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TUESDAY | MAY 13, 2025

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Amorim raises doubts about United future after West Ham loss

AN “embarrassed” Ruben Amorim raised doubts about his Manchester United future after another poor performance from his team in a 2-0 home loss to West Ham on Sunday. Three days after United reached the Europa League final, they were brought back down to earth by another lowly side in the Hammers, with the London club recording their first top-flight win at Old Trafford since 2007. Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen scored the visitors’ goals as United, once the undisputed kings of English football, suffered a 17th defeat in 36 League games this season to sit 16th. This latest lacklustre display angered Amorim,

League title since celebrated manager Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. Amorim, asked how it felt to see his side so low in the Premier League, replied:“How a manager of Manchester United supposed to feel in that position – embarrassed and it’s hard to accept.” And he said a Europa League final with fellow English strugglers Tottenham in Bilbao on May 21 could not distract from United’s domestic woes. “Everybody is thinking about the final,” said Amorim. “The final is not an issue in this moment in our club. We have bigger things to think (about) and we have to change a lot of things in the end of the season.”

who has already given his team several public dressing downs since replacing the sacked Erik ten Hag as United manager in November. “For me the biggest concern is that feeling that ‘it’s OK’, and ‘we cannot change our position so much so it’s OK’,” Amorim said. “That is the biggest problem in our club in this moment because we are losing the feeling of we are a massive club and it’s the end of the world to lose a game at home.” The 40-year-old Portuguese coach, previously in charge of Sporting Lisbon, added it was “the most dangerous feeling that you have in a big club”, with United having not won the Premier

Amorim, who has overseen just six League wins since succeeding Ten Hag, said United “need to change a lot of things during the summer” and questioned his own future if he can’t oversee a significant improvement. “I don’t want to talk about players,” Amorim said. “I’m talking about myself and the culture in the club and the culture in the team. “We need to change that and we need to be really strong in the summer and to be brave because we will not have a next season like this. If we start like this, or if the feeling is still here, we should give the space to different persons.” – AFP

Arsenal hit back

RESULTS & STANDINGS

ENGLISH LEAGUE: Newcastle 2 (Tonali 2, Guimaraes 90) Chelsea 0, Manchester United 0 West Ham 2 (Soucek 26, Bowen 57) , Nottingham Forest 2 (Gibbs-White 25, Wood 56) Leicester 2 (Coady 16, Buonanotte 81) , Tottenham 0 Crystal Palace 2 (Eze 45, 48) , Liverpool 2 (Gakpo 20, Diaz 21) Arsenal 2 (Martinelli 47, Merino 70) . TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Liverpool 36 25 8 3 83 37 83 Arsenal 36 18 14 4 66 33 68 Newcastle 36 20 6 10 68 45 66 Man City 36 19 8 9 67 43 65 Chelsea 36 18 9 9 62 43 63 Aston Villa 36 18 9 9 56 49 63 LA LIGA: Leganes 3 (Cisse 33, Diomande 41, Kumbulla 63-og) Espanyol 2 (Cabrera 79, Milla 90+8) , Barcelona 4 (Garcia 19, Yamal 32, Raphinha 34, 45) Real Madrid 3 (Mbappe 5-pen, 14, 70) , Athletic Bilbao 1 (Sanchez 71-og) Alaves 0, Real Betis 1 (Hernandez 64) Osasuna 1 (Budimir 75) . TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Barcelona 35 26 4 5 95 36 82 Real Madrid 35 23 6 6 72 37 75 Atletico 35 20 10 5 60 27 70 Bilbao 35 17 13 5 51 26 64 Villarreal 35 17 10 8 61 47 61 Real Betis 35 16 10 9 53 43 58 SERIE A: Napoli 2 (Lukaku 15, Raspadori 64) Genoa 2 (Meret 32-og, Vasquez 84) , Torino 0 Inter Milan 2 (Zalewski 14, Asllani 49-pen) , Udinese 1 (Lucca 75) Monza 2 (Caprari 52, Balde 90) , Verona 1 (Coppola 41) Lecce 1 (Krstovic 23) . TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts Napoli 36 23 9 4 57 27 78 Inter Milan 36 23 8 5 75 33 77 Atalanta 35 20 8 7 71 31 68 Juventus 36 16 16 4 53 33 64 Lazio 36 18 10 8 59 46 64 Roma 35 18 9 8 50 32 63 BUNDESLIGA: Stuttgart 4 (Karazor 8, Woltemade 51, Millot 80, Demirovic 87) Augsburg 0, Eintracht Frankfurt 2 (Kristensen 1, Batshuayi 71) St Pauli 2 (Saliakas 4, Guilavogui 15) , Bayer Leverkusen 2 (Frimpong 31, Hofmann 90+2) Borussia Dortmund 4 (Brandt 33, Ryerson 43, Adeyemi 73, Guirassy 77) . TOP 6 P W D L F A Pts B. Munich 33 24 7 2 95 32 79 Leverkusen 33 19 11 3 70 41 68 Frankfurt 33 16 9 8 65 45 57 Freiburg 33 16 7 10 48 50 55 Dortmund 33 16 6 11 68 51 54 Mainz 33 14 9 10 53 41 51 CHAMPIONS PREMIER

