Alexis Guerreros and Christian Polanco dive into a wild MLS weekend and are joined by Austin FC goalkeeper Brad Stuver.
Championship roundup: West Brom sack Mowbray after Derby defeat
- Hull beat Preston 2-1 as four of bottom five win
- Millwall bolster playoff hopes as Coventry and Boro falter
West Brom have announced the departure of Tony Mowbray after the club’s play-off hopes were all-but ended by a 3-1 Championship defeat at home to relegation-threatened Derby.
The visitors twice punished the Baggies from set-pieces when Ebou Adams and Jerry Yates struck from corners in the first half. Adam Armstrong’s goal halved the deficit and made for a nervy final 20 minutes until Nathaniel Mendez-Laing sealed maximum points for Derby, two minutes from time.
Continue reading...Leeds promoted to Premier League after Piroe’s four-goal salvo in Stoke rout
Leeds United’s long march out of the wilderness is over. The last lap of an often gruelling and sometimes downright painful journey into the Premier League proved joyous and unexpectedly straightforward, the only frustration being a slight delay to the start of the formal celebrations.
It was occasioned by the need to wait for the final score from Turf Moor, where Burnley beat Sheffield United to join Leeds in the top tier while consigning Chris Wilder’s side to the playoffs.
Continue reading...Tottenham 1-2 Nottingham Forest: Premier League – as it happened
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...Aston Villa have all the tools to establish themselves among the elite
Unai Emery has built a side with high standards and a squad with depth – they’ll need both in the coming weeks
Most teams in the battle for Champions League qualification are staggering to the line, battered, exhausted, done in by a season that feels like it finished in February but somehow still has a month to run. But as they falter, Aston Villa have seemingly found another gear.
Liverpool are secure in the Champions League qualification slots and Arsenal soon will be, which leaves the remaining three places between five contenders who are separated by just two points, although Nottingham Forest face Tottenham on Monday. Forest, though, have won just three of their last eight in the league. Newcastle had won six in a row in all competitions before Saturday’s 4-1 defeat to Villa. Manchester City are unbeaten in five in the league. Chelsea have won five of their last 11 in the league and have a notably tough run-in. But Villa have won 10 of 11 in all competitions, the only blip their Champions League defeat away to Paris Saint-Germain. There is no question that they are the side in form.
This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.
Continue reading...Leeds on verge of promotion after 6-0 win over Stoke in Championship: football – as it happened
Leeds United all but confirmed their return the top flight, while four of the Championship’s bottom five sides won on a day Morecambe’s exit from the Football League was confirmed
Cardiff City: The Welsh side are second from bottom of the Championship table and host Oxford United thisd afternoon. Following Saturday’s dismissal of Omer Riza, Aaron Ramsey has been given the job of keeping Cardiff up with just three games of the season remaining.
The 34-year-old midfielder has not played for Cardiff since suffering the latest in a long litany of hamstring injuries in March.
Continue reading...Serie A title playoff a tantalising prospect as weary Inter stumble | Nicky Bandini
Champions looked leggy in defeat at Bologna but fatigue could lead to a rare and dramatic finale with Napoli
“The season does not end here,” repeated Simone Inzaghi at full time: to Sky Sport, to Dazn, to anyone who would listen. An undeniable truth, seeing as there are still five rounds to go, yet the more he said it the more you started to wonder who he was trying to convince. Himself? His players? Beppe Bergomi back in the studio?
Why should he even be troubled by this idea? His team were still top of the table. A 1-0 loss to Bologna meant Inter finished the weekend level on points with Napoli, but officially they remained ahead courtesy of Serie A’s second tie-breaker. Both head-to-head meetings ended in 1-1 draws, but the Nerazzurri’s goal difference is far superior.
Continue reading...European football: Orsolini last-gasp bicycle kick dents Inter’s title charge
- Bologna shock leaders with stunning ultra-late winner
- Real Madrid score stoppage time winner against Bilbao
A stunning last-gasp goal by striker Riccardo Orsolini gave Bologna a 1-0 home win against Inter in Serie A on Sunday in a blow to the visitors’ hopes of retaining their title.
Treble-chasing Inter stayed top of the standings with 71 points after 33 games but second-placed Napoli are now level on points with the leaders after securing a late 1-0 win at relegation-threatened Monza on Saturday.
Continue reading...Leicester 0-1 Liverpool: Premier League – Foxes relegated – as it happened
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...Pablo Sarabia stuns Manchester United to extend Wolves’ winning run
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...Confident, ambitious, serious – the Nuno effect is taking Forest into dreamland
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...Aston Villa 4-1 Newcastle United: Premier League – as it happened
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...Ugochukwu stuns West Ham to move Southampton level with Derby’s total
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.
Continue reading...O’Reilly and Kovacic sink Everton to boost Manchester City’s top-five hopes
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.
Continue reading...Bournemouth falter in race for Europe as 10-man Crystal Palace scrape draw
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.
Continue reading...