Oli McBurnie’s penalty in the 13th minute of time added on snatched Sheffield United a 2-2 draw against West Ham in a dramatic ending at Bramall Lane.
The Hammers looked to have won it when James Ward-Prowse’s 79th-minute spot-kick put them ahead after Maxwell Cornet’s first goal for the club was cancelled out by a debut effort from new Blades recruit Ben Brereton Diaz.
But referee Michael Salisbury ruled West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola had fouled McBurnie in the eighth minute of stoppage time and a further five minutes later, with Areola replaced by Lukasz Fabianski, the Blades striker coolly struck home from 12 yards to earn a point.
Hammers boss David Moyes was raging at the decision as his side dropped two points which would have seen them close the gap on the Premier League’s top four.
It was the culmination of an action-packed end to the game, with Rhian Brewster sent off for Sheffield United and Vladimir Coufal following for West Ham in separate incidents.
A point was celebrated vociferously but Sheffield United need wins as they remain seven points adrift at the foot of the table and no team in Premier League history has survived with so few points at this stage of a season.
Chris Wilder’s men started with bluster but failed to trouble the West Ham goal and the visitors soon began to find holes at the other end.
The Hammers went ahead with their next meaningful attack in the 28th minute.
Ings fed Coufal on the right and then got the ball back when he found a pocket of space on the edge of the area. His shot was blocked by Jack Robinson but it fell perfectly for Cornet to slash home at the far post.
It was a moment to remember for the Ivorian, who finally broke his duck at the 31st attempt.
The Hammers smelled blood and were only denied a second by a brave block from Jayden Bogle to deny Ings.
That proved important as Brereton Diaz got his first Premier League goal to pull the hosts level in the 44th minute.
Aaron Trusty’s hopeful header into the box found Will Osula at the far post and his diving header was palmed away by Areola, straight into the path of the Chile striker, who thrashed home from six yards.
He should have been celebrating a second 12 minutes after the restart but produced a bad miss at a golden moment.
James McAtee set him clear and as he closed in on goal with no one else around him he seemed destined to score, but dragged his shot wastefully wide.
There was a sense that that could be pivotal and so it proved as the visitors were awarded a penalty with 11 minutes of normal time remaining when Gus Hamer tripped Ings.
Ward-Prowse was never going to do anything other than ripple the back of the net as he sent his effort straight down the middle.
The hosts’ chances of getting back into the game appeared to be severely hampered in time added on as Brewster was shown a red card for a tackle on Emerson Palmieri after a VAR check.
But that was just the start of the drama as Coufal picked up his second yellow card in less than four minutes and the foul led to the Blades being awarded a penalty.
They recycled the set-piece, with McAtee curling in an inviting cross which Areola came for but did not get to, instead clattering into McBurnie.
The referee pointed to the spot and after a long delay where Areola went off injured, McBurnie scored from the spot.
Man Utd keen to sell Greenwood amid Barcelona interest, claims Getafe president
Manchester United are keen to sell Mason Greenwood in the upcoming transfer window and could field interest from Barcelona, according to Getafe president Angel Torres.
Greenwood joined Getafe on a season-long loan deal in September and has scored eight goals and added six assists in 29 appearances in LaLiga in 2023-24.
Greenwood was arrested in January 2022 and was later charged with attempted rape and assault, with all charges against him dropped in February 2023.
United then conducted a six-month internal investigation into his conduct and said they recognised "the difficulties with him recommencing his career" with the club.
In February, speculation that Greenwood could yet return to Old Trafford was heightened when new minority shareholder Jim Ratcliffe said a "fresh decision" would be made on his future at the end of the season.
However, Getafe chief Torres claims the Red Devils are now keen to cash in on a player he hopes to keep at the Estadio Coliseum.
"If it depended on the player, his parents and the club, I think he would continue for another year," Torres said of Greenwood in an interview with RadioMARCA on Tuesday.
"Manchester United's idea is to sell if there is a good offer, we will have to wait. I think he will stay."
Reports had suggested both Atletico Madrid and Barcelona were considering a move for Greenwood, who is about to enter the final 12 months of his contract with United.
Torres claims Barca president Joan Laporta and sporting director Deco have been in touch about the 22-year-old, adding: "No one from Atleti has asked me about Greenwood.
"I spoke with [Atleti president] Miguel Angel [Gil Marin], but about other things. The only one who asked me about the player was Joan Laporta.
"I spoke with him and Deco and they asked me what he was like to get a sense of the player, but first they have to sell to buy, this is the problem with Spanish football."
