The premier league title race is not over

April 14 may go down as the day the title contenders choked, regardless of whether the circumstances surrounding the teams involved make this a fair assessment or not.

Arsenal vs. Aston Villa at home and Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace at home are two heartbreaking losses that came at the wrong time, akin to two thoroughbred horses faltering close to the finish line while the pre-race favorite, 115 charges for horsing around notwithstanding, comfortably wins.

Both outcomes could have been predicted in a sense. It was inevitable that Liverpool’s title challenge would be hampered by their weak defense and tendency to trail, especially when playing teams they haven’t played in the last two months, like Luton Town, Brighton and Hove Albion, Manchester United, Manchester City, or Atalanta.

Arsenal was very different in that they had not trailed in a Premier League game in 2024 (this was their 12th league game of the year), but it was never going to be easy given that they had a massive, draining double-header against Bayern Munich and the nation’s fourth-best team, not to mention the Unai Emery story.

Recent English football logic suggests that the title race is most likely over. The best manager in the nation and the world, the league’s top scorer, Manchester City’s effortless schedule, their three-peat winning record, Arsenal’s disastrous season at this time last year, etc. all work in favor of the team.

This explains the depressing atmosphere that prevailed yesterday at Anfield and the Emirates Stadium, which swiftly started to empty following Villa’s second goal despite eight minutes of stoppage time being added on.

Mikel Arteta said that they would have led the table by six or eight points by now in any other league for this reason.

Because of this, there are already 1/3 odds available that Man City will win the league, while Liverpool is already out at 6/1.

Yet hold on. It’s only a two-point lead. Two! There are still six games to play. Anyone unfamiliar with English football or who doesn’t pay close attention to the league would think it ridiculous that the title feels decided already.

City will visit Tottenham Hotspur, a team they haven’t defeated or drawn in this league match since 2018. They still need to make the trip to Brighton. They have a big European match in midweek and an FA Cup semi-final the following weekend, just like their title rivals. Arsenal and Liverpool both have two league games under their belts, so when they play each other again, the pressure could be renewed.

Over the previous four seasons, this one has likely been City’s weakest. Kevin De Bruyne’s superpowers are waning, and last weekend Erling Haaland was being compared to a League Two player.

Nonetheless, there’s still the perception that beating the Manchester City machine requires flawlessness. Though absurd, the idea is probably correct.

At this point, Arsenal and Liverpool cannot afford to let their seasons fall apart; should Man City lose ground, it would be a sin for them to miss out on the opportunity.

A high degree of mental toughness is needed for that. Although they have both demonstrated it frequently in recent months, this is the crucial moment. As City has repeatedly demonstrated to us.

Leverkusen’s title for Alonso is an incredibly impressive accomplishment.

Perhaps the accomplishments of Bayer Leverkusen have been overlooked in the excitement and obsession surrounding Xabi Alonso’s career trajectory, specifically when he plans to leave the team where he is excelling.

Not only did they win the league for the first time in the team’s history (you can read the insider account of their season here), but they also completely destroyed the opposition, leading by 16 points and emerging as champions with five games remaining.

They broke Bayern Munich’s 11-year Bundesliga title monopoly in the year that Bayern signed one of the best strikers in the world, Harry Kane, who has scored 32 goals in 29 league games. They have won 10 straight league games to push past the finish line. They are also undefeated in 43 games across all competitions.

Although exclamation points are not typically used in Athletic writing, it seems appropriate to use them at the end of each sentence in this instance.

Then, they had to bear the heavy burden of the Bayer “Neverkusen” tag—having never won the German league before. Additionally, they are the fourth-highest spenders this season (third-highest in net spend), and their wage bill is only the fourth highest (Borussia Dortmund’s wage expenditure is double, Bayern’s is more than four times as high). They came in sixth last year, incidentally.

When compared to the most outstanding accomplishments in Europe’s top leagues over the past few decades, what they have accomplished is truly astounding.

As for an unlikely winner, Leicester City in 2016 is the clear favorite, but there are also examples from Napoli the previous season, Deportivo La Coruna’s La Liga victory in 2000, and Montpellier’s lone French championship in 2012.

Though none of those teams were unbeaten, Bayer Leverkusen will surpass the great AC Milan squad of 1991–1992, Arsenal’s 2003–2004 “Invincibles,” and Antonio Conte’s Juventus team of 2011–12, who are the only unbeaten teams in the major European leagues in the previous forty years, if they manage to win all 34 of their Bundesliga games.

For Alonso, this might be the best move he makes in his career, even though it won’t be Bayer Foreverkusen.

