Arsenal's struggles continue in 2‑0 loss to Liverpool in FA Cup. De Bruyne back for City in 5‑0 win
Three straight losses, an elimi‐ nation from the FA Cup, and the ominous sight of Manchester City back in form and boosted by the return of Kevin De Bruyne.
These are worrying times for Ar‐ senal.
In a heavyweight third‐round matchup in the FA Cup, Arsenal's increasingly alarming problems in front of goal were further exposed in a 2‐0 loss to Liverpool on Sun‐ day.
An end‐to‐end contest was set‐ tled by two late goals — an own‐ goal by Arsenal defender Jakub Kiwior in the 80th minute and a fierce strike by Luis Diaz in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Arsenal has now lost four of its last seven matches in all competi‐ tions, including its last three in a row.
"We need to reset," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said. "This (upcoming winter) break is good. It has come at a good time."
Arsenal has had 48 shots in its last two home games — taking in the 2‐0 loss to West Ham in the Premier League on Dec. 28 — and not scored a goal. That statistic, plus a knee injury to first‐choice striker Gabriel Jesus that made him miss the game, could yet tempt manager Mikel Arteta to go into the transfer market this month.
Otherwise, Arsenal risks falling short again this season, just like in the last campaign when the team faded late on and was beaten to the Premier League title by fast‐ finishing Manchester City.
"If the team is getting ham‐ mered, not playing well and not deserving to win football matches, I would be much more worried," said Arteta, attempting to stay positive. "I love winning and we have to win many more games.
"But at the moment, the thing we have to change, what we have to reset, is up here," he added, point‐ ing to his head.
Even more worrying for Arsenal and Arteta, Man City looks in prime shape heading into the sec‐ ond half of the season, with a 5‐0 win over second‐tier Huddersfield in the FA Cup notable for the re‐ turn from injury of De Bruyne after nearly five months out.
De Bruyne hasn't played since sustaining a hamstring injury at Burnley on the opening day of the Premier League season on Aug. 11. The Belgium playmaker came on as a 57th‐minute substitute — when City was 2‐0 ahead — and provided the cross that fellow re‐ placement Jeremy Doku con‐ verted for the final goal in a one‐sided match at Etihad Sta‐ dium.
City manager Pep Guardiola wel‐ come back a midfielder he de‐ scribed as "exceptional" and "unique."
"Kevin helps us to win games and there are few like him in the world," Guardiola said. "I'm pretty sure Kevin felt how our people are in love with him. This mutual re‐ spect will last forever."
Phil Foden scored twice, Julian Alvarez added another and there was an own‐goal for the defend‐ ing champions, who saw defender Manuel Akanji go off injured in the first half.
Erling Haaland was still deemed not fit enough to feature for City, but should be back soon to com‐ plement the returning De Bruyne and Doku as Guardiola's team go for an unlikely repeat of its treble of major trophies won last season.
City is third in the Premier League, five points behind first‐ place Liverpool with a game in hand, and is through to the round of 16 in the Champions League.
"I know he can handle the pres‐ sure," Guardiola said of De Bruyne, "but I don't want to put all the pressure on Kevin's shoul‐ ders."
HOLLYWOOD CHEER
Wrexham made its Hollywood owners happy by winning 1‐0 at Shrewsbury, a local rival from a division higher in English soccer's pyramid, thanks to Tom O'Con‐ nor's second‐half goal.
The buzz around Wrexham and its celebrity owners — Rob Reynolds and Rob McElhenney — reached new levels during an FA Cup run around this time last year when the Welsh club beat one sec‐ ond‐tier Championship team in Coventry and then took another, Premier League‐bound Sheffield United, to a replay.
The team has already got through three rounds this season and will find out on Monday its opponent in the last 32.
Promotion remains the big goal this season for Wrexham, which is in third place in League Two.
REPLAYS NEEDED
Premier League teams West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Luton were all held to draws at home by lower‐division oppo‐ nents.
West Ham failed to hold onto a lead earned by Jarrod Bowen's early goal and drew 1‐1 with sec‐ ond‐tier Bristol City. There was more bad news for the Hammers, with Brazil midfielder Lucas Pa‐ queta forced off injured in the first half.
