Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Barney Ronay to discuss all the weekend’s Premier League action
Continue reading...Evolution, not revolution: Inter’s gamble on Chivu pays off as club canter to Scudetto | Nicky Bandini
Inter’s manager was not first choice to replace Simeone Inzaghi but has created a juggernaut that could not be stopped
It all felt inevitable, by the end, Internazionale becoming champions of Italy for the 21st time with a win over Parma they did not even need. A draw would have sufficed: in this game, or the next one, or either of the two after that. Their rivals for the Scudetto yielded one-by-one through the spring and then, finally, all at once. None of Napoli, Milan or Juventus won this weekend, not that it would have mattered any more if they had.
Inter were 10 points clear at the start of this round and 12 by its conclusion, the best team in Serie A by a mile. They have scored 82 goals in a league where no other team has yet made it to 60. Defensively, only Como can equal their 17 clean sheets.
Continue reading...Premier League: talking points from the weekend’s action
Arne Slot is fuming, Mikel Arteta’s big risk pays off and Josh Dasilva enjoys an emotional return for Brentford
Arne Slot was seething as he lamented the decision to allow Manchester United’s second goal to stand despite claims of handball by Benjamin Sesko. “The curve on the ball changed so there must have been a contact,” argued the Liverpool head coach. “But it’s no surprise to anyone that if there is a VAR intervention then the decision goes against us. It’s happened to us all season.” As PGMO confirmed at the time, however, there “was no conclusive evidence that Sesko handled the ball before scoring”. Slot was stretching it to pin Liverpool’s latest defeat on poor refereeing. United’s movement pulled the visitors apart in the first half and, without the injured Mohamed Salah, Hugo Ekitiké and Alexander Isak, the threat from Liverpool was nonexistent until capitalising on two errors early in the second half. Defeat stemmed from an anaemic first-half performance, nothing else. Andy Hunter
Match report: Manchester United 3-2 Liverpool
Match report: Arsenal 3-0 Fulham
Match report: Newcastle 3-1 Brighton
Match report: Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham
Match report: Brentford 3-0 West Ham
Match report: Leeds 3-1 Burnley
Continue reading...Inter cruise to Serie A title triumph after Thuram sparks victory over Parma
Inter 2-0 Parma seals scudetto with three games to spare
Marcus Thuram and Henrikh Mkhitaryan on target
Inter sealed the Serie A title with a 2-0 victory over Parma, wrapping up the scudetto with three games to spare. The Nerazzurri only needed a point to claim their 21st Italian league championship before the home match, with defending champions Napoli nine points behind and Milan and 12 points back after a 2-0 defeat at Sassuolo earlier in the day.
Yet a clinical Marcus Thuram finish in first-half stoppage time put the hosts ahead at San Siro. The France forward latched on to Piotr Zielinski’s defence-splitting pass and made no mistake inside the box. Henrikh Mkhitaryan sealed the win with a close-range finish in the 80th minute to ensure a party atmosphere inside the stadium before the full-time whistle.
Continue reading...Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham: Premier League – as it happened
Spurs produced a display full of passion against much-changed Villa to jump out of the bottom three
De Zerbi speaks. Has he seen improvement in the players since the win at Wolves? “Yes, they are working very well.
“I’m very happy to work with these guys. My target is to help them to show what we are.”
Continue reading...Manchester United 3-2 Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened
Manchester United confirmed their Champions League qualification as Kobbie Mainoo hit a winner against their rivals
“Thanks to the Isak injury, yet again Slot is forced to fight fires rather than just manage,” laments Ian Copestake. “Unless it is in January, I hope one day he will be able to say, ‘same team as last year.’”
Now that would be a turn up for the Trent.
Continue reading...Manchester United seal Champions League return as Mainoo ends Liverpool comeback
On 75 minutes up stepped Kobbie Mainoo with the coolest of winners before the Stretford End to cause bedlam among home fans and wrest the bragging rights Manchester United’s way.
After a raid down the left Alexis Mac Allister’s weak clearance rolled to the midfielder who beat Dominik Szoboszlai to punch home a finish that bested Freddie Woodman to the Liverpool goalkeeper’s right.
Continue reading...Watford sack head coach Ed Still after dismal end to Championship season
The 35-year-old, brother of Will Still, lasts three months
Watford sack 11th head coach since end of 2020-21 season
Watford have sacked head coach Ed Still, just three months into a two-and-a-half year contract, following the Championship club’s dismal end to the season. Still was Watford’s 11th permanent head coach since the end of the 2020-21 season.
Still, 35, was appointed in February following the resignation of Javi Gracia and his sacking comes at the end of the Championship season in which Watford lost six of their final seven games. The Hornets finished 16th, 10 points above the relegation zone.
