Sports

Liverpool beat Southampton to seal FA Cup quarters

Published

10 months ago

February 29, 2024

Liverpool beat Southampton to seal FA Cup quarters

Lewis Koumas scored on his debut, and fellow 18-year-old Jayden Danns registered his first two goals as a depleted Liverpool side beat Southampton 3-0 at Anfield.

Liverpool’s victory, just three days after an exhausting 120-minute Carabao Cup final win over Chelsea, set up an FA Cup quarter-final at archrivals Manchester United.

Whether the Liverpool academy players will be required for that will depend on how fast the club can rehabilitate the 13 players currently injured in the next fortnight, but regardless, they have done their job.

Koumas, son of former Tranmere and West Brom midfielder Jason, was one of six players 21 or under in the Liverpool team.

And it was one of his fellow Liverpool academy colleagues, Bobby Clark, one year his senior and making his 10th appearance, who supplied the assist just before half-time.

Danns, the son of former Crystal Palace midfielder Neil, who only made his debut at Wembley, came off the bench to score the second in the 73rd minute, which allowed Anfield to breathe a sigh of relief.

That allowed Klopp the luxury of sending on Trey Nyoni, who, at 16 years and 243 days, became the club’s youngest player in the competition and the third youngest in the club’s history.

That was the signal for the party atmosphere to kick in with the Kop singing “We haven’t won a trophy since Sunday afternoon” just before Danns fired home his second in the 88th minute after goalkeeper Joe Lumley parried Conor Bradley’s drive.

Southampton, however, were left ruining a missed opportunity against under-strength opponents, having created enough chances in the opening half-hour to have made life difficult for their hosts.

Five of Liverpool’s Sunday starting XI—Caoimhin Kelleher, Virgil van Dijk, Harvey Elliott, Cody Gakpo, and Bradley—were retained, with three others—Ibrahim Konate, Alexis Mac Allister, and Luis Diaz—dropped to the bench.

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However, it was not all routine with defender Joe Gomez, who has been deployed all across the back four this season, asked to play the holding role in midfield alongside youngsters James McConnell and Clark.

But being asked to play a late cameo in a cup final and delivering from the off in a somewhat experimental team are two different things, and the disjointed nature of the first 40 minutes was understandable.

Southampton, fourth in the Championship and with eyes on a bigger prize than cup success to the extent they made eight changes from Saturday’s defeat to Millwall, took advantage but not enough to open the scoring, which was largely due to their decision-making in the final third.

Sekou Mara had the ball in the net after just 38 seconds but had gone too early and was flagged offside.

Kamaldeen Sulemana hit the post, and Mara forced Kelleher into two saves, with Sulemana then opting to shoot at the goalkeeper with Mara and Samuel Edozie waiting for a pass.

There was a point late in the half when Kostas Tsimikas was shouting instructions to Gakpo, only for Klopp to tell the left-back to do something different when he had the ball.

It summed up the confusion and lack of cohesion—until a moment of clarity fashioned on the training fields of Kirkby broke the deadlock.

Lumley had waited 40 minutes to make a save from Elliott’s 25-yarder, but he was undone by the quick feet of Koumas and a deflection off Jack Stephens.

Koumas started the move out on the left wing, and when Clark picked out the winger’s run, he cut onto his right foot and hit a shot that flicked off Stephens on its way past Lumley.

In a pre-planned move, Konate replaced Van Dijk for the second half to present Liverpool with a different challenge without the leadership of their inspirational captain.

The substitute assumed the mantle immediately, doing just enough to put off Mara as he tried to reach Sulemana’s cross, while at that same far post, the unmarked Shea Charles fired into the side- net with only Kelleher to beat after a corner dropped to him.

Danns showed composure, belying his age, by clipping a shot over Lumley after Will Smallbone’s errant pass went straight to Elliott before adding a late second.

Liverpool beat Southampton to seal FA Cup quarters

Sports

Gabriel Jesus shines as Arsenal thrash Palace 5-1 in London derby

Published

52 minutes ago

December 22, 2024

Trends Admin

Gabriel Jesus shines as Arsenal thrash Palace 5-1 in London derby

Gabriel Jesus struck twice as Arsenal became the first side since Chelsea in 2005 to go a full calendar year unbeaten in Premier League London derbies, defeating Crystal Palace 5-1 to close the gap on league leaders Liverpool to three points for the time being.

A hat-trick against Palace in a 3-2 EFL Cup victory on Wednesday earned Jesus a starting berth here, and it took just six minutes for him to reward Mikel Arteta’s selection.

