Sport
Weekend Round Up: All Eyes On Premier League As PSG & Juve Wrap Up Titles
With just weeks remaining in the football season, the titles races in Europe’s biggest leagues will soon be decided. Manchester City and Liverpool are still scrapping it out in the Premier League just as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are in Germany. Meanwhile, PSG and Juventus had opportunities to seal their own domestic titles this weekend. James Martin reviews the weekend’s action for us.
Spurred On
Perhaps motivated by their elimination from Europe, City were efficient in their defeat of Spurs in the Premier League. They led within five minutes, as they have done in so many matches on this run-in, but the source was less commonplace. Phil Foden headed in from close range for his first league goal after Aguero unselfishly set him up.
Spurs had their chances to respond, but had seemingly used up their clinical touch in the Champions League. Son was repeatedly denied from close range against Ederson, while Eriksen was also kept out from a one-on-one. The result temporarily put City top and they have now won each of their last ten games, the kind of relentless form that they are justified favourites to retain their crown. However, for now at least, they are back in second.
Liverpool made sure of this by extending the impressive run of their own, dispatching of Cardiff 2-0. Whatever twists and turns may lie ahead, both sides can undoubtedly hold their heads high.
No Silva Lining for United
Attentions of those at the Etihad and Anfield now turn to Manchester United. Guardiola’s City must win at Old Trafford on Wednesday if they are to keep control of this enthralling title race.
Many Liverpool fans see this as a real opportunity for City to drop points and find themselves in the alien position of rooting for United. However, their own city rivals gave them reason to doubt this optimism when they took on Solskjaer’s men this weekend. Everton are nowhere near as tough a test as City on paper, yet they dismantled Manchester United 4-0.
United looked hapless, as has been the case almost from the moment Solskjaer’s appointment was made permanent. On form book alone, there can only be one winner on Wednesday. However, derby games of any description are notoriously hard to predict – if City think that it is already won, it could end disastrously for them.
One need only consider United’s 3-2 triumph over their neighbours last season, when victory would have clinched a very early title for City. The Red Devils have at least been given a point to prove by the drubbing at Goodison Park, maybe it will be Everton and United who ultimately determine to which of their city rivals the title heads.
PSG Finally Wrap It Up
PSG have had a somewhat easier time of winning their league title but, in recent weeks, they have delayed the inevitable by stuttering badly. Some weakened line-ups have failed to overcome first Lille and then Nantes, suffering humiliating 5-1 and 3-2 defeats. The gap was always too great to realistically stand a chance of being bridged, however, and the Parisian side sealed the deal before they kicked a ball this weekend.
Lille could only keep things mathematically alive with a perfect record in the run-in, and when Toulouse held them to a goalless draw Thomas Tuchel knew his side had the league wrapped up. They celebrated in style, Kylian Mbappe marked his return to the starting line-with a hattrick against Monaco. He put his former club to the sword, scoring all three goals in a 3-1 victory. Golovin got the consolation for the principality side, who can at least console themselves with the fact that their continued Ligue Un status looks to have been all but secured since Jardim’s return.
Whether the title makes this a successful season for Tuchel is very much up for debate. The PSG board, who see domestic victory as a minimum, may well not view it this way after an underwhelming Champions League campaign.
Still Life in the Old Lady
Juventus have been similarly held up in their celebrations recently but this weekend were also able to seal the deal. A 2-1 loss to SPAL had delayed them last week but they welcomed Fiorentina knowing that a draw would suffice.
They went one better. Despite falling behind early on, they rallied to a 2-1 triumph which was sufficient to secure a remarkable eighth consecutive Serie A title. Napoli pushed them all the way last season under Maurizio Sarri but this campaign has been a relative stroll; their lead stands at twenty points over Napoli who have six games remaining.
The fact that two of the top five leagues have been wrapped up with time to spare helps to heighten the appreciation for the tense races in England and Germany. Borussia Dortmund kept the pressure firmly piled on Bayern with an emphatic 4-0 win against Freiburg, with Niko Kovac’s side just scraping past Werder Bremen to keep their lead intact. It is very difficult to call, but with Bayern’s harder run-in Dortmund may fancy that there will be one more twist to come.
