Friday, April 30, 2021

Matchweek 34 Preview: Klopp Hoping To Break Old Trafford Hex; Everton Need to Improve Work At Home; Spurs Look to Rebound; Chelsea Can’t Overlook Fulham

Liverpool head to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in a critical match to keep its top four hopes alive. Liverpool are four points behind Chelsea for the final Champions League slot after dropping four points in drawing their last two outings. Jurgen Klopp has never won at Manchester United’s historic venue and this would be a terrific time for the German manager to break though.

Notwithstanding the intense rivalry between the clubs, the stakes are not as high for Manchester United which is comfortably situated second in the Premier League table and should secure a place in the Europa League final this coming week. The Red Devils are unbeaten in their last eight matches in all competitions against Liverpool. 

Everton trails Liverpool by only two points with a match in hand as the Toffees prepare to host Aston Villa. Everton has been poor at home this season with only five Premier League clubs having won fewer matches at home than Everton’s five victories at Goodison Park. Aston Villa are struggling with just one win in their last seven matches as the Villans have tumbled from the top half of the table. Villa has picked up just a point from its last three away matches. 

Tottenham Hotspur will try to rebound from a disappointing performance in last week’s Carabao Cup final when Spurs welcomes Sheffield United to north London. European qualification remains a possibility for a Spurs club which faces clubs currently in the bottom half of the table in three of five in their final five matches. Caretaker manager Ryan Mason, however, will be challenged to inspire a seemingly less than excited group of Spurs players. Sheffield United, already relegated, shocked Brighton last week to show the Blades are not going quietly. 

West Ham hopes to keep its top four hopes alive when the Hammers travel to Burnley. Burnley has not won in its previous seven home matches but are coming off an impressive 4-0 taming of Wolves last week. Burnley striker Chris Wood scored three goals last week, has six goals in seven career matches against the Hammers, and has scored in each of the last three matches played against West Ham at Turf Moor. The Hammers have dropped two straight matches to fall from the top four as David Moyes’s side has struggled to deal with key injuries which has left the Hammers without Declan Rice and Michail Antonio in recent weeks.

 

Chelsea hosts a London derby versus visiting Fulham. The Blues under manager Thomas Tuchel continue to battle on three fronts with a massive Champions League match approaching Tuesday with Real Madrid. Chelsea, however, enjoys just a three-point advantage on fifth place West Ham and cannot afford to slip up in the league. Fulham would appear an appetizing opponent for Chelsea as the Cottagers have lost four of five matches to largely destroy their chances of Premier League survival. Fulham sits seven points below Brighton in the race for safety. 

Leicester travels to Southampton with the Foxes holding a seven-point advantage over West Ham to ensure a Champions League place for next season. Kelechi Iheanacho is on a remarkable run for the Foxes, scoring 14 goals in his last 14 appearances in all competitions for Leicester. Including assists, Iheanacho has more goal involvements in all competitions in 2021 than any Premier League player but for Harry Kane. Southampton has been miserable with the ‘Aints having lost four of their last five and 12 of their last 15 matches. 

Manchester City will be rotating its squad as the Citizens visit Crystal Palace in advance of next week’s Champions League semi-final second leg match with PSG. Manchester City, with a ten-point lead at the top of the table, will be looking for its 25th win in 34 league matches.  An 11th consecutive league away win by Manchester City will equal the Premier League record. Crystal Palace is safely mid-table as it plays out its schedule. 

Tenth place Arsenal will be trying to stay in the top half of the table when the Gunners travel to Newcastle. Newcastle has successfully pulled away from the relegation fray by losing just one of its last eight matches. The Magpies will look to extend a current four match unbeaten run against an Arsenal squad possibly looking ahead to its critical Europa League second leg versus Villareal. 

Leeds is unbeaten its last six matches as the 9th place Whites continue to impress in their return to the Premier League. Manager Marcelo Bielsa’s entertaining side have both scored and allowed 50 goals and both won and lost 14 matches while drawing but five times. Brighton has drawn 13 times, the most in the Premier League and only Burnley and the three relegation teams have scored fewer than the Seagulls’ 33 goals in as many matches. Brighton is seven points above currently relegation bound Fulham. 

West Brom, with their survival hopes dashed by two consecutive non-winning matches, host Wolves in a Black Country derby at The Hawthorns. Matheus Pereira has caught fire amid the dying embers of the Baggies campaign as the Brazilian has been involved in six goals in the Baggies’ last four matches. Pereira scored twice in West Brom’s win at Wolves earlier this season. Wolves, mired mid-table, have been slow to pounce this season, scoring first in fewer matches than all but the Baggies and Sheffield United.

 

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Premier League in Europe

Chelsea scored a critical away goal in their 1-1 Champions League semi-final draw with Real Madrid. Christian Pulisic scored in the 14th minute for a Chelsea side which dominated early before a first half tying goal by Real’s Karim Benzema. Timo Werner was again guilty of missing numerous chances, including an early golden opportunity from six yards out. Chelsea controlled second half play but was unable to find a winner. Manager Thomas Tuchel will be pleased with the away goal but also disappointed at a missed opportunity to take a win away from the rain drenched contest. But for an acrobatic effort by Benzema on his goal, Chelsea’s defense again impressed with Real Madrid launching just the one shot on target for the match. Pulisic is the first American to score in a Champions League semi-final. Benzema’s 71st Champions League goal ties him for fourth in the competition’s history behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Robert Lewandowski. 

