Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says his side are playing catch-up in the Premier League title race after Tuesday’s goalless draw with Southampton left them five points behind leaders Leicester City with 14 games remaining.
A four-game winless streak in the league has seen Arsenal slip to fourth in the table after Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-0 victory over Norwich City took Mauricio Pochettino’s men ahead of the Gunners on goal difference.
“We have to catch that back and we have a difficult programme, especially away from home. We need to respond quickly away from home now,” Wenger said.
Van Nistelrooy set for PSV coaching role
Ruud van Nistelrooy will join the coaching staff at PSV Eindhoven from next season.
The former Manchester United star will coach the strikers in the club’s under-17, under-19 and reserve teams, the Eredivisie side announced in a statement.
The 39-year-old will leave his position as an assistant to Holland boss Danny Blind.
“I’m really looking forward to my new job at PSV, where I’m going to help the young attackers maximise their potential,” he said.
Van Nistelrooy made his name as a striker with PSV before joining Manchester United where he enjoyed a prolific five-year spell.
Leicester’s Vardy hails his best goal
A smiling Jamie Vardy reckoned he had never scored a finer goal than the blistering long-distance volley which helped Leicester City’s fantasy enter ever more surreal territory on Tuesday.
In front of England manager Roy Hodgson, Vardy, who keeps pushing his Euro 2016 claims with such elan, scored both goals in Leicester’s 2-0 win over Liverpool, a win which keeps them three points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
“Unbelievable,” Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri called it, while Juergen Klopp, the Liverpool counterpart, could only sigh: “It was a world-class goal.”
Even Vardy had to concede on Sky Sports: “To be fair, I don’t think I’ve scored a better goal than that. But a goal’s a goal and, more importantly, it’s three points for the club.”
Juve’s Khedira out for up to three weeks
Juventus midfielder Sami Khedira will be sidelined for two to three weeks after medical tests revealed a muscle tear in his right thigh, the Serie A club announced yesterday.
The German international had missed the first two months of the season with a thigh injury.
Khedira faces a race to be fit for Juve’s Champions league round of 16 first leg clash with German champions Bayern Munich on February 23.
Evergrande snap up Martinez for €42m
Guangzhou Evergrande have signed striker Jackson Martinez from Atletico Madrid for a bumper transfer fee of €42 million, the south China club said.
The Colombia international, who has inked a four-year deal, will link up with fellow South Americans Paulinho and Ricardo Goulart in the Luiz Felipe Scolari-coached side.
“Once he has had medical clearance, he will fly directly to Dubai on Feb. 9 to join his team-mates for winter training in preparation for the new season,” the Chinese Super League club said on its website.
Injured Tasci misses Bayern presentation
Bayern Munich defender Serdar Tasci had a painful introduction to life at the Bundesliga champions, as an injury sustained in his first training session forced him to miss his own press unveiling.
Tasci was a deadline-day loan signing from Spartak Moscow, with Bayern facing a defensive crisis following injuries to Jerome Boateng and Javi Martinez.
However, the German giants face another shuffle at the back, after Tasci banged heads with a Bayern colleague in what was his maiden training session yesterday.
It meant Bayern Sporting director Matthias Sammer had to take full charge at the player’s unveiling later that day, producing his shirt with number four at the back.
CONMEBOL official quits over Boca ban
A member of CONMEBOL’s disciplinary committee resigned on Tuesday and said South American football’s reputation has been tarnished further after the region’s governing body reduced Boca Juniors’ stadium ban for crowd violence from eight games to two.
Uruguayan Adrian Leiza, vice-president of the South American confederation’s (CONMEBOL) disciplinary committee, said the executive committee’s ruling was politically motivated.
Argentine club Boca had been ordered to play eight games without their supporters after an incident in May when fans attacked players of arch-rivals River Plate with mustard gas during their Copa Libertadores clash in Buenos Aires.