Chelsea’s challenge for a place in next season’s Champions League faltered in a toothless 1-0 defeat at Arsenal on Sunday (Monday AEDT) as Fulham beat Tottenham 2-0 — with Ange Postecoglou giving a stinging assessment of one player.
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Tottenham kept their season alive by reaching the Europa League quarter-finals with victory over AZ Alkmaar on Thursday, but suffered the latest in a series of European hangovers at Craven Cottage.
Victory for Fulham propels Marco Silva’s men into the race for Champions League places as they climb to eighth, four points off the top four and three outside the top five.
A top-five finish will almost certainly secure a place in Europe’s top club competition next season thanks to the strong performance of English sides in European competitions.
Spurs, though, have struggled to handle the burden of Thursday nights when it comes to their Premier League form.
Postecoglou’s side have won just three times in the 10 league matches that have followed a midweek Europa League fixture.
“It’s been a difficult campaign for sure,” said Spurs captain Son Heung-min. “But I feel we’ve lost too many games that we should have got stuff out of, and this was one of those games.”
Postecoglou was unimpressed with Mali international Yves Bissouma’s performance.
“I feel Biss sometimes lets the game drift by him, he needs to be more dominant,” Postecoglou said, per the BBC.
“Today, we needed more in that position. I had needed him to play because he hasn’t played a lot.
“At the same time, I need him to perform. It is safe to say maybe Biss and a few guys lack a bit of confidence but at this stage of the season we need people to perform.
Son Heung-Min and Ange Postecoglou look dejected after defeat at Fulham.Source: Getty Images
“A disappointing outcome obviously. A tight game, it was always going to be a tight game, there wasn’t really much in it,” Postecoglou added.
“I thought, especially in the second half, I thought we were growing to the game, I thought we had the better chances at 0-0 to get ahead and then we gave them a really soft goal and then the game just got away from us.
“So it’s another day where we’re disappointed to lose. I don’t think Fulham really created much, I think Vic [Guglielmo Vicario] had a save to make and we had a couple of big chances to go 1-0 up.
“But we’ve done that a fair bit this year, conceding a soft goal and when you do that, especially away from home, then it just gives the opposition a chance to grow into the game.”
Fulham had to wait until 78 minutes to take the lead when Rodrigo Muniz steered home from Andreas Pereira’s pass.
Ryan Sessegnon then curled in a brilliant second against his former club to secure victory late on.
Spurs remain down in 13th, now 10 points off the top half.
Ange Postecoglou speaks to Yves Bissouma (L) earlier this season.Source: Getty Images
CHELSEA POOR AGAINST GUNNERS
Mikel Merino scored the only goal of a disappointing contest at the Emirates as Arsenal pulled clear in second place and to within 12 points of runaway leaders Liverpool.
Chelsea badly missed the presence of the absent Cole Palmer due to injury as they meekly surrendered to a damaging defeat for their hopes of a top-four finish.
The Blues remain in fourth for now but have five sides from Manchester City in fifth to Aston Villa in ninth within four points of Enzo Maresca’s team.
Both managers are hoping to be stronger after the upcoming international break. Bukayo Saka is nearing a return for Arsenal, while Maresca is confident of having Palmer, Nico Jackson and Noni Madueke back when they are next in action at home to Tottenham on April 3.
“We did enough to deserve to win the game,” said Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta. “Now we have the international break so let’s take a chance to breathe and bring some players back hopefully.”
Mikel Merino of Arsenal celebrates scoring his team’s goal.Source: Getty Images
Arsenal have struggled badly for goals since the loss of Kai Havertz to a season-ending injury forced midfielder Merino into a makeshift centre-forward role.
The Spanish international proved the match winner from a corner as he looped a header from Martin Odegaard’s delivery inside the far post on 20 minutes.
Chelsea barely threatened but were nearly gifted a route back into the game when David Raya fumbled Marc Cucurella’s shot and the ball trickled wide.
At the other end, Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez made a brilliant stop to prevent Merino doubling Arsenal’s lead with the best effort of the second half.
