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CHAMPIONS-ELECT, LIVERPOOL SET TO EXTEND PREMIER LEAGUE LEAD AS TOP-FOUR BATTLE RESUMES

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Liverpool are expected to take another step towards clinching a long-awaited Premier League title at bottom-of-the-table Norwich, while behind the runaway leaders the battle for Champions League places takes centre stage this weekend.

The Reds can extend their mammoth 22-point lead over Manchester City at Carrow Road on Saturday (Feb 15) as they aim to not only win the league for the first time in 30 years, but smash the record books in the process.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have dropped just two points all season and are on a run of 16 consecutive league wins.

That march towards the title began on the opening night of the season when Norwich visited Anfield and were 4-0 down inside 42 minutes.

An injury to Alisson Becker was the one big concern of that victory for Klopp as the Brazilian was sidelined for two months.

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After taking some time to get back to his best form, Alisson has saved 26 of the last 27 shots he has faced, with Liverpool racking up an aggregate score of 23-1 in that time.

“We want to win the title and for winning the title, you need to win everything,” Alisson told Premier League Productions.

“The way we play, you need to enjoy that because if you don’t enjoy that then you cannot play all the games with our intensity.”

A massive 55 points separate Norwich from the champions-elect with the Canaries seven points adrift of safety.

Daniel Farke’s men desperately need to start turning good performances into points to beat the drop.

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However, they have shown an ability to upset the odds with one of their four league wins this season coming against Manchester City.

For a long time, Leicester were Liverpool’s closest challengers at the top of the table, but the Foxes’ form before a two-week winter break had faded with just one win in four league games.

An eight-match winning streak earlier in the season means Brendan Rodgers’s men still have a 10-point cushion in the race for a Champions League place and can even move back up to second with victory at Wolves on Friday.

And Rodgers is hoping a fortnight’s rest, without any overseas training camp, will have been the perfect tonic to recharge his side for the run-in.

“There’s improvements to be made, no doubt,” said the former Liverpool boss. “We will now regain a bit of stability.

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“We’re all fresh ahead of this final third of the season.”

Wolves have also suffered a mid-season dip with one win from their last six league games, albeit two of those fixtures were against Liverpool.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have fallen behind Sheffield United, Tottenham, Everton and Manchester United in the battle for the top four and need to return to winning ways on Friday to remain in the hunt.

Chelsea remain in pole position for fourth place despite a run of four wins in their last 13 league games.

The Blues’ lead over Tottenham could be down to a single point, though, by the time they entertain Manchester United on Monday if Spurs win at Aston Villa on Sunday.

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Chelsea boss Frank Lampard claimed that Tottenham and Manchester United’s January transfer spending meant his side are now “underdogs” to hold onto fourth.

However, victory over United on Monday at Stamford Bridge would give Chelsea a nine-point cushion over the Red Devils.

The visitors could give a debut to new striker Odion Ighalo, even though the Nigerian has been denied the opportunity to train with his new teammates due to fears over the coronavirus.

Ighalo is on loan from Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua and did not travel to United’s warm weather training camp in Spain due to fears he would be denied re-entry to the United Kingdom if restrictions on travellers who had been in China within the past two weeks were tightened.

The 30-year-old has even been training away from United’s training ground in Manchester until completing a 14-day quarantine period.

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-AFP

 

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Premier League

Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win

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Liverpool's Cody Gakpo, centre left, Ryan Gravenberch, centre, and Diogo Jota celebrate after the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park in London, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. AP

Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to remain top of the Premier League as Arsenal and Manchester City came from behind to win on Saturday.

City were 3-2 victors over Fulham to stay one point behind Liverpool, alongside Arsenal who saw off Southampton 3-1.

Arne Slot has now won nine of his first 10 games since succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, but was frustrated that the visitors invited a late onslaught from the winless Eagles.

Jota prodded the Reds into the lead from Cody Gakpo’s cross on nine minutes.

The Portuguese international was then guilty of missing two big chances to extend Liverpool’s advantage.

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Palace failed to make them pay, but victory came at a cost for Slot as goalkeeper Alisson Becker limped off with a hamstring injury.

