Updated
Large winner of Leeds in a late match (6-0), Liverpool is 3 points behind leader Manchester City. Tottenham lost to Burnley (0-1) and their coach, Antonio Conte, is wondering regarding his future.
Liverpool are fully back in the title race.
imago images/PA Images
Manchester City’s misstep at home once morest Tottenham (2-3) on Saturday will have definitely revived the English championship. And the gradual updating of the calendar, with matches postponed due to Covid-19 or bad weather, gives a very different picture of the end of the season.
Large winner of Leeds (6-0), Liverpool now has the same number of meetings as Pep Guardiola’s men and is only 3 points behind – 60 once morest 63 – while there are 12 days left, including a confrontation directly to the Etihad in early April. By punishing 3 times the never denied panache of Leeds, who tried to play their total football, even once morest Liverpool and Anfield, the Reds even took the advantage on goal difference (+48 once morest +46).
Mohamed Salah converted two penalties: one for a handball from Stuart Dallas (1-0, 15th), the other for a foul on Sadio Mané (3-0, 35th), his 18th and 19th goals of the season. In the meantime, he also offered a decisive pass to Joël Matip on a kind of one-two (2-0, 30th).
Liverpool seemed to manage the end of the match for a time in anticipation of Sunday’s League Cup final once morest Chelsea. But in the last minutes, a double from Sadio Mané (4-0, 80th, 5-0, 90th) and a goal from Virgil van Dijk (6-0, 90th + 3) considerably weighed down the bill and darkened the horizon of the Peacocks of Marcelo Bielsa, whose maintenance is far from certain.
Tottenham disappoints, Conte wonders
Earlier in the evening, Tottenham had once more missed an opportunity to get closer to 4th qualifying place for the Champions League. While we thought the Spurs revived by their exploit at City, following 4 defeats in a row, they were surprised by Burnley (0-1).
After a soporific first period, Harry Kane came close to giving the Londoners the advantage, but the crossbar pushed his head back (47th). And with 20 minutes to go, Clarets centre-back Ben Mee, completely left free by the Tottenham defence, picked up a Josh Brownhill free-kick at the far post to give Burnley a second straight win.
Visibly touched by the defeat of his team, Antonio Conte felt that he would have to “reassess” his situation within the club. “It’s a tough night. And it’s not just tonight (Wednesday). In the last 5 matches, we have lost 4. This means that we will have to make an assessment, an assessment regarding the club, regarding me, because for me it is very frustrating, explained the Italian at the microphone of Sky Sport. We will have to speak together with the club to see what the best solution is. The club changes the coach, but the players are the same and the results don’t change. I am too honest to accept this type of situation and therefore we will have to reassess all of this with the club. We can’t keep losing, I can’t accept it and it’s not good for anyone.
“The club changes the coach, but the players are the same and the results don’t change. I am too honest to accept this type of situation.
Burnley’s success was further enhanced by Watford’s home loss to Crystal Palace (4-1), which allowed Burnley to move to 18th place, ahead of the Hornets, with 20 points once morest 18. Sean Dyche’s men are only 2 points behind Newcastle, 17th and first non-relegation, but who played one more match. They are also only 3 and 4 points behind Leeds (15th) and Brentford, who have 2 and 3 games more.
(AFP)