Over the weekend Watford replaced head coach Javi Gracia with Quique Sanchez Flores, who had previously managed the Hornets. Gracia was a year into a four-and-half-year deal with the club.
The decision is not a shock considering Watford’s history and the team s poor start to their Premier League campaign. However, the decision surprised Gracia, who took the club to just their second-ever FA Cup final appearance last season.
Watford enjoyed a good season
Last season was Watford’s best season ever in the Premier League era, as the Hornets finished 11th place in the table. For much of the season, the Hornets were hovering around the top seven.
However, the team’s run to the FA Cup final proved to be a distraction towards the end of the season when it came to…
Arsenal s 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United on Sunday means they are enduring their worst run away from home in Premier League history.
Goals from Ayoze Perez and Matt Ritchie ensured the Gunners have lost five in a row on their travels for the first time since December 1984.
The result ended the Magpies run of 10 successive league losses to Arsene Wenger s side and moved them to 41 points in the table, taking them to the brink of survival.
Arsenal have now lost all five of their opening away league matches in a calendar year for the first time since 1925 – a damning 93-year low that underlines their problems this season.
5 Arsenal have lost five successive league matches away from home for the first time since December 1984. Dystopia.
— OptaJ…
Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer says the club s hierarchy acted too late in hiring Rafael Benitez, as Premier League relegation looms.
A desperate 0-0 draw at Aston Villa on Saturday, paired with Sunderland s thrilling 3-2 victory against Chelsea, leaves Newcastle needing to beat Tottenham on the final day and hope Sunderland slip up twice, but the Black Cats can relegate their fierce rivals by beating Everton on Wednesday.
Benitez was hired in mid-March after an insipid spell under Steve McClaren and has picked up 10 points from 27 available.
Shearer drew parallels with his own eight-game reign at the club, which ended in relegation in 2009, and says the responsibility lies solely with Mike Ashley and Newcastle s board of directors.
It looks highly…
After breaking down over the player’s wage demands, the talks between West Ham United and Paris Saint-Germain over the possible transfer of Javier Pastore have been restarted, according to .
The Argentine is currently demanding £190,000 per week, and the negotiations are in progress. The Hammers’ new manager Manuel Pellegrini has promissed the fans an attacking revolution in the team, and Pastore is among his prime targets as he looks to deliver on that promise.
The London club are also close to agreeing deals with Swansea over goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski and defender Alfie Mawson.
Pastore, who has made a total of 265 appearances and scored 45 goals for the French club since his arrival from Palermo in 2011, has seen his game-time significantly reduced in t…
Chan Yuen-ting became the first woman to lead a men s team in a continental competition against Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao, but the occasion was soured as her Eastern team were thumped 7-0.
Eastern the first team from Hong Kong to play in the AFC Champions League were humiliated in China as they ended the match having been reduced to nine men.
Hosts Guangzhou, managed by Luiz Felipe Scolari, recorded 38 shots 18 of which were on target while their opponents failed to find the target with either of their two attempts.
Eastern got off to a nightmare start when Wong Tsz Ho was sent off in the third minute for hand ball in the penalty area, with Ricardo Goulart scoring the resulting spot-kick.
It was already 3-0 by the time Wong Chi-Chung was sent off for a …
Everton boss Sean Dyche has expressed shock at the “disproportionate” 10-point penalty imposed on the club but insisted he and his players are ready to take on the latest challenge put in front of them.
Dyche was trying to enjoy a short break during the international window when he got word of the unprecedented sanction handed down by an independent commission for breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules – a penalty that Everton will appeal against.
Speaking publicly for the first time on the matter, Dyche said: “I think like everyone, certainly in these parts, I was shocked and seemingly from the wave of noise after that, most people in football are shocked by the enormity of it.
The focus remains on winning football matches.
— Ever…
Newcastle s on-loan Chelsea winger Kenedy turned in a Premier League performance on Saturday that is set to be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
The 22-year-old had a tame stoppage-time penalty saved by Cardiff City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge as the 10-man visitors were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw.
Kenedy supplied two goals and as many assists as Newcastle pulled away from relegation trouble last season but his numbers at the Cardiff City Stadium painted a grimmer picture.
Here, we look at how his performance unravelled.
33rd minute – After losing control of an attempted 360-degree spin, Kenedy petulantly kicked out at Cardiff midfielder Victor Camarasa. Retrospective action can be expected to follow. Maybe Kenedy will wish referee Cra…
Manchester City fans should be excited about having an extremely strong team once Pep Guardiola has completed his business in the transfer market, according Joan Laporta.
Laporta appointed Guardiola as Barcelona boss back in 2008 and met up with his close friend at an event for the Johan Cruyff foundation this week.
The ex-Barca president revealed the City manager was sounding very optimistic about 2017-18, despite finishing third and failing to win a trophy in his first season in England.
Laporta is in no doubt Guardiola will get it right and got the sense there was major transfer business on the horizon.
If City back him as he deserves he will succeed, Laporta told The Guardian.
He is an optimist, a winner and he is brave. He won t hide.
…
Mikel Arteta never doubted he had what it would take to lead Arsenal after the Arsene Wenger dynasty – even if he was kept waiting for the top job.
The Arsenal manager paused only briefly to consider the ramifications of taking over a team built by Wenger and developed in the Frenchman s fashion.
It was Arteta s fearlessness regarding the possibility of failure that persuaded him to take up the Gunners post in December 2019, a full 18 months after he came close to being Wenger s immediate successor.
The Unai Emery era separated his Arsenal reign from Wenger s 22-year spell in charge, and Arteta has gradually built up the north London giants to the point where a return to the Champions League is tantalisingly close. A long-term plan to revive the glory years is…
Newcastle United are interested in signing Azzedine Ounahi from Angers in the January transfer window, according to . Ounahi has been playing well for Morocco at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, and Newcastle are among a number of clubs who have been impressed by the 22-year-old midfielder and are keen on securing his services when the transfer window opens in January.
Ounahi has been on the books of Angers since 2021 and is one of the best young players in Ligue 1. The 22-year-old midfielder has made 13 starts and one substitute appearance in Ligue 1 for Angers so far this season. During the 2021-22 campaign, the young midfielder made 16 starts and 16 substitute appearances in the league, scoring two goals and giving one assist in the process.
The youngster has been a regular…