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Arsenal’s relentless pursuit of a first Premier League title since the Invincibles era has taken them to the summit of the table heading into the festive period, with Mikel Arteta’s side maintaining a slender two-point advantage over second-placed Man City.

The Gunners have won 12 of their opening fixtures while losing just twice, establishing themselves as genuine title contenders once again after finishing second in each of the last three campaigns.

Arteta’s squad has shown remarkable resilience throughout the season despite significant injury problems, with 17 of their 25-man squad spending at least one game out through injury or illness (The Telegraph).

That being said, the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa earlier this month represented a potentially damaging blow to Arsenal’s title credentials, with Emiliano Buendia’s 95th minute winner sealing all three points for Villa and allowing City to close the gap.

The loss at Villa Park also made a statement when it comes to Unai Emery’s own title credentials, with both the Villans and Pep Guardiola now in touching distance of Arsenal.

Related Berta now set to offer club 'costly' Arsenal star after deciding to sell him

It’s a surprise move.

Posts ByEmilio Galantini

Saturday’s narrow 1-0 win over Everton at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium ensured that Arsenal remain just ahead of the chasing pack for now, but they haven’t exactly blown teams away heading into a crucial festive period.

Nevertheless, the quadruple remains on for Arteta’s side, and they could cruise into the Carabao Cup semi-final draw with a win over Crystal Palace tomorrow.

Off the field, sporting director Andrea Berta maintains his recruitment drive ahead of 2026, and reports suggest they have their eyes on AC Milan sensation Davide Bartesaghi.

The Rossoneri starlet has burst on to the scene this term, essentially replacing Theo Hernandez as Milan’s starting left-wing-back.

The Italy Under-21 international has seriously impressed and most recently bagged a brace to rescue a thrilling 2-2 draw at home to Sassuolo, with Bartesaghi’s form attracting real attention.

Italian media fear AC Milan could sell Davide Bartesaghi to Arsenal

Now, members of the Italian press have expressed their worry about Arsenal’s interest in the 19-year-old.

Reporter Carlo Pellegatti told his YouTube channel, via Milan News, that he holds fears over Massimiliano Allegri’s side green-lighting a London move for Bartesaghi.

This is mainly due to the ‘strong’ temptation in Milan over making serious money from the defender’s sale, with Arsenal ‘above all’ in pursuit of Bartesaghi as we head into January.

Arsenal’s interest makes tactical sense given Arteta’s preference for ball-playing defenders comfortable in possession and capable of inverting into midfield, characteristics the young Italian certainly possesses.

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The north Londoners currently have Jurrien Timber, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Riccardo Calafiori, Piero Hincapie and Ben White all capable of playing at full-back though, so yet another one shouldn’t really be top of their agenda right now.

The potential transfer fee remains unclear at this stage, but anything too lofty really shouldn’t be considered by Arsenal at this stage.

If sold, Bartesaghi’s academy graduate status would see the entire fee registered as profit on Milan’s balance sheet, making the deal particularly attractive from a Financial Fair Play perspective.

Related Arsenal hold 'fresh' discussions with £61m star called 'the future' of Real Madrid

The Gunners have made a new enquiry.

