Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk step up for Liverpool in Merseyside derby, Aston Villa fully prepared – Premier League hits and misses | Soccer News

Salah and Van Dijk step up for Reds

Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk have made a number of signings at Liverpool, so it’s understandable that they feel a certain reluctance to exaggerate the significance of their 2-1 win in the first-ever Merseyside derby at the Hill-Dickinson Stadium. But it’s worth noting who stepped up.

Thank you to Kodi Gakpo for his wonderful assist for the opening goal and to Dominik Szoboszlai for setting up the winning goal. Curtis Jones played out of position at right-back. However, Salah and Van Dijk scored, with the latter scoring the winning header in the 100th minute.

Both players have been much maligned this season, and it’s no surprise that Salah’s level in particular has dropped alarmingly. But on derby day, these Liverpool legends delivered two more big moments. Who will serve as a producer for this team after they leave?

It was not an afternoon that convinced Alexander Isak and Florian Wirths that they were ready for the task. Isaac was clearly far from full strength and fluency, and remained silent throughout. Mr. Wirtz was struggling to meet demands, so there was no excuse.

Both players cost in excess of £100m annually last summer, and with patience at the top of the club, there will be belief that there is more to the pair. But it was Salah and Van Dijk, who were both past their best, who showed what Liverpool’s heroes needed.
Adam Bate

Man City are the perfect opportunists.

Manchester City would never have dreamed of taking this position just a few months ago. Everything about this title win now seems more likely, but it’s opportunism. It fell into their laps.

Who could have imagined that the situation would be so benign? In the Carabao Cup final held at Wembley, they regained Arsenal’s momentum at the perfect moment. Next up was a 2-1 win against the Etihad. An additional blow was delivered at a decisive moment. And now the chase has begun in earnest.

Man City’s April has been their best month in terms of points per game and winning percentage under Josep Guardiola, but why is this year any different? However, it turned out to be Mikel Arteta’s worst performance for Arsenal. So it was no surprise to see City end up on the balanced side in a close game.

After all, this is what City Machine was created for. That’s all they know under Pep, who has won six of the past nine Premier Leagues. From now on, he won’t hold back and will just play freestyle until the end of the season as if forgetting the pressure.

“City are now the clear favourites,” Gary Neville said on his podcast, completely blowing away the odds. Opta estimates City’s chances of winning the title at 27%, but history shows that this is a conservative reading of a situation that realistically appears to be much more 50-50.

Arteta then put on a brave face, insisting it was “game on”. The city doesn’t need any more encouragement.
laura hunter

How will Arsenal recover from the Man City defeat?

Manchester City’s banner read full-time: “Panic on the streets of London.” Erling Haaland let his hair down and sang Flo Rida’s “Oh, Sometimes It Feels Good.” We’ve all heard those songs.

Arsenal have been at the top of the Premier League for 201 days in a row, but could lose their top spot to a City team on Wednesday night, their seventh day of the season.

It was the same three seasons ago. Mikel Arteta’s side were at the top of the table for 247 days in 2022/23, but lost to City in the final week of the season. That season, Haaland, who had long worn his hair down, let it down and led City to an important victory against Arsenal in April. The title fight was not decided, but things got spooky from there.

History is repeating itself, and a familiar yet strange sensation descends upon Arsenal. Although the lack of results was disappointing, this performance was a positive one, unlike three seasons ago when Arsenal lost 4-1. It was completely the opposite of his form and expectations before the match.

Both teams competing for the title have strengths, and both teams have weaknesses. Come Wednesday night, both teams could remain at 70 points with the same number of games remaining.

City’s victory and Arsenal’s defeat look like notable moments, but Guardiola’s side only earned the right to compete for the title in a close game. The race, or shootout as many people call it, is on.
Sam Blitz

The villa is set up for perfection, but don’t raise your blood pressure any further

Aston Villa continue to have an uphill battle, but are quietly preparing for the end of a historic season.

Despite taking just five points from six games following last weekend’s draw with Notum Forest, the Villans are almost back at home seven days later and are looking to fight for Champions League qualification and reach the Europa League semi-finals.

They haven’t had it easy this season, not winning a game or even scoring a goal until late September, with usually reliable scorer Ollie Watkins only scoring once between the start of February and Sunday’s victory over Sunderland.

But things are looking rosy all year long after the England forward’s double and recent win moved them 10 points clear of the top five.

It is unlikely that Vitor Pereira’s side will be out of danger of staying in the Premier League by the time they play the Europa League semi-final first leg against Forest a week later on Thursday, but Villa could be mathematically guaranteed, or close enough, to qualify for the Champions League.

There’s a reason why Unai Emery is a master of this tournament. Again, everything is falling into place at the right time.
Ron Walker

Everton’s defeat means everything can be on the line in the race for Europe

Everton have not played in Europe since the 2017-18 season, but a win in the Merseyside derby would have seen them jump to sixth place and secure pole position for next season’s Europa League spot.

The fact that they didn’t win means the battle to finish sixth and seventh in the final month of the season will be an exciting one.

Chelsea currently sit in 6th place and Brentford in 7th place. Both teams, together with Bournemouth in 8th place, had 48 points, as they were behind on goal difference.

Brighton and Everton are next in 9th and 10th place with 47 points, Sunderland are 11th with 46 points and Fulham are 12th with 45 points.

A lot of action is expected in the remaining five match weeks. This race is far from running.
Dan Long

Gibbs-White leads Forest’s fightback

Morgan Gibbs-White was the undisputed star of the show as Nottingham Forest, leading the way as a true captain.

Forest knew a win would greatly improve their chances of avoiding relegation, but a flat first half meant they were forced to push for relegation.

Moments like that require senior players to step up, take responsibility for themselves and the team, and give everything for the cause. Gibbs-White represented all that and more. His equalizer opened the floodgates to a fantastic 30 minutes of football for Forest.

He had the most shots (5) and the highest individual xG (0.73) in the match. He surpassed this number by a large margin. All three of his shots on target were goals, and both of his tackles were won, making him the second-most among his teammates.

All of his finishes were excellent, giving him the first hat-trick of his career, but Burnley are left wondering why they were allowed so much space for all three goals.

But Forest are not going to worry at all, with Vitor Pereira saying of his captain: “Even if he didn’t have his best first half, he’s a top player with character…He showed what a captain has to do in difficult situations.”

Forest leaders have made some poor decisions this season, but convincing Gibbs-White to stay in the summer was by far their best job.
charlotte marsh

Inconsistency costs Burnley again

Nottingham Forest had not won at home in the Premier League heading into this weekend since December 14, but Burnley would have sniffed an opportunity.

This would have been further reinforced by the ultimate psychological punch of disaster in the relegation decider won just before the break.

And for 60-odd minutes, Burnley continued their good form, conceding no shots on target and capitalizing on Forest’s European effort on Thursday.

But as Scott Parker himself admitted, once Morgan Gibbs-White scored the equalizer, the floodgates opened in the wrong direction.

Burnley seemed to forget that the Forest captain was on the pitch and was unable to mark a goal. Gibbs-White needs little encouragement to hit a shot, but in a game like this it was fatal to the Clarets’ hopes of survival.

He still had a glimpse of his own offensive power, but it wasn’t enough.

Burnley have not been able to perform consistently throughout the entire 90 minutes this season and have not been strong enough to collapse in bad moments.

They are once again close to returning to the Championship and, if they do, they will become only the second club in the Premier League era to be promoted or relegated in five consecutive seasons.
charlotte marsh