Category: English Premier League

Jean-Phillipe Mateta came off to score a stunning goal as Crystal Palace twice came from behind at the Emirates

An email from Ian Copestake, one of our resident Liverpool fans

You ain’t seen me. Right?

• ‘When players are fit and available, they have to play’
• Liverpool to be league winners if Arsenal lose to Palace

Mikel Arteta will not shy away from selecting key Arsenal personnel to face Crystal Palace on Wednesday in their final game before next week’s Champions League semi-final first leg even though his team are playing for little beyond pride.

The meagre prize on offer is delaying Liverpool’s title celebrations but the manager denied he could wrap members of his squad in cotton wool. “We cannot think in those terms,” Arteta said. “I think when the players are fit and they are available and they want to play, they have to play. They are at their best when they are playing and they have consistency in their performances.”

On the touchline a picture of two managers with high, contrasting emotion coursing through them after Matheus Nunes’s 94th-minute winner. For Manchester City, Pep Guardiola showed sheer delight at a late, late victory that lifts them to third on 61 points, four ahead of Chelsea in sixth. Across from him, Unai Emery felt despair as Aston Villa were down in seventh, the Spaniard’s next job to lift his men for their FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Nunes’s far-post strike from Jérémy Doku’s cross from the left also disappointed Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United and Chelsea in the race for the top-five berth that secures a Champions League place.

Matheus Nunes scored the winner deep into added time as City put some clear blue light between themselves and Villa in the race for Champions League qualification

17 secs: Ollie Watkins scored after 34 seconds against Newcastle on Saturday. Marcus Rashford nearly does so after half that tonight! He twists and turns down the inside-left channel before threading a shot across Ortega and off the base of the right-hand post!

Villa get the ball rolling. It’s not a sell-out.

Two goals in the first 16 minutes, from Elliot Anderson and Chris Wood, took Forest above Chelsea, Man City and Newcastle to sit third in the table

Where is the game? Well, we know what Spurs will do: press high, with a high line; and we know what Forest will do: sit deep and counter. Simple?

Not quite. With Richarlison through the middle, not Solanke, I’m not totally certain what type of goal Spurs will be trying to score. I think they’ll be hoping Kulusevski drives through midfield; that Tel makes another man in the box; and Odobert and Porro get around the outside to pick out cut-backs.

Leicester are heading back to the Championship thanks to Trent Alexander-Arnold’s winnner

Ian Copestake emails: “All this talk of one-sidedness makes it feel like Liverpool are playing Wimbledon again in a certain fina of yore.. It also shows that people follow narratives rather than watch games as playing bottom feeders is exactly the sort of opponent Liverpool struggle against. You’ve been warned.”

I’ve watched enough Leicester this season …

The fine tidings for Manchester United are that they are safe from relegation, the grim ones are that this came despite a 15th defeat of a dismal Premier League campaign.

Wolves’ winner was simple: on 77 minutes Pablo Sarabia, on as a substitute only 120 seconds before, placed a 20-yard free-kick sweetly to André Onana’s left, Christian Eriksen having been culpable for the foul.

Those who know the man behind the stern facade all attest to the special qualities of a manager who has taken club to unexpected heights

Communication is key for Nuno Espírito Santo, whether it is speaking to his squad, playing music or guiding horses over jumps. Simple and clear messages make working for and with the Nottingham Forest head coach uncomplicated, because everybody knows what is demanded of them on and off the pitch.

The only place Nuno’s methods have not worked at is Tottenham, where he returns on Monday with Forest, who are in a race to qualify for the Champions League and are preparing for an FA Cup semi-final. The Portuguese was never the right fit in north London, lasting four months before being dismissed, but he will not be out for revenge: the league table has done that for him.

Ollie Watkins was the star turn of a comprehensive Villa victory, as Unai Emery’s team closed the gap on the top five

McGinn tries to release Watkins down the left. Tonali comes across to put a stop to his gallop. But Tonali’s clearance only goes to Tielemans, who immediately returns it down the inside-left channel to Watkins. He shoots. A deflection off Schar sends the ball into the bottom left, past the wrong-footed, and rooted, Pope. What a start!

Newcastle get the ball rolling. They’re kicking towards the Holte End in this first half.

Lesley Ugochukwu’s added-time equaliser ensured Southampton equalled Derby’s record-low Premier League points total with a 1-1 draw at West Ham.

The already-relegated Saints were still on course to be crowned the worst team in Premier League history after Jarrod Bowen fired the hosts into the lead. But they were not even the worst team at the London Stadium for long periods of a dreadful game, and they snatched a deserved point deep into added time when the Chelsea loanee Ugochukwu drove home through a crowded penalty area.

The Premier League trophy Manchester City have proudly held for the past four years will be soon heading to one side of Stanley Park but, after exploding to life late against Everton, they took an important step towards Champions League qualification on the other. Nico O’Reilly and Mateo Kovacic sealed a victory that even Pep Guardiola may not have seen coming to edge City towards a place among the European elite for a 15th season in succession.

A goalless draw appeared the most likely outcome for most of a pedestrian contest but in a late twist, shaped by the positive impact of Guardiola’s substitutions and David Moyes’ subs having the opposite effect, City seized control of the closing stages and secure a ninth consecutive win at Goodison.

It is unlikely anyone will remember this game fondly in years to come. Bournemouth missed the chance to make up ground in the race for European football next season as 10-man Crystal Palace stood firm after a week of two heavy defeats in which they conceded five goals twice.

A red card for Chris Richards at the end of the first half left his side with an uphill task to make it five successive home wins after the referee, Sam Barrott, had bizarrely decided against meting out the same punishment to Bournemouth’s Alex Scott.

Aston Villa host Newcastle in a top-five battle while Leicester will be relegated if they fail to beat Liverpool

Saturday 3pm Venue Gtech Community Stadium