Author: cimi

Unai Emery has admitted that Arsenal face a tough task in their bid to finish in the top four of the Premier League and qualify for next season’s Champions League.

The Gunners dropped to fifth in the table following Manchester United’s win over Watford on Saturday, whilst Chelsea have the chance to go level on points with their London rivals when they take on Cardiff on Sunday.

?Arsenal will have a game in hand on both their rivals ahead of their clash with ?Newcastle on Monday, but Emery expects a tough battle ahead to finish in the Champions League places. As quoted by the ?Express, the Spaniard said: “Each day, each match, for us and them, is very important.

“Thirty-eight matches give us [a chance] to be competitive, to play consistently. Now we are taking as a big performance as ?Manchester United, ?Chelsea and ?Tottenham?. Now it’s very important and I trust in us.

“I know we need to do a lot to be in the top four. I know Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham are going to win a lot of points between this match and the last.”

Arsenal went into the international break in fine form following crucial wins over Manchester United and Rennes in the Europa League, and will look to continue that momentum as they face Newcastle at the Emirates following an extensive break.

“We have the habit to play three matches in a week, when we are doing that the players are very focused on preparing, resting and playing,” Emery added.

“When we are taking international breaks we can rest other players. In this break we decided to go away to train four days and play one match.”

Speaking on Monday’s meeting with Newcastle at the Emirates, Emery added: “It’s not my thought now, because I know Monday’s match is going to be very difficult. Newcastle are in a good moment.

“They have a lot [of] good players and good organisation. The coach has a lot of experience and he is very competitive and I know that.”

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?Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera wants a new £200,000-a-week contract to remain at Old Trafford, but the Red Devils are refusing to meet his demands.

Herrera, who has been a key part of United’s resurgence under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, finds himself out of contract at the end of the season and is yet to agree on fresh terms. He has been heavily linked with a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, whilst Arsenal have also been touted as possible suitors for the midfielder.

News of the contract stand-off comes from ?The Mirror, who state that ?Herrera’s demands have been altered after receiving a lucrative offer from PSG.

?United are prepared to offer him £170,000-a-week, but the 29-year-old wants something closer to the £200,000-a-week mark, with the Ligue 1 giants said to be prepared to agree to his wage demands.

However, it appears as though United are refusing to budge on their offer for Herrera, instead believing that the Spaniard is asking for far too much money.

A source inside the club is quoted as saying: “Ander has been a fantastic squad player and the offer we have made him reflects that. We want him to stay. He can be a big part of the future under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

“But we have gone as far as we can. We can’t be held to ransom. We have to be realistic about what his value to the club is.”

Herrera has featured heavily since Solskjaer arrived at the club in December 2017. He has made 13 appearances under the Norwegian, but has missed United’s last five games after suffering a hip injury.

He is said to want to remain with United, but has yet to reduce his contract demands, which could ultimately force him out the exit door at the end of the season. 

Herrera is not the only United star who is currently at loggerheads with the club over wage demands. ?David de Gea and ?Juan Mata are both said to be pushing for high salaries in the wake of ?Alexis Sanchez’s £400,000-a-week deal, and it remains to be seen whether United will give in and grant their wishes.

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Huddersfield Town manager Jan Siewert has claimed that he was impressed with his team’s performance during their 2-0 defeat against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, a result which confirms his team’s relegation from the Premier League.

The Yorkshire club gave a good account of themselves during Saturday’s match despite the threat of relegation looming fiercely over them. The Terriers edged an uneventful first half before succumbing to a Luka Milivojevic penalty and a Patrick van Aanholt strike in the second half.

Talking to ?Huddersfield Town’s official website, Siewert saw plenty of reasons to be positive in regards to the team’s display, despite the loss confirming their relegation from the top flight.

Siewert said: ?“I think we did very well in the first half. We encountered tactical situations very well and had offensive possibilities against a team which has the quality of? Wilfried Zaha, for example. It was really great to see the lads fighting for each other.

“When you see this group on the pitch today, they made the home audience give them a round of applause after the game, even at half time we were impressed. It was great for us to see that we did so many things right.”

The German manager also suggested that the fashion in which his team was defeated was rather symbolic of their entire campaign.

“The penalty definitely summed up the season. We haven’t had a penalty ourselves this season, but we’ve conceded eight to 10. The quality in the Premier League is so high that it completely takes the game in a different direction. But still, at 1-0 down, we fought and had a chance to equalise. The team on the pitch today made me really proud.”

Siewert’s attention will now look towards the team’s future and the aim of putting right the many wrongs from their horrific league campaign this season.

Siewert said:”I think the fans realise what we are doing. There are certain things that go wrong in a season, and we have to find all the things that we are willing to do as a club. It’s great, and the supporters are part of that, and they help to bring us in the right direction.

“We are really focusing on the stuff that went wrong, and finding a better way to come back stronger.”

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?Manuel Pellegrini has branded West Ham’s 2-0 home defeat to Everton as his side’s worst performance of the season.

The hosts found themselves behind after just four minutes thanks to a Kurt Zouma header from a corner, and the Hammers never really looked like threatening an equaliser. Bernard then doubled the visitors’ lead just after the half hour mark, and the Hammers looked all over the place defensively.

Pellegrini brought on Chicharito Hernandez and Michail Antonio to start the second half, however it did very little to alter the course of the game as ?Everton ran out comfortable ?2-0 winners, and truthfully it could well have been a lot more.

Speaking to ?Sky Sports after the game Pellegrini conceded that his side were poor at both ends of the pitch and labelled the performance as his side’s worst of the season. He said: “[It’s] not only the worst home performance but the worst performance of the year – away or at home. 

“We have lost a lot of games before but not playing the way we did today, without creating chances and conceding so many chances for Everton.

“We played very bad in both boxes. We didn’t create chances in Everton’s box and in ours we conceded two goals. But I think Everton also had other chances to score more.”

The defeat means ?West Ham have now dropped two places in the ?Premier League table to 11th and missed a golden opportunity to climb up the table with both Wolves and Watford losing on Saturday.

“Everton fully deserved the win. We weren’t good enough throughout the whole game, particularly in the first half.”https://t.co/d9eHjYoVun

— West Ham United (@WestHamUtd) March 30, 2019

The fans will certainly be expecting a response from the team when they travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on 8 April, and will be keen to forget Saturday’s result in a hurry.

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?Marco Silva insisted that Everton’s 2-0 win over West Ham at the London Stadium was a good result for the Hammers after a dominant display from his men.

It took just four minutes for Everton to break the deadlock courtesy of the head of Kurt Zouma, and West Ham were never able to recover. Bernard doubled the visitor’s lead just after the half hour mark and had it not been for Lukasz Fabianski Everton would’ve taken a lot more than a two goal lead into half time. 

Pellegrini made a double attacking change at half time to try and ignite a spark for his ?West Ham side, however ?Everton’s dominance continued as they were able to see out the rest of the game with ease, strolling to a ?2-0 win.

Speaking to ?BBC Sport after the game, Silva revealed he was delighted with his side’s performance and insisted the 2-0 score line flattered West Ham. He said: “I was very proud of our performance and seeing our desire from the first minute.

“We were the best team on the pitch, we were playing good football and creating chances. Two nil at half time was a good result for them because it could have been five or six nil. We created chance after chance.”

The win means that Everton leapfrog the Hammers and move up into ninth place in the ?Premier League table – just one point away from a Europa League qualifying place. They’ll be hoping to make it three successive wins when they host Arsenal on Sunday afternoon in a week

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