Barcelona top La Liga and will extend their lead to four points with a win against Real Madrid, going some way to sealing another league title at the Nou Camp, and will be high on confidence after comfortably knocking Manchester
City out of the Champions League.
While their defence left plenty to be desired in the first leg and will need to be much better this time round, they will be confident that they have the goals in their line - up to turn the tie around and dump Guardiola and
City out of the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Not exact matches
We saw the likes
of City being punished last season with the squad reduced to 21 instead
of 25, and some top players like Jovetic were left
out of the
Champions league squad.
The last straw for the 21 - year old signed for # 25 million from Roma a few years ago was being left
out of the side for the
Champions League clash with Man
City.
Manchester
City's early
Champions League exit could be the cue for # 150m - worth
of players, including Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and Edin Dzeko, to head
out of the club in the summer --(Daily Mirror)
Arsene Wenger has already admitted himself that Arsenal had to win all
of the remaining Premier
League games to have any chance
of being
champions and even that looked unlikely as Leicester
City kept grinding
out 1 - 0 wins and riding their luck.
Aside from crashing
out of the
Champions League against Liverpool,
City saw their title celebrations postponed last weekend as rivals Man Utd picked up a 3 - 2 win.
Both
City and Guardiola's Bayern Munich side were dumped
out of the
Champions League in the semi-finals this week, with Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid setting up a Madrid derby in the final for the second time in the last three years.
Controversial Italian international forward Balotelli is expected to leave the Premier
League champions this month after his training ground fall -
out with Manchester
City manager Roberto Mancini at the start
of the month.
This is a hammer blow to United and Mourinho after a difficult season that has seen them barely mount any kind
of title challenge to runaway
league leaders Manchester City, and also drop out of the Champions League ear
league leaders Manchester
City, and also drop
out of the
Champions League ear
League early on.
According to the Mirror,
City boss Pep Guardiola will leave Hart
out of the starting line - up once again even as the Spanish tactician rotates squad for
Champions League return tomorrow.
With only two victories from penalty shoot -
outs in their pre-season, all eyes are on the Premier
League champions to send a message
of intent to challengers Arsenal, Manchester
City and Manchester United that they will not be relinquishing the trophy with ease.
For all their spending compare man
citys 27 man squad with ours then take 6
of their players
out and name their
champions league squad.
Arsenal built the stadium in the most expensive
city in the country to build in and never once fell
out of those all - important
Champions League places.
If Man
City or Liverpool finish
out of the top 4, Yet either manage to win the
Champions leagues / Europa
league then they will take the place
of the team that actually finished 4th in the
league... So what happens if both are crowned kings
of Europe and both finish
out of the top 4??
Messi played a big part in Barca taking the first leg and if
City can't find a way to keep him contained, they'll probably find themselves
out of the
Champions League completely.
With
City crashing
out, they follow Arsenal in falling
out of the
Champions League for this season, whilst Leicester remain the only English side still in the competition.
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It was another disappointing weekend in the Premier
League for arsenal and the other sides hoping to chase down the current league leaders and pip them to the title, as Chelsea won quite comfortably away to the reigning Champions Leciester City, and that was despite our hopes that the row between Costa and Conte that kept their main striker out of the squad might have a negative i
League for arsenal and the other sides hoping to chase down the current
league leaders and pip them to the title, as Chelsea won quite comfortably away to the reigning Champions Leciester City, and that was despite our hopes that the row between Costa and Conte that kept their main striker out of the squad might have a negative i
league leaders and pip them to the title, as Chelsea won quite comfortably away to the reigning
Champions Leciester
City, and that was despite our hopes that the row between Costa and Conte that kept their main striker
out of the squad might have a negative impact.
And the fact that the 23 - year old's current club Borussia Monchengladbach are currently
out of the
Champions League places and that they finished fourth in the group behind Man
City, Juventus and Sevilla this season may have played a big part in the player's decision.
I am sure that Wenger is keen to drill into the Arsenal players this week that the job is not yet done, even though the away game at Man
City was the really important one and that the chances
of us missing
out on the
Champions League are fairly small.
In his press conference before Arsenal host Man
City at the Emirates tomorrow, Arsene Wenger declared that he would be sending the Gunners
out with every intention
of claiming a morale boosting victory over the reigning Premier
League champions.
