Mousset strike puts Blades on cloud nine after taking scalp of Arsenal
SHEFFIELD UNITED claimed the scalp of Arsenal to move up to ninth in the Premier League with a 1-0 victory at Bramall Lane.
The Blades had not won in the league at home since August 18 and had lost their last three top-flight outings in front of their own fans.
However, Lys Mousset’s first-half goal got the world’s oldest football stadium rocking and, along with some stoic and organised defending, it proved enough for a famous triumph.
It was only Arsenal’s second loss of the season but their troubles on their travels continue – Unai Emery’s team have not won away in the league since the opening day – as the Gunners missed the chance to go third in the table.
Arsenal thought they should have had a penalty after six minutes when John Egan pulled Sokratis back by his shirt as the hosts defended a corner.
Referee Mike Dean seemed to have a good view of the incident but he was unmoved, although television replays appeared to show Egan had got away with one.
The Gunners should have taken the lead midway through the first half. Nicolas Pepe started a swift, slick counter attack deep inside his own half and he should have finished it too.
The attack developed down the left and Sead Kolasinac whipped a pin-point cross into the six-yard box where Pepe was arriving at the far post, but the Ivorian went for the ball with his left foot rather that his right and somehow touched it wide.
The Blades capitalised on their good fortune after half an hour when Mousset turned the ball home from close range after Jack O’Connell had headed Oliver Norwood’s corner back across goal.
The hosts could have had a penalty when George Baldock went down under a challenge from Kolasinac, while immediately at the other end Arsenal felt aggrieved for the second time when, rather than point to the penalty spot, referee Dean booked Bukayo Saka for diving after he went to ground following a coming together with Egan.
Arsenal assistant coach Freddie Ljungberg was so incensed by the decision that he also received a yellow card for his protests.
Dean Henderson ensured his side went into half-time ahead when he pushed away Granit Xhaka’s 30-yard strike in first-half injury time.
Arsenal made a change at the break with Dani Ceballos replacing
Joe Willock. The Spaniard, on loan from Real Madrid, gave the home defenders something new to think about early in the second half, coming in-field from the left and finding pockets of space.
He might have equalised after an hour but scuffed his shot from Saka’s cross and, in the end, it was a routine save for Henderson.
At the other end the Blades remained a threat and Baldock sliced an attempt wide before John Fleck’s driven effort rippled the side-netting, with many inside Bramall Lane thinking it was 2-0.
Fleck then hit a swerving shot from long distance that was spilled by Bernd Leno, who managed to regather the ball before the onrushing David McGoldrick could pounce. Emery brought on the fit-again Alexandre Lacazette, out since September with an ankle injury, midway through the second half, with Xhaka making way.
The Frenchman soon won a freekick in a dangerous position just on the edge of the box. Pepe took it but his curling effort over the defensive wall was seen all the way into the hands of Henderson.
The hosts withstood some pressure late on as the Gunners searched for an equalising goal. Kolasniac headed over the crossbar and Calum Chambers flashed a shot across the face of goal but Chris Wilder’s team saw it out for a deserved win.
PEP GUARDIOLA has called on his Manchester City players to show they have the mentality to win the Champions League.
The City manager said after the Premier League winners’ victory at Crystal Palace on Saturday his side were not yet ready to win Europe’s elite competition.
City are again rated among the favourites but in the past three years they have stumbled in the knockout stages and Guardiola feels there are mental hurdles that must be overcome.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s Group C clash with Atalanta, Guardiola said: “I think the way we are really strong as a team has been built up from four seasons ago.
“But it’s more for the fact that two times in the Champions League we went out on away goals and in both games we conceded a lot of goals.
“In this competition you play against incredible players and, if you give some teams one moment, a metre, they will score. We have to know that.
“These little margins are sometimes the difference and we’re working on that. I believe that kind of situation is about the mentality.
“We’re good enough and we’re strong enough. When you play good, you defend less. When you don’t play good, you concede a lot.”
City beat Palace 2-0, bouncing back from their loss to Wolves prior to the international break, but Guardiola felt they should have won more convincingly.
The City boss does not believe his team are clinical enough, even though they are the top scorers in the Premier League by some distance. He also, although perhaps inadvertently, chose a strange example to illustrate his point – last month’s 8-0 win over Watford.
He said: “The Champions League will be won in the box and so far we haven’t been very strong in the box.
“We have made a number of mistakes that we shouldn’t make at this level. For example in the match against Watford we created a lot of opportunities but scored very little.
“But of course we have time. Tomorrow we have this chance to improve. We need six more points to qualify and tomorrow we can make an incredible step forward.
“We will see how we are in February in the latter stages if we are to go through.”
FRANCE lock Sebastien Vahaamahina has announced his retirement from international rugby a day after his World Cup red card against Wales.
The Clermont Auvergne forward was dismissed early in the second half for an elbow on Wales’ Aaron Wainwright as his side went on to lose 20-19 in the quarter-final clash.
Admitting he “lost control” in the incident, he added in a message sent to Eurosport Rugbyrama:
“It’s hard, very hard for me today – especially because, as I have planned for several months, it was my last match with the national team.
“I hadn’t made a public announcement of my retirement but the people impacted by the decision have known since the summer: [France coach] Jacques Brunel, [Clermont coach] Franck Azema and several of the players.
“I wanted to have the best possible match and tournament to finish on... perhaps I wanted it too much. My desire and my aggression got the better of me.”
Vahaamahina faces a World
Rugby disciplinary hearing on
Thursday but its consequences will be minimal after he revealed that, along with his international retirement, coincidentally on his 28th birthday, he will have a long-planned operation on his arm.
He added: “It is the end of a cycle, a new page turns in my career.
“I am 28 and I can’t wait to rebuild, physically and mentally, and come back even stronger.” Vahaamahina won 46 caps for Les Bleus, with his solitary try coming in the Wales game.