The misbehaving students of Ten Hag.

The children at school always looked forward to seeing the same teacher.

You are familiar with this kind of person: they were easily agitated, never really gained the respect of the class, and were unable to appropriately reprimand disruptive students.

At Manchester’s opulent private school, Mr. Ten Hag finds it difficult to enforce rules.

He might have believed his classroom would be simpler to run after head boy Cristiano Ronaldo transferred to a new private school in Saudi Arabia.

As an alternative, dissident groups continue to surface, led by daydreamer Anthony Martial, troublesome Jadon Sancho who found it difficult to adjust to life at his old school, and now Alejandro Garnacho, who, let’s get back to reality, has been undermining Erik ten Hag’s authority by liking tweets that criticized the manager for substituting the Argentine during the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth at halftime, suggesting that Ten Hag had thrown Garnacho under the bus with his post-match remarks.

Ten Hag stated, “It’s evident that there was a large chasm across the right side.”. “We had to fix the right side (during the half). That required us to bring a sub. “.

Ten Hag went on to criticize Garnacho for not training during the week, but he then went on to state that United needed “cooperation and togetherness” on that right flank, where Diogo Dalot had been left out in the open during a string of Bournemouth attacks (which resulted in two goals).

It’s ridiculous that Garnacho liked the tweets. Is it possible for him to not take criticism? This is not the first time United’s players have used a passive-aggressive strategy to attack Ten Hag on social media. Garnacho responded in a similar manner to tweets last week criticizing Ten Hag for benching him against Chelsea. And following Bournemouth, Amad shared a zipped mouth emoji on Instagram.

By not voicing their complaints openly, they may believe they are being tactful or astute, but in Garnacho’s case in particular, Ten Hag was undoubtedly correct, wasn’t he?

Dalot was totally exposed since Garnacho kept missing runners to provide assistance, and the problem was made worse by the inexperienced young player Willy Kambwala who was standing next to Dalot. Ten Hag’s main issue was Bournemouth taking advantage of his defense’s right side, even though Garnacho posed a threat going forward and helped Bruno Fernandes equalize at 1-1.

In any case, whichever side of that specific dispute you are on, this past weekend did seem to be something akin to mass unhappiness from a point at which there might not be a way back, if not outright rebellion at United.

Whatever is going on, from Garnacho and Diallo swiping social media to Dalot contradicting Ten Hag about how many shots United are giving up and how wide the gap is between the defense and midfield, or Ten Hag getting worked up over a press conference question about United potentially finishing last in the Premier League ever, it all feels awkward.

In the end, what should worry INEOS the most may not be facing 300 shots per game or the possibility of finishing outside the European positions, but rather the players not having Ten Hag and the Dutchman effectively resembling Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in Kindergarten Cop failing to control his unruly youngsters.

contemporary art.

There’s no greater wrath than football fans berating a former player for being scorned.

Wolves supporters and their former academy standout Morgan Gibbs-White have no love lost. However, as evidenced by this amazing photo taken immediately after Gibbs-White scored for Nottingham Forest and celebrated in front of the away end, there is absolutely no love at all.

It is worthwhile to spend a moment examining the variety of expressions and body language up close and selecting your favorite. The guy wearing the bright orange jacket a few rows above Gibbs-White’s head may be able to laugh at himself, but not everyone can.

Display it at the Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery’s The Louvre.

upcoming this week.

The Premier League offering for tonight is really good. Only Sheffield United has scored fewer goals than the 32 that Everton has scored. With at least two goals conceded in each of their last seven games—against teams like Burnley, Leicester, Sheffield United, and Leeds—host Chelsea is dreadful at defending. It’s the force that can be stopped easily acting against the constantly leaking object.

The significance and appeal of football matches are often exaggerated by people in the media (the bloody media, really), especially broadcasters. However, this is not the case with Wednesday’s perfectly poised Champions League quarterfinals, which feature Bayern Munich (2) vs Arsenal (2) and Manchester City (3) vs Real Madrid (3). It’s a shame we can only watch live one.

Tuesday could be equally exciting as Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain aim to overcome deficits in their respective matches against Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

Speaking of overcoming deficits, Liverpool needs a footballing miracle to overcome Atalanta 3-0 on Thursday in Bergamo. However, despite being behind 2-0 at home, West Ham United faces a more formidable opponent in Leverkusen.

Required reading.

Is Ryan Giggs able to return?

The reason behind Arsenal’s formidable opponents.

Football is a rotational sport.

Image at top: Getty Images.