MANCHESTER, England (AP) — A tumultuous week for Manchester United ended with a 1-1 draw against Chelsea and the unwanted statistic that the club has made its worst league start for almost 40 years.
Moises Caicedo’s stunning long-range volley secured a 1-1 draw for Chelsea and left United on 12 points which Opta, the Premier League’s stats supplier, said was its lowest after 10 games since the 1986-87 season.
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American singer-songwriter and actress Olivia Rodrigo, centre, attends the Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes, centre left, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes, right, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Chelsea's Moises Caicedo celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Chelsea's Moises Caicedo celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Tottenham's James Maddison, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Tottenham's team players celebrate after James Maddison scored his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Tottenham's Dominic Solanke, right, celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Tottenham's Dominic Solanke, right, celebrates with Brennan Johnson after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
That was the year Alex Ferguson was hired and went on to lead the club to a period of unprecedented success, winning 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues.
United fans will have to hope that is a good omen after Erik ten Hag was fired this week and replaced by Ruben Amorim.
“Whenever you see a manager go you have to take some of the blame on yourself, it is because the team is not doing so well," United captain Bruno Fernandes said Sunday. “I spoke to the manager (Ten Hag) and apologized to him. I was disappointed he has gone and I tried to help him.”
Fernandes fired United ahead from the penalty spot in the 70th minute against Chelsea as interim head coach Ruud van Nistelrooy looked to win back-to-back games during his temporary reign, having beaten Leicester 5-2 in the League Cup on Wednesday.
But in front of the watching Olivia Rodrigo, Caicedo’s strike from the edge of the box four minutes later ensured the points were shared.
“I think we did the most difficult thing in this stadium against this team ... we were down and we came back immediately,” Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said.
Chelsea moved up to fourth in the standings, ahead of Arsenal on goal difference, while United is six points behind in 13th and playing catchup in the race for Champions League qualification.
Tottenham beat Aston Villa 4-1 earlier in the day.
Ten Hag was fired on Monday and while Amorim has been confirmed as his replacement, he does not take charge until Nov. 11.
Nistelrooy is holding the reins until then and for a short while was making top-flight management look relatively simple.
Fernandes' penalty put United within sight of a win that would have moved it to within four points of the top four. That was until Caicedo’s strike.
“I am disappointed we didn’t win, we had the better of the chances in the game but overall the performance was fantastic. They left their all out there on the pitch," Van Nistelrooy said.
The Dutchman's future is unclear once Amorim takes over. But he has two games - against PAOK Salonika in the Europa League and Leicester in the league - until he hands over to the new head coach.
Dominic Solanke scored twice as Tottenham thrashed Aston Villa 4-1.
The forward struck two goals in the space of four second-half minutes at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Villa had led at the break.
Solanke scored in the 75th and 79th as Spurs produced a stunning second-half performance to follow up its victory against Manchester City in the League Cup on Wednesday.
Morgan Rogers had given Champions League-chasing Villa the lead in the 32nd minute, but Brennan Johnson leveled the game four minutes after the break.
Solanke’s double put Spurs 3-1 ahead and James Maddison curled a free kick into the top corner in the sixth minute of added time. Solanke is now on five goals for the season.
Tottenham is up to seventh in the standings, while sixth-place Villa missed out on the chance to move into the top three.
AFC Wimbledon beat MK Dons 2-0 in the first round of the FA Cup and took bragging rights in one of English soccer’s fiercest grudge matches.
Matty Stevens and Omar Bugiel scored either side of halftime at Stadium MK in a competition that holds deep ties for fans of both clubs.
Wimbledon was a shock winner of the Cup in 1988 when beating the mighty Liverpool 1-0. The team relocated to Milton Keynes in 2002 and was renamed MK Dons, which prompted disgruntled fans to create a phoenix club called AFC Wimbledon.
And it was the traveling AFC Wimbledon fans who were left celebrating Sunday after securing its place in the next round of the Cup.
There will be no Cup run for Wrexham this season after losing 1-0 at Harrogate Town.
Jack Muldoon's goal in the 24th was enough to seal victory for Harrogate, which plays in the fourth tier of English soccer, one division below Wrexham.
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
American singer-songwriter and actress Olivia Rodrigo, centre, attends the Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes, centre left, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes, right, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Chelsea's Moises Caicedo celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Chelsea's Moises Caicedo celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Tottenham's James Maddison, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Tottenham's team players celebrate after James Maddison scored his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Tottenham's Dominic Solanke, right, celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Tottenham's Dominic Solanke, right, celebrates with Brennan Johnson after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Houthi rebels in Yemen say Israeli airstrikes on Thursday targeted the rebel-held capital of Sanaa and the port city of Hodeida. The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa, power stations and ports.
The strikes on Thursday follow several days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel, and last week, Israeli jets bombed Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people. The Houthis have also been targeting shipping in the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
In the Gaza Strip, an Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists in a van with press markings outside a hospital in a refugee camp, the Health Ministry said Thursday. Israel's military said it targeted a group of militants allied with Hamas, which ignited the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel.
Israel's bombardment and ground invasion in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count.
Hamas’s attack on southern Israel in October 2023 resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, while 250 others were taken hostage by Palestinian militants. Around 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, although only two-thirds are believed to still be alive.
