Gunners end United’s run

london, May 7 

Arsenal scored twice in three minutes through a deflected Granit Xhaka strike and Danny Welbeck's header to claim a deserved 2-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday and inflict a first Premier League defeat on the visitors in 26 games.

The victory at the Emirates Stadium keeps sixth-placed Arsenal's hopes of a top-four finish alive, but they are six points adrift of Manchester City, who currently occupy the final Champions League qualifying slot, albeit with a game in hand.

The win also takes Arsenal within two points of fifth-placed United, who stay four points behind City having played the same number of games as their local rivals.

"Hopefully this result will give us confidence," said Man of the Match Aaron Ramsey. "I said a couple of weeks ago we had to win every match and unfortunately we didn't do that against Tottenham (in a 2-0 loss last weekend). But we will see." 

For all of United manager Jose Mourinho's pre-match bluster about fielding a weakened team, his only concession to youth in eight changes from his midweek Europa League team was 19-year-old defender Axel Tuanzebe, who made his Premier League debut.

Everything else was familiar, with United under orders to produce the sort of bodies behind the ball performance that makes them so hard to beat.

However frustrating the tactics, there is no doubting their effectiveness and the first half finished with Arsenal having spurned a series of chances and the Emirates again jittery.

Twice United defenders had denied Welbeck on the six-yard area while darting runs from the ever impressive Ramsey almost saw him get on the end of pinpoint balls from Aaron Sanchez.

But after a battling first-half display, the visitors were undone after the interval with Xhaka's 25-metre shot looping up off Ander Herrera to catch out United keeper David De Gea after 54 minutes and then Welbeck adding a second against his former side with a header from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's cross. — Reuters

Benatia in live TV racism storm 

Milan: Italian football has been hit by a second racist storm inside a week after Juventus defender Mehdi Benatia was insulted live on air during a post-match television interview. Benatia, a Morocco international, was being interviewed following a 1-1 Serie A draw at home with Torino when it was cut embarrassingly short by what seemed like a studio technician’s gaffe. As he was speaking to studio presenters about Juventus, Benatia heard a voice over his radio earpiece say: “What are you saying, shitty Moroccan?” Benatia, who had been answering a question about Juventus winning their sixth consecutive Serie A title, stopped mid-sentence and said: "Who said that? What stupid person is speaking?" Presenters also heard the remark, but tried to brush it off, telling Benatia: "It seems there are some technical problems. No one hear has been heard making any insults." A visibly angry Benatia wiped his brow as presenters thanked him for his time before bringing the interview to an abrupt end. It is thought the remark came from a careless studio technician who had left a microphone on. — AFP