But the game petered out with little goalmouth action as a limp performance will do little to quieten the critics of Maresca’s style of play among the Chelsea support.
“There was not a big difference in the two games between us,” said Maresca. “Given the injuries, we fought until the end.”
Manchester United are in action later on Sunday when Ruben Amorim’s team visit lowly Leicester.
Oasis star Noel Gallagher made a bizarre commentary appearance as his beloved Manchester City went down 4-1 to Sporting CP in Ruben Amorim’s farewell match ahead of taking over at Old Trafford.
The new Manchester United manager immediately endeared himself to his new fans as his Portuguese side inflicted a third defeat in the space of a week on City to maintain their standing in second position on the Champions League table with ten points from four games.
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Amorim said pre-game that Red Devils fans might believe that “the new Alex Ferguson has arrived” if his team beat City, and he has poured fuel on the fire that is the Manchester derby.
LISBON, PORTUGAL – NOVEMBER 05: Ruben Amorim, Head Coach of Sporting CP, is thrown into the air by his players to celebrate his last home match as manager at the end of the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD4 match between Sporting Clube de Portugal and Manchester City at Estadio Jose Alvalade on November 05, 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Pep Guardiola will get his chance for revenge on Amorim in the 39-year-old’s first Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium on December 15, but he has glaring issues to fix first.
Phil Foden opened the scoring for City in the fourth minute and it appeared they were back on track after a shock Premier League loss to Bournemouth at the weekend after being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham mid-week.
Lifelong City fan Gallagher was even crowing about how easy things were on the pitch for his side, but almost as soon as the words came out of mouth, Sporting front man Viktor Gyökeres fired home their first goal in the 38th minute.
From then on despite City dominating possession (73%) and having more than double the amount of shots (20-9), Sporting had all the momentum on the counter and they rolled with it.
No more than 30 seconds into the second half they grabbed the lead courtesy of a great through ball picking out Maximiliano Araujo who was in on goal and smashed it home.
Former Brighton striker Gyökeres piled on the pain by slotting two second half penalties to ensure he took home the match ball.
At the other end, Erling Haaland had a chance to keep the game alive when City were 3-1 down but he blasted his penalty straight into the bar.
City’s injury issues still persist in defence and it was the first time they had conceded four goals in a Champions League match since Barcelona put four past them in 2016.
It was a painful return to Portugal for Lisbon-born Silva, who conceded City are mired in a damaging slump.
“It’s disappointing because we’re a bit in a dark place right now. Everything looks to be going in the wrong way,” he said.
“Even when we are playing well we don’t score our chances and we concede too easily.
“We need to get better very quickly otherwise it will be very difficult to come back from these losses.
“It’s difficult to find reasons for what is happening to us. It just looks like this team is going the wrong way now.
“Our injured players need to come back because we need them and it’s just not good enough tonight.”
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Ruthless Liverpool spoil Alonso’s return to Anfield
Xabi Alonso endured a miserable return to Anfield as Liverpool thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 on Tuesday, thanks to a Luis Diaz hat-trick, to go top of the Champions League table.
Cody Gakpo was also on target as the Reds maintained their 100 per cent record in Europe after four games.
Alonso, a Champions League winner during his playing days in the Liverpool midfield, turned his back on succeeding Jurgen Klopp to remain at Leverkusen after leading them to an unbeaten German league and cup double last season.
Liverpool, though, are not left wondering what might have been as Arne Slot continued his stunning start as manager with a 14th win in 16 games in all competitions.
Leverkusen remain on seven points from their opening four Champions League matches after another sobering night for their ambitions to match the heights they hit last season.
Alonso’s men sit fourth in the Bundesliga, seven points adrift of leaders Bayern Munich, and failed to master what Alonso described pre-match as a “beautiful challenge”.
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The Spaniard cut a frustrated figure on the touchline as his side struggled to get into the slick passing rhythm they have become famed for during his tenure.
The German champions, though, created the best of what chances there were in a first half short on goalmouth action.
Jeremie Frimpong saw appeals for a penalty waved away when he went down with a clear sight of goal under a challenge from Kostas Tsimikas.
