The 36th round in the Premier League opens today (Saturday) and only tomorrow will the championship battle between Manchester City and Arsenal continue, but at the bottom tonight Southampton can officially drop back to the Championship after 11 years and at the top TBU ZUFHO to continue the fight for places 3 to 7 leading to the league The champions, for the European League and the conference, who started with a particularly dramatic 2:2 between Leeds and Newcastle in the early game.
Leeds – Newcastle 2:2
Sam Allardyce’s new side were left with nothing but plaudits after the 2-1 loss to Manchester City last week and slipped to 19th place following the victories of their bottom rivals. Today she hosted the third ranked and she had a great opportunity to take a double lead that would rescue her from the red line, but like almost the whole season – for Leeds everything is going the other way and the point she achieved in the meantime did not help her to get above the red line and she remained second to last ranked in the table. Newcastle secured at least another cycle in third place, despite a second game in a row without a win.
Defender Luke Ayling gave Leeds a quick and surprising lead at Elland Road in the seventh minute, but the moment of truth came in the 28th minute when Jollington committed an unnecessary foul in the box and Leeds were awarded a penalty, which Patrick Bamford failed to capitalize on and saw Nick Pope deflect his kick from – 11 meters. Newcastle did not impress again, but managed to complete a turnaround thanks to two penalties kicked by Calum Wilson – in the 31st minute and in the 69th minute. Luckily for Leeds, they at least escaped defeat thanks to Rasmus Christensen’s goal in the 79th minute. Before the end, Junior Pirfo was sent off, leaving the host with ten players for six minutes of added time, at the end of which a distribution of points was recorded that did not serve the two excessively.
Manchester United – Wolves (17:00, Sport2)
The Red Devils look exhausted in the last few games, they have hardly rested since they reached the final of the cup after 120 minutes and a penalty shootout against Brighton about two weeks ago, and it is no coincidence that they dropped a double advantage in 2:2 against Tottenham, beat Aston Villa 0:1 with great difficulty and then lost Both Brighton and West Ham without scoring. Six days of rest surely helped Eric ten Haag’s players, who are returning home after two away games and will host the Wolves, who in their last away game took a resounding 6:0 from Brighton, which they beat a little with 0:1 against Aston Villa in the last round. If United stumble again, Liverpool could do the unthinkable and overtake them, although it should be noted that the Mighty Reds have the upper hand over the Red Devils who are still hanging on in the Champions League race. To the joy of Ten Haah, Raphael Varane returned after a month’s absence and he was jumped into the lineup alongside Victor Lindelof, while the injured Marcus Rashford remained out of the squad and so Anthony Martial returned to the attacking part.
Aston Villa – Tottenham (17:00, Sport1)
Tottenham returned to winning ways after three losses and a draw against Manchester United and celebrated Ryan Mason’s first three points in his renewed tenure as the Roosters’ interim manager. On the other hand, Unai Emery’s Aston Villa have lost 1-0 in their last two games, both away games against Manchester United and Fulham, and will be looking to record a sixth home win in a row. Tottenham are currently five points away from fifth-placed Liverpool and another setback would take them out of the race for a Europa League ticket. In the first round, Villa won 2:0 in London, but in the last meeting between them in Birmingham, Tottenham defeated 0:4.
- Chelsea – Nottingham (17:00, Sport1)
Frank Lampard lost all of his first six games on the lines, including two meetings with Real Madrid in the Champions League, but last round the Blues won 1:3 at Bournemouth and broke a streak of nine games without a win. Chelsea, who are at the bottom of the Premier League table, already have nothing to play for, and this may also be the reason for the revolution in the lineup, which includes the return of Edouard Mendy to the goal, while Nottingham Forest comes after two home victories in the last three rounds, thanks to which they jumped over the red line and opened a gap of three points from Leicester and Leeds in places 18 and 19 respectively and is also ahead of Everton by a point. In the first round, the two drew 1:1, but if Nottingham, the worst away team in the league who won only once away from home, manages to impress at Stamford Bridge, they may practically guarantee their stay.
- Southampton – Fulham (17:00, Sport4)
Southampton failed to win in all ten of the last league rounds, remained deep in last place and in the last three games they have already lost and seem to have resigned themselves to relegation. Given the fact that she has 24 points on her balance sheet, even a win may not be enough for her to avoid official relegation to the Championship back after 11 years. As for Fulham, Manor Solomon is again left on the bench by Marco Silva, who continues with the team that defeated Leicester 3:5, with Aleksandar Mitrovic also on the bench, contrary to expectations that he will return to the team after eight games away as a result of his suspension in the cup.
Another game
Crystal Palace – Bournemouth (17:00)
First in the Premier League
Everton – Manchester City (16:00, Sport1)
Brentford – West Ham (16:00, Sport2)
Arsenal – Brighton (18:30, Sport1)
