Danny Welbeck remains an enigma, Marko Arnautovic goes it alone and Rafael Benítez delivers a lesson to his bossDanny Welbeck stayed true to form by mixing the sublime with the ridiculous during Arsenal’s 3-2 victory over Southampton, producing a contender for miss of the season moments before nodding in the winner. The striker’s header was his second goal of the afternoon and proof, perhaps, that he is getting back to his best after an injury‑ravaged season. “Danny Welbeck is getting sharper,” Arsène Wenger said. “I am pleased for him. I have seen him behave when it was really hard. He had every reason to feel sorry for himself and feel the mountain was too big to climb – right knee,...
If Liverpool were considering parking the bus in the Champions League second leg on Tuesday, they should reconsiderForget the league title for a moment. This was an object lesson in why Manchester City are going to struggle to keep Liverpool’s players off the scoresheet when the Champions League quarter‑final resumes on Tuesday.At the moment City require four goals to go through – should Liverpool score they will need at least five – and allowing a feeble Manchester United back into this game from a position where they should have been dead and buried will have done nothing for their confidence. Related: Pogba inspires dramatic comeback win as Manchester United spoil City’s party Related: José Mourinho the ultimate party pooper rains on Guardiola’s parade | Jonathan...
After two seasons the Liverpool manager has found a system that works, led by the £75m signing Virgil van Dijk“If we have to score five goals to win, then so be it,” Vincent Kompany said when it was put to him that a single Liverpool goal at the Etihad on Tuesday would surely leave Manchester City with too much to do to progress in the Champions League. “We won’t stop believing. We will still take a positive attitude into the game and try to get through.”One can only admire the City captain’s confidence, though his assessment overlooks the fact that his side did not manage a single attempt on target in the first leg of the quarter-final at Anfield and the...
By the benchmark they have set, Manchester City were terrible at Liverpool – light up front, porous at the back and less than tigerish in midfield – and they need to react quicklyOnly four managers have outwitted Pep Guardiola this season, and while Wigan’s Paul Cook, Shakhtar Donetsk’s Paulo Fonseca and Basel’s Raphaël Wicky were perhaps unexpected beneficiaries of propitious circumstances, Jürgen Klopp has done it twice to order.The stakes could not have been much higher than in the last encounter either, and the emphatic nature of Liverpool’s win in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final gives some credence to Klopp’s insistence that but for Sadio Mané’s unfortunate dismissal at the Etihad in September, Manchester City might not...
Manchester City manager’s attempt to calm Liverpool’s fury by starting with Ilkay Gündoğan contributed to his Champions League first-leg downfall at AnfieldThirteen games played, seven won, one drawn. No other manager has a record against Pep Guardiola anywhere near as good as that of Jürgen Klopp. Nobody else has beaten Guardiola seven times, or six, or even five. Only José Mourinho has come out on top four times against him. So why? What is it about the ferocity of Klopp’s sides that has so often presented a problem for Guardiola?In part it is that Klopp attacks. To sit back against a team such as City, Klopp has said, to aim to absorb pressure, is to look to win the lottery....