Another Southampton Leicester City match up, another early red card for the Saints but a narrow escape with a crucial point this time. Is this rivalry now chasing behind the notorious red card reputation the Merseyside derby holds ? 😄 For Leicester City, the next four games will be all “cup finals” as they hold on to book a place in next year’s Champions League.
Manchester City can smell the title as they move ever so close to be crowning the next Premier League champions as they took care of business and beat Crystal Palace 2-0. Chelsea are now firmly in control of the fourth place and are only two points away from Leicester City at third. West Ham United also boosted their European ambitions with a 1-2 victory at Burnley and now are two points ahead of Tottenham at sixth, who treated us with a Gareth Bale hat trick and beat Sheffield United 4-0. It is important to note that if either Chelsea or Man City win the Champions League this season (and both are in commanding positions in their respective ties) the fifth place will also act as an automatic qualification spot for next year’s competition.
Brighton secured an important 2-0 win against Leeds United to spring away from the bottom three while Everton continued their rollercoaster season with yet another loss, this time against Aston Villa. This weekend’s blockbuster game of the North (my friend calls it game of the Northern Hemisphere 😅), Manchester United vs Liverpool was postponed due to a breach of the stadium before kick-off. The protestors were holding banners against the current Manchester United owners demanding them to sell the club.
The 11 year wait for Inter Milan is over as Antonio Conte’s men are crowned as the champions of Italy, ending Juventus’ nine year stint as defending champions. In France, Lille is holding strong to a one point lead over PSG with a 2-0 win over Nice. Only three games left for them to hold on ! (HODOR ! 😄). In La Liga, Barcelona squandered the opportunity to go atop of the table by losing 1-2 to Granada which means Atletico Madrid now holds a two point advantage with 34 games played each.
Razor thin margins deciding either the champions or the top 4 races across Europe calls for another exciting week full of footballing action. This week also has the Champions League semifinals’ second leg for us ! Stay tuned for more updates coming your way. See you next week !
Ball in the Net 