Sports

INCHEON, South Korea — The ugly spectre of drugs in sport took centre stage at the Asian Games on Tuesday when two athletes, including a gold medal winner, were kicked out of the region's biggest multi-sports competition for doping offences.

Malaysian martial arts gold medallist Tai Cheau Xuen was stripped of her medal in wushu after testing positive for sibutramine, a banned stimulant often found in weight-loss pills.

Malaysia's sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin responded by saying the southeast Asian nation would appeal the suspension, saying there were "serious concerns" about the testing process.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced a second positive test on Tuesday, taking the total for the Games to four, involving Iraqi weightlifter Mohammed Jasim Abboo Al Aifuri.

The OCA said he had tested positive for anabolic steroids in a pre-competition sample taken before the Games started. There was no immediate announcement from the Iraqi delegation over whether he would challenge the ban.

The pair's expulsion took the gloss of a riveting day's sport when the tiny islands of Singapore and Hong Kong collected five gold medals between them and the gulf states of Iran and Saudi Arabia shared four.

South Korea lost more ground to China, whose unstoppable sporting machine continued to rumble on, but the hosts stayed in second place on the medals table and set up a dream date with North Korea in the men's football final.

Singapore won three gold medals — two in sailing and another in bowling. Jodie Lai, aged 13, became one of the youngest ever Asian Games champions when she won the optimist class for solo dinghy.

Ryann Kwok, also of Singapore but not even a teenager yet, won a silver medal in his event, joining Lai among the few rare medallists born in the new millennium.

Civil unrest

Hong Kong also won two gold medals in sailing as its competitors were able to focus their attention on their races despite the ongoing civil unrest at home.

Cheng Kwok-fai won the men's windsurfing title and Hayley Chan took out the women's windsurfing event for the former British colony, where pro democracy supporters continue to clash with authorities.

Saudi Arabia — which was heavily criticised by human rights groups for excluding women from its team — claimed just its second gold in Incheon when Abdullah Waleed Al Sharbatly won the equestrian individual jumping event.

Sharbatly finished level with Japan's Satoshi Hirao after both had successive clear rounds. In the jump-off, Sharbatly had another clear and got the gold when Hirao dropped a bar and incurred a penalty.

"It's a great feeling to win a medal. There's nothing better than winning the gold," said Sharbtly, who won a bronze medal in the team event at the 2012 London Olympics.

"I was expecting the jump-off after seeing the second round. They made the course a bit bigger than other competitions."

Iran won three gold medals, two in Greco-Roman wrestling and another in track and field when Ehsan Hadadi won his third straight Asian Games title in discus.

South Korea won 10 gold medals on Tuesday to take its total to 54 with four days of competition left, still way behind China which has 126, and 268 in total.

As expected, China completed a sweep of the synchronised diving events by winning the men's 3-metre springboard and women's 10-metre platform finals.

China also won the women's team table tennis title and both cross-country mountain bike races, Wang Zhen pedalling to victory in the men's and Shi Qinglan in the women's.

Qiang Wang of China won the women's tennis singles title, beating Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand 6-3 7-6 (7-5) while Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka upset top seed Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-2 6-2 in the men's gold medal match.

But South Korea stayed on course for the chance to win the one medal that would mean the most — the men's football final against reclusive neighbours North Korea.

The North booked its place in Thursday's final with a 1-0 win over Iraq in the semifinals then the South beat Thailand 2-0.

"I have always dreamed about playing against North Korea in the final round," said South Korean forward Lee Jong-ho. "We will try our best, and achieve our goal, gold."

SOFIA — Bulgarian underdogs Ludogorets will look to match the stunning giant-killing exploits of compatriots CSKA Sofia when they make their Champions League home debut against titleholders Real Madrid on Wednesday.

CSKA, the most successful club in the Balkan country with 31 titles, boast a remarkable record of upsetting the odds, including European Cup wins over then-champions Ajax Amsterdam in 1973, Nottingham Forest in 1980 and Liverpool two years later.

CSKA and their bitter city rivals Levski are the traditional powerhouses of Bulgarian football but there is no doubt that the form side of the past three seasons has been Ludogorets.

“It won’t be easy but we’ll do our best because it’s a historical match for Ludogorets,” Abalo said. “I hope that someday I’ll return to La Liga.”

With centre-backs Alexandre Barthe and Georgi Terziev still recovering from injury, Dermendzhiev will once again rely on crowd favourite Cosmin Moti and Aleksandar Aleksandrov in the heart of the defence.

