Tag: featured

Erling Haaland Fires Four Past Wolves in Six Goal Thriller

The Premier League top scorer has regained his spot once again at the top of the golden boot race with a first half hattrick against Wolves that has silenced fans saying that he is a shadow of his 22/23 performance.

With his 5 goals on Saturday, Haaland has now registered 25 goals in the Premier League and 36 goals across all competitions in 41 appearances. It has come to the back end of the season where he has really come to life after scoring his sixth hattrick for the treble winners in just two seasons at the club.

Two of Haalands goals against Wolves came from the Penalty spot with a soft one given in the 12th minute and then a blatant foul onto Jeremy Doku in added time on the first half. It took him 54 minutes of the game to score 4 goals and, as Guardiola does, he inevitably subbed him off and sent him to rest which fans are speculated caused his frustration on the subs bench.

After the game concluded, Manchester United legend, Roy Keane, had a lot to say about Haalands outburst on the bench saying he was ”behaving like a spoiled brat”.

This comes only weeks after calling Haaland a ‘‘League Two player without his goals”. It has been highly critised that he can have this statement on the post match after just scoring 4 goals and giving his team the push that they need in the title race.

He did then say in the post match interview with viaplay that he ”does not care specifically about that man” referring to Roy Keane, possibly igniting Roy Keanes comments in the punditry box at full time.

Manchester City’s next game in this neck and neck title race is against Fulham on the 11th of May on the early 12:30 kick off where they will hope to regain their lead that they have in the Premier League over Arsenal and set up for their toughest game in this back end of the season against Spurs on the 14th of May, only three days later.

Returning Haaland Keeps Man City In Control of the Title Race

After Liverpool dropping points yet again, it is down to Manchester City and Arsenal to battle the title between the two of them rather than the three that was expected.

Manchester City faced off against a punished Nottingham Forest after a 4 point deduction in late March.

City lined up without Phil Foden who was out with an apparent illness so he stayed in Manchester whilst the team travelled. With the missing Foden, came some good news with the return of Erling Haaland who was out of the squad for two games due to fatigue/ muscle injuries.

Despite not starting for this game, Erling Haaland did come on in the 62nd minute whilst the Champions were already 1-0 up. He came on and almost instantly made it 2-0 with a goal in the 71st minute pretty much putting an end to the battle that Forest were putting up.

Haalands goal puts him back on the top of the golden boot race that has been very contended this year compared to the last that the Norwegian dominated. He goes up to 21 goals whilst Cole Palmer is just one behind with Ollie Watkins and Alexander Isak are sitting on 19 goals.

Just like the title race, the golden boot race is up for debate and will go down to the final day.

This game was also a landmark moment for City with Pep Guardiola taking control of 300 Premier League games with a staggering 221 wins. Despite his contract expiring, Guardiola is consistently extending his contract at the right timing for the following season.

If he does decide to extend and stay with Manchester City despite winning everything he possibly can, he could put his name in Premier League history as the most prolific winner of all time.

Manchester City will face off against Wolves on the 4th of May at the Etihad Stadium with the reverse game of this fixture going in the way of Wolves handing City one of their 3 losses all season long.

Foden Brace Keeps Man City in Driving Seat For Title Push

Phil Foden, who is having the best season of his career delivers once again for Manchester City in the run in to the end of the season where City normally perform their best.

After missing last weeks Premier League games due to the FA Cup ties, Manchester City travelled to Brighton to close the gap that Arsenal gained after winning both of their games. Manchester City are now in the final games of the season which, they took control of last season breaking a 13 point gap into a Premier League winning season.

Phil Foden has taken over the role of the centre of attention for this City side this year with injuries to Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne going in and out of injuries, but Foden was the one stable person within Manchester City this year. He has now become the main person to look towards a game changing moment this year.

City took the game comfortably 4-0 with a 3-0 first half making the home side realise that their chances for Europe next year is now near impossible with even winning out the rest of their games, they would still need the 5 teams above them to drop drastic points in their battle for Europe.

The day before the Manchester City game, Liverpool got shocked by Everton in a 2-0 loss putting their title chances even further in doubt now sitting 3 points off of Arsenal at the top of the table.

Arsenal are currently sat at the top of the table, however, the top position will be short-lived as City are one point behind them with a game in hand. Meaning even a draw for Manchester City could put enough pressure onto Arsenal in this title race.

Manchester City’s next game is against Nottingham Forsest on Sunday following the North London Derby between Tottenham and Arsenal where City fans will be having their best Spurs shirts on for the huge game in the title race.