Posts ByEmilio Galantini

Three weeks after the controversy erupted, the racism charge against Harbhajan Singh was found to be not proven by Justice John Hansen, hearing the appeal, on Tuesday. Harbhajan was instead charged with a Level 2.8 offence – abuse and insult not amounting to racism – to which he pleaded guilty and was fined 50 per cent of his match fees.With this, the cloud over the immediate future of the Indian tour lifted; the Indian team, which had gathered in Adelaide in a show of support instead of proceeding to Melbourne for Friday’s Twenty20 match, has now decided to continue with the original arrangements.Harbhajan had been found guilty of racist abuse of Andrew Symonds during the Sydney Test in early January and handed a three-Test ban by match referee Mike Procter. The charge was leveled by the on-field umpires, Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson, on a complaint from Ricky Ponting, Australia’s captain that Harbhajan had called Symonds a monkey.An ICC statement following the conclusion of the appeal said that “a letter signed by all the players involved – from both Australia and India – was tendered into evidence as an agreed statement of facts as to what took place during the Sydney Test match.”During the hearing, oral evidence was called for from all the witnesses to the exchange between Harbhajan and Andrew Symonds – Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden and Sachin Tendulkar. The witnesses were then cross-examined by Brian Ward, counsel representing the Australians, and VR Manohar, representing Harbhajan via video link from Mumbai.”Justice Hansen said he was convinced that, on all the evidence submitted before him, the charge of a Level 3.3 offence was not proven but that Harbhajan should be charged with a Level 2.8 offence.” Harbhajan pleaded guilty to this charge, after which the fine was imposed on him.Hansen is scheduled to provide the full reasons for delivering his judgement on Wednesday evening.”It is definitely known that there was some offensive language used at that time,” said MV Sridhar, the team’s assistant manager. “He’s agreed to have used some form of abusive language. We felt that at the best interest of all there was an amicable solution arrived at. The charge was not withdrawn but we jointly felt that 3.3 will not be on the scale and 2.8 will be more relevant to the cause. Justice [Hansen] was generous enough to impose a fine of 50%.”About the decision to stay back in Adelaide, Sridhar said it was a show of solidarity. “There was no stand-off or anything between the boards,” he said. “Over the last couple of weeks there was tremendous effort from Cricket Australia and BCCI. And they’ve been able to come to a cricketing solution. The efforts have been on and we were able to submit it in time to the appeals commissioner.”The thinking over staying back was that the entire team should be in one place. We were here and the appeal was coming up today. That’s the only reason. This decision to call the players was taken prior to all this.”After the hearing the two teams issued a joint statement emphasising the need to move on and focus on the cricket. “Harbhajan and Symonds said they had resolved the issue between them in Sydney and now intend to move on. They have said they intend to make no further comment on the issue and get on with the game of cricket, which is the most important issue for each of them.” The two captains also expressed their satisfaction with the outcome.Cricket Australia’s spokesman Peter Young said both the Indian board and Cricket Australia were happy with the decision. Sharad Pawar, president of the Indian board, said the verdict vindicated the BCCI’s stand. “The judge has given a proper judgement. BCCI was consistently taking only one stand that it was practically impossible for us to accept the racist charges against any Indian player.”

Dravid on Sehwag: ‘Virender will have a big role to play here in the tournament’ © AFP

Rahul Dravid, the Indian captain, has reiterated his confidence in Virender Sehwag, despite his third-ball duck in the warm-up match against West Indies on Friday. But he also added that Sehwag, who’s failed to cross 20 in 11 of his last 13 innings, was one of the several opening options that the team had in front of them, suggesting that a move down the order shouldn’t be ruled out.”He missed out and we would like him to get more runs,” said Dravid. “He’s a player who has done well here in the past. Virender will have a big role to play here in the tournament and hopefully he will fire and be a dangerous cricketer.”But Dravid, on who’s insistence Sehwag reportedly made it to the World Cup squad, added that India would not be afraid to use other options. “We have the option of four guys who can open the batting. Sourav Ganguly, Sehwag, Robin Uthappa and Sachin Tendulkar – they have all opened the batting, and some have done it for longer than others.”We have the options, and we just have to see who is in form, who is playing well, what the combination of the team is, and what the pitches are like before we decide what is the best combination for the side at the time. It’s nice to have some flexibility and people who can bat in various positions for us, but our plans have always been dependent on what is the situation.”Dravid admitted that “flexibility” will be a key factor in his side’s bid to win their second World Cup title. “I don’t think you can enter a World Cup with only one plan and every time you are going to use this one plan,” he said. “I think it has to vary and you will see that teams will have to adapt to the different conditions and be flexible according to the situation. We hope to do this and we think we have the players that can do it. We have an idea in our minds about the kind of combinations we want to play, and the players we want to pick, but there are too many variables, so only time will tell.”Sehwag also received support in the form of Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, who felt he would bounce back like Ganguly did. “This [losing form] is part and parcel of the game. One year back, people were talking the same about Sourav Ganguly. All that has stopped after he performed so well and now he has become an asset to the team,” Pawar told reporters. “Sometimes you perform and sometimes you don’t. You don’t have to think much about such players. He is a run-getter.”

