Premier League: Arsenal slip to 10th, Manchester City held

Monitoring Desk

LONDON, England (TheSportsNEXT) December 2, 2012: There was concern for Arsenal fans at the Emirates Stadium as Arsene Wenger's side were outplayed by Swansea and lost 2-0 thanks to a late Michu brace.

The Gunners had been lucky to hold on with Wojciech Szczesny pulling off a superb double save to deny Angel Rangel, then a crucial interception from Thomas Vermaelen denied a certain goal for Nathan Dyer. Szczesny also saved well to deny Swansea debutant Dwight Tiendalli late on before Michu slid home the opener two minutes from time, and struck again in injury time as Arsenal left the field to a chorus of boos.

Jack Wilshere

Manchester City leapfrogged Manchester United back to the top of the table but only on goal difference after they were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw against impressive Everton at the Etihad Stadium.

Marouane Fellaini's eighth goal of the season had put David Moyes' men in front in the first half before Carlos Tevez equalised from the penalty spot two minutes before the break after Fellaini was adjudged to have felled Edin Dzeko in the box.

Harry Redknapp's home debut in charge of Queens Park Rangers ended in a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa at Loftus Road, in a game from which both sides will be frustrated not to have claimed all three points.

Brett Holman rammed the visitors in front with just eight minutes on the clock before Jamie Mackie equalised with an 18th minute header. Shaun Wright-Phillips hit the post for Rangers before Stephane Mbia was stretchered off in first-half injury time after an off-the-ball collision with Gabriel Agbonlahor.

The home side largely controlled the second period but were almost made to pay for their missed chances when Villa substitute Karim El Ahmadi fired just wide with two minutes to go.

Jermain Defoe scored twice as a superb second half show from Tottenham saw the visitors canter to a 3-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage. Sandro put Spurs ahead when he caught out Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer from long range in the 55th minute, before Defoe took over, sliding home from a set-up by Gylfi Sigurdsson on 72, and completing his side's win five minutes later.

Daniel Agger's 43rd minute header proved enough as Liverpool chiselled out a 1-0 win over struggling Southampton at Anfield. The home side largely dominated with Jonjo Shelvey hitting the post in the 36th minute, then a Luis Suarez free-kick rebounded off the bar and fell to Glen Johnson, whose cross back into the box set up the winner for Agger.

Substitute Dean Whitehead snatched a 75th minute winner for Stoke at The Hawthorns as West Brom fell to their second successive defeat. A dismal game sprang to life in the final quarter hour after Whitehead - a 54th minute replacement for Charlie Adam, poked home from a ball into the box by Michael Kightly to give the Potters a 1-0 win .

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Manchester City on brink of UCL elimination

Monitoring Desk

LONDON, England (TheSportsNEXT) November 7, 2012: Manchester City stand on the verge of a second successive group-phase exit from the UEFA Champions League after a 2-2 draw at home to Ajax left their hopes hanging by a thread, FIFA’s official website reported.

Sloppy defending saw City fall 2-0 down to a pair of early goals from Siem de Jong, and although the English champions rallied and drew level through Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero, the last 16 remains an unlikely objective.

The result left Roberto Mancini's men with two points from four games and even victories in their remaining Group D games against Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund may not be enough to keep them in the competition.

Having out-played City in their 3-1 victory in Amsterdam two weeks ago, Ajax once again showed their class at the Etihad Stadium, and they trail second-place Real Madrid by three points with two games to play.

City began the game with intent, Toure making a penalty claim and Pablo Zabaleta shooting over from Carlos Tevez's incisive pass, but two moments of inattention at corners saw the hosts ship two goals in quick succession.

For the opening goal, on ten minutes, Niklas Moisander was allowed to meet Christian Eriksen's corner and prod the ball goalwards, with de Jong sliding in to squeeze home from close range as it bounced across goal.

Seven minutes later, Eriksen's delivery came from the left, but City's defending was just as static. Toure watched as de Jong ambled away from him at the near post and, with Gareth Barry slow to react, the Ajax skipper was able to beat Joe Hart with a well-placed header.

Ajax fans sparked up a chorus of 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,' but the hosts hit back quickly through Toure, who skilfully chested down Samir Nasri's deflected cross and hooked a fierce volley past Kenneth Vermeer.

Zabaleta led City's attempts to find an equaliser, seeing a deflected cross headed off the line by Ricardo van Rhijn and then forcing Vermeer to save with a downward header.

