Opinion

Former Argentinian international striker Gonzalo Higuain was once one of the finest number nines in the world game. However, to say his loan move to Chelsea has not worked out would be an understatement.

The destination of the Premier League title is still no clearer after the weekend games. The top two teams Liverpool and Manchester City both picked up wins, as neither side is yielding to the other in the race to be crowned English champions.

It was all going so well for Borussia Dortmund this season. The yellow and black were winning games in style behind the wing wizardry of Jadon Sancho and the creativity of captain Marco Reus.

On Tuesday night, Tottenham recorded a 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. A late winner from Heung-Min Son was enough to give Spurs a slender lead for next week’s second leg.

With just six games remaining for most clubs in the Premier League, the race for the Golden Boot is an intriguing one this season. This could be a rarity in that the winner of the award could end the season with a title-winners medal.

Everton recorded a 1-0 win over Arsenal at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon. The victory was the Toffees third straight league win. The victory also means that the Merseysider’s have taken seven points from nine in their last three home games against Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Brendan Rodgers has turned around Leicester City’s fortunes.

As we enter the final straight of the Championship season, we take a look at which teams are gathering pace and momentum at this crucial stage as well as identifying the teams that are stuck in a rut and trending in a downward trajectory.

On Sunday afternoon, Liverpool recorded a tense 2-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield. The game looked to be heading for a draw until a 90th-minute own goal from Toby Alderweireld gifted the Merseysider’s three points.

The domestic European competitions restart this weekend following the international break and the first game to be played in the Premier League is between Fulham and Manchester City at Craven Cottage.

For the past few years, Manchester City and England star Raheem Sterling has started to fulfil his massive potential with a little help from City head coach Pep Guardiola.

For a country of their size, Scotland has produced some top players in the past. The likes of Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish were stars of the English game in the 1980s. However, the seeming stream of Scottish talent has dried up slightly in recent years.

It has been a rollercoaster season for Everton and their fans. A promising start to the season saw the men from Merseyside located in the Premier League’s top six. Then came a devastating stoppage-time defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.

With the 2020 European Championship Qualifiers starting this week, the nations involved will be hoping to make a good start in their pursuit of reaching the finals next summer.

After a run of eight Premier League games unbeaten, it looked as if Burnley were going to be able to put enough daylight between themselves and the bottom three, while in turn making the end of the season something of a relaxed affair.

With many Premier League outfits being inactive last weekend, it meant that Chelsea had the perfect opportunity in which to firmly re-enter the race to finish in the top four and come Sunday evening, it was one that had slipped through their fingers.

Bournemouth’s stint in the Premier League since the 2015/16 season has been an unbroken one and with three full seasons in the top flight behind them without being relegated, they look all but set to extend that run to four in the next few weeks.

Tottenham are finally returning home and they arguably could not have picked a better time in which to do so. With their ailing Premier League form hampering their hopes of a top four finish, this could be the shot in the arm that the club will be looking for.

The World Cup concluded just eight months ago, and since then, we have seen the UEFA Nations League debut. The high-quality international fixtures across Europe are about to increase as UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying kicks off this week.

Chelsea suffered what was a frustrating 2-0 defeat at inconsistent Everton on Sunday, as goals from Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson sealed the win for the Merseysider’s.