Fails

LONDON - Tottenham Hotspur bolstered their hopes for a top-four finish and extended Chelsea's miserable run under coach Graham Potter with a 2-0 win over the Blues in the Premier League on Sunday, thanks to second-half goals from Oliver Skipp and Harry Kane.

Seconds after the break, Skipp picked up a clearance by Chelsea's British record signing Enzo Fernández and fired in from more than 20 yards, his shot going in off the bar after Kepa Arrizabalaga could not get enough of a hand on it.

West Brom may have only finished Saturday’s EFL Championship game with 30% possession, but that’s all they needed after two early Daryl Dike goals vs Middlesbrough was enough for a 2-0 victory.

Dike’s pair of goals came just two minutes apart as he bested fellow American goalkeeper Zack Steffen in the 8th and 10th minute.

Daryl Dike goals vs Middlesbrough

The first goal for Dike came at the end of a great sequence of passes from West Brom. His darting run into the middle gave him enough space to slip the ball past Steffen.

I've been actively losing sleep due to feeling bad for Rennes defender Jeanuël Belocian. A freak Belocian own goal vs. Shakhtar Donetsk in the 119th minute of Thursday’s Europa League playoff match tied the aggregate score at 3-3 and sent the two teams to penalties.

Shakhtar would win the penalty shootout 5-4.

MANCHESTER, England - It was Groundhog Day for Barcelona at Old Trafford on Thursday as Manchester United fought back to earn a 2-1 win that knocked the Spanish side out of the Europa League, leaving the Catalans licking their wounds after another continental failure.

Last season they also ended up in the Europa League playoffs after finishing third in their Champions League group and were knocked out of Europe's second tier competition in the quarterfinals after a 3-2 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt at Camp Nou.

Sunday's EFL Cup final is a tale of two clubs desperate to herald the beginning of a new era with silverware. For Manchester United, ending a six-year wait for a major trophy would affirm Erik ten Hag's revolution. For Newcastle United, a 68-year drought would be remedied by the wealth of the Saudi PIF and the tinkerings of Eddie Howe. 

Valencia's season plummeted to historically low depths on Monday after a 1-0 defeat at Getafe left Los Che on just 20 points from 22 matches, good for 19th-place in LaLiga and two points from safety.

NEWCASTLE — Liverpool ended Newcastle United's long unbeaten run in the Premier League through early goals by Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo that gave them a 2-0 victory at St. James' Park on Saturday.

Jürgen Klopp's side caught Newcastle cold with a scintillating start, and the stunned hosts were reduced to 10 men in the 22nd minute when goalkeeper Nick Pope was red-carded.

Nick Pope red card vs. Liverpool

Nick Pope gets a straight RED for handling the ball well outside of the box.

An unthinkable Erling Haaland miss vs. Nottingham Forest on Saturday could prove costly in the title race as Manchester City shared the points after a 1-1 draw.

In the 67th minute with City leading 1-0 Haaland had a golden opportunity to double the lead. A shot from Phil Foden was saved by Keylor Navas but fell right to Haaland. The Norwegian goal machine's initial effort from close range hit off the crossbar.

Scientists are still trying to figure out how Haaland would miss the next shot from six yards out.