Manchester City seeks to get closer and closer to its third title in a row and the fifth in the last six seasons when it is a guest on the “tottering” Everton, while its pursuers Arsenal are facing a difficult confrontation against Brighton tomorrow in the thirty-sixth stage of the English Premier League.
Manchester City leads the standings by one point from Arsenal, and the first also has a postponed match against Brighton, and it is superior by a large margin of goals, three stages before the end of the season.
Manchester City is still fighting on three fronts, and therefore its chances of achieving a historic treble still exist. Where he also reached the final of the England Cup, where he will face his neighbor Manchester United on the third of June (June) at Wembley Stadium, and returned with a valuable draw from Real Madrid, Spain, 1-1 in the first leg of the Champions League, before hosting it back next week.
It is noteworthy that Manchester United is the only English team to achieve the treble, and that happened in the 1998-1999 season when it was crowned champion of England and its cup in addition to the European Champions League.
And Everton had emerged from the relegation circle with a remarkable and sweeping 5-1 victory away from home to Brighton, seeking to achieve a qualifying position for Europe next season.
Spanish Manchester City coach Josep Guardiola may resort to the principle of rotation, especially since his team will face Real Madrid four days later, and this means giving the opportunity to Argentine striker Julian Alvarez instead of Norwegian Erling Haaland, who was chosen as the best player of the season from the Critics Association, and Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez instead of Portuguese Bernardo Silva, and international Phil Foden replace Jack Grealish.
Guardiola realizes that Everton will fight fiercely at his home, Goodison Park, to come up with a positive result, and in a match that may be pivotal for both teams, whether the title-seeker or the landowner, who is two points and one place above the relegation zone.
City won 10 consecutive Premier League matches and were unbeaten in 21 games in all competitions, making Guardiola, one of football’s most successful managers, on track to finish the best season of his career.
Guardiola led City to four Premier League titles, but he never tasted the sweetness of winning the European Champions title with the English club, having previously won it twice with Barcelona.
The Spaniard appears confident City will not collapse under the pressure of chasing three trophies, having assured several times recently that his players have the mental strength to stay the course at the end of the season when so much is at stake.
On the other hand, there is no alternative to Arsenal winning when they receive Brighton at the Emirates Stadium in north London. And the “Gunners” passed a difficult test last week when they returned with a valuable victory from Newcastle’s land, beating it with two clean goals. Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta is aware of the danger of his opponent, although Brighton is going through mixed results, as he beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 6-0, then suffered a heavy defeat 1-5 against Everton, and no one can guess what the confrontation will be like.
Arsenal suffers from the absence of French defender William Saliba, who was confirmed to be out of the squad until the end of the season due to a back injury, and will also miss the efforts of Ukrainian full-back Alexander Zinchenko.
Rob Holding performed well, compensating for Saliba’s absence in the team’s recent matches, while Scotsman Kieran Tierney is expected to play instead of Zinchenko against Brighton.
On the other hand, Manchester United, seeking to secure its place in the Golden Square, hopes to restore the winning streak after two consecutive losses against Brighton and West Ham with the same score, 0-1, when it hosts Wolverhampton, who has in principle guaranteed its survival in the Premier League next season.
-And the Red Devils are armed with their impressive home record; They lost only one match, at the beginning of the season, against Brighton 1-2, while they won 12. On the other hand, they lost 8 away matches.
-Manchester United was in a comfortable position to settle one of the qualifying cards for the Champions League two weeks ago, but its two recent losses drew more than one question mark.
Manchester United, fourth in the standings, is ahead of Liverpool, fifth, by one point, but has a postponed match, and therefore still has its fate in his hands, especially since he has three matches left at home and one away against Bournemouth. Veteran French defender Raphael Varane may return to Manchester after an absence of more than a month due to a muscle injury.
In turn, Newcastle, third in the standings, who is two points ahead of United, is looking forward to securing a qualifying place for the Champions League next season when it faces Leeds, which is threatened with relegation today.
And Newcastle coach Eddie Howe confirmed that his team will fight to return to the Champions League after an absence of more than 20 years. And Newcastle will play a series of difficult matches at the end of the season, including with Leeds, then Leicester City, who are threatened with relegation, then against Brighton and Chelsea, and about that, Howe commented, saying: “There is no reason for us to fear these teams. We don’t look at the schedule, we know all our opponents are strong, I think all Premier League matches are difficult in theory. We have to do our job and try to get more wins. We are capable of it regardless of our competition. It will be in our control, not in the hands of other teams. This is the most powerful way to deal. He added, “On paper, every match is worth fighting for, both teams have something to play for. We will accept this challenge, and we will strive to overcome it rather than fear anything. We have no reason to fear any team.
Sean Longstaff is absent from Newcastle, amid fears that he may suffer an ankle injury, while Matt Ritchie is confirmed to be absent until the end of the season due to a knee injury.
As for Liverpool, who are aspiring to pursue the Golden Square teams, they must continue a series of 6 consecutive victories in recent weeks and hope for a new stumbling block for United or Newcastle in order to maintain their hopes of snatching a card for the Champions League, but they will have a date with a team that will fight to avoid relegation when they visit Leicester City. the wounded.
Yesterday, the German coach, Jürgen Klopp, recalled the previous “miracles” of his team, but he acknowledged that the struggle to reach the golden square is not only in their hands, but rather they need gifts from the opponents.
Liverpool made a jump from eighth to fifth place, and narrowed the difference from 7 points to an orphan point from the fourth United, but the latter has a postponed match. Klopp, who has 3 matches left for his team before the end of the league, starting with a dangerous trip to Leicester, reminded of the many times his team succeeded in “Remontada”, including overturning its 0-3 defeat against Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals to victory in 2019.
Liverpool also succeeded in achieving an unexpected jump in the “Premier League” in 2021 in a scenario similar to what is happening this season, and reserved its seat in the top four, when Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker scored in one of these matches a fatal goal in stoppage time against West Bromwich Albion.
“Everyone who participated in these moments will never forget them in our lives,” Klopp said. “This is how things are, and this means that it is part of us.”
He added, “At that time, our fate was in our hands, and we had to score against West Bromwich Albion, and beat Barcelona. Now we have to win, but that doesn’t mean that anything has changed because other teams can win all their matches. this is the difference”.
Klopp admitted that finishing his league team in the first four places and ensuring qualification for the Champions League next season seemed “out of reach” just weeks ago. The German coach, whose team came close to winning a historic quadruple last season, stressed that the victories achieved by Liverpool set the tone for next season after an inconsistent season, and he explained: “This period is very important because it gives us a great idea about what we can look like, and we all know.” We are in the early stages and we have to develop, train and work a lot to make things more natural and clearer to the players about exactly what we want. He concluded, “Everyone already knows that we are moving in the right direction, and this is very useful.”
In other matches, Aston Villa will meet Tottenham, Southampton will meet Fulham, Chelsea will meet Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace will meet Bournemouth and Brentford will meet West Ham.
