Photo by Michael Zemanek / ISIPhotos.com
By JUSTIN FERGUSON
Arsenal may still have a glimmer of hope for an English Premier League title this season, but they will be focused on keeping hold of a Champions League spot Sunday when they visit Everton at Goodison Park.
Fifth-place Everton have a match in hand on fourth-place Arsenal heading into Sunday’s headline EPL clash on Merseyside. Tim Howard and the Toffees have won six straight matches at home and their eyes on a long-awaited return to European competition—another victory could go a long way in their fight to make the Top 4 this season. Sunday’s match is expected to be a close one as the last eight league matches between the two sides have either been decided by one goal or ended in a draw.
After Arsenal and Everton clash at Goodison Park, all eyes in the EPL will be on Upton Park when Liverpool face West Ham United. The high-scoring Reds can move back to the top of the league with a win or draw against the Hammers, who lost 4-1 to Liverpool earlier this season.
Elsewhere, AS Roma look to maintain pressure on first-place Juventus in Serie A with another victory against Cagliari. AS Monaco hope to stay in the race for the Ligue 1 title with a home win against Alejandro Bedoya and Nantes. The USWNT will try to rebound from their disappointing Algarve Cup performance when they host China in the first of two stateside friendlies.
If you will be watching today’s action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action. (Today’s TV schedule is after the jump):
8:30am – Everton vs. Arsenal – NBC Sports Network
9am – Cagliari vs. AS Roma – beIN Sports USA
9am – Fiorentina vs. Udinese – beIN Sports en Español
11am – West Ham United vs. Liverpool – CNBC
11am – Valenciennes vs. Lyon – beIN Sports USA
11am – Elche vs. Getafe – beIN Sports en Español
11:30am – Hertha BSC vs. Hoffenheim – GolTV USA
1pm – Sevilla vs. Espanyol – beIN Sports en Español
1pm – Pumas UNAM vs. Chiapas – Univision Deportes/Univision
2:45pm – Parma vs. Napoli – beIN Sports USA
3pm – Real Valladolid vs. Valencia – beIN Sports en Español
3pm – Monaco vs. Nantes – Univision Deportes
3pm – Chivas USA vs. LA Galaxy – UniMas
3pm – Ituano vs. Santos – GolTV USA
5pm – USWNT vs. China – USSoccer.com
6pm – Atlante vs. Tigres UANL – Univision Deportes
8:30pm – Belgrano vs. River Plate – GolTV USA
Jose Torres got a red. Wtf
Galaxy Win! Rest in Peace goats.
MLS to ATL.
Ives, waz up?
Bedoya with a goal, Nantes down 3-1 tho
Good for him. He did well in that Ukraine Friendly. I feel like he and Zusi are pretty similar except that Bedoya is more likely to score.
Small sample sizes, but one goal in 23 appearances for bedoya, 3 goals in twenty for zusi. I don’t know their total minutes played though.
Hmmm, true. I think its just that Bedoya seems to cut in more. But appearances and the numbers dont seem to add up, heh.
I also preferred Bedoya, but lately, Zusi’s been making it difficult to make a case against him. I’m okay with either of them on the right.
MLS need better consistency across the board we have an amazing 4-4 game yesterday and today we have Leorando starting for one of the best teams in the league and he actually looks decent because the competition is so inferior , this makes up look very bad
Galaxy Win!
US Soccer announced Klinsmann on hand to scout Galaxy/Chivas…
Donovan, Omar, ( is he freaked out enough at our CBs that he’s also looking at Boca?) I haven’t seen him play in a long time so I don’t have an opinion on him, anyone seen him play?
Klinsmann lives in LA so I wouldn’t really read anything into it
and if he was looking at Boca, that 2nd goal wouldn’t help his cause to much
Klinsmann lives like an hour from the stadium. Probably looking at Donovan.
If he’s there to look at Boca I feel sorry for the state of our CB position heading into the WC, Boca is way past his prime and both of those goals didn’t do him any favors.
That bad huh?
Bedoya gets the start facing Monaco, playing underneath the striker
Bradley gets a win on the road with Stabeak
Has Timmy had a chance to play in the Champions League before?
If not, that is going to be really awesome for him next year after such a long career! **presuming Everton makes it**
He played in it with United i believe
He played in a few games when he was with Man United, I think a blunder he made in one Champs game led to him being benched, but I don’t remember the exact details.
It was against Lyon and yes, it probably helped convince SAF to send Timmy on his way.
I thought was against Porto, or another Portuguese team.
You are right:
“in March 2004, Howard’s poor parry handed a last minute goal to FC Porto, eliminating United from the UEFA Champions League.”
Thanks! So it was a brief experience a while back. Still should be real exciting for him to get back.
