Aston Villa v West Ham United
Preview followed by live coverage of Monday’s Premier League game between Aston Villa and West Ham United.
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Tottenham 4-0 Crystal Palace: Son Heung-min stars in easy win
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said his side’s “amazing” performance in Saturday’s victory over Crystal Palace is the “first step” towards rediscovering the consistency of last season.
All four Spurs goals came before the interval, with Son Heung-min the shining light in a scintillating attacking display.
The victory – Tottenham’s first since the opening weekend of the season – lifts them back into the top four of the Premier League.
Pochettino said last month that this was the most unsettled squad he has had at the club, following a summer in which the likes of Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld were all heavily linked with moves abroad.
The 4-0 win was Spurs’ first game since the European transfer window closed on 2 September.
“[Today’s performance] showed when you focus and concentrate and you are on the same page, working to the same objective, the quality is there,” said Pochettino.
“This is the first step. We need to improve a lot, we need to be consistent.
“The first half was like a recovery to make our fans feel proud of us.”
South Korea forward Son capitalised on a defensive lapse from returning Palace defender Mamadou Sakho to fire the hosts into an early lead, before visiting left-back Patrick van Aanholt inadvertently directed a cross from right-back Serge Aurier into his own net.
Son connected beautifully with another Aurier cross to make it 3-0, and Erik Lamela finished off another flowing move involving Son and Harry Kane to complete the scoring.
“The attitude was amazing, and the performance,” said Pochettino. “We were very concentrated and had tremendous quality.
“I’m so happy for the team. I think it’s important for their confidence.”
Spurs hit their stride
Pochettino revealed he held an hour-long meeting with his squad this week in order to “refocus” his players’ minds following an indifferent start to the campaign.
Spurs had won only once in the league this season before today – at home to Aston Villa in their opening game of the campaign.
Whatever Pochettino told his players in the meeting, it worked.
The hosts roared out of the traps at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, overwhelming a Palace side who had conceded only two league goals before the game.
Son, who scored Spurs’ first goal at their new stadium against Palace in April, opened the scoring with a crisp finish after Sakho misjudged Toby Alderweireld’s raking cross-field pass.
Spurs, who had fallen behind in both their home games so far this season, continued to apply pressure on the Palace rearguard and doubled their lead when Aurier’s cross from the right was directed past Guaita by the unfortunate Van Aanholt.
Aurier, making his first start since February, was left in far too much space as he set up the hosts’ second goal, and Palace failed to learn their lesson as the Ivory Coast defender produced another teasing ball which Son volleyed brilliantly past Guaita at the far post.
Son was at the forefront of all that was good about Spurs’ performance, starting the move that led to Lamela prodding Kane’s low cross beyond the Palace goalkeeper three minutes before the interval.
A day to forget for Palace
Prior to the game, only Manchester City (52) and Liverpool (51) had collected more Premier League points than Roy Hodgson’s side since 2 February, when the Eagles started a good run of form with a 2-0 win at home to Fulham.
They have taken significant scalps away from Selhurst Park in that period, including a backs-to-the-wall 2-1 victory at Manchester United last month – their eighth win in 12 Premier League away matches.
However, Saturday’s defeat extends their winless league run against Spurs to nine games.
Hodgson’s side were second best from start to finish as the defensive organisation that earned them that impressive victory at Old Trafford appeared to desert them.
France defender Sakho – making his first appearance since having knee surgery – had a poor game and was at fault for Spurs’ opening goal.
There may have been an element of fortune about the hosts’ second, but Spurs cut through their opponents with embarrassing ease in the build-up to their third and fourth goals, with Son and Lamela both left unmarked at the far post.
Palace rarely threatened at the other end as Lloris made routine saves from Cahill and Kouyate in the first half, before thwarting Wilfried Zaha in the second.
Man of the match – Son Heung-min (Tottenham)
Joint-biggest victory in a London derby – the stats
- Spurs recorded their biggest league victory over Palace, as well as their joint-biggest against the Eagles across all competitions (also 4-0 in January 1987 in the FA Cup fourth round).
- This was Spurs’ joint-biggest victory in a London derby in the Premier League (seventh win by four goals), having last won one by four goals in what was Pochettino’s first home game in charge of Spurs (4-0 v QPR in August 2014).
