Arsenal win ugly vs. Chelsea; Bayern shut in on Bundesliga title; extra

Another weekend passes, like sand via the hourglass, and we’ve got a ton of stuff to dissect following the motion in Europe’s prime 5 leagues! Where ought to we start? Ah sure, how concerning the massive Premier League recreation of the spherical as Arsenal muscled their well past Chelsea 2-1 to maintain their five-point lead on the prime of the desk regardless of an encounter that felt extra like wrestling than soccer. Regardless, we discovered loads about each groups as we hit the “10 games to go” mark in England‘s prime division.

In Germany, we arguably noticed the Bundesliga title race come to an finish as Bayern Munich thumped rivals and nearest challenges Borussia Dortmund to open a double-digit factors lead on the prime with single-digit video games remaining. That was enjoyable whereas it lasted, eh? Meanwhile in Italy, Juventus made an epic comeback towards AS Roma to maintain their top-four hopes alive in Serie A this season, which is able to really feel good following their UEFA Champions League exit in midweek.

– VAR overview: Did Chelsea deserve a penalty in loss to Arsenal?
– Arsenal riding corners to Premier League title; Chelsea red cards continue
– Dawson: Man Utd up to third thanks to Sesko’s hot streak of crucial goals

Elsewhere, we’ve got speaking factors galore round Liverpool (who now rule at set items, weirdly), Manchester United (who’re getting a tune out of Benjamin Sesko), Paris Saint-Germain (who preserve flirting with catastrophe in Ligue 1), Barcelona (Lamine Yamal‘s on the G.O.A.T. trajectory if he can proceed like this), Federico Dimarco (who deserves far more reward than he will get contemplating what he does for Inter Milan), Manchester City (who’re profitable with grit proper now, which feels bizarre) and far, far more.

It’s Monday morning, so what higher time for some musings? Let’s get into it.

Arsenal beat Chelsea to maintain five-point hole atop Premier League, however win raises extra questions than solutions

Like whether or not stuff like this — 41% possession at residence, together with 20-plus minutes towards 10 males — is sustainable. Or the place they’d be with out David Raya between the posts. Or, certainly, what would occur with out set items: they’ve already scored extra profitable targets from nook kicks than any aspect in Premier League historical past … and March has barely began.

I’m not blaming supervisor Mikel Arteta right here. Without Martin Odegaard (who hasn’t been nice of late, in any case) the Arsenal boss opted for a sure method, and bar the final 20 minutes — after they didn’t kill the sport with the additional man, after Pedro Neto‘s foolish sending off — it labored. Arteta’s gamers do what the referee permits them to do on the pitch. I’m simply not notably entertained by it (common readers are effectively conscious), and I’d quite see Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice do the stuff they’re paid some huge cash to do quite than win free kicks and hit useless balls.

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Are Chelsea in critical monetary hassle?

ESPN’s Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens react to Chelsea’s damaging UEFA European Club Landscape report.

The drawback with turning each set piece right into a Royal Rumble — and by the best way, it isn’t simply Arsenal — is that you simply’re on the mercy of the match officers. Another ref and one other VAR on one other day, and Rice is getting punished for the ball coming off his arm and/or committing a foul for his bear hug on Jorrel Hato. (Instead, PGMOL gave him a cross on the handball since he was “involved in physical contact” with a Chelsea participant — by no means thoughts the truth that the “physical contact” wasn’t a cuddle, however a foul.)

The similar additionally applies for William Saliba on João Pedro, which might simply have been a penalty. You’re banking on referees calling issues constantly and that is dangerous: simply ask new Tottenham Hotspur boss Igor Tudor (extra on that later).

Raya additionally made some large saves towards a Chelsea aspect who, regardless of not being notably good, had the higher hand when it got here to open play. (Unlucky for them that it wasn’t an enormous a part of this recreation.) That must be a warning. We know Arsenal can outplay opponents too and if they do not need the run-in to be a nervy, anxiety-inducing mess with the best of margins, they should get again to doing that.

