Many people felt City were favourites for the title just over a week ago. They sat just two points behind an Arsenal side that has famously squandered bigger leads in season’s past.
Arsenal get title boost as City and Villa drop points
But they have crumbled in the last week, failing to capitalize on a host of chances in three successive draws. They were particularly wasteful in last night’s 1-1 draw with Brighton, only managing four shots on target out of 20 total attempts. Erling Haaland- so often City’s saviour- missed a slew of relatively routine chances. The Norwegian phenom did give City a narrow first-half lead, converting from the spot to register his 20th league goal of the campaign (which was also the 35000th goal in Premier League history). But Brighton came out the better team in the 2nd half and got a thoroughly deserved equalizer, as Mitoma applied the finishing touches to an intricate Brighton move. City were uncharacteristically skittish in front of goal, failing to take advantage after some calamitous defensive lapses from the Seagulls. If only Semenyo had arrived a little sooner. Villa also dropped points in a tepid 0-0 draw at Palace. Arsenal’s 22-year title drought looks as if it may soon be coming to an end.
5-star Barcelona destroy Athletic Club
Hansi Flick’s Barcelona always seem to turn on the style when they head to the Middle East. They were in irresistible in Jeddah last night, destroying Athletic Club 5-0 to progress to the final of this year’s Spanish Supercoppa. Barca dominated the Basque club from the off, creating several excellent opportunities before Ferran Torres scuffed them into the lead in the 22nd minute. The floodgates were open, as Fermin, Bardghji and Raphinha all added to Barca’s first-half advantage. There were moments in that late first-half blitz where they resembled Guardiola’s Barca, hogging possession in the same tiki-taka style. Raphinha would round off the scoring in the 2nd half, slotting home with that trusted left foot to relegate Athletic Club to a humbling 5-0 Saudi defeat. Rooney Bardghji showed off Barca’s embarrassment of riches, stylishly deputizing for Yamal down that right-hand side. This is a vibrant, youthful squad that seems to be going from strength to strength.
Napoli fall four points behind Inter ahead of Serie A clash
Antonio Conte’s Napoli had to fight back after a miserable start to their home match against Verona. Verona took a shock lead in the 16th minute, as Martin Frese provided a cheeky near-post backheel to stun the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. Things soon got worse for the Partenopei, as Buongiorno inexplicably handled the ball in his own box to gift Verona a penalty. Gift Orban stepped up to double the lead, leaving Napoli’s title hopes in disarray. Napoli snapped out of their slumber in the 2nd stanza, with 2024/2025 MVP Scott McTominay showing great tenacity to head home just after the break. Hojlund thought he had levelled matters only to have been adjudged (harshly) to have handled the ball during his chest control. Giovanni Di Lorenzo eventually equalized, sweeping home smartly after some neat work down the right-hand side. Napoli’s defeat gave Inter the chance to create a bit of daylight atop the table.
Inter find way through the fog
Inter took full advantage of Napoli’s slip-up, winning 2-0 in a fog-affected match in Parma. Cristian Chivu’s Inter were utterly dominant throughout, creating 21 total chances compared to Parma’s three. Inter were wasteful in the early stages and should have been out of sight by halftime. Still, they did go into the break with a slender 1-0 lead, as Federico Dimarco fired home from a tight angle just before the break. It was initially flagged as offside but was allowed to stand after further inspection. Inter choked the life out of the game in the 2nd period, hanging onto the ball with consummate ease. Ange-Yoan Bonny was denied a goal upon his return to his old stomping ground, with VAR finding a handball in the buildup to his late ‘strike’. Marcus Thuram would make sure of the points deep into injury-time, slotting home to make it six successive league wins for the Nerazzuri.
Player of the Night- Antoine Semenyo
With his move to City a foregone conclusion, it would have been easy for Antoine Semenyo to phone it in during his final game for the Cherries. But the Ghanaian forward had one final bit of magic left for the Bournemouth faithful, smashing in a long-range injury-time winner against Spurs. We live in a cynical age, where players often down tools and go into full mercenary mode when they are on the cusp of leaving a club. I thought there was something reassuringly admirable about the way Semenyo gave it all for the Cherries in his final outing,
