After Friday night’s English Premier League (EPL) game Newcastle edged closer to safety beating their hosts Leicester City 1 nil. Newcastle are now 2 points short of the 40 points that would guarantee them football in the English top flight next season. Tottenham Hotspur seem to be enjoying their new home ground beating already relegated Huddersfield Town 4:0 for their third consecutive win at their new $1.2bn stadium. Harry Kane was not available for Spurs and he has missed out on the chance to score the first hattrick on this new ground after not being able to register a goal in the first game against Crystal Palace and the second game against Manchester City in the Champions League. Tottenham are now 3rd on the EPL log.
In other EPL ties, Bournemouth beat 10 man Brighton 5:0 at the Amex Stadium. Brighton are now 17th on the table and are 5 points off the relegation zone. Burnley were 2 nil better than Cardiff and are close to safety while Cardiff City are hoping for a miracle to survive. In one of my previous posts I stated clearly that Everton is not a team to place bets on because they pick points where it seems impossible and drop points where they should be picking them. They lost 2:0 to Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Southampton did their chances of staying up a lot of good by beating giant killers Wolverhampton Wanderers 3:1. With an unimpressive performance, Manchester United were able to pick all 3 points on offer against West Ham to keep hope alive of making it into the top 4 of the EPL log. You don’t expect them to get into the top 4 with a performance like that but hey they got the job done with a 2:1 win. Paul Pogba scored 2 penalties and West Ham’s goal was scored by Felipe Anderson in between both United penalties.
In the Super Sunday games Manchester City were able to pick all 3 points available against Crystal Palace beating the Eagles 3:1 to briefly return to the summit but the stay at the top lasted a couple of hours as Liverpool dispatched Chelsea 2:0 to regain top position. City however have the advantage with a game in hand and hopefully fatigue won’t be the issue in the coming weeks for the Citizens.
In the EPL’s Monday night game, a win for Arsenal over Watford would send them back to 4th.
In the Italian Serie A, Juventus were denied the chance of lifting the Serie A on Saturday by Spal but delay isn’t denial in this case as we know that Juventus would do whatever it takes to secure their 8th consecutive league title. New kid on the block Moise Kean had put Juve a goal up in the first half before Spal decided to ruin the party for the Old Lady beating Juventus 2:1. A case could however be made for Juventus, they fielded a B side because of their Champions League tie against Ajax on Tuesday night. Edin Dzeko’s goal was enough to hand Roma 3 points against Udinese. Roma are a point behind A.C Milan who beat Lazio through a Franck Kessie penalty to remain 4th on the log.
In other Serie A games, Torino were held to a 1 all draw by Cagliari with both teams having one and two players sent off respectively. Fiorentina and Bologna drew blanks (0:0) in Florence, Sampdoria beat Genoa 2:0, Sassuolo and Parma ended their tie in a goalless stalemate while 2nd placed Napoli beat bottom side Chievo Verona 3:1 with one of Europe’s best defenders Kalidou Koulibaly scoring a brace. Inter Milan remain third as they beat Frosinone 3:1. Atalanta play Empoli on Monday night.
The German Bundesliga saw the top two sides; Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund beat Düsseldorf and Mainz 4:1 and 2:1 respectively to keep the title chase close with a point separating both teams. Nurnberg and Schalke 04 drew 1:1, Hannover lost 1 nil to Borussia Monchengladbach, RB Leipzig were 2:0 better than Wolfsburg, Stuttgart lost 1:0 to Bayer Leverkusen at home, Werder Bremen were 2:1 victors over Freiburg, Hoffenheim continued with their good form beating Hertha Berlin 2:0 to rack up a 4th win in 5 games. Eintracht Frankfurt were beaten 3:1 at home to record their second game on the bounce. Before Thursday’s loss to Benfica in the Europa League Frankfurt had not lost a competitive game this year.
In the French Ligue 1, the Dijon versus Amiens game ended 0:0 and Nantes handed Lyon their 3rd straight loss beating them 2:1. Marseille came out tops in their tie against Nimes winning 2:1, Angers beat Caen 1:0, Monaco were forced to a goalless draw by Reims and Strasbourg and Guingamp shared the spoils in their game playing out a 3 all draw. Montpellier beat Toulouse 2:1, Rennes and Nice couldn’t register a goal apiece, 0:0. St. Etienne thrashed Bordeaux 3 nil. PSG’s title defence was stalled by Lille on Sunday night. Lille beat the Parisiens 5:1 to delay their celebrations.
In the Spanish La Liga, Espanyol put a dent on Alaves’ chances of playing in the Europa league beating them 2:1, a 2nd string Barcelona side were held to a goalless draw by Huesca. Barcelona were keeping an eye on the return leg of their Champions League tie against Manchester United hence the fielding of a B Team. Atletico Madrid beat Celta Vigo 2:0 while Sevilla were 3:2 winners over Real Betis to keep their hopes of playing in next season’s Champions League alive. Real Valladolid and Getafe played 2:2, Athletic Bilbao won their clash with Rayo Vallecano 3:2, Real Sociedad versus Eibar ended 1:1 and Nigeria’s Samuel Chukwueze scored Villarreal’s only goal in their win over Girona. Valencia beat Levante 3:1 to make the battle for top 4 more interesting. Real Madrid face Leganes on Monday night.
Retelling sports with a goal in mind!!!
