Football Weekend Recap

Premier League Action



The Premier League is slowly reaching its conclusion with the race for Champions League football and the battle for relegation survival heating up. Norwich City were officially relegated from the Premier League after a 4-0 defeat to West Ham United. The Canaries have found the jump from the Championship difficult losing 24 of their 35 games played, conceding 67 goals. Watford beat Newcastle 2-1, boosting their survival chances. Liverpool dropped points at home for the first time this season after a 1-1 draw against Burnley with Jay Rodriguez scoring the equalizer. Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick as Manchester City hammered Brighton. Sheffield United threw a spanner at Chelsea's Champions Leagues hopes, defeating the Blues 3-0 at Bramall Lane. Wolves defeated Everton 3-0 to keep their slim chances of finishing 4th alive while Trézéguet scored a brace to give Aston Villa an important 2-0 win against Crystal Palace to, keeping their survival hopes alive. Son Heung-Min and Toby Alderweireld scored for Tottenham in the North London Derby beating Arsenal 2-1. Bournemouth got a huge win for their survival chances but also hurt Leicester's chances of finishing in the top 4. The Cherries beat Leicester 4-1 at the Vitality Stadium with Çaĝlar Söyüncü receiving a red card which rules him out for the rest of the season. This means that if Manchester United beat Southampton on Monday night, they go third while Leicester drop to fifth with three games remaining.

La Liga action



Atlético Madrid's form since the resumption has been great, winning six of their nine games. That further went to seven as they beat Real Betis 1-0 courtesy of a Diego Costa winner. This leaves Atléti third in La Liga level on points with Sevilla, who also won their game 2-0 against Mallorca with goals from Lucas Ocampos and Youssef En-Nesyri. José Arnaiz scored a 92nd minute for Osasuna, beating Celta Vigo 2-1 as Vigo are not safe from relegation just yet. Leganes kept their relegation survival hopes alive beating Valencia 1-0 despite going down to ten men. Raúl García scored a brace in Athletic Bilbao's 2-1 win against Levante while Espanyol started playing their last few games in La Liga with a 2-0 defeat to Eibar. Arturo Vidal scored in the 15th minute to give Barcelona a 1-0 win against Real Valladolid. This closes the gap between them and Real Madrid to just one point but Madrid play on Monday night against Granada which could go back to four points if they win.

Serie A Action



Lazio's slim chances of winning the Scudetto took a further hit as they lost for the third consecutive game, losing to Sassuolo 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace which included a 90th minute penalty to deny Atalanta a win against the reigning champions with the game ending 2-2. This leaves the Old Lady eight points ahead of Lazio and nine points ahead of Inter, who play Torino on Monday night. Federico Fazio, Nikola Kalinic and Nicolò Zaniolo were on target for Roma, keeping them 5th in the table. Patrick Cutrone scored a 97th minute equlaizer for Fiorentina to salvage a point against Hellas Verona. Two goals in added time for Parma was enough for them to get a point against Bolgona while Cagliari and Lecce played goalless. Sampdoria beat Udinese while Napoli got a point at home against AC Milan with the rossoneri going down to ten men late in the game.

Player of the Weekend: Michail Antonio



The West Ham forward has been important for David Moyes since the resumption as the Hammers battle for survival. They got a big win against Norwich City, beating them 4-0 with Antonio on show. The striker scored all four goals with six of his nine shots on target, over-performing his expected goals of 2.1, a pass completion rate of 73.9%, 3 successful dribbles and 2 key passes. He has become the first West Ham player in Premier League to score four goals in one match.

(Statistics were taken from FBref)