Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By JUSTIN FERGUSON
The task is simple for Manchester City on this Championship Sunday: get a result, win the English Premier League title.
Manchester City have a two-point lead on second-place Liverpool heading into the final day of the EPL season, and they will need a win or a draw at home against struggling West Ham United. The Hammers have dropped their last three matches, while Man City have only lost once at Ethiad Stadium this season. Man City have scored 100 goals so far this season, and they could set a new all-time league record with four goals today in what could be another title-winning Sunday.
If Manchester City slip against West Ham United, all eyes will be on Anfield and second-place Liverpool. The Reds need a win and a Manchester City loss to clinch the EPL title, their first since the 1989-90 season. Liverpool drew 2-2 earlier this season against Newcastle, who snapped a long slide down the EPL table last weekend with a victory against Cardiff City.
After the final day drama in the EPL, La Liga will take center stage as Spain’s three title contenders are in action Sunday. First-place Atletico Madrid will need a win against 13th-place Malaga and some help from relegation-fighting Elche, who face second-place Barcelona, if they want to secure the title in front of their home fans. Third-place Real Madrid will be on the road at Celta Vigo, needing a victory and some positive results to stay in the hunt for the league crown.
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):
9:00am – Livorno vs. Fiorentina – beIN Sports USA
9:00am – Sampdoria vs. Napoli – beIN Sports Play
9:00am – Torino vs. Parma – beIN Sports Play
10:00am – Manchester City vs. West Ham – NBC
10:00am – Liverpool vs. Newcastle – NBCSN
10:00am – Cardiff City vs. Chelsea – CNBC
10:00am – Norwich City vs. Arsenal – MSNBC
10:00am – Southampton vs. Manchester United – SyFy
10:00am – Fulham vs. Crystal Palace – E!
10:00am – Hull City vs. Everton – Bravo
10:00am – Sunderland vs. Swansea City – Esquire Network
10:00am – Tottenham Hotspur vs. Aston Villa – USA Network
10:00am – West Brom vs. Stoke City – Oxygen
11:00am – Athletic Bilbao vs. Real Sociedad – beIN Sports Play
11:45am – Roma vs. Juventus – beIN Sports Play
12:50pm – Toluca vs. Leon – Univision
1:00pm – Atletico Madrid vs. Malaga – beIN Sports USA
1:00pm – Elche vs. Barcelona – beIN Sports USA
1:00pm – Celta de Vigo vs. Real Madrid – beIN Sports USA
2:30pm – Portland Timbers vs. LA Galaxy – NBCSN
3:00pm – Colorado Rapids vs. Chivas USA – UniMas
6:00pm – New England Revolution vs. Seattle Sounders – MLS Direct Kick
7:00pm – Houston Dynamo vs. Real Salt Lake – MLS Direct Kick
Not sure if anyone here was watching the Arsenal game but the goal that Ramsey scored was just perfect. Excellent holdup and cross from Giroud followed by a wonderful voelly by Ramsey. It’s a shame he missed three months, could arguably be in TOTS even with the missed time.
how does Madrid lose? even their 2nd squad should be enough to beat a mid-table club
so basically Barcelona have to beat Atletico at home to win the title. otherwise Atletico win
Well that was not the results we expected, but it keeps it interesting.
*crickets*
Boy, it sure gets lonely on this board when the EPL matches end…
Sounds like you guys had a chance at the end to win it but for a great save. Feel like barca have a slight advantage
bummer for them but maybe some American players in Spain would generate more interest. Good luck in the CL
Looks like Atleti pulled a Liverpool and blew their chance. Should make for a great final day though
Wtf real madrid
Maldita sea.
Alderweireld! Can’t even spell it! Gol!
those final 25 minutes were fun to watch as a neutral, and I dig Simeone
STEVEN GERRARD. The best English player of his generation.
1 of the best midfielders since the Berlin Wall fell
Paul Scholes
Becks!
Eliseu’s arm and the crossbar. Rotten luck so far.
Well, so far the other games are in your favor.
Vamos Barca!
Aupa Atleti! 😉
Next week…
Jermaine Jones apparently playing left center back today for Besiktas, who is up 1-0 at half time. Anyone know if he has played CB previously for Besiktas, or whether today is a first?
JJ played CB in a pinch a few times for Schalke, but not since 2012 IIRC.
Playing him at CB seems like the kind of pointless ego driven move I could see JK making in Brazil.
Ego must be banished from the game
Yea I’m sure JK will start a backline of Fabian, Brooks, Jermaine, and Chandler so he can nickname it the Berlin Wall…
Yea.. that’s the ticket….
+1
I’m on board with this idea.
I could actually see him playing in a free- ranging sweeper/destroyer role. Might not be an awful idea.
2 points man.