Jamaica, T&T drawn in Group B of League A for 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League
Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are set to cross swords in the group stages of this year’s fourth edition of the Concacaf Nations League, as both were drawn in Group B of League A for the 2024/25 campaign which is scheduled to kick off in September.
This year’s Concacaf Nations League will again be contested in a three-league format –Leagues A, B and C –and will see the Confederation’s 41 senior men’s national teams doing battle during the FIFA match windows of September, October, and November 2024. The semi-finals and finals of the tournament, which serves as the qualifiers for next summer’s 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, are scheduled for March 2025.
The teams have been grouped across the respective Leagues based on their results from the 2023/24 staging. The Reggae Boyz and their Soca Warriors counterparts, who contested the business end of the competition for the first time in that campaign, will be hoping to do so again on this occasion.
They are among 12 teams, split in two groups of six teams each to contest League A in a “Swiss style” league system, with each team playing a total of four games (two at home and two away).
Jamaica, last edition’s semi-finalist, and Trinidad and Tobago, who made the quarterfinals, are drawn alongside Honduras, Cuba, Nicaragua, and French Guiana, while Group A comprises, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Suriname, and Guyana.
After group stage play in September and October, the first and second-place finishers of each group, will advance to the quarterfinals, where they will join the four top-ranked League A teams, Mexico, United States, Panama, and Canada. The quarterfinals will be played in a home-and-away format, with the winner of each fixture, on aggregate, set to secure a berth in next year’s Finals.
Meanwhile, League B will feature 16 teams divided into four groups of four teams. Each team will play every team in its group twice. The groups were drawn as follows:
Group A -El Salvador, Montserrat, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Bonaire
Group B -Curacao, Saint Lucia, Grenada, and Saint Martin
Group C -Haiti, Puerto Rico, Aruba, and St Maarten
Group D -Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominic
Matches in each group will be played at a centralized venue instead of the previous home-and-away format, to alleviate travel challenges that Member Associations face.
The third best-ranked teams in each group will host the September matches, the second best-ranked teams will host the October matches, and the best-ranked teams will host the decisive November matches.
Over in League C, which consists of nine teams, divided into three groups of three teams, the format takes a similar shape, where each team will play every team in its group twice.
Group A -Barbados, Bahamas, and US Virgin Islands
Group B -Belize, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Anguilla
Group C-Saint Kitts and Nevis, Cayman Islands, and British Virgin Islands
Where centralized venues are concerned, the second highest-ranked teams in each group will host the September matches, and the highest-ranked teams will host the October matches.
Schedule:
Group Stage: September 2-10, October 7-15, and November 11-19, 2024
Quarterfinals: November 11-19, 2024
Semifinals: March 20, 2025
Final and Third Place Match: March 23, 2025
Nottingham Forest unsuccessful in appeal against Premier League points deduction
Nottingham Forest have been unsuccessful in their appeal against a four-point deduction for breaching the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules.
In March, Forest were deducted four points after admitting to breaching the league's financial rules by overspending by £34.5million over a three-year assessment period ending last season.
Everton have also lost eight points to two separate deductions, having been found to have breached the rules in the period culminating in 2022-23 and the period ending last campaign.
Forest's penalty dropped them into the thick of the relegation battle, with the club saying they were "extremely dismayed by the tone and content" of the Premier League's submissions to an independent commission and pledging to appeal.
Forest argued their lack of recent Premier League history placed them at a disadvantage to other clubs and said the sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham, which went through last September after the end of the assessment period, was within the "spirit" of sustainability.
The club's appeal against their penalty was heard on April 24, but an appeal board decided to uphold the punishment, which was itself more lenient than that requested by the Premier League.
In a statement released on Monday, the Premier League said: "The PSR sanction applied to the assessment period ending in season 2022-23 and was appealed by the club on two grounds.
"The club argued that the independent commission committed an error in not treating its sale of a high-profile player shortly after the assessment period as a mitigating factor, and that it committed a further error in electing not to suspend some or all of the points deduction it imposed.
"Each of these grounds was rejected by the appeal board, which found the independent commission was entitled to immediately impose the sanction it did. The four-point deduction will therefore remain in place."
It means Forest stay 17th in the table with 29 points, having pulled three clear of 18th-placed Luton Town by beating already-relegated Sheffield United 3-1 on Saturday.
Nuno Espirito Santo's team face Chelsea and Burnley in their final two games of 2023-24, with Luton likely to need at least four points from meetings with West Ham and Fulham to overhaul them.
Burnley, down in 19th, need to win their last two matches – against Tottenham and Forest – to have any chance of avoiding the drop.
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