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‘Over My Dead Body’: Arteta Says Arsenal Still Fighting For Title

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Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta applauds fans on the pitch after the English Premier League football match between Leicester City and Arsenal at King Power Stadium in Leicester, central England on February 15, 2025. Arsenal won the game 2-0. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP

 

Mikel Arteta said he would give up in the Premier League title race “over my dead body” even though he admitted Arsenal face a historically tough challenge to catch Liverpool.

The Gunners, who travel to face high-flying Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, are 11 points behind the runaway leaders after losing to West Ham at the weekend, a day before their rivals won at Manchester City.

The result was a bitter disappointment for Arteta, whose injury-hit team have finished as runners-up to City in each of the past two seasons.

But the bullish Arsenal boss told his pre-match press conference on Tuesday that he would give up the title challenge “over my dead body”.

The Spaniard said he would “go home” if he no longer believed the Gunners could catch Arne Slot’s Liverpool.

“Mathematically it’s possible. You are there, you have to play every game,” he said.

But Arteta admitted the enormous scale of the task as Arsenal chase their first Premier League title since 2004.

“If you’re going to win this Premier League with the circumstances that we have, you’re probably going to have to do something nobody else has done in the history of the Premier League,” he said.

He added: “In the end, you are going to have to set a number of numbers to win in this league, and we’re going to have to hit that number if we are going to have any chance of doing that.

“But we are certainly going to continue to try.”

Arsenal, who have a game in hand over Liverpool, have been derailed by a series of injuries, particularly in forward areas.

Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus are out for the season while Bukayo Saka is due to return next month having been sidelined since December and Gabriel Martinelli is also currently unavailable.

Captain Martin Odegaard missed 12 games with an ankle injury earlier in the campaign.

Arteta said he was proud of his team’s resilience and ambition, saying the 1-0 home defeat to West Ham had been a “very hard one to take”.

But he added: “The reality is there are so many games to play, and you have to get back to it.

“You have to have the levels and the consistency and the hunger to go again, and that’s what we are going to do on Wednesday.”

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Iraola: My Fight With Isak Has Never Been About Goals

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Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola says Alexander Isak is a “massive” player for him – but adds he “fights” with the player about needing to do more for the “collective”.

 

Isak scored twice in the opening nine minutes in the 2-0 win over Ipswich to take his tally to three for the season – but Iraola hinted the player needs to do more off the ball for the team.

“He’s a massive player for us,” he told Sky Sports. “My demands will not be about the goals: he’s fit, in a good shape and he will produce the numbers.

“But my fights with him are more about other stuff, how to help the team in other situations. But it’s good he has played two full games and today a good amount of minutes, scoring the goals.”

Iraola did not reveal which specific areas Isak needs to improve, but it could be interpreted that Iraola wants his striker to do more in the pressing.

“I will demand other things so we can play well,” he said in his post-match press conference about those demands to Isak. “And if we play well, we are in good positions, the goals will come.

“He has to contribute to the collective and when everyone helps, after the goals and results will come.”

Iraola also said to Sky: “Today we were much, much better in our press. We were recovering very high and then we can contact him in good positions.

“If we recover the ball lower, it will be more difficult to find him to have less spaces. So we need more quality effort to put our No 9 in situations like he had today.”

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‘It’s So Strong’ – Sabalenka Halts Play Over Cannabis Smell

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Aryna Sabalenka briefly halted her US Open match against Kamilla Rakhimova because of a strong smell of cannabis before cruising into the fourth round in New York.

 

Top seed Sabalenka raised the issue after going 3-0 up in the first set against Uzbekistan’s Rakhimova, telling umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore that “someone is smoking weed”.

The Belarusian asked the umpire to intervene “because it’s so strong”.

Asderaki-Moore spoke to an official on her radio and made a smoking gesture to someone behind her, before play continued.

Two-time defending champion Sabalenka went on to secure a confident 6-3 6-4 victory on Louis Armstrong Stadium as she chases a fifth Grand Slam singles title.

Sabalenka said afterwards she was not sure where the smell of cannabis was coming from but asked fans to be more mindful.

Smoking is not permitted on site at Flushing Meadows but the smell of cannabis sometimes wafts on to court from the nearby Corona Park.

It is legal to smoke it in New York for adults aged 21 and over.

“It’s a bit tricky to handle that smell while you’re trying to compete at your best,” Sabalenka said.

“I don’t know if it was coming from the crowd or was from the outside because the wind blows it into the stadium.

“I just hope they’re going to be a bit more aware of that stuff.”

Sabalenka is not the first player at this year’s US Open to complain about the smell of cannabis at Flushing Meadows.

Britain’s Katie Boulter previously said it was distracting, while Harriet Dart and Francesca Jones also noticed the smell.

In past years players including Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev have also complained.

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Onana Gets Twins As Salah Welcomes First Son Weeks After Joining Turkish Team

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Egyptian football star Mohamed Salah has welcomed his third child and first son, named Lail, Trabzonspor President Ertuğrul Doğan said after the Turkish club’s third-round league match against Amedspor.

 

Doğan said Salah and his Cameroonian teammate André Onana travelled outside Turkey following the match as their wives were due to give birth.

“After the Amed match, we travelled abroad with Onana and Salah. Onana welcomed twins, while Salah welcomed a baby boy. I congratulate their families and wives,” Doğan was quoted as telling Turkish media.

Salah’s sister, Rabab Salah, later revealed the baby’s name on Instagram, posting a photograph of a baby hat and congratulating her brother on the birth of Lail.

The child is Salah’s first son. The Egyptian star and his wife, Magi, already have two daughters, Makka and Kayan.

Doğan’s comments came after a photograph of Salah and Onana aboard a private jet circulated online, prompting questions among Trabzonspor supporters and local media about the reason for their trip.

The club president said both players had travelled for family reasons following the match.

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