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Matchweek 29 has come to a close, with the Premier League becoming more interesting. The title race rages on between the two main horses - Manchester City and Liverpool, while 4 other teams are fighting for the remaining 2 Champions League spots. The relegation battle is very interesting as well with only 8 points separating the 6 teams from 18th to 13th position. While there weren't any noteworthy shocking results last week, there were quite a few talking points which football fans will be discussing about.
Brendan Rodgers' first match in charge
Leicester City showed Claude Puel the door after they were unimpressed with lack of improvement by the Foxes, who are currently 11th in the league. The hierarchy felt a change was needed, especially as club talisman Jamie Vardy and Puel weren't not seeing eye to eye. Hence, Leicester decided to replace Puel with former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, who agonisingly came close to winning the Premier League title with the Reds in the 2013/14 season. Rodgers is known to be an advocate of attractive football and the Leicester board will hope to see more of that from their new manager. Unfortunately, he couldn't start his reign positively as they suffered a loss against Watford.
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Leicester played 3 at the back so that wing-backs Ricardo Pereira and Ben Chillwell were given more freedom going forward. However, it was evident that they need more match practice with the new formation as they didn't start well.
The team were unfortunate to have lost the game in the last moments with Andre Gray scoring the decisive goal for Watford. But they can pick up the positives and improve from now onwards to finish the season as strongly as possible
Arsenal fail to capitalise as Spurs' title challenge fades away
Tottenham Hotspurs fought till the end as the North London derby ended in a draw, with both teams taking home a point each. Aaron Ramsey gifted his fans a wonderful performance in his last North London derby with a goal, while Harry Kane equalised from the spot; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed one from the spot for Arsenal late on. The result all but ended Spurs' hopes of winning the title and they should now focus on finishing in the top 4 and progressing in the Champions League.
Arsenal threw the game away in the end as their top scorer Aubameyang couldn't hand the Gunners the lead with his tame penalty effort, which was saved by Hugo Lloris. It was a case of 2 points lost rather than 1 point gained for Arsenal. The game also had a red card shown to Lucas Torreira for a rash tackle which could have injured Danny Rose.
Tottenham are currently 10 points behind leaders Manchester City, and it is highly unlikely they can close that gap with only 9 games remaining. With Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United trying their best to finish in the top 4, Spurs should look to solidify their 3rd position to play in the Champions League next season.
Liverpool falter yet again
Liverpool failed to secure the win in the Merseyside derby which meant that Manchester City are currently one point clear at the top of the table. The Reds were not clinical in the game and had to settle for a point in the end. Liverpool, who are now 2nd with 70 points from 29 games, now need City to drop points to go atop the standings once again.
Manchester City were able to eke out a result against Bournemouth and Pep Guardiola's men are now slight favourites to win the title this season. However, it is still too soon to tell as a 1 point difference can be easily overturned with one bad result. Liverpool will be now focusing on edging out Bayern Munich and progressing in the Champions League.
Don't be too surprised if Manchester City don't remain 1st at the end of next week because the nature of the Premier League has been so unpredictable that one has to expect the unexpected. Plus, this season will be a treat for neutral football fans as the title race is turning into somewhat of a soap opera.
