Glasner celebrates a dream debut
Karius suffers badly when he returns, Havertz is happy
February 25, 2024, 2:44 p.m
After a year, Loris Karius can finally be in goal again in a competitive game; the German has to play against Arsenal London with Newcastle United. But the return doesn’t go as planned. DFB star Kai Havertz can cheer for that.
The title race in the English football championship remains extremely close. Manchester City moved back to within one point of leaders Liverpool FC by winning 1-0 (1-0) on Saturday against relegation candidate AFC Bournemouth. Phil Foden scored the decisive goal for coach Pep Guardiola’s team in the 24th minute. Arsenal FC is one point behind Man City after beating Newcastle United 4-1 (2-0). Liverpool, trained by Jürgen Klopp, had already presented against Luton Town (4-1) on Wednesday.
Newcastle professional Sven Botman scored for Arsenal with an own goal (18th), German international Kai Havertz (24th), Bukayo Saka (65th) and Jakub Kiwior (69th). At Newcastle, German goalkeeper Loris Karius was allowed to play in the Premiere League for the first time this season. Karius played his last game in the Premier League in May 2018, back then for Liverpool FC. He only played once for Newcastle United after moving to the 2022/23 season: 363 days ago in the final of the League Cup (where Newcastle lost 2-0 to Manchester United). Against Arsenal, Karius was now allowed to represent the sick goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.
“Arsenal were very good, we weren’t”
The German was not to blame for the goals he conceded, but was nevertheless an involuntary – and innocent – part of a real slapstick moment: Before the score was 0-1, Karius made a strong save from Arsenal defender Gabriel’s header from close range, and Newcastle’s Tino Livramento shot in an attempt to clear it Teammate Botman, whose body the ball bounced into the goal.
Newcastle coach Eddie Howe was frustrated with his team’s performance, particularly their mistakes in the first half: “We weren’t ourselves in the first half,” he told the BBC. “The second half was much better, until the third goal which blew us away. Arsenal were very good, we weren’t, and we were punished. We weren’t good in most aspects of our game, we didn’t get the basics right. “Arsenal put us under pressure and we made technical mistakes. Sometimes you have those phases that you have to get through, but unfortunately we didn’t do that.”
Glasner celebrates a dream debut
Meanwhile, Oliver Glasner also celebrated a win on his debut in the Premier League. Eintracht Frankfurt’s ex-coach won 3-0 (0-0) with Crystal Palace against newly promoted FC Burnley, coached by Vincent Kompany. That gave the Londoners some breathing room in the relegation battle. “I would also like to thank my team, because we have only been here for three days, and today all the praise goes to the team and the players. It was a really nice game,” said the Austrian happily. which led Eintracht Frankfurt to win the Europa League. “The fans were very loud and they were happy and that’s what we want. It’s Saturday afternoon, they had a great Saturday afternoon and now they can go to the pub somewhere and have a beer or two – that is a great start to the weekend!”
Record champions Manchester United experienced disappointment. Fulham, sixth in the table, lost 1:2 (0:0) at home. Although Harry Maguire (89th) made it 1-1 late on, Alex Iwobi (90th + 7) shocked the hosts deep into stoppage time. Calvin Bassey (65th) had previously given the Londoners the lead.