84
QQQ Daily Mail, Friday, August 23, 201984 PREMIER LEAGUE
SPORT IN BRIEF
Reds ready to
expand Anfield
to over 60,000
Sakho trains in public gym!
HUMBLE Mamadou Sakho has
been putting in overtime in his
bid to regain fitness — in a low-
cost south London gym.
Crystal Palace and France
defender Sakho was a surprise
sight in a Wandsworth fitness
centre on Tuesday, getting in an
extra, late-night session as he
recovers from a knee problem.
Sakho, 29, mingled among and
shared machinery with largely
unsuspecting fellow members,
who pay as little as £21.99 a month
to use the gym.
Sakho attended a fan event in
central London earlier in the day
but was determined to squeeze in
some added fitness work on topof the rehab sessions he is doing
at Palace’s Bromley HQ by
popping into the 24-hour facility
run by The Gym Group.
A Palace insider said: ‘That’s
Mamadou. He is very laid back,
and just a nice guy who wouldn’t
be fussed about walking into a
normal local gym.’
Manager Roy Hodgson confirmed
that Sakho and James Tomkins,
who is recovering from a groin
problem, ‘are both getting closer
and working hard every day, but
there is no timescale on their
returns at the moment’.by
DOMINIC
KING
I FOUND playing at Anfield more
difficult than Old Trafford. You had
space at Manchester United, but at
Anfield, you can almost touch the
supporters, they’re that close. That
is not nice for the opposition team.
Anfield was one of the first grounds I
visited. It was in the 1970s, I was
playing for Oxford Boys, and me and
my team-mates were North West-
bound in a minibus. We were due to
play the best teams in the area, stay
over in a YMCA then head home.
We had spent six months saving up,
and thought we’d take in a Liverpool
game at Anfield. So we park up
outside the stadium and head in to
watch the match. When we return,
someone had broken in and stolen
all the boots — everyone’s except
mine. The thieves probably noticed
mine were from Woolworths and
decided not to bother! All my team-
mates had to find
replacements so we
could play against
the Liverpool and
Manchester lads the
next day.
But the stand-out
memory was what it
was like to be inside
Anfield. To be that close, to feel the
passion, to see full back Phil Neal
(above) playing with such poise and
quality. It was special.
Anfield is such a difficult place to go.
I played there seven times with
Arsenal and won only once, but that
was one of my proudest moments.
It came on December 23, 2001, and
I was captain.
In the 36th minute, Giovanni van
Bronckhorst was sent off. Then in the
45th, Thierry Henry scored from the
penalty spot and in the 53rd, Freddie
Ljungberg doubled our lead. Wow.
Who goes 2-0 up at Anfield with 10
men? Only us, apparently, because
no other team in the Premier
League era has ever had a man sent
off and taken a two-goal lead there!
Jari Litmanen made it 2-1, but we
held on. I knew the significance. We
went on to be crowned champions
and also beat Liverpool in the FA Cup
en route to lifting that trophy.
Winning at Anfield is one of football’s
toughest challenges. It is the
ultimate away test.
Striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
claims Arsenal are ready to match
the big clubs. Their performance at
Anfield will tell us where they are.INSIGHT
MARTIN KEOWN
Why this was one of my finest hours
L
IVERPOOL have
launched an
ambitious plan
that will see
Anfield redevel-
oped again to increase
its capacity to more than
60,000.
Fenway Sports Group,
Liverpool’s owners, have been
looking at ways to get more
fans inside the stadium and
first raised the prospect of
redeveloping the Anfield Road
end when they lodged their
planning application to
renovate the main stand.
Anfield’s capacity stands
at 54,074 following the
£115million main stand project,
which was completed in 2016,
but Liverpool had the poten-
tial to take it to over 58,000 had
they stuck to their plans, which
are due to expire next month.
They will allow that planning
permission to lapse.
Now, having revisited the
situation, FSG’s ambition is to
take Anfield beyond 60,000
seats, given the clamour fortickets to see Jurgen Klopp’s
side. The club record attend-
ance of 61,905 was achieved in
1952 against Wolves.
