Football: Man City storm back as Man United crash out of FA Cup

LONDON -- Manchester City produced a stunning comeback against Swansea on Saturday to reach the FA Cup semi-finals and keep their quadruple dreams alive as Wolves sent Manchester United crashing out.

Pep Guardiola's team roared back from a two-goal half-time deficit to score three times after the break, with Sergio Aguero grabbing a disputed late winner in a 3-2 victory.

But United were unable to match their city rivals, slipping to a 2-1 defeat at Wolves to hand interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a second consecutive defeat.

In a dramatic game in south Wales, Championship side Swansea were 2-0 up against Premier League leaders City shortly before the half hour through a Matt Grimes penalty and fine strike by Bersant Celina.

But Bernardo Silva pulled a goal back in the 69th minute and the visitors went for the kill, drawing level after an Aguero penalty hit a post and went in off goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt.

The City pressure intensified and Aguero had the final word in the 88th minute with a stooping header to complete a stunning fightback.

It was a lucky escape for City as replays showed Raheem Sterling was fortunate to win the penalty that led to the equaliser, while Aguero was marginally offside for the winner.

"If it is not penalty, and it is offside like the people say, I'm sorry," Guardiola said.

"They ask all the clubs about the VAR (video assistant referee) and all around Europe the VAR is there and here it's not. I don't like to lose games when the decisions are wrong but the referees don't want to make wrong decisions, but they must be helped." 

Having already won the League Cup and advanced to the Champions League quarter-finals, City remain in the hunt for an unprecedented clean sweep of all four major trophies.

- Off-key United -

Twelve-time FA Cup winners United were below par as they followed up last week's Premier League defeat at Arsenal with a meek exit at Molineux.

Raul Jimenez and Diogo Jota sent Wolves into the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in 21 years with two goals in six second-half minutes, with United only having Marcus Rashford's late consolation to show for their efforts.

United never convinced and could have lost by more, with Sergio Romero turning Jimenez's header on to the bar and denying Jota.

"I'm very proud of the players. We had composure, shape, good running," said Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo. 

"It means a lot because we know how big Wolves were in the 1950s and 1960s and there are people in the stadium who have memories of that. To try to achieve the same is much, much harder now but we will try step by step."

Disappointed Solskjaer, who had only suffered two defeats in 18 games before the Wolves match, described the performance as "a big step backwards".

"We've had a great run and now we've had two defeats. Against Arsenal we just couldn't score and today was poor, the poorest we've played," he said.

"I'm here until the summer, we've got loads to play for in the league and the Champions League."

In the early game on Saturday Andre Gray came off the bench to fire Watford into last four with a late winner in their 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace.

Javi Gracia's side had taken the lead through Etienne Capoue's first-half strike before Michy Batshuayi equalised for Palace after the interval.

Championship side Millwall host Premier League side Brighton on Sunday.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Giroud caps Arsenal revival, Clement sees Swansea win

LONDON, United Kingdom -- Arsenal staged a sensational fightback from three goals down as Olivier Giroud's last-gasp equalizer rescued a draw at Bournemouth, while Swansea welcomed new boss Paul Clement with a crucial 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on Tuesday.

Arsene Wenger's side were facing their first defeat -- and a major setback to their Premier League title hopes -- to Bournemouth after goals from Charlie Daniels, Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser stunned the Gunners at Dean Court.

But Arsenal scored three times in the last 20 minutes as Alexis Sanchez and Lucas Perez netted before Bournemouth captain Simon Francis was sent off, setting the stage for Giroud's headed equaliser in the second minute of stoppage time.

The Gunners' gritty 3-3 draw left them in fourth place, eight points behind leaders Chelsea, who play their game in hand at Tottenham on Wednesday.

 

"We refused to lose the game. It was a mental test," Wenger said.

"There's a great resilience in the team and we saw that today. It was not a result we wanted before the game but at 3-0 down we'd have signed for 3-3."

At Selhurst Park, Clement saw Swansea climb off the bottom of the table just hours after his appointment and in the day's other match Stoke won 2-0 against a Watford side on the slide.

"Paul came down for some moral support, he made his presence felt at half-time," said Swansea caretaker boss Alan Curtis.

"We would have surprised a lot of people with our performance today."

Wenger had bemoaned the fixture schedule that had Arsenal back in action just 48 hours after their victory against Palace and the Frenchman wore a furious expression as his sluggish side were torn apart in the first half.

Bournemouth took the lead in the 16th minute when Daniels collected a Junior Stanislas pass, cut past Hector Bellerin and slotted home.

Fraser earned a 21st-minute penalty with a surging run that teased a needless foul from Granit Xhaka.

Wilson sent Petr Cech the wrong way with a cool spot-kick and Fraser made it three for Bournemouth when he got away with a nudge on Bellerin and fired home in the 58th minute.

Sanchez's 70th-minute header from Giroud's cross gave Arsenal hope and Perez set up a tense finale when the striker bagged his first Premier League goal with a superb volley five minutes later.

- Memorable -

Francis's red card for a rash lunge on Aaron Ramsey stacked the odds against Bournemouth and France striker Giroud capped the fightback when he scored with a glancing header from Xhaka's cross.

Giroud celebrated by replicating the scorpion kick that brought him a memorable goal against Palace on Sunday.

Clement, who had been working as Bayern Munich's assistant coach, is Swansea's third boss this season following the sackings of Bob Bradley and Francesco Guidolin.

Having been appointed earlier in the day, Clement was at Selhurst Park to watch his new team, although Curtis picked the starting line-up, and the presence of their new boss energised Swansea.

Their pressure was rewarded in the 42nd minute when Gylfi Sigurdsson's free-kick was headed in by Alfie Mawson for his first Premier League goal.

Sam Allardyce, taking charge of his first home match as Palace boss, trudged off with boos ringing in his ears at half-time.

Palace drew level in the 83rd minute when Wilfried Zaha met a Martin Kelly cross in midair with a superb scissor kick from 15 yards.

But Clement, who had been in the dug-out since half-time, was celebrating five minutes later when Angel Rangel smashed the winner to lift Swansea to 19th place, one point behind fourth-bottom Palace.

Stoke moved away from the relegation zone with a 2-0 win against Watford at the Britannia Stadium.

Ryan Shawcross put Stoke ahead on the stroke of half-time with a confident finish from Charlie Adam's corner.

Adam was the provider again when Stoke increased their lead, this time sending over a cross that Peter Crouch converted in the 49th minute.

source: news.abs-cbn.com