Manchester United’s struggles continue as Crystal Palace win at Old Trafford
Manchester United’s worrying start to the season hit another bump as they suffered a second successive Premier League defeat at Old Trafford, going down 1-0 to Crystal Palace. Four days after they beat Palace in the Carabao Cup, United were unable to repeat the trick in the league as the visitors got revenge in style thanks to Joachim Andersen’s first-half strike. Erik ten Hag’s men piled the pressure on in the second half, with Bruno Fernandes, Rasmus Hojlund and Mason Mount all going close, but could not find a way through and suffered a fourth defeat from the opening seven league games. That makes it their worst start to a Premier League season in terms of games lost at this stage. It had looked like United were turning their season around after that League Cup win on Tuesday followed victory at Burnley last weekend, but they are having problems on home soil this season, with the pressure beginning to mount on Ten Hag. They were fortunate to beat Wolves and Nottingham Forest, where they had to come from 2-0 down, but were soundly beaten by Brighton and now lost to Andersen’s goal. The defender spanked a first-time effort into the top corner from a set-piece as his side scored in the opening 45 minutes for the first time this season. He then defended resolutely as United launched a second-half assault in search of the equaliser, but Palace stood up to the test to make boss Roy Hodgson the first manager to go five successive Premier League games unbeaten at Old Trafford. The game burst into life after 10 minutes with quickfire chances at both ends. First Marc Guehi glanced a header from Andersen’s cross just wide and then straight from the goal-kick, Hojlund was through on goal and prodded past Palace goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, but Tyrick Mitchell was able to clear off the line. Marcus Rashford almost scored a wonder goal as he danced into the penalty area but his goalbound shot was blocked by Joel Ward. But Palace drew first blood in the 25th minute and in some style. Eberechi Eze’s cross made it through to the far post where Andersen sent a scorching first-time effort back across goal and into the roof of the net. It took a nick off Diogo Dalot but Andre Onana probably would not have saved it anyway. United, still striving for a really domineering home performance in the league, tried to respond and Casemiro flashed a 20-yard effort just wide before sending a header from a corner over. There was a deluge at the start of the second half as the rain poured down and Palace also had to weather a storm. The hosts came out flying after the restart and Johnstone, who came through the youth set-up at Old Trafford, needed to be on top form. First he did well to tip Bruno Fernandes’ 20-yard shot over and then, following a series of corners, palmed away Hojlund ‘s powerful header. Palace did carry a threat on the counter attack as Will Hughes stung Onana’s palms with a shot from distance while Eze rolled just wide after bursting forward. But the chances kept coming at the other end as Mount put a free header from Dalot’s cross over when he should have buried it and then Alejandro Garnacho’s cross was almost turned into his own net by Mitchell. Forgotten men Harry Maguire and Donny van de Beek were thrown on in a desperate attempt to get something out of the game. United almost did as the near-misses kept coming until the end as Dalot’s deflected cross was cleared off the line before Garnacho’s shot was deflected just wide. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Wolves stun Manchester City to end the champions’ winning run at Molineux Luton celebrate landmark Premier League win to turn up heat on Everton Kai Havertz off the mark for Arsenal before Bukayo Saka goes off injured
2023-10-01 00:21
Newcastle owners take majority stakes in four Saudi clubs including Al Nassr
The Saudi sovereign wealth fund which owns Newcastle has taken majority stakes in four of the Middle Eastern country’s biggest clubs, including Cristiano Ronaldo’s team Al Nassr. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is taking 75 per cent stakes in Al Nassr, Asian Champions League finalists Al Hilal, Al Ahli and Al Ittihad, who are understood to be interested in signing Karim Benzema after his intention to leave Real Madrid at the end of the season was confirmed. The PIF also own an 80 per cent stake in Newcastle following the completion of a protracted and controversial takeover in October 2021. Sources close to the fund have told the PA news agency that the move to take controlling stakes in the four Saudi clubs does not constitute the creation of a multi-club ownership model involving Newcastle. Each club will be managed by an independent board and have separate executive management, the sources said. Clubs in the Saudi top flight, who have technically been owned by the country’s Ministry of Sport until now, are being privatised as part of a government initiative to help the sport further develop. FIFA has been approached for comment on the issue. A statement on the PIF Twitter account read: “As part of today’s announcement of the Sports Clubs Investment and Privatization Project, four Saudi clubs – Al Ittihad, Al Ahli, Al Nassr, and Al Hilal – have been transformed into companies, each of which is owned by PIF and non-profit foundations for each club.” PIF said existing members of each club would be included in the four foundations and that the fund was working closely with the Ministry of Sport on the necessary regulatory procedures to complete the clubs’ transfers to their new structures as newly-founded companies alongside non-profit foundations. “The transfer of the four clubs will unleash various commercial opportunities, including investment, partnership and sponsorships across numerous sports,” the PIF statement concluded. The Saudi government said in a release from the country’s national press agency issued earlier on Monday that it hoped that as well as further bolstering participation in sport at grassroots level, the move to privatisation would raise the league’s revenues from 450million riyals (£96.7m) last year to 1.8 billion riyals (£386.7m) and increase its market value to more than 8bn riyals (£1.72bn) by 2030. The extent to which the Saudi government controls Newcastle came back into the spotlight in February this year after the publication of court documents in the US. The Premier League approved the PIF-led takeover of the club only after receiving “legally-binding assurances” that the Saudi state would not have control of the club. However, documents from PIF’s legal team published in a court case related to the LIV Golf and PGA Tour dispute described PIF as “a sovereign instrumentality of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and PIF governor and Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan as “a sitting minister of the Saudi government”. The Premier League has declined to comment on whether it had opened an investigation following the publication of the court documents. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Andy Murray determined to show he remains among the elite on grass courts Ange Postecoglou: Who is he and what can Tottenham fans expect? Alfie Hewett adapting to his new status as the man to beat in wheelchair tennis
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