THE PREMIER League title race is becoming clearer as Arsenal pull away a little from Manchester City at the top. The Gunners are nine points clear with seven games to go, although City have a game in hand. The crunch game will be on April 19 when Arsenal visit the Etihad, but Mikel Arteta’s side have a little scope for error. Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 at the weekend with 16-year-old Max Dowman becoming the youngest ever Premier League goalscorer, his goal coming right at the end after Everton were overcommitted in search of an equaliser. City, meanwhile, were held 1-1 at relegation threatened West Ham. Pep Guardiola had said before the game that if City dropped points at the London Stadium, they were out of contention. At the nervous end of the table, Tottenham picked up a surprise, but welcome, point at Liverpool, with Richarlison scoring in the final minute. Manchester United moved into third with a 3-1 win against Aston Villa, while Chelsea lost ground by going down 1-0 at home to Newcastle United.
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Bundesliga: Bayern held as two sent off
BAYERN Munich may be heading for the title, but the last team to deprive them of the Bundesliga crown, Bayer Leverkusen, held them to a 1-1 draw. Bayern, without Harry Kane and Manuel Neuer, had two men sent off, Nicolas Jackson and Luis Díaz, the latter scoring the equaliser for the league leaders. Interestingly, the two teams meet again soon in the DFB Pokal semi-final. Dortmund won 2-0 against Augsburg, while Stuttgart were 1-0 winners against Leipzig, with Deniz Undav scoring the only goal, his 16th of the league season. Despite suffering a red card, Frankfurt beat Heidenheim 1-0 at the Deutsche Bank Park.
La Liga: Big two get goal-happy
BARCA remain four points clear of Real Madrid with 10 games to go, but with a Clasico meeting on May 10 at the Camp Nou, the title race looks set to run to the final days of the campaign. Barca won 5-2 against Sevilla with Raphinha scoring a hat-trick (two penalties). A crowd of 57,000 saw the game. Real were 4-1 winners against Elche, despite being without Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappé. Arda Güler was among the scorers, finding the net from inside his own half and Federico Valverde continued his excellent form with another goal. Atlético beat Getafe 1-0 with a goal from Nauhuel Molina, but the headline concerned a red card for Getafe’s Abdel Abqar, who was dismissed for apparently touching Alexander Sørloth’s genitals.
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Serie A: Milan fail to take advantage
INTER Milan had to be satisfied with a 1-1 draw at San Siro with Atalanta. Pio Esposito gave them a first half lead, but they conceded a late goal by Nicola Krstovic. Milan had the chance to close the gap at the top, but they were beaten 1-0 at Lazio, the winner scored by Danish international Gustav Isaksen. It was a big disappointment for Milan as they had beaten Inter a week earlier, but they are eight points behind with nine games remaining. Napoli came from behind to beat Lecce 2-1, while Juventus had to thank Jérémie Boga for a first half goal that beat Udinese. Roma, reduced to 10 men after an hour, were dealt a blow by Como, who turned the game around to win 2-1 after the Giallorossi had taken an early lead.
Ligue 1: PSG strengthen their title bid – without playing
ALTHOUGH Paris Saint-Germain didn’t play at the weekend, their main rivals for the title, Lens, were beaten 2-1 at mid-table Lorient. It was an opportunity lost for Lens, leaving the experienced Florian Thauvin very deflated: “We tried, but we conceded two goals. We’ve been conceding a lot lately, from the forwards to the defence… naturally, there’s a lot of disappointment.” A win for Lens would have put them back on top of the table. Marseille consolidated third place with a 1-0 win against Auxerre, with substitute Amine Gouiri scoring the winning goal with 11 minutes to go of a rather dour match. The fans on both sides were so unimpressed that they had a so-called “chanting strike”. PSG are ahead of Lens and have a game in hand.
Eredivisie: PSV lose but it’s only a matter of time
PSV EINDHOVEN are just six points off winning the Eredivisie title, but they missed a chance to secure three of those points when they were beaten 3-2 at home by NEC Nijmegen. Two goals by NEC’s Bryan Linssen gave the visitors the lead before PSV pulled one back. Youssef El Kachati restored the two goal advantage and it wasn’t until added time that Couhaib Driouech netted a second PSV goal. NEC knocked PSV out of the KNVB Cup at the beginning of March. Feyenoord won the Rotterdam derby against Excelsior by 2-1, while their other local rivals, Sparta, were trounced 4-0 at Ajax.
Attendances
1: Borussia Dortmund v Augsburg – 81,365
2: Inter Milan v Atalanta – 74,364
3: Manchester United v Aston Villa – 73,997
4: Real Madrid v Elche – 71,048
5: West Ham United v Manchester City – 62,459
6: Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur – 60,386.