Abdul Razzaq will join Saqlain Mushtaq as Ireland’s second overseas player for the C&G Trophy.Razzaq, the Pakistan allrounder, has agreed terms with the Irish Cricket Union and will join the squad in April ahead of the first match against Hampshire on April 23, which will be held at Clontarf.Razzaq, who has recently regained his international place in both Test and one-day teams, was influential in helping Pakistan win their recent Test Series against India. He averaged 51 with the bat in the two Tests that he played, and took 9 wickets at 31.22 apiece as Pakistan took the series 1-0.

Mahendra Dhoni: played “fantastically well” according to to Bob Woolmer© AFP

On Mahendra Dhoni
He played fantastically well, along with Virender Sehwag today. He is a big hitter of the ball but I don’t think we bowled well enough to him and generally in the first hour and a half today. We allowed him to get underneath the ball which you can’t do in ODI cricket and if we bowl like this to him again, then he will play fantastically well again.On where the game was lost
The key to losing the game was our bowling first thing this morning. Later, although we batted well, we lost wickets at crucial stages.On the reliance on part-time bowlers
In Australia, where the pitches are good, they also bowled well so I don’t think it is a question of a wrong strategy. I just think our skill levels haven’t been up to the mark in both the games we have played so far.On missing Younis Khan
I think we are missing him, he is very alive in the field and he keeps the team bubbling but he hasn’t been a big part of our ODI team for some time now so he doesn’t come in to the team that easily.On Inzamam’s anger at his run-out
He is a very cool person. His bat just slipped out of his hand as he walked back to the pavilion.On the weather
The weather wasn’t as much a factor today as it was in Cochin. I think we had the better conditions fielding in the morning and the Indians had it much worse in the afternoon.On shuffling the batting order
We shuffled it for obvious reasons with such a big target to chase and even though Afridi didn’t score we got it about right. We made nearly 300 with six overs to go so I think the batting worked well and our run-rate was about right throughout. The only problem was that we lost wickets at crucial junctures.On taking positives from the game
Yousuf Youhana batted really well today and I think in the field we were committed; we chased hard and were determined. Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan bowled fantastically well today as well.On why Danish Kaneria is not in the ODI team
I think we have enough variety in our attack. Shahid Afridi bowls his leg-spin and Mohammad Hafeez can bat. Arshad Khan has also done well since he has come in.On where to from here
The euphoria of Bangalore has been shelved and we need to improve now and win the next game if we want to win this series. We have to do all things well at the same time now. In Cochin, we bowled well but batted poorly – 282 was a gettable target. Here we batted well but bowled badly so we need to get it right for the next game. We have not played out ODI game well and we need to bounce back now. The one-day game is a lottery anyway but we just haven’t played well enough.

Day 2 of 4 Victoria 7 for 252 (Hodge 125, McDonald 51*) trail Tasmania 341 by 89 runs
ScorecardBrad Hodge scored a superb 125, but Tasmania’s bowlers struck at regular intervals at the other end to reduce Victoria to 7 for 252 at the Bellerive Oval, still 89 runs in the arrears. Hodge’s dismissal reduced Victoria to 7 for 199, but Andrew McDonald, with an unbeaten 51, and Darren Berry (22 not out), prevented Tasmania from gaining a huge first-innings lead.Full report follows …

Former Hampshire opening batsman, Tony Middleton, has been appointed by the England and Wales Cricket Board as Hampshire Cricket’s Academy Director.