A Fatigued City Squeeze Past Chelsea in FA Cup Semi-Final

Only 2 full days after being knocked out of the Champions League in added time, Manchester City travelled to London to try and defend their title in the FA Cup against Chelsea who have been rested since last weekend.

Despite the 120 minutes in the midweek, Guardiola only made 4 changes to the side with one of them being the goalkeeper, with Pep’s reasoning being that they did it years ago against Liverpool (made changes after midweek game) and they got destroyed 3-0 so he learnt not to do that and stuck with the team that he knew would win.

You could tell from the get-go that the Manchester City players that played over 90 minutes in the midweek were very fatigued and were not playing to the standard that was expected from their side especially Rodri, who made several sloppy plays which is unusual for the superstar midfielder. Kyle Walker is another player who only just coming back from injury has played 210 minutes of football in one week. It can be shown that the fact Champions League and FA Cup being played in one week is a major flaw of the formatting.

With Bernardo Silva to be one of the players to miss a penalty in the shootout in midweek, he made redemption for himself by scoring what proved to be the only goal of the game against Chelsea to send them into the FA Cup Final where they will look to defend their title once again.

This win also makes City’s first win against Chelsea this season with the London side being able to keep the Champions to a draw both at Stamford Bridge and the Etihad Stadium.

Bernardo Silva celebrated clutching the City badge on his shirt showing his loyalty and love towards the club that has brought him so much success and the club he has given his heart to since signing in 2017.

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Despite being by far the superior team in creating clear chances and counter-attacking off of City’s mistakes, Chelsea just were not clinical enough in front of the goal with their striker, Nicholas Jackson squandering a hat-trick of clear cut opportunities for Chelsea to take the lead in the tie against a fatigued Manchester City.

After the game concluded, Thiago Silva was seen on camera shedding tears for this loss at Wembley with the 39-year-old set to hold talks with the club over his contract and whether or not he will extend with the likely possibility being that this was his last chance at a trophy in his final year at the club.

Chelsea now put their efforts towards the Premier League where they can still fight for a spot in the Europa League against Tottenham, Manchester United and West Ham.

Manchester City turn their efforts onto the Premier League title race, with the FA Cup final not taking place until the 25th of May 2024.

Liverpool Go Tumbling Out Of Europa League To Atalanta

Liverpool, after chasing a treble of their own, are now down to just the Premier League to fight for as they go tumbling out of the Europa League in a 3-1 aggregate scoreline leaving Klopp’s final season as an underwhelming one.

Liverpool were heavy favourites coming into the tie as they were leading in the Premier League table ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal whilst Atalanta were sitting 7th place in the Serie A, leading fans to believe that this was just a brush over for Klopp’s men.

However, it didn’t go that way in a crumbling 3-0 defeat at Anfield left fans and the players scratching their heads on what happened in a game that seemed straight forward to win. Maybe it was the idea that they were better than them, and the confidence took over the fact that they are a fighting side that weren’t going to go down quietly.

In the most important part of the season, Liverpool have seemed to have hit a slump of form in their run in to the end of the title race which has effected their performances in the Europa League at the same time. A shocking 3-0 loss to Atalanta at home followed by a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace put them in a position of doubt after looking comfortably in control and looking to take over the game.

The return fixture in Italy proved to be too hard for Klopp’s men to come back from and left them out of every competition bar the Premier League. A 3-0 deficit eventually broke them and they only managed 1 goal back from a Mo Salah penalty in the 7th minute which gave them hope, but that was the end of it.

After going out of the Europa League in astonishing fashion, Jurgen Klopp’s legacy at Liverpool will be ending in just 6 games with them all being in the Premier League in a title race that no one can seem to name as the leader at the moment.

With their heads turned to the Premier League, they look ahead to Sunday where they travel to Fulham to try and keep their title chances alive with Manchester City missing this weekends games due to their semi-final tie against Chelsea which will decide if Guardiola can end this year with a domestic double with Klopp already taking the crown of the EFL Cup.

Arsenal will face off against Wolves in the Premier League tomorrow with themselves coming off of a 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League and dropping points in the title race to Aston Villa last weekend.

The title race could be a three-way final day decider, one that has never been seen before in Premier League football where all three teams could reach the 90 point mark. Leading to the most competitive title race in years.

What to Expect From Man City vs Luton

With the title race coming down to the wire in its final 7 games in the Premier League, Manchester City face ‘must win’ games including welcoming Luton to the Etihad Stadium this weekend.

With the Etihad Stadium being something of a fortress over the last 2 years, any team to come and visit Manchester would come away with a draw in the BEST case scenario with teams such as Real Madrid, Liverpool, Arsenal all failing to get a win at the Etihad Stadium.

