Arsenal hand Postecoglou a loss in his first Forest game, Bournemouth continue hot start

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Arsenal’s Spanish defender #36 Martin Zubimendi (R) scores the team’s third goal during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium in London on Saturday. (AFP)
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Newcastle United’s Nick Woltemade celebrates scoring their first goal during their Premier League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers — St. James’ Park, Newcastle, Sept. 13, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 14 September 2025
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Arsenal hand Postecoglou a loss in his first Forest game, Bournemouth continue hot start

  • Newcastle United’s new signing Nick Woltemade enjoyed a dream debut, scoring in their 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers for their first victory of their campaign
  • Tottenham Hotspur cruised to a 3-0 win over West Ham United

LONDON: Arsenal ensured former Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou endured a miserable return to English football with a 3-0 victory over his new club Nottingham Forest on Saturday, while a late Brentford goal denied Chelsea moving atop the table.

Newcastle United’s new signing Nick Woltemade enjoyed a dream debut, scoring in their 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers for their first victory of their campaign, while Bournemouth continued their strong start with a 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, and Tottenham Hotspur cruised to a 3-0 win over West Ham United.

Fulham recorded their first win of the season by beating Leeds United 1-0 thanks to a late own goal, while Crystal Palace were held to a 0-0 draw by Sunderland and neither Everton nor Aston Villa could find the back of the net in a scoreless draw.

Villa have failed to score in their opening four league games of a season for the first time in their history.

Arsenal dominated at the Emirates as Martin Zubimendi’s double and Viktor Gyokeres’s tap-in gave Mikel Arteta’s men a comfortable home victory, condemning Postecoglou to defeat in his first game as Forest boss.

Spain midfielder Zubimendi struck a stunning volley in the 32nd minute and then Arsenal doubled their lead within a minute of the restart when Eberechi Eze, making his Gunners debut, laid it on a plate for Gyokeres to score his third of the season.

The game was petering out when Zubimendi put it to bed in the 79th minute with a simple header from Leandro Trossard’s cross.

“(Zubimendi) has given us a lot of positive things: his presence, his authority on the pitch, the way he connects with the players and that composure that he’s having,” Arteta said.

“If he starts to add assists and goals like this, then it’s another dimension of a player.”

Arsenal’s victory provisionally moved them to the top of the table ahead of holders Liverpool who play at Burnley on Sunday.

Chelsea looked poised to leapfrog Arsenal to the top of the table after Cole Palmer scored an equalizer in his return from a groin injury to cancel Kevin Schade’s first-half goal, and Moises Caicedo celebrated what he thought was the winner in the 85th minute.

But Fabio Carvalho poked home the equalizer from six yards out in the 93rd after Schade’s long throw-in.

“Delighted with the approach of the group, the character we constantly show,” Brentford boss Keith Andrews told the BBC.

“The equalizer came very late but it’s what I felt we deserved from the game in terms of the application, the quality the players showed for large parts.”

Newcastle’s new club record signing Woltemade stole the show in Tyneside in their first game since their former hero Alexander Isak departed for Liverpool, scoring in the 29th minute when he arrived at the back post to send a header past Sam Johnstone.

“The fact we haven’t won a game puts more pressure on you in the latter stages,” Newcastle boss Eddie Howe told the BBC. “The win was all that mattered but we’d love to win in a better style and score more goals.

“It was great to see Nick score on his debut. Very strong, I was very pleased with him.”

Tottenham left West Ham languishing in the bottom three, with the Hammers suffering another blow as midfielder Tomas Soucek was sent off for a dangerous tackle.

Pape Matar Sarr, Lucas Bergvall and Micky van de Ven all scored second-half goals in Spurs’ first game since executive chairman Daniel Levy’s exit from Tottenham.

“So happy that the goal came in the second half because you never know, the momentum can change after half-time but we kept going and scored a good goal after and then 3-0 done,” Spurs boss Thomas Frank said.

“So a very good clear win, a good performance and I think we all know the derby and the importance of the game for the fans.”

