Everton have relegation battle in their own hands, Aston Villa fans face a dilemma and there will be emotional farewells galoreFor the third time in 29 years, Everton’s Premier League status is on the line on the final day at Goodison Park although, unlike against Wimbledon in 1994 or Coventry in 1998, survival is in their own hands. The task sounds straightforward enough: beat a Bournemouth team with nothing to play for and a 70th consecutive season in the top flight is guaranteed. Everton, though, have an aversion to the straightforward. Sean Dyche does not have a decent striker available with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has been integral to the team’s recent improvement, hamstrung again. Unless Vitaliy Mykolenko recovers from a...
Overhauling the squad and burning through managers ultimately led to relegation after failure to beat FulhamThey say fortune favours the brave. Not always, as Southampton have discovered to their detriment. Relegation to the Championship ends a largely positive 11-year stay in the Premier League and erases their image as a model club, though in truth that was beginning to be scrubbed away a few years ago.From radically overhauling the squad with an influx of youngsters to replacing Ralph Hasenhüttl mid-season with Nathan Jones, untested at the elite level, on the merit of metrics and then giving Rubén Sellés the job until the end of the season on the back of a surprise win at Chelsea, a series of bold decisions...
Villa can put wind up Manchester United, a City old boy runs into Haaland and Spurs have an awful history at AnfieldPeople are no longer ignoring the massive turnaround Unai Emery has performed at Villa Park. There were not many personnel changes in January; teenage striker Jhon Durán was signed from Chicago Fire, Bertrand Traoré was recalled from loan at Istanbul Basaksehir and, most importantly, Alex Moreno joined from Real Betis. Lucas Digne has been deposed from the defence and Villa have only lost twice in Moreno’s 15 appearances, with the Spaniard quickly becoming integral to the system. He is popular off the pitch too, ingratiating himself with fans with a recent interview in English, smiling throughout despite not yet...
Manchester City are peaking at the right time, Brentford risk their season petering out and Spurs live in the land of uncertaintyAfter Manchester City’s 3-0 humbling of Bayern Munich, next up at the Etihad is the Premier League’s second-bottom team, Leicester. This will be the champions’ last league game before a seismic clash with Arsenal on 26 April. Pep Guardiola’s men are in ripe form just as the treble roves into sight, with next Wednesday’s return at Bayern in the Champions League coming three days before a Wembley trip to take on Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi-finals. Erling Haaland is adding assists to his goal-gluttony, Bernardo Silva’s dancing feet are back, and Rúben Dias is a colossus in...
João Félix is settling at Chelsea, Eddie Howe is staying positive despite the draws and James Maddison is Leicester’s leading manAs if more than 100 charges weren’t enough, Manchester City were given one more reason to come out fighting on Sunday. They had just been pushed down to third in the league by their not very noisy neighbours, United, in Sunday’s earlier match. City responded as only they can, by taking the lead while their opponents were still trying to figure out their formation. Was it a 3-2-2-3? Whatever it was, it was 3-0 by half-time. Villa had been overrun, Bernardo Silva was the new João Cancelo and City were second again. By Wednesday night, if they play like the...