Roberto De Zerbi saluted Joao Pedro after his two-goal display against Tottenham, but admitted he fears the forward’s stay at Brighton may be brief.
Pedro starred in a thrilling 4-2 win for the Seagulls on Thursday night, scoring twice from the penalty spot and also setting up Jack Hinshelwood’s opener.
Brazilian attacker Pedro only moved to Brighton in May for a fee in the region of £30million, but has hit 13 goals for his new club, with seven of them in the last nine matches.
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De Zerbi said: “He is the best player on the pitch, I think. He played another incredible game.
“I am really pleased for his improvement on mentality, on attitude. In defensive phase, incredible because he defended 90 minutes like a centre-back in terms of mentality.
“He is becoming, I think, a top player. I hope in the next year to work with him but I think it will be very tough.”
While Pedro tormented Tottenham all night long, it was a superb team display by Brighton, especially for the first hour on the south coast.
To top off an excellent end to 2023, Pervis Estupinan marked his first Premier League appearance since September with a superb 25-yard strike.
“It’s an incredible goal but the most important thing about Estupinan is we recover an important player because we are losing a lot of players on injuries,” De Zerbi admitted.
“We cannot play with 10 or nine players.”
Estupinan’s return from a muscle problem occurred at half-time with fellow left-back Igor Julio forced off with a tendon problem.
Youngster Facundo Buonanotte also had to be replaced with an injury concern and De Zerbi admitted they are initial doubts for the trip to West Ham next week.
He added: “Igor and Facundo suffered injuries. I don’t know if important and I don’t know for the next game in West Ham’s stadium but Igor couldn’t play the second half (due to) a tendon injury.
“And Facundo is a muscular problem.”
De Zerbi also fielded questions on Japan winger Kaoru Mitoma, who has been ruled out for four to six weeks with an ankle injury which has placed in doubt his participation in next month’s Asian Cup.
“I hope it can be less than four (weeks), but the medical staff say four, five or six weeks and I am working for Brighton, not for Japan. I can say nothing for Japan,” the Italian insisted.
“I hope for you that Kaoru can play in Asian Cup but I don’t know.”
Meanwhile, Brighton have confirmed long-serving board members Derek Chapman and Marc Sugarman will step down as non-executive directors on June 30.
Chapman has been involved with the club since 1999, while Sugarman first joined in 2009.
Paul Nicholls hailed Frodon as a “fantastic horse” and a “wonderful servant” after announcing the retirement of his stable stalwart following his fourth outing in the King George VI Chase at Kempton.
The hugely popular 11-year-old memorably landed the Boxing Day highlight in 2020 under his regular partner Bryony Frost, one of 19 victories in a 52-race career.
Frost steered Frodon to the majority of his big-race triumphs, with the 2019 Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and the 2021 Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal also featuring on his CV.
Having given a bold sight in front for a long way in his latest bid for King George glory, the veteran weakened to come home last of five finishers on Tuesday and Nicholls feels the time has come to give his charge the retirement he so richly deserves.
“Frodon ran a good, solid race again, he just hasn’t got the legs, so I’d like to announce this morning that we’ve taken the decision to retire him,” he said in his Betfair ‘Ditcheat Diary’.
“We’re not going to ask him to run again. He’s been a fantastic horse winning King Georges, Ryanairs and Festival handicaps, you could go on and on.”
The champion trainer confirmed Frodon will spend his retirement with Frost, alongside a former stablemate in Black Corton.
He added: “He’s been a wonderful servant since he was a three-year-old and he’s going to have a wonderful home along with Black Corton with Bryony down on Exmoor.
“What a wonderful horse he’s been – I wouldn’t mind a few more like him. He’s finishing in one piece and Bryony is going to give him a home for life.”
Uttoxeter’s New Year’s Eve fixture appears to be under serious threat after officials called a precautionary inspection for noon on Saturday due to the prospect of further rain.
In conjunction with the British Horseracing Authority, the Staffordshire venue has already abandoned the chases that were originally scheduled to take place, leaving a card comprising of five hurdle races and a National Hunt Flat race.
