Sports
Brilliant Chelsea Shatter Tottenham’s Top-Four Hopes
Chelsea delivered a hammer blow to Tottenham’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League with a 2-0 win against their spluttering London rivals on Thursday.
Trevoh Chalobah’s first goal since March 2022 put Chelsea ahead in the first half at Stamford Bridge.
The much-maligned Nicolas Jackson wrapped up the points in the closing stages with his 14th goal of a difficult first season with the Blues.
After losses to Arsenal and Newcastle, fifth-placed Tottenham’s third successive defeat leaves them seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa.
Tottenham have four games left, while Villa have three to go, making the north Londoners rank outsiders to finish in the Premier League’s top four.
It was another painful setback for Tottenham, who have squandered the good will built by Postecoglou for much of the Australian’s first season in charge.
While Postecoglou licks his wounds, Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino enjoyed a second win over his former club this season following the 4-1 success in November.
Pochettino had irritated Chelsea fans by admitting he couldn’t “hide his emotions” for the club he managed for five years and led to the 2019 Champions League final.
But he put those feelings aside to provide the result they wanted, keeping alive eighth-placed Chelsea’s hopes of qualifying for Europe and making it just one defeat in 34 home league games against Tottenham.
Postecoglou had criticised Tottenham’s sloppy performance in Sunday’s 3-2 defeat against Arsenal and responded by making five changes, with Richarlison brought in and James Maddison dropped.
But in Pochettino’s 400th match in English football, the Chelsea manager should have been celebrating a goal inside five minutes.
Jackson sprinted into the Tottenham area for a shot that went under Guglielmo Vicario but lacked the power to beat Mickey van de Ven’s clearance off the line, with Cole Palmer somehow scooping the loose ball over from close range.
Moments later, Chelsea winger Noni Madueke embarked on a dynamic run before firing just over from the edge of the area.
Four of the five goals conceded by Tottenham in their previous two games had come from set-pieces and they were punished for more woeful dead-ball marking in the 24th minute.
Conor Gallagher’s free-kick looped into the area and Chalobah was left unmarked to power a superb header over Vicario from 12 yards.
That made it 22 goals conceded from set plays in league games by Postecoglou’s creaky defence this term.
Tottenham claimed Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella had blocked Brennan Johnson from marking Chalobah, but VAR ignored their protests.
Mykhailo Mudryk’s deflected strike was held by Vicario before the Ukraine winger curled narrowly wide as Chelsea pushed for a second goal.
Undone by their set-piece frailties, Tottenham almost took advantage of Chelsea’s defensive deficiencies with a Cristian Romero header that clipped the post from Pedro Porro’s free-kick.
Postecoglou looked increasingly irate by the half-time whistle and his chastened players responded to their manager’s frustration with a more lively second-half display.
Porro’s drive from a tight angle forced Djordje Petrovic to save in Tottenham’s most threatening moment.
But Chelsea landed the knockout punch in the 72nd minute.
Palmer’s fierce free-kick cannoned down off the bar towards Jackson, who reacted quickest to head home from six yards.
AFP
Southampton were relegated from the Premier League in record-setting time after a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham on Sunday ended their brief stay in the top-flight.
Brennan Johnson struck twice in the first half and Mateus Fernandes’s late reply was too late to stop bottom of the table Southampton crashing back to the Championship.
Beaten for the 25th time in 31 games, Southampton are the first Premier League team to be relegated with seven matches still to play.
Ipswich and Derby were relegated with six games left in 1994-95 and 2007-08, respectively.
Ivan Juric’s side are also still one shy of matching Derby’s 2007-08 record low Premier League total points of 11.
Juric, whose team are without a win in their last seven league matches, admitted this week that avoiding the record low points tally is Southampton’s only target for the rest of their dismal season.
Southampton were pushed to the brink of relegation when fourth-bottom Wolves came from behind to beat Ipswich 2-1 on Saturday, leaving Saints 22 points from safety.
Their slide down to the second tier was confirmed 315 days after they clinched promotion by beating Leeds in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.
Russell Martin was architect of Southampton’s success in the Championship with an attacking approach, but his insistence on sticking to those tactics backfired badly in the top flight.
Martin was sacked in December after a 5-0 defeat against Tottenham left Southampton bottom of the table with just five points from 16 games.
Former Roma boss Juric was hired to replace Martin on an 18-month contract, but the Croatian was unable to save Southampton from going down with a whimper.
– No reprieve –
Tottenham have been in turmoil themselves for much of the season, with fan protests against chairman Daniel Ley before and during the game underlining the depth of the problems in north London.
But under-fire boss Ange Postecoglou, who was jeered by Tottenham fans during Thursday’s defeat at Chelsea, earned a little breathing space at Southampton’s expense.
Trying to avoid their lowest finish since 1993-94 — when they came 15th — Tottenham’s first win in five league games lifted them to 13th place.
It was a much-needed boost before their Europa League quarter-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday.
Postecoglou’s men took the lead in the 13th minute when Johnson fired into the roof of the net from Djed Spence’s cut-back for his 15th goal in all competitions this season.
That spelt doom for Southampton, who haven’t won a single league game this season after conceding the opening goal.
Lucas Bergvall’s close-range finish was disallowed for offside after the kind of protracted VAR check that has driven Postecoglou to claim the system is “killing the game”.
It was only a temporary reprieve as Wales forward Johnson doubled Tottenham’s advantage with a composed finish from James Maddison’s header in the 42nd minute.
Despite their team’s predicament, Southampton fans packed into one corner of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hadn’t lost their sense of humour, chanting “Que sera, sera… we’re going to Coventry” as the clock ticked down on their stay in the top tier.
In a moment of quality at odds with their woeful campaign, Fernandes chested down and fired past Tottenham keeper Guglielmo Vicario in the 90th minute.
There was no late comeback as Wellington fouled Johnson and Mathys Tel converted the penalty to confirm Southampton’s demise.
AFP
Fulham on Sunday flogged league leaders Liverpool 3-2 at home.
Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi was on song as he netted the second goal for Fulham.
Details shortly…
Paris Saint-Germain of France has secured the Ligue 1 title on Saturday with 1-0 win at home to Angers enough to gave them an unassailable lead over nearest challengers Monaco with six games of the season still to play.
This is PSG’s 13th title overall, a French record, and their 11th in the last 13 seasons, this highlighting the extent to which the Parisian have dominated the league since being taken over by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011
PSG still have the chance of repeating last season’s domestic treble and, with a Champions League quarter-final coming up against Aston Villa next week, a first European title is in a serious possibility.
Winning titles is nothing new to the French champions but PSG team under Luis Enrique has helped turn them from a team long associated with egos and big-money into a vibrant, youthful and thrilling team to watch.
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