- Palace’s defeat was their heaviest in the Premier League since September 2017 (0-4 v Manchester United), while only once previously has Hodgson lost by a bigger margin in the competition (Crystal Palace 0-5 Manchester City in September 2017).
- Spurs have won each of their last nine Premier League games against Palace – only against Birmingham (10 in September 1964) have they had a longer winning run in top-flight history.
- Spurs scored three goals in the opening half hour of a Premier League home game for the first time since February 2012, when they beat Newcastle 5-0 at White Hart Lane.
- Son has scored in all four of his Premier League home games against Crystal Palace (five goals), with Spurs going on to win on all four occasions.
- Son is Spurs’ top scorer across all competitions at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, netting four goals in seven home appearances there.
- Palace winger Zaha won eight fouls against Spurs; the most by a player in a Premier League game since November 2018 (eight for Harry Kane v Chelsea).
‘There’s a lot of work to do’ – what the managers said
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, speaking to BBC Sport: “”The performance showed we are a good team.”
“I’m so happy for the team and happy to build for a really good 21 days, with six games ahead.
“We need to improve a lot and be consistent. There’s a lot of work to do.”
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson, speaking to BBC Sport: “It’s one of those games that we will just have to write off and learn from and hold our hands up and admit we were beaten by a better team.
“We came here hoping to play as well as they played and we weren’t capable of that. We found ourselves staring down the barrel of a gun at half-time but fortunately the scoreline wasn’t aggravated in the second half and we have been beaten 4-0.
“The fact is we mustn’t get carried away with results. For us, it’s going to be a very long, hard fight to stay in this league and there will be plenty of games like this where we play teams with power and intensity.”
What’s next?
Spurs travel to Olympiakos in their Champions League Group B opener on Wednesday 18 September (kick-off 17:55 BST) before visiting Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday, 21 September (12:30 BST).
Crystal Palace return to action at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, 22 September (14:00 BST).
Craig Small death: Murder charge over Wembley shooting
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Met Police
Craig Small died in hospital in July shortly after he was shot outside a shop in Wembley
A man has been charged with the murder of another man who was shot dead outside a shop in north-west London.
Craig Small died in hospital after he was shot in Harrow Road, Wembley, on 5 July.
Courtney Ellis, 34, has been charged with murder, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and perverting the course of justice.
Mr Ellis, of Mafeking Avenue, Brentford, is due to appear at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
Two other men – Horaine Nicholas, 29, of Crawford Avenue, Wembley, and Christopher Kyei, 32, of Craig Mount, Radlett, Hertfordshire – have been charged with perverting the course of justice and will appear at the same court.
A 28-year-old man arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and possession of a prohibited firearm has been released under investigation.
Lyndon Davis murder: Six teens jailed for stab killing
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Met Police
Clockwise from top left: Jordan Worrie, Tyler Faubel, Michael Corcoran, Connor Corcoran, Ali Ali and Jordan Muinglui were convicted of murder
Six teenagers who murdered an 18-year-old just yards from his home have been jailed.
Lyndon Davis died in hospital hours after he was chased down and stabbed in an alleyway in Chadwell Heath, Romford, on 14 March.
The six youths, who were all under 18 at the time of the killing, denied murder but were found guilty after a trial in July.
Mr Davis’ mother Aber Green said her son “did not stand a chance”.
Brian O’Neill QC, prosecuting, said Mr Davis was targeted for his involvement with a rival gang.
Jordan Worrie, 18, of New North Road, Hainault, and Tyler Faubel, 18, of Robinia Close, Hainault, were jailed for 16 years.
Connor Corcoran, 18, and his 17-year-old brother Michael Corcoran, both of Huntsman Road, Hainault, and Jordan Muinglui, 18, of The Herons, Wanstead, were jailed for 14 years.
Ali Ali, 16, of Dalkeith Road, Ilford, was jailed for 11 years.
Sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court, Judge Andrew Lees said: “All six of you chased down and were involved in brutally murdering Lyndon Davis within yards of his home.
“His murder has caused lasting grief and trauma to his family.”
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Met Police
Lyndon Davis was found with a stab wound to his legs
Ms Green said “no-one should have taken him away”.