Ajax remained a threat on the break, however, and there were angry complaints from the home fans when both de Jong and Derk Boerrigter were given the time to flash efforts from range narrowly off target.

Mancini introduced Mario Balotelli in place of Javi Garcia at half-time, and the visitors soon found themselves defending on the edge of their own penalty area. Matija Nastasic volleyed over from a Barry free-kick and Aguero had a goal ruled out for offside, before slipping at the crucial moment after taking the ball past Vermeer.

De Jong served a reminder of Ajax's threat with a pair of 25-yard strikes - the second a free-kick - that obliged Hart to scramble across his line to save, but City survived and in the 74th minute they drew level. Hart's kick was flicked on by Balotelli and Aguero held his nerve to drill the ball into the bottom-left corner from the edge of the box.

Belatedly, the home fans found their voices, and it required a brilliant reflex save from Vermeer to palm away Balotelli's goal-bound header with 11 minutes remaining. Aguero then thought he had claimed a dramatic winner in the 88th minute, but substitute Aleksandar Kolarov was ajudged to have strayed offside in the build-up.

There were angry scenes at the final whistle, meanwhile, with City's players surrounding referee Peter Rasmussen after he failed to award a penalty when Balotelli went down in the Ajax area.

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UEFA Champions League: Late Ronaldo goal helps Real beat City 3-2

By Alexia Krause

MADRID, Spain (TheSportsNext) September 19, 2012: Cristiano Ronaldo once again raised his game when Real Madrid needed him the most, this time against Manchester City as the star striker broke the hearts of English fans at Bernabeu.

The Real Madrid came from behind twice before Cristiano Ronaldo came up with his magical touch right at the end of the encounter to take his side to an emphatic 3-2 home victory in their Group D match of the UEFA Champions League 2012.

Jose Mourinho couldn’t control his emotions as soon as Cristiano Ronaldo struck the third goal and he rolled himself on to the playing field, emulating what his star striker did after scoring that decisive goal.

The Real Madrid have been finding themselves shorter on confidence this season as their La Liga campaign got off to a worst possible start and Jose Mourinho injected some bitter criticism on his main players ahead of their first UEFA Champions League game and that too against the English Premier League champions Manchester City.

Manchester City took the lead twice but failed to get hold of the advantage on both occasions as their lead was twice cut down immediately by Real Madrid and Roberto Mancini’s side looked settled for a draw before Cristiano Ronaldo came on to his own and stunned the visitors with a brilliant strike that dipped on the Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart on its way into the net.

All the hot action was recorded in the second half after both teams came back into the hut leveled at 0-0 at halftime.

Manchester City got the lead through substitutes Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov but on both occasion Real Madrid had an instant answer with Marcelo and substitute Karim Benzema as the match looked all set for a draw after 87 minutes of hard and tough soccer.

That 90^th minute goal pumped up the whole stadium including Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho as they showed their fists pumping before performing a celebratory kneed onto the pitch from his technical area.

A pumped up Ronalod told the broadcasters, "I celebrate when I have to celebrate. The match was very important for us and we are back in the fight”.

It is important to mention here that Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 151 goals for the Real Madrid in as many games while tonight’s goal was his 39^th goal in the UEFA Champions League and is now tied with former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba.

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart expressed his anger and frustration with the ITV television when he said, "It's not on. You can't go 2-1 up and lose the game. We can only blame ourselves. They are a very good team and so are we. We dug deep, got a lead twice and threw it away. It's hard to come off the field after losing 3-2 and be positive."

Following are the Real Madrid and Manchester City squads for Tuesday’s encounter.

Real Madrid

1-Iker Casillas

17-Alvaro Arbeloa

3-Pepe

2-Raphael Varane

12-Marcelo

14-Xabi Alonso

6-Sami Khedira

15-Michael Essien

7-Cristiano Ronaldo

20-Gonzalo Higuain

22-Angel Di Maria

Manchester City

1-Joe Hart

3-Maicon

4-Vincent Kompany

33-Matija Nastasic

22-Gael Clichy

42-Yaya Toure

14-Javi Garcia

18-Gareth Barry

21-David Silva

32-Carlos Tevez

8-Samir Nasri

Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)

Following are the results from Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League action

Dortmund 1-0 Ajax

Dinamo Zagreb 0-2 Porto

AC Milan 0-0 Anderlecht

Montpellier 1-2 Arsenal

Malaga 3-0 Zenit

Olympiakos 1-2 Schalke

Paris SG 4-1 Dynamo Kyiv

Real Madrid 3-2 Manchester City

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