However, with the going described as heavy and some “small areas of standing water” on the track on Friday morning, there is no guarantee racing will take place at all at this stage.
Clerk of the Course Richard Fothergill said: “We’ve got a mainly dry day forecast today, but tomorrow is a challenge.
“Some forecasts are giving up to 20 millimetres of rain (on Saturday), which we couldn’t take. We need the absolute bottom end of the forecast to have a chance.
“It looks like a lot of rain is going to come after 12pm, but we’re going to assess it then, as we may have had a few showers in the morning.
“It’s a hugely supported raceday in the local community, so it’s such a shame. We’ll do what we can and give it every chance, but as I say, we do need the absolute best of the forecast.”
Danny Mullins has played down his altercation with cousin Patrick Mullins following the Guinness Faugheen Novice Chase at Limerick on Thursday.
Patrick ultimately claimed a comfortable victory in the race on board his father Willie’s Gaelic Warrior, with Danny five and a half lengths back in second on stablemate Il Etait Temps.
However, the pair did come close when Danny attempted to sneak up the inner on the run to the second-last and Patrick appeared to react angrily to that incident as they pulled up after the finishing line.
The stewards looked into the episode but Danny later made light of the whole affair via his regular diary on the Tote Twitter site.
He joked: “The main question on everybody’s lips is what did Patrick say? I don’t fully recall what he did say, I think it was something along the lines of ‘Danny, get a haircut’, but I’m happy with my hair as it is at the moment.”
On a more serious note, Danny added: “It’s one of those things, I’m always going to ride to win the race and that’s what I have to do for my owners and we had a go and unfortunately I finished second – but we had a go and that was the main thing.”
Regarding the incident approaching the penultimate fence, Patrick Mullins earlier said: “I told Danny going out that there will be a gap on my inside going down to the second-last and ‘do not come for it’ but he hasn’t listened to me. Luckily it didn’t get the two of us beaten.”
Willie Mullins was at Leopardstown, where he told Racing TV with a wry smile: “I had my son and my nephew trying to kill each other going to the second-last. I don’t know what Patrick said to Danny, but I don’t imagine they’ll be going home in the same car anyhow!
“Danny was riding his horse and he had to try to go for Grade One glory on his horse. Anyhow, it will make fun for this evening when we are disseminating the whole thing.”
The stewards investigated the incident two out and took no action, but also inquired about Patrick Mullins’ post-race comments.
The report read: “The Raceday Stewards interviewed Mr. P.W. Mullins, rider of Gaelic Warrior, and D.E. Mullins, rider of Il Etait Temps, regarding comments made to the media about an incident on the run to the second-last.
“Mr. P.W. Mullins stated that he had advised D.E. Mullins during a conversation prior to the race that he would be leaving a gap down the inner to get a breather into his horse and he advised him not to go for it.
“D.E. Mullins confirmed the conversation happened as such. Having considered all the evidence, the Raceday Stewards referred the matter on to a Senior Racing Official.”
Jarrod Bowen praised a shift in West Ham’s mindset as they won at Arsenal in the Premier League for the first time since 2015.
The Hammers secured a 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium to go four points behind the top four and prevent their hosts moving back to the top of the table.
Bowen capitalised on rocky Arsenal defending to cross for Tomas Soucek to open the scoring, the goal standing after a lengthy VAR check could not conclude if the ball had gone out of play before the England international’s centre.
Former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos then headed in his first West Ham goal to seal the three points – with David Moyes’ side now having beaten Tottenham, Manchester United and Arsenal this month.
While those victories have been tinged with setbacks – a 5-0 league thrashing at Fulham and a meek Carabao Cup exit at Liverpool – Bowen feels building on Saturday’s win over United with another three points against a title challenger shows progress.
“It’s a massive win,” Bowen told the club’s official website.
“We knew it was going to be difficult as these are top side, but we managed to build on what we did against Manchester United.