“He was a funny boy and full of laughter. I know I will never know the whole story about what happened in that alley where he died,” she added.
Muinglui, Worrie, Faubel and Connor Corcoran also received 18 month terms for possession of an offensive weapon.
Arsenal Women 2-1 West Ham United Women
Reigning Women’s Super League champions Arsenal got the new season off to a winning start start as they narrowly beat a spirited West Ham.
Beth Mead put Arsenal ahead with a fine 18-yard strike into the bottom corner.
Debutant Jill Roord made it 2-0 as she fired the ball in first time from Mead’s clever lay-off.
But the Hammers hit back through Martha Thomas’ header while France striker Kenza Dali twice hit the woodwork in a tense final 10 minutes.
The Gunners were without last season’s top scorer Vivianne Miedema, who was nursing a slight hamstring injury, with Mead occupying her role at the point of the Arsenal attack.
Having had the better of the first half Arsenal’s Danielle van de Donk swept the ball over the bar from five yards out seconds after the restart as Arsenal, who now face Fiorentina in the Champions League on Thursday, looked as though they would dominate.
But West Ham got back into the game after Thomas scored and could have been level by the end.
Dali had a free-kick strike the post after deflecting off the wall with 12 minutes to go, while a mix-up between Katie McCabe and goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger saw the Austrian pick up the Irish defender’s pass and Dali struck the crossbar from the resulting indirect free-kick.
The match also saw the return of Jordan Nobbs as the England and Arsenal midfielder came on in the second half for her first competitive game since suffering a serious knee ligament injury last November which forced her to miss this summer’s World Cup.
She almost marked her appearance with a goal when her effort from the edge of the box drifted just wide.
James Bond film studio worker jailed over toilet spycam
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PA Media
Peter Hartley was jailed for 16 months after planting a spy camera in the ladies’ toilets.
A sex offender who concealed a spy camera in the ladies’ toilets at Pinewood Studios has been jailed.
Maintenance worker Peter Hartley, 50, planted a miniature motion-triggered camera behind a grill in the toilets at the studios in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire.
The camera was spotted by a woman working on the new James Bond film in June, Aylesbury Crown Court heard.
Hartley, of Uxbridge, west London, was jailed for 16 months.
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Danjaq LLC/United Artists/Columbia Pictures
The latest Bond film is being filmed at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire
He will be on the sex offenders register for 10 years.
Hartley, who was working as a maintenance man, was caught after the worker noticed light reflecting from the lens similar “to light reflecting off the face of a watch” and used a screwdriver to take off the grill.
Prosecutor Daniel Wright told the court the device was marketed as a “spy camera” and Hartley had used a piece of tape to cover its LED light to try to stop it being detected.
Hartley, who has a history of similar offences dating back to 2008, contacted his public protection officer at the Met Police later that morning to tell him he had reoffended.
He has previous convictions for placing cameras in a council building in Coventry in 2009 and for placing one in the changing rooms of a leisure centre in 2016.
Hartley has a total of three convictions for eight offences.
He later pleaded guilty to one count of voyeurism at Milton Keynes Magistrates’ Court.
In a victim impact statement, the young woman who found the camera said she had needed mental health treatment and had suffered from acute anxiety.
Jailing Hartley, Judge Francis Sheridan said the victim’s life “has been devastated by a dirty-minded individual who preys on women.
Greater Anglia’s new £1.4bn train fleet launched
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Greater Anglia
The new trains are now running from Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Cambridge
A new £1.4bn fleet of trains has been unveiled with the promise to improve journeys for passengers.
Greater Anglia’s investment is the first time a UK rail operator has introduced an entirely new set of trains.
Managing director Jamie Burles said some passengers had called the trains “beautiful”.
“I can be honest and say I haven’t had much feedback about our trains being beautiful in the last few years – so that’s quite novel,” he said.
“We promised new trains would improve their journeys and that’s exactly what they’re doing.”
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Greater Anglia
Inside the driver’s cab on one of the new bi-mode trains to be rolled out across East Anglia
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Greater Anglia
Greater Anglia managing director Jamie Burles, right, was joined by Thomas Ahlburg, centre, of train builder Stadler and Mark Swindell of investor Rock Rail at the launch
The new fleet includes 38 bi-mode trains, able to run on diesel or electric power, to run in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex, and 20 electric trains to serve the Norwich-London and Stansted Express services.
