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