John Brooks got subbed off again, who was watching the game? How bad was he?
he wasn’t bad, but was on a yellow, I don’t think they wanted to risk him picking up a second
They got a draw. Only allowing 1 goal vs Hoffenheim is a decent result for a CB. But its a bad result for Hertha. They should be able to score more than one on Hoffenheim.
Pulled because they didn’t want to risk the red.
Harsh penalty on WHU. Glad Stevie G slammed it home, but keeper did get the ball first and think the contact on Flanagan after was not intentional (IMO).
you don’t grab another guy’s junk.
it’s man code rule number 5. after you don’t hit on their school bus driver
Tim howard definitely deserves to play champions League
Johannsson has missed a few great chances here at the end of the match
AJ!
AJ with a goal
Oops. Gerrard scores from spot. I thought Liverpool gave up goals this season. What’s up?
There it is. Ha ha.
Stumbled upon this Yank versus Yank battle on Gol…JAB is starting for Hertha and Fabian is already making dangerous runs for Hoffenheim at right back.
SHNELL USA!!
I’m happy JAB is starting were gunna need a CB at some point soon. I mean he isn’t ready now but every game played helps with that.
The USMNT defense is a hot mess right now.
=(
What the hell was that? Who does that?
It was so nonchalant too!
I mean… who does that? Seriously, who even thinks to do that? Why?
I didn’t see it? What did he do to AJ?
Prepare to be offended.
https://vine.co/v/MiP01QjqqXj
WTF? I don’t even know what to say.
Right?
Loose ball foul. Terible.
TURRIBLE
What a lovely fellow. I think Vinny Jones used to be fan of that sorta stuff before he got into acting. He is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
You prepared me to be offended…
You were correct…
I must go now and purge my eyes with a toxic mixture of vinegar and bleach….
Wth? The Dempsey is spreading like a plague…
You guys haven’t watched a lot of soccer have you?
The nutslaps – more common than people realize
The direct pinch to the tip of Mr. Happy…. uhhh….
He’s hot! I feel like I would do the same thing.
Oh dear me those are boorish manners. Joel Campbell just spat out his tea!
God that’s hilariously weird. It’s more like a come-on than a foul. So strangely premeditated and non-violent.
it would be a rather unsettling experience, you have to admit
no clue, they showed it like 5 times during half as well
He gets him self sent off, on 2 yellows unrelated, the guy is crazy
I wish I could unsee that. Johannsson really handled that much better than I would have handled that. I’d be looking at a multiple game suspension.
“Hey dog! Can you hande the nuts?”
Well what a defender just did to Aron makes Dempsey nut shot seem rather tame.
I want Everton to get a Champs League place but I hope they don’t clean house and bring in too many new players (especially a new goalie)
He wont replace Timmy. They will bring in a striker of course to replace Lukaku but I doubt anyone on the team will be offended by that. Team cohesion is one thing that helps Everton. They seem like solid professionals and have worked together for years. They even have young guys to put in as backup like Stones and Barkley.
I can see them buying – or trying to buy – Lukaku and Deulofeu first. Those guys have been hugely instrumental to Everton’s success.
finally a cleansheet for Howard
Tim didn’t have to do a Ton but made some smart saves.
Think Everton and Timmy have a dozen clean sheets this year… Didn’t they blank Newcastle a couple weeks ago.
Timmy with the diving tip on AOC’s blast. Ballin’
Arsenal are missing quite a few key players due to injury – Walcott, Wilshere, Ozil – Ozil was really key to their early success. Anyone else injured?
It seems Arsenal also do not have as much depth as say Chelsea or Manchester City to be able to withstand key injuries like these.
Ramsey has been out since December. Gibbs and Monreal have rotated being injured. Koscielny is out right now and has been for a couple games. Nobody can withstand the amount of injuries they have had an compete for a title. Chelsea have had something like the least amount of games missed for first team players in the league, Arsenal has the most.
Also hes back now but Oxlade-Chamberlain missed the first half of the year after getting hurt in the first game.
I agree that is just too many injuries to still expect them to complete for the title. I also wonder if their style of play makes them more susceptible to injuries than say Chelsea or Man City. Do they typically have more first team player injuries than the other top teams? Or is this year just unusual?
Its every year so it definitely has something to do with the type of players. Also I didn’t even mention Diaby who has yet to feature this year because he is forever injured.
Gnabry
There needs to be a gif of Coleman beating Cazorla behind his back, leaving him to stand there with him arms out like “what just happened?”
http://gfycat.com/CoarsePassionateBlackbird
There you go.
You’re awesome! Thank you!
Didn’t Moyes buy him for like… $100,000?
Moyes really isn’t the man for Manu. He is a mid table hero and he knew how to run Everton.
Giants are dying.
Man United having the worst season in years. Everton soon to be playing in the CL. Arsenal would have won the league 3 months ago, now Europa League awaits them.
