English Premier League News
If this proves to be a tale of two departing star strikers, Matheus Cunha eclipsed Jamie Vardy with as much comfort as Wolves have breezed past Leicester in this game and over the past five months.
Manchester United target Cunha scored the first goal and made the others for Jørgen Strand Larsen and Rodrigo Gomes while Vardy, having announced he will leave Leicester at the end of this tumultuous season, had his penalty saved by José Sá.
Continue reading...Kieran McKenna and his Ipswich players arrived in the Premier League pledging to stay true to their purist principles but had an ignominious return to the Championship rubber stamped amid acrimony, indiscipline and refereeing controversy.
In mitigation Ipswich started quite well at Newcastle, their low block frustrating Eddie Howe’s side and the striker Alexander Isak in particular. Then they imploded in a manner that perhaps reflected the frustrations of a long, hard season when, all too often, a team who were League One residents two years ago proved not quite good enough to bridge the growing chasm between the top and second tiers.
Continue reading...A stoppage-time winner from Ryan Sessegnon revitalised Fulham’s European qualification prospects and denied Southampton the chance to move past the record-low Premier League points total set by Derby.
Jack Stephens’ 14th-minute opener had already-relegated Saints on course for a first home league victory since November, but Emile Smith Rowe levelled for Fulham after 72 minutes to set up a nervy finale at St Mary’s.
Continue reading...Palace, Villa, Forest and Man City bid to reach the FA Cup Final while Liverpool can secure the Premier League title
FA Cup semi-finals (stats from all competitions)
Continue reading...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?
Continue reading...Oliver Glasner has complained that the buildup to Crystal Palace’s FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa is unfair, after the Premier League turned down a request from the London club to have both sides play on the same night in midweek.
Villa were in action at Manchester City on Tuesday night while Palace travel to the Emirates Stadium 24 hours later.
Continue reading...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.”
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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 …
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
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