arsenal grab vital win over newcastle to keep title hopes alive

ARSeNAL kept their Premier League title hopes alive as they grabbed a vital 2-0 away win against Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Sunday afternoon.

The result means that the Gunners moved to within one point of reigning champions Manchester City, having played an extra game.

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It would always be a tough game for Mikel Arteta’s side, and they were put under severe pressure right from the first whistle.

Newcastle played with great tempo and were almost ahead in the second minute as Jacob Murphy struck the post with a stunning effort.

The Magpies were then awarded a penalty in the ninth minute by the referee when Bruno Guimaraes’ strike appeared to hit the arm of Jakub Kiwior.

However, VAR intervened, and the decision was overturned after replays showed that the ball had first struck the Arsenal defender’s thigh before striking his arm.

ARSeNAL TAke The LeAD

Much against the run of play, Arsenal took the lead thanks to a brilliant long- range strike from Martin Odegaard, who drilled his shot in the right bottom corner past Nick Pope.

The Magpie’s goalkeeper made a double save minutes later to keep his side in the game. The hosts didn’t let their heads drop and were relentless on the ball mounting attacks on every occasion. Aaron Ramsdale superbly denied former Arsenal man Joe Willock before Pope also kept the score at 1-0, denying Gabriel Martinelli right on the stroke of half time.

Eddie Howe’s side almost got their equalizer just four minutes after the restart, but Ramsdale kept out Fabian Schar’s goalbound header with a stunning stop. End-toend stuff also saw Martinelli strike the post minutes later.

The hosts piled on the pressure in search of the equalizer, but much like the first half, the Gunners were lucky to double their lead on the day.

Martinelli’s low cross deflected off Schar’s toe to hit the back of the net as Arteta’s men ran away with all three points.

The Magpies will be disappointed with the result despite dominating possession and being on top for most of the encounter. Despite the loss, Newcastle remain third with 65 points from 34 games.

Howe’s side will look to pick themselves up and come back with a victory in the next game as they continue to remain in their quest for a Champions League berth.

He was named in the squad announced last month.

"Absolutely gutted that I won't be at The Oval next month with Team India," he wrote.

"I'll do everything I can to get back in blue and help my country. That has always been my focus and priority."

Lucknow are second in the 2023 IPL standings with 11 points, three behind leaders Gujarat Titans who have a game in hand.

Magic round begins with brisbane broncos beating Manly 32-6, canberra raiders downing canterbury bulldogs 34-30

The Brisbane Broncos have delivered an impressive performance on night one of Magic Round, with Selwyn Cobbo starring as his team smashed Manly 32-6 at a sold-out Lang Park to extend their lead at the top of the NRL ladder.

Earlier the Canberra Raiders kicked things off, edging an 11-try thriller against the Bulldogs.

With an unusual amount of away fans at the ground, Kevin Walters' side didn't have the normal overwhelming support in the stands, but it didn't matter as the Broncos scored six tries to one.

In a clash of first vs sixth, the Sea Eagles made things difficult for themselves with a string of handling errors, as they struggled to build momentum.

The combination of fullback Reece Walsh and winger Cobbo were devastating in the first half, as Cobbo scored a double to help Brisbane take a 20-0 lead at the main break.

Cobbo opened the scoring in the ninth minute when he ran onto a Walsh grubber to score wide on the right.

The Broncos were in again five minutes later, when hooker Billy Walters took a pass and went over to the left of the posts after a strong attack took the home side within five of the tryline.

The glut of possession for Brisbane kept coming along with mistakes from the Sea Eagles.

A surge by Kurt Capewell nearly led to a third try on the left, but the Broncos were undeterred and a switch of play saw Adam Reynolds feed Walsh, who sent the ball to Cobbo who darted over in the opposite corner to make it 16-0 after 24 minutes.

Winger Jesse Arthars added a fourth try before half-time, and the Sea Eagles looked nowhere at the break.

Manly came out with greater intensity in the second half, and they put pressure on the Broncos, but they could not convert that pressure into points.

A lackadaisical effort from Cobbo in watching a au Te Whare would become a “cult hero” in Redcliffe and the young gun showed exactly why on Saturday night.

Manly kick run in-goal and stop, saw him hammered by Daly Cherry-Evans, forcing a dropout.

But the Broncos had the answers again, forcing a turnover on the Manly right to defuse the situation.

Manly improved their completion rate in the second half, but when they were threatening the Brisbane line with 12 minutes left, another spill of the ball by Josh Aloiai killed off the slim chances of a comeback.

Two minutes later, the home side made Manly pay, as Cobbo got his hand to a Tom Trbojevic pass and tipped it in the air before regathering and sprinting clear down the line to score his third and Brisbane's fifth of the night.

Herbie Farnsworth went over for another with seven minutes left, but Manly got on the board with a late score to Ben Trbojevic.

The Dolphins delivered a 3616 demolition of the Sharks in Wayne Bennett’s 900th game as coach, and one man stood out on debut — Valynce Te Whare.

The 22-year-old rugby union convert scored a double, crossing for a fourpointer only 23 minutes into his NRL career.

Dolphins veteran Jarrod Wallace told foxsports.com.

After Brenko Lee’s hamstring injury in Round 9, Te Whare slotted into the right centre spot after spending only a single season in the Dolphins’ Queensland Cup side in 2022.

Te Whare was recruited by the Dolphins in December

2021 and had never played the 13-man code prior to joining the NRL’s newest franchise.

Speaking in the postmatch press conference, Fox League’s Eamonn Tiernan asked Bennett why the Dolphins signed Te Whare.

In true Wayne Bennett fashion, he delivered a hilarious response.

“We thought he was an investment into the future. We were looking for talent, and he is talented,” Bennett said.

“Why this week for his debut?” Tiernan asked.

“Because I had a bad night’s sleep, and I made a decision,” Bennett said with a wry smile.

“It was what I came up with, it was in the dream… I think we are going to find with Val he is a big match player and the bigger the occasion the better he will play.

“There’s just some players who have that kind of psych and I think that’s part of his DNA.”

Bennett was also asked what he thought of Te Whare’s performance on debut with the young gun recording 72 running metres, two tries and six tackle breaks.

While the debutant was dangerous in attack, the master coach highlighted his defence as an area of improvement.

“He can be better, he’s got a lot of improvement in him but it wasn’t a bad start in his first

NRL game,” Bennett said.

“Ball in hand he is pretty devastating,” a reporter replied.

“Well it is when he doesn’t that worries me,” Bennett said.

Reporters also informed Bennett and skipper Felise Kaufusi Te Whare’s family and teammates had delivered an emotional Haka.

Queue another jab from the master coach

“He did a Haka did he, good on him… he had more energy than he thought he did, that’s great,” Bennett said.

“Maybe he should be talking about us, the effort we put into him.”