A first Premier League goal since January arrived when Bukayo Saka’s cross bounced off Gabriel Magalhães, allowing Jesus to stride towards the ball and side-foot home. A nervy moment for David Raya went unpunished moments later, but just five minutes after going ahead, the Gunners were pegged back as the red-hot Ismaïla Sarr bent an effort around William Saliba and inside the far post.

A breathless start to the contest continued with a third goal in the opening 15 minutes, and perhaps predictably, it came from an Arsenal corner. This time, Gabriel Martinelli’s delivery was partially cleared, but only as far as Jesus, whose controlled finish flew into the corner.

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Another defensive lapse from the visitors almost saw the scores levelled once more, only for Raya to bail out Saliba with a one-on-one stop to deny Jean-Philippe Mateta. At the other end, Gabriel went close from yet another Arsenal corner before the away side extended their advantage through Kai Havertz, who reacted first after Jesus had nodded onto the far post.

Needing a response, the hosts were inches from reducing the deficit straight after the restart when Raya was equal to Sarr’s diving header. The Arsenal shot-stopper was then called into action again, getting behind Mateta’s rifled long-range shot and catching Sarr’s follow-up header.

Those saves kept the Eagles at bay, and with an hour played, the points were all but wrapped up. A well-worked move should have ended with Jesus’ second hat-trick of the week, yet Henderson saved well with his foot only to see Martinelli turn in substitute Declan Rice’s resultant low strike.

Determined to get on the scoresheet, Rice guided in Arsenal’s fifth goal late on, sealing three vital points in an evening where the only major blemish was Saka’s first-half injury.

Despite conceding in a seventh consecutive away league match – their longest travelling run without a PL clean sheet in over five years – Arsenal now find themselves within touching distance of the league summit, albeit having played more games than the sides above them.

Meanwhile, Palace had lost just one of their last eight PL fixtures (W3, D4), but defeat here means they’re yet to add to their solitary home league victory (D4, L4), leaving the Eagles 15th in the table.

Gabriel Jesus shines as Arsenal thrash Palace 5-1 in London derby

Sports

Atletico grab late winner at Barcelona to go top of La Liga

Published

57 minutes ago

December 22, 2024

Trends Admin

Atletico grab late winner at Barcelona to go top of La Liga

Substitute Alexander Sorloth scored an injury-time winner as Atletico Madrid fought back against Barcelona to replace them at the top of La Liga.

Pedri opened the scoring for Barcelona in the 30th minute, linking up with fellow Spain midfielder Gavi before slotting a low strike past Jan Oblak.

Despite their dominance, the hosts couldn’t hold on and Rodrigo De Paul hammered home the equaliser on the hour mark after leaping on a mistake from Marc Casado.

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Barcelona were left to rue more missed chances when Sorloth slammed in Nahuel Molina’s cross in the sixth minute of injury time to give Atletico their 12th straight win in all competitions.

The victory means Atletico will end 2024 as the top team in Spain, three points above Barcelona, who have played a game more.

Hansi Flick’s Barca side could slip to third if Real Madrid beat Sevilla on Sunday.

Atletico grab late winner at Barcelona to go top of La Liga

Sports

Oleksandr Usyk beats Tyson Fury to retain heavyweight titles

Published

1 hour ago

December 22, 2024

Trends Admin

Oleksandr Usyk beats Tyson Fury to retain heavyweight titles

Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury to retain his unified heavyweight world titles and prove his status as a generational great with another close points win in their rematch in Saudi Arabia.

Having inflicted a first career defeat on Briton Fury by split decision in May, Usyk’s astuteness and will to win once again prevailed at Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena – and he retained his WBA (Super), WBC and WBO titles.

Fury, 36, found success in the first half of the fight. Some of the more eye-catching shots came from the Morecambe fighter, but the volume of punches and cleaner work were from Ukrainian Usyk.

All three judges scored it 116-112 to the 37-year-old champion.

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Usyk, an Olympic gold medallist and former undisputed cruiserweight champion, extended his undefeated record to 23 pro wins.

“He [Tyson Fury] is a great fighter, he is a great opponent. An unbelievable 24 rounds for my career. Thank you so much,” Usyk said.

Two-time world champion Fury has only ever lost to Usyk, his two defeats the major blemishes on a record also consisting of 34 wins and one draw.

Fury left the ring without conducting an interview, before IBF world champion Daniel Dubois climbed in and called for a rematch with Usyk.

A visibly frustrated figure in the moments after the scorecards were read out, Fury said backstage he was convinced he won the fight by “at least three rounds”.