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Jonathan Cook’s World Game Wrap-Up

Posted on | Posted by Jonathan Cook

Title gift-wrapped for City

We can stop pretending there’s still a Premier League title to play for. Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion virtually gift-wrapped the trophy and sent it off to the Etihad Stadium were Manchester City are waiting to lift it again.

City kept their machine rolling with a 3-0 win over Everton yesterday and the pressure later in the day was just too much for title hopefuls Arsenal.

Brighton are no mugs and they moved to sixth place with second-half goals from Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav and Pervis Estupinan.

Two goals from Ilkay Gundogan and an Erling Haaland header secured three points for City to put them four points clear of second-placed Arsenal.

Pep Guardiola’s side, who face Real Madrid in a UEFA Champions League second leg match this week, have played one game fewer than Arsenal, who have only two matches left.

United back on track

Who hadn’t been wondering whether Manchester United were about to bottle it as they pushed for a top-four finish?

It seems United fans need not have worried that two successive defeats might be a sign of a team about to choke.

Erik Ten Hag’s side put things right with a hard-fought 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday that was sealed in stoppage time by Alejandro Garnacho.

United stayed fourth, behind Newcastle on goal difference and four points clear of fifth-placed Liverpool, who take on Leicester City early tomorrow.

Nerveless Wilson a lesson to Bamford

Callum Wilson showed Patrick Bamford how to take penalties as Leeds United failed to make the most of their chances against Newcastle United.

A goal after just seven minutes from Luke Ayling gave relegation-threatened Leeds the advantage before Bamford was denied the opportunity to double the lead when Nick Pope saved his penalty.

Wilson fired Newcastle level from the penalty spot before holding his nerve to score a second to put the Toon in front.

But Leeds earned a 2-2 draw when Rasmus Kristensen’s shot was deflected past Pope late in the game.

Poch the man to save Chelsea’s blues

Mauricio Pochettino is likely to be the man to take over misfiring Chelsea, whose miserable season continued with a 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest.

Under interim manager Frank Lampard, Chelsea have won just one of their last eight games and now have only a single victory in 11 matches in all competitions.

Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter both tried and failed to revive the Blues before Lampard sent them into a coma. Former Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint Germain manager Pochettino has apparently agreed to be next to give it a shot.

Forest were happy enough to face Chelsea in its current form with Taiwo Awoniyi scoring twice to earn a point that lifted Steve Cooper’s side three points above the relegation zone.

Premier League stay over for Saints

The Saints will go marching back into England’s second-tier Championship after 11 years in the Premier League.

Southampton’s survival hopes were finally killed off by Fulham, whose goals were scored by Carlos Vinicius and Aleksandar Mitrovic, on his return from an eight-game ban.

Defeat to the Cottagers was Southampton’s seventh loss in their past eight matches and confirmed their Premier League status would end at the conclusion of the season.

Milan wobbled before UCL semi

Lowly Spezia claimed a little bit of recent history and gave AC Milan a few things to think about ahead of their UEFA Champions League match this week.

Spezia became the first team in the bottom three places of Italy’s Serie A to beat Milan since 2017.

While the 2-0 win gave Spezia hope of staying in Serie A, it was a bad sign for Milan, who take on city rivals Inter on Tuesday.

Milan are 2-0 down going into the UCL semi-final second leg match and in desperate need of a change in form and fortune.

Mariners have edge in Adelaide

Central Coast Mariners came from behind to take a goal advantage into the second leg of their A-League semi-final against Adelaide United.

Craig Goodwin fired home an early penalty to give the home side the upper hand before James McGarry produced a stunning equaliser to silence the home fans at Coopers Stadium.

It got worse for the Reds when Jason Cummings scored the Mariners’ second goal to complete a 2-1 victory before the return leg in Gosford on Saturday.

Odds stacked against Sydney

History is stacked against Sydney FC as they go in search of a first victory against Melbourne City at AAMI Park in almost five years.

A 1-1 first leg draw at Allianz Stadium has given Steve Corica’s side hope that they can oust the league winners and crash into the June 3 Grand Final.

Melbourne City are unbeaten in 13 regular season home games and will fancy their chances against a Sydney side that finished the league season 17 points behind Rado Vidosic’s team.

Mathew Leckie had given City an 18th-minute lead in the first leg only for Adam Le Fondre to earn Sydney FC a fighting chance with a second-half equaliser.

Kerr story needs Hollywood treatment

Has there ever been a more glaringly obvious football story that is worth the Hollywood treatment than the rise and continued success of Sam Kerr?

The Western Australian striker, whose family are steeped in the traditions of AFL, chose a “soccer” pathway and has not stopped reaping the rewards.

With accolades stacked up behind her, the Chelsea striker claimed the headlines again in front of a world-record crowd for a domestic women’s game. There were 77,390 fans at Wembley Stadium to witness Kerr’s second-half strike to beat Manchester United and seal a third successive FA Cup for Chelsea.

Kerr scored the winner in last year’s final when Chelsea beat Manchester City after scoring twice in the 2021 win over Arsenal.

Barcelona crowned kings of Spain

It seemed like a much longer wait, but four years is long enough between La Liga successes for a club as big as Barcelona.

Four goals scored away from home was a classy way to finish as Barca secured a 4-2 victory over Espanyol.

Robert Lewandowski scored twice and Alex Balde and Jules Kounde were also on target that was never in doubt.

The result lifted Barcelona 14 points clear of second-placed Real Madrid with four games to play.




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