Key events
Senegal’s route to the AFCON final:
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Senegal 3-0 Botswana
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Senegal 1-1 DR Congo
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Benin 0-3 Senegal
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Senegal 3-1 Sudan (RO16)
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Mali 0-1 Senegal (QF)
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Senegal 1-0 Egypt (SF)
London’s Little Morocco is brimming with pride and anticipation. The Moroccan diaspora in North Kensington is in no doubt that on Sunday the Atlas Lions will triumph against Senegal in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Let’s look ahead to the Africa Cup of Nations final, which kicks off this evening at 7pm GMT.
Senegal face tournament hosts Morocco at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium…
Will Villa put the pressure on both Arsenal and City today?
And… was it a penalty? If you’re asking me, I’d probably say yes, but my opinion is completely irrelevant!
Football eh?
What looked like Arsenal’s ‘chance’ is now Aston Villa’s today 😉
Forest played well last night, Arsenal could not convert their chances so a draw it is, that looked a penalty all day long though (scooped the ball with his arm) 100% penalty!
There is so much talk of Arsenal and Manchester City chasing the Premier League title this season, but Aston Villa remain up there as well. Unai Emery’s side could move above City and within four points of the leaders with a win today, which would be a huge statement.
Do we think they could remain title challengers in four months time?
If you’re enjoying a nice and relaxed Sunday morning, why not give our game On The Ball a go?
More on Glasner…
Glasner has a solid point.
Palace will get £20 million for selling their most important player while they are still in Europe and not immune to plummeting down the league.
A sell on clause means £4 million of that will have to be paid to his former club Chelsea, so for relative peanuts Steve Parrish and his board have pulled the rug out from under Glasner and their team.
Compare that with keeping Guehi until the end of his contract in the summer, which might have ended in a Europa Conference League trophy, and probable PL mid-table or even top ten stability and you have to wonder what on earth is going on.
As far as we have been told, the player wasn’t refusing to play once Manchester City expressed interest so assuming that Guehi would have honoured his contract it has to go down as an act of potential club destruction by the board.
Oliver Glasner has seemingly followed in the footsteps of Enzo Maresca and Ruben Amorim in starting a public feud with the board. We all know how things ended for those two…
What’s next for the Crystal Palace manager?
Glasner angling for an early exit?
Just a reminder that you can get in touch by emailing matchday.live@theguardian.com or leaving a comment below the line.
Let us know any thoughts, feelings and takeaways from yesterday’s games along with any predictions for today.
Also, let me know your plans for the day – are you off to a game or watching from the sofa? I want to hear from you!
Ahead of Arsenal’s FA Cup meeting with Aston Villa, our very own Suzanne Wrack spoke to Katie McCabe…
The likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham and Manchester City are also back in Women’s FA Cup action today…
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Tottenham v Leicester City
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Bournemouth v Manchester City
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Brighton v Nottingham Forest
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Chatham v York City
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Ipswich Town v Sheffield United
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London Bees v Liverpool
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Manchester United v Burnley
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Oxford United v Middlesbrough
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Southampton v Bristol City
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Arsenal v Aston Villa
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Charlton v Swindon
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Hull v Birmingham
Elsewhere in Europe today:
Ligue 1
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Strasbourg v Metz
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Nantes v Paris FC
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Rennes v Le Havre
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Lyon v Brest
Bundesliga
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Stuttgart v Union Berlin
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Augsburg v Freiburg
Serie A
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Parma v Genoa
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Bologna v Fiorentina
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Torino v Roma
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AC Milan v Lecce
La Liga
Today’s Premier League fixtures:
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Wolves v Newcastle
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Aston Villa v Everton
Jacob Steinberg
“It comes to something when the level of discontent at Tottenham had people who have spent all season watching West Ham wondering if it was all a bit much. There were cries of mutiny whenever Guglielmo Vicario tried to play out from the back, jeers at half-time and, of course, sustained boos when another home defeat for Thomas Frank’s nervous wreck of a team ended with one last cross from Djed Spence drifting sadly out of play in the ninth minute of added time….
Oliver Glasner was vocal about his discontent with the current situation at Crystal Palace yesterday. The manager confirmed on Friday that he would be leaving Selhurst Park at the end of the season, shortly before revealing that Marc Guehi was also on his way out.
However, following his team’s 2-1 loss to Sunderland, Glasner went one step further in voicing his concern, suggesting the board has “abandoned” the squad.
He said: “Your heart gets torn out twice in a season, one day before a game. It’s tough to survive. That’s how it feels like right now.
“We played quite well and I think my players left their hearts on the pitch but I couldn’t support them from the bench,” said Glasner who failed to make a single substitution as his side were sunk by goals from Enzo Le Fée and Brian Brobbey after Yéremy Pino had given them the lead against the run of play.
“We feel that we’re being abandoned. There’s no support. Everybody’s disappointed. We’ve been playing with 12 to 13 players for weeks now. On the bench I had just kids. They had never played in a stadium with an atmosphere like this.
“Why I’m saying this is not to protect myself but to protect them. They need protecting. I made no substitutions because it would have been unfair. I see them in training every day. That’s where we are. The [senior] players need support.”
He added: “We’ve known we’re in this situation for weeks, for months now. What are we doing? We’re selling our captain [Guéhi] one day before a game. One day before a game, the first time I heard about it was 10.30am yesterday. All the set pieces, everything was prepared for Guéhi playing.
“Then, we had to change everything. Nobody told us. So then I have to stand in front of the group and tell them, ‘oh, the captain doesn’t play tomorrow.’
“I think the players did well in the circumstances. I’m so direct today because I feel I have to protect them.”
Yesterday’s Premier League results:
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Manchester United 2-0 Manchester City
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Sunderland 2-1 Crystal Palace
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Chelsea 2-0 Brentford
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Liverpool 1-1 Burnley
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Tottenham 1-2 West Ham
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Leeds United 1-0 Fulham
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Nottingham Forest 0-0 Arsenal
Meanwhile, title-chasers City were left red-faced after losing the Manchester derby to bitter rivals United. Michael Carrick enjoyed a dream start to life as United’s interim head coach and won the fans over in the best possible way.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, Arsenal missed the opportunity to go nine points clear at the top of the table with a 0-0 draw away at Nottingham Forest. The Gunners missed several opportunities to take the lead, but the main talking point was a penalty incident that was cleared by VAR following a brief check. Mikel Arteta spoke very strongly about the handball incident at full-time.
Thomas Frank’s Tottenham future was thrown further into doubt yesterday when Spurs suffered a 2-1 home loss to relegation candidates West Ham. The mood inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was toxic, with fans booing at various points of the game, including half-time and full-time.
Preamble
Hello, good morning and welcome to another Matchday live! We have two Premier League fixtures to look forward to this afternoon as Wolves take on Newcastle and Aston Villa host Everton. We’ll also be reacting to yesterday’s games as Arsenal failed to capitalise on Manchester City’s derby day loss to United.
Elsewhere, the Africa Cup of Nations comes to an end this evening as Senegal face Morocco in the final. Stick with us throughout the day as we preview the action in the build-up to the main event.
Be sure to get in touch by emailing matchday.live@theguardian.com or leaving a comment below the line.