“I think, for us, we haven’t been consistent enough. We might have won one game and then the Fulham game springs to mind when we conceded five, and if we want to be spoken about to go to the top six and finishing higher in the division then we need to be consistent.
“Like I say, this was a hard game, but I said after the Man United game that we needed to come here with a mindset to take points and we’ve done that.
“It’s those consistency levels…We play Brighton in a few days (Tuesday) and we have to go there and win that as well.”
Things could have been even better for West Ham had Said Benrahma’s stoppage-time penalty not been saved by David Raya – but for Arsenal it was a night to forget.
Mikel Arteta’s men had 30 attempts on goal but could not trouble the scorers as they failed to produce the win required to usurp Liverpool at the summit.
“I think we created more than enough to score goals to win the game,” said captain Martin Odegaard.
“It was the little details and the little last pass or the finish that was missing. We have to learn from it and make sure we get sharper and better in front of the goals.
“The goals we conceded were too easy, so definitely in front of the goals, inside the boxes, that’s where the games are decided. We weren’t good enough.”
Rafael Nadal believes it is “impossible” for him to think about winning tournaments as he prepares to make his comeback from a year on the sidelines.
The former world number one has not played a match since injuring his hip during a second-round contest at the Australian Open in January but will take his place in the draw at the Brisbane International, which begins on Sunday.
Speaking at an appearance at Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall, Nadal said: “I am feeling good. I can’t complain. I’m feeling much better today than what I expected a month ago.
View this post on Instagram“For me, it’s impossible to think about winning tournaments. But what’s really possible is to try to enjoy the comeback to the courts. I don’t expect much. Honestly, the only thing that I expect is to be able to go on court, to feel competitive and to give my best.
“It’s going to be a tough process at the beginning. At the end, it’s one year without being on the tennis court and I just have been practising for the last month in a very good intensity. I don’t say that nothing is impossible, but just to be here is a victory.”
In May, Nadal admitted that he was staring at the end of his career as attempts to recover from the injury failed and that he hoped to be able to play a final year on tour in 2024.
He had surgery in June and, although recent weeks have been encouraging, the 37-year-old is not looking too far ahead.
The 22-time grand slam champion said he would not be setting “super long-term goals, because I don’t see myself playing for a super long time”.
He added: “(I want to) try to give myself the opportunity to be more and more competitive as the season goes on. I am not the player that that tries to predict what kind of things can happen in the short term, and it’s even tougher in a medium period of time.
“How I need to approach this process is accepting the adversity and that things aren’t going to be perfect at the beginning. I just have to stay with the right attitude and the working spirit every day.”
Also making her comeback in Brisbane is four-time grand slam champion Naomi Osaka, who will play her first match since September 2022.
The Japanese star gave birth to daughter Shai in July, and she told reporters: “Being a mum has changed my life a lot. I think it changed my perspective on a lot of things.
“Giving birth was one of the most painful things I’ve ever gone through. It’s definitely made me feel like physically I can handle a lot.
“I want to show Shai that she’s capable of everything, so that’s one of my main purposes and main reasons why I want to be back out here.”
What the papers say
Mohamed Salah remains a target for clubs in the Saudi Pro League but they will have to wait beyond January, according to the Daily Mirror. Liverpool are not expected to agree to a mid-season sale for the 31-year-old forward with bids expected to come in the summer.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is likely to concentrate on loan deals in January, reports the Daily Mirror. The club needs to offload players before making any signings with reinforcements on the cards after a string of injuries.
Steve Cooper has emerged as a potential option as manager at Crystal Palace after his sacking at Nottingham Forest, according to The Daily Telegraph. Roy Hodgson’s future in charge of the club is uncertain.
Crystal Palace are interested in Paris St Germain striker Hugo Ekitike, 21, reports the Evening Standard. Palace have also been linked with Sunderland’s 21-year-old French midfielder Pierre Ekwah.
Social media round-upPlayers to watch
Dan Gore: Borussia Dortmund are keen on Manchester United’s 19-year-old English winger, reports Football Insider.
