Manchester United legend-turned-pundit Rio Ferdinand has said that the Premier League doesn't have any of the best players in the world anymore and English teams in the Champions League suffer because of it. Ferdinand appeared in three Champions League finals, winning it once in 2008 and the veteran defender thinks that the league had more stars back when he won the trophy.
Regardless of what happens during these last eight matches in the English Premier League, the rise of Leicester City is a story that will stay as one of the greatest surprises in league history.
Since the Premier League started being called the Premier League, the only title run that rivals this Leicester stunner was Blackburn’s 1994-95 title. Even so, Blackburn's title race wasn’t as long of a shot as what we have seen this year from Leicester, because the Rovers were the runners-up in 1993-94.
Under the reign of Louis van Gaal, Paul Scholes has labeled Manchester United a shamble, a team devoid of creativity, risk and and an unmitigated disaster. His criticism of the current regime has been so fierce that he’s been forced to deny having a personal bias against van Gaal and the current crop of Manchester United players.
Leicester City continue their Premier League dominance with a 1 - 0 win over Newcastle United. There was a lot of anticipation for this match up as this was Rafa Benitez's first match as manager for Newcastle. Unfortunately it did not go his way as Shinji Okazaki scored a wonderful bicycle kick to take a 1 - 0 lead in the 25th minute. The victory put Leicester City 5 points clear of 2nd place Tottenham. With only 8 matches left in the 2015 - 2016 EPL season for Leicester City, can they hold on to the 5 point lead or will another team get hot and overtake the top spot?
Leicester City’s improbable march towards a Premier League titled continued on Monday following a spirited 1-0 victory over relegation-threatened Newcastle United. Leicester managed only a single shot on target over the course of the match but the outcome of that shot was a goal fit to win any game. In what will perhaps go a long way towards securing a first-ever EPL title for the Foxes, Shinji Okazaki's overhead goal earned Leicester another three points.
On Saturday, Everton beat Chelsea 2-0 in the sixth round of the FA Cup at Goodison Park in scintillating fashion. There was drama, sensational goals (OMG Romelu Lukaku), and one or two good kicks in the shin (that may be putting it lightly — at times the play on the field more or less resembled a parking lot brawl after a few too many at the company softball game). Basically it was everything you’d expect from a cup tie of that magnitude.
Watford beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup thanks to this astonishing Adlene Guedioura goal vs Arsenal. If you have never heard of the phrase “thunderbastard” or seen one for yourself, you are about to see a quintessential one.
Diego Costa says he did not bite Everton's Gareth Barry.
Gareth Barry says Chelsea's Diego Costa did not bite him.
Last week was a struggle for me as I only got two matches correct (thank you to Benfica and Portland!). This week the focus will be on England where Chelsea and Manchester United attempt to salvage disappointing seasons by moving forward into the FA Cup semifinals while the biggest match of the year in Mexico takes place in Guadalajara.
Here are the five, can’t miss matches of the weekend:
1. Everton v. Chelsea, Saturday 12:30 p.m. EST, Fox Sports 2
Aaron Ramsey featured in our "Top18 Boots You Can Buy Today" showed off again why he deserves to be highlighted for his great goals. In a match between two world reknown clubs, Ramsey opened the scoring with a nifty backheel. With instinct alone, he guided his teammate's cross into the back of the net. Arsenal would draw Tottenham 2-2, which featured another incredible goal from Harry Kane.