Tottenham stalemate adds to Wembley woes
Lascelles gives Newcastle 3rd straight win
LONDON, Sept 16, (AFP): Tottenham were held to a goalless draw by Swansea as Mauricio Pochettino saw his side’s Wembley woes continue on Saturday.
Pochettino’s team have now gone three Premier League games without a win at their temporary home after losing to Chelsea and drawing against Burnley and Swansea.
The Welsh side rode their luck at times as Tottenham hit the woodwork and had three penalty appeals turned down, but the hosts had only themselves to blame for failing to kill off Paul Clement’s men.
Tottenham hoped they had banished talk of a curse at Wembley, which is their base this season while White Hart Lane is redeveloped, by beating Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in midweek.
But that proved wishful thinking and even Harry Kane, who scored twice against Dortmund, couldn’t save yards out after Moussa Sissoko’s cutback.
The game was now being played entirely in Swansea’s half, with Fernando Llorente introduced by Tottenham, just weeks after joining from the visitors.
There was still time for Trippier to whistle his shot just wide before Serge Aurier dragged his effort the wrong side of the post deep into stoppagetime. Newcastle United 2 Stoke City 1 Newcastle United captain Jamaal Lascelles scored the winner as Rafa Benitez’s side beat Stoke City 2-1 at St James’ Park on Saturday to post their third successive Premier League victory.
Benitez was back in the dugout after a health scare but under orders to keep calm and was delighted to see his side take the lead after 19 minutes when Christian Atsu connected from close range for his first Premier League goal after a superb Matt Ritchie cross.
Without suspended striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, Newcastle looked to Joselu up front but the former Stoke forward squandered three chances to increase Newcastle’s lead.
Although Xherdan Shaqiri equalised against the run of play, Lascelles, who is expected to sign a new five-year deal in the next few days, headed another excellent Ritchie cross in off the post after 68 minutes to secure the points.
WBA 0, West Ham 0 West Ham may have left the Hawthorns with a second straight clean sheet after a 0-0 draw with West Brom, but they remain in the Premier League relegation zone.
Lascelles
Visiting coach Slaven Bilic oversaw his first away point of the season as Joe Hart again keep a clean sheet, chiefly because it took the home side an hour to get a shot on target.
The visitors were also quiet early on before a Michail Antonio shot sparked a Hammers onslaught on goal culminating in Pedro Obiang hitting the crossbar from the halfway line.
Andy Carroll, making his 100th Premier League appearance for West Ham, also came close with a shot parried away by Ben Foster.
Mexican striker Javier Hernandez appeared dwarfed by the presence of his strike partner Carroll and was eventually substituted after a studs up challenge outside the box from Foster that earned him a fortunate yellow and saw the striker hobble away.
The most notable thing the 25,000 fans witnessed was maybe Ryan Giggs’ long standing record of 632 Premier League appearances being equalled by West Brom’s Gareth Barry.
Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold (left), vies for the ball with Burnley’s Robbie Brady, during the English Premier League soccer match between
Liverpool and Burnley, at Anfield, in Liverpool, England, on Sept 16. (AP)
were required to come back from a goal down after Scott Arfield opened the scoring on 26 minutes.
It again highlighted the weakness of a Liverpool defence that has been under the microscope over the opening weeks of the season and Klopp’s furious response on the touchline spoke volumes about his own view of proceedings.
Robbie Brady won an aerial challenge with Trent Alexander-Arnold, heading into the area where centrehalves Ragnar Klavan and Joel Matip were drawn into a challenge on Chris Wood.
A faint touch off Klavan moved the ball on and the unmarked Arfield drove the ball home from 12 yards for his first goal since last October.
That strike stunned the home crowd into silence as Burnley threatened to spoil Liverpool’s celebrations on the 125th anniversary of their first-ever Liverpool’s English striker Daniel Sturridge wins a header from Burnley’s English defender Ben Mee during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Burnley at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on
Sept 16. (AFP)
match.
Fortunately for the home supporters, they only had to wait three minutes to draw level with the most simple of goals as an Emre Can pass, from well inside his own half, dropped invitingly for Salah.
The Egyptian showed neat control and a touch to take his marker Stephen Ward out of the game before driving an unstoppable finish past Nick Pope, the goalkeeper making his first Premier League start in the absence of injured England international Tom Heaton.
The goals opened up what had been a tight affair with Salah, twice, and Sturridge testing Pope with low shots that were comfortably dealt with.