Forest had to come from two goals down to draw with third‐ tier Blackpool 2‐2 while another third‐tier team, Bolton, held Luton 0‐0.
American striker Daryl Dike scored his team's third goal in the 27th minute of second‐tier West Bromwich Albion's 4‐1 win over fifth‐tier Aldershot, his first match since tearing his right Achilles against Stoke last April.
Napoli says Mazzarri's job is not at risk after horror 3‑0 loss at Torino. Juventus and Milan win
Barely a year ago, Napoli fans were singing in Turin that their team was going to win the Serie A title following a 4‐0 victory. On Sunday, in the same stadium, Napoli fans threw flares onto the field and jeered as the defending champion lost 3‐0 at Torino.
A horror show for Napoli — that included defender Pasquale Maz‐ zocchi being sent off just four minutes into his debut — left the team ninth in Serie A, 20 points behind league leader Inter Milan and five below fourth‐place Fiorentina.
Napoli looks like a shadow of the team that thrilled in Italy and abroad last season. Title‐winning coach Luciano Spalletti left at the end of the campaign and his re‐ placement Rudi Garcia was fired in November.
But matters haven't improved since Walter Mazzarri took over with just three wins in his 10 matches in charge and six defeats.
However, Napoli sporting direc‐ tor Mauro Meluso claims Maz‐ zarri's job is not at risk.
"Mazzarri has the club's and the team's utmost confidence, there is no reflection at all on his posi‐ tion," Meluso said. "Everyone can see that there is a different situa‐ tion in terms of performance from last year.
"We don't want to hide and probably there's also been bad luck to add to our negative period … but we can't continue like this."
Mazzarri was suspended for the match in Turin and could only watch from the stands as Antonio Sanabria fired Torino in front at the end of the first half.
Mazzocchi, who joined from Salernitana two days ago, was brought on at halftime and mo‐ ments later went sliding into a tackle on Valentino Lazaro with a high boot. The referee initially awarded a yellow card but after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor changed it to a straight red.
Nikola Vlašić doubled Torino's advantage almost immediately and Alessandro Buongiorno scored the third in the 66th, two minutes after Ivan Ilić hit the post for the home team.
The match was briefly halted shortly afterward as Napoli fans threw flares onto the field.
Napoli players went to apologize to the visiting fans after the match.
JUVENTUS RECOVERY
Juventus needed a last‐minute goal to win 2‐1 at 10‐man Salerni‐ tana on a much more difficult evening for the Bianconeri than against the same team three days ago.
Dušan Vlahović headed in the winner in stoppage time to see second‐place Juventus move back to within two points of Inter, which beat Hellas Verona 2‐1 on Saturday.
Samuel Iling‐Junior had scored the equalizer in the 65th minute. Salernitana played most of the second period with 10 men after first‐half scorer Giulio Maggiore was sent off for a second yellow card.
Juventus had beaten Salernitana 6‐1 in the Italian Cup on Thursday.
DOUBLE FIGURES FOR GIROUD
Olivier Giroud took his goal tally into double figures for the 14th season in a row as he helped AC Milan to a 3‐0 win at relegation‐ threatened Empoli for the Rossoneri's first away win in three months.
Giroud doubled Milan's lead from the penalty spot in the first half following Ruben Loftus‐ Cheek's opener.
Giroud had missed his last spot kick — against Borussia Dort‐ mund in the Champions League in November — but made no mis‐ take this time, albeit with a some‐ what risky penalty that went in off the underside of the crossbar for his 10th goal for Milan in all competitions this season.
Teenager Chaka Traorè sealed the win late on after a powerful run from United States interna‐ tional Christian Pulisic down al‐ most the entire length of the field.
It was the 19‐year‐old Traorè's second goal in as many matches — after he helped Milan beat Cagliari 4‐1 in the Italian Cup on Tuesday — but his first in Serie A.
Third‐place Milan moved nine points below city rival Inter.
Lazio cut the gap to the top four to three points after winning 2‐1 at relegation‐threatened Udi‐ nese.
Roma and Atalanta will be look‐ ing to leapfrog Lazio when they play later.