This is the start of a lengthy
process before the club submit
concrete plans and Andy
Hughes, Liverpool’s chief oper-
ating officer, said: ‘The progress
that has been made during
ongoing feasibility studies has
resulted in us being in a
position to allow the outline
planning permission to lapse.
‘We are committed to work-
ing with local residents, plan-
ning officials and others as wenow focus on the detail behind
any proposed redevelopment
for Anfield Road.’
Liverpool faced opposition
from local residents when they
built the new main stand and,
in a statement, the club said it
was ‘committed to engaging
with the local community and
other key stakeholders while
pursuing a vision in keeping
with the club’s aspirations’.
Meanwhile, Alex Oxlade-
Chamberlain has signed a
12-month contract extension,
keeping him at the club until
June 2023.UNAI EMERY has con-
firmed that Shkodran
Mustafi and Mohamed Elneny
will leave Arsenal before the
European window closes a week
on Monday.
Mustafi has been discussing a
loan to Roma after failing to get
a minute of playing time this
season, while Elneny, a target for
Galatasaray, has made just 30
league starts in four seasons.
Emery said: ‘I think it is posi-
tive for them to leave and sign
for another team where they can
be protagonists and be happy
and continue their careers.’Special 2-1:
captain Keown
(front left)
and Co kept
Michael Owen
at bay in 2001
EMPICSEXCLUSIVE
By ADRIAN KAJUMBALIVERPOOL
v ARSENAL
Tomorrow 5.30pm, AnfieldUEFA EUROPA LEAGUE
PLAY-OFF ROUND, FIRST LEG
CELTIC ..........(0) 2 AIK ..........(0) 0
Forrest 48, Edouard 73
LINFIELD ........(2) 3 QARABAG ......(1) 2
Stafford 40 Rherras 15
Lavery 45, 75 Gueye 90+2 (pen)
TORINO .........(0) 2 WOLVES .......(1) 3
De Silvestri 62 Izzo 43 (og), Jota 60
Belotti 89 (pen) Jimenez 72
L WARSAW ......(0) 0 RANGERS .....(0) 0
FK Suduva 0 Ferencvaros 0, Ararat
Armenia 2 F91 Dudelange 1, Ludogorets
0 Maribor 0, Slovan Bratislava 1 PAOK
0, Astana 3 BATE 0, FCSB 0 Guimaraes
0, PSV 3 Apollon Limassol 0, AEK Athens
1 Trabzonspor 3, Feyenoord 3 Hapoel
Beer Sheva 0, Gent 2 Rijeka 1, Espanyol
3 Zorya 1, Partizan Belgrade 2 Molde 1,
Braga 1 Spartak Moscow 0, Malmo FF 3
Bnei Yehuda 0, Strasbourg 1 Eintracht
Frankfurt 0, AZ 1 Antwerp 1, FC Copenha-
gen 3 Riga FC 1.
JUNIOR AGOGO, the former Bristol
Rovers, Nottingham Forest and
Ghana striker, has died aged 40. He
suffered a stroke in 2015.÷CRICKET
T20 BLAST - SOUTH GROUP — Lord’s,
Middlesex 128 (20 ovs), Hampshire
131-3 (14.5 overs, Vince 69). Hampshire
(2pts) won by 7 wickets.
Hove: Essex 168-5 (20 ovs, Lawrence
59no), Sussex 159-9 (20 ovs, Wiese 66,
Amir 4-29). Essex (2pts) won by nine runs.
