Premier League
Premier League top three set for titanic title battle
Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool have set a fearsome pace in the Premier League that no other team can live with as a thrilling three-way title race takes shape.
Thomas Tuchel, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are in charge of three of Europe’s hottest sides, with Liverpool, in third place, already seven points clear of fourth-placed West Ham after 14 matches.
AFP Sport looks at how the contenders are shaping up heading into a hectic few weeks of action.
Chelsea – 33 points
The European champions hold a slender one-point advantage over City at the top of the table.
Tuchel admitted his side were lucky to escape with a 2-1 win at Watford on Wednesday, but felt Chelsea were due some good fortune after dropping points despite dominating games against Burnley and Manchester United.
The Blues have coped impressively without club-record signing Romelu Lukaku, who has not started a league match since mid-October.
Without the Belgian, goals have had to be shared around — wing-back Reece James is the club’s top scorer so far this season, with five.
The bedrock of Tuchel’s first year in charge at Stamford Bridge has been a rock-solid defence. Chelsea boast the best record in the league, with a miserly six goals conceded in 14 games.
But they have yet to hit the heights shown by City and Liverpool in spells this season and have benefited from a gentle run of fixtures in recent weeks.
Back-to-back clashes with Liverpool and City in January will be the iron test of their title credentials, while the impact of the Club World Cup in February will leave them playing catch-up in games later in the season.
Man City – 32 points
Only unexpected dropped points at home to Southampton and Crystal Palace have kept the champions from establishing a comfortable lead at the top of the table.
Despite the lack of a recognised striker, City still look like the side to beat as they aim to win a fourth title in five years.
Guardiola’s men have so far saved their best for the big occasion. They dominated in their away trips to Stamford Bridge and Anfield, inflicting Chelsea’s only defeat of the season and feeling they deserved more from a 2-2 draw at Liverpool.
Manchester United were also swept aside with ease at the beginning of a four-game winning streak in the league that looks ominous for the other contenders.
This time last year City turned a slow start into a 21-game winning run in all competitions to storm clear at the top of the table.
Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish are returning to full fitness and City could even address their striker shortage in January, adding more firepower to their already impressive arsenal.
Liverpool – 31 points
Liverpool have the outstanding player in the league in Mohamed Salah, who took his tally for the season to 19 goals in as many games in all competitions in a 4-1 hammering of Everton on Wednesday.
It was the third consecutive Premier League game in which Liverpool have scored four goals and they have racked up 43 in the competition.
After a series of injuries to key players ruined their title defence last season, the Reds are matching their best form of the Klopp era, which yielded a Champions League triumph in 2019 and a first league title in 30 years in 2020.
However, they are not blessed with the same strength in depth as City and Chelsea and that could show when Salah and Sadio Mane head off to the Africa Cup of Nations in January.
-AFP
Thomas Partey, who formerly played for English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, has been charged with rape and sexual assault, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.
Partey, a Ghana international, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, with the charges relating to three women and the offences reported to have taken place between 2021 and 2022, the statement said.
Partey’s management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Aug. 5.
Partey, 32, was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59 million) in October 2020 and became a key member of Arsenal’s first team.
He was first arrested in July 2022, though he was not named at the time and continued to play for Arsenal while investigations were ongoing.
-Reuters
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Five players including England forward Marcus Rashford and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho have informed Manchester United that they wish to explore a future away from the Premier League side, a club source said on Friday.
Brazilian midfielder Antony, Dutch defender Tyrell Malacia and England international Jadon Sancho are also looking to leave the club, the source added.
Rashford, who has made more than 400 senior appearances for United, has fallen out of favour with manager Ruben Amorim, played for Aston Villa on loan while United had their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 15th in the standings.
Amorim had called Rashford’s work rate into question, saying he would rather put a goalkeeper coach on the bench than a player not giving their all.
Rashford said he was feeling fitter and better since joining Villa, where he scored two goals in 10 league appearances.
United also failed to qualify for the Champions League as they lost the Europa League final 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. Garnacho, who was a late substitute in the final, voiced his displeasure on social media after the loss.
“Up until the final, I played every round helping the team, and today I play 20 minutes, I don’t know,” he wrote in a post . “The final will influence (my decision), but the whole season, the situation of the club.”
Sancho was on loan at Chelsea, where he made 31 league appearances last season. Antony, who joined United from Ajax Amsterdam in 2022 for a reported initial transfer fee of more than $100 million, scored five goals in 17 LaLiga appearances on loan at Real Betis.
Malacia joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven on loan in February.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned down the opportunity to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in order to keep playing “at the highest level”, he said on Tuesday.
The Portuguese midfielder admitted that he had considered the move, which media reports said was worth four times his current salary, after being contacted by Al-Hilal’s president.
“There was that possibility, the president of Al-Hilal called me a month ago to ask me about it,” Fernandes, who is preparing to face Germany with Portugal, told reporters on Tuesday.
“It was a big offer, very ambitious. There was a waiting period for me to think about the future.”
Fernandes ultimately decided to stay at United and said he was motivated by his desire to continue playing at the top level and encouraged by his family and the club’s coach Ruben Amorim.
“I would be willing to do it if Manchester United thought so,” Fernandes added. “I spoke to the coach Ruben Amorim who really tried to talk me out of it. The club said they would not be willing to sell me, only if I wanted to leave.
“I spoke to my wife and family, and she asked me what my personal goals were in my career.
“It would have been easy to move there but I want to keep myself at the highest level, playing in the big competitions and I feel capable of it. I am happy with my decision.”
The 30-year-old Fernandes scored 19 goals and provided 19 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions for United last season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time.
However, it was a season to forget for the team, as they finished 15th in the Premier League, their lowest league finish in half a century, and lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur.
-Reuters
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