Slovenian Roman Bezjak has netted only once in 10 matches this campaign and looks a pale shadow of the goal-scoring machine he was last season, but he will play as a sole striker once again with Tunisia forward Younes Hamza on the bench. 

Prolific form

Real have put a stuttering start in La Liga firmly behind them in recent weeks, helped by the prolific form of World Player of the Year Ronaldo, who hit a record 17 goals in last season’s triumphant Champions League campaign.

When he struck in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Villarreal, the Portugal forward became the first Real player to score 10 goals in the opening six games of the league season, surpassing club greats Alfredo Di Stefano and Amancio Amaro, who jointly held the previous record of nine.

Ronaldo’s haul actually came in only five La Liga games as he missed the 4-2 defeat at Real Sociedad and appears to have overcome a couple of niggling injuries that he carried into this season from the end of last term.

The European champions have amassed 20 goals in their last four outings in all competitions, including a 5-1 drubbing of FC Basel in their opening Group B encounter.

Real have played in Bulgaria only once before, a 1-0 first-leg success at Levski in the first round of the 1979-80 European Cup.

‘Arsenal must beat Galatasaray’

It is almost a given that Arsenal reach the knockout stages but their path to the last 16 could become “problematic” if they fail to beat Galatasaray.

That was the stark warning from midfielder Santi Cazorla ahead of the clash with the Turkish side at The Emirates where Arsenal will attempt to kickstart their European campaign after failing to turn up in Dortmund two weeks ago.

“It was a bad game [in Dortmund],” Cazorla told Arsenal’s website. “Now we are fully aware that we are almost obliged to win the next Champions League game because there may be problematic times for us if we don’t so we’d better win.

Arsenal got off lightly in their Group D opener, lucky to lose only 2-0 in Dortmund after being comprehensively outplayed for 90 minutes by the Bundesliga side who already look strong favourites to top the group.

Although a home match against Galatasaray — who have never beaten an English side away — would appear to offer the perfect chance for Arsene Wenger’s side to respond with a handsome victory, things may not be quite that simple.

Wenger’s squad is at full-stretch after a rash of injuries, the most recent of which came in Saturday’s 1-1 derby draw with Tottenham Hotspur when Michel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey were both ruled out of Wednesday’s match.

With Jack Wilshere also a doubt after taking a knock to the ankle, right back Mathieu Debuchy out for three months and Theo Walcott still not ready to return from a cruciate ligament injury, Arsenal will not be at full strength.

They still have the attacking threat of record signing Mesut Ozil, Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez, who came off the bench against Tottenham having been rested, and Cazorla, however, not to mention Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who scored his side’s leveller against Spurs.

“The most important thing for Arsenal right now is to win the next game and that is going to change the scenario completely,” Cazorla said.

“Once we go through the group stage it becomes even more difficult to win games.”

Arsenal are in their 17th consecutive season in the Champions League and not since 1999-2000 have they failed to progress from their group, the same season they ended up losing to Galatasaray on penalties in the UEFA Cup final.

Galatasaray, who began with a draw against Anderlecht, have not been anywhere near as reliable although they did reach the quarter-finals in 2012-13 after a five-year absence from the competition.

Atletico Madrid’s Champions League game at home to Juventus will be a chance for the Spanish champions to prove they have the firepower to challenge in Europe again this season.

Diego Costa, top scorer for Atletico last term when they reached the final of the continent’s elite club competition, has departed for Chelsea and a lack of recent goals had prompted murmurs that the side will struggle without the Brazil-born Spain striker.

The player Atletico bought to replace Costa, Croatia forward Mario Mandzukic, broke his nose in the 3-2 Group A defeat at Olympiakos Piraeus on Champions League matchday one and needed surgery.

He will have to wear a striking black protective mask for the foreseeable future.

