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Jonathan Cook’s World Game Wrap-Up

Posted on | Posted by Jonathan Cook

Liverpool poke nose in title race

They’ve got no chance of winning the Premier League but Liverpool poked their nose in the title race with a stirring rally against leaders Arsenal.

What looked like being a comfortable afternoon for the Gunners after goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus, turned into a near nightmare but for the heroics of goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

If not for his reactions to keep out Ibrahima Konate’s late effort, this 2-2 draw would have slipped away from Mikel Arteta’s men, entirely.

Mohamed Salah had pulled a goal back and then missed a penalty before Roberto Firmino headed home an equaliser that allowed second-placed Manchester City to sneak closer to the top.

Arsenal have a six-point lead over City, who have played one game fewer than their rivals.

Hodgson revelling in Palace return

Instead of enjoying bowls at the local green, or dominos in the local pub, Roy Hodgson is proving that age is just a number.

The former England manager, and Crystal Palace fan, came out of retirement to help Palace in the wake of Patrick Vieira’s sacking. And the 75-year-old has had immediate success.

A 2-1 win over Leicester in his first game hinted at improvement that was made obvious in a 5-1 thrashing of Leeds United at Elland Road last night.

The home side took a deserved lead through Patrick Bamford and looked dangerous in the opening spell before Marc Guehi snatched an equaliser on the stroke of half-time.

And Palace found another gear after the break to secure a win that has moved them six points clear of the Premier League drop zone.

Leeds are 16th, two points above third-from-bottom Nottingham Forest.

Rare Maddison mistake costs Foxes

James Maddison, so often Leicester City’s talisman, dropped a clanger at the King Power Stadium by gifting Bournemouth’s Philip Billing the only goal of the game.

Maddison’s back pass was seized on by Billing, whose goal lifted Bournemouth to 15th place, three points above the relegation zone.

Leicester dropped to second bottom as they continue to search for a new permanent manager in the wake of Brendan Rodgers’ sacking. Caretaker boss Adam Sadler has overseen two defeats.

Jesse Marsch, Rafa Benitez and Ralph Hassenhuttl have all been mentioned as contenders for the Leicester job.

No Chelsea bounce on Lampard’s return

Frank Lampard jumped aboard the managerial merry-go-round to find out not a lot has changed since he was last in the game.

Lampard, a legend of a player at Chelsea, West Ham and England, was offered a chance to resurrect his career in management and jumped at the chance – just in time for Easter.

But if Chelsea fans were hoping he could conjure an instant response from a flagging team, they were wrong. Instead, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Matheus Nunes inflicted a 1-0 defeat on the Blues that left them 11th on the table.

We need to talk about Kevin

So, Erling Haaland scores again and Manchester City sweep aside another inferior opponent. But what about Kevin De Bruyne?

The Belgian became the fastest player in Premier League history to register 100 assists when he clipped over a cross that was headed home by Haaland in a 4-1 win over Southampton.

Haaland, who now has 30 Premier League goals this season and 44 in all competitions, continues to set remarkable standards in his first English season – including a stunning acrobatic second against the Saints. He has reached 30 goals in just 27 games, a rate faster than any other player in Premier League history.

De Bruyne achieved 100 assists in his 237th game, 56 games fewer than Cesc Fabregas took to set the record.

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Kompany ready for Premier League return

It’s been a while since Vincent Kompany was strutting his stuff at the Premier League level. But the former Manchester City and Belgium defender will be back in the thick of it next season after steering Burnley to promotion from the second-tier English Championship.

The Clarets manager joined in the celebrations on Good Friday after his side secured a 2-1 win over Middlesbrough that clinched a promotion place.

There is still some work to do for Burnley, who now have their sights set on winning the Championship title. They are 11 points clear of second-placed Sheffield United with seven games still to play.

The top two teams are promoted automatically, and Burnley are 19 points clear of third-placed Luton Town, who have six games to play.

Beevers sees red in stoppage time

Perth Glory are hanging on to hope that they could yet make the A-League finals after a goalless draw against Melbourne Victory that erupted in stoppage time.

But Glory, who are within a point of the top six with three games to play, will be without experienced defender Mark Beevers after he was punished for his role in the commotion.

Beevers, who has played in all but one of Glory’s 23 games this season, was handed a second yellow card after an innocuous shoving match prompted by Victory’s appeals for a penalty.

The former Bolton Wanderers, Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday defender’s experience will be missed as Ruben Zadkovich’s side go in search of three points against Sydney FC next weekend.

Sydney are sixth on the table, just one point above Glory.

Celtic marching on with Ange

It’s not quite done yet, but Celtic moved closer to clinching the Scottish Premier League title with an enthralling 3-2 win over archrivals Rangers.

A man-of-the-match performance from Kyogo Furuhashi, which included two goals, were key to a victory that has put Celtic 12 points clear of second-placed Rangers.

Celtic’s Australian manager Ange Postecoglou has been around for long enough not to tempt fate by being drawn into title talk. But it would take a catastrophic failure for his side to throw away the title with just seven games to play.

Stumbling Real ready for next test

It’s not exactly how they would want to warm up for a Champions League quarter-final but Real Madrid’s 3-2 loss to Villarreal won’t exactly have alarm bells ringing.

The way Chelsea have been travelling, Real boss Carlo Ancelotti could field a second-string side and still get the job done in their first leg clash at the Bernabeu on Thursday.

Barcelona can take advantage of Real’s stumble against Villarreal when they take on Girona tonight. A Barca win will take them 15 points clear of Real at the top of Spain’s La Liga.

Bayern profit from de Ligt’s delight

Dutchman Matthijs de Ligt kept Bayern Munich at the top of Germany’s Bundesliga with a goal that the world’s best strikers would be proud of.

The Bayern defender thundered a 25m shot into the top corner to earn a 1-0 win over Freiburg, who only days earlier had sent the Munich giants out of the German Cup competition.

De Ligt’s screamer was the only goal of the game and kept Bayern two points clear of Borussia Dortmund, who beat Union Berlin, 2-1.

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