The upcoming game with Real Madrid could mean that Guardiola would rest players such as Phil Foden or Ruben Dias with the strength in depth of their bench, City can afford for Jeremy Doku and Rico Lewis to step into the side for their tie this weekend.

It is reported that De Bruyne’s illness earlier in the week came from food poisoning which he seems to be recovered mostly from and will be fit for next weeks reverse fixture of the champions league tie against Real Madrid and could star in this weekends tie against Luton Town.

Manchester City go into the game against Luton 1 point off the top spot in the Premier League with Arsenal and Liverpool sitting on 71 points. The run in for Arsenal is without a doubt the hardest of the three where they have to face off against Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United in games that could cause their title race could come crumbling down.

City also have to deal with the FA Cup, Champions League and Premier League in the space of 8 days with games against Real Madrid and Chelsea in the cup competitions possibly leaning towards resting certain players that wouldn’t need to play the full 90 minutes against Luton.

The team that could possibly be sent out this weekend, should be weaker than usual with Ederson maybe returning to the side and Rico Lewis, Mattheus Nunes and Jeremy Doku returning to their starting XI still possibly regaining their Premier League title.

The Two Titan Teams Forced To a 3-3 Draw at The Bernabeu

Two giants in global football faced off last night at the Bernabeu with the greatest club in the world against the best team in the world in this huge champions league clash.

The game is a repeat of the last three years of Champions League football with these two teams facing each other in the knockout stages with both teams having 1 win a piece, each year one of the two teams winning the competition.

This game had the skill and talent to become a final game however, it was a quarterfinal tie with one of these great teams being taken out of the competition so quickly in the tie next week with the aggregate score being 3-3.

With the run in into the game, people were fixated on the battle between the two hot English talents, Jude Bellingham vs Phil Foden. However, the Real Madrid youngster didn’t have much success compared to the Stockport lad. Phil Foden scored an insane goal from outside of the 18-yard box rocketing into the top left of the goal putting the game level at 2-2 60 minutes in.

The game started off crazy with a 2nd minute free-kick goal from Bernardo Silva which was answered back from Real Madrid with 2 goals in 2 minutes from the 13th-15th minute tie-ing up the game until the second half where Guardiolas side retaliated with 2 incredible goals from Foden and Gvardiol putting the game in their favour. However, it was short lived with Valverde having a sweet volley shot from the edge of the box rattling into the bottom corner of Ortegas goal.

Rodri’s incredible unbeaten run continues with 66 wins in all competitions after the 3-3 draw at the Bernabeu. The reverse fixture of this game should carry on this run with the Etihad being a fortress unbeaten for over a year which could lean towards a repeat of last years tie where it was all square in Madrid and once it kicked off in Manchester, City dominated 4-0 against Real Madrid.

Manchester City will still face Luton Town on the 13th of April at 15:00 with the run up to the reverse fixture in Manchester where they cannot afford to rest too many crucial players in the title race that has fans biting their nails to see if the treble can actually be retained for two years in a row.

Man City Injury Updates Ahead Of Real Madrid Tonight

Pep Guardiola’s treble winning Manchester City return to the Bernabeu to face Real Madrid who they beat 5-1 on aggregate last year, despite having a 1-1 draw in Madrid but dominating at the Etihad.

They come into this game with a different team as they are missing key parts of what kept Real Madrid at only 1 goal in the two legs. Real Madrid have also changed but they changed for the better with the addition of Jude Bellingham who has become a scoring machine in the La Liga this year.

City Injuries

Kyle Walker

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The City captain took a hit during his International duty for England where he went to the floor and was unable to play on during friendly games. Despite it only being a friendly, Gareth Southgate put out 33 year old Walker who has been crucial to Manchester City’s defence this year.

His involvement in last years tie against Real Madrid made sure that Vinicius Jr’s speed and dribbling was kept to a minimal 1 goal. Without Walker to face, Vinicius could see a few goals to his name during this tie which would cause some serious problems for City.

Rico Lewis has been playing in the right back role in Walkers absence. Despite how good the youngster is, Vinicius Jr could cause too many problems for the 19 year old.

Nathan Ake

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Nathan Ake joins Kyle Walker in being the only two first team players that haven’t travelled with the side to Madrid for the first leg of this huge tie. An injury that was picked up 2 weeks ago in the Arsenal vs Man City game which saw him off the pitch in the first half meant that Rico Lewis had to step into his position.

In a statement from the manager, Guardiola states that Ake and Walker aren’t close to coming back and wouldn’t be travelling with the squad to face Real Madrid.

In Ake’s absence, it has given the opportunity for Rico Lewis to start as the only natural full-back left on the City books that is un-injured and fit to play. All signs point to a Rico Lewis start for tonight’s game at the Bernabeu.