Bi-mode trains are now running on the lines from Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Cambridge.
By the end of 2020 Greater Anglia expects to have replaced all 169 trains in its fleet.
The new trains will be maintained at the Norwich Crown Point depot, which has had a £40m upgrade.
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Greater Anglia
Passengers were involved in the choice of seat design for the new trains
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Greater Anglia
The new carriages have air conditioning, power sockets and USB points, with improved information screens, says the operator
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Greater Anglia
They also have lower floors and sliding steps to bridge the gap to the platform, improving accessibility for wheelchairs and pushchairs
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Greater Anglia
The launch featured a performance from an animatronic Greater Anglia hare
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King’s Cross: ‘Facial recognition last used in 2018’
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Getty Images
Part of the King’s Cross complex
Facial-recognition technology has not been used at London’s King’s Cross Central development since March 2018, according to the 67-acre (0.3-sq-km) site’s developer.
When the use of the technology was initially reported, by the Financial Times in August, a spokeswoman said it was to “ensure public safety”.
The partnership now says only two on-site cameras used facial recognition.
They had been in one location and had been used to help the police, it added.
According to a statement on its website, the two cameras were operational between May 2016 and March 2018 and the data gathered was “regularly deleted”.
The King’s Cross partnership also denied any data had been shared commercially.
It had used it to help the Metropolitan and British Transport Police “prevent and detect crime in the neighbourhood”, it said.
But both forces told BBC News they were unaware of any police involvement.
It said it had since shelved further work on the technology and “has no plans to reintroduce any form of FRT [facial-recognition technology] at the King’s Cross estate”.
However, as recently as last month, a security company was advertising for a CCTV operator for the area.
The duties of the role included: “To oversee and monitor the health, safety and welfare of all officers across the King’s Cross estate using CCTV, Facewatch and surveillance tactics.”
The advert was later amended to remove this detail, after BBC News raised the issue.
Following the FT’s report, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched an investigation into how the facial-recognition data gathered was being stored.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, also wrote to the King’s Cross Central development group asking for reassurance its use of facial-recognition technology was legal.
The latest statement was posted online on the eve of technology giant Samsung opening an event space on the site, with a launch event planned for Tuesday evening, 3 September.
The FT reporter who broke the original story described the statement as “strange”.
One critic of facial-recognition technology, Dr Stephanie Hare, said many questions remained about what had been going on in the area, which, while privately owned, is open to the public and contains a number of bars, restaurants and family spaces.
“It does not change the fundamentals of the story in terms of the implications for people’s privacy and civil liberties, or the need for the ICO to investigate – they deployed this technology secretly for nearly two years,” she said.
“Even if they deleted data, I would want to know, ‘Did they do anything with it beforehand, analyse it, link it to other data about the people being identified? Did they build their own watch-list? Did they share this data with anyone else? Did they use it to create algorithms that have been shared with anyone else? And most of all, were they comparing the faces of people they gathered to a police watch-list?'”
Dr Hare also said it was unclear why the partnership had stopped using it.
“Was it not accurate? Ultimately unhelpful? Or did they get what they needed from this 22-month experiment?” she said.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Aston Villa: Jordan Ayew strikes as Trezeguet sees red
Jordan Ayew’s instinctive finish helped Crystal Palace secure back-to-back Premier League wins with victory over 10-man Aston Villa.
The hosts looked to be heading for another Selhurst Park blank despite Villa’s Trezeguet seeing red for a second bookable offence, before Ghanaian Ayew fired beyond Tom Heaton with time running out.
It meant Ayew, who was part of the Villa side relegated from the top flight in 2016, scored for the second Premier League weekend in a row, having also struck in the win at Manchester United.
Trezeguet’s dismissal, for a late challenge on Wilfried Zaha, was among seven bookings dished out by referee Kevin Friend.
The visitors were incensed by a late disallowed goal for Henri Lansbury in six added minutes, Friend having already blown to book Jack Grealish for simulation in the build-up.
