Liverpool 2-0 Watford, the Reds' steady performance to win nine consecutive wins
Not surprisingly, Liverpool are the dominant side in the ball. Watford can only use counter-attacks as a main source of threat – a back-court pass to pull up the opponent's defensive line and let Ben Foster find two wings to attack; or more simply to start a counterattack when the ball is switched after interception and stealing in midfield. On one of the counter-attacks after a midfield interception, João Pedro lured the defence to release Kutska on the left and a single knife on the left side of the penalty area was saved by Alisson, almost letting them take the lead.
Liverpool did not start Arnold in this game, although the substitute Joe Gomez was timely plugged in and had the basic job of doing a good job as a right winger, but the lack of Arnold's hanging pass behind, or the difference between the ball in front of the penalty area, the long pass from the opposite corner and other different offensive weapons, Liverpool as a whole did not play at the same level as before on the offensive end. In addition, most players in the midfield simple conduction to do too casual, plain to give the opponent the opportunity to counterattack, is their small lack of this game, but at least the follow-up rush is very immediate, the first time to resolve one of the most large and large of the threat, did not let the flaw be magnified into a fatal injury (except for the aforementioned golden opportunity for Watford).
Then, after a cross-cutting attack, Joe Gomez, who plugged in the right wing, found Jota's header in front of goal and broke the goal. Liverpool scored first to take the lead, no Arnold, no problems.
After the score was rewritten, Watford still maintained patience, first do a good job of defending and then waiting for the opportunity to counterattack, and Liverpool did not have the urgency to score, the defensive end was more stable, except for a golden opportunity by João Pedro, and a more thrilling moment after Joe Gomez lost the ball at the back, there was almost no picture of the opponent attacking with the ball, even if Watford had to press the attack at the end, it did not change the situation; the offensive end was also gradually opening up the gap with the opponent under the suppression of the position battle, and fully controlled the game situation. From the statistical point of view, from the same number of shots on goal 4-4 before the goal, to the final 20-5, Liverpool completely dominated.
In the end, Liverpool earned a free throw opportunity in the final stage of the game, and Fabinho successfully scored to kill the game. 2-0, Liverpool won steadily at home.
Liverpool, who have won 9 consecutive games, continue to bite the point difference, and the next round of head-on confrontation with Manchester City will seriously affect the direction of the subsequent championship winning situation. The fate of the losing side is not so optimistic, Watford, who continue to stay in the relegation zone, will meet Leeds United in the next round, which will be one of their few good opportunities to chase points.
Burnley 0-2 Manchester City, City opened the game to win
Liverpool's leading position was reclaimed by City less than an hour after an earlier win – in the opening 5th minute, Rodri split the ball to Sterling, the outermost on the right, knocking back to de Bruyne of half space.
After taking the lead, in the face of Burnley's defensive strategy of almost not pressing at Manchester City's half and standing on the defensive line, Manchester City was not in a hurry, and even saw the embarrassing picture of the Manchester City defender simply standing in place and waiting for his teammates to run out of the receiving space when his teammates were completely covered in midfield. Then, following the first goal to use the offensive width to find a flaw, a Raing de Bruyne hit the wall to make the former appear on the right side of the gap, and crossed Gundogan to score additional goals.
Since then, the pace of the game has been slow, and City have found a new way to break through - the long pass front line takes advantage of the space given by Burnley's slight forward pressure, one Phil Foden over the top straight to rave sterling, and one Edson big foot long pass to Cancello, almost creating a one-handed opportunity.
As for Burnley's offensive end, on the one hand, there are not many offensive rounds/time (23.5% possession rate), on the other hand, the processing of the ball in the front court is not delicate enough, slight offside, key passes can not find people, etc., so that they only have 2 shots from outside the box and 1 shot from a corner, and the end of the clean sheet is not surprising.
In the second half, Resus, who came on as a substitute, failed to make a number of shots on goal, but did not affect the outcome of the game, and Manchester City received a stable 2-0 away victory.
City retained their leading position after the victory, putting pressure on Liverpool, who were about to meet in the next round, to win. The loser Burnley still stays in the relegation zone, and the next round meets Everton and Norwich, two opponents who also have relegation crises, which will be the key two battles for whether they can stay in the Premier League.
Manchester United 1-1 Leicester City, the Red Devils' no-front attack ended the draw
Cristiano Ronaldo was absent and Cavani was injured, and Lonnick did not let the in-poor Rashford play, but chose to let B Fei play a cameo forward, a 4-2-3-1 formation, and sometimes a nearly 4-2-4 no-front (the difference is his relative position with Pogba). This configuration did not work too well on the offensive end, with insufficient penetration in the front and poor passing quality in the midfield. Once Fred intercepted the ball in front of the field and gave the ball to B Fee, and his foot was saved by Caspar Schmeichel, which was the closest moment to scoring in the first half.
Leicester City's up frontcourt connection was better, allowing them to have less possession but still be the side with the more shots on goal (6-3) in the first half. A short pass of 3-4 feet in front of the field, Isinacho cleverly shot off the edge of the penalty area, from this way of attack, you can roughly see Leicester City's better performance in this game. However, with neither side creating a golden opportunity, the 0-0 half result is not a surprise.
United, who were tied up in attack, replaced Marcus Rashford in the second half, but this dispatch still did not change the deadlock. The real break through the deadlock was Leicester City – a "counter-attack" attack in which James Madison's cross from the left found the far point of the isaac Ichinacho headed the lead. However, United immediately responded - the follow-up attack of the midfield steal, B Fei's shot was saved by Caspar Schmeichel, and Fred's supplementary shot was equalized.