As for Chelsea, we noticed the standard points. If shoehorning the additional central midfielder (Andrey Santos, who appears to be untouchable in Liam Rosenior’s eyes) means shifting Cole Palmer extensive, I’m undecided the juice is definitely worth the squeeze. Hato for Marc Cucurella (who was unavailable) is a hefty downgrade towards a bodily aspect reminiscent of Arsenal. And then there’s the disciplinary problem. Every sending off is its personal story so it’s essential to permit for that, however seven pink playing cards within the league — when the highest 5 have simply three mixed — is way, far too many.

Bayern win Klassiker, league feels within the bag, however loads of room to develop

The headline is that it is just about “game over” for the Bundesliga title. Joshua Kimmich — who generally will get extra criticism than he deserves — struck inside 4 minutes of Daniel Svensson‘s late equalizer, making it 3-2 Bayern and creating a press release for the 80,000-strong crowd in Dortmund. The win places the hole at 11 with 10 video games to go, which makes me prepared to use the outdated rule thumb: “When the points lead is greater than the number of remaining games, you ain’t turning it around.”

The factor is, even when the sport had remained 2-2, the race was in all probability over, provided that making up eight factors with lower than a 3rd of the marketing campaign left and no extra head-to-heads would have been a Herculean feat for anybody, not to mention this star-crossed Borussia Dortmund workforce. But Bayern needed to ensure and correctly shut the door. That’s the Bayern approach. It’s additionally not insignificant given their current outings, and it could have happy Vincent Kompany.

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Have Bayern Munich formally ended Dortmund’s Bundesliga title hopes?

The ESPN ‘FC TV’ crew react to Bayern Munich’s 3-2 victory over Borussia Dortmund within the Bundesliga.

Only per week in the past, towards Eintracht Frankfurt, they practically threw away two factors after dominating the sport. Against Hamburg SV a month in the past, they did simply that. Kompany’s aspect is simply so man-for-man dominant domestically that the largest hazard usually comes when it finally ends up hurting itself, both via complacency or distraction. Or, as occurred to some extent towards Dortmund, by letting the sport get away from the workforce and turning it right into a sloppy, end-to-end affair.

That should not have occurred as a result of, lest we neglect, Dortmund had been coming off UEFA Champions League elimination midweek, whereas Bayern had seven days to arrange. Not to say the truth that this was Dortmund’s eighth recreation in February to Bayern’s fifth. And but, bodily, it was a wash and really a lot the form of recreation that suited Nico Kovac’s crew greater than Bayern: flip it right into a sloppy mess and Bayern’s technical benefit is blunted.

It’s not clear that, proper now, Bayern can management video games in the identical approach. Not when there are defensive points, not when the midfield does not impose itself because it ought to, not after they squander possibilities on the attacking finish.

Am I nitpicking? Sure, perhaps somewhat bit. Michael Olise, Luis Díaz and Harry Kane are as fearsome a trio as you may face within the European recreation, and that is earlier than you think about one in every of Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala or Lennart Karl as a fourth musketeer. Kimmich is hitting his stride once more, and for all of the stick the again line will get, when issues are clicking up the pitch, issues will get a complete lot simpler for them.

But the very fact is that Bayern are legitimately pursuing a treble in a season by which they’re within the German Cup semifinal and the place most observers have them among the many prime three Champions League contenders (alongside Arsenal and Manchester City). And of these contenders, they now have the posh of not being concerned in a title race. It means extra alternatives to relaxation and rotate, extra time to arrange and no must rush Musiala (or Alphonso Davies) again into beginning roles. Opportunities like this do not come up yearly. That’s the bar the membership has set.

As for Dortmund, they confirmed struggle and spirit to a level that perhaps the Dortmund of outdated would not have proven. That mentioned, Nico Schlotterbeck opened the scoring after which gave away the silliest of penalties, in step with the membership’s age-old narrative. Kovac’s recreation plan was the proper one: They simply confronted a much better aspect and he is proper when he says he was happy with his gamers and what they confirmed on the day. The problem now could be what to do with the remainder of the season, given they don’t have anything left to play for.

This time, Juventus pull off the comeback in a wild draw at Roma

They weren’t useless after the horror exhibits in Istanbul and at residence to Como. And the near-turnaround towards Galatasaray within the Champions League — nonetheless inadequate, and with far-reaching penalties — wasn’t a blip.