P W L T NR Pts RR
Sussex .................11 6 2 1 2 15 0.71
Kent.....................11 6 3 0 2 14 0.10
Middlesex ...........11 6 4 0 1 13 0.41
Gloucs .................11 4 3 1 3 12 0.10
Somerset ........... 10 5 4 0 1 11 1.01
Hampshire ..........11 4 5 0 2 10 0.10
Essex ...................11 3 4 0 4 10 -0.91
Surrey .................11 3 6 1 1 8 -0.41
Glamorgan .........11 0 6 1 4 5 -1.75
SECOND TEST — Colombo (day 1),
Sri Lanka 85-2 (36.3 overs) v New
Zealand. FIRST TEST — North Sound,
Antigua (day 1): India 203-6 (68.5 overs,
Rahane 81; Roach 3-34) v West Indies.
÷HOCKEY
EURO CHAMPIONSHIP (Antwerp)
— Men Semi-finals: Holland 3 Spain
4 – Belgium 4 Germany 2. 5-8 pool:
Wales 2 Scotland 4 – England 2
Ireland 1. 5-8 Standings: 1 Scotland 4;
2 England 4; 3 Ireland 1; 4 Wales 1.÷GOLF
SCANDINAVIAN INVITATION (Hills Golf
& Sports Club, Gothenburg, Sweden)
— 1st rnd (GB & Ire unless stated, par
70): (a) denotes amateurs 62 — W
Ormsby (A); 63 — J Lagergren (Swe);
A Levy (F); 64 — M Fitzpatrick; 65 — M
Southgate; E Van Rooyen (SA).
÷TENNIS
WINSTON-SALEM OPEN (North Caro-
lina) — 3rd rnvd: (1) B Paire (F) bt (15)
U Humbert (F) 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-3; (11) P
Carreno-Busta (Sp) bt (7) L Sonego
(It) 7-6 (9-7) 6-0; (14) J Millman (A) bt
R Haase (Ned) 6-3 6-4; S Johnson (US)
bt (12) C Ruud (Nor) 6-2 7-6 (7-5); (10)
F Tiafoe (US) bt (8) F Krajinovic (Ser)
6-2 0-0 ret; (3) H Hurkacz (Pol) bt
(16) F Lopez (Sp) 6-3 3-1 ret; A Rublev
(Rus) bt (6) S Querrey (US) 7-6 (7-4)
7-6 (12-10); (2) D Shapovalov (Can) bt
(13) M Kecmanovic (Ser) 6-2 6-3.
WOMEN’S NYJTL BRONX OPEN (New
York) — 2nd rnd: (1) Q Wang (Chn) bt
F Ferro (F) 6-1 6-4; A Blinkova (Rus)
bt M Buzarnescu (Rom) 1-6 6-3 6-3;
(10) K Muchova (Cz) bt K Ahn (US) 6-3
6-1; M Linette (Pol) bt (9) A Sasnovich
(Blr) 6-1 6-4.÷TODAY’S ACTION
PREMIER LEAGUE
Aston Villa v Everton.................... (8.0)
Live on Sky Sports Premier Lge
LADBROKES CHAMPIONSHIP
Morton v Partick .........................(7.05)
Live on BBC Scotland
CRICKET — t20 Blast - North Group:
Derbyshire v Northamptonshire
(Derby, 7pm). Durham v Yorkshire
(Emirates Riverside, 6.30pm). Leices-
tershire v Nottinghamshire (Grace
Road, 6.30pm). Warwickshire v
Worcestershire (Edgbaston, 7pm).
P W L T NR Pts RR
Lancashire..........11 6 1 0 4 16 0.90
Worcs ................. 10 5 3 0 2 12 0.39
Notts ................... 0 4 3 0 3 11 0.76
Leics ....................11 4 4 0 3 11 -0.41
Durham ...............11 4 5 0 2 10 -0.25
Derbyshire .........11 4 5 0 2 10 -0.25
Warwickshire .... 10 3 4 1 2 9 -0.47
Northants .......... 10 2 4 0 4 8 -0.15
Yorkshire ........... 10 1 4 1 4 7 -0.38
South Group: Gloucestershire v
Somerset (Bristol, 6.30pm). Kent v
Surrey (Canterbury, 7pm).
MOTORCYCLING — MotoGP rd 12,
British Grand Prix (Silverstone,
Northamptonshire).