Manchester City took advantage of a sloppy performance by PSG to post a 2-1 victory in Paris. Pep Guardiola’s side overcame an early headed goal by PSG’s Marquinhos to grab the away win on two errors by PSG. Keven De Bruyne’s cross bounced in the box and proceeded unmolested into goal as PSG’s defenders and goalkeeper were inexplicable bystanders. The second goal came on a Riyad Mahrez free kick which found its way to goal when PSG’s wall inexcusably parted.

Adding insult to injury for the beleaguered Parisians was a 77th minute red card assessed Idrissa Gueye. City’s victory was an 18th consecutive win in away matches across all competitions for the Premier League leaders. Manchester City heads to the Etihad for the second leg next week with the lead in the tie and two away goals to their account. PSG remains dangerous, particularly if Kylian Mbappe should awaken from his sleepwalking performance in the first leg. 

Manchester United shattered Roma’s hopes in a 6-2 victory at Old Trafford in the opener of the clubs’ Europa League semi-final. The Red Devils trailed at halftime before overrunning the outmatched Italian side with five second half goals. Edinson Cavani notched a second half brace, Bruno Fernandez added a penalty kick to his first half goal, and Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood each scored as part of the second half onslaught. The impressive win resoundingly ended a string of four consecutive semi-final defeats in all competitions by Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The six goals by United were the most scored by a club in a European semi-final since Real Madrid in 1964. The Red Devils are poised to reach their eighth European final. 

Arsenal were exceptionally fortunate to escape their opening Europa League semi-final match at Villareal with only a 2-1 deficit to be overcome at the Emirates. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette out of the starting lineup, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta employed Emile Smith-Rowe in a false nine position for the opening leg, a move which proved ineffective. Down two goals early, Arsenal went down to two men when Dani Ceballos received a red card in the 57th minute. Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno limited further damage to his undermanned team with two subsequent critical saves on Villa real star striker Gerard Moreno. Gunner hopes for the tie were then salvaged when Bukayo Saka was able to craftily draw a penalty which Nicolas Pepe converted. The crucial away goal keeps Arsenal in contention as the teams move on to the second leg at the Emirates.

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Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Premier League In Europe

Chelsea visits Real Madrid on Tuesday in the opening leg of the clubs’ Champions League tie. Despite a recent spate of goalless draws, Zinedine Zidane’s squad are unbeaten in 17 matches across all competitions. The Spanish club, though, is battling several injuries with Captain Sergio Ramos among those unavailable for the match with Chelsea. Former Chelsea player Eden Hazard, however, could see action for Real Madrid after a long injury absence. Chelsea has lost just two matches in 21 matches under manager Thomas Tuchel, both those losses coming at Stamford Bridge. The Blues return to the Champions League semi-final for the first time since 2014.

  

Manchester City visits Tuchel’s former team, PSG, in Paris Wednesday in the Champions League’s other semi-final match. The Citizens of manager Pep Guardiola won the English Carabao Cup over the weekend and could clinch the Premier League title as early as next weekend. The Champions League trophy, however, remains the Holy Grail for Manchester City and they may well need to improve in attack to capture the prize. Absent production from the striker position, City has used Kevin De Bruyne in a false nine position and benefitted from the emergence of Phil Foden to generate goals. Foden scored the winner in both legs of the Champions League tie versus Borussia Dortmund in the last round of the competition. Manchester City visits the Champions League semi-finals for just a second time while PSG will look to reach the final for a second consecutive year. PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino, led Tottenham Hotspur to the Champions League final two years ago, losing to Liverpool. PSG star Kylian Mbappe is expected to play Wednesday after suffering a minor quad strain in a league match over the weekend. 

Following their crushing league loss to Everton in league play, next up for Arsenal is their Europa League match on Thursday against former manager Unai Emery and his Villareal side. Emery won three Europa League titles while managing Sevilla and the former Arsenal manager brought the Gunners to the 2019 Europa League final before losing to Chelsea. A loss to their former manager would be highly embarrassing for the Gunners who have shown little to no improvement under current manager, Mikel Arteta. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette remain injury doubts for Arsenal which struggled going forward versus Everton without their prime offensive weapons. 

Manchester United hosts Roma in the opening leg of their Europa League tie on Thursday. The Red Devils are undefeated in their last six matches and have lost just one of their last 21 matches across all competitions. The storied club will be making its 18th appearance in a European semi-final, second only to Liverpool among English teams. Roma has never won a European away match versus an English club and has won just one of seven previous Champions League meetings with Manchester United. The Italian club has struggled in Serie A this season and is currently seventh in its domestic table. There are several familiar faces to Manchester United fans on the Roma roster. Chris Smalling and Henrikh Mkhitayan are former Red Devil players while Roma Striker Edin Dzeko played for Manchester City.

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