Continue reading...European football: Barcelona close on La Liga title; PSG and Bayern held at home
Barça will be champions if Real fail to win on Sunday
Bayern draw with Heidenheim; PSG denied by Lorient
Barcelona could secure the La Liga title on Sunday after Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres struck late in a 2-1 victory at Osasuna. With four games remaining, Barça top the table on 88 points, 14 clear of second-placed Real Madrid, who have a game in hand and visit Espanyol on Sunday. Should Madrid fail to win, Barcelona will be confirmed champions for the second successive season.
Barça broke through in the 81st minute when Marcus Rashford crossed from the right and Lewandowski rose to head in. Five minutes later Fermín López slipped Torres clear and he finished low past Sergio Herrera. Raúl García pulled back a goal from close range two minutes later, but it was too little to late for Osasuna, who remain 10th on 42 points.
Continue reading...Arsenal 3-0 Fulham: Premier League – as it happened
Arsenal have opened a six-point lead over Manchester City in the title race after a comprehensive home victory over Fulham
“My thanks to Richard Hirst, but if we’re talking races to the grave, I’m probably a way ahead of him,” writes Charles Antaki. “So should the Arsenal men’s team fail at this Premier League hurdle, the next may be beyond my span. Today, the universe has a chance to right the wrongs of the women’s unsatisfactory performance at Lyon; but given that the universe seems to show absolutely no interest in righting wrongs of any description, and there are a few around at the moment, I’m not particularly hopeful. But, as ever, we shall see.”
Mikel Arteta’s pre-match thoughts
Some of the changes are forced. There are other reasons as well – we need a lot of energy, freshness and quality as well.
[On Myles Lewis-Skelly playing in midfield] He’s been very patient, extremely understanding about the situation and he deserves another chance. Every time he’s played, he’s done really well.
Continue reading...Barnes wraps up Newcastle win against Brighton to ease pressure on Howe
Brighton had limbered up for this trip to Tyneside by working out with an acclaimed German cage fighter. The idea was that a spot of mixed martial arts training would toughen up Fabian Hürzeler’s players at set pieces and enable them to pack a collective punch far too powerful for Newcastle to resist.
Happily for Eddie Howe and his players it did not quite work out like that. On a day when Yasir al-Rumayyan, Newcastle’s chair, and a delegation of his colleagues from the club’s majority owners, Saudi Arabian’s Public Investment Fund, looked on from the director’s box, Howe’s team finally ended a debilitating run of five straight defeats.
Continue reading...Bueno gives Wolves share of spoils after Sunderland’s Ballard sent off for hair pull
Sunderland had Dan Ballard sent off for hair pulling as their hopes of European football next season were dented by a 1-1 draw at already-relegated Wolves.
Ballard was given his marching orders in the 24th minute by referee Paul Tierney after a check with VAR determined the Sunderland centre-back had tugged at the long braids of Wolves forward Tolu Arokodare.
Continue reading...Championship finale: Ipswich, Millwall and Middlesbrough vie for automatic promotion – live
⚽ Updates from a crucial afternoon of football action
⚽ Ten things to look out for | Scores | Tables | Mail John
Bill Preston gets in touch: “I think Wednesday beating West Brom and finishing on zero points, the same as they began the season with*, would be fitting. It would reflect a new start to the club, a fresh page, a story yet to be written.
“Although, one can’t help but feel I’ll be writing the same email again this time next year albeit into the League One finale if they get the expected fourteen points deduction post takeover and slide again.”
Continue reading...Pacific Northwest Sportswatch Daily Listings
| (All times Pacific) |
|---|
| Schedule subject to change and/or blackouts |
| Saturday, May 2 |
| COLLEGE BASEBALL |
| 9:05 p.m. |
Fresno State at Washington State — Prime Video
| 10 p.m. |
|---|
Oregon at Washington — BTN
| MLB BASEBALL |
|---|
| 9:40 p.m. |
Kansas City at Seattle — MLBN
| SOCCER (MEN'S) |
|---|
| 2:30 p.m. |
MLS: Seattle Sounders vs. Sporting Kansas City — FOX, Apple TV
| 4:30 p.m. |
|---|
MLS: Portland Timbers vs. Real Salt Lake — FOX, Apple TV
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive TV listings provided by LiveSportsOnTV.
Leeds United 3-1 Burnley: Premier League – as it happened
Anton Stach’s superb early goal sparked a comfortable victory that moved Leeds to the brink of safety
1 min Peeeeeeeeep peeeeeeeeeep! Leeds kick off from right to left as we watch.
A reminder of the teams
Continue reading...