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The most important addition, though, may be that of manager Mauricio Pochettino, who took over in January. Since that time, they’ve gone for 10W, 12D, 6L – including last year’s wins at home over Man City, Chelsea, and Liverpool by a combined 8-3. Critics have sneered, suggesting that it’s only a matter of time before they stumble and end up where they belong—whatever that means. However, the defensive platform on which their success is built should, if anything, provide a solid foundation for consistent success....

The Gunners took a 4-1 first-leg lead to Russia but found themselves 2-0 down and on the back foot early in the second half, with Fedor Chalov and Kirill Nababkin taking CSKA to within one goal of going through. Wenger had switched to a five-man defence at the break but his side were consistently under pressure, until Danny Welbeck struck a fine goal 15 minutes from time to kill the home side’s momentum....

Spanish footballer Cesc Fabregas says he hopes to finish his career with Barcelona, but if he were to leave the Spanish giants, he’d only go back to Arsenal and nowhere else. “Apart from Arsenal and Barcelona, I don’t see myself playing anywhere else,” said the 24-year-old, who played for Arsenal for eight years before joining Barcelona last summer, reports Xinhua. “I will definitely be going back to Arsenal whenever I have time to watch games and to see the guys, and you never know in the future, why not,” he asked Sunday....

According to AS, Arsenal will be looking to sign Achraf Hakimi as a potential replacement for Hector Bellerin, who is widely tipped to leave the Emirates for Barcelona in the summer. Achraf Hakimi rose to prominence during his two-year loan spell with Borussia Dortmund. The 22-year-old developed into one of Europe’s most exciting young wing-backs during his time with the Bundesliga outfit. He made 73 appearances and scored 12 goals for the club before returning to Real Madrid last summer....

With a man who has spent 22 years at the Gunners helm preparing to step down, those at Emirates Stadium are busy piecing together plans on how to replace him. A list of potential candidates includes proven winners, such as Luis Enrique and Massimiliano Allegri, and a number of former favourites who boast strong ties to the club. Arteta slips in the latter of those categories, alongside the likes of Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, with the Spaniard expected to soon head out on his own after cutting his coaching teeth alongside Pep Guardiola at Premier League champions Manchester City....

For the neutrals, this was a fabulous encounter, a heady blend of slapstick errors, fine finishes and furious endeavour creating a brilliant advert for the quality of the Premier League product, if not necessarily the teams themselves. For all their faults, you cannot accuse Chelsea or Arsenal of being boring. But the faults are there. The worry is how Frank Lampard or Mikel Arteta go about fixing them to keep their respective seasons meaningful....

According to officials, the relay will run from February 2 to 4 and the flame will be displayed in enclosed areas considered “safe and controllable.” Yang Haibin, Beijing’s deputy sports director, said that safety was the “top priority” amid the pandemic. Xu Zhijun, deputy head of the organizing committee, said torch rally participants would be carefully monitored starting two weeks before the events formally begin. Although the number of new COVID cases has dropped in China to 11, since the Omicron variant was first detected on January 15, millions of people outside Beijing are in lockdown as part of China’s “zero-tolerance” strategy to handle the pandemic....

The U.S. is one of only 12 countries still producing landmines, according to a Landmine Monitor report released by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) on Wednesday. The report revealed that the U.S. and Russia, countries that have not signed onto the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, were “both developing and testing new landmine systems,” noting that the countries were “focusing on antivehicle mines” but that efforts “may include victim-activated elements....

The indictment claims Maduro received $5 million in drug profits from a guerilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), when he served as Venezuela’s foreign minister in 2006. Federal prosecutors also named Maduro as head of the Suns Cartel, an organization whose purpose was to “flood” the United States with cocaine. Attorney General William Barr and Venezuela envoy Elliot Abrams—two officials who supported charging Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega for narcotics offenses more than 30 years ago—were reportedly the lead proponents of the legal strategy....

