Today’s back pages: Man City lose to Man Utd but still win place at Wembley, Liverpool march on, Archer is ruled out

published 30 January 2020

City through to final

Manchester City’s feat in reaching the final of the Carabao Cup makes all the back pages today, but there is a general consensus that the Sky Blues did so without any panache.

19 points clear: there’s no stopping relentless Liverpool

“Hollow victory” is the headline in the Independent, while the Daily Express calls City “sloppy” in reporting their second leg 1-0 defeat at home to Manchester United.

That scoreline wasn’t enough to overturn City’s 3-1 advantage from the first leg earlier in the month but as the Indy says there was a flat feeling to the Etihad at the end of the 90 minutes.

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“Hero to zero” is the headline in The Daily Telegraph, a reference to Nemanja Matic, who scored United’s goal on 35 minutes but was then sent off 14 minutes from time for his second bookable offence.

Carabao Cup holders City will now play Aston Villa in the final on 1 March at Wembley Stadium.

Fernandes set for United

Man Utd fans may have been disappointed not to reach Wembley but they did get some good news yesterday.

Independent and Metro report that the Old Trafford club have agreed a deal with Sporting Lisbon to sign Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes.

A statement said: “Manchester United is delighted to announce it has reached agreement with Sporting Clube de Portugal for the transfer of Bruno Fernandes. The deal is subject to a medical and the agreement of personal terms. A further announcement will be made in due course.”

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Liverpool march on

“All over bar the shouting” is the headline on the back of the Daily Mirror, and it’s hard to argue with that assessment following Liverpool’s 2-0 win away at West Ham last night.

The victory continues the Reds’s unbeaten Premier League season and they are now a whopping 19 points clear of their nearest rival at the top of the table.

The Daily Star has a picture of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain celebrating his goal but the paper lavishes praises on the other scorer, Mohamed Salah, for his “man-of-the-match display”.

Archer out

The news that Jofra Archer has been ruled out of England’s forthcoming Twenty20 series with South Africa makes the back page of the Daily Express under the headline “elbowed out”.

The paceman has been plagued by injury this winter, sitting out most of the Test series against South Africa and now he’s sidelined for next month’s T20 blast.

According to The Guardian, the 24-year-old fast bowler sustained a bone stress injury to his right elbow during England’s opening Test against South Africa last month, and he “must now be considered a major doubt for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka in March”.