Sports
James Maddison had not played for Tottenham since the Europa League game against Hoffenheim on 23 January
James Maddison scored the winner on his return from injury as Tottenham beat fellow Premier League strugglers Manchester United.
Maddison, who has missed nearly four weeks with a calf injury, was the only player following in after United keeper Andre Onana parried Lucas Bergvall’s shot and completed an easy tap-in in the 13th minute.
The visitors did have chances to level, with Alejandro Garnacho lofting an effort over the bar when through on goal in the first half – but this was ultimately another uninspired United display.
Tottenham earned their first win in three games – after cup losses to Liverpool and Aston Villa – and victory will ease some of the pressure on manager Ange Postecoglou. They are now 12th in the table, moving above United.
Ruben Amorim’s injury-hit Red Devils, meanwhile, have lost three of their past four league games and drop to 15th – 12 points clear of the relegation zone.
Before the match more than 1,000 Tottenham supporters attended a protest against the club’s ownership and chairman Daniel Levy.
Maddison and Vicario were key to ‘important’ win – Postecoglou
Tottenham have been on a poor run, but a large part of their form can be attributed to a string of first-team injuries.
Postecoglou will be thankful he was able to start playmaker Maddison as well as goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who impressed on his first game back since breaking his ankle in November.
Long-term absentees Brennan Johnson, Destiny Udogie and Wilson Odobert were also fit enough to make the bench.
Maddison was the only player on his toes after Onana’s early save and tapped in to score his first Premier League goal since September.
The England midfielder was brought off in the 63rd minute as a precaution.
Spurs looked good going forward, with new signing Mathys Tel lively on his first league start since joining on loan from Bayern Munich. The 19-year-old Frenchman forced Onana into a low save after Son Heung-min’s first-half cutback.
Dejan Kulusevski also went close with a similar effort midway through the second period.
Despite taking the lead, Spurs struggled to assert control over the game at times – particularly in midfield – and United created opportunities to equalise which they could not take.
Tottenham and Postecoglou, though, will take a narrow win however it was earned, having picked up just four points from their previous eight league games and been knocked out of both domestic cups this month.
While Tottenham look to be recovering from their injury crisis, United’s continues to get worse.
This week, Amad Diallo, their top scorer in the league, was ruled out for a long spell with an ankle injury, while Kobbie Mainoo, Manuel Ugarte and Toby Collyer also picked up knocks on the training ground.
With Christian Eriksen and Leny Yoro both missing the match through illness, Amorim was forced to hand veteran midfielder Casemiro his first start since 30 December, and the 32-year-old was often exposed against Maddison, Son and Tel.
Meanwhile, all the players on United’s bench, except 30-year-old Victor Lindelof, were teenagers who had not made a first-team appearance for the club.
Amorim did not make a substitution until the 90th minute when 17-year-old striker Chido Obi replaced Casemiro for his United debut.
Still, United had plenty of talent on the pitch and should have equalised when Bruno Fernandes played in Garnacho before the break only for the Argentine to blast well over the bar.
Garnacho had a one-on-one saved by Vicario in the second half, while Joshua Zirkzee headed Noussair Mazraoui’s cross narrowly wide from a good position in the closing stages.
Defeat was United’s 13th of the season in all competitions and their ninth since Amorim took charge in November.
Manchester United could ruthlessly let TEN players leave Old Trafford this summer as Ruben Amorim targets sweeping changes among his squad. The Red Devils have endured an awful campaign under the former Sporting Lisbon coach.
They only have one route remaining into the Champions League by winning the Europa League, while a bottom-half Premier League finish looks highly likely. And with Amorim targeting huge improvement next season, the United boss is eyeing a mass overhaul of his squad.
The Portuguese coach has already pointed to the fact that the club needs to sell before they can make any signings. That could potentially involve up to ten current stars being shown the exit door.
According to the Manchester Evening News, club chiefs are aiming for double figures in departures during the summer transfer window. Jonny Evans and Tom Heaton are expected to retire at the end of the current campaign, while Victor Lindelof and Christian Eriksen will leave at the end of their contracts.
Meanwhile, a host of stars have been made available for transfer with loanees Marcus Rashford and Antony among those who could be sold, while Jadon Sancho already has the option of a move to Chelsea, who have an obligation to buy the England winger for £25m despite the presence of a back-out clause.
Midfielder Casemiro has also regularly been linked with a move away from the club amid interest from Saudi Arabia. Despite forcing himself back into contention, he is still expected to be available this summer.
Left-back Tyrell Malacia could also depart, with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven having an option to sign him permanently. Goalkeeper Altay Bayindir may also be among those to leave as he eyes more first team football.
