Swimmer Titmus: I was late in preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics

Champions Manchester City escaped the trap of hosting Luton Town, snatching a difficult victory 2-1, while Everton continued its uprising, moving away from the relegation places, with a valuable victory over its guest Chelsea 2-0 in the sixteenth stage of the English Premier League, which witnessed a sweeping victory for Fulham over its neighbor. Londoner West Ham scored five clean goals.

At Luton Town Stadium, City succeeded in overturning a goal deficit to a two-goal victory within 3 minutes of the second half, as the defending champions clinched their first victory after a series of 4 matches, of which they tied 3 and lost one, dropping from first place to fourth.

Manchester City remained fourth with 33 points, 4 points behind Liverpool, which beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at this stage and snatched the lead from Arsenal, taking advantage of the latter’s loss to Aston Villa, third, 0-1.

City played the match in the absence of its Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, the top scorer in the local league with 14 goals in 15 matches.

Spanish coach Josep Guardiola, City coach, said that Haaland (23 years old) discovered his injury after losing to Aston Villa 0-1 in the last round. The former Barcelona Spanish and German Bayern Munich coach continued: “He suffered a bone strain in his foot, and after the last match he felt it. “He cannot play and we do not know when he will return.”

Doubts loom over Haaland, who scored 19 goals in various competitions this season, before City traveled to Saudi Arabia to participate in the Club World Cup.

Manchester City dominated the course of the game without any real threat to Luton’s goal, which snatched a draw at home from Liverpool this season 1-1, and lost in the final seconds to Arsenal 3-4 in the middle of this week.

As the final seconds of the first half reached, Luton opened the scoring with striker Aliga Adebayo heading in a cross pass from Andros Townsend.

City put pressure in the second half, and succeeded in the 62nd minute in equalizing through its Portuguese playmaker Bernardo Silva with a curling shot from inside the area, out of the goalkeeper’s reach. Only 3 minutes had passed until Jack Grealish added the second goal, taking advantage of a cross pass that he followed creeping in from a close range, passed between the goalkeeper’s legs and tumbled into the net.

At Goodison Park, Everton continued its uprising despite the FA deducting 10 points from its score for violating financial rules, achieving a valuable and well-deserved 2-0 victory, moving away from danger zones.

Frenchman Abdoulaye Doucoure opened the scoring for Everton in the 54th minute, before Louis Dupin eliminated Chelsea’s hopes of a draw by scoring the second goal for the hosts in the second minute of stoppage time (90 2).

Everton’s score rose to 13 points in seventeenth place (fourth from the bottom), with a difference of 4 points in front of the relegation places, achieving its seventh victory in its tournament this season, and the third in a row.

On the other hand, Chelsea’s score, which suffered its seventh loss in the competition during the current season compared to 5 wins and 4 draws, stopped at 19 points in twelfth place.

The lively Fulham continued its sweeping victories in the competition for the second match in a row, with a great 5-0 victory over its guest and London neighbor, West Ham United, in a match that was one-sided, and 5 players took turns scoring goals.

Fulham, who also beat Nottingham Forest 5-0 (Wednesday), performed admirably in front of goal in recent weeks, and after a victory over West Ham, the team has scored at least 3 goals in the last 4 matches.

Frenchman Raul Jimenez opened the scoring for Fulham in the 22nd minute, before Brazilian Willian and Englishman Tosin Adarabioyo added the second and third goals in the 31st and 41st minutes, respectively. Harry Wilson added the fourth goal in the 60th minute, while Brazilian Carlos Vinicius concluded the hosts’ goal festival in the 89th minute. Fulham’s score, which crushed its guest Nottingham Forest 5-0 in the last stage, rose to 21 points in tenth place, while its score stopped. West Ham, who suffered their heaviest loss in the championship this season, is at 24 points in ninth place.

On the other hand, after another exciting victory over Arsenal, the question on the English scene has become: Can Aston Villa win the league and follow in the footsteps of Leicester City, which achieved a major surprise by being crowned champions in the 2015-2016 season? Villa achieved a record at the club level with its 15th victory over In a row at home in the league, they beat Arsenal 1-0 in an exciting match (Saturday), depriving Spanish coach Mikel Arteta’s team of returning to the top spot.

Villa, which stunned Manchester City 1-0 last Wednesday, rose to third place with 35 points from 16 matches, one point behind Arsenal, second, and two points behind Liverpool, the leaders with 37 points.

Thanks to the distinguished performances and wonderful results against the top teams in particular, the perception of the Aston Villa team changed and the bookmakers placed it among the strong favorites to win the title and follow in the footsteps of Leicester City.

After rising to the Premier League in 2014, Leicester needed an uprising in the final rounds to avoid relegation, which seemed inevitable the following season, before embarking on its amazing journey towards winning the title the following season.

It seems that Villa, which is seeking its first title since 1981, is qualified to achieve the same scenario, as it continues to advance at a steady pace under the leadership of its Spanish coach, Unai Emery, toppling the greats one after another, and only two points separate it from the lead.

Scot John McGinn, who scored the winning goal over Arsenal, said in response to a question about whether Aston Villa was among the title contenders: “We are forbidden to talk about the title… It is the 16th round, so there is still a very long way to go, and we respect the teams that are ahead of us, and that She was in this position for years. We are new to competing with adults for the lead. Can we continue at the same pace? I hope so”.

Coach Emery also seemed cautious when talking about his team’s chances. He said: “I will speak when we are in the 30th or 32nd round, and if we are in the same current situation, I will be able to comment on the title race.”

Emery pointed out that his team had never achieved 15 consecutive wins at the stadium of any team he had previously led during his coaching career. The coach, who was previously dismissed from Arsenal in mid-2019, explained: “I think I will not achieve it again in the future. It is amazing and wonderful.”

“It’s a great place to play football,” McGinn said of the club’s home record. When the fans support you like this, it is very, very difficult for visiting teams to play here. I remember Arsenal were the last opponents to beat us here and that game definitely shocked us, so winning this time was like revenge. May this journey continue for a long time, and if we maintain our brilliance on our home field, we hope that we will be able to achieve something this season.”

On the other hand, Arsenal coach Arteta said: “I think we were the better team and did not deserve to lose, but it is football.” We had to put the ball in the net, and this is the only thing we lacked during that match because we created some big chances, but despite that, we lost the match.”

Arteta, whose team lost after 4 consecutive victories, watched the match from the stands after being suspended for one match after receiving the third yellow card this season.