16/03/2026

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Chelsea boss Rosenior calls out ref Tierney

LIAM ROSENIOR called out referee Paul Tierney for not “focusing on his job” following a bizarre pre-match incident as Chelsea lost at home to Newcastle. The Blues’ push to qualify for next season’s Champions League was dealt a blow as Anthony Gordon’s first half tap-in condemned them to a first league defeat at Stamford Bridge under the English head coach. And before kickoff, Tierney strangely on the centre circle to interrupt Chelsea’s huddle. The Chelsea squad have begun gathering in a circle around the spot in recent weeks. But Tierney opted to stand by the ball and refused to

ree, my assistant goes in, the first thing he talks about is our huddle. He says about when I com plained about Arsenal being in our half. “It wasn’t the goalkeeper coach that was in our half. People were at that game Arsenal, I said what I said. “We’re not being disrespectful to the opposi tion. If Paul had focused more on his job, which was to make the right decision, we have a pen alty today.” Rosenior said he wants to sit down with the PGMOL, the body that manages refereeing stan dards, to discuss the matter. The 41-year-old added: “I didn’t speak to Paul today or his offi cials. I thought it wasn’t the right thing to do today. But I’ll be speaking to PGMOL. I’ll be speaking to the refs and just trying to get an understand ing of why that happened today.” – Express Newspapers

I’m going to make it really clear. I want to protect my players. I’m respectful to the game. “My players made the decision that they wanted to be around the ball, to respect the ball and show unity and leadership. “That is not my decision. That was a decision between the lead ership group and the team. “There is nothing that they’re doing with that huddle that is dis respectful to the opposition. “We had a meeting with the refe

move out of their way. That led to farcical scenes with the players huddling around the match official while they gave their team talk and Rosenior was clearly agitated after his team’s defeat, pointing out that he felt Tierney missed a clear penalty for his side when Cole Palmer went down inside the area after a chal lenge from Nick Woltemade. He said: “I’m disappointed. There’s more focus and emphasis on the things that don’t matter.

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City boss insists Cityzens can chase Arsenal P EP GUARDIOLA (pic) insisted the Premier League title race is not over despite a damaging 1-1 draw at West Ham that left Manchester City trailing nine points behind leaders Arsenal yesterday. Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals. “We have an incredible team, spirit. We had an incredible amount of effort in Madrid. The last two games, we played much, much better,” Guardiola said. Title race not over: Pep

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“We are an incredible team. We play so good. The guys go and go until we can’t continue. But we didn’t score enough goals when we had the quality and they punished us.” Arsenal, runners-up for the last three seasons, blew substantial leads to allow City to take the title in 2023 and 2024. But, for all his optimism, Guardiola knows the task of catching the Gunners this time is a daunting one. “It’s so difficult but we have a game in hand, this game at home against Arsenal. I’m not saying it will be easy to beat them but there is hope. Always, you have to be there,” he said. “I don’t know how they are playing because I didn’t see the last games but I have a few things that I like. It could be better but it is what it is.” City striker Erling Haaland was well below his best once again and has scored just three times in his last 12 league games. Guardiola acknowledged City’s lack of cutting edge has been a key factor in their erratic form. “We didn’t score enough goals. It hap pened a thousand millions times for this team in the last decade but this season we struggled,” he said. “We were without much threat and I don’t like that. You need the spark in the final third with your players. “To win the Premier League you need to be more consistent. In the past we had the consistency to win and win and win, to always find a way. “This season, not scoring goals for the amount of chances we’ve created, we’ve been punished.” – AFP

City squandered the lead given to them by Bernardo Silva in the first half at the London Stadium as Konstantinos Mavropanos headed West Ham’s equal iser before the interval. Just hours after Arsenal scored twice in the final minutes of their 2-0 victory over Everton, Guardiola’s side were unable to muster a response. Second-placed City have a game in hand on Arsenal and host the leaders in April, but with just eight matches left for the spluttering challengers many pundits have written them off. However, Guardiola remains defiant, claiming City will not throw in the towel. “It’s not over. Who said that? We didn’t lose. We will continue,” he said. “Nine points is a lot against Arsenal but it happened. We have the game at home so we have to try until the end. “When it is not possible then we con gratulate the champion but we have to try.” The only team to win a Premier League title having ended a match at least nine points behind the leaders hav ing played 30 or more games was City in 2013/14. But City are hardly in peak form at present, drawing their last two league games against relegation-threatened West Ham and Nottingham Forest. City were also brutally exposed in a 3 0 defeat at Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16 first leg in midweek. They host the Spanish club in the sec ond leg next week before facing Arsenal in the League Cup final and then meeting

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