Frimpong also had the ball in the net just before the break but handled before racing through to finish.
Liverpool’s best opening of the half came seconds later when Curtis Jones’ excellent pass finally found some space for Gakpo, but his powerful effort was repelled at his near post by Lukas Hradecky.
Just like in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Brighton that took Slot’s men to the top of the Premier League, it took until the second half for both Liverpool and the Anfield crowd to come to life.
Mohamed Salah should have done better when he sliced wide after a jinking run through the Leverkusen midfield by Ryan Gravenberch.
A cagey tactical battle was sparked into life on the hour mark by a moment of stunning quality.
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Jones spun his marker before splitting the Leverkusen defence with a pinpoint pass for Diaz, who nonchalantly chipped the advancing Hradecky.
Moments later, Liverpool had killed the visitors off with another flowing move. Salah’s driven cross was headed in at the back post by the flying Gakpo. The linesman raised his flag to momentarily silence the celebrations, but a VAR review showed the Dutch forward was onside for his sixth goal of the season.
Victor Boniface headed wide with a huge chance to bring Leverkusen immediately back into the game.
Instead, Liverpool pulled further clear seven minutes from time when Diaz controlled Salah’s looping cross and fired home.
The Colombian then rounded off the scoring with his ninth of the season in stoppage time with another clinical finish after Darwin Nunez’s blocked shot fell into his path.
Liverpool’s return of 12 points means they are almost certainly already assured of a place in the knockout phase, but are closing in on sealing direct progression to the last 16 via a top-eight finish in the 36-team league.
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AC Milan topple Champions League holders Real Madrid
Champions League holders Real Madrid fell to a 3-1 home defeat by AC Milan on Tuesday in the group stage with striker Kylian Mbappe unable to find the net again.
The 25-year-old France captain has scored once in his last six matches for Madrid across all competitions, including three losses for Los Blancos.
Malick Thiaw headed the Italian side ahead before Vinicius Junior levelled from the penalty spot for the hosts.
Alvaro Morata struck against his former side to restore Milan’s lead before the break and Tijjani Reijnders netted the third to secure Milan’s victory.
Madrid were unable to bounce back strongly from the 4-0 thrashing by Barcelona in late October, their last outing after Saturday’s La Liga match at Valencia was postponed because of devastating floods in the east of Spain.
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Players from both sides wore t-shirts before the match reading “We are all Valencia” while in one stand a giant Valencia regional flag was unfurled for a minute’s silence.
Carlo Ancelotti, who won the Champions League twice as a player and then twice as a coach with Milan, only made one change from the Clasico humiliation, bringing in Luka Modric for Eduardo Camavinga.
Madrid may have been keen to set things right in front of their fans at the Santiago Bernabeu but fell behind in the 12th minute.
Thiaw’s near-post header from a corner flew past the helpless Andriy Lunin to earn the Serie A side the lead.
Mike Maignan saved from Mbappe at the other end as Madrid hit back, with Vinicius winning a penalty as he fell under a clumsy tackle from Emerson Royal.
The Brazilian, who finished as runner-up in last week’s Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris when he had been favourite to win, coolly dispatched it with a cheeky dinked Panenka effort.
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Milan regained the lead in the 39th minute through former Madrid striker Morata, who reacted quickly to fire home after Lunin saved from Rafael Leao.
Mbappe, yet to find top form in a Madrid shirt since his move from Paris Saint-Germain and particularly frustrated in the Barcelona defeat, broke in again before half-time but Maignan saved his low effort.
Ancelotti took action at half-time, bringing on Camavinga and Brahim Diaz, and it opened up the second half for an end-to-end affair.
Lunin made a superb flying save from Leao’s header and the Portuguese forward wasted a couple of opportunities on the break.
Leao made amends by teeing up Reijnders at the end of a superb solo run to turn home for Milan’s third after 73 minutes.
Antonio Rudiger smashed home for Madrid after a poor Maignan punch but the goal was disallowed for a tight off-side against the defender.