AMMAN — Jordan’s boxing team on Tuesday was guaranteed another two medals at the Asian Games in South Korea as Odai Al Hindawi dismantled China’s Di Zhou in the quarter-final by three rounds to nil to book a place in the semi of the middleweight class and guarantee at least a bronze medal for the Kingdom. He was followed by team captain Ihab Darweesh, who beat Jakhon Qurbonov of Tajikistan 2-1 in a thrilling quarter-final to book a place in the semifinal of the heavyweight division. Mohammad Al Wadi couldn’t follow up his previous performance in the bantamweight division as he lost 3-0 to Kazakhstan’s Kairat Yeraliyev in the quarter-final. It was a similar story in the superweight division, where Hussein Iashaish narrowly lost to India’s Kumar Satish 2-1. In taekwondo, Dana Haider lost (10-9) to South Korea’s Seonah Park in the 49kg weight division. Anas Al Adarbi won his first match against Shakhriyor Karimov of Tajikistan but then lost to South Korea’s Younggeon Song in the 74kg quarter-final. His teammate Mohammad Al Shajahey lost to Jasur Baykuziev of Uzbekistan in the 87kg quarter-final. In Greco-Roman wrestling  Mohammed Al Saedi lost to Ibrahim Arrar of Iraq in the 59kg weight class while Yahya Abu Tabeekh lost his opening match to Di Xiao of China, and then his repechage contest to Norikatsu Saikawa of Japan in the 98kg division.

BARCELONA, Spain — The Champions League returns Tuesday and Wednesday with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi competing for yet another prize as the rival stars take aim at the tournament’s all-time scoring record.

While the world’s top two players continue their individual battle, three of England’s four teams seek their first win, and the Spanish and Italian champions clash this week in Europe’s top-tier competition.

Here are the things to know about this week’s Champions League group games:

Raul’s record 

Ronaldo and Messi are neck-and-neck in a race to become the Champions League’s all-time leading scorer by breaking the record held by Raul Gonzalez.

Ronaldo has 68 goals in Europe’s top club competition, one more than Messi. Raul scored 71.

Ronaldo may have a better chance of getting there first as Real Madrid play at Bulgaria’s Ludogorets in Group B on Wednesday, a day after Messi’s Barcelona have a tougher trip to Paris Saint-Germain in Group F.

The Portugal forward looks primed to increase his goal haul in Sofia after scoring 10 goals in his last six matches, including one four-goal performance and a hat-trick.

Messi, meanwhile, scored his 400th and 401st goals for club and country in Barcelona’s 6-0 rout of Granada on Saturday.

Their latest two-man contest comes after they have divvied up the Ballon d’Or for the world’s best player for the past six years and have taken turns leading the Champions League in scoring for the past seven seasons.

Ibra doubtful 

PSG not only have the problem of stopping Messi. They may have to do so without striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

When Ibrahimovic has been sidelined, the team has won only 40 per cent of its matches. And coach Laurent Blanc is sweating on his fitness after Ibrahimovic missed the last two games because of a left heel injury.

“I don’t know which attacking players I will have available against Barcelona,” Blanc said. “We don’t play the same way when Ibra’s here and when he isn’t. For the time being there is still a question mark. The medical staff will do everything to try and heal him.” 

English need to win

Liverpool was the only English team to open the Champions League with a win, and only with a last-gasp goal against newcomer Ludogorets. Basel will present a far tougher challenge on Wednesday with striker Daniel Sturridge out injured as Liverpool look to keep pace with Madrid in Group B.

Chelsea’s reliance on Diego Costa for goals seemed clear when the striker sat out the 1-1 draw against Schalke in the Group G opener. And ongoing problems with Costa’s left thigh are likely to force him to miss Tuesday’s game at Sporting Lisbon.

“He’s doing almost nothing [in training],” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said. “He’s just resting and recovering from the tight muscle he has. Every time he accumulates fatigue.”

Mourinho, who worked at Sporting as assistant to Bobby Robson between 1992 and 1993, is out to end Sporting’s 16-match unbeaten home run in Europe.

Manchester City face a formidable test Tuesday with the visit of a Roma side which has made a perfect start to the season at home and in Europe. It’s been a patchy beginning to the campaign for City, which opened Group E with a loss at Bayern Munich.

In Group D, Arsenal host Galatasaray on Wednesday with both Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey out injured.

Runner-up at risk 

Atletico Madrid were minutes away from winning the European Cup last May before the title slipped away to Madrid.

Now after losing this season’s opener, the Spanish League champions face a crucial game on Wednesday when Serie A champion Juventus come to town.

A loss to Juventus, combined with an Olympiakos win at Swedish side Malmo, would leave Atletico six points adrift in Group A.

Atletico will be boosted by the return of coach Diego Simeone to the sidelines after he missed the first game due to suspension.

Xabi takes control 

Bayern travel to CSKA Moscow on Tuesday in Group E with midfielder Xabi Alonso firmly in control of his new team.