Hampshire Manager Director Nick Pike with Tony Middleton

The 38-year-old from Winchester was among ten applicants, some of them from overseas. Middleton played for Hampshire in two winning one-day finals at Lord’s before retiring in 1995. Hampshire have financed the Academy since it was launched in September 1998 but will now receive a £50,000 annual licence fee from the ECB and Sport England.”The support and guidance from the ECB and a network of County Academies will allow us to expand and improve the quality of our Academy students’ programme.” said Middleton.Having run the Academy since it opened, he is responsible for player recruitment and will oversee the entire development of players aged 13-18. Last season, when he also coached Hampshire’s second XI, his Academy side gained promotion to the Southern Premier League’s top flight.Two highly-rated young Hampshire first teamers, Chris Tremlett and John Francis, graduated from the Academy and there are currently six players in the Academy, half of whom live outside the county, who are all considered to be potential first-class cricketers. The extra funding allows for the programme to be extended to accommodate up to 12 players.”Tony Middleton is highly respected, not only as a coach but as an individual,” says Tim Tremlett, Hampshire’s Director of Cricket. “He had Hampshire’s interests very much at heart and will be able to carry out the ECB’s mission statement of taking young cricketers from the playground to the Test match arena.”Tony Middleton made his Hampshire debut in 1984, but his best season came eight years later when he scored nearly 2,000 runs in first-class cricket, including six centuries. He was chosen for that winter’s England ‘A’ tour to Australia.

Australia and Pakistan begin psychological warfare tomorrow in the first of two NatWest Series encounters rendered meaningless before the teams meet in the final at Lord’s on June 23.England’s run of defeats means that the remainder of the qualifying games are largely irrelevant although there will no doubt be some mind games played at Chester-le-Street tomorrow.And Australian coach John Buchanan has hinted that there could be some experimentation from both sides.”It is nice to be in the final. That being the case, there will be a littlebit of room for some experimenting along the way – but certainly we want to keepthe winning run going,” he said.”With the future in mind, it is important for us to continue to have a lookat Pakistan. I dare say they will put on the field a couple of players who we have not seen before, so that will be useful.”He added: “There is the luxury of having got to the final, which means wecan maybe look at one or two different things we would like to try.”We may take a few more liberties than we would normally do. We will betrying to play our best cricket but we will also have an eye on the future.”Australia’s renowned rotation system means tomorrow Glenn McGrath will be rested for the first time in the series, to be replaced by Brett Lee. Ricky Ponting is given a day off while Damien Fleming is back after a minor calf injury.Waqar Younis, who has said he believes it is essential his team wins at least one of the two clashes with Australia before the final, has a fully fit squad to choose from – but offered no further clues as to who would be taking the field.Australia: M Waugh, A Gilchrist (wkt), M Hayden, M Bevan, S Waugh (captain), DMartyn, A Symonds, S Warne, B Lee, J Gillespie, D Fleming.Pakistan (from): Salim Elahi, Shahid Afridi, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq,Abdur Razzaq, Waqar Younis (captain), Rashid Latif (wkt), Saqlain Mushtaq,Younis Khan, Wasim Akram, Azhar Mahmood, Saeed Anwar.

Daniel Farke continues to fight back against previous Premier League critics in the Leeds United hot seat.

Indeed, question marks have always been there regarding the German’s suitability to the daunting top-flight, with only ten career wins in the tense division next to his name making him stand out as a manager more used to EFL success.

Yet, having recently masterminded a win and a draw over Chelsea and Liverpool, and a hard-fought point against Brentford was secured last time out, the under-fire boss has certainly won himself more time in the Elland Road dug-out.

Still, even he won’t be happy with one big underperformer in his ranks. He’s up there with high-profile flops Rodrigo and Luis Sinisterra before him.

Leeds’ most expensive signings

Player

Cost

1. Georginio Rutter

£35.5m

2. Brenden Aaronson

£28.5m

3. Rodrigo

£26m

4. Dan James

£25m

5. Luis Sinisterra

£21m

Why Rodrigo & Sinisterra were a waste of money at Leeds

Looking at the table above, Leeds would feel they have a compelling argument to state that a large portion of their most expensive recruits have been hits, rather than misses.

For example, both Georginio Rutter and Dan James stood out as firm fan favourites when Leeds routinely competed in the Championship, with a stunning 77 goal contributions collected between the entertaining attacking duo at Elland Road.