“If you score the second you break them mentally,” said Slot. “All the fans kept believing in a result because it was only 1-0, even though in my opinion we were the dominant team.”

Fresh from a dominant win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Arsenal were expected to sweep aside winless Southampton.

But the Saints shocked the Emirates 10 minutes into the second half when Cameron Archer fired in his first Premier League goal since a summer move from Aston Villa.

The lead only lasted three minutes before Kai Havertz scored for the seventh consecutive home game.

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Gabriel Martinelli was introduced after an hour and took just eight minutes to make his mark with a finish on the volley from Bukayo Saka’s cross.

Having set up Arsenal’s first two goals, Saka pounced on a loose ball to score the third himself.

Fulham’s outrageous opener
 

Rodri’s season-long absence due to a serious knee injury is expected to be a major blow to City’s chances of retaining the title for a fifth consecutive season.

But it was the Spaniard’s deputy Mateo Kovacic who scored twice to turn the game around for the champions at the Etihad.

The visitors had not lost since the opening night of the season at Manchester United and led thanks to Andreas Pereira’s finish from an outrageous backheel assist by Raul Jimenez.

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Kovacic’s deflected effort quickly brought City level before a cleaner strike less than two minutes into the second half made it 2-1.

Jeremy Doku then smashed into the top corner from outside the box to give City a two-goal cushion, which they needed.

Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham hope on 88 minutes, but City held out for a 17th consecutive win against the Cottagers.

West Ham eased the pressure on new boss Julen Lopetegui by ending a run of three home defeats to start the new season.

Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta struck for the Hammers in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, who are still waiting for their first Premier League win 22 years.

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There were six goals before half-time as Brentford beat Wolves 5-3 to leave the visitors still rooted to the foot of the table.

Leicester secured their first league win of the season as Facundo Buonanotte’s strike beat Bournemouth 1-0.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag faces a huge match if he is to remain in charge when the Red Devils visit Aston Villa in the pick of Sunday’s action.

-AFP

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Premier League rejects City request to delay next season’s games after Club World Cup

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 Premier League - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - September 28, 2024 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts REUTERS/Scott Heppell/File photo

The Premier League has rejected Manchester City’s request to postpone the first two games of the 2025-26 season to help the players recover after their FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the U.S., the club’s manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.

City and Chelsea are the two English clubs who have qualified for the expanded month-long Club World Cup set to start on June 15. The Premier League’s season will begin in August.

An increasingly packed soccer calendar has been a concern among a growing number of players and managers. A report by global players’ union FIFPRO said some players get only 12% of the year to rest.

The Premier League did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

City midfielder Rodri said in September that players could be close to strike action over the time they are required to play. A knee ligament injury has since put him out for the season.

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“I don’t know if we will play more games than the treble year (2022-23)… maybe we’ll play less games,” Guardiola told reporters.

“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don’t postpone these games so that will be the moment of, oh, what do we have to do?”

He said the Club World Cup will make it even more difficult for clubs to manage player workload.

-Reuters

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Ten Hag’s Man United future not my call, Ratcliffe says

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FA Cup - Final - Manchester City v Manchester United - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - May 25, 2024 Manchester United co owner Jim Ratcliffe is pictured in the stands before the match Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge/File Photo

Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said a decision about under-fire manager Erik ten Hag is not his call, and was reticent about whether he still has faith in the team’s boss amid their worst start to the Premier League season since 1986-87.

“I don’t want to answer that question,” Ratcliffe told the BBC. “I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.

“That team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April — Omar (Berrada, CEO), (Sporting Director) Dan Ashworth — they only arrived in July.

“They’ve only been there . . . you can count it in weeks almost — they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.”

Ten Hag’s job was the subject of speculation for much of last season en route to the team’s lowest Premier League finish of eighth. After an FA Cup final victory over Manchester City and an end-of-season review, however, Ten Hag signed a new contract to extend his stay at Old Trafford until 2026.

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“Our objective is very clear, we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously, that’s very clear,” Ratcliffe said.

Ten Hag continues to plead for patience from fans with the team languishing 13th in the Premier League table, having lost three of their six opening games. They were headed towards defeat by Porto in the Europa League on Thursday before Harry Maguire scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a 3-3 draw.

-Reuters

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