The games continued to come thick and fast in the Premier League with another round of matches played across different grounds last weekend.
The season has passed the half-way stage, and the contenders are now separating themselves from the pretenders. Everton’s clash against Newcastle kicked off last weekend’s action while Brighton’s game against Spurs ended the round of matches,
And in its usual tradition, FreshSports reviews some of the weekend’s action.
Manchester City’s title to lose: Before and earlier in the season, we said Liverpool were well on course to defend their title successfully.
However, following the injury to Virgil Van Dijk, doubts began to arise, and their recent wobble allowed their rivals Manchester City to capitalise.
City’s win over Sheffield United on Saturday was their eighth consecutive victory in the league, and that has taken them three points clear at the top with a game in hand.
Pep’s men are unbeatable at the moment, and they have been able to overcome a slow start. They are now favourites to win back the title they lost to Liverpool last season.
Liverpool bounce back: Liverpool’s form hit a rough patch recently. The Reds had been winless in the league since December until they defeated Tottenham Hotspur last Thursday.
And it appeared that win over a title rival kicked them back to life as they backed it up with another comfortable win over West Ham on Sunday.
Although they are now four points behind City due to their wobble last month, they have the chance to reduce the deficit when they welcome Pep’s men to Anfield this weekend.
But first, they need to seal the maximum points against Brighton in their midweek clash. City may be favourites for the League now, but Liverpool are ready to push them all the way.
Familiar problems for Jose Mourinho: Earlier this season, Spurs were considered as a dark horse for the title, but the last two months have seen their form gone from bad to worse.
Spurs manager, Jose Mourinho, is now starting to come under pressure over his approach to games. The Portuguese tactician has been criticised for his defensive mindset and management style, which was also an issue at Manchester United.
The Lillywhites were deservedly beaten at Brighton on Sunday, which hands them their second consecutive loss. Although there’ve been similar results in what has been a crazy season, it’s how Spurs played that raised a concern.
Spurs are still in the race for the top four, but Mourinho needs to arrest their slump before it spirals out of control.
Thomas Tuchel grabs first win as Chelsea manager: Frank Lampard became the second managerial casualty of the season after Slaven Bilic.
The former England international was sacked following a series of unimpressive results that resulted in Chelsea falling out of the title race and losing ground in the top-four battle.
Lampard was replaced by Thomas Tuchel, who was sacked by Paris Saint Germain in December. Tuchel’s first game in charge was the 0-0 draw against Wolves.
He got his first win on Sunday as Chelsea beat Burnley 2-0. The former Borussia Dortmund made some tactical changes in the game and would have been satisfied with the performance.
However, Tuchel’s first real test comes up on Thursday when Chelsea travel to Tottenham.
Arsenal And Man United share the spoils: Arsenal’s clash against Manchester United was the biggest match of the weekend, but it failed to live up to expectations as neither team could find the breakthrough.
The result extended Arsenal’s unbeaten run in the league to seven games. However, for Man Utd, they lost more ground on Man City as they are now three points behind their city rivals having played a game more.