Maignan made a fine late save to deny Diaz and it killed any Madrid hopes of a comeback, like in their previous Champions League outing against Borussia Dortmund.
Madrid have now lost two of their four matches and are in the middle of the table, provisionally 17th, one place above Milan.
Arsenal shrugged off the disappointment of their Champions League exit to move back to the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 win at Wolves on Sunday (AEST).
Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard struck at the end of each half to take the Gunners one point clear of Manchester City, who have a game in hand.
Arsenal’s season was in danger of coming completely off the rails after a three-game winless run.
Mikel Arteta’s men lost in the Premier League for the first time in 2024 last weekend, 2-0 at home to Aston Villa, in between a Champions League quarter-final elimination by Bayern Munich.
However, they bounced back to keep the pressure on champions City, who beat Chelsea 1-0 to reach the FA Cup final earlier on Saturday.
Arteta made just three changes from the side that lost 1-0 in Munich on Wednesday and it took some time for the sluggish visitors to find their stride.
Wolves boss Gary O’Neil claimed his side have been struck by the worst injury crisis he has encountered in his professional career.
Yet, the undermanned hosts were nearly in front when David Raya was forced to turn Joao Gomes’ powerful effort onto the crossbar.
Arsenal had only fleetingly threatened before the break despite their dominance of possession.
But they got the slice of fortune they needed to kickstart their challenge for a first title in 20 years on 44 minutes when Trossard’s mis-hit shot clipped in off the far post.
Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League thanks to a victory over Wolves. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)Source: AFP
There was little in the way of goalmouth action in the second period as fatigue took hold of Arsenal in their fourth game in 11 days.
However, shorn of the threat of the injured Matheus Cunha and Pedro Neto, Wolves lacked the attacking inspiration to further dent their title aspirations.
Odegaard made the points safe five minutes into stoppage time by catching Jose Sa out at his near post.
Third-placed Liverpool can move level on points with Arsenal when they visit Fulham on Sunday.
At the bottom of the table, Luton’s hopes of survival were hammered by Brentford’s 5-1 rout at Kenilworth Road.
Luton’s heaviest home league defeat of the season leaves the Hatters still one point adrift of Nottingham Forest, who visit Everton on Sunday in a huge clash at the bottom of the table.
“Today was a bad day for us as a club but the teams directly above us play each other and we will not be out of it this weekend. It’s important we all remember that,” said Luton boss Rob Edwards.
Luton shipped five goals in the defeat to Brentford. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Brentford realistically secured their top-flight status with a dominant display despite missing England striker Ivan Toney through injury.
Yoane Wissa struck twice before halftime, while Ethan Pinnock, Keane Lewis-Potter and Kevin Schade were also on target for the Bees.
Burnley are now within two points of Luton and three of survival after cruising to a 4-1 victory at rock bottom Sheffield United.
Two of the Clarets’ five league wins this season have come against the Blades. Burnley scored twice in two minutes just before halftime through Jacob Bruun Larsen and Lorenz Assignon.
Gustavo Hamer pulled a goal back for the home side early in the second period. But United are destined to head straight back down to the Championship due to their woeful defending.
Lyle Foster and Johann Gudmundsson rounded off the scoring to leave Chris Wilder’s men 10 points adrift of safety with just five games remaining.
“I won’t name names, but I think there were a few players out there who wanted to get out of there pretty quickly after the fourth went in,” said Wilder.
Erling Haaland took Manchester City to within one point of Premier League leaders Liverpool but the champions were made to sweat for a 1-0 win over Brentford.
Just two points separate the top three in a fascinating title race with Arsenal one point adrift of City with 13 games to go.
Haaland was keen to make amends for a frustrating night in front of goal as City were held 1-1 at home by Chelsea on Saturday.
But the Norwegian was made to wait until 19 minutes from time to break the deadlock when he raced onto Julian Alvarez’s pass to slot in his 22nd goal of the season.
Pep Guardiola left Kevin De Bruyne on the bench for the entire match as he manages the Belgian’s minutes after he missed the first five months of the season due to a hamstring injury.
