Soccer

BRYAN MBEUMO scored a 96th-minute winner to snatch all three points from a blockbuster Premier League ding-dong clash against Ipswich. The Tractor Boys took a 2-0 lead in West London.Brentford completed a stunning win after seemingly throwing it awayCredit: GettyIpswich could not believe they lost the match right at the endCredit: ReutersBut a quickfire double from the Bees ensured they were level at half-time.Then six minutes after the break, Bryan Mbeumo slotted home a penalty.That saw Brentford score three goals in seven minutes either side of half-time to go from 2-0 down to 3-2 up. Then to rub salt into Ipswich’s wounds, Harry Clarke was sent off to round off his nightmare afternoon – having deflected in the equaliser and giving away the penalty.But Delap, son of Stoke’s throw-in machine Rory, came up trumps with a dramatic late goal to look like he had rescued a point.However, Mbeumo snatched the win in dramatic fashion deep into injury time.Even then, there was still time for Ipswich to hit the post. THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY..The Sun is your go to destination for the best football, boxing and MMA news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheSunFootball and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunFootball.Sammie Szmodics broke the deadlock at the Gtech Community StadiumCredit: GettyGeorge Hirst got on the scoresheet to make it 2-0Credit: ReutersYoane Wissa pulled the first goal back for the hostsCredit: ReutersHarry Clarke accidentally turned into his own net for 2-2Credit: GettyBryan Mbeumo made no mistake from the penalty spotCredit: GettyLiam Delap grabbed what he thought was a late equaliser for IpswichCredit: ReutersThe son of Rory has been in red-hot form this seasonCredit: Reuters More

BRIGHTON thew away a two-goal lead in the dying seconds as Wolves salvaged an unlikely point to draw 2-2 on the South Coast.The Seagulls took the lead on the stroke of half time as Georginio Rutter slipped a pass into Danny Welbeck who superbly swept the ball into the bottom corner.Danny Welbeck’s strike at the end of the first half gave Brighton the leadCredit: GettyEvan Ferguson doubled Brighton’s lead in the 85th minuteCredit: GettyRayan Ait-Nouri pulled one back for WolvesCredit: ReutersAnd Matheus Cunha struck in stoppage time to salvage a point for the visitorsCredit: GettyThe former England striker, 33, had passed a late fitness test to play in the match but showed no sign of rustiness as he helped himself to his sixth goal of the campaign.Evan Ferguson doubled the hosts lead with five minutes remaining, rifling a superb finish beyond Jose Sa to seal the victory.It is Ferguson’s first Premier League goal since November last year.Rayan Ait-Nouri pulled one back for Wolves to moments later with what looked to be a consolation.READ MORE IN FOOTBALLBut Gary O’Neil’s men had a late equaliser up their sleeve as Matheus Cunha fired a deflected effort beyond Bart Verbruggen to complete a shock comeback.THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY..The Sun is your go to destination for the best football, boxing and MMA news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheSunFootball and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunFootball.CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS More