8 clubs fighting to stave off relegation. Southampton might just be the best non-CL club in England
It’s interesting to think about when you look at the coaching changes Everton and Man United made…
It seems Moyes left Martinez with more than SAF left Moyes.
Assuming Moyes survives and Martinez stays, you’ll have a better idea of the value of both guys next year once they can field teams that are truly theirs.
There is some truth to that. Manu has done okay in the Champs league because they can bring themselves to care about it. I swear its the only time i have seen them try. At the same time though, Moyes has done some weird stuff tactically and I’ll never understand why he wouldn’t play Kagawa and Mata together as much as possible.(Its prolly just Rooney’s big ego.)
Kagawa,, Mata and , to a lesser extent, Rooney are basically the same guy
Rooney is the most versatile but it can be very hard to play three guys at the same time who all need to see a lot of the ball to be at their best.
And when RVP is healthy, not the norm for him, he needs the ball a lot as well.
By the way all four guys have big egos otherwise they would not be where they are.
I’d say that is true for most of Man U’s squad.
Rooney is just more media “friendly”.
media friendly=english
away goals,
Maybe.
On the other hand Moyes is Scottish “hates” the English.
Timmy Howard will tell you that.
The other thing is that Rooney, tough far less loveable, is better than Mata or Kagawa.
Notice how Mourinho wants Rooney but dumped Mata.
Mourihno also hates Spaniards.
I don’t agree that they are the same guy at all. They all play in the same spot but Rooney is looking to score while Mata and Kagawa are looking to pass. Mata will score more than Kagawa but they are both far far more flexible and aware than Rooney. Rooney is physically better and perhaps more talented but is let down by his mentality.
Essentially, with RVP and Rooney both up top. You have 2 guys playing for themselves. If you stick Mata or Kagawa up there, you have a guy who may score but is looking to be creative rather than score. Without those 2 Manu has a front line of people trying for goals but no one creating the opportunity.
Disclaimer: I think Rooney is a brainless muppet. I’m friggen Biased and Japan plays lovely soccer.
Increase0
You are right that they are not the same guy but I think any objective party would tell you that they are close enough and that any manager needs to get his best player going and that is Rooney.
Rooney may be a c*#+ks+++er of the highest order. But a lot of big teams would not look very familiar to you if only the great guys, the people you like and might introduce to your Mom as your friend , got to play.
As long as Rooney is productive, it is up to Mata and Kagawa to figure out how to play their best with Rooney not the other way around. His record and, yes, his contract, insure he has a longer leash than the other guys. That is why the Sounders and TFC will stick longer with Deuce and Mikey, if and when they slump.
It’s a business.
While it’s hard to see Arsenal playing well down the stretch Everton still has a couple of very tough games left (at Southampton and vs. City). I think they will drop points, the chance will be there for Arsenal still.
3-nil. Evertonians are erupting in chorus and the team looks fantastic.
And thatll be the end of that game, such a bad performance from Arsenal
Howard started the sequence of passes that led to Everton’s first goal.
Not good, Julian Green out till late April w/ shoulder injury.
https://twitter.com/BayernForumCom/status/452395798605471745/photo/1
meh he wasnt playing that much with Bayern first team anyway. And you can stay in shape with shoulder injury
Yeah but Bayern have started playing a bunch kids since they won the league. I think they had a few teenagers in the side yesterday.
Back to the training grounds so he can learn how to run without falling over himself.
That has to be one of the dumbest injuries I’ve ever seen.
Weird injuries like that one happen all the time. If you watch enough football you will see it happens a fair amount. But, I am assuming you are a troll, or a dbag. I’m leaning towards both.
Really? Can you name a couple or are you just being a beatch because your team is getting pounded?
Maybe is time for you to jump on a different bandwagon. Liverpool is doing good this year and accepting new plastic fans like yourself
A player slipping and falling awkwardly is a dumb injury? You’re just a troll.
That was announced a few days ago, just a bruise and their doc recommended rest, should be fine in plenty of time before the 30 man roster is named
Arsenal are completely out of gas and ideas. They have done nothing in this first half and are clearly second best today. If they don’t manage to come back and tie this their CL hopes take a massive hit. Their stretch run of games should be easy but with how poorly they have been playing you never know.
Its the same thing almost every year. We take the lead early in the season, collapse, and end up screwing ourselves out of any hardware. I hope Wenger leaves Arsenal to coach France because we all know he can’t be fired.
I’m really enjoying watching Everton play. They are playing so well, and I hope they can keep this team together for next season. They will be exciting to watch, if they can keep Lukaku.
Let’s go you Reds.
Dadadadadadada Luis Suarez… he wears the famous red.
Glad to see Sterling back in the starting lineup. Bit nervous about the Skrtel & Sahko CB pairing.
Cheers