The Schmeichel One
> Shakespeare acknowledges Foxes goalie is among the best
Robson-Kanu is the Premier League’s most frequently used substitute this season. And he showed exactly why this afternoon against Arsenal. Just moments after coming on for Salomon Rondon the Welsh international fired home. 75 seconds. Two touches. One goal. Talk about making an impact from the bench.
Preston 38 15 12 11 53 47 57 Derby 38 14 11 13 41 38 53 Barnsley 38 14 9 15 55 55 51 Aston Villa 38 13 12 13 39 39 51 Cardiff 38 14 9 15 53 54 51 Brentford 38 14 8 16 60 57 50 QPR 38 14 8 16 46 51 50 Wolves 37 12 9 16 46 48 45 Ipswich 38 10 15 13 38 47 45 Birmingham 38 11 12 15 38 54 45 Bristol City 38 11 8 19 50 53 41 Nottm Forest 38 11 8 19 53 64 41 Burton 38 10 11 17 39 53 41 Blackburn 38 9 13 16 46 57 40 Wigan 38 8 10 20 31 44 34 Rotherham 38 4 5 29 33 87 17
LA LIGA
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LCRAIG SHAKESPEARE believes Kasper Schmeichel (pix) must be viewed as one of the game’s top goalkeepers after his saves enabled Leicester City to record a fourth successive victory. First-half goals by Riyad Mahrez, Robert Huth and Jamie Vardy gave the champions a 3-2 win at West Ham United on Saturday, easing the relegation fears that led to manager Claudio Ranieri’s sacking last month. But West Ham hit back through Manuel Lanzini and Andre Ayew and Leicester needed Schmeichel to make two highquality saves from Andy Carroll before they could celebrate another win. “He is in the best form I’ve seen since I’ve been here, so I don’t see why not,” said Shakespeare when asked whether Schmeichel – son of Manchester United goalkeeping great Peter – deserved to be bracketed alongside the Premier League’s star shotstoppers. “All goalkeepers are important, but to bring off those crucial saves was vitally important.” The game at London Stadium was Leicester’s first since they saw off Sevilla in the Champions League on Tuesday to set up a last-eight tie with Atletico Madrid. Shakespeare has known nothing but success since he stepped up from assistant manager to replace Ranieri, initially in a caretaker capacity, but he said it was the result of a simple recipe.
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Roma Lazio Inter Milan Atalanta AC Milan Fiorentina Sampdoria Torino Chievo Bologna Udinese Cagliari Sassuolo Genoa Empoli Palermo Crotone Pescara
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BUNDESLIGA Wolfsburg 1 Darmstadt 0, Cologne 4 Hertha Berlin 2, Augsburg 1 Freiburg 1, Werder Bremen 3 Leipzig 0, Hoffenheim 1 Leverkusen 0, Frankfurt 0 Hamburg 0, Dortmund 1 Ingolstadt 0.
LBayern 24 18 5 1 60 13 59 Leipzig 25 15 4 6 43 28 49 Dortmund 25 13 7 5 54 27 46 Hoffenheim 25 11 12 2 46 25 45 Hertha Berlin 25 12 4 9 34 30 40 Cologne 25 9 10 6 37 29 37 Frankfurt 25 10 6 9 26 27 36 Freiburg 25 10 5 10 32 42 35 M’gladbach 24 9 5 10 30 33 32 Leverkusen 25 9 4 12 37 40 31 Schalke 04 24 8 6 10 31 27 30 Mainz 05 24 8 5 11 33 40 29 Bremen 25 8 5 12 34 44 29 Augsburg 25 7 8 10 24 34 29 Wolfsburg 25 8 5 12 23 34 29 Hamburg 25 7 6 12 24 46 27 Ingolstadt 04 25 5 4 16 23 42 19 Darmstadt 98 25 4 3 18 17 47 15
“There’s no secret,” he said. “Hard work, endeavour, resilience – we showed all of them today, aligned with some good football.
“We scored the goals at the right time. They gave us a foothold in the game, but we know that hard work is paramount to success and we have to keep on doing that.
“We spoke about the importance of starting brightly and playing on the front foot if we could, very similar to the other night, but we had to show real resilience in the second half.”
The loss increased the focus on West Ham manager Slaven Bilic, who has seen his side fail to win any of their last four games.
The east London club are not in any relegation danger, but the Croat knows a significant section of the home support are not happy.
“We can talk about a lot of positives, but we lost the game so we have to talk about a lot of negatives at the beginning of the game,” he said.
The Hammers also lost acting captain Winston Reid and midfielder Pedro Obiang to injury and Bilic revealed that Michail Antonio has a hamstring problem that might cost him his first England cap. – AFP
LIGUE 1 Caen 0 Monaco 3, Bordeaux 5 Montpellier 1, Nancy 2 Lorient 3, Toulouse 0 Rennes 0, Angers 3 Guingamp 0, Nantes 1 Nice 1, Metz 1 Bastia 0, Lille 0 Marseille 0.
SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP Aberdeen 2 Hearts 0, Inverness CT 1 Ross County 1, Kilmarnock 1 Partick 1, Motherwell 1 St Johnstone 2, Rangers 4 Hamilton 0.