The Times - UK (2022-04-30)

the times | Saturday April 30 2022 1GS 13

Kick-off Today, 5.30pm

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Referee P Tierney

MATCH IN FOCUS

Leeds United v Manchester City

Leeds United (4-2-3-1)

Manchester City (4-3-3)

I Meslier

Ederson

Rodrigo

D James

Raphinha J Harrison

L Ayling D Llorente L Cooper S Dallas

K Phillips M Klich

O ZinchenkoA Laporte R Dias J Cancelo

I Gundogan Rodri K De Bruyne

B Silva J Grealish R Sterling

Manchester City

Injured: J Stones,

K Walker

Leeds

Injured: P Bamford, A

Forshaw, T Roberts, C

Summerville

LUKE

AYLING

LEEDS

Fewest points against big-six teams

this season

Manchester City’s 4-3 win over Real

Madrid on Tuesday may have left

them a little drained but the memory

of another seven-goal home match – a

7-0 success over Leeds in December –

will leave them optimistic of a victory

here that would ensure they end the

weekend above Liverpool at the top of

the table. City should certainly achieve

one target: if they avoid defeat they

will become the first top-flight team to

be unbeaten over a stretch of 20

domestic away games within a season,

eclipsing Manchester United’s

sequence of 19 during the 1993-94

season. Leeds, though, have improved

of late, producing a timely five-match

undefeated run just as Burnley have

found their form below them

Home straight strength

As Manchester City ponder their

title chances they may be encouraged

by their strong showings in the

second half of seasons over the past

four years

Leeds’ barren run

CLASSIC MEETING

Sept 23, 1981, top flight:

Man City 4, Leeds 0

Leeds had lost by a four-goal margin

in their opening two away games of

the season against Swansea City and

Coventry City and the same fate

befell them in the third. Allan Clarke’s

team would end the season relegated

just seven years after reaching a

European Cup final but there was

little sympathy for their plight from

Manchester City manager John Bond,

who was critical of what he felt was

their defensive approach. “I continue

to find it a style that’s not good for

football,” he said after this match. City

climbed to fourth in the table with a

victory through two goals each from

Dennis Tueart and Kevin Reeves, the

last coming when they were down to

ten men after Trevor Francis had left

the pitch injured GUESS THE SEASON

Answer: 1949-50

Luke a late bloomer

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Leeds are at risk of relegation with

five games left and they may be

alarmed that three of those five

opponents are “big-six” clubs: their

next two matches after this are away

to Arsenal and at home to Chelsea.

Leeds have yet to take a point from

their nine such league fixtures this

season and also lost to Arsenal in the

Carabao Cup

Luke Ayling has been a first-choice

defender throughout Leeds’ two

seasons in the Premier League, even

captaining them 28 times when Liam

Cooper has been absent, yet he did

not play in the top flight until the age

of 29

Leeds

Norwich

Newcastle

Watford

Aston Villa

Burnley

Leicester

Wolves

Tottenham

Man City points per Premier League

game since summer 2018

Luke Ayling league appearances

0 (9 games)

1 (9)

62

4 (11)

4 (10)

6 (11)

7 (10)

7 (9)

7 (8)

0 (11)

Premier League (Leeds)

Championship (Leeds, Bristol City,

Yeovil)

League One (Bristol City, Yeovil)

220

170

2.24 2.46

First half

of season

Second half

of season

3

Coventry fielded three players

named Paul Williams in the

Premier League between

1992 and 1995.

Coventry City’s

last game at

Highfield Road –

which became

England’s first

all-seat ground

in 1981 – was a

6-2 win over

Derby County

in 2005.

City have played at the Ricoh Arena

since leaving Highfield Road in 2005

aside from when disputes led to

groundshares with Northampton Town

in 2013-14 and Birmingham City from

2019 to 2021.

WHEN I FELL

IN LOVE WITH

RUGBY

I didn’t really know what

rugby was the first time I

played it. Nobody in my

family had played, but I was

always a sporty kid and the

moment I got to give it a go

was when a rugby league

development officer came to

run a block of sessions at my

primary school in Newcastle.

That was Mick Hogan, who

later became the chief

executive of Newcastle

Falcons.

I loved it straight away and

after a few sessions some of us

were asked to play for a North

East team who were going to

travel to Wembley to play at

half-time during the World

Cup game between England

and Australia [rugby league].

Can you imagine that? I’d

barely played before and I was

being asked to go on a bus to

play at Wembley with kids I

hardly knew.

But it was the most amazing

experience, the kids on our

team were all really nice and I

just had the best time. I was

hooked from there. I’ve been

getting that feeling ever since.

At that stage, I didn’t even

know enough about rugby to

know that some people

thought it was “meant to be

for boys”, which was maybe no

bad thing. I joined a local club,

Gateshead Panthers, and

played rugby league until I

was about 14, but then we

started struggling to find

opposition. We’d been playing

with the boys, but when we

started trying to find girls’

teams to play, it became

obvious we’d have to travel

regularly to Yorkshire and

Lancashire and a lot of people

weren’t too keen on that.

That was when I went to

play rugby union, joining

Novocastrians [in the North

East]. I thought: “How

different can it be, it’s still

rugby?” So it took me a while

to adapt, but I just loved

playing rugby.

It’s great to think now that

there are so many more

opportunities for girls. We’ve

had record crowds during the

TikTok Women’s Six Nations

and it’s been amazing to see so

many girls with their club

shirts on, showing how much

the game has grown.

Words by John Westerby

Hunter stopped rugby league

at 14 as girls matches were rare

Sarah Hunter,

England union

captain, was

‘hooked’

after playing

league at

Wembley