City nearly there despite Aguero blunder

11th May 2021

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Aguero panenka

A decade ago Sergio Aguero won Manchester City their historic first Premier League title with the final kick of the game. A decade on and Aguero still at the club could have sealed another title for City this past weekend. Already 1-0 up City were awarded a penalty which Aguero wanted to take. There would be no stopping him surely, with the Argentinian playing his final game with the club at the end of the month, fittingly in the Champions League final.

Well, Aguero stepped up to take the penalty and instead of a trademark shot he chose to use the panenka, a shot where if you score you become the coolest player on planet Earth for a few moments and in turn make the goalkeeper look quite foolish. If it goes the other way however, a striker who has scored 258 times for City looks the fool. At the weekend Aguero was made to look the fool as Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy made one of the simplest saves of the season by staying put and raising his hand up to catch the ball. It was this mistake that cost City the game. Chelsea instilled with belief ran the 2nd half and scored 2 goals to win 2-1. It was a statement win for the Blues ahead of the clubs Champions League final meeting on May 29th.

 

Not long to go

So City will have to wait for the title but probably for not much longer. If Manchester United lose either game this week against Leicester and Liverpool respectively then City will be champions again. As for Manchester United Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted that he will have to make wholesale or 'olesale' changes to his side given the fact that they have 2 games to play in two days because of the postponement of their match against Liverpool due to the fan protests last week. It means United will play Leicester as scheduled on May 11th and Liverpool on May 13th. That is a harsh congested fixture list. One can understand why Solskjaer would need to change up his team, however spare a thought for the chasing pack of teams hoping for a top four finish. If United make a lot of changes it gives Leicester and Liverpool an advantage over West Ham, Tottenham and Everton.

 

Everton away joy

Everton continue to get results away from home and they have severely dented West Ham's hopes of a top four finish as they put in a brilliant defensive display to beat the Hammers 1-0 away from home. West Ham who have the 2nd best home record in the league didn't even have a shot on target and one has to wonder just how high in the league Everton would have been with a better home record?

 

Relegation confirmed

The relegation battle ended Monday evening as Fulham were confirmed to be down as they lost at home to Burnley. West Bromwich Albion were relegated on Sunday as they were defeated by Arsenal 3-1. So those two teams join Sheffield United in returning to the Championship.

 

Soft UEFA

Finally UEFA went for the easiest option in the end regarding teams who had signed up for the Super League and fined the clubs. It is unfortunate that none have lost their European places for next season given that they were happy to leave the competition less than a month ago. One has to wonder if UEFA were terrified that TV money and sponsors would have been annoyed to not have the strongest teams available for next season? As the dust settles Real Madrid to Manchester United et all have received nothing but a slap on the wrist, would the same have happened if so called smaller clubs had had the chance to breakaway and signed the same contracts?


Premier League team of the week: Alisson, Cahill, Keane, Digne, Alexander-Arnold, Mane, Fernandes, Traore, Dallas, Wilson, Calvert-Lewin



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