Match of the Day host Gary Lineker tweeted: “The disallowed goal for @AVFCOfficial in the last minute has to be seen to be believed. Why VAR didn’t correct what appeared to be an awful refereeing error is beyond me.”
In truth, it saved Roy Hodgson’s side from ending a match which they had dominated in embarrassment, with the hosts having had 22 shots on Heaton’s goal.
Cheikhou Kouyate was among the most wasteful, with just one of his six shots being on target. Captain Luka Milivojevic also went close, seeing an effort from distance pushed away from the top left hand corner of Heaton’s goal straight after Trezeguet was dismissed.
Meanwhile, it was another frustrating day for Zaha, who has now scored just once in his last 17 home league appearances.
Villa feel ‘robbed’ of away point
Aston Villa beat Everton at home last time out, but are now winless in 20 Premier League away games, losing their last nine in a row.
And after a late collapse at Tottenham denied them any points in their only other away league game this season, Lansbury’s disallowed goal was a bitter pill to swallow for Dean Smith’s side.
Deep into added time, a hand from Zaha appeared to set Grealish off balance as he bore down on the Palace 18-yard box.
But the Villa captain succeeded in completing his pass to Lansbury before running into first Gary Cahill and then the turf.
The decision of referee Friend prompted desperate protests from the visitors and their supporters, with Cahill holding Grealish back from the official as he was booked.
Speaking afterwards, Villa midfielder John McGinn said replays of the incident “speaks for itself” and claimed his side had been “robbed of a point”.
‘We don’t need to apologise for our win’ – what they said
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson:
“It’s unfortunate in some ways for us that it’s all going to centre around the controversy at the end. I think it was a very good performance from our side, we could have been way out of sight before that controversial situation.
“We think we’ve thrown this away in the last minute and are going to lose two points. Lucky for us the referee had made his decision before the ball had gone in the net and that was to give the free-kick. I don’t think we need to apologise at all for the fact that we won the game.”
Aston Villa manager Dean Smith:
“Palace have got good players and playing against them when they have a numerical advantage is a challenge. We kept going until the end and in my opinion got a good goal. I’m not sure any of us know why the referee has given the decision.
“We’ve all looked at it back and nobody can see why he hasn’t given the goal and given the free-kick but we have to take it on the chin.”
Man of the match – Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace)
Hodgson keeps spell over Villa – the stats
- Crystal Palace have kept a clean sheet in both of their opening two home games in a league season for the first time since 2008-09, while it’s the first time they’ve ever done so in a Premier League campaign.
- Palace have also now won two of their last three Premier League home games, drawing the other. It is as many wins as they had in their previous 10 at Selhurst Park.
- Trezeguet became the first Aston Villa player to be sent off in a Premier League match since Aly Cissokho against Watford in April 2016.
- Crystal Palace striker Jordan Ayew has scored in back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since December 2015, when he was an Aston Villa player.
- Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has won his first Premier League meeting against Aston Villa with all five of his clubs in the competition (Blackburn, Fulham, Liverpool, West Brom and Crystal Palace).
What’s next?
After September’s international break, Palace resume their Premier League season with a trip to Tottenham on Saturday, 14 September (15:00 BST).
Villa’s next fixture sees them host West Ham on Monday, 16 September (20:00 BST).
More to follow.
Mesut Ozil: Arsenal boss Unai Emery expects German to stay at club
Arsenal manager Unai Emery expects midfielder Mesut Ozil to stay at the club – but says Nacho Monreal could leave.
Ozil, 30, who has not featured yet this season due to safety concerns and illness, has been heavily linked with a move away from Emirates Stadium.
Real Sociedad are interested in signing defender Monreal, 33, and Emery believes a transfer is a “possibility”.
But he said: “We are not speaking about the possibility for Mesut to leave.”
The transfer window for Premier League arrivals closed on 8 August but it is open across Europe until 2 September.
“We finish here our transfer window and in Europe it’s going to finish on Monday,” added Emery.
“We cannot sign another player, but we have the possibility [for players] to leave in the next four days. Yes, [Monreal] is one possibility.”
The Gunners take on Tottenham in the North London derby on Sunday and German Ozil could be in contention for the first time.
“This week he is physically better and he is training and doing normal work with us,” said Emery. “He is going to be closer to us and he will be available on Sunday,”