Premier League
Arsenal crushed Crystal Palace 4-1 to go eight points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table. Bukayo Saka starred for the Gunners with a brace and an assist as Mikel Arteta’s men took a huge step towards a first title in two decades.
Pep Guardiola’s City has a game in hand and will look forward to April 27 — when it will take on Arsenal at its home — to cut down the deficit further.
Newcastle brushed away its indifferent form as it beat Nottingham Forest 2-1 to park itself behind Tottenham Hotspur in fifth. Eddie Howe’s side is just two points behind Spurs and has two games in hand.
The biggest moment of the week came after the Spurs-Southampton game, which ended in an entertaining 3-3 draw. Tottenham manager Antonio Conte vented his frustration in the post-match press conference, criticising his players for their selfishness and blasting the club for its lack of a winning mentality.
Conte’s outburst pushed the already tense relationship he has with club chairman Daniel Levy to the edge and the Italian had to face the sack as he added Spurs to his long list of acrimonious ex-employers.
Ligue 1
League-leading Paris Saint-Germain’s 35-match unbeaten home run came to a crashing end as it folded to a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Rennes.
Among the scorers for Rennes on a famous night was former PSG player Arnaud Kalimuendo, who had left the club last year. Marseille capitalised on PSG’s fumble as it secured a 2-1 comeback win over Reims to cut down the gap to the top spot to seven points. Alexis Sanchez starred for Marseille with a brace, while Arsenal loanee Folrain Balogun scored his 17th goal of the league season for Reims.
La Liga
Franck Kessie scored a late winner for Barcelona as it overcame Real Madrid in a feisty encounter to push itself 12 points clear of its bitter rival. Madrid had taken an early lead through a Ronald Araujo own goal before Sergi Roberto levelled the score just before half-time.
Atletico Madrid continued its strong form, extending its unbeaten run to eight games with a dominant 3-0 win over Valencia. Diego Simeone’s side sits comfortably in third place and is now only five points behind its cross-city rival.
The defeat worsened Valencia’s prospect of avoiding relegation as it now sits 17th in the league table and will have to play out of its skin to ensure safety.
Both Real Betis and Real Sociedad secured facile wins as the team continue their tangle for the final Champions League qualification spot.
Bundesliga
Julian Nagelsmaan’s abrupt sacking as the manager of Bayern Munich, despite the side still being in contention in both the league and at the continental level, spiced up the already-heating-up title chase in Bundesliga.
Nagelsmann’s departure came after his side fell to a chastening 1-2 defeat away from home to Bayer Leverkusen, with Argentine striker Exequiel Palacios scoring twice for the home side.
Bayern’s defeat meant Borussia Dortmund, which had earlier thumped Koln 6-1, took up the mantle of league leadership. The yellow brigade now holds a slender one-point advantage over the defending champion, which has since appointed Thomas Tuchel as its new manager.
The battle at the top of the table will come to a head when the two sides will take on each other at the Allianz Arena on April 1. RB Leipzig’s faint title hopes received a huge dent when it fell to a shock 0-1 defeat to VfL Bochum.
Union Berlin capitalised on Leipzig’s misstep as it cantered to a 2-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt to secure the third spot.
Serie A
Napoli looks set to win the Serie A title by a record margin of points, overtaking the 22-point mark set by Inter Milan in the 2006-07 season.
A dominant performance, culminating in a 4-0 win against Torino, furthered Napoli’s cushion at the top to 19 points. Napoli’s star duo — Victor Osimhem and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia — starred again, with the Nigerian scoring twice, and the Georgian finding the net once.
Luciano Spalletti’s side’s march to the Scudetto was aided by Juventus, which beat previously-second-placed Inter Milan 1-0 in an ill-tempered game, with both teams getting a red card apiece.
Defending champion AC Milan fell to a shock 1-3 defeat away to Udinese, while Jose Mourinho’s Roma succumbed to a 0-1 loss to Lazio in another game marked by multiple red cards.
Comments
SHARE