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Jonathan Cook’s World Game Wrap-Up

Posted on | Posted by Jonathan Cook

One down, two to go

There are more exciting ways to win the English Premier League but Manchester City were happy enough to have claimed their third in succession without kicking a ball.

Unlike the last-minute drama of their 2012 victory, when Sergio Aguero scored to clinch their first Premier League title, there was no thrilling finish this time.

Instead, City players gathered around a TV to watch Arsenal’s own title ambitions go down the drain with defeat to Nottingham Forest.

Still, there was work to do on Sunday night and Pep Guardiola’s side celebrated their newly crowned status by beating Chelsea via Julian Alvarez’s goal.

City have their sights set on a trophy treble with an FA Cup final clash against rivals Manchester United on June 3 and a UEFA Champions League final against Inter Milan on June 10.

Who will survive?

And then there were three – and only two will survive. That’s the situation at the bottom of the Premier League where Everton, Leicester City and Leeds United are clinging to survival hopes heading towards Sunday’s season finale.

A goal from Yerry Mina nine minutes into stoppage time earned Everton a dramatic 1-1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers that lifted the Toffees to 33 points, just above the relegation zone.

Leeds United were on track to climb above Everton when Rodrigo opened the scoring against West Ham but Sam Allardyce’s side were beaten 3-1 to leave them on 31 points.

Leicester, who are on 30 points, will climb above Everton if they can beat Newcastle early on Tuesday (WA time).

In Sunday’s final matches, Leeds are at home to Tottenham, Leicester take on West Ham at the King Power Stadium and Everton face Bournemouth at Goodison Park.

Brighton into Europe

Evan Ferguson continued his impressive rise with two goals in a victory that confirmed Brighton will play European football for the first time, next season.

Ferguson, who played for Brighton’s youth side at the start of the current campaign, put Roberto De Zerbi’s team on the way to a 3-1 win over relegated Southampton.

Although a point from their remaining two games will clinch sixth spot and a place in the Europa League, even if they slipped to seventh Brighton will feature in the Europa Conference League.

Ferguson has overcome a hamstring injury to score six Premier League goals in Brighton’s charge towards Europe.

Guard of honour for departing Reds

Roberto Firmino marked his final game at Anfield with a last-minute equaliser in Liverpool’s 1-1 draw against Aston Villa.

It was a fitting send off for Firmino, who scored his 110th Liverpool goal to cancel out Jacob Ramsey’s opener for Villa.

Firmino was one of four soon-to-depart Liverpool players (Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner were the others) to be given a guard of honour at Anfield.

Importantly for Liverpool, Firmino’s goal kept alive their slight hopes of a top-four finish.

Toon clamour for European nights

Newcastle United are on the cusp of a return to the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2002-03 after a 4-1 win over Brighton on Friday.

Third-placed Newcastle, who are on 69 points with two games to play, are three points clear of fifth-placed Liverpool, and have a goal difference advantage of +24 ahead of Manchester United, who are fourth.

Manchester United kept up their push to qualify for the Champions League in manager Erik ten Hag’s first season with a 1-0 win over Bournemouth.

Forest confirm Premier League status

Nottingham Forest were the last of the newly promoted clubs to secure Premier League survival with their win over Arsenal.

For only the fourth time in Premier League history, all three promoted clubs stayed up with Fulham and Bournemouth having already confirmed their place in England’s topflight next season.

A 1-0 win over Arsenal, which came through Taiwo Awoniyi’s fifth goal in three games, was Forest’s third successive home victory.

Awoniyi was one of 30 players signed by Forest, as manager Steve Cooper searched desperately for a formula that would keep them up.

City and Mariners in Grand Final

It took six A-League finals matches to confirm what we already knew – that Melbourne City and Central Coast Mariners are the two best teams in the competition.

City, who finished top of the table after the home-and-away round, breezed past Sydney FC 4-0 in their second leg match to seal a 5-1 aggregate victory.

The Mariners, who were second in the league, saw off Adelaide United with goals from Sammy Silvera and Marco Tulio in a 2-0 win that completed a 4-1 aggregate success.

It means the teams that finished the season 11 points apart at the top of the table will meet in the June 3 Grand Final.

Dortmund into pole position

Borussia Dortmund capitalised on a Bayern Munich lapse to move within sight of claiming their first Bundesliga title in 13 years.

Two goals from Sebastian Haller and a late sealer from Julian Brandt earned Dortmund a 3-0 win over Augsburg. The win took Dortmund two points clear of defending champions Bayern with just one game to play.

Bayern’s hopes of an 11th successive Bundesliga title suffered a serious blow when they were beaten 3-1 at home to Leipzig.

Dortmund can claim their first German title since 2012 with victory at home to Mainz on Saturday.

Bayern are away to Cologne in their last game.




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