Amorim has yet to speak out on any individuals who could leave, but he has claimed that those shown the exit door will ‘understand’. Speaking earlier this month, he said: “We can talk about that [departures] at the end [of the season]. We have a lot of games to play.
“But that is clear, and I think that is not a difficult situation because everybody understands that in football; sometimes you stay, sometimes you have to move on.
“When you are honest with someone, they can take it. In the beginning, it is hard, but they will understand. So I’m quite honest with my players and they already know that sometimes they have to move on at the end of the season.”
Defending champions of the NWFL, Edo Queens FC, will on Wednesday
March 26th, 2025 file out against the host Abia Angels FC, in match day 09 of the Nigeria Women Football League NWFL title campaign.
Edo Queens who currently stand tall in group A with 20 points from 8 matches, will be tempted to eye fifth away win, having kept unbeaten records since the beginning of the new season.
Despite interest from the homers in Wednesday’s crack , the Ancient City based ladies are not ready to drop any point in this critical stage of the league, hence the girls are in killer mood ready to fly over Abia Ladies. A win in this crucial away game would further guarantee the team a spot in the Super 6 where winners of the league will be determine that will fly the country’s flag at the CAF Women’s Champions League showpiece for 2025 season.
Recall that Edo Queens spanked Abia Angels 5-0 at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in match day 01 of the league. Have done wonderfully well, the Benin City Queens will be going into Wednesday’s encounter with full force not minding who is involve. For them, every game is a war, and they will fight until victory comes their way.
The week 9 game according to the NWFL fixtures will take place by 1 pm local time at the popular Umuahia Stadium in Abia State. This particular game is crucial to Edo Queens and remains a core part of Moses Aduku’s game that will separate him from other colleagues if he ends the regular season unbeaten.
Though there’s still two away bridges to cross, but in whatever way you look at it, the girls are ready and will remain focus until it is over.
Meanwhile, coach Moses Aduku has called for maximum concentration from the girls, adding that a win in Wednesday game will brighten their chances of staying on top and also keeping the hope of Super Super alive.
He stated this while addressing the players yesterday in Umuahia.
According to him: “We are here for real business, and so I want us to remain focused. Let them know that you are the defending champions.
You are aware that Edo Queens have not loss any game, so we should try and maintain that record. See every game as war. You humbled them in Benin by 5-0, you can still do same.
Last season they defeated us in Benin, but we came to their home and beat them. I believe we can do it again. I have so much confidence in you girls and by the special grace of God we will go back to Benin with our three points.”
Sitting quietly at one corner of the departure hall of the Kigali International Airport on Saturday morning, Super Eagles’ captain William Ekong had a relaxed mien about him, and minced no words in saying that Friday’s victory over Rwanda’s Amavubi was just the statement the Eagles needed to put out as the World Cup race reached halfway mark.
“It was important to make the statement that we did, and we’re all happy about it, and the way we did it. Of course, we have not qualified and there’s still a lot of work, but we have started the recovery in a good way and we just have to keep working hard.
“I don’t want to go into the circumstances that made the first four matches go the way they went. The good thing is we can still recover and revive the campaign, and we have done that.”
Ekong’s firm leadership, and Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman and Simon Moses’ zest at the fore, were all too evident and impactful as the Eagles coasted to a 2-0 win over hosts Rwanda at the Amahoro Stadium, throwing up nostalgia of the strong squad that wowed all and came within 23 minutes of lifting the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire early last year.
As the chartered ValueJet Airline’s CRJ-900 aircraft touched down at the Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo at exactly 2pm on Saturday, Ekong told thenff.com that he would be rallying the troops ahead of Tuesday’s Day 6 encounter against the Warriors of Zimbabwe.
“We read somewhere that the Zimbabweans are being motivated to come to Uyo and get a result. They should forget it. We are hugely motivated by the ambition to play at the FIFA World Cup. Apart from myself and Alex (Iwobi) and perhaps a couple others, who were part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, this generation is hungry to play at the highest level. We want to make Nigeria proud and at the same time, do ourselves proud.”
PHOTO 3: Ambitious Generation!
Victor Osimhen, whose brace unscrambled the calculations of the Amavubi and made them disappoint the capacity crowd that included President Paul Kagame, said at the Victor Attah Airport. “We are ready. The remaining matches are wars and we must fight them with all that we have to win.”
Victory on Tuesday evening will take Nigeria to nine points, and in firm contention for the ticket, especially if Benin Republic and South Africa cancel themselves out inside Abidjan’s Stade Félix Houphouet-Boigny.
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