REACHING for the stars one minute, plonked on his backside the next – and ball in the back of the net on both occasions.Welcome to the goals-are-us world of Erling Haaland. One where, however they’re teed up, the Striking Viking will knock ‘em in.Erling Haaland notched the winner but could have had a hat-trickCredit: GettyThe striker found the net despite being dragged to the floorCredit: APOn Wednesday with that incredible stretching kung fu seven-foot-in-the-air finish backheel volley as City cruised past Sparta Prague.And this time when he was all but sitting on the Etihad turf when he stuck out his boot to turn Matheus Nunes’ cross in for the fourth-minute winner which proved the difference.More a drip than the avalanche everyone expected, yet still enough to see off Saints and send the champions back to the table. With reputation intact for the beaten, as well.And you wouldn’t have expected that after only three-and-a-bit minutes, when mission improbable became mission nigh on bloody impossible, either.READ MORE IN FOOTBALLThat’s how long it took City to get their opener and put them in the rarified position of scoring first. After winning 13 points from behind already this term, not one they’re used to.Never a hint of that here, mind – and in a own way, chalk it down as another Guardiola masterstroke, as yet another manager paid the price for trying to follow the Spaniard’s lead of playing from the back.All well and good when you’ve got the vast array of talent at your disposal like the City manager. Not so easy for most of the others, though.The ones who would be best served playing to their strengths and clearing their lines, rather than attempting to stroke it around like backline Galacticos.Most read in FootballBEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERSThe chin strokers will, of course, be outraged at the suggestion. And Southampton chief Russell Martin continues to stick to his guns and demand his side take that approach.All very commendable, for sure. Yet also the root cause of that early opener…and so nearly at least three others beyond it, too. Micah Richards explains awkward exchange with Erling Haaland live on Sky Sports after Man City’s win over ChelseaMore of those shortly. First that cock-up in handing over possession as Saints tiki-taka’d across the backline…before Aaron Ramsdale hurriedly hacked into touch under pressure.From the throw-in Matheus Nunes crossed from the left and Haaland shrugged off Jan Bednarek’s neither-one-thing-nor-the-other attempt at defending to score from six yards.Bednarek had a half-hearted grab, a similar shove and even weaker effort to tackle. Haaland merely stuck out a foot, virtually on his backside by the time he did, and that was that.Pretty much that was that as a contest, too, you felt. Especially with City all but camped in the opposition half and the Saints – for all their pretty patterns – posing little threat.And oh-so-close to coughing up more goals through their determination to play their way out of trouble at the back. Each time they merely played their way into it.It was Tyler Dibling losing out to Savinho, and then breathing a sigh of relief when the Brazilian dithered instead of picking out Haaland on the left of the box.Then Flynn Downes twice gave it away deep in his own territory, and finally keeper Ramsdale was thanking Taylor Harwood Bellis after only finding Bernardo Silva.Still, only a matter of time before the dam burst, thought everyone. Only a matter of time before City cut loose and the goal difference goes into overdrive.Then again, maybe not. For bang on half-time they so nearly got the slap-in-the-chops alarm call of what can happen if you don’t make the most of all that possession, all those chances.The Jack Stephens pass which sent Cameron Archer scooting clear on halfway was more of a stretched-leg prod, yet that was exactly the reason City were caught on the back foot.It meant Archer ran unopposed, save for the never-catching-him Manuel Akanji, only to blast his effort against the crossbar. The one – and only – that got away.A gaffe which was inches away from looking even more costly 22 seconds after the break, when Phil Foden fizzed a low shot wide after a red arrows-style attack.But then, wonder of wonders, the unthinkable happened. Haaland somehow stuck one wide from barely a yard out when Savinho dinked the cutest of balls to the far post.Savinho to Haaland was something a running theme throughout the afternoon, in fact, because twice more he picked him out in the box.On both occasions Taylor Harwood-Bellis was the Saints’ saviour, turning one header away and grabbing Haaland’s arm long enough to deny him an angle to finish the second time.Jack Stephens got in on the act by nodding an earlier Haaland header – this one from Foden’s corner – off the line, and STILL the lead remained that solitary goal.READ MORE SUN STORIESIt would have been cancelled out altogether, too, had Southampton made the most of a three-on-two raid. And they really, really should have done.Instead Adam Armstrong blazed over and it petered out into nothing. A fitting epitaph for this game, in fact… More

A FORGOTTEN former Chelsea manager banished two Premier League winners to train on their own “to make a statement”.The Blues have won five league titles in the past 20 years. Nicholas Anelka was one of the two top stars exiled by a new Chelsea managerCredit: GettyDefender Alex was also pushed out in an unpopular moveCredit: PA:Empics SportThat included pipping Manchester United by just one point under Carlo Ancelotti in the 2009-10 campaign.However, just a year later, a new manager came in ahead of the 2011-12 season.And he ditched two of the title-winning team in a shock and unpopular move. Former Chelsea defender Carl Magnay – who won a contract with the Blues after winning Sky TV show Football Icon in 2007 – revealed Andre Villas-Boas’ bizarre approach.READ MORE ON FOOTBALLHe told the Chronicle Live: “Andre Villas-Boas tried to change things quite drastically.”The likes of Nicolas Anelka and Alex – he banished them and they had to train on their own. “He was trying to make too much of a statement to senior world-class players and it didn’t go down very well. “I was able to see different dynamics, different world-class coaches.Most read in FootballFOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS”I knew that when I’d eventually step into coaching I’d revisit those approaches and gauge which is the best one to go with.”Villas-Boas arrived at Stamford Bridge in 2011 aged just 33 – younger than some of the senior players in his squad. Chelsea ratings vs Panathinaikos: Mudryk gives rare star showing but Badiashile caught out for Greeks’ goal However, rather than bide his time, he tried to make his mark immediately with the move to exile Anelka and Alex.By December, both players had formally submitted transfer requests – with Villas-Boas open to the pair leaving.And they duly did so in the January transfer window – just two months before Villas-Boas himself got the sack after less than a year in charge.Centre-back Alex joined Paris Saint-Germain while Anelka headed to China, turning down PSG to sign for Shanghai Shenhua. Magnay, 35, worked under Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant, Luis Filipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink, Ancelotti and Villas-Boas during his four years at Chelsea. However, he did not make a single first-team appearance for the club as injuries took their toll, including wrecking his knee during a reserve-team match against Charlton in 2010. After loans to MK Dons and Northampton, he spent the rest of his career in League Two and non-league football, retiring in November 2023 after another ACL injury the previous month.READ MORE SUN STORIESHe has now stepped into coaching.Villas-Boas, meanwhile, has stepped away from the training pitches and dugouts following spells at Tottenham, Tottenham, Zenit, Shanghai Port and Marseille to become the president of FC Porto. Andre Villas-Boas struggled to win over the senior players at ChelseaCredit: AFP – Getty More