Cristiano Ronaldo went scoreless as Al Nassr suffered their first loss of the season to Al Ittihad, while Ivan Toney's brace for Al Ahli took him to the outright lead of the Saudi Pro League's scoring charts. Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Al Nassr suffered their first defeat of the season on Friday, falling 2-1 to Al Ittihad at home in a result that also ended manager Ange Postecoglou’s unbeaten start on the bench. George Ilenikhena did the damage for the hosts, scoring a brace inside the opening 22 minutes, the first a header in the fourth minute and the second a composed left-footed finish after being played through by Houssem Aouar. Angelo pulled one back for the visitors just two minutes later, finishing from inside the box, but Al Nassr could not find an equalizer despite pushing hard in the second half and through six minutes of stoppage time. Ronaldo was unable to add to his tally in the defeat, despite a handful of half-chances throughout the match. It was the first time all season Al Nassr had failed to win, snapping a run that had them sitting second in the table with 12 points from four matches heading into the fixture. Full time. pic.twitter.com/d1os8IVBZX— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) September 5, 2026 Ivan Toney takes the lead in scoring charts While Ronaldo and Al Nassr stumbled, Ivan Toney continued his outstanding start to the campaign for Al Ahli, scoring twice from the penalty spot in a commanding 5-0 win over Al Riyadh. The Englishman opened the scoring in the 16th minute after Saad Balobaid was fouled in the box, then completed his brace in the 61st minute following a second penalty award, with Al Ahli’s foreign contingent doing most of the damage alongside additional goals from Edward Sperfsyan, Francisco Trincao and Naif Khaled Rashid Masoud. Toney’s brace now makes him the outright leader of the Saudi Pro League’s scoring charts, with 6 goals through five matches for Al Ahli. He sits well clear of the chasing pack, which includes Sergej Milinkovic-Savic of Al Hilal on 4 goals, while a large group, among them Ruben Neves, Alexandre Lacazette and Angelo, sit on 3. Meanwhile, Ronaldo remains further back in the chasing pack with 2 goals for the season, having gone scoreless again on Friday and now sitting four goals adrift of Toney at the top of the table, a stark contrast to the pace he set in previous campaigns atop Saudi Arabia’s scoring charts.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has attempted some possible mind games by reminding Chelsea of the easy schedule they have this season. When asked if the Blues are likely to be one of Arsenal’s main challengers for the Premier League title, Arteta applied a little bit of psychological pressure by suggesting they surely have to be […] The post Mikel Arteta plays mind games over Chelsea being one of Arsenal’s title rivals appeared first on CaughtOffside.
Enzo Maresca says his Man City squad have ‘options’ to rival Arsenal Enzo Maresca believes Manchester City now have the squad depth to rival Arsenal following his side’s 1-0 win over Coventry City on Saturday. Erling Haaland’s first-half header sealed the win at the Etihad Stadium but City needed an brilliant performance from Gianluigi Donnarumma to keep a clean sheet against Coventry. City made a strong end to the summer transfer window as they signed Ayyoub Bouaddi for £86 million last week before spending £65m on Iliman Ndiaye and £125m on Enzo Fernandez on deadline day. Last season’s Premier League runners-up also spent £116m on Elliot Anderson earlier in the summer, while their £458m total is a new Premier League record for a summer window. Exclusive Premier League previews Get ahead of the start of the season with our weekly football newsletter. Sign up now for free. City finished seven points behind Arsenal last season but speaking after his side’s win against Coventry, Maresca believes his squad has enough quality in depth to match his Premier League title rivals. ‘If you see since the Community Shield, we played the Community Shield and then Arsenal played two more games [against Coventry and Aston Villa] and they have five changes in every game,’ said Maresca. Enzo Fernandez made his debut in Man City’s 1-0 win over Coventry (PA Wire) ‘Two World Cup winners, [Mikel] Merino and [Martin] Zubimendi, two England players, [Eberechi] Eze and [Noni] Madueke, and the other one I don’t remember, I think it was [Piero] Hincapie. ‘In the end, if you want to be there you need options. Arsenal have options. We have options. ‘More teams have options but it’s not just us. I’m very happy with the options we have, that is something important for us if you want to compete.’ City currently sit top of the Premier League with their wins over Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Coventry City but Arsenal will pull level on nine points if they beat Chelsea on Sunday. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Comment now Comments Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source
The incident occurred in the 70th minute at Fratton Park with Cardiff trailing 2-0 to the hosts, as Bielik attempted to gather the ball from the stands ahead of a throw in.
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