Opinion

Liverpool returned to the top of the Premier League on Sunday by recording a 2-1 victory at doomed Fulham. The victory was the sort that teams achieve on their way to lifting trophies.

Liverpool recorded a 3-1 win at Bayern Munich on Wednesday night to progress to the last eight of the Champions League. The victory came after a goalless draw in the first leg at Anfield.

Tuesday and Wednesday night’s brought as a full slate of fixtures in the Championship, so here’s a quick re-cap of the events involving teams at the top and the bottom of the division as the race for promotion along with the fight against relegation heats up, and a look ahead to the pick of the weekend’s fixtures.

There are 24 points left to play for in the Premier League season and the relegation race has plenty of questions. Six teams have a legitimate chance to go down to the Championship and lose out on the riches of the English top-flight.

Everton suffered a 3-2 defeat at Newcastle on Saturday afternoon, after throwing away a two-goal lead. The Toffees were still 2-1 up until the last ten minutes of the game when the Magpies struck twice through a brace from Ayoze Perez.

To say Real Madrid have had a bad week would be an understatement.  Having been eliminated from the Copa del Rey by Barcelona, Los Blancos went on to lose 1-0 at home to the same team in La Liga and the results all but ended their chance of silverware in Spain this season.

If this article was written earlier in the week, it would be anticipating Manchester United’s exit from the Champions League. However, after events in Paris on Wednesday night, the narrative is one that becomes completely different.

On Tuesday night, Dortmund suffered a 1-0 home defeat against Tottenham in the last 16 of the Champions League. The defeat means that BVB suffered a 4-0 aggregate defeat against the English side.

Chelsea started the season with the objective of returning to the Premier League top-four this season. Early season form suggested that the Blues might even mount a title challenge under highly regarded Italian boss Maurizio Sarri.

Fulham’s 2-1 south west derby defeat by Chelsea on Sunday afternoon at Craven Cottage means that the Cottagers are 19th in the Premier League table and ten points from safety.

This weekend seemingly saw a shift of power in the title race to reigning champions Manchester City. The Citizens are now a point ahead of north west rivals Liverpool in the race to become English champions.

As we move into the second legs of the round of 16 ties in this seasons UEFA Champions League, the winner of the tournament has become more difficult to predict.

As we now reach the final quarter of the season, it is fair to say that the fixtures take on a great deal of extra importance. Depending on the outcome, those set of results can have serious ramifications on the objective that any club is setting out to reach.

Brighton suffered a 2-1 defeat at Leicester on Tuesday night, which means that Chris Hughton’s side could finish the current gameweek just two points above the Premier League relegation zone.

On Tuesday night, Leicester announced Brendan Rodgers as the clubs new boss. The Foxes activated Rodgers release clause in his contract at previous Celtic to allow Rodgers a return to the English top-flight.

The 2019 Major League Soccer season kicks off on March 2nd as the 24th season of the North American league gets underway. The biggest news going into the season is expansion franchise FC Cincinnati has joined the league. They will mix it up with the league’s big boys and try to knock off reigning MLS Supporters’ Shield winners the New York Red Bulls and MLS Cup winners Atlanta United.

When Maurizio Sarri left Napoli to join Chelsea in the summer the fans at Stamford Bridge were set to be in for a treat.

As we enter the final third of the Premier League season, the plotlines at both ends of the table are currently being written. At one end, we have what is now becoming a three horse race to win the title.

There is an argument to say the Europa League is more fun to watch than the Champions League. The second-tier UEFA competition has more teams and many are from far-flung European destinations. It all makes for an exciting competition on Thursday nights during the football season.

Since joining the club as caretaker manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has done remarkably well at Old Trafford.  He took over a sinking ship when Jose Mourinho was sacked and has made the club serious contenders to finish in the top four this season.