On Sunday evening, in a pulsating recreation towards Roma, Juventus had been once more staring down the barrel. They had been 3-1 down with 12 minutes to go, with the actual prospect of discovering themselves two locations and 7 factors away from a Champions League place subsequent season (with all of the implications that carries). Somehow they discovered a approach, and with two extremely inconceivable recreation changers.

Jérémie Boga — who arrived in January, having practically walked away from his earlier membership Nice in November after being attacked by supporters — pulled one again. Then, Federico Gatti, the unglamorous middle again despatched on late as a de facto middle ahead, popped up within the field for the equalizer. Narrative issues and Luciano Spalletti rightly milked it for all he might postgame, speaking about Juve’s “never-say-die” angle and the way this might be a platform for a top-four end.

To be truthful to Spalletti, we have seen comebacks which are merchandise of errors and luck and happenstance. This wasn’t one in every of them. It was totally deserved, and after 120 minutes of energy-sapping (psychological and bodily) midweek soccer, away from residence, towards a Roma aspect that know how you can be relentless. Juve paid a steep value for some goalkeeping uncertainty (Mattia Perin channelling his inside Michele Di Gregorio), pushed on with high quality and had been rewarded.

As for Roma, blowing a two-goal lead this late at residence goes to harm. There’s no approach it may well’t. But they confirmed, as soon as extra, that football-wise, they’ll grasp with anybody and the midfield combo of Niccolo Pisilli (if Rino Gattuso does not name him up for the World Cup playoffs, he wants his head examined) and Manu Koné (his help for Donyell Malen was merely pleasant) gives a respectable platform to goal excessive, each domestically and within the Europa League.

Quick hits

10. Lamine Yamal has one in every of ‘these’ video games: You know, those that go away you fairly positive that he’ll be within the GOAT dialog at some point. He scored a hat trick in Barcelona’s 4-1 win over Villarreal on Saturday that noticed them put the strain again on Real Madrid (who play Monday evening). But greater than the scoring, it is the motion, the benefit, the calm confidence and the method that leaves its mark.

My favourite aim? His second, which noticed him minimize in from the precise, beat one defender, beat one other defender and ship a vicious diagonal swallowed up by the goalmouth simply contained in the far publish. But hey, choose your poison.

As ever, it was a day of highs and lows for Hansi Flick’s Barça. The excessive line offers up possibilities that Joan García has to snuff out. Set-piece defending leaves loads to be desired (as evidenced by Pape Gueye‘s aim), and Ferran Torres wants to complete higher if he will preserve taking Robert Lewandowski‘s minutes. But you may’t argue with the outcomes, are you able to?

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Should Barcelona shield Lamine Yamal extra after current damage scares?

ESPN’s Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate if Lamine Yamal is taking part in an excessive amount of soccer for his age.

9. Federico Dimarco’s numbers are elite and his aim is particular as Internazionale lick their wounds: Inter bounced again from their Champions League humiliation by the hands of Bodo/Glimt with a reasonably easy 2-0 win on Saturday over Genoa, who aren’t notably good. If there is a silver lining to being out of Europe this early, it is that we can’t see a rerun of final 12 months, after they went right down to the wire within the Champions Legue, Serie A and Coppa Italia solely to finish up empty-handed on each entrance.

Dimarco opened the scoring with a ridiculous strike that reminded you the way positions and roles are considerably subverted within the fashionable recreation. He has six targets (all from open play) and a Serie A-leading 14 assists this season. His 20 aim involvements — excluding penalties — make him sixth general in Europe’s massive 5 leagues. Ahead of him are Kane, Erling Haaland and Olise (all with 26), Diaz (23) and Yamal 21. Kylian Mbappé is simply behind at 19. That’s fairly good firm to maintain.

8. Manchester City extra about grit than high quality at Leeds United: In the tip, if City win the title, and even simply end a robust second, it’s going to nonetheless be a degree of delight. For now, nonetheless, the truth that they should depend on grit and savvy and muscle in video games like Saturday’s win at Leeds tells you that this isn’t what Pep Guardiola imagined.

City had been the epitome of sterile possession in a primary half that noticed them get pleasure from 76% of the ball, however solely take their first shot within the fortieth minute, when the xG was 1.27 to 0.00 in Leeds’ favor. Rayan Cherki‘s threaded ball discovered Rayan Aït-Nouri, who arrange Antoine Semenyo for the one aim deep in first-half damage time. (How Cherki is not a fixture on this workforce — he has had one league begin previously 30 days — is baffling.) They did have possibilities on the counter after the break, however there was no signal of the “control” and “creativity” which are supposed Guardiola hallmarks. And no, Haaland’s absence is not sufficient of an alibi.

