QPR Man Arrested, Suspected of Rape

QPR Striker Loic Remy has been arrested on suspicion of rape in London.

This is some more of that kind of off-the-pitch news that football fans, and really human beings in general hate to see, yet here it is.  QPR striker Loic Remy has been arrested in London and is being held on charges of rape according to reports from various sources including Sky Sports News. 

If these allegations are true, they'll turn out to be particularly heinous.  The alleged victim, 34, claims she visited Remy at his apartment in Fulham on May 6.  Remy, his cousin, and a friend were said to be present.  The woman claims that she was given a drink and then passed out, only to awaken hours later and find that she had been raped by all three men. 

Pretty horrendous allegations.

A spokesman for the London Metropolitan Police confirmed that three men aged 26, 23, and 22 were arrested in connection with the allegations at a Fulham residence and are still being detained at a West London Police Station.  Sapphire, the MPS unit in charge of sexual assualt cases is investigating the case.

For their part, QPR released a statement saying they were aware of the allegations concerning Remy, but would not comment at this time due to the active police investigation.  Remy is a French international who joined QPR in the last transfer window.  Despite his personal success, Rangers were not able to hold off relegation from the Premier League.  Several clubs were reportedly interested in obtaining his services.

What does one say about this kind of thing?  For one, you don't want to throw Remy to the wolves without a fair trial.  He's not automatically guilty because he's a pro footballer.  On the other hand, the allegations need to be taken seriously and investigated fully.  He shouldn't be able to dodge it just because he's a pro footballer either.  In the end, you just hope the truth comes out, and if he is guilty, he should face the maximum sentence and his career should be over.  We'll have to wait and see, but for sure it's one headache QPR didn't need.

Also check out the EPL Talk article about the incident here.

Reading and QPR Relegated, Redknapp to Stay On.

It's been a pretty dismal few months for Harry Redknapp and QPR (Telegraph UK)

This weekend's match between Reading and QPR pretty much summed up the futility behind the two sides' Barclay's Premier League campaign this season.  A win for either side would have held off relegation for at least another week, while a draw would doom them both to the Championship.  What happened?  It ended up being a snoozer of a nil-nil draw.  Way to go guys.

One takes a look at Reading, and their story isn't all that different from other clubs' journeys to short term top flight tenures.  Reading was a good team in the Championship and earned promotion.  However, despite the heart which they displayed often throughout the year, the lack of money and elite talent were too much for them in the end.  Think Blackpool from a couple of years back.  Reading will go down, they'll retool a little bit, and they'll probably still be a decent Championship side, with a chance to spring back up into the Premier League at some point.

QPR is, however, another story entirely.  They emerged from the second division two years ago with more lofty ambitions, and their owner wasn't shy about it.  When the first half of last year's EPL season didn't work out, they fired manager Neil Warnock, who had brought them up, hired former Fulham and Man City boss Mark Hughes, and splashed a lot of cash around bringing in players.  However at the end of last season, the R's barely escaped relegation.  This last summer, they threw around more cash and brought in more players.  When the results failed to improve, they brought in Harry Redknapp and put out even more cash.  In the end it wasn't enough though, and they end up with Reading, except that they've spent a lot more money and are probably going to be stuck with many of their failed players, and we've seen that they have little or no chemistry.

For their part, the club are staying with Harry.  What a year it's been for him.  Last year his Spurs side had a run in the Champions League, and just about a year ago he was rumored for the England job.  Then the England job fell through and he was sacked at Spurs after failing to secure another Champions League spot when Chelsea took Tottenham's place by winning the final at Bayern.  That's pretty tough luck, especially considering that he'll now be in the second division.

There is still one team to be relegated this year after this weekend's results confirmed QPR and Reading's exit.  Wigan look to be in the most trouble after failing to secure all three points vs Spurs on the weekend.  Aston Villa did themselves a huge favor by pummeling a hapless Sunderland side 6-1 on Monday, actually climbing above another hapless side, Newcastle, on goal difference.  Villa, Newcastle, and Sunderland sit on 37 points, 5 ahead of Wigan.  However, Wigan have a game in hand.  Things could be decided on the final Sunday when Wigan play Villa.

QPR Efforts Net Draw Against Villa

Eric Lichaj and David Hoilett do battle on the ball. (Getty Images)

Harry Redknapp's home debut as QPR manager was fairly positive in most regards.  About the only thing they failed to pull out was a result.  Rangers certainly looked much more confident in attack as well as possession, but in the end an early defensive miscue would cost them the chance at all three points at Loftus Road.

QPR came out of the opening whistle like a house on fire.  They moved the ball very well in the opening five minutes and backed Aston Villa, in their road green strip, down into their own end.  The unfortunate thing was that they could only manage one shot out of all the pressure, a distance effort from Adel Taarabt that was blocked in the 5th minute.

Villa finally got a touch of the ball after the opening storm and proceeded into the QPR half.  To their credit, they took their big chance when it came their way,  In the 8th minute Ashley Westwood found Brett Holman just outside of the penalty arc.  The Villa midfielder proceeded to blast a cannon shot at goal between Rob Green and his near post.  The former England man got his hands to it, but wasn't able to turn it away as the ball deflected off his hands and into the inside of the side netting to give the away side a 0-1 lead.