On Tuesday, both Turkey and Iran reportedly found themselves directly involved in the battle, while the U.S. and Russia remained closely engaged, calling for an immediate de-escalation. The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is rooted in a century of bloodshed that first erupted in the brief period of the neighboring countries’ independence after the collapse of the Russian Empire and before the rise of the Soviet Union in the final years of the Ottoman Empire during World War I....

The Black Knights junior piled up an Army record 304 rushing yards and scored four times in a 50-25 win against Eastern Michigan. In the first quarter, Baggett scored from 4 and 67 yards. In the third quarter he scored from 34 and 96 yards. Not bad. And he did it on just 18 carries, meaning he averaged a whopping 16.9 yards per rush. “The beautiful thing about Terry is that he can finish those runs,” Army coach Rich Ellerson said....

The Army Times reported Tuesday that Army leaders met to announce exceeding their 2019 goal of 68,000 new recruits, but they did not lean on multiple conflicts to reach that number. The Head of Army Recruiting Command, Maj. Gen. Frank Muth, said Tuesday he visited nearly 40 different recruiting commands in 2019, and he learned that ongoing wars were hardly the topic when recruiters visited with potential soldiers. “One of the national crises right now is student loans, so $31,000 is [about] the average,” Muth told reporters at the Pentagon....

Incidentally, BIGHIT MUSIC producer Slow Rabbit was also present in the state at the same time. Eagle-eyed ARMYs spotted that the locations featured in Slow Rabbit’s Instagram posts looked similar to those visited by Jimin, thereby concluding that the boys might have been hanging out together. In a set of pictures uploaded by Slow Rabbit, the producer seems to be in a recording studio, which has a door full of signatures from visiting artists....

Schwarzenegger held the record for most Mr. Olympia titles for more than a decade and became the world’s most famous bodybuilder during an incredible stretch of success in the 1970s. Some of his success, however, didn’t come without controversy. MORE: Dates, times, live stream to watch Mr. Olympia 2022 Ahead of the 2022 Mr. Olympia competition, the Sporting News takes a closer look at the Mr. Olympia career of Arnold Schwarzenegger....

However, Arsenal needed to wait till extra time to score their first of the game when Emile Smith-Rowe would burst into the box in the 109th minute. Arsenal then put the game beyond doubt when Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang tapped in from close range with three minutes to go. The win sees the Cup holders cruise into the fourth round. On that note, here are five talking points from Arsenal’s 2-0 extra-time win over Newcastle United....

This time though, under a new coach - Unai Emery- who has experience in winning a league (with Paris Saint-Germain), it appears that there is genuine progress. The club is no more left in the wake of the title chasers. In fact, with 24 points from the 11 games so far, Arsenal are within touching distance of the top three (Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea). With the frenetic nature of the league, where anyone can beat any other side on a given day, that is something to take notice of....

With the Gunners needing three points to top their Champions League group, a feat they haven’t achieved since the 2011-12 season, the whole stadium watched as Lucas Moura netted a late equaliser to take the battle for first down to the final round of fixtures. EXTRA TIME Everyone but this guy, of course. Attending football is expensive. Especially Champions League football and especially at Arsenal. You would think after forking out half a monthly wage (probably) on a seat up in the Gods, this punter would make the most of it....

In case you didn’t know… Pepe kickstarted his professional career with French fifth-tier club Poitiers before moving to Angers in 2013. A switch to Lille in 2017 facilitated an immediate rise for the player as he went on to score 35 goals in 74 Ligue 1 appearances for the club. The 24-year-old emerged as one of Europe’s most wanted players this summer, owing to the scintillating form he enjoyed at Lille in the previous season, scoring 22 goals and registering 11 assists for the French club....

Bellerin has been having a great time in life right now with a great season so far. He’s also being targetted by Barcelona and Manchester City as they believe he’s one of the best full-backs in the World right now. Hector Bellerin and Esha Gupta dined at the Vanilla Black – a vegetarian restaurant in London. Daily Mail report that the two were seen having a great time, laughing and joking all the time....