League action from the Weekend
We are now at the second half of the season where points become more important in determining the success of your season whether it's at the top or bottom end of the table. Here are the highlights from the weekend.
Liverpool survive Palace chaos
Crystal Palace shocked Manchester City at the Etihad and we're looking to do the same thing against Liverpool at Anfield in Saturday. Palace went in front in the first half from Andros Townsend after a good run of play from the Eagles with Wilfried Zaha beating James Milner, who played at right-back. Liverpool responded in the second half with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino scoring but poor defending let Palace hit back from James Tomkins. Salah scored again to restore Liverpool's lead, capitalizing on an error from Speroni. Nerves were raised when James Milner was sent off but Sadio Mané scored to seal the points for the Reds deep in added time while Max Meyer scored to end the game 4-3 to Liverpool and hold their place at the summit.
Emery gets one over Sarri
Unai Emery got his tactics right over Mauricio Sarri as Arsenal beat their London rivals Chelsea 2-0 at the Emirates on Saturday. Emery included Mesut Özil in his matchday squad but he didn't start the German with Aaron Ramsey preferred to play the No.10. Arsenal scored twice in the first half from Alexandre Lacazette and Laurent Koscielny as Chelsea were unable to hurt the Gunners having just one shot on target and Eden Hazard looking inadequate as the false 9. It was a big win for Arsenal but came at a piece with Hector Bellerin going off injured on a stretcher with no details yet knowing how long he will be out for. Nevertheless, Arsenal cut the gap to three points and after United's win over Brighton, the top four is anyone's taking.
Madrid go third
Goals from Casemiro and Luka Modrić gave Real Madrid a 2-0 win against Sevilla in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday. Solari left out Isco and Marcelo with Sergio Reguilon and Dani Ceballos starting while Sevilla were looking for their first win at the Bernabéu since 2008. A lot of the major highlights came in the second half with Los Blancos going in front from Casemiro, scoring his first league goal this season, from a powerful strike from distance to beat Tomáš Vaclík. Luka Modrić scored in back-to-back games to ensure the win for Madrid, after winning the ball back and slotted it home for Madrid to go above Sevilla to 3rd in the table.
Dembélé inspires Barça victory
Ousmane Dembélé stepped up in Messi's absence but went off injured as Barcelona remain top in La Liga after beating Leganes 3-1 at the Camp Nou on Sunday. Lionel Messi didn't start as Ernesto Valverde put Philippe Coutinho starting alongside Luis Suárez and Dembélé. The Frenchman had been in fine form this season and continued as he opened the scoring in the first half after some brilliant play between him and left-back Jordi Alba. In the second half, Martin Braithwaite equalized for Leganes forcing Valverde to bring on Messi. Barça's lead was restored from Luis Suárez but in controversial circumstances but stood after going through VAR. Messi scored late in injury time to ensure the points for Barcelona in retaining their title.
BVB win past Leipzig
Borussia Dortmund started 2019 with an important 1-0 win against RB Leipzig at the Red Bull Arena to keep the distance between them and Bayern Munich at six points following Bayern's win against Hoffenheim On Friday. BVB were without their captain Marco Reus and Samuel Akanji with Maxi Philipp playing up front alongside Mario Götze. Dortmund went in front in the first half from Axel Witzel as it was the only game of the game. Leipzig will be disappointed being unable to capitalize on their chances with Roman Bürki ensuring Dortmund kept the clean sheet and being the first team to beat Leipzig at home.
Napoli cut gap
Napoli have cut the gap between them and Juventus to six points for the time being as they beat Lazio 2-1 at the San Paolo. Napoli has a good record against Lazio, winning in 10 of their last 13 games with Lazio's last win coming in 2015. José Callejón opened the scoring for Ancelotti's men with his first goal of the season. Napoli scored again eight minutes before halftime from Arkadiusz Milik who has been very impressive this season with 11 goals in 17 Serie A games. Ciro Immobile reduced the deficit for Lazio but went down to ten men after Francesco Acerbi received his second yellow card. It was a good win for Napoli winning their 15th game in 20 while Lazio drop to 5th.