Now with the end
of the season approaching quickly and Arsenal looking very unlikely to be in next season's
Champions League, perhaps Bellerin has reiterated that he wants
out and he has been linked with many other big clubs other than Barcelona including Juventus and Man
City, where he would be guaranteed to be in the major competition.
The Brazil international may have thought he was making a step up in swapping Anfield for the Nou Camp in the middle
of this season, but his Barcelona side are now
out of the
Champions League while his old club made it through to the semi-finals after beating Manchester
City.
quarter final
of the
champions league for leicester
city after dumping
out a quality sevilla team who dominated them yet they showed hunger and fight to get over the line against a superior team
City were knocked
out of the
Champions League by Barcelona on Wednesday, and now only have the Premier
League to play for, but after last weekend's shock defeat to Burnley, that too seems beyond them.
One thing's for sure, it'll be interesting to see whether the outcome
of next month's
Champions League tie between Man
City and Liverpool has any effect on who comes
out winner
of the award.
Spurs would love three points to secure another season in the
Champions League, whilst Man
City will be looking to bounce back from the disappointment
of being knocked
out of the
Champions League and take another step to Premier
League glory.
Well that is one Arsenal win down and eight to go for the Gunners if we are to somehow rescue this season from disaster and with the Gunners now
out of the
champions League and the FA cup, the only thing that will do is for us to chase down Leicester
City and Tottenham and for Arsenal to win the Premier
League title.
At a time when Europe's top
leagues appear to be attempting to ensure greater homogeneity in the
Champions League, the sudden appearance of Leicester City is extremely refreshing, and we will doubtless see tears from players, staff and fans alike as that glorious anthem booms out and they realise that yes, little Leicester really are die Meister, die Besten, les grandes équipes... the c
Champions League, the sudden appearance
of Leicester
City is extremely refreshing, and we will doubtless see tears from players, staff and fans alike as that glorious anthem booms
out and they realise that yes, little Leicester really are die Meister, die Besten, les grandes équipes... the
championschampions.
Serie A
champions Juventus are interested in taking Manchester
City striker Stevan Jovetic back to Italian football after his failure to find his feet in the Premier
League, report the Express, but Manuel Pellegrini's side are looking to delay the deal until the end
of the January transfer window as they look to sort
out their striking situation.
They've been dumped
out of the
Champions League in brutal fashion, slipped below a deeply ordinary United side in the league, and while they did manage a 5 - 0 win, that came against non-league Lincoln
League in brutal fashion, slipped below a deeply ordinary United side in the
league, and while they did manage a 5 - 0 win, that came against non-league Lincoln
league, and while they did manage a 5 - 0 win, that came against non-
league Lincoln
league Lincoln
City.
Stranded in fifth position, seven points behind bitter rivals Manchester United with only four games remaining, Rodgers and co. are almost certain to miss
out on
Champions League qualification, in stark contrast to this time last year when they were still on course for their first title
of the Premier
League era, only to miss
out to Man
City at the death.
I am sure we are all glad to be able to erase that Man
City debacle by getting ready for this
Champions League encounter (Something
City and Adebayor won't have any interest in, minor dig
out of the way).
Arsene Wenger is clearly well aware about the protests being planned by the angry Arsenal fans for our Premier
League match against struggling Norwich
City at the Emirates stadium tomorrow, because the manager today issued a sort
of rallying cry asking for us to support the team as he tries to avoid the complete disaster
of dropping
out of the
Champions League places for the first time in his long tenure in charge
of the club.
I will say he should be sold
out of the premier
league and if Alexis even loves Arsenal in any ways or respect the fans, he won't even consider playing for any other rival club... I have not seen Arsenal show the ambition we are showing in this transfer window in a very long time and if i as a fan can be convinced with few more signing to come in i don't know why $ anchez can't be, he should just get the EFF
out our club and lives if he's not willing to stay and i hope he wins the
champions league with
city... was he not even one
of the players who didn't push us to the
champions league?