The Spaniard was only signed at the end of the transfer period after several players went down with long-term injuries.

But Alonso stepped right in and has been impressive in directing Bayern’s attack.

On Saturday, Alonso set a Bundesliga record by touching the ball 206 times in a 2-0 win at Cologne.

AMMAN — Jordan’s boxers have been in superb form at the Asian Games and on Monday, Obadeh Al Kasbeh guaranteed the first medal for Team Jordan by reaching the semifinals of the lightweight division in Incheon, South Korea, according to a statement from the Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC). In front of a packed arena supporting the home boxer Han Soonchul, Kasbeh put on a masterful performance to win three rounds to nil, earning a standing ovation from his new found fans. His win guarantees at least a bronze medal and he was congratulated on the phone by HRH Prince Feisal, president of the JOC. His performance has also inspired his teammates. Shortly after his brilliant win, Odai Al Hindawi dominated Nepal’s Ujjar Thapa to reach the quarter-finals of the middleweight division. Such was Hidawi’s dominance, his opponent resorted to using tactics that resulted in a disqualification during the second round. Meanwhile, in cycling Razan Soboh and Samah Khalid finished in 19th and 20th spots respectively in the women’s 126km road race. Tuesday is another busy day for Team Jordan with four boxers, two taekwondo and two wrestlers in action.

INCHEON, South Korea — Qatar's Femi Ogunode broke the 10-second mark at the Asian Games for the first time, splashing his way through the rain to 100 metres gold on Sunday, while South Korea's big-hitting baseball team finally overcame stubborn Taiwan to win a tense final 6-3.

On a day when China smashed through the 100 gold medal mark, and second-placed South Korea put daylight between themselves and rivals Japan, Ogunode blasted out of the blocks and motored home ahead of China's Su Bingtian and Japan's Kei Takase.

Originally hailing from Nigeria, Ogunode won the 200-400 double four years ago and is going for the 100-200 in Incheon.

While his task was made easier by the withdrawal of Japan's Yoshihide Kiryu due to injury, his time of 9.93 seconds in atrocious conditions confirmed his status as Asia's fastest man.

In the women's blue riband sprint, China's Wei Yongli pipped Japan's Chisato Fukushima by a hundredth of a second, with Kazakhstan's Olga Safronova another hundredth back in third.

Bahrain's Ruth Jebet finally got her hands on a gold medal after her disqualification from the women's steeplechase the previous night was overturned.

The Kenyan born 17-year-old had momentarily stepped off the track during her run at the Asiad Main Stadium and was then stunningly stripped of her gold medal while waiting for the prize-giving ceremony and had to be led away in tears.

However, reviews later showed that her infraction had not impeded any of her competitors and the decision was reversed, allowing Jebet to stand atop the podium at a re-arranged ceremony on Sunday.

"I was quite shocked because I wasn't even aware of the mistake," she said at a news conference. "I'm happy to become a gold medallist because I had a problem yesterday. But I fought for my king. I was waiting for the gold."

Late penalty

After nine days of competition, China is out of sight at the top of the medals table on 105 golds.

South Korea, whose team has finished runner-up at the last four games, looks likely to do so again after finishing the day with 42 golds, eight more than Japan.

The Northeast Asian rivals went head-to-head in the quarter-finals of the men's football tournament on Sunday, with the hosts coming out on top 1-0 after scoring a late penalty kick.

Japanese captain Ryota Oshima inexplicably bundled Lee Jong-ho over in the box, leaving the South Korean substitute with blood streaming for his nose, and Jang Hyun-soo slammed home the spot kick to the delight of more than 43,000 fans at Munhak Stadium.

South Korean fans also got the baseball gold medal they had been demanding after the hosts capitalised on a late meltdown by Taiwan to score four runs in the eighth inning.

Taiwan's Lo Chia Jen hit Kang Jung-ho with a pitch in the eighth with the bases loaded to tie the score at 3-3, before Na Sung-bum's grounder brought across the go-ahead run and Hwang Jae-gyun smacked a two-run single to make it 6-3.

South Korea, who also beat Taiwan in the 2010 final in Guangzhou, has now won four of the six baseball golds since the sport was introduced to the Games in 1994.

Meanwhile, badminton world number one Lee Chong Wei missed his last chance to win Asian Games gold after falling to his great adversary, Lin Dan, in the semi-finals on Sunday.

