Manchester City has regained its slender one point lead in the title race after defeating Leicester City at the Etihad 1-0. The Cityzens were put under pressure as Liverpool narrowly defeated Newcastle 3-2 at St. James’ Park on Saturday. Liverpool now must beat Wolves next weekend to have a chance at the title. Leicester City came to play at the Etihad and did not let the defending champions have it easy on their home ground.
It’s obviously been the wildest of title races, and Monday’s meeting between Manchester City and Leicester City only intensified how preposterously frantic it’s been. The Foxes were oh-so-close to doing Liverpool the ultimate favor, but the 2015-16 champions fell short due to Vincent Kompany’s 30-yard wonder strike in the 70th minute.
Manchester City looked destined to stumble to a 0-0 draw with Leicester City on the penultimate match day to hand control of the Premier League title race back to Liverpool ahead of the final round of games next Sunday. Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers, formerly of Liverpool, set up the 2015-16 champions immaculately, highlighted by dominant performances from center defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Tottenham went into Saturday’s match against Bournemouth joint fewest red cards earned in the league; Spurs ended the match joint sixth in most red cards received. Two Tottenham red cards spelled doom for Mauricio Pochettino’s side in a 1-0 loss to Bournemouth on Saturday, once again opening up the race in for the top four.
This season’s Premier League has been very interesting to say the least.
Liverpool and Manchester City have been battling it out for the title after Chelsea and Tottenham began dropping points. Liverpool put itself in a great position to go clear at the top only after a difficult run of games saw City catch up and retake the top spot. There has been talk among football fans and pundits alike that if Liverpool and Manchester City are equal on points, goal difference and goals scored on the final day. The two teams will have to play a Premier League title playoff.
There’s a new most valuable Premier League club, and it’s not Manchester United.
Manchester City was rated the most valuable Premier League club for the 2017-18 season in a recent study conducted by University of Liverpool’s Centre for Sports Business Group, as reported by BBC.
The Citizens were valued at $3.11 billion (£2.364 billion) compared to United, which dropped nearly half a billion dollars to $2.75 billion because of “higher wages and lower profit,” according to the study.
Longtime Manchester United defender John O’Shea announced his retirement on his 37th birthday Tuesday.
Believe it or not, O’Shea has been playing continuously since his departure from Manchester United in 2011.
O’Shea spent 12 years with United and was part of five Premier League championship teams as well as one Champions League-winning team.
John O’Shea has announced his retirement from football:
DeAndre Yedlin made a big move after the 2014 World Cup, leaving his hometown club Seattle Sounders for Tottenham Hotspur in August of that year. Five years later, his youth club Crossfire Premier has been denied solidarity payments on the transfer (which cost the English Premier League club about $3.71 million), ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle reported.
(Editor's note: This story is for the 2018-19 season. If you'd like to see our 2019-2020 story on how to watch the Champions League and other leagues, click here.)
Emile Smith Rowe is a promising youth player for Arsenal.
When he was 16, he was already playing for Arsenal's U-23s and signed his first professional contract at age 17 last July. He also played a few Europa League matches with the Gunners, scoring a goal against Qarabag in a 3-0 win.