Title race
Maybe genetics have been a blessing in disguise for Pep Guardiola, arguably one of the greatest managers of his generation, he went bald at an early age but it has saved him from literally tearing his hair out. Guardiola is the ultimate coach and captain of his ship at Manchester City who are infused with some of the most delightfully gifted players in world football, they are the champions of perhaps the toughest league in the world for the last two years but they are seeing it unravel before their eyes in another season when they were expected to win it for the 3rd time in a row.
This happened at the weekend and yet just 72 hours prior to this the balance finally seemed to have been shifted. Arsenal who had lorded over 1st place staring down at the champions for the majority of the season had like a rabbit in the woods finally been caught. Erling Haaland had struck the final blow with a exquisite strike, his 26th in the league and City lodged back into their favourite comfort zone, 1st place in the Premier League. Arsenal were made out to be a superb team who had lost gas as their titanic battle with Guardiola's team at the Emirates reached the last quarter of an hour, it was a game that finished 3-1 to City, and the script Gods now had it enscribed that we were about to see one of those amazing City unbeaten runs where they win 15 games in a row and canter off into the Premier League horizon. Except nobody was counting on Nottingham Forest to pull the plug out of the socket, evaporise the music and send everyone from the party home early.
City didn't actually lose to Forest but a 1-1 draw was in effect a defeat which rubbed big sea salt into the wounds given that City were leading 1-0 with just a few minutes left of a game that they had completely dominated. Guardiola's side had 74% of possession and 23 attempts on goal, Forest had 1 shot on target and earned 1 point from the game, that's football. But of course it cannot just be brushed off in that manner because it has happened too frequently for the champions this season. They have earned 20 points from their last 10 games, that is an amazing return for 18 out of the 20 clubs in the league but City have set such a high bar now that anything under 25 points in the same time frame means that their title ambitions are under threat. They have been solid but careless, they have dropped points when you least expected it to happen and of course there are a plethora of issues happening off the pitch- the FA Charge for FFP which is reportedly going back 10 years surely will have to end with a harsh punishment the likes of which we haven't seen in Premier League football before. Joao Cancelo's loan move to Bayern Munich is surrounding by rumours of a huge fall out with Guardiola though the manager says it is simply about the defender wanting to play more football. Arsenal of course found a way to beat Aston Villa after trailing twice in that game to win 4-2 and the Gunners have pulled out a two point lead at the top and crucially, have a game in hand. It's advantage back to Mikel Arteta's side although the bookmakers still believe that Pep's team are the smart choice, but if that is the case they will need to stop dropping points against teams they should be beating and they haven't managed to do that on a consistent basis for the first six months of the season, will it change and can it change?
To win the Premier League: Manchester City 1.91, Arsenal 2.10, Manchester United 13.00, Newcastle 251.00, Liverpool 501.00
Liverpool humbled
There is something undeniably special at Anfield on those evenings in the Champions League, even if Liverpool are not performing to their usual standards in the league they become a different beast against foreign opposition and in the past we have seen how the team, manager and supporters become one to thwart most sides travelling here like some kind of united superhero. It did seem against Real Madrid in their 1st leg knock out game round of 16 we were going to witness that again as the Reds raced into a 2-0 lead against the champions and a side of course who had beaten them in last years final. A quite delicious Gianfranco Zola esque opener from Darwin Nunez seemed to justify why he has been touted as one of the future stars of marksmen set the game up. After we were treated to something akin too an old classic mash up of Laurel and Hardy except tonight it was Courtois and Alisson as both goalkeepers made such glaring errors you had to wonder if we had dipped into a multiverse where both keepers were actually the groundsmen in disguise. Vincius Jr perhaps one of the finest youngest prospects in the game also scored in the first half in a stunning strike and the first 45 ended 2-2. In the second half Real then chewed on the bone and spat out the grease as they ran rampant winning the game 5-2 and one has to wonder if Liverpool being two goals to the good have ever fallen like this at home in Europe?
It was a huge result for Real Madrid but a damning one for Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp's beard is just as messy as his midfield and while it would probably be no good in the long term if the German was to walk away from the club after everything he has achieved this felt like a walk away moment and it cannot be ruled out that Klopp could be overseeing his final season here. That is not to act in a hyperbole way, because he has the tools and presumably the back up from the owners to have a summer splurge and fight the good fight once more next season, but with the exception of a few speedbumps the Reds have been incredibly underwhelming this season and their participation in European football looks over for this one.
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