De Bruyne’s ingenuity was missed as City struggled to make their domination count despite enjoying nearly 70 percent possession and having 25 shots on goal.
The Bees were the last visiting side to win at the Etihad 14 months ago and had their chances to spring another huge surprise.
Frank Onyeka failed to beat Ederson when one-on-one midway through the first half before Ivan Toney sent a dipping free-kick inches over the bar.
Erling Haaland applauds at the end of the game. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)Source: AFP
The vast majority of goalmouth action was coming at the other end, though, as Mark Flekken kept Brentford in the game.
Flekken was stretched into fine stops from Manuel Akanji and twice from Ruben Dias.
Oscar Bobb came closest to opening the scoring in the first half, on a rare start for the Norwegian youngster, when his effort was cleared off the line by Ben Mee.
Bernardo Silva also headed a glorious chance wide as Thomas Frank’s men held out until the break.
Liverpool and Arsenal’s hopes of a second unlikely gift from City in the title race in four days would have been raised by a quiet start to the second period.
However, City remain well in the hunt to become the first side ever to win four consecutive English top-flight titles for a reason.
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One slip by Brentford defender Kristoffer Ajer provided the moment Haaland had been waiting for as he galloped clear on goal and kept his composure to score for just the third time in his last eight games.
City should have extended their advantage, especially as goal difference could yet prove decisive in the title race.
Phil Foden scored a hat-trick when the sides met earlier this month in City’s 3-1 win in west London.
But the England international was denied twice late on by Flekken as the goalkeeper tipped over a blistering shot and then stood up well to block as Foden tried to go round him.
Brighton ended Manchester City’s 12-game winning run in the Premier League as a 1-1 draw on Wednesday secured the Seagulls a place in next season’s Europa League.
Phil Foden fired the English champions in front, but Brighton were well worthy of the point given to them by Julio Enciso’s stunning long-range strike.
Brighton, who had already secured European football next season for the first time in the club’s history, are now certain to finish sixth.
City did at least stretch their unbeaten run in all competitions to 25 games as Pep Guardiola’s men opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the table with one game remaining.
Guardiola heaped praise on Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi pre-match, hailing the Italian as one of the most influential managers of the last 20 years.
The City coach showed his respect by restoring a number of star names to his side that missed Sunday’s 1-0 win over Chelsea to toast a fourth league title in five years.
Erling Haaland returned among six changes and could have had a seventh hat-trick of the season inside half an hour.
The towering Norwegian headed over Foden’s inviting cross on five minutes. Haaland then had a poor touch to blame for not beating Jason Steele when clean through on goal.
At the third time of asking he took no chances as Haaland unselfishly squared with just Steele to beat for Foden to convert his 15th goal of the season.
Brighton’s Paraguayan striker Julio Enciso (C) shoots and scores his team first goal in epic fashion.Source: AFP
But after a slow start, Brighton soon began to live up to Guardiola’s billing as the champions were rocked back on their heels.
Danny Welbeck’s free-kick came crashing off the bar and Facundo Buonanotte should have done better with his finish after sauntering through the City defence.
Kaoru Mitoma also saw an equaliser ruled out for handball.
But there was no stopping Enciso’s leveller when it did come as the Paraguayan picked up Levi Colwill’s pass and smashed an effort into the top corner for his first goal at the Amex.
Brighton had the ball in the net for a third time in the first 45 minutes moments later only for Welbeck to be flagged off-side from Mitoma’s pass.
The second period was less filled with goalmouth action despite the electric pace of the game.
Haaland thought he finally had his 53rd goal of the season when he headed home Cole Palmer’s cross 15 minutes from time.
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But a VAR review caught out City’s prolific number nine as he had pulled Colwill’s shirt to create the space for a free header.
Tempers briefly flared on the touchline after that decision with Guardiola shown a yellow card by the referee.
There were also minor injury concerns for City ahead of the FA Cup and Champions League finals next month as John Stones and Bernardo Silva were not moving freely as they were replaced in the closing stages.
But it was all smiles at the end as Guardiola and De Zerbi shared a warm embrace of mutual admiration after the full-time whistle.
