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Monday Evening Ticker: Arsenal draw with Chelsea; Sherwood appointed Spurs boss; and more

AaronRamseyArsenal1-Chelsea2013 (AP)

By DAN KARELL

On a wet and windy evening in North London, the soccer on the field wasn’t much better than the conditions above.

Though Chelsea hit the post and Arsenal came close in the second half if not for a quick save from Petr Cech, both teams settled for a scoreless draw at the Emirates Stadium, lifting Arsenal into a tie in first place in the English Premier League and Chelsea into fourth place. At the same time, the draw extends Jose Mourinho’s unbeaten run over Arsene Wenger to 10 games.

Despite dominating possession, Arsenal found it difficult to break down the central defensive duo of John Terry and Gary Cahill, and only managed two shots on goal to Chelsea’s four. Probably the closest there was to a goal was in the 32nd minute when Frank Lampard hit the crossbar.

Here are some more stories from around the world of soccer:

SHERWOOD GIVEN CONTRACT THROUGH 2015

Tottenham on Monday decided to hand the managerial reigns of the club to an Englishman. It just wasn’t the one that people had expected.

Former reserves manager and recent interim boss Tim Sherwood has accepted a contract that will keep him as the club’s manager through the end of the 2014/2015 season, taking over the the deposed Andre Villas-Boas. Sherwood lead Tottenham to a 3-2 victory at Southampton last Saturday and a 2-1 defeat to West Ham United in the League Cup last Wednesday.

The decision is a controversial one as Sherwood has no prior head coaching experience and he’ll certainly have a difficult job at hand in guiding the expensive side into a top-four place and a spot in next season’s UEFA Champions League.

PIRLO MAKING PROGRESS, SHOULD RETURN FOR ROMA MATCH

Juventus entered their winter break with a five-point lead in Serie A, and they received another holiday blessing today.

The defending champions learned that star midfielder Andrea Pirlo will return to training with the team on the Dec. 29 and will be ready to feature in the side’s crucial mid-season match up against AS Roma on Jan. 5. Pirlo suffered a grade two MCL sprain and originally it had been feared that he would be out until mid-January.

The 34-year-old Italian National Team player has played 18 times for Juventus so far this season in all competitions, scoring three goals and adding an assist.

QUICK KICKS

Jose Mourinho is interested in bringing David Lopez to Stamford Bridge as the eventual replacement for Petr Cech. (REPORT)

Paolo Di Canio has taken his name out of the hat of potential candidates to take over at Lazio with rumors swirling over current manager Vladimir Petković. (REPORT)

Leighton Baines is set for a return to the Everton starting lineup on Boxing Day against Sunderland. (REPORT)

Singaporean investor Peter Lim has made an offer to buy Valencia, wipe out it’s debts, and spend €50-60 million on transfers to bring the side back into the top four in Spain. (REPORT)

Former Real Betis head coach Pepe Mel is negotiating with West Bromwich Albion over the vacant managerial position. (REPORT)

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What do you think of this news? Did you expect Arsenal to defeat Chelsea at home? Think Sherwood can lead Tottenham into a Champions League place? Glad to hear Pirlo is recovering ahead of schedule?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Its debts. Lim has offered to buy Valencia and wipe out its debts. Not “it’s debts.” That means “it is debts,” which doesn’t make sense.

    Reply
  2. i doubt its a conspiracy or anything but by my count arsenal have only won 3 of the last 20 games mike dean has officiated, a bit odd to say the least. he just seems to let all the games get far to wild and physical which obviously doesn’t suit a more technical team like arsenal. both teams were lucky to escape today without any serious injuries, it was not pretty.

    Reply
      • this is what I think it is. The league must know that too of course when they schedule these things, right? anyway, those conditions favored Chelsea it appeared as well. physical battle it was yesterday

    • both players went in wildly and mikel was the later of the two, its a yellow to me. also mike dean lost complete control of that match, should have been a lot more yellows than the 3 there was.

      Reply
    • you know, i saw that highlight on ESPN FC and one of the guys was saying how it should have been a red. but i was like, “to whom?!” they both did the SAME EXACT thing. i literally had no idea who the guy was saying should have got the red but eventually realized he was not blaming Cesc. why? because he started to roll around like a baby while Mikel didn’t? give me a break. they BOTH slid in hard, 50/50 challenge. both had their cleats up. it’s either two reds, two yellows, or two non calls.

      Reply
  3. “Singaporean investor Peter Lim has made an offer to buy Valencia, wipe out it’s debts, and spend €50-60 million on transfers to bring the side back into the top four in Spain.”

    However, he will insist on changing the club color to fluorescent orange and the official name to the Valencia Wildcats.

    Reply
    • If the man is going to do that then he has the right to make them play in day-glo paisley and change their name to the Valencia Lim Peters.

      If clubs don’t want to certain things to happen to them then they should retain control and not sell.

      If you don’t want me to paint your car lime green then don’t sell it to me.

      Reply
      • Not if they don’t want to alienate the fans. I’m sure some would rather ally themselves with Levante then support the shell of Valencia.

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