Serhou Guirassy: Manchester United, Tottenham and AC Milan are interested in the Guinea striker, 27, who is preparing to leave Stuttgart in January, according to Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy.
Logan Thompson stopped 32 shots and the Vegas Golden Knights held on for a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday to snap a four-game losing streak.
Jack Eichel, Michael Ammadio and Williams Karlsson scored for Vegas, which tied Vancouver for first place in the Pacific Division.
Thompson bounced back after he allowed four goals on Anaheim’s first nine shots during a 5-2 loss to the Ducks on Wednesday.
Anže Kopitar had a goal and an assist for Los Angeles, which lost on the road in regulation for just the second time this season (13-2-1).
Svechnikov, Fast power Hurricanes
Andrei Svechnikov had a hat trick and Jesper Fast scored twice to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
Svechnikov tallied his first goal of the night 1:35 into the first period and snapped a tie with 6:09 remaining in the third. He completed his third career hat trick with an empty-net goal with 18.9 seconds to play.
Sebastian Aho had four assists and Brent Burns set up three scores for Carolina, which has points in eight of its last nine games (5-1-3).
Flyers score 3 quick goals to beat Canucks
Egor Zamula, Sean Walker and Joel Farabee scored in the second period and Samuel Ersson made 18 saves before leaving as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-1.
Ersson allowed only Teddy Blueger’s goal 25 seconds into the third period before leaving shortly after due to dehydration. Carter Hart stopped all eight shots the rest of the way.
Vancouver suffered its first loss in 10 games (7-1-2).
Blackburn signed Andy Cole from Manchester United for £8million on this day in 2001.
The then 30-year-old had slipped down the pecking order at Old Trafford following the arrival of Ruud van Nistelrooy and therefore ended his seven-year stay in Manchester to move to Ewood Park.
Cole said at a press conference on the day he signed: “It was a big decision. When you leave a club like Manchester United it’s always going to be a big decision.
“I am 30 and it’s very important that in the next few years I’m playing football. That’s all I want to do. I don’t enjoy being on the bench.
“I am really looking forward to playing here. I spoke at great length to the manager and at what he was looking to do at the club and that made my mind up.”
Graeme Souness’ side were struggling in the Premier League but Cole netted 13 goals in 20 games to help Rovers to a 10th-placed finish and a piece of silverware in the form of the League Cup.
Cole scored the crucial winner in the final against Tottenham, who were managed by Glenn Hoddle, a prominent critic of Cole.
Despite his good form, Cole was not selected for England’s squad for the 2002 World Cup and subsequently announced his international retirement.
Cole scored 13 goals the following season as Blackburn finished sixth and was reunited with his former United strike partner Dwight Yorke.
He finished the 2003-04 campaign as Rovers’ top scorer with 11 goals but the club struggled and Cole’s relationship with Souness deteriorated to the point where the striker reported his manager to the Professional Footballers’ Association, accusing him of unfair treatment.
Cole was allowed to leave on a free transfer that summer, signing for Fulham, after scoring 37 goals across 100 games for Blackburn.
Souness, who branded Cole and Yorke “babies”, said: “It’s no secret that Cole and I didn’t see eye to eye in how I wanted football played and I think it was best for everyone that he went.”
The Detroit Pistons matched the longest losing streak in NBA history Thursday, blowing a 21-point lead before falling to the Boston Celtics 128-122 in overtime for their 28th straight loss.
The Pistons tied the Philadelphia 76ers, who lost 28 in a row starting in 2014-15 and into the 2015-16 season.
Detroit’s next chance to record its first win since Oct. 28 is Saturday against Toronto.
The Pistons opened a 21-point lead in the first half but trailed 106-100 in the final two minutes of regulation. Jaden Ivey scored six straight points to erase the deficit, then Bojan Bogdanovic made a putback with 4.6 seconds left to force OT.
Derrick White scored 10 of his 23 points in the extra period and Kristaps Porzingis added six to finish with 35.
Jayson Tatum had 31 points and 10 assists for league-leading Boston, which has won four straight and nine of its last 10 games.
Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 31 points and nine assists, while Ivey finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Jokic has another triple-double
Nikola Jokić registered 26 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in less than three quarters to lead the Denver Nuggets to their sixth consecutive win, 142-105 over the short-handed Memphis Grizzlies.
Jokic was 11 of 11 from the field and hit all three free throws before going to the bench with 1:31 left in the third quarter. He notched his 11th triple-double of the season and 116th of his career, which ranks fourth in NBA history.
Desmond Bane had 23 points and Marcus Smart added 17 for the Grizzlies, who were without star guard Ja Morant. Memphis had a four-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 6-20 when Morant is out of the lineup.
Edwards leads Timberwolves past Mavericks
Anthony Edwards poured in a season-high 44 points and Rudy Gobert added 20 with 11 rebounds to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 118-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks, who were without Luka Dončić.
Jaden McDaniels chipped in 12 points for Minnesota, which improved the Western Conference’s best record to 23-7.
With Doncic out on the second night of back-to-back games, Dallas lost its fifth in seven games. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 32 points off the bench and Jaden Hardy added 17 points.
The Cleveland Browns clinched a place in the play-offs as they beat the New York Jets 37-20.
Joe Flacco, the injury-hit Browns fourth starting quarterback of the season, passed for 309 yards and three touchdowns as they secured at least a wildcard spot.
They could yet pip the Baltimore Ravens to the AFC North crown and even secure the top seed in the conference. It is only their second playoff berth in 21 years.
Veteran Flacco, who was released by the Jets earlier this year, found Jerome Ford for a pair of touchdowns as the Browns opened a 34-17 half-time lead.
He also found Ronnie Hickman from 30 yards but had an interception returned for a touchdown from 37 yards by Jermaine Johnson.
The second half turned into a defensive battle, with both sides only managing to register a field goal apiece.
The Detroit Pistons equalled the longest losing run in NBA history as they went down 128-122 to the Boston Celtics.
The Pistons, who broke the single-season record on Tuesday against Brooklyn Nets, forced overtime before going down to their 28th consecutive loss.
Defeat to the team with the league’s best record equals the record of the Philadelphia 76ers across two seasons in 2015.
Detroit did lead by 21 points in the first half, but needed a score from Bojan Bogdanovic to send the game into the first overtime of the losing streak.
Derrick White scored 10 points in the extra period as the Celtics pulled away. Cade Cunningham led Detroit with 31 points.
Toronto are next up for Detroit on Saturday as they look to avoid taking sole ownership of the record.
Mikel Arteta admitted his side came up short in both boxes as Arsenal slumped to defeat to West Ham to miss out on regaining top spot in the Premier League.
The Gunners remain behind Liverpool as they lost 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium on what Arteta conceded was one of the most frustrating nights of his four-year tenure as Arsenal boss.
Tomas Soucek’s opener – awarded after the VAR could not determine whether the whole ball had gone out of play in the build up – and a second-half header from former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos earned the visitors a deserved win.
Things could have been even better had Said Benrahma not had a stoppage-time penalty saved by David Raya on a night where Arteta applauded the performances of the opposition.
“I congratulate West Ham and praise my players. That’s what I can tell you,” he said.
“This is football. When you look at how much we generated in the game, to see the result is very disappointing. But they were better than us in both boxes. They had two shots, with the penalty three. We had 30.
“If we don’t score with 30 shots, then we have to do 50 or 60 to try to score. That’s the only thing. I can’t imagine a game where we have more touches in the box, more dominance and less situations for the opponent against a really good West Ham side. Today though, it wasn’t enough to win the game.”
Asked if it was among the most frustrating nights of his managerial career, Arteta replied: “It is. But it’s football. Normally when the team generates so much it’s going to win games.
“That’s the way we’ve done it. Against Brighton, we generated so much and against Liverpool as well, but we score goals in different ways.
“We have to make another step in that area to win games more comfortably, that’s for sure, because today the team deserves to win the game. There’s no question about that.”
