Theirs to lose: How Man City’s second half onslaught against Spurs fastened grip on fourth straight EPL title
The centre of the pitch was congested, so City started to spear passes out to the wing, with Kyle Walker the main beneficiary in the opening 20 minutes down the right. Up against Micky van de Ven, a centre-back covering at full-back, the space opened up as the Dutchman instinctively shuffled inside.
Arsenal vs Man City: How apprentice Arteta became master Guardiola’s rival, then ‘conspired’ against EPL’s ‘Big Six’
When a team is unable to inflict direct damage on their rivals, it severely limits their chances of winning the league. By going unbeaten in the ‘Big Six’ mini-league, taking four points from six against City in the process, Arsenal broadened the margin for error ever so slightly.
Reflections of Arsenal’s Kai Havertz: When everyone had written me off, Mikel Arteta restored my confidence
The 24-year-old has says Arteta “boosted his confidence” by telling him that “he should be confident in the opponent’s box”.
Guardiola’s ‘carnivorous’ Man City ‘eat’ Fulham at lunchtime to wrest control of Premier League title race out of Arsenal grasp
Kyle Walker wanted to make sure Bernardo got the credit for it. As the City players congregated in front of the jubilant away support (including Noel Gallagher), Walker picked up the Portuguese in what was essentially a fireman’s carry, taking him a good 20 yards to the rest of them.
As Premier Leagues season winds down Man City risks expulsion on FFP grounds, Arsenal to be champions
Former Everton CEO Keith Wyness, who now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs, claimed on Friday that “expulsion is on the table” for Man City – who strongly maintain their innocence – if they are found guilty of their charges.
Prince Harry, wife Meghan land in Nigeria to promote Invictus Games and meet soldiers wounded in line of duty
Harry served in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter copilot gunner, after which he founded the Invictus Games in 2014 to offer wounded veterans and servicemembers the challenge of competing in sports events similar to the Paralympics. Nigeria was among the nations that participated in last year’s edition of the games.
Manchester: United only by tactical ineffeciency and slide in poise, Ten Hag’s Red Devils can’t even scare a squirrel
There’s little case for keeping Ten Hag around. Results have gone backwards. Performances have, too. But more than anything, there’s just no sense of what Ten Hag is working towards. He could still bow out on a high, like his compatriot Van Gaal, by winning the FA Cup in a repeat of last year’s final against Manchester City.
The problem isn’t that United will go into that game as underdogs — it’s that they are still most comfortable playing as underdogs.
Nobody foresaw Borussia Dortmund’s fairy tale run to Euro Champions League final, not even themselves
They are heading to Wembley and the symmetry of that escapes nobody. It has been 11 years since Jurgen Klopp led them there for their last Champions League final and the warmth of those days, of the entire Klopp era in fact, has been something the club have been longing for ever since. Dortmund are not back. Nobody would describe them as being the equal of that Klopp side but there lies the sweetness of this anomaly and the charm of their achievement. This is a great story that nobody saw coming.
A football revolution is underway in Europe headlined by Sporting Lisbon’s manager Ruben Amorim
Amorim’s rotational setup will often ensure that Sporting can progress without disruption, as shown by their ‘Press resistance’ metric (98 out of 99), which highlights the volume of touches per opposition tackle in the first two-thirds of the pitch.
Man City boss Guardiola has seen it all, done it all, won it all – is there anything more to fight for in Premier League?
In terms of Guardiola’s legacy, there are more risks from staying on. If Arsenal continue to be City’s main challenger next year and pips them to the title, there would be a certain dissatisfaction in Guardiola being beaten by his former assistant. On the other hand, if Guardiola were to resign, City were to fall away and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal were to triumph, that would actually reflect well on his legacy.
