Head clash sees Wolves forward taken to hospital
Wolverhampton forward Raul Jimenez was hospitalised with a serious head injury after colliding with Arsenal defender David Luiz yesterday.
The injury came in the fifth minute of the Premier League game when Willian delivered a corner. Both Jimenez and Luiz challenged for it and were following the flight of the ball when they knocked heads, with the clash heard around the empty Emirates Stadium.
Medical staff were quickly called onto the field. Luiz sat up after a couple of minutes and eventually was treated on the touchline to the left of Wolves’ goal.
But the 29-year-old Jimenez, who joined Wolves in 2018, stayed down and the Mexico international didn’t appear to move. He was eventually put on a stretcher. Luiz, whose head was bandaged, went over to see if Jimenez was okay before the Brazilian returned to the field and continued playing.
Jimenez was wheeled around the side of the field with an oxygen mask on, still not appearing to move, before he was taken down the tunnel.
Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo said that Jimenez is conscious and talking, and was to undergo a scan.
“I knew straight away that something was wrong,” he said. “Everyone called ‘red, red,’ which means it’s a bad situation. You see the panic in their eyes, and you start thinking how is he.”
The manager said that Jimenez is in good hands, but “we are worried, we are worried”.
After the match, Wolves captain Conor Coady also said everyone was hoping for a quick recovery for Jimenez.
“It was a tough thing,” Coady said,
adding that asking about Jimenez was the first thing the players did at halftime. “He’s with the right people. We’re just praying.”
Underscoring the seriousness of the incident, Coady said he was very close to the collision and that heknew immediately that it was bad.
“He was on his side,” he said, referring to the significance of keeping his airway open. “I think it was important he was kept on his side.”
Coady had tried to lift his teammates’ spirits and yelled out, “Come on boys, focus,” before play resumed with Luiz staying on the field for the entire first half, including 10 minutes of injury time.
But Luiz was substituted after the interval, with Rob Holding coming on for him.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said Luiz never lost consciousness and that he took the player off at halftime because of his nasty cut.
Wolves won the match moved up to sixth place.
■ Tottenham ground out a 0-0 draw at Chelsea to return to the top spot with an ultra-defensive display from Jose Mourinho’s side frustrating the Premier League’s joint top scorers.
At a stadium where they have won only once in 30 years, Tottenham had just a single shot on target but halted Chelsea’s six-match winning run in all
2-1 and
competitions.
“We are not happy and that for me is fantastic,” Mourinho said. “It is a complete change of mentality, of personality.”
The point leaves Tottenham ahead of Liverpool on goal difference, while Chelsea are two points further back in third.
Mourinho, who won three Premier League titles with Chelsea, has put a club that hasn’t won the championship since 1961 into early contention. That’s not how Mourinho sees it. “We are not even in the race,” Mourinho said. “We are just a pony.”
An attritional game managed to deliver chances for both teams towin in stoppage time.
Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud nipped inwhenjoe Rodon, on his first start for Tottenham, headed back to goalkeeper Hugo Lloris but his shot was easily saved.
“They are very good opposition and I knew I was going to be in for a tough night,” Rodon said. “I got away with two mistakes but I’ll learn from it and come back strong.”
And Giovani Lo Celso wasted a late Tottenham counterattack after being released by Lucas Moura, striking wide of the target rather than setting up Harry Kane.
“We almost gifted them one at the end,” said Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, who won titles under Mourinho at the west London club.
It was the last game at Stamford Bridge without fans before the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions are due to see up to 2000 spectators allowed in for Chelsea’s home game against Leeds on Sunday, having been locked out since March.
■ Edinson Cavani completed Manchester United’s comeback in stoppage time at Southampton, heading in his second goal for a 3-2 win.
Jan Bednarek’s header and a free kick from James Ward-prowse put Southampton on course for a first home league win against United since 2003.
But Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side squandered their two-goal lead as Cavani turned the match on its head, setting up Bruno Fernandes to begin the fightback in the 59th minute.
Cavani was proving a handful and got United’s equaliser in the 74th minute. Goalkeeper Alex Mccarthy punched a corner clear, and Fernandes’ deflected shot back into the box was headed home by Cavani.
As United pursued the winner, Cavani peeled away to meet Marcus Rashford’s cross and beat Mccarthy in the second minute of stoppage time. — AP