Another great performance from the Reds who dominate Pochettino’s team (4-1): debut in the Premier League for Casadei. Guardiola stops Burnley 3-1. Spurs, led by Udogie, beat Brentford 3-2
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Liverpool tears Chelsea apart and confirms itself as top of the class. City demolishes Burnley and keeps pace. Tottenham struggled but beat Brentford and moved up to fourth place. These are the Wednesday verdicts of the 22nd round of the Premier League, which increasingly resembles a duel between Klopp and Guardiola. Arteta permitting, obviously (and on Sunday there is Arsenal-Liverpool).
liverpool-chelsea 4-1
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Devastating. Liverpool are too much for Chelsea, a splendid team that manages not to feel the absence of their best player (Mo Salah) and showcases a new gem (Conor Bradley, man of the match with a goal and two assists in the second game in his career in the Premier League) against a team that collapses at the first difficulty, after having shown encouraging signs of revival in recent weeks. Klopp gives himself another sensational match, which confirms the title ambitions of a team that remains leaders with 5 points ahead of its closest pursuers (even if City have played one game less) and which gives the impression of grow with every game he plays. The gap could have even been clearer, if Nuñez had not decided to become the first player in the history of the Premier League with 4 woodblocks in the same match, including the post hit from a penalty at the end of the first half, with his team already ahead 2-0. If Bradley, a 20-year-old Northern Irishman, is the discovery, Jota’s 1-0 win is confirmation that the Portuguese is the fittest striker among Klopp’s players and that Salah can recover calmly. Pochettino has only one positive indication from this match: Christopher Nkunku’s first Premier League goal, on the pitch in the second half. The rest is a disaster, with the errors of the unwatchable Badiashile in the center of defense an example of how the Blues were torn to pieces first of all on a psychological level. Nuñez’s post in the 18th minute, thanks to Petrovic’s providential deflection, was the prologue to Liverpool’s domination. The lead came in the 22nd minute with Jota, who physically slipped between Thiago Silva and Badiashile. The 2-0 is a sign of the best youth of the Reds: it is Bradley’s first goal in the Premier League, who after having provided the assist for the 1-0, was launched on the counterattack by Diaz in the 39th minute, burning Sterling with speed and passes Petrovic with a perfect diagonal. The Reds could also have made it three before the break, but Nuñez sent a penalty awarded for a foul by Jota on Badiashile onto the woodwork. Bradley repeats the assist midway through the second half too, this time finding Szoboszlai’s head to make it 3-0. A spell from Nkunku in the 71st minute could reopen the match, but Diaz closed it out shortly after using an assist from Nuñez. In the final, Pochettino gave Casadei, recalled this month from his loan at Maresca’s Leicester, his debut in the Premier League.
manchester city-burnley 3-1
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How best to celebrate your 24th birthday? Julián Álvarez chooses a brace, the one that launches City into a 3-1 win over Burnley which is worth the fourth victory in a row, good to remind the Premier League who the reigning champions are. The Argentine, who reached 8 league goals this season, left his mark in the match in which Guardiola reintroduced Kevin De Bruyne as a starter (obviously celebrated with an assist, which puts him alone in 3rd place in the history of the Premier League with 104 ) and finds Erling Haaland on the pitch in the second half in place of the Belgian for the first time since 6 December. Álvarez’s two goals, in the space of 7′ in the first half, closed a match that had never actually started, because there was an abyss between Guardiola’s champions and his former protégé Vincent Kompany’s Burnley. City controls, holds second or at most third gear for a good part of the match, before inventing a burst that makes the difference. De Bruyne played his usual game like a genius, free to wander around the pitch in search of the best position and play. In addition to Álvarez, a usual great game from Rodri, author of the 3-0 at the start of the second half, and good performances from Doku and Nunes, for the first time at ease in the role of link between midfield and attack. City took a 2-0 lead with two bursts before midway through the first half, both from Álvarez: the first, in the 16th minute, was a header from inside the small area following an idea from Nunes; the second, in the 22nd minute, an unstoppable diagonal shot after an illuminating throw from De Bruyne. The champions dominate but at the break they only have a two-goal lead, which becomes 3 just 28 seconds into the second half thanks to Rodri, who did well in collecting an assist from Foden at the edge of the area and transforming it into a very precise right-footed shot to make it 3-0. Guardiola removes De Bruyne in the 71st minute and gives Haaland a taste of the Premier League again, where he had been missing since 6 December. The Norwegian is rusty and it shows, but with De Bruyne back in full fitness, his complete recovery is what Guardiola’s team needs to start one of those strings of successes that have always made the difference in the Premier League in recent years. Al Dakhil’s 3-1 in the 94th minute is irrelevant.
tottenham-brentford 3-2
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Tottenham wins and keeps pace with the big teams, reaching Aston Villa in fourth place. But what a struggle to beat Brentford at home, their 6th defeat in their last 7 outings. Struck in the first half, Postecoglou’s team needed a burst of energy in the second half to turn it around, but was kept on edge until the end by Ivan Toney’s 3-2, the second goal in the two league games played after returning from the 8 months of disqualification for betting. In Tottenham’s goals there is a lot of Destiny Udogie, who lights the spark with the goal of the momentary 1-1 and then also has a hand in the third goal. For Postecoglou’s team it is the 5th victory in the last 7 league outings and the right way to forget the elimination from the FA Cup at the hands of Manchester City, a match which confirmed to the Australian coach how Tottenham are still far from the level of the best . Brentford took the lead in the 15th minute with Maupay, who collected Vicario’s short clearance from Toney’s counterattack, anticipating Romero. Spurs came close to equalizing with Werner and Richarlison, but the guests weren’t just thinking about defending and went into the break with a deserved lead. Tottenham turned everything around at the start of the second half with two goals in the space of 72 seconds: Udogie struck first in the 48th minute, finding the right opening in the middle of the Brentford wall; immediately afterwards Johnson collects another assist from Werner at the far post to make it 2-1. It is the spark that lights up the Spurs, who in the 56th minute also find the third goal with Richarlison, who collects a shot from Maddison rebounded in the middle of the area for his goal number 8 of the season. Toney reopens the match with 3-2 in the 67th minute, but the result never changes.
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