Here’s the latest:
JERUSALEM — Houthi rebels in Yemen said Israeli airstrikes on Thursday targeted the rebel-held capital of Sanaa and the port city of Hodeida, following several days of Houthi launches that set off air-raid sirens in Israel.
The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa and ports at Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib along with power stations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech on Wednesday that “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned.”
The Iran-backed Houthis’ media outlet reported the strikes in a Telegram post, but gave no immediate details. The U.S. military also has targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days. The United Nations has noted that the ports are important entryways for humanitarian aid.
Over the weekend, 16 people were wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground in Tel Aviv.
Last week, Israeli jets struck Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks. The Houthis also have been targeting shipping on the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
QAMISHLI, Syria — Thousands of people in northeastern Syria attended a funeral Thursday for six fighters from a Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed force who were killed in ongoing clashes with Turkish-backed militias.
The Turkish-backed groups are launching attacks to take the Arab cities west of the Euphrates River that are under the control of the Kurdish group . The Turkish-supported groups helped overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s rule of Syria, and have since kept pushing eastward against the Kurdish groups.
“We thought that Syria today has entered a new stage after the fall and escape of Assad. We thought that we got rid of all of this, but this attack on us changed everything and those who came in are taking orders from Turkey,” said Nihayet Hassan, the uncle of a killed fighter.
The fighters were killed during attacks on Tishreen Dam near the strategic city of Manbij in recent days. The bodies were returned to the city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria where the U.S.-backed group, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, has a strong presence.
Ankara sees the SDF as an affiliate of its sworn enemy, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey classifies as a terrorist organization. Turkish-backed armed groups backed by Turkish jets have for years attacked positions where the SDF are present across northern Syria, in a bid to create a buffer zone free from the group along the Turkish border.
“It is obvious that Turkey’s issue is with the Kurds. It is not about an organization, or the PKK, no, their target are the Kurds,” said Ahmad Ammo, a Qamishli resident who attended the funeral.
The U.S. has about 2,000 soldiers in eastern Syria to help fight the Islamic State group and protect critical oil fields there.
BEIRUT — The Lebanese military said Thursday that Israeli troops encroached on areas of southern Lebanon, violating a ceasefire agreement that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah group.
The U.S.-brokered ceasefire that went into effect a month ago called for Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops to leave southern Lebanon over a 60-day period as Lebanese army soldiers gradually deploy in the country south of the Litani River. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the reported incident.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli bulldozers are setting up dirt barricades that would close off the road between Wadi Slouqi and Wadi Hujeir.
Lebanon’s military said it brought reinforcements into the areas entered by Israeli troops. NNA said the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, sent a patrol unit to an area near the southern town of Qantara where Israeli forces are present.
UNIFIL in a statement expressed its “concern at continuing destruction by the IDF (Israeli military) in residential areas, agricultural land, and road networks in south Lebanon.”
Lebanese army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun traveled to Saudi Arabia earlier Thursday as part of ongoing efforts by the cash-strapped military to find financial support to deploy in larger numbers.
The Lebanese military and government have complained about Israeli strikes and overflights in the country to a new monitoring committee headed by the U.S. that also includes France.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight, the Health Ministry said Thursday. The Israeli military said it had targeted a group of militants.
The strike hit a car outside the Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the territory. The journalists were working for the local Quds News Network.
The military said it targeted a group of fighters from Islamic Jihad, a militant group allied with Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel ignited the war. Associated Press video showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings still visible on the back doors.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says over 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds.
BEIJING — China has pledged two more shipments of humanitarian aid to Gaza, in an indication of support for the Palestinian Authority, state media reported Thursday. The agreement was overseen in Cairo by Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang and Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt Diab al-Louh.
“To ease the humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, the Chinese government has continued to provide assistance to Palestine,” Liao was quoted as saying. The types and quantities of aid to be delivered via Egypt were not given, but China has previously shipped food and medicine to Gaza. China has longstanding ties with the Palestinian Authority but has also sought to strengthen economic and political relations with Israel.
Al-Louh “voiced appreciation for China’s consistent and firm support for the just cause of the Palestinian people and for raising this issue on international occasions," state media said.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday at Israel’s request to discuss recent attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Israel’s U.N. Mission said Wednesday the meeting will take place at 10 a.m. Monday.
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said he expects the council will condemn the Houthi attacks.
He urged the council “to enforce international law and hold Iran, the Houthis’ patron, accountable.”
Alluding to Israeli retaliation for the attacks, Danon said ”It seems that the Houthis have not yet understood what happens to those who try to harm the state of Israel.”
A mourner cries while she takes the last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Locals stand next to a damaged building after the latest Israeli military operation, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Syrian fighters travel on vehicles, as they patrol at a highway, in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Security forces of the newly formed Syrian government patrol in downtown Homs, Syria, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
The coffins of two of six Kurdish fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) killed in ongoing clashes with Turkish-backed militias in northern Syria are carried during their funeral in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Hogir El Abdo)
A mourner cries after taking a last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Locals stand next to a damaged building after the latest Israeli military operation, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A mourner cries while she takes the last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Mourners carry the bodies of killed Palestinians, some wrapped with the Islamic Jihad flag, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
A mourner cries after taking the last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Mourners react as they carry the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A relative mourns over the body of one of the five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians, mostly journalists, gather around the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A woman reacts during the funeral of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and friends mourn over the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
