31/12/2025

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | DEC 31, 2025 30 IPSWICH narrowed the gap on the top two clubs in English football’s second-tier Championship with a 2-0 win at Coventry yesterday that ended the leaders’ unbeaten home record this season. Only the top two sides at the end of the regular season are guaranteed promotion to the lucrative Premier League and goals from Jack Clarke and Wes Burns saw Ipswich move to within two points of second-placed Middlesbrough, who lost 1-0 at Hull in a later match. Clarke opened the scoring in the 72nd minute and Burns’ first goal since April 2024 doubled the visitors’ lead 11 minutes later. Ipswich started the day 13 points behind Coventry and five behind Boro following a run of four away matches without a win. Yesterday’s win was the second time this

Ipswich rock leaders Coventry

to get to – if you’d asked people at the start of the season where’d you want to be at new year and then see where we are, you’d go ‘wow’.” Ipswich dominated the first half, enjoying almost 70 percent of possession, but did not break the deadlock until late in the game when Marcelino Nunez found Clarke, whose deflected shot went into the corner of the net. The visitors doubled their lead 11 minutes later when Burns, making just his second appearance since suffering an ACL injury against Liverpool in January, rolled his shot calmly into the net after being played in by Nunez. – AFP

month that Ipswich, relegated from the Premier League last season, had defeated Frank Lampard’s Coventry following a 3-0 success at Portman Road on Dec 6. By contrast, this latest result ended a run of eight straight home wins for Coventry. Coventry boss Lampard told the BBC : “It’s disappointing but sometimes you just have to say we weren’t quite at our usual best and the opposition are a really strong team and we lost the game. “I think we can pat ourselves on the back as a whole group because of where we’ve managed

Ipswich Town’s Jack Clarke. – @IpswichTown/X

Gunners looking for reinforcements

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Arteta could dip into January transfer market to strengthen title-chasing squad A RSENAL manager Mikel Arteta says the club is pre pared to ease their injury problems by “actively looking” at signing new players when the transfer window reopens next month. Ű BY PHILIP DUNCAN

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European market for young players with a high ceiling so would be more likely to acquire players that fall under that cate gory. The Gunners also have a “concrete interest” in highly-rated Eintracht Frankfurt forward Jean-Matteo Bahoya, according to Florian Plettenberg, while also sending scouts to watch Elche mid fielder Rodrigo Mendoza. But while the acquisition of elite players or long-term targets is rare in the mid-season window, it is not com pletely out of the question, with Italian media reporting that the Gunners are heavily interested in Juventus star Kenan Yildiz. The 20-year-old Turkish interna tional is one of the most exciting young attacking players in Europe but is reported to be stalling over a contract extension in Turin, leading to many continental heavyweights such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid to circle. Antoine Semenyo has meanwhile been linked with all of the Premier League’s biggest hitters and despite being an Arsenal fan, a January move for him is not viewed as being realistic by Arsenal. The Independent understands Manchester City lead the race for the Bournemouth winger, who has a £65 million (RM377m) release clause. The likes of Bayern Munich super star Michael Olise, AC Milan winger Rafael Leao and wantaway Borussia Dortmund forward Karim Adeyemi – who Bild report wants to move to a metropolis to appease his girlfriend – have also appeared in Arsenal gossip columns, though nothing concrete has emerged surrounding these rumours as of yet. – The Independent

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Arteta’s squad depth has been tested this season, with a number of players ruled out for significant spells through injury. And after spending in excess of £250 million (RM1.45b) on eight new sum mer arrivals, the Spaniard has not ruled out further reinforcements in January. “The window is there and I mean we are Arsenal and we have to be looking at it – ‘Okay, what do we need?’ And we have to be actively looking and then, whether we can do it or not, that’s a dif ferent story,” he said. “But our job is to always be very pre pared because something can happen, so hopefully it’ll be very positive. “When you look across the other clubs, they have 24 or 25 squad players. Although we have had more injuries than expected, some of them not avoid able. “We want to be better and we know how important the part of having the right availability with players is going to be this season.” Defensive quartet Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori, Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera were all unavail able for Arsenal’s nervy win over Brighton on Saturday, and Arteta could therefore look to reinforce his back line, with Sky Sports adding that AC Milan’s 20-year-old leftback Davide Bartesaghi has been scouted, a player that has been compared to Paolo Maldini. Arsenal are constantly looking at the

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