The 31-year-old is winding down a career that has seen him win more than 50 career titles and crowned the world's top player, but the search for that elusive major title goes on.

"This is my last Asian Games, so I tried my best," said a disappointed Lee.

Lin was all that stood between Lee and Olympic gold both in London and Beijing but the Chinese sensation always had the best of him at the Games. He also beat him in the final of the world championships twice and denied him gold at the last Asian Games in Guangzhou.

"Lee Chong Wei is the greatest competitor," said Lin. "It was my honour to compete with him."

Women's doubles gold medallist Greysia Polii of Indonesia told Reuters she had been on the verge of quitting badminton after being expelled from the London Olympics in a "match-fixing" scandal that rocked the sport.

Polii and then partner Meiliana Jauhari were one of four teams thrown out of the London Games after trying to throw matches and secure easier passage through the competition.

"After the Olympic tragedy I almost gave up badminton," she told Reuters in an interview on Sunday. "I almost quit my career. I didn't want to continue."

Two years later, after beating Japanese pair Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo in the Asian Games final, she is looking forward to getting the chance to make up for the London fiasco.

"Our goal is we will go for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro," she said. "Along the way... we will continue to keep playing more consistently and then to aim for next year's World Championship in Indonesia."

AMMAN — Thailand ended the Kingdom's U23 football team's unbeaten run when they won their quarter-final match 2-0 on Sunday at 17th Asian Games currently under way in Incheon, South Korea. The Kingdom's squad went into the match with two players injured and a third booked. Despite a bumpy preparation period, Jordan had an impressive run scoring three wins: In Round 2, they beat Kyrgyzstan 2-0 in extra time. In Round 1, Jordan topped Group G following a 1-0 win over the UAE and 2-0 over India. Despite their exit, the competition has boosted their morale and confidence ahead of the 2016 Olympic qualifiers set for March 2015. In other quarter-final matches, North Korea edged the UAE 1-0, Iraq beat Saudi Arabia 3-0 and South Korea squeezed past Japan 1-0. In the semis, South Korea plays Thailand and Iraq takes on North Korea. But looking ahead, there are still medal chances for Jordan in a number of sports including boxing, taekwondo, wrestling and karate in the coming days. In boxing’s lightweight division, Obadeh Al Kasbeh will meet Korea’s Han Soonchul for a place in the semifinals, while teammate Odai Al Hindawi faces Nepal’s Ujjar Thapa in the last 16 of the middleweight division. In cycling, Razan Soboh represents Jordan in the 126km road race event.

AMMAN — Day nine may not have brought any success for Jordan at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, but the delegation was well represented with some strong performances, according to a statement by the Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC). The women’s cycling road race was held on the city’s streets and what a fairy tale it was for Razan Al Sobuh to simply be there at all finished ninth in a tough 28km time trial in a time of 42:00.54. Only six weeks ago, Sobuh was one of six national team cyclists that were struck by a car whilst training on the Airport Road destroying her bike. The JOC stepped in with a new bike. Jordan boxer Mohammad Al Assi wasn’t able to repeat the heroics of his teammates as he lost his opening welterweight (69kg) bout to Turkmenistan’s Serdar Hudayberdiyev, 3-0. On Friday, Jordan’s boxers came out with two victories securing places in the quarter-finals of the competition in Incheon, South Korea. Mohammad Al Wadi beat Tajikistan fighter Asror Vouidov by two rounds to one in the bantamweight division. Obadah Al Kesbeh, who followed his opening round win two days ago with a stunning stoppage of Pakistan’s Al Ahmad in the third round of his lightweight contest. Another win for either boxer in their quarter-final bouts will guarantee a bronze medal.

AMMAN  — The Kingdom’s U-23 football team plays Thailand at 8:00am Jordan time on Sunday in the quarter-finals of the 17th Asian Games football competition currently underway in Incheon, South Korea.

Jordan beat Kyrgyzstan 2-0 in extra time on Thursday, and now hopes to get past the Thai team and move to the semis. Other quarter-final matches are: UAE vs North Korea, Saudi Arabia vs Iraq, South Korea vs Japan. Palestine, China, Hong Kong, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Uzbekistan were eliminated.

The Kingdom’s team is in a tight spot after two players were injured and a third was booked. Head coach Jamal Abu Abed said: “We have a tough organised opponent. We will aim to neutralise their offence. We have limited choices as far as the line-up and we cannot afford another injury,” Abu Abed said Thailand was an organised team and had skilful players.