QPR responded well though, coping with the shock and going back on the attack a few minutes later.  In the 18th minute Samba Diakite found Jamie Mackie in the area with a spot on early cross.  Mackie got great contact on it and put it past Brad Guzan in goal to make it 1-1 just 10 minutes after Villa had taken the lead.

QPR would have two golden chances to take the lead later on in the half, both coming off of long balls.  In the 29th minute Shaun Wright Phillips got himself in the middle of a 1v1 situation with Brad Guzan but the Villa 'keeper stoned him cold with a great save.  Four minutes later Wright Phillips found himself in the same situation, this time beating Guzan but clanging his shot off the near post.

There was also a scary moment for QPR and their fans late on in the first half.   In the the 33rd minute Stephane M'bia collided with Gabriel Agbonlahor just outside the center circle and collapsed into a heap with an apparent head injury.  The physios rushed out to treat him, concentrating on his head and neck, which they braced before stretchering him off the field.  He was taken to a hospital, but apparently suffered no major damage.

The second half was largely a dull affair, but still QPR had a couple of quality chances to take the lead.  In the 58th minute former United man Ji-Sung Park found himself alone in the penalty area, but smacked his shot right at Guzan, who easily parried the blow.

Rangers would have two decent chances to win late on as well, but again Guzan was up to the task on both opportunities.  In the 80th minute Taarabt hit Chris Hill in the area and Hill directed a header to the top corner, but Guzan was able to neutralize it.  The American shined one more time in the 82nd minute, stopping a low shot from Armand Traore to preserve the 1-1 draw at full time.

EPL: Arsenal Survives 10-Man QPR

Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey celebrates the match winning goal (Getty Images)

It's been a long week for the Gunners.  Not only did they drop a home Champions League match to Schalke 04, but Arsene Wenger drew some ire from some supporters and media after saying that qualifying for the Champions League was probably more important than winning a trophy.  Well I think we all know Mr. Wenger is probably talking about trophies like the League Cup, but the point of criticism still stands and has been debated for much of the week.  Wenger and his players came into the match hoping a result against bottom dwellers QPR would ease some of the pressure.

There was reason to be optimistic for the Gunners as well.  Jack Wilshere made his season first team debut after an injury that sidelined him for more than a year.  He looked pretty good too.  As a matter of fact, he was about the only thing that looked good in the first half.

Arsenal did have the best chance of  the opening stanza, and it came very early on.  In the 10th minute Bacary Sagna sent a cross into the six, where it met the head of Aaron Ramsey.  Ramsey managed to direct it on to the goal, and perhaps he had Julio Cesar beaten.  However, the ball dinged off the crossbar and out of danger.

QPR was largely punch-less through the first half as well, failing to tally a shot on target.  The Gunners would have a half chance right before halftime, as Andre Santos got a shot on goal, but Cesar made a fairly easy save to send the teams to the interval scoreless.

After a very mediocre first half performance, Arsenal came out looking much better in the second.  In the 51st minute Per Mertesacker headed a free kick from Mikel Arteta that forced a diving save from Cesar.  It was the first of a couple of fine saves from the former Inter man in the second half.

In the 77th minute Arsenal had a golden chance to go a goal up.  After a bit of a scrum in front of Cesar's goal, the ball fell very nicely to Santi Cazorla, who was all alone in the middle of the box.  Unfortunately the Spaniard blazed his wide open look well over the crossbar to the dissatisfaction of his teammates and the crowd.

The match changed just two minutes later though, and it totally swung the odds in Arsenal's favor.  In the 79th minute Arsenal's Thomas Vermaelen pushed QPR's Stephane Mbia just outside the QPR penalty area.  The assistant referee awarded the foul, but that wasn't enough for Mbia, who lashed out in a kick at the Arsenal man.  The referee spotted it, and had no choice but to issue him the red card, putting QPR down a man with ten minutes to go.

It didn't take Arsenal long to capitalize either.  In the 84th minute Cesar found himself alone in front of his goal with Olivier Giroud and Arteta.  Cesar managed to save Giroud's close range header, but parried it right to Arteta, who hit the bar with a header of his own.  The ball dropped to him though, and the former Everton man poked it over the line to give Arsenal the 1-0 lead.  Replays later showed Arteta was was probably offside on the play, but it would have been a tough call for the assistant to see so close to goal.

QPR did not fold though, in fact they responded with their best stretch of the match.  In the 90th minute Adel Taarabt found Esteban Granero in the box with a long range free kick, but Granero poked his shot just wide of the far post.  In the 2nd minute of stoppage time, Jamie Mackie gave the Arsenal defense the traffic cone treatment and maneuvered for a close 1v1 with Vito Mannone.  Mannone saved the shot stone cold to preserve the lead.  Finally in the third minute of stoppage, Mannone came up big again, tipping a Granero free kick away from his top corner, which finally silenced QPR and locked in the 1-0 win for the Gunners.