Liverpool are expected to take another step toward clinching a long-awaited English Premier League title at bottom-of-the-table Norwich City, while behind the runaway leaders the battle for UEFA Champions League places takes center stage this weekend.
The Reds can extend their mammoth 22-point lead over Manchester City at Carrow Road today, as they aim to not only win the league for the first time in 30 years, but smash the record books in the process.
Juergen Klopp’s men have dropped just two points all season and are on a run of 16 consecutive league wins.
Photo: Reuters
That march toward the title began at the season opener when Norwich visited Anfield and were 4-0 down inside 42 minutes.
“We want to win the title and for winning the title, you need to win everything,” Alisson told Premier League Productions. “The way we play, you need to enjoy that because if you don’t enjoy that, then you cannot play all the games with our intensity.”
A massive 55 points separate Norwich from the champions-elect, with the Canaries seven points adrift of safety.
Daniel Farke’s men desperately need to start turning good performances into points to beat the drop.
However, they have shown an ability to upset the odds with one of their four league wins this season coming against Manchester City.
Chelsea remain in pole position for fourth place, despite a run of four wins in their past 13 league games.
However, the Blues’ lead over Tottenham Hotspur could be down to a single point by the time they entertain Manchester United on Monday if Spurs win at Aston Villa tomorrow.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard claimed that Tottenham and Manchester United’s transfer spending last month meant his side are now “underdogs” to hold on to fourth.
However, victory over United on Monday at Stamford Bridge would give Chelsea a nine-point cushion over the Red Devils.
The visitors could give a debut to new striker Odion Ighalo, even though the Nigerian has been denied the opportunity to train with his new teammates due to fears over COVID-19.
Ighalo is on loan from Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua and did not travel to United’s warm-weather training camp in Spain due to fears he would be denied re-entry to the UK if restrictions on travelers who had been in China within the previoius two weeks were tightened.
The 30-year-old has even been training away from United’s training ground until completing a 14-day quarantine period.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but