As Man City closes in on Arsenal, Messi continues to amaze at PSG

While the Premier League title race heats up, Bayern’s misery continues with Mainz loss. Meanwhile Juventus’ 15-point penalty overturned.

Star power: Lionel Messi showed his class once again in PSG’s match against Angers. 

Premier League

There was a time when Arsenal was waltzing towards winning its first League title since 2004, but now, the Gunners can feel the breath of Pep Guardiola’s well-oiled Manchester City on their shoulders. Given the circumstances, Arteta’s men really cannot afford to drop points, but they did against bottom-placed Southampton in a 3-3 draw. They would have come away with nothing, if not for the late heroics of Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka. Trailing 1-3 till the 87th minute, Odegaard and Saka clinched two late goals to bag a precious point for the league-leader. Also, dropping points in earlier matches against Liverpool and West Ham (both 2-2 draws) has not helped Arsenal’s case.

It is not just the title race that is heating up. The battle for a precious Champions League spot is gripping, to say the least. Tottenham Hotspur, which looked like a likely candidate to grab a UCL spot earlier, is on a downward spiral, especially since Antonio Conte’s exit. The spiral took a steeper drop as Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United beat Spurs 6-1 in a ruthless performance at St. James’ Park.

Erik Ten Hag’s Manchester United came away with a 2-0 win against Forest last week to solidify its place in the top-four race.

Stamford Bridge has not been a happy place to be in this season and the disappointment continued as Frank Lampard’s Chelsea succumbed to a 1-2 loss against Brighton and Hove Albion to remain in the bottom-half of the table. Lampard is yet to win a match since rejoining as the interim manager after head coach Graham Potter got the axe.

After matchday 32, Arsenal tops the table with 75 points. Manchester City is second with 70, having played two games less. Newcastle and Manchester United are third and fourth, respectively, with 59 points each, but the Magpies are higher due to a better goal-difference. The Red Devils have a game in hand against Howe’s side. Spurs are fifth with 53 points, with Villa and Liverpool sixth and seventh with 51 and 50 points, respectively. Chelsea is 11th with 39 points.

Comfy no more: With three consecutive draws, the last being a 3-3 thriller against Southampton, Arsenal’s title hopes are in jeopardy once again.  | Photo Credit: GETTY IMAGES

La Liga

Barcelona is well on its way to winning the La Liga crown for the first time since Lionel Messi’s departure. It faced a tricky challenge against an in-form Atletico Madrid side. But Xavi and his men did enough to eke out a 1-0 win, as Ferran Torres scored the only goal of the match.

Real Madrid secured a comfortable 2-0 win against Celta Vigo, with Marco Asensio and Eder Militao scoring for Los Blancos. A league-title sounds far-fetched for Carlo Ancelotti’s side this season unless Barca suffers a late-season crumble. But, it is still in contention to win two other trophies — the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, which, if it wins, will be a record-extending 15th title.

After matchday 30, Barcelona leads the standings with 76 points. Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad occupy the second, third and fourth places with 65, 60 and 54 points, respectively.

Bundesliga

Julian Nagelsmann would be forgiven for chuckling at Bayern Munich’s expense. After his sacking, his successor Thomas Tuchel has been finding the going tough in Bavaria. If the UCL humiliation at the hands of Manchester City wasn’t enough, Bayern’s Bundesliga monopoly is at risk after it suffered a 3-1 loss against Mainz. It resulted in the club losing the top spot in the standings.

Borussia Dortmund’s failure to capitalise on Bayern’s misfortunes has been a common occurrence over the past seasons. But that was not the case this past matchweek as the Ruhr side thrashed Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0 to climb to the summit.

After matchday 29, Dortmund tops the standings with 60 points. Bayern is second with just a point behind. Union Berlin and SC Freiburg are third and fourth with 55 and 53 points, respectively.

Serie A

Preparations to celebrate a league title after 33 years are in full swing in the city of Naples. Despite its recent loss against AC Milan in the Champions League, Luciano Spalletti’s side has been an embodiment of efficiency in Serie A this season. In its latest outing against Juventus, Giacomo Raspadori struck late in second-half additional time to steal a 1-0 win for Napoli. As things stand, if Napoli wins its home game against Salernitana next week and Lazio draws or loses its away match against Inter, Napoli will win the Scudetto with six games to spare.

Juventus got a big lifeline after its 15-point penalty got overturned. This meant Massimiliano Allegri’s side jumped to third and is well in contention to play in the Champions League next season.

City rivals Milan and Inter, who will face each other in the UCL semis, won their respective games. Both teams kept a clean sheet as Milan beat Lecce 2-0 and Inter defeated Empoli by a 3-0 scoreline.

After matchday 31, Napoli is the runaway leader with 78 points. Maurizio Sarri’s Lazio occupies second place with 61 points. Juventus is third with 59 points, and Jose Mourinho’s Roma is fourth with 56 points.

Ligue 1

Messi, who has made a career out of bewildering everyone with his genius, pulled the latest rabbit out of his hat in Paris Saint-Germain’s 2-1 win against bottom-placed Angers. With PSG leading 1-0, Messi, in the 26th minute, spotted Kylian Mbappe’s run and took the whole defence out with a perfectly weighted through-ball to the Frenchman, in what surely was one of the assists of the season. Mbappe, who scored both goals in the win, did justice to the pass by slotting the ball inside the net with a composed finish.

After matchday 32, PSG leads the standings with 75 points. Marseille is second with 67 points and Lens third, with 66 points. Monaco is fourth with 61 points.