By the end of the game, both sides had good chances, with Isinacho picking a shot off target, Wesley Fofana's head hammer pushing david De Gea's extreme save, James Madison's goal cancelled due to an earlier foul, Jayden Sancho's great chance in injury time missed, and Rashford's chance to get up was ruined early by James Justin. In the end, neither side scored any additional goals and shook hands 1-1.
The shortage of personnel in the forwards, Marcus Rashford's slump, these are the pressing issues that United need to solve in the summer window, but what about this season? After this draw, they are further away from the Champions League.
Leicester City retained the 9th place after the rest of the mid-range teams dropped points in succession, which is the highest ranking possible in reality this season. A wave of climax at the end of the season to meet next year, if there is a chance to fight for the European League title to retain European qualification, will be Leicester City's ideal goal at the end of the season.
West Ham United 2-1 Everton, the Iron Guard beat Manchester United at home
While West Ham were the side with more possession time (not much of a gap, 53%-47% in the first half), the timing of their threat came mainly from the switch of possession - a 4-3 counter-attack, Pablo Fornals was cut off by Jordan Pickford before getting up on the left side of the penalty area; a follow-up attack from midfield, Ben Hama directly found Mikaire Antonio, flicked the goalkeeper and shot from a small angle.
Everton's highlight on the offensive end was on the left wing, Richarl Lysson , once receiving Iwobi's straight thrash and swinging past the goalkeeper , but before stepping up at the empty goal , he was cleared by the watching Ryan Fredericks ; and once shrugging off the staring defense to receive Jordan Pickford's big foot long pass , a difficult one-handed shot that sprang through the goalchain.
The first half was close to a five-to-five deadlock, and what really changed the balance of the game was a momentary display of personal ability - Creswell's perfect set-piece hit the dead corner of the goal to help the Hammers take the lead.
Everton started even more aggressively in the second half, with Lewin firing from the edge of the penalty area and Mason Holgate volleying to tie the score. Just when Everton fans thought the game was going to flip, the Hammers' season-long precision counter-attack came - Iwobi lost the ball at the back, Mikael Antonio received a direct plug, and Joe was single-handed
Dan Pickford saved and Jarrod Bowen from behind scored and West Ham united returned to the lead in six minutes.
After conceding a goal, Michael Keane swallowed a second yellow card to leave the field early after a reckless foul, giving Everton another serious piece of bad news. Everton's attacking firepower has since vanished without a trace; West Ham have chosen to slow down. In the final game, West Ham United won 2-1.
A defence that rarely makes mistakes, a smooth counter-attack and a mature performance in the final stages of the game are the keys to West Ham's victory as they wish, and after winning, they also overtake Manchester United (same points, the latter one less round). Next year they will play in the Champions League, the Europa League or the European Union, depending on their performance in the last few rounds.
The losing side Everton is relatively bumpy, with 4 of the next few rounds meeting Big 6 and 2 meeting Leicester City, and the midweek game against Burnley will be a key relegation battle, and if it cannot be won smoothly, the possibility of relegation will be greatly improved.
Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur attacked the Magpies on the flank
Spurs had complete possession of the ball in the first 20 minutes of the opening, but did not have the same advantage in attack and were within easy reach of the Newcastle United defence. After that, Newcastle United began to have more possession time and was exchanged for a corresponding threatening attack - once Joe Willock went through two people in the box and his shot was blocked by the defender Christian Romero; once Fabian Shar set-piece, rolling through the wall and rolling into the goal to help Newcastle United break the goal.
However, Spurs refused to take the situation behind into the half, a corner follow-up, Son Xingyu crossed to find Ben Davis head hammer to break the goal, accurate assists combined with smooth light shots, relying on the player's personal ability, Spurs equalized in 4 minutes.
It's not over yet. After half-time, Kane's perfect cross route passed both Son In-heung-min in the penalty area and Matt Doherty at the back, with the former missing at the near post and the latter nodding his header from far away. Tottenham complete the reversal.
After the leading team changed hands, Spurs never looked back. Sun-Kane-Dejan Kulusewski's trident, coupled with the occasional ambush of the wingbacks into the penalty area, allowed them to create threats in the way they did best - using space on the flanks to counter attack. Dejan Kulusewski received a straight plug and was released on the right wing, crossed Son Heung-min, the third goal; Matt Doherty's cross from the left side of the penalty area, rebounded and fell to the feet of Emerson in front of the goal to complete the shot, the fourth goal; Kane crossed the top to find Son Heung-min single-handedly kicked off. Newcastle United's solid defence in the first half was wiped out, and even though Eddie Howe immediately switched to three defenders, he couldn't stop the onslaught, and the offensive end was wiped out with one goal after another.
In the end, substitute Berwyn scored another goal to give Spurs a 5-1 win over Newcastle United.
Tottenham's big wins have allowed them to score more goals than Arsenal, temporarily grabbing the fourth place before the latter's event, conte called "9 finals", winning the first and performing in the next 8 games will determine which European event they will participate in next year.
Newcastle United have suffered three consecutive Premier League defeats, but they are still at a safe distance from the relegation zone. Indeed relegation, if possible with a wave of highs looking forward to the coming year, will be Newcastle United's goal at the end of the season.