Manchester City officially kicked off their “Treble” aspirations by winning the Carabao Cup by beating Tottenham 1-0. Truly, this cup has become an automatic for City after they won their fourth straight Carabao (EFL) Cup and sixth in the previous eight years ! Utter dominance as they now equal Liverpool for most trophies with 8. It would have been an astounding achievement had Tottenham won it for the 29 year old, Ryan Mason, who is now the interim manager at Spurs.
City’s Premier League title hopes bolstered this week with Manchester United being held for 0-0 stalemate at Leeds United. The gap to the top of the table is 10 points with only five games remaining. The ultimate trophy to complete the Treble, the Champions League, will be a rather challenging task for City as they face the high octane PSG in the semi-finals. The other semi-finals include a clash between Real Madrid and Chelsea, which will be a tactical chess match between Tuchel and Zidane.
This was one of those weeks in the Premier League where we had games everyday! Everton beat Arsenal 1-0 at the Emirates reviving the European aspirations for the Toffees (Merseyside Blue ! Any P.E.S. fans out there ? 😜). While a dismal season for Arsenal is now solely hinged on their performance in the Europa League where they will face Villarreal in the semi-finals. Liverpool fell to a stoppage time (let’s call it Joe Willock time for this season) equalizer and failed to keep up in the top – 4 race as Chelsea beat West Ham 1-0 in a crucial head-to-head match. This six point swing for Chelsea will establish them as the front runners to finish in the top 4 this season. Burnley took Wolves apart thanks to a Chris Wood hat trick, beating them 4-0 at Molineux Stadium.
Elsewhere, we have razor thin margins deciding the title in the French Ligue 1 as Lille edged past Lyon 3-2 to regain a one point lead over PSG. Same continues in La Liga with Atletico Madrid losing to Bilbao leaving the door open for Barcelona to lead the table. Currently, Atletico sit at the top with 73 points followed by Real Madrid with 71 and Barcelona at 71 with a game in hand. Ajax are almost certain to win the Eredivisie title with a 12 point lead over PSV and four games to go. Atalanta have found some late form, beating Bologna 5-0 and jumping to second in the Serie A table behind Inter Milan who’ve established a commanding 11 point lead at the top of the table. A mini-league is formed within the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund, currently at fifth, is trying to leapfrog either Wolfsburg or Frankfurt at third and fourth respectively.
With the Rise and Fall of the European Super League, UEFA is set to unveil its expanded Champions League plan in the 2024 season. Will this be hit with the fans ? or will it exhaust the players even more ? Stay tuned to find out more 😉
Ball in the Net 