Sunday, December 16, 2019

THE GLEANER, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2019 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | SPORTS B4 LONDON (AP): Arsenal and Manchester United are wilting while Tottenham are enjoying a resurgence in the English Premier League (EPL). Only four points now separate the teams in the EPL, but their recent fortunes have been very different. José Mourinho has overseen Tottenham’s climb from 14th to fifth. Jan Vertonghen’s late goal extended Mourinho’s start to four wins out of five by sealing a 2-1 victory at Wolverhampton yesterday, taking the north London club above the hosts. Manchester United are a point and a place behind Tottenham after being held 1-1 by a struggling Everton, deflating the mood at Old Trafford after back-to-back wins over Tottenham and Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s City returned to form yes- terday assisted by the collapse of Arsenal’s defence, winning 3-0 at a team under the struggling temporary command of Freddie Ljungberg. A hat-trick of titles seems to be beyond City’s players even before the halfway point of the season, with Liverpool 14 points ahead of them at the summit. But the defending champions are now four points behind sec- ond-placed Leicester, who were held 1-1 by Norwich on Saturday. At the Emirates Stadium, Gabriel Martinelli came close to putting Arsenal in front before City raced up the other end to take the lead inside 90 seconds of the game. Kyle Walker surged forward before playing in Gabriel Jesus, who squared for Kevin De Bruyne to finish exquisitely from just inside the penalty area. The lead was doubled in the 15th minute when City launched a counterattack after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was dispos- sessed, ending with De Bruyne crossing for the unmarked Sterling to tap in at the back post. Things went from bad to worse for Ljungberg and his players as De Bruyne struck again in the 40th while Arsenal were a man short. Sead Kolasinac had hobbled off after being unable to recover from an ankle knock, but with substitute Bukayo Saka not ready tomake an entrance, City capitalised on the advantage and De Bruyne turned the ball home from the edge of the box. De Bruyne was almost celebrating a first-half hat-trick of tremendous goals, only for Bernd Leno to make a stunning save as he sent the latest shot on to the post. Arsenal’s plight was summed up in the sec- ond half when Mesut Ozil was substituted and the playmaker kicked his gloves along the touchline. Arsenal has now taken only four points from four league games since Ljungberg was installed as the temporary replacement for the fired Unai Emery. “It needs to be cleared up so everybody knows,” Ljungberg said of the managerial uncertainty. “That is something I’ve said, but it is totally up to the club. I’m very honoured, and I’ve tried to do things as good as I can, but I think, as well, it would be good to make a decision, regardless of what it is.” TOTTENHAM TRIUMPH Lucas Moura put Spurs ahead at Wolves in the eighth minute after a jinking run. Adama Traore’s 20-yard strike in the 67th looked to have secured a point for the hosts until Vertonghen headed home Christian Eriksen’s stoppage-time corner. Duncan Ferguson followed up beating Chelsea in his first game as interim Everton manager by grabbing a point at United. Victor Lindelof’s own goal gave Everton a first-half lead, but Mason Greenwood grabbed a 77th-minute equaliser. It was frustrating for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a week after winning at Man City. “Today is not a big step backwards,” said Solskjaer, marking almost a year after replacing Mourinho at Old Trafford.“It’s more of a standstill, not improving.” Contrasting results for EPL top dogs Tottenham’s JanVertonghen (right) celebrates after scoringhis side’s secondgoal during their EnglishPremier LeaguematchagainstWolverhampton Wanderers at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England yesterday. AP LONDON (AP): CHINESE TELEVISION pulled coverage of Arsenal’s English Premier League (EPL) match against Manchester City yester- day after Mesut Özil, a forward for the London club, criticised Beijing’s brutal mass crackdown on ethnic Muslims in the country. China is the EPL’s most lucrative overseas broadcast market, with the rights sold for US$700 mil- lion in a three-year deal that runs through 2022. But instead of the sports chan- nel of Chinese state television showing Özil featuring in Arsenal’s 3-0 loss to City, it scheduled a delayed recording of Tottenham’s 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton from earlier yesterday, according to information from the network. Streaming service PPTV.com also cancelled a feed of Arsenal’s match, which featured Özil for almost an hour before he was substituted amid cheers and some jeers from his own fans. Özil reacted by kicking his gloves on the touchline. “How he reacts is up to him, and I’ll deal with it,” interim Arsenal manager Freddie Ljungberg said. “We’ll see what it means for the future, but, of course, we want players to behave the right way.” Ljungberg would not discuss the specifics of Özil’s social-media post from Friday that embroiled Arsenal in controversy in China. “The China thing is political,” Ljungberg said, “and I’ll leave that to the club.” Arsenal used a post on Chinese social-media network Weibo to dissociate itself from Özil’s action. “The content he expressed is entirely Özil’s personal opinion,” the north London club said. “As a football club, Arsenal always adheres to the principle of not being involved in politics.” Özil added to condemnation of the detention of more than 1 mil- lion Uighurs and other minorities in so-called re-education camps in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang, where they are subjected to political indoctrination, torture, beatings, and food deprivation, as well as denial of religious and linguistic freedom. A social-media post from Özil on Friday denounced China for burning Qurans, closing mosques and the killing of religious schol- ars. The Arsenal player complained that “Muslims stay quiet”. The Chinese Football Association expressed “great indignation and disappointment” at Özil’s com- ments, according to the Global Times newspaper published by the ruling Communist Party. CHINA’S CONTROL TACTICS China’s government increasingly uses the threat of loss of access to the country’s growing market as leverage to try to control what companies, universities, and others say or do abroad about political issues. Arsenal will be hoping to avoid the backlash faced by the Houston Rockets earlier this year after the NBA team’s general manager, Daryl Morey, tweeted support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, angering fans and officials in China. The tweet was deleted soon after it was posted, and Rockets owner and billionaire casino and restaurant owner Tilman Fertitta quickly rebuked his General Manager with a tweet saying that Morey does not speak for the team. The tweet caused some Chinese corporations to suspend relation- ships with the NBA. Chinese TV pulls Arsenal game Arsenal’s Mesut Özil warms up before their English Premier League match against Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium in London, England, yesterday. AP Yesterday’s EPL results: Man United 1-1 Everton Wolves 1-2 Tottenham Arsenal 0-3 Man City Today’s fixture: Crystal Palace vs Brighton 2:45 p.m.