Josko Gvardiol

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In the 4-2 win over Crystal Palace on the weekend, Pep Guardiola made a surprise substitution at half time for Josko Gvardiol taking to the bench and Manuel Akanji coming into the starting XI for the final 45 minutes.

It was later confirmed that he felt uneasy and the boss decided that it was better to not risk it and brought him to the bench to try and preserve his body for future games. The game was tied 1-1 at half time and even without the Croatian, they managed to take the game 4-2 in the end.

Despite being not fully ready, he has travelled with the squad to Madrid but it is doubtful that he will be a starter for the game with the Manchester City defence being 3 men down that are all usual starters for Pep’s side this year.

Ederson

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Ederson, after taking a hit during the game against Liverpool nearly a month ago, is now fit for selection for the Real Madrid game tonight. However, despite him being back to fit and ready for selection.

”Ederson comes back from being injured and feels good, I think. So I have to decide if a lack of rhythm. But we’re really pleased from Stefan, an exceptional keeper”

Says Pep Guardiola in post press conference after 4-2 win over Crystal Palace.

Ortega has been exceptional in goal for the treble winners in Edersons absence and City fans are slowing realising that Ortega has the capability to become a starter for a world class team with his talents and composure.

It is expected that Manchester City will come into the game with a chip on their shoulder losing their captain and 3 of their starting 4 defenders, however, the Citizens are well known for their strength in depth with the talent that they have in their academy and they reverse rosters such as Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji and John Stones returning from his injury just in time for the Real Madrid tie.

Mainoo SHOCKS Liverpool With Stunner To Force a Draw at Old Trafford

Kobbie Mainoo strikes the ball to send it right into the top right corner of the goal to put Liverpool’s title dreams a bit shaky with Arsenal and Manchester City now breathing down the neck of Liverpool with Arsenal sitting at the top of the league after beating Brighton 3-0 on Saturday and City defeating Palace 4-2.

After knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup at Old Trafford a few weeks ago, they had a repeat of the fixture once again with a similar result coming out of it despite not getting the win.

Liverpool were heavy favourites to win the tie with revenge on their minds but also the immense pressure of not being allowed to drop any points in the run in to the end of the season. However, United youngster, Mainoo, had other ideas with a beautiful goal from the edge of the box curling into the top corner of the net giving United the lead for a brief moment before an awful tackle from Wan-Bisaka led to Salah slotting home a penalty to tie up the game and end it 2-2.

Manchester United taking away the two points from Liverpool leave the Premier League title race neck and neck between the three sides with only goal difference separating Liverpool and Arsenal with City trailing behind by only 1 point.

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Willy Kambwala earned himself a start in this game and he did not disappoint with a strong showing from himself and his partnership alongside Harry Maguire managed to shut out Liverpool from getting a significant chance inside of their half with both goals being set-pieces, which gives credit to the young Frenchman alongside Maguire.

United next game is against Bournemouth in the Premier League where they are still fighting for an unlikely spot in Europe for next season with themselves being 11 points behind Villa and Spurs who are neck and neck for the fourth place finish that is so attractive to United fans as of recent.

Liverpool will go on to face Crystal Palace at home with hopes to regain their lost points with a win keeping themselves in contention with the win and hopefully a good send off for Klopp in his final season.

Manchester City Cruise Past Palace with 4-2 Victory

Manchester City keep their name in the race for the Premier League with a comfortable win over Crystal Palace with Kevin De Bruyne bagging a brace and an assist after being rested in the midweek game against Aston Villa.

After a hat-trick performance against Villa, Phil Foden was awarded with a rest in this tie ahead of the huge Champions league tie against Real Madrid. In his place was the world class, Kevin De Bruyne who didn’t disappoint with 2 goals and an assist to put the game to bed.

With his second goal, he set a milestone and joins the 100 club for Manchester City goals going onto the list of players that is very limited to legends of the club. De Bruyne can now be put down in the City history books as a legend of the club.

Their win over Palace puts City in the title race with Arsenal and Liverpool both getting results from their games that keeps the title race neck and neck and could possibly go down to the final day once again potentially creating another ‘93:20′ moment.

The double-treble is most definitely on for with Manchester City not ‘dominating’ the Premier League as to speak, however, their chances are very good to grab another repeat with the semi-finals of the FA Cup against Chelsea coming up soon and the super important repeat tie of Manchester City vs Real Madrid in the Champions League set to play tomorrow night.

Their next Premier League game is against Luton at the Etihad Stadium on the 13th of April being a must win game which all of their games in the run in, are going to be.