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Were Man City fortunate to say all three factors vs. Leeds?

The ‘FC TV’ crew react to Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Leeds United at Elland Road.

7. Julián Álvarez improbably involves the rescue for Atlético Madrid: The stats are frankly terrifying. Alvarez, the FIFA World Cup winner and €85 million signing, had seen his targets dry up in essentially the most irritating approach. While you are by no means going to evaluate an all-rounder like him by targets alone, this needed to be worrying. Alvarez hadn’t scored a league aim in 4 months. In LaLiga, he hadn’t scored in open play since September, and his final away aim was on opening day. Yet it was his scrambled end that gave Atleti a 1-0 win away to cellar-dwelling Oviedo, saving Diego Simeone from having to elucidate a frankly embarrassing efficiency by which they managed a single shot on track and, once more, wanted a standout efficiency from goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

With a watch towards the Copa del Rey return leg in midweek towards Barcelona (they’re 4-0 up, however hey, you by no means know), Simeone made seven adjustments, together with the whole again 4. Too a lot? On paper, no: We understand how deep his squad is. In follow, nonetheless, you must ponder whether rotation is a part of his ability set.

6. Benjamin Sesko is popping the nook for Manchester United: Believe it. He has seven targets in his previous eight video games. For the third straight match, he scored the second-half aim that acquired Manchester United the factors. On Sunday, his first begin underneath Michael Carrick, it was the winner of their 2-1 residence victory towards Crystal Palace. Sesko was at all times going to be a little bit of a sluggish burn when it comes to improvement. His bodily and technical expertise are evident, however he is additionally simply 22, had at all times performed with a strike accomplice and located that shifting to Old Trafford within the chaos of late-stage Ruben Amorim will not be the best circumstances by which to develop.

You can see why Carrick has used him sparingly to this point. Deploying Sesko with Bryan Mbeumo, Matias Cunha and Bruno Fernandes makes for a top-heavy aspect, particularly with Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo requested to carry down the fort in midfield. But Sesko is clearly United’s future, not least due to what they spent on him. And it isn’t going to be straightforward to maintain him out of the beginning lineup the best way issues are going. United had been pretty ho-hum towards Palace, going a aim down early and turning issues round halfway via the second half after Maxence Lacroix‘s pink card and penalty that so incensed Oliver Glasner. (He was unsuitable to query the decision, by the best way, simply as he has been unsuitable about quite a few issues of late.)

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Manchester United’s penalty name sparks massive debate on ESPN FC

Frank Leboeuf takes on Steve Nicol and Shaka Hislop in an enormous debate about Manchester United’s penalty and Maxence Lacroix’s pink card for Crystal Palace.

5. Napoli all about emotion, from Romelu Lukaku‘s winner to his postgame tears: Talk about pent-up emotions. Lukaku, one of many heroes of final 12 months’s title-winning romp, nonetheless hasn’t began a recreation within the 2025-26 season (he solely made his return simply over a month in the past) and the truth that he scored the winner deep in damage time in Napoli’s 2-1 win over Hellas Verona was shifting sufficient. That he adopted it up postgame by saying he was “a dead man” earlier than arriving in Naples, and being reunited with Antonio Conte, earlier than breaking down in tears speaking about his just lately handed father, solely ratcheted issues up additional.

Moments like these remind us these footballers we watch are folks, not AI-powered robots. And it is on the human entrance that Conte goes to succeed or fail this season, given the best way accidents have ravaged his membership. Napoli had been poor, once more, at Verona — you may’t preserve recognizing the opposition half a dozen regulars — however the three factors had been each large and deserved.

4. Liverpool put 5 previous West Ham United, however is it actually all right down to the set-piece coach? Or, extra precisely, the truth that he is not there? I’ve by no means met Aaron Briggs, the set-piece coach who left Anfield simply earlier than New Year’s Eve. But the stats doing the rounds after Liverpool’s 5-2 win Saturday make for tough studying and counsel he is about as standard on Merseyside as Christian Purslow and Tom Hicks.