Gunners rescue valuable draw at Anfield, Newcastle win top-five showdown with Chelsea A RSENAL fought back from two goals down to rescue a valuable 2-2 draw against Liverpool as the Gunners moved a step closer to qualifying for the Champions League on Sunday. What could have been a dramatic title decider had become irrelevant to champions Liverpool after they wrapped up their record equalling 20th English crown two weeks ago. Arsenal were still licking their wounds after being dumped out of this season’s Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain in the semifinal second leg last week.

Mikel Arteta’s side trailed to first half goals from Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz at Anfield. But Gabriel Martinelli reduced the deficit before Mikel Merino grabbed the visitors’ equaliser. Although Merino was sent off for a second booking with 11 minutes left, Arsenal clung on for a vital point in the battle for a top-five finish in the Premier League. Second-placed Arsenal sit five points clear of sixth-placed Aston Villa. They face a crucial clash with third placed Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium this week before travelling to relegated Southampton on the last day of the season. With a vastly superior goal difference to all their top-five rivals, Arsenal should need just one more point to secure a Champions League berth despite winning only one of their last six league games. “What we did in the first half is nowhere near the level … that is not acceptable,” Arteta said. “When the team plays like this, that’s on me. No one accepts those standards. It has to hurt a lot.” Trent Alexander-Arnold was dropped to the bench by Liverpool boss Arne Slot, just days after the Merseyside-born England rightback confirmed he will leave Anfield when his contract expires in June. Widely expected to join Real Madrid, Alexander-Arnold was replaced by Conor Bradley. Alexander-Arnold’s decision has divided Liverpool fans and he was booed by some sections of the crowd when he came on in the second half, with jeers accompanying his every touch after his introduction. “For the fans, they can always have the reaction they want but I will always back the players I lead and the ones that wear the red shirt. I will back them no matter what,” Slot said.

That 2-1 defeat had prompted Arteta to claim Arsenal were the best team in the competition. Arteta’s debatable boast came just days after he joked Arsenal had “won” the last two Premier Leagues because they had more points while finishing runners-up to Manchester City than Liverpool had when they clinched this season’s title, despite Slot’s men still having several games to play. Liverpool fans on the Kop rubbed salt into Arteta’s wounds as they chanted “best team in Europe? you’re having a laugh”. Earlier, Newcastle took a huge step towards qualifying for the Champions League with a vital 2-0 victory over top-five rivals Chelsea. Sandro Tonali put Newcastle ahead after just two minutes at St James’ Park before Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson was sent off for an elbow on Sven Botman late in the first half. Bruno Guimaraes struck in stoppage time to secure the Magpies’ seventh win from their last nine league games and lift them into third place in the Premier League. Eddie Howe’s side, aiming to feature in the Champions League for the second time in three seasons, are three points clear of sixth placed Aston Villa in the race for a top-five finish. “We hung in there. We got over the line and that’s the major thing in a game like today,” Howe said. Fifth-placed Chelsea’s first defeat in seven League games leaves their bid to return to Europe’s elite club competition in the balance. The Blues are level on points with sixth placed Aston Villa and one ahead of seventh placed Nottingham Forest. With Manchester United at home and Forest away left on their schedule, Enzo Maresca’s Uefa Conference League finalists face a tense finish to their season. “It’s already difficult 11 vs 11 in this stadium against this team so playing an hour with 10 players is not easy,” Maresca said. – AFP

Arsenal’s Thomas Partey (right) in action with Liverpool’s Luis Diaz. – REUTERSPIC

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