Player of the Weekend: Duván Zapata
Honourable mentions go to Diogo Jota, Laurent Koscielny, Mohamed Salah, Luka Modrić and Lukasz Piszczek for their performances but POTW goes to Duván Zapata. The Colombian was clinical in Atalanta's 5-0 win over Frosinone were he scored four goals being the third player after Luka Jović and Kylian Mbappé to score 4 goals in Europe's top 5 leagues this season. Zapata also made 52 touches, 9 shots (5 shots on target) and 1 key pass.
Liverpool survive Palace chaos
Emery gets one over Sarri
Unai Emery got his tactics right over Mauricio Sarri as Arsenal beat their London rivals Chelsea 2-0 at the Emirates on Saturday. Emery included Mesut Özil in his matchday squad but he didn't start the German with Aaron Ramsey preferred to play the No.10. Arsenal scored twice in the first half from Alexandre Lacazette and Laurent Koscielny as Chelsea were unable to hurt the Gunners having just one shot on target and Eden Hazard looking inadequate as the false 9. It was a big win for Arsenal but came at a piece with Hector Bellerin going off injured on a stretcher with no details yet knowing how long he will be out for. Nevertheless, Arsenal cut the gap to three points and after United's win over Brighton, the top four is anyone's taking.
Madrid go third
Goals from Casemiro and Luka Modrić gave Real Madrid a 2-0 win against Sevilla in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday. Solari left out Isco and Marcelo with Sergio Reguilon and Dani Ceballos starting while Sevilla were looking for their first win at the Bernabéu since 2008. A lot of the major highlights came in the second half with Los Blancos going in front from Casemiro, scoring his first league goal this season, from a powerful strike from distance to beat Tomáš Vaclík. Luka Modrić scored in back-to-back games to ensure the win for Madrid, after winning the ball back and slotted it home for Madrid to go above Sevilla to 3rd in the table.
Dembélé inspires Barça victory
Ousmane Dembélé stepped up in Messi's absence but went off injured as Barcelona remain top in La Liga after beating Leganes 3-1 at the Camp Nou on Sunday. Lionel Messi didn't start as Ernesto Valverde put Philippe Coutinho starting alongside Luis Suárez and Dembélé. The Frenchman had been in fine form this season and continued as he opened the scoring in the first half after some brilliant play between him and left-back Jordi Alba. In the second half, Martin Braithwaite equalized for Leganes forcing Valverde to bring on Messi. Barça's lead was restored from Luis Suárez but in controversial circumstances but stood after going through VAR. Messi scored late in injury time to ensure the points for Barcelona in retaining their title.
BVB win past Leipzig
Borussia Dortmund started 2019 with an important 1-0 win against RB Leipzig at the Red Bull Arena to keep the distance between them and Bayern Munich at six points following Bayern's win against Hoffenheim On Friday. BVB were without their captain Marco Reus and Samuel Akanji with Maxi Philipp playing up front alongside Mario Götze. Dortmund went in front in the first half from Axel Witzel as it was the only game of the game. Leipzig will be disappointed being unable to capitalize on their chances with Roman Bürki ensuring Dortmund kept the clean sheet and being the first team to beat Leipzig at home.
Napoli cut gap
Napoli have cut the gap between them and Juventus to six points for the time being as they beat Lazio 2-1 at the San Paolo. Napoli has a good record against Lazio, winning in 10 of their last 13 games with Lazio's last win coming in 2015. José Callejón opened the scoring for Ancelotti's men with his first goal of the season. Napoli scored again eight minutes before halftime from Arkadiusz Milik who has been very impressive this season with 11 goals in 17 Serie A games. Ciro Immobile reduced the deficit for Lazio but went down to ten men after Francesco Acerbi received his second yellow card. It was a good win for Napoli winning their 15th game in 20 while Lazio drop to 5th.
Player of the Weekend: Duván Zapata
Honourable mentions go to Diogo Jota, Laurent Koscielny, Mohamed Salah, Luka Modrić and Lukasz Piszczek for their performances but POTW goes to Duván Zapata. The Colombian was clinical in Atalanta's 5-0 win over Frosinone were he scored four goals being the third player after Luka Jović and Kylian Mbappé to score 4 goals in Europe's top 5 leagues this season. Zapata also made 52 touches, 9 shots (5 shots on target) and 1 key pass.
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