EBPL: Leicester City Suffers Relegation
By Tanko Bauka
The Champions Elect of the English Barclays Premier League, Liverpool FC, has relegation Leicester City back to the Championship following a hard-fought 1-0 defeat handed Ruud Van Nistelrooy boys by the Arne Slot boys at the King Power stadium.
With the result, Liverpool FC would have been crowned Champion, but Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal boys spoiled their show by delaying their victory party to next week as they were just three points away from being crowned Champion.
Arsenal went into the match with Ipswich Town fully aware that any slip would offer other teams lurking behind an opportunity to close the gap, and the gunners responded emphatically and sublimely, sweeping their opponent, Ipswich Town, away with four unreplied goals to push them further close to relegation.
But the interesting thing about the beauty of the league this season is the excitement, the battle for the remaining three spots up for grab to be able to take part in next year’s UEFA Champions League is generating as Manchester City, Newcastle United, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest are all in the race for a spot for the glamorous Champions League.
Manchester City has to do it the hard way as they struggle to break down the defensive line put up by stubborn Everton seven minutes to the end of the encounter at Goodison Park as the Pep Guardiola side ran away with a 2-0 win and all the three points at stake to stay positive with their Champion league place pursuit.
Aston Villa was in devastating form as they dismantled Newcastle United 4-1 at Villa Park to also boost their chances, but the biggest win was Chelsea FC, which came from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage Stadium in London to leapfrog Aston Villa back to top four positions.
Nottingham Forest, which spent quite some time in the third position, is now in the sixth position but can go back to the third if they defeat Tottenham Hotspur later today.
Manchester United, the once dreaded team in the English Barclays Premier League, suffered yet another defeat to Wolves at Old Trafford as they lost 1-0, a damaging result to the Red Devil’s credentials and casting doubt on the credibility of Ruben Amorim’s ability to turn things around.
Brentford beat Brighton Albion 4-2 while relegated Southampton levelled up West Ham’s early goal to secure an all-important one point to take their points tally to eleven as they seek to avoid being labelled the worst team since the inception of the English Barclays Premier League.
In the Spanish LA Liga, FC Barcelona continue to set the pace as they have to come from 3-1 to defeat Celta Vigo 4-3 to send wild jubilation among their faithful while Real Madrid have to labour so hard to crack stubborn Athletic Bilbao which almost run away with a point at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
The victory keeps Real Madrid four points behind the league leader FC Barcelona.
Atletico Madrid suffered a painful 1-0 defeat to resurgent Las Palmas, which are battling seriously against relegation, while Villarreal was held to a two-all draw as Real Valladolid continued to sink deep down the relegation lane as they lost 3-2 to Osasuna.
In the Italian Serie A, Napoli piled up more pressure on Inter Milan as they defeated 1-0 AC Monza, levelling up the point gap between them and Inter Milan by 72 points.
Inter Milan could not capitalize to extend their lead as they fell 1-0 to Bologna’s firepower to dent their title charge.
Como beat Lacce 3-0 as Ademola Lookman Atalanta boasted their chances for an en route back to Champion League football next year with a comfortable 1-0 win against AC Milan at the San Siro stadium.
In the German Bundesliga, Bayern Munich hammered Heidenheim 4-0 to inch closer to the Bundesliga title as the league-defending Champion Bayern Leverkusen lost ground, playing out a one-all draw with FC St Pauli.
Borussia Dortmund defeated Bayern Monchengladbach 3-2 to put behind their painful exit from the UEFA Champions League in the hand of FC Barcelona despite winning the second leg ties.
RB Leipzig were held one all by Holstein Kiel while Union Berlin played out a stunning 4-4 draw with Stuttgart.
Results across Europe
English Barclays Premier League
Brentford 4- Brighton Albion 2
Crystal Palace 0- Bournemouth 0
Everton 0- Manchester City 2
West Ham 1- Southampton 1
Aston Villa 4- Newcastle 1
Fulham 1- Chelsea 2
Ipswich Town 0- Arsenal 4
Manchester United 0- Wolves 1
Leicester 0- Liverpool FC 1
Spanish LA Liga
Espanyol 1- Getafe 0
Rayo Vallacano 1- Valencia 1
FC Barcelona 4- Celta Vigo 3
Mallorca 0- Laganes 0
Las Palmas 1- Atletico Madrid 0
Real Valladolid 2- Osasuna 3
Villarreal 2- Real Sociedad 2
Sevilla 1- Deportivo Alaves 1
Real Madrid 1- Athletic Bilbao 0
Italian Serie A
Lacce 0- Como 3
AC Monza 0- Napoli 1
AS Roma 1- Hellas Verona 0
Empoli 2- Venezia 2
Bologna 1- Inter Milan 0
AC Milan 0- Atalanta 1
German Bundesliga
Heidenheim 0- Bayern Munich 4
SC Freiburg 3- Hoffenheim 2
Mainz 05 2- Wolfsburg 2
Werder Bremen 1- VFL Bochum 0
RB Leipzig 1- Holstein Kiel 1
Union Berlin 4- Stuttgart 4
FC Augsburg 0- Frankfurt 0
Dortmund 3- Monchenglabach 2
FC St Pauli 1- Leverkusen 1