Arteta successfully fought a Football Association charge after he criticised the officiating and VAR in defeat at Newcastle last month and was less vocal this time.
He did, however, suggest technology needs to be further advanced to make close calls, adding: “They’re saying it’s not conclusive. It’s a shame that with the technology that we have, that it’s not that clear so that we can say whether it’s out or in. It’s done. It’s gone. There’s nothing we can do about it now.
“If the technology we have at the moment is not good enough to give us that answer, what we have to do is without that win the game. With the number of situations we generated in the game, that should have been more than enough.”
For West Ham and manager David Moyes, this was a rare taste of victory at the Emirates Stadium – Moyes had failed to secure victory in his previous 72 Premier League away games at Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United.
West Ham were 17th at the turn of the year but went on to win the Europa Conference League and now sit just four points off the top four after this hard-fought and deserved win.
Moyes is out of contract in the summer but, on the four-year anniversary of his reappointment as West Ham boss, feels a new deal will soon be ironed out.
“We’re getting ready to talk,” he told Amazon Prime.
“I don’t think any of us are jumping to get it done too quickly, I think we are just happy to make sure we get it done. We will do, I don’t see any problems with that at all.
“We are not one of the top teams. We are trying to get up and grow the team. For West Ham to be in Europe is a great period.”
Ange Postecoglou defended his “tired” Tottenham team after they were blown away in a six-goal thriller at Brighton.
Joao Pedro struck a brace of penalties while Jack Hinshelwood and Pervis Estupinan produced fine strikes in a well deserved 4-2 victory for Roberto De Zerbi’s men.
While Alejo Veliz and Ben Davies scored in the final 10 minutes, Spurs were second best for much of the night and suffered a fifth Premier League defeat of the campaign.
Both clubs have faced numerous injuries during recent months, with Brighton without eight players for this contest and Tottenham nine, which led to Postecoglou taking a philosophical view.
Postecoglou said: “Fair to say we were looking a bit tired and lacked our usual sharpness, especially at the start of the game. We’ve been starting games well.
“I guess that’s understandable, we’ve been on this run for a while now and asking players to perform at levels. It’s very demanding the way we play, physically, and today we kind of looked like a team that wasn’t at its sharpest.
“Brighton are a good side and they took advantage of that. Ultimately what I do know is the players, everything they had they gave and that’s all I can ask for.”
Pedro found the unmarked Hinshelwood to fire beyond Guglielmo Vicario, who had twice denied Danny Welbeck early on, and the Brazilian then rolled home a spot-kick after Dejan Kulusevski was penalised for pulling Welbeck.
Vicario was forced into action several more times, while James Milner also hit the post before Estupinan capped his comeback appearance with a goal from 25 yards.
The offside flag had denied Richarlison twice but Spurs’ miserable night was compounded when substitute Giovani Lo Celso brought down Evan Ferguson and Pedro slotted home to make it 4-0.
Tottenham fought back with Veliz scoring his first goal in English football with nine minutes left before Ben Davies headed home at the back post, but it finished 4-2.
Postecoglou had no qualms with either penalty decision, although did take umbrage with VAR not punishing Brighton captain Lewis Dunk for a poor tackle on Kulusevski in the build-up to Veliz scoring.
“It was obviously clear and obvious because it only took him (Jarred Gillett) three minutes to see it on the screen, and VAR picked up everything today except the one tackle which nearly cost me another player,” Postecoglou added.
“It’s been difficult this whole run. We’ve been stretched for a very long time and we’ve just tried to play on through it.
“We’re only in the position we are because of the enormous efforts of the players to do jobs that normally is not in their brief, but they do it willingly and they give everything. Today we fell short but not for the want of trying.”
De Zerbi toasted a brilliant end to a special year where Brighton finished sixth, made the FA Cup semi-finals and progressed into the last 16 of the Europa League.
“Yes, the best way to finish the year,” he added.
“We played a great game because we show incredible courage to defend men-to-men for 90 minutes and to play with that courage, that quality, that style.
“I am sorry we concede two goals and I am sorry we have no clean sheet.”
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