The jury is still out on Brenden Aaronson’s £28.5m price tag, but he does have a promotion next to his name, with the 25-year-old also up to three goal contributions for the season, showing off glimpses of his quality.

Both Rodrigo and Sinisterra are likely to be dismissed as flops, though, when remembering their spells, with the combined £47m spent on their services arguably wasted.

For their big fees, a lot more would have been anticipated, with the Spain international a hit-and-miss presence throughout his 97-game spell, considering he mustered up just 13 goals across his first two Premier League seasons. He would also boast a steep £100k-per-week wage.

Sinisterra’s stint would also go by in an underwhelming blur, with only 28 games falling into his lap in West Yorkshire. His five goals in Premier League action during his solitary season up North also couldn’t save his employers from the drop, with the bumper deal leaving a bad taste in the mouth.

Still, with 36 goals tallied up collectively, there are some rays of positivity to hang onto from their forgettable playing days, unlike this man..

Leeds have a bigger waste of money than Rodrigo and Sinisterra

On another occasion, Leeds could well have run out as winners at the G-Tech Community Stadium.

Farke’s visitors mustered up 15 shots next to the hosts’ eight, as Dominic Calvert-Lewin thankfully bailed the Premier League newcomers out again.

While the former Everton striker continues to impress after moving on a free transfer, the same cannot be said for Lucas Perri, who looked shaky once more in between the sticks for the away side, after a major £13.9m move from Lyon in the summer.

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Worryingly, only eight of Perri’s 30 passes reached their intended target against Brentford, with the “dreadful” ‘keeper – as content creator Lewis Deighton lambasted his distribution post-match – also only completing one save all match, leading to Jordan Henderson powering home his first ever Bees strike past the ropey stopper.

Perri’s numbers vs Brentford

Stat

Perri

Minutes played

90

Goals conceded

1

Goals prevented

-0.16

Saves

1

Touches

36

Accurate passes

8/27 (30%)

Possession lost

20x

Stats by Sofascore

For £13.9m, considering last season saw Leeds curse Illan Meslier’s error-prone performances in goal, the newly promoted side would have expected Perri to be a far more solid performer than he currently has shown, with his last clean sheet for the club coming all the way back in August.

With a £50k-per-week wage also thrown into the mix, which makes him a higher earner than both Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu, who take home a lesser £40k-per-week pay packet each, it isn’t ludicrous to suggest from his early days in West Yorkshire so far that Perri is going down the route of being a bigger waste of money than both Rodrigo and Sinisterra, as more errors in between the sticks could prove to be Leeds’ undoing in the relegation fight.

After all, former Leeds player Jon Newsome has even come out already to criticise the signing as “wasted funds” on the end of the 49ers, with Perri likely to go down as a miss, as opposed to a hit, in the transfer department, if he can’t turn around his dismal narrative soon.

Related Worse than Bijol: Farke must drop Leeds dud who made just 29% of his passes

Daniel Farke should drop this Leeds flop who was even worse than Jaka Bijol against Brentford.

Posts 1 ByDan Emery

Trinidad’s Brian Lara Stadium should be completed before year end, according to Gary Hunt, Trinidad & Tobago’s sports minister.Work on the stadium has been behind schedule for months and the whole project has attracted considerable criticism. Hunt said that it was 80% complete but would not give an exact date when it was expected to be finished.”The contractors indicated that the facility would be finished this year, but to give you an exact date, I do not have that,” he said. “I have to consult more closely with the contractors to supply a very accurate date … and even in today’s terms, you know that is subject to many conditions as we see in the construction industry today.”Opposition MPs have attacked what they have described as the “rampant corruption and financial mismanagement” of the project, but Hunt denied these charges.”We indicated that we are going to look at a value for money principle in all projects that we execute and this project is no different,” he said. “With regard to the exact cost, I believe that the past minister of Sports gave a statement in the parliament with regard to this and the figure put forward then was US $87.5 million. To give you a present estimate, I do not have that figure, and I would have to consult with the contractors.”