So I was thinking that Bayern must be the team he wants to go coz man
city are a joke in the champions league lol so if it is Man City he wants to play a hand full of games for in the CL, then arsenal shouldn't sanction his transfer coz its not a realistic reason when arsenal are going for the prem this year and are only out CL for the first time in 23 years and City ain't exactly gonna give the CL football he's looking for I mean it's like saying «I wonna go to spurs to win the prem» I wonna slap
city are a joke in the
champions league lol so if it is Man
City he wants to play a hand full of games for in the CL, then arsenal shouldn't sanction his transfer coz its not a realistic reason when arsenal are going for the prem this year and are only out CL for the first time in 23 years and City ain't exactly gonna give the CL football he's looking for I mean it's like saying «I wonna go to spurs to win the prem» I wonna slap
City he wants to play a hand full
of games for in the CL, then arsenal shouldn't sanction his transfer coz its not a realistic reason when arsenal are going for the prem this year and are only
out CL for the first time in 23 years and
City ain't exactly gonna give the CL football he's looking for I mean it's like saying «I wonna go to spurs to win the prem» I wonna slap
City ain't exactly gonna give the CL football he's looking for I mean it's like saying «I wonna go to spurs to win the prem» I wonna slap him
The 18 year - old has fired 19 goals in all competitions so far this season, including a whopping 11 in his last nine
outings for Monaco, helping his side to top the French Ligue 1 table ahead
of Paris Saint - Germain, as well as scoring in both legs against Manchester
City to see his team through to the last eight
of the
Champions League.
However should we do that 3 players will have to be left
out of the
champions league squad, people must understand the restraints, it's why Chelsea, Man
City and United have been unable to fulfill their CL quotas.
Aguero has been struggling with a knee injury for weeks which has had a negative impact on
City's season as they've crashed
out of the
Champions League and seen their Premier
League title celebrations put on hold.
The Red Devils have had a difficult campaign overall, as they haven't been able to keep up the pace set by
league leaders Manchester City and crashed out of the Champions League in disappointing fashion against Sevilla last
league leaders Manchester
City and crashed
out of the
Champions League in disappointing fashion against Sevilla last
League in disappointing fashion against Sevilla last week.
It's not just that, barring something miraculous — an Istanbul by the Irwell —
City is going
out of the
Champions League in the quarterfinals.
Midweek Premier
League Predictions: Angry Arsenal To Lash
Out At Leicester, Liverpool To Beat Top Four Rivals Spurs, Chelsea To Move Further Clear
Of Man
City, With
Champions Stumbling At Stoke.
In a way I think it would have been better for Arsenal to have fared even worse in last season's Premier
League, as dropping
out of Europe altogether may well have helped us to challenge for the title next time, as we have seen with the likes
of the last two sides to be crowned
champions of England, Chelsea and Leicester
City.
SEE MORE: Leicester Boss Nigel Pearson Refuses to Discuss Sacking Debacle Leicester Manager Nigel Pearson Attacks Club Legend Gary Lineker Over Alleged Tax Evasion Midweek Premier
League Predictions: Angry Arsenal To Lash
Out At Leicester, Liverpool To Beat Top Four Rivals Spurs, Chelsea To Move Further Clear
Of Man
City, With
Champions Stumbling At Stoke
Put alongside the constant collapses in the first leg
of Champions league knock
out stages, the constant hammerings by big teams, most notably a season - ending run that led to us shipping 20 goals virtually without reply in just four matches against Man
City, Chelsea, Liverpool and the Toffees.
Following the Frenchman's # 52M move from
Champions League semi-finalists Monaco, Man City finally looked to have solved their left - back problem that plagued them last season with the signing of Mendy, and should the defender maintain the form we saw him achieve for large parts of last season, there shouldn't be many left - backs in the league that can out - perform the France internat
League semi-finalists Monaco, Man
City finally looked to have solved their left - back problem that plagued them last season with the signing
of Mendy, and should the defender maintain the form we saw him achieve for large parts
of last season, there shouldn't be many left - backs in the
league that can out - perform the France internat
league that can
out - perform the France international.
I genuinely think that Chelsea man
City and man u could struggle to find WC players to improve their squad if they all miss
out on
champions league (at least 2
of them will).
A bit
of Jack in the middle
of the pitch, especially if he has the bit between his teeth to prove what he can do and help
out his parent club, might just make the difference, especially as
City had their preparations messed up this week by the torrential rain which saw their
Champions League match postponed from Tuesday until Wednesday.
By the time Louis van Gaal's team plays they could be already
out of the
Champions League, with
City showing no signs
of slowing down against Swansea.