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Jonathan Cook’s World Game Wrap-Up

Posted on | Posted by Jonathan Cook

Trossard ammunition for Gunners win

You won’t find his name among the scorers but Leandro Trossard’s hat-trick of assists was key to restoring Arsenal’s five-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

With City having scraped past Crystal Palace on Saturday thanks to Erling Haaland’s penalty, Arsenal produced the goods yesterday with a 3-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Gabriel, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all benefited from Trossard’s work on the left to ease the Gunners to victory.

In more good news for Arsenal, a third Gabriel returned to action after a long lay-off through injury. Gabriel Jesus, who was injured while playing for Brazil at the World Cup, made his first Arsenal appearance since a November win over Wolves.

Casemiro banned for four games

Manchester United’s talismanic midfielder Casemiro should have no complaints about the red card he received against Southampton.

After initially getting a yellow card, it was upgraded to red when the Video Assistant Referee took a second look at the tackle, which could have had more severe consequences for Carlos Alcaraz.

Reduced to 10 men, United, who were beaten 7-0 by Liverpool last weekend, were held 0-0 by last-placed Saints.

It was Casemiro’s second red card in eight matches, which means he will be suspended for the next four fixtures.

Salah’s wild penalty miss

It’s hard to know where to start with Mohamed Salah’s missed penalty. Was it the run up, the actual shot or the bemusement on his face after the ball appeared to travel exactly where his body had shaped to put it – into the crowd beside the goal?

For a man who has provided so many highlights for Liverpool, it was a bizarre miss.

Not that Bournemouth manager Gary O’Neill or goal scorer Philip Billing were concerned as the Cherries snatched a 1-0 win that added three precious points to their Premier League survival campaign.

Defeat for Liverpool was typical of their inconsistency this season, the loss coming less than a week after their record win over Manchester United.

Guess what? Kane’s goals lift Spurs

Guessing just which version of Tottenham Hotspur will turn up to play is quite a bit of fun. But when they do win, you don’t need to be a genius to work out who might be at the heart of the victory.

As was the case on Saturday as Spurs, with manager Antonio Conte back on the sidelines after recent surgery, profiting from Kane’s calm to beat Nottingham Forest 3-1.

A trademark header and penalty from Spurs’ top scorer was followed by Son Heung-min’s sixth Premier League goal of the season before Joe Worrall scored a late consolation for Forest.

Bamford on target

Even though the shot was deflected, there was still a lot to admire in Patrick Bamford’s goal for Leeds in their 2-2 draw against Brighton.

Two precise touches were followed by a smack of the ball that flicked off Adam Webster, hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced in.

It was just a second goal of the season for injury-plagued Bamford, whose 18 games this season have included eight as a substitute.

And if one roar of approval wasn’t enough for the fans at Elland Road, they got to do it all again when Jack Harrison, who had scored an own goal earlier in the game, produced an excellent equaliser.

Rapid-fire Everton snatch victory

From what we know about the Sean Dyche stereotype, he would have loved Everton’s 1-0 win over Brentford.

When your job is to keep your club in the Premier League, every win is a good win but this one would’ve been particularly sweet.

A goal in the first minute from Dwight McNeil, who played for Dyche at Burnley, was followed by another 89 or so minutes of nail-biting tension for the Goodison Park fans.

But the Toffees hung on to earn a third 1-0 win since Dyche took over last month.

Three and easy for Chelsea

Chelsea seem to have rediscovered the way to goal by scoring three in a match for the first time since October.

It had been 25 games in all competitions since Chelsea put three past Wolves in the Premier League, which came just days after beating AC Milan 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.

Goals had been hard to come by since then, with just seven in their most recent 13 games including Champions League and FA Cup fixtures.

But in keeping with their recent resurgence – they have now won three successive games –

Ben Chillwell, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic were all on target in a 3-1 win over Leicester City, who had briefly been level thanks to Patson Daka’s goal.

Gritty Glory’s deserved reward

If you’re going to turn around your season, it might as well be in the best possible way.

Perth Glory’s win over Western Sydney Wanderers will be remembered as one of the club’s most gritty and resilient and deserves to be a performance that kick-starts whatever may be left of their season.

A man down after less than two minutes following Jordan Elsey’s red card, Glory refused to buckle against the title-chasing Wanderers.

For the next 94 minutes Glory kept the Wanderers at bay – aided by the woodwork and goalkeeper Cameron Cook – before snatching a memorable win, through Aaron McEneff’s deflected shot in stoppage time.

Glory are ninth on the 12-team table but are just four points behind sixth-placed Sydney FC.

Rare double saves City

Goals don’t usually come easily to Melbourne City’s Aiden O’Neill. But he could not have picked a better time to score twice than in yesterday’s victory over Brisbane Roar.

League leaders City were a goal to the good before Jamie Maclaren had a penalty saved, leaving the door ajar for Jay O’Shea to equalise for Brisbane.

But with a point beckoning, O’Neill scored a late header to register his second City goal and just a sixth in 93 A-League appearances.

The win kept City six points clear of second-placed Adelaide United.

Napoli’s Georgian wonder at it again

Serie A leaders Napoli returned to winning ways in style with a victory set-up by another stunning contribution from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

A week after Napoli’s surprise home defeat to Lazio, Kvaratskhelia added another special clip to his highlights reel with a sensational first goal in a 2-0 victory over Atalanta.

After a typically creative run into the box, the Georgian sent defenders left and right before thrashing the ball home.

While his teammates watched in awe, eight Atalanta players, including the goalkeeper, had surrounded Kvaratskhelia. But they were unable to prevent him from scoring his 11th Serie A goal of the season.




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