theSun

TOTTENHAM Hotspur beat Manchester City 2-1 with goals from Timo Werner and Pape Matar Sarr as interim Manchester United manager Ruud van Nistlerooy led his side to a thumping 5-2 win over Leicester City in the League Cup fourth round on Wednesday.

Former United striker Van Nistelrooy’s victory in his first game in charge brought much-needed cheer to Old Trafford after the sacking of Erik ten Hag and a miserable run in the Premier League.

“I am here to help, to serve and give my everything for the club, that will never change,“ Van Nistelrooy said after his interim stint got off to an electrifying start with midfielders Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro scoring twice each.

Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou remains in with a chance of fulfilling his promise to win a trophy in his second season as coach of the North London club after a superb attacking display.

City made seven changes form the side that beat Southampton 1-0 at the weekend and they were opened up early as Spurs quickly played through their press. Dejan Kulusevski picked out Werner in the box, and the German striker lashed the ball into the net for his first goal of the season.

Sarr got the second in the 25th minute after the ball found its way to him outside the penalty area following a well-worked corner, and the Senegalese midfielder curled it brilliantly inside the right-hand post.

City pulled one back in first-half stoppage time as Matheus Nunes connected with a cross from Savinho to score with their first effort on target.

ANOTHER CITY INJURY

Having already lost key players this season, City coach Pep Guardiola said he wanted his side to perform well with no injuries, but Savinho picked up a knock that saw him carried off in the 62nd minute.

That robbed City of momentum, but Nico O’Reilly still almost grabbed a late equaliser, only for substitute Yves Bissouma to clear the ball off the line as Spurs hung on for victory.

“It’s a cup tie played against a formidable opponent, I thought we did well for the most part,“ Postecoglou told Sky Sports.

“We didn’t allow too many clearcut chances, we could have put the game away but City are always going to push you,“ he added.

Cody Gakpo struck twice for Liverpool as they beat Brighton & Hove Albion 3-2 and Arsenal enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 win at Preston North End to book their spot in the last eight by knocking out the last non-Premier League club left in the competition.

Crystal Palace grabbed a 2-1 win at Aston Villa, while an Alexander Isak strike and an own goal from Axel Disasi helped Newcastle United ease to a 2-0 home win over Chelsea to make it through to the last eight.

Tottenham will host Manchester United in the quarter-finals, Arsenal face Crystal Palace, Newcastle play Brentford and Liverpool travel to Southampton.

MIKEL Arteta saluted Arsenal’s hunger as the gritty Gunners ignored the absence of Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard to clinch an “ugly” 1-0 win at bitter rivals Tottenham on Sunday.

Arteta’s side were without skipper Odegaard due to an ankle injury suffered on Norway duty, while fellow midfielder Rice served a suspension for his red card against Brighton.

But the Premier League title contenders dug deep with a combative display, benefitting from Tottenham’s latest display of wasteful finishing before Gabriel Magalhaes bagged the winner in the second half.

The Brazilian defender’s first goal since February made it three wins from four league games for unbeaten Arsenal as they chase a first title since 2004 after two successive runners-up finishes.

“Super happy obviously. We know what it means for our club and our people to win a north London derby,“ Arteta said.

“We had moments in the game where we had to suffer. We had to adapt a little bit because of some of the players we lost.

“I prepared for Tottenham for five days, then in one moment I lost one player and in another I lost another. I didn’t sleep much!

“There were no excuses, no crying. The players have thick skin. They love the game. Sometimes to win you have to do the ugly things and they love to do that.

“I loved it, because day after day the players are hungrier and hungrier.”

Arsenal have now won on their last three visits to Tottenham, losing just once, in May 2022, in their last eight meetings with their hated neighbours.

The second placed Gunners are two points behind Manchester City as they turn their attention to their Champions League opener at Atalanta on Thursday before travelling to face Pep Guardiola’s champions next weekend.

Arteta believes Arsenal’s latest success behind enemy lines with stand them in good stead for a daunting week.

“We won three years in a row here. That is a big thing in the history of the club,“ he said.

“It is a tough week coming up. The players believe already. We have a won a lot of big games, but this will give us a lot of energy and belief.”

‘Paid the price’

Since the start of last season, Arsenal have scored more goals (23) from dead-ball positions than any other team in the Premier League.

No wonder Arteta turned to embrace Nicolas Jover, the German assistant coach poached from Manchester City as Arsenal’s set-piece guru, immediately after Gabriel’s goal.

“I made the decision to bring him to City when I was there and to Arsenal,“ he said.

“Together with the rest of the staff, they have injected the belief that there are many ways to win games and this is one of them, so big credit to them.”

It was another dispiriting north London derby for Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian has come under fire for Tottenham’s sloppy start to the season, which now includes successive defeats and only one win.

Having conceded more dead-ball goals than any top-flight team except Nottingham Forest over the last two seasons, Tottenham’s weak defending at set-pieces was ruthlessly exposed by Arsenal.

But Postecoglou insisted that wasn’t the reason for the loss, instead pointing at Tottenham’s lack of cutting edge and composure in the final third.

Son Heung-min was unusually quiet, while former Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke struggled on his home debut after returning from injury.

“We had some good opportunities but we could have had so many more. We wasted our good play, similar to other games when we haven’t had the conviction in the front third. You keep opponents in the game when you do that,“ Postecoglou said.

On Tottenham’s set-pieces woes, Postecoglou added: “We handled them well for the most part. We switched off for one and paid the price. It wasn’t just (Cristian) Romero that switched off, it was a couple of others.

“There’s a narrative for some reason that people think I don’t care about set-pieces. We work on them all the time.”

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