Arsenal maintained their leadership of the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over Tottenham at the Emirates on Saturday in what was the 192nd North London Derby. They lead Manchester City by just one point, who improved their goal difference with 6-3 win over Manchester United in what was the 188th Manchester derby, and the highest-scoring in its history.
Gunners manager Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his players are “hungry” for more after they overpowered their local rivals. His team side were superior throughout and Spurs’ cause was not helped by Emerson Royal’s red card for a second-half foul on Martinelli. Republic of Ireland international Matt Doherty was introduced in the 71st minute as Spurs manager Conte tried to re-organise his side after the red card.
Meanwhile the sun was shining in Manchester on Sunday as City hammered their rivals 6-3. Erling Haaland’s father Alfie was in the crowd at the Etihad to see his son become the first player to score three successive EPL home hat-tricks as United were humiliated. Haaland made it 17 goals in 10 games since his move from Borussia Dortmund and Phil Foden also got a hat-trick as City won easily. This was a brutal reality check for United after their recent improvement, as the reigning Premier League champions ran riot to illustrate the gulf in class between the teams. After winning their four previous games United were well beaten and trailed 4-0 at half-time.
Manager Ten Hag said: ‘‘When you don’t believe on the pitch, you cannot win games. It’s quite simple, it’s a lack of belief. That is unacceptable. We get undisciplined at following rules and you get hammered, that what happened.’’
Liverpool are struggling this season and they could only draw 3-3 at home to Brighton on Saturday. Brighton made a great start to the season under Graham Potter, who was then lured away to Chelsea. So it was a great start for Brighton’s new Italian-born coach Rorberto de Zerbi with Belgian Trossard getting a hat-trick for the Seagulls. Anfield used to be a fortress, but this season it’s certainly not as intimidating for visiting teams. Manager Jurgen Klopp said that Liverpool’s defending reminded him of what he saw during his early years at Anfield. Klopp said: ‘‘We had a situation a few years ago when we were only a goal up and it happened quite frequently that everybody was nearly having a heart attack because we were just not convincing in these moments. I cannot say I was 100 percent convinced on Saturday that we would not concede a goal when we were 3-2 up. It’s a sign that the confidence level is not extraordinarily high right now.’’ The Pool are 9th in the table with ten points, the same number as Merseyside rivals Everton, who won 2-1 away to Southampton. Seamus Coleman started for the Toffees and Gavin Bazanu was in goal for the Saints. Nathan Collins, who was sent off playing for Wolves against Man City just before the international break, missed his club’s trip to West Ham where they lost 2-1. On Sunday Wolves sacked manager Bruno Lage after 16 months in charge. Mark Travers cannot get his place back at Bournemouth, who drew 0-0 with Brentford, and neither can Shane Duffy at Fulham, who were beaten 4-1 at home by Newcastle United.
Graham Potter got off to a good start as Chelsea manager, as the Pensioners won 2-1 away to Crystal Palace.
EPL results Arsenal 3, Tottenham 1, Bournemouth 0, Brentford 0; Crystal Palace 1, Chelsea 2, Fulham 1, Newcastle United 4; Leicester 4, Nottingham Forest 0; Liverpool 3, Brighton 3; Southampton 1, Everton 2; West Ham 2, Wolves 0; Manchester City 6, Manchester United 3; Leeds United 0, Aston Villa 0.
HEARTBREAK
FOR U21 SQUAD
The Republic of Ireland Under 21’s dreams of reaching their first ever European Championship ended in heart-breaking style as they were beaten by Israel on penalties in Tel Aviv in the second leg of their play-off last Tuesday. The teams were locked at 0-0 after 120 minutes and 1-1 on aggregate, so penalties were required to decide who will progress to next summer’s finals in Georgia and Romania. Three saves by Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz were enough to send Israel through with a 3-1 win in the shoot-out. Penalties are a lottery. We won that famous penalty shoot-out against Romania in Genoa back in 1990. But I don’t think we have won a penalty shoot-out at any level since then.
OBAFEMI SCORES
LATE WINNER
Andrew Omobamidele, who had to pull out of the Irish squad for the recent games against Scotland and Armenia, started for Norwich City, who won 1-0 away to Blackpool in the Championship on Saturday. But it looks like Irish striker Adam Idah is still not fit for first team action with Norwich after surgery. The Canaries are in second place, a point behind leaders Sheffield United, who drew 1-1 at home to Birmingham. John Egan started for the Blades and Scott Hogan was in the Blues attack. Michael Obafemi, who was on target for Ireland against Armenia last week, got a late winner for Swansea in their 3-2 away win over West Brom, while Callum Robinson got Cardiff’s equalizer in the 90th minute of their 1-1 draw at home to Burnley. Another Irish goal scorer in the Championship was Will Keane, who got Wigan’s first in their 2-0 away win over Rotherham.
LAFFERY FACES
10-MATCH BAN
Northern Ireland and Kilmarnock striker Kyle Lafferty could face a ten-match ban after he admitted letting himself and his club down over his alleged use of sectarian language. Lafferty has received a club fine after a video, which appeared on social media, showed the former Rangers and Hearts striker reacting when a man posing for a photo with him says ‘‘Up the Celts.’’ The 35-year-old faces a Scottish Football Association tribunal on Oct. 20 accused of not acting in the best interests of football and breaching a rule which forbids the use of insulting language which includes reference to the likes of ethnic origin, race, nationality, religion or belief.
ROVERS LEAD BY 5 POINTS
For 24 hours at the weekend the gap between Shamrock Rovers and Derry City at the top of the League of Ireland Premier Division was cut to two points. Derry beat St Patrick’s 1-0 at Inchicore on Friday night to make the run-in interesting, but then on Saturday evening Shamrock Rovers won 3-1 in Sligo to stretch the gap to five points once again. Rovers are looking good to make it three championships in a row and their only problem could be too much football; they are away to Molde of Norway in the Europa Conference League tomorrow and then play Shelbourne on Sunday.
Elsewhere in the capital, rivals Shelbourne and St. Patrick’s Athletic fought out a thrilling 4-4 draw at Tolka Park on Monday night.
