Respite for Van Gaal as Man U draw with Blues
MANCHESTER United bought beleaguered manager Louis van Gaal some much-needed respite with an improved display in yesterday’s 0-0 draw at home to under-performing Premier League champions Chelsea. Van Gaal has admitted that he is contemplating leaving Old Trafford after a wretched slump in form, but although his team have now gone eight games without victory in all competitions, they avoided sinking to five straight defeats for the first time since December 1936. In a performance that will give United’s board reason to hope the Dutchman may yet steer the club out of their dip, the home side played with greater enterprise than of late and hit the woodwork through Juan Mata and Anthony Martial. But Chelsea had their moments too, and might have given Guus Hiddink the first win of his second spell as interim manager had David de Gea not saved smartly from John Terry, Pedro Rodriguez and Cesar Azpilicueta, or Nemanja Matic not blazed over when clean through in the second half. The result left Chelsea – unbeaten against United in nine encounters – three points above the relegation zone, while their opponents are five points off the top four in sixth place. Arsenal beat Bournemouth 2-0, with goals from Gabriel and Mesut Ozil, to move on to 39 points from 19 Premier League games, one ahead of Leicester City, who are at home to fourth-placed Manchester City today. The Gunners rebounded from their 4-0 hammering at Southampton on Saturday with a convincing display that reaffirmed their title credentials and secured a fourth win in their last five league games. The Gunners are one point clear of secondplaced Leicester, who can regain pole position if Claudio Ranieri’s surprise title contenders defeat Manchester City, in fourth, today. Arsene Wenger’s men were in front when Ozil’s cross was guided high into the corner of the net by Brazilian defender Gabriel in the 27th minute for his first goal for Arsenal. It was Ozil’s league-leading 16th assist of the season and the German midfielder almost had another before the interval when Gabriel struck a post from his set-piece.
Ozil took matters into his own hands again in the 63rd minute as the former Real Madrid star side-footed home from Olivier Giroud’s pass. There was also a significant milestone for Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech, who set a new Premier League record of 170 clean sheets, with 162 of those coming in his time at Chelsea. Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur moved into third in the Premier League after Son Heung-Min’s late goal in a 2-1 victory at 10-man Watford yesterday, while Marko Arnautovic’s stoppage-time penalty gave Stoke City a 4-3 win at Everton. “The victory is very important for us. We worked hard to try and win and are happy because Watford are a difficult team and beat Liverpool recently,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino told the BBC. Everton and Stoke served up a seven-goal thriller at Goodison Park as the away side came from 3-2 down in the last 10 minutes to win 4-3 with goals from Joselu and Marko Arnautovic. Romelu Lukaku’s double for Everton moved him level with Leicester’s Jamie Vardy at the top of the scoring charts on 15 goals while Stoke’s record signing, Xherdan Shaqiri, struck his first two goals for the club. “The only thing lacking up until today for Shaqiri was goals . . . performances had been fine – but now he has added that,” Stoke manager Mark Hughes said of the Swiss international who joined in August for £12-million (R273-million) from Inter Milan. “He has that quality. It’s his first mark in terms of goals and I’m sure there will be more to come.” Darren Fletcher’s 78th-minute goal for West Bromwich Albion was enough to beat strugglers Newcastle United 1-0 while Aston Villa’s miserable season continued with the bottom side, marooned on eight points, going down 2-0 at Norwich City. Crystal Palace and Swansea City drew 0-0.
