booked for his fannying about but it did nothing to distract Kai Trewin, who earned City a point from the spot.
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