On February 18, 2023, in the 24th round of the Premier League, Arsenal defeated Aston Villa 4:2 in an away game. With one game less, they beat Manchester City by 2 points and returned to the top of the standings. The picture shows the players from both sides fighting for the moment in the game. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
[The Epoch Times, February 20, 2023](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Li Rongshi) On February 18-19, local time, in the 24th round of the Premier League, only two days after reaching the top of the list, the defending champion Manchester City exploded in an away game. Cold, was tied 1:1 by the relegation team Nottingham Forest, lost 2 points; while Arsenal defeated Aston Villa 4:2 in the away game, with a 2-point advantage in the absence of a game. Blue Moon”, leading the standings again. After Liverpool beat fourth-placed Newcastle 2-0 in an away game, they are about to join the “fourth” team.
Arsenal edge back to top spot
Last week, after losing to Manchester City in the Premier League supplementary match, Arsenal’s lead in the league was filled by their opponents. The two teams have 51 points. A battle temporarily took the initiative. This is the turn of the away game to challenge the mid-range team Aston Villa, which is a game that must be won for the “Arsenal”.
As soon as the game started, Arsenal lost the ball early, and then Saka helped Arsenal equalize the score; but Coutinho scored and put the “Gunners” in crisis again. At halftime, Arsenal trailed 1:2. In the second half, Zinchenko scored his “first goal” after joining Arsenal, equalizing the score for the “Gunners”.
After that, the two sides fell into a stalemate, and the score of 2:2 lasted until 90 minutes later, when the “Lady Luck” came to the “Gunner”. Jorginho took a long shot in front of the penalty area. After the ball hit the crossbar, it rebounded and hit the opponent’s goalkeeper Martinez, and then bounced into the goal. This dramatic goal brought Arsenal back to the initiative.
After that, in the 6th minute of stoppage time, after Arsenal successfully defended the corner kick, they launched a counterattack, Vieira made a direct pass, and Martinelli succeeded in pushing against the empty goal. In the end, Arsenal defeated Villa 4:2 and returned to the top of the standings with 54 points.
Manchester City suffered a draw and gave up the top spot
Just convincingly defeated the “leader” Arsenal 3:1, and Manchester City, which has reached the top of the list, faced stubborn resistance against the relegation team Nottingham Forest in this round. After the opening, Manchester City launched a fierce attack against the guest. In the 41st minute, Glarish assisted seat B and scored with a “world wave”, giving “Blue Moon” the lead.
In the second half, Manchester City failed to seize many opportunities to expand the score and was punished in the 84th minute. Gibbs White sent an assist, Wood pushed and scored to equalize the score for the home team. In the end, the two sides shook hands 1:1 and made a peace. Throughout the game, Manchester City had the advantage, leading 23 to 4 in the number of shots, but of the 23 shots, only the long-range shot from the B seat scored a goal.
After this round, Manchester City played one more round, accumulating 52 points, 2 points behind the “leader”, and ranked second in the standings. So far this season, Manchester City has lost points to teams other than the top six in the Premier League six times, which is quite similar to Liverpool’s “robbing the rich and helping the poor” back then.
As the two championship teams lost points one after another, Manchester United had already caught up. In this round, with Rashford’s “scoring twice” and Sancho’s goal, Manchester United swept Leicester City 3-0 at home. Goalkeeper De Gea completed the 179th clean sheet in Manchester United, becoming the first in the history of Manchester United. Goalkeeper with the most clean sheets. After this round, Manchester United accumulated 49 points, only 3 points behind Manchester City, and only 5 points away from the top of the list, officially joining the ranks of the championship.
Tottenham overtake Newcastle into fourth
Liverpool, which competed for the title last season, suffered a precipitous decline this season. The road to defending the FA Cup and League Cup was terminated early, and the Premier League was far behind by Arsenal and Manchester City. After 23 rounds, it only ranked second Nine places, and currently there is only the only goal of “fighting for four”. The main reason for Liverpool’s poor performance is injuries. Almost all the players under Klopp have suffered injuries this season. So far, Thiago and Dias have not yet returned.
In this round, Liverpool went away to challenge Newcastle, the biggest “dark horse” of the season. After only 20 minutes of the opening, Liverpool established a 2:0 lead, and the pressure exerted by Salah led to a foul by Newcastle goalkeeper Pope and was sent off with a red card. Liverpool completely took advantage of the field, not only leading the score, but also dominating the numbers, allowing the game to enter garbage time early. Since then, Liverpool did not continue to make efforts, and they stopped when they were good, and kept the score of 2:0 until the end.
In this round, after defeating West Ham United 2-0 at home, Tottenham accumulated 42 points and surpassed Newcastle to enter the “top four”. Newcastle dropped to fifth place with 41 points. Liverpool currently has one game less, with 35 points, ranking 8th, 7 points behind the “top four”. If Klopp leads the team to win the make-up match, then the gap with the top four will be only 4 points, and Liverpool will once again see the hope of “fighting for the fourth”.
The blues are also exciting to relegation
Chelsea was upset again at home this round, losing 0:1 to Southampton, the bottom team. Ranked 10th. Statistics show that after spending 329 million euros on signings in the winter window, the “Blue Army” has completed a total of 73 shots in the past 5 games and only scored 1 goal. At present, Porter, the coach of the “Blue Army”, has become the target of public criticism, and a coaching change may be imperative.
Southampton scored an important three points on the road to relegation, and currently has 18 points and continues to be at the bottom. It is worth mentioning that the three teams that were originally in the relegation zone, Everton, Bournemouth and Southampton, all won this round. Everton defeated Leeds United after defeating the top Arsenal. Since the team changed coaches, Everton has rebounded completely and has scored 21 points, far away from the relegation zone. Now the teams in the relegation zone have been replaced by West Ham United, Leeds United and Southampton. Compared with the championship, the Premier League relegation battle this season will also be quite exciting.
Responsible editor: Zheng Huang