In the primary half of the marketing campaign, Liverpool was tied for essentially the most set-piece targets conceded within the league and scored simply three. Since then, they have not given up any and scored seven. Statistical variance, pattern dimension and all that, it is nonetheless spectacular, particularly as Briggs wasn’t changed by another set-piece guru (Arne Slot’s assistants now kind issues out). Liverpool’s newfound dead-ball prowess should not obscure the truth that they had been hardly spectacular: As Alexis Mac Allister put it, they “need to improve defensively.” West Ham truly received the xG battle, and this recreation might have taken a really totally different flip.

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Nicol: Liverpool did not look comfy vs. West Ham

ESPN’s Steve Nicol believes Liverpool did not look comfy towards West Ham regardless of profitable 5-2.

3. AC Milan create loads in 2-0 win, but additionally waste loads: Don’t get too excited by the whopping 3.64 xG. When you do not truly rating your first aim till the 89th minute, and when your prime scorer solely finds the online deep in damage time, you continue to have an issue. Especially when — even towards a aspect like Cremonese — you continue to play at a plodding tempo and depend on counterattacks and people to create possibilities.

Rafael Leão did get his aim, and the stats inform you he is Serie A’s second-leading star. Sure, that was after he missed a hat trick of possibilities (as his private xG of two.27 exhibits), and he has been criticized previously for not being medical. I nonetheless suppose he is a risk even when his ending is off, however he merely cannot be your predominant terminus, particularly when Christian Pulisic is having an off day. If you need to drink the Max Allegri Kool-Aid: all the things is nice, they’ve 16 factors greater than final season at this stage and the very same variety of factors that Napoli had final 12 months, after they went on to win the title. (Sure, besides Napoli had been one level off the highest; Milan are 10 again.) The uncomfortable actuality is that an excessive amount of of their attacking output nonetheless hinges on 40-year-old Luka Modric, and it nonetheless does not really feel as in the event that they’re constructing towards something worthwhile.

2. Frustrated (and irritating) Paris Saint-Germain practically throw it away: “Nearly” being the operative phrase right here. Lens‘ draw at Strasbourg, coupled with PSG’s 1-0 win at Le Havre, means they stretch their lead in Ligue 1 to 4 factors, avoiding an excessive amount of blowback after their ugly efficiency towards AS Monaco within the Champions League.

The problem towards Le Havre wasn’t a lot how PSG performed — they took 22 pictures for a cumulative xG of three.82 — however the truth that their ending was so poor, from Lee Kang-in, to Nuno Mendes, to Désiré Doué, who received a considerably doubtful penalty after which had it saved. Throw in an outrageously good efficiency from Le Havre keeper Mory Diaw, and a few doubtful defending on the again, and this was far dicier than Luis Enrique would have favored.

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Will Igor Tudor save Tottenham from relegation?

ESPN’s Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens react to Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat to Fulham within the Premier League

1. More disappointment for Tottenham, and now Igor Tudor is heading towards a ban: The greatest information to have come out of Tottenham’s weekend is perhaps that the three groups above them and the three groups under all of them misplaced, so it is “as you were” following Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Fulham. You’re nonetheless 4 factors from the relegation zone, however now there are solely 10 video games to go and the golf equipment round you are not pulling away. There’s nothing to have a good time when it comes to efficiency, and whereas they nonetheless have a dozen or so gamers unavailable, it has been this manner all season, and barely have they been this dangerous. Most disappointing was that their 4-4-2 formation — wasn’t Igor Tudor meant to be “Mr. Back Three”? — regarded as if it hadn’t been practiced in any respect, which is troubling when you think about that (A) it isn’t rocket science and (B) they’d one match in 17 days previous to this one, which implies loads of time on the coaching pitch.

Tudor, by the way, might want to get his messaging straight. It’s exhausting to see how he will not be sanctioned following his feedback concerning the officiating, and specifically, Raúl Jiménez on Radu Dragusin forward of Fulham’s opening aim, when he accused referee Thomas Bramall of being biased towards the house aspect. He’s 100% appropriate that it was an inconsistent determination, notably in gentle of the Randal Kolo Muani on Gabriel incident within the North London Derby, however accusations of incompetence or errors are one factor, accusations of bias one other.