Brendan Rodgers’ side were unlucky to miss out on top four after a season racked by injuries, while Chelsea imploded but held on to fourth and Liverpool stormed to thirdAs you were, then. At the end of this most unpredictable and turbulent of seasons, a time of pandemic and insurrection, the top four places in the Premier League ended in the hands of its four biggest and richest clubs.Eight restless months after we started, English football’s new order – it turned out – looked largely like the old. Related: Leicester’s defeat to Tottenham hands Champions League place to Chelsea Related: Chelsea qualify for Champions League despite stumbling at Aston Villa Continue reading...
The German striker’s woes continued with two disallowed goals at Stamford Bridge but Chelsea broke down Leicester eventually to keep control of their top-four destinyWith around 25 minutes to go at Stamford Bridge, Timo Werner’s luck finally turned. Mateo Kovacic slid a pass into the left channel, whereupon Werner gathered the ball in his gangly, maladroit stride and began the lengthy, protracted process of bringing it under control.Somewhere amid the tangle of legs and leather, a tackle was attempted by Wesley Fofana. Why Fofana did this remains a puzzling matter, given that on recent experience the most effective way of winning the ball from Werner is simply to let him tackle himself. Still, it was a moment of well-deserved fortune...
The Manchester United striker shone in the defeat to Leicester and has hit form at the right time to win a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the European ChampionshipFarewell then, the Premier League season. You tried hard. You provided the odd squall of intensity. Manchester City, also known as the Premier League champions 2020-21 after this result, were very good for a long time in mid-season. Leicester City, who moved close to sealing a top-four spot with victory, have been a genuinely bright spark, fun to watch, and deserving of their likely reward.But at times this game seemed like a Viking funeral for the peculiar season just passed, all trapped energy, fake noise, tired minds and bodies, and no...
Rodgers reaches his first English final, Spurs wait on Harry Kane’s ankle and Norwich make a welcome returnBrendan Rodgers’ previous FA Cup semi-final visit, in April 2015, ended in disaster, a deserved 2-1 loss with Liverpool to an Aston Villa team inspired by a teenage Jack Grealish. That was an afternoon when Liverpool froze but six years on, Rodgers is a manager with considerably more chops. His Leicester team approached their Sunday night visit to Wembley with poise, confidence and patience. On the sidelines, and even above the 4,000 fans in the stadium as part of a post-Covid experiment, Rodgers’s baritone was audible, talking his players through each passage of play. His suit is always reassuringly expensive but Rodgers remains...
A genuine aristocrat of European football, the striker’s final run at the club he has flourished at may well come from the fringesThe agony of choice. Manchester City started this game with a frontline of Riyadh Mahrez, Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesus: a move from zero No 9s to two of them, although Jesus moves in more mysterious ways than the average centre-forward.Midway though the second half this had switched to a fluid front four of – oh, let’s see – Jesus, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Ferran Torres. By the end Phil Foden was hurtling though the centre forward position, legs whirring, the world’s most prodigiously gifted attacking afterthought. Related: Benjamin Mendy and Gabriel Jesus fire Manchester City...