Best of the Rest XI: The Premier League’s top performers this season outside of the Big Six May 15, 2019 This season’s individual accolades have been awarded and, unsurprisingly, the vast majority went to players at Liverpool and Manchester City, with the leftovers for players at other Big Six clubs. But the Premier League is home to another 14 teams who have shown an array of talent this year. Here is City A.M’s Best of [...]
From ticket prices to stellar salaries, you can’t take the economics out of football May 15, 2019 The appearance of Liverpool and Spurs in the Champions League final and Arsenal and Chelsea in the Europa Cup one has generated massive interest. But the official ticket prices for the games are surprisingly reasonable. Liverpool and Spurs have been offered 16,613 tickets each. Five per cent of these are expensive, at £513 each. A further [...]
Trevor Steven: My manager and players of the year from a vintage Premier League season May 13, 2019 Manchester City are champions again but they will never win a tougher Premier League title than this year’s. They and Liverpool have played at such a high level for the duration of the top-flight campaign that I can’t imagine we’ll see anything like it again for a long while. That is reflected in my choices [...]
Tottenham 2-2 Everton: Mauricio Pochettino aiming to make history after securing fourth place in the Premier League May 12, 2019 These are heady days for Mauricio Pochettino. After a dismal run of seven defeats in 11 Premier League games threatened to derail all Tottenham’s good work in the first half of the season, one game in midweek changed everything. Lucas Moura’s hat-trick in Amsterdam on Wednesday turned the normally reserved Argentinian into an overwhelmed, passionate [...]
In the world’s strongest league, Manchester City prove they are the best of the best May 12, 2019 The midweek may have belonged to Liverpool and Tottenham, but the season is Manchester City’s. Pep Guardiola’s team on Sunday issued a timely reminder to the Premier League that they remain the best in the land, becoming the first to retain the trophy since 2009 with a 4-1 final-day win at Brighton. And at the close [...]
Full English: Chelsea’s penalty shoot-out win and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hat-trick ensure European final clean sweep May 9, 2019 Rumours of English football’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. It may have taken a nervy penalty shoot-out at Stamford Bridge, but Chelsea edged past Eintracht Frankfurt tonight after a 1-1 draw to ensure an all-London Europa League final against Arsenal in Baku on 29 May. Never before have both major European finals been populated by [...]
One more miracle? Manchester City and Liverpool’s Premier League title race approaches its last hurdle May 9, 2019 Before the dramatic events of this week unfolded, most observers, whether impartial or otherwise, would have agreed that the Premier League title race was likely a foregone conclusion. But we now live in a post-Vincent Kompany 30-yard screamer, post-Champions League semi-final comeback mayhem world which has made a mockery of such assumptions. Anything is possible [...]
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham: Lucas Moura’s hat-trick caps comeback and sends Spurs into Champions League final May 8, 2019 Just when you thought it couldn’t happen again, it did. Tottenham were dead and buried, 3-0 down on aggregate in a Champions League semi-final, away from home against an Ajax side who had already disposed of European heavyweights Real Madrid and Juventus. But they refused to be beaten, and through Lucas Moura’s hat-trick, completed in [...]
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona: Reds’ supporting cast come to the fore in stunning Champions League turnaround at Anfield May 7, 2019 Anfield has seen some famous nights, especially in European football, but this was special. Trailing 3-0 from the first leg, against one of Europe’s most prestigious, decorated and star-studded sides, Liverpool pulled off the biggest turnaround in Champions League semi-final history. Read more: Trevor Steven: The two factors that unite City and Liverpool Shorn of [...]
Trevor Steven: Premier League title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool united by outstanding coaches and refusal to give in May 7, 2019 However the Premier League concludes on Sunday, I don’t think the competition has ever seen two better teams than Manchester City and Liverpool. Both are a credit to the division and could easily be champions in any other season. And thank goodness for Liverpool for hanging in there and keeping pace with City until the [...]