Jordan moved to Round 2 after topping Group G following a 1-0 over the UAE and 2-0 over India. 

Despite a bumpy preparation period, Jordan’s impressive start has given them a much needed boost ahead of 2016 Olympic qualifiers set for March 2015.

On the other hand, the women’s football team is back home after being eliminated with rough defeats in Round 1 Group B matches tying Taiwan 2-2, losing to China 5-0 and suffering a crushing 12-0 defeat to Japan.

In the semis, South Korea plays North Korea while Japan takes on Vietnam.

Jordan was the only Arab team among 11 competing teams and had qualified to the Asian Cup finals for the first time after a three game winning streak beating Uzbekistan 4-0, Lebanon 5-0 and Kuwait 21-0 in Group A qualifiers.

The early elimination of the senior women’s team was another setback for the squad after a similar early exit earlier this year at their first Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s 2014 Asian Cup where they lost to World Champs Japan 7-0, Australia and Vietnam 3-1 in Group A. The top two teams from each group and the best third-placed team qualified to the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada.

The Kingdom was the only Arab team to have ever qualified to the premier women’s football competition in the AFC region and was one of eight qualifying teams playing into two groups. 

Jordan is competing in 12 sports: football, basketball, taekwondo, karate, boxing, triathlon, cycling, judo, wrestling, squash, wushu and weightlifting.

The 17th Asian Games concludes on October 4.

LONDON — In-form West Ham United are just about the last team Manchester United would want to face on Saturday as Louis van Gaal’s side seek an immediate response to their Premier League collapse at Leicester City.

West Ham, who have lost on their last six league visits to Old Trafford, thumped Liverpool 3-1 on Saturday the day before United twice lost two-goal leads and slumped to a 5-3 defeat at Leicester which left them 12th with one win from five matches.

That loss left United eight points behind leaders Chelsea, who face unlikely third-placed occupants Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, while Southampton, the early season surprise packages in second place, face struggling Queens Park Rangers.

The first Merseyside and north London derbies of the season also take place with Liverpool playing Everton at Anfield and Arsenal taking on Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates.

Liverpool drew 2-2 with Championship (second tier) Middlesbrough in the Capital One (League Cup) before going through 14-13 after a marathon penalty shoot-out while Everton were knocked out 3-0 at Swansea City.

Arsenal were also eliminated when they lost 2-1 at home to Southampton while Spurs came from behind to beat Nottingham Forest 3-1.

Carroll optimistic

Although league positions do not count for much at this stage of the season, form counts for a lot and West Ham showed their pedigree as goals from Winston Reid, Diafra Sakho and Morgan Amalfitano handed Liverpool a third defeat in five league games to leave them in 11th place.

England international Andy Carroll, their record signing, was asked if they could add United’s scalp at a presentation about West Ham’s move to the Olympic Stadium.

“One hundred per cent we can. I don’t see why not,” said the injured striker who hopes to be playing again by December.

“You saw the way we played against Liverpool, the way we started, from the beginning, right from the off, and I don’t see anything changing from when we go to United.”

Even without Carroll, West Ham have scored five goals in their last two games which suggests another high-scoring match at Old Trafford.

United have netted seven goals in their last two league games but the five they conceded at Leicester has raised doubts about their ability to challenge for a top-four finish, let alone the title.

“I know United have spent £150 million ($245.96 million) on new players this summer but I think they need to spend another 100 million in the next two transfer windows before they can even think about winning the title,” former United defender Phil Neville said.

While United flounder, others are prospering and few with as much style as Southampton, who have won their last five matches and enjoyed an impressive 2-1 win at Arsenal in the League Cup, their first win there for 27 years.

“Of course, we have made a great start to the season, but it’s how you finish the season that really counts. But we believe in ourselves and our results are proving that,” coach Ronald Koeman said.

Spurs will try to emulate Southampton by winning at Arsenal, something they have done only once in the last 21 years.

They started the season well with four successive wins under ex-Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino, but drew two and lost two before seeing off Forest in the League Cup.

Leaders Chelsea warmed up for the Villa game with a 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup and Manchester City crushed Sheffield Wednesday 7-0 ahead of their trip to Hull City.

Leicester travel to Crystal Palace, who won their first match of the season at Everton on Sunday and will be looking for their first home league win against Nigel Pearson’s promoted side following a 3-2 loss to Newcastle at Selhurst Park in the League Cup.