At Bournemouth, Alex Scott opened scoring with a brilliant strike from outside the box in the 18th minute.

Brighton drew level in the 48th on a goal from Kaoru Mitoma but Antoine Semenyo sealed the victory for Bournemouth’s third win on the bounce with a penalty in the 61st after Evanilson was brought down.

“The mood in the camp is perfect. We can’t ask for any more, we just have to keep going,” Semenyo told the BBC.

Fulham appeared headed for another draw when Gudmundsson scored a horror own goal from a corner kick in the 94th minute, stooping to head in the ball with great force.

“An own goal in the last minute of the game so we have to feel a bit fortunate,” Fulham boss Marco Silva said.

“It was important for us to keep a clean sheet because we need to create this habit and it allowed us to go on and try to win the game.”


Australia crush England by 8 wickets for 2-0 Ashes lead

Updated 07 December 2025
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Australia crush England by 8 wickets for 2-0 Ashes lead

  • Australia are now overwhelming favorites to retain the Ashes with matches in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to follow

BRISBANE: Australia cruised to an emphatic eight-wicket win over England in the day-night second Ashes Test in Brisbane on Sunday for an ominous 2-0 lead in the series.

Set a paltry target of 65 for victory, Australia captain Steve Smith pulled Gus Atkinson for a huge six over square leg to get the job done in style.

Although not as humiliating as the two-day loss in the first Test at Perth, England were comprehensively outplayed in every department.

Australia are now overwhelming favorites to retain the Ashes with matches in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to follow.

“Great day. First two days were pretty even, game turned when we were able to extend to get the new ball under lights, that was crucial for us,” said Smith, who clashed verbally with England bowler Jofra Archer as the hosts raced to victory.

“It can be tricky with the pink ball, it changes really quickly and you have to adapt.”

For England it was more misery. Their batting, apart from Joe Root and Zak Crawley in the first innings and captain Ben Stokes and Will Jacks in the second, was just as rash as in Perth.

They gave their wickets away with poor strokes on the bouncy Gabba surface.

They also bowled poorly, pitching too short and wasting the new pink ball, in stark contrast to an Australian attack missing spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

To make matters worse England dropped five catches in the first innings, whereas Australia’s fielders caught everything that came their way.

Josh Inglis’s brilliant run-out of Stokes in the first innings changed the course of the match. “Obviously very disappointing,” said Stokes.

“I think a lot of it comes down to not being able to stand up to the pressure of this game, this format, when the game is on the line.”

England were behind the game once they let Australia’s tail help the home side post 511 on Saturday, an overall lead of 177.

They then lost six second-innings wickets under lights to end the third day 134-6, still 43 runs behind the Australian total.

While many expected England to surrender meekly on Sunday, Stokes and all-rounder Jacks led a fighting rearguard action to ensure Australia had to bat a second time.

Stokes and Jacks defied the Australian pace attack on a fiercely hot day to edge their way past the initial deficit target and begin to set Australia something to chase.

England batting coach Marcus Trescothick said Saturday his batsmen would not change their aggressive approach, despite a clatter of wickets from poor shots.

But Stokes and Jacks were patient during the first session Sunday. They left balls they didn’t need to play and seemed happy to take their runs in singles rather than expansive boundary shots.

They scored just 28 runs in the first hour and passed the 43-run deficit 96 minutes into the session, scoring only 59 runs in the two hours.

The Australian bowlers, who ran rampant under lights on Saturday with the pink ball, were far more ineffective on Sunday, despite the wicket beginning to play some tricks.

The English offered only one chance when Scott Boland squared up Stokes, who got a thick edge over the slips cordon.

They continued to frustrate the Australians in the second session until just before the drinks break Jacks got an edge to Michael Neser and Smith snared a breath-taking catch at slip, diving full length to his left and catching it low to the ground.

Neser struck again in the next over when Stokes nibbled at a ball outside the off-stump and got a fine edge to keeper Alex Carey to leave England 227-8, a lead of exactly 50.