Liverpool were close. they made me believe.
enjoy your trophy City.
Liverpool needs to shore up team defense and not give up so many goals if they want to win the league.
And match or exceed the scoring of their opponents
+1
And not rely so much on being awarded soft Pks and free kicks by the refs.
We’re talking about Liverpool here, not Man Poo. Fail
Terrence with another goal, his 6th in 4 matches
Nice. Think he bests his league and all competitions total v. last season and making a strong case to be on the plane 2 Brazil.
With that Tottenham win, Manchester United are now completely out of European soccer in all facets. A new low.
First time in 25 years. Van Gaal will have his work cut out for him.
agreed, altho the case can be made that rebuilding without the extra comps can actually help the team to get back into the BPL race next year. we’ll see
Other than maybe 4-5 players they need a whole new team. You can’t buy that in one or two transfer windows. Going to be a while before we see the old Man U again.
Not really.
No one cares about the Europa league. It just means more games that Man U have to waste time and bodies on.
They need to focus on getting back to the top 4 not some BS competition.
Poyet bringing Altidore on now?
Jozy didn’t look very confident the way he ran on the pitch. Our WC chances are bleak.
Jozy should have maybe had a pen there. One defender got the ball but the other tried to take a chunk out of Jozy’s leg.
hahaha. I wish he would have at least skipped a couple times on his way out there. Show the fans your passion and whimsy, Jozy!
Joe,
The USMNT’s WC chances depend on Jozy’s form?
I did not know that. Thanks
Lots of activity from Jozy, but nothing too impressive. Half chance in front of goal on which he took a knock from the contact. He needs to build some confidence in the upcoming friendlies. Great observation from a month ago. Right, OMG?
I JUST DIED! I AM GONE FOREVER!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!
That was some real-life Matrix goalkeeping right there. You know you’ve done well when the home team fans are cheering you AFTER you are scored on.
June 12th. Can’t wait.
+ 3billion
I want to say “+1”, but after Dia agreed in excess of 3 billion, well, I guess I am forced to say that I disagree, because I certainly don’t agree +4billion. I can wait for June 12th, I have to. At least three days longer, when I should finish building my time machine.
Or could ask a doctor to put you into a medically induced coma for the month.
If only life was so simple.
Jozy has his problems at the club level, but Andy Carroll is far more comical and expensive, no?
Likewise with Soldado.(First non penalty was in like… March.)
Jozy just caught our attention because well… he is american.
Ha great point. Soldado was big-time sexy for a second there… Ooops!
WTF? I tell myself that I’ll never watch MSNBC again, then turn it on to watch Arsenal for less than a minute, then turn back to the Liverpool game and somehow I missed both a goal and a red card plus the replays. Never again. This time I mean it.
Come on Gus, bring on Jozy already so we can criticize his every touch.
Why wait for his first touch..? I mean JA just meanders onto the pitch when he should be running as fast as a rocket ship.
Klinsy should have bribed Sunderland to put Jozy on a plane back to the USA before this game, just in case of injury.
And down he went. Glad he’s back up.
No Europa for Man U. Not that they wanted it, anyway.
Let the exodus from Old Trafford begin.
GREAT OBSERVATION FROM A MONTH AGO!
We now take you from game to game to game, so you can watch the the halftime whistle blow, over and over and over…
It’s our first time, okay!
I think they should clamp down on time wasting like that every game to be honest.
Phil Dowd needs to lose weight or be removed from officiating top flight matches. To disallow a fair goal in (any match really) title deciding match because you weren’t up with the play is unfathomable.
DISCIPINE HIM YOURSELF! VIGLANTE JUSTICE! TALK ABOUT HIS WEIGHT ALSO!!!!
I’M NOT FUNNY BUT I SURE DO THINK I AM!!!!
Haha, It must be painful to be that self aware.
TAKE THE BAIT!!!!
Mmmm, tasty. I made my comment aware that this second OMG is, in all likelihood, someone else trying to make a dig at you. But, for all I know, it could be you insulting yourself, hamming it up on the commentary. Either way I thought it was funny, so I’m not sure how laughing at something you think is funny is taking bait.
Ha ha. You will never win the league.
So… Phil Dowd taking away a legitimate goal because… he turned his head away when a free kick was being taken and it went in?
That seriously just happened in one of two matches deciding the EPL title? REALLY?
OMG. SOMEBODY CALL SOMEBODY!
CALLED MY MOTHER. SHE TOLD ME THAT IF I CAME UPSTAIRS FROM THE BASEMENT SHE WOULD HOLD ME WHILE I CRIED.
YES!!!
AND YOU FORGOT TO USE THE WORD “UNACCEPTABLE”!!!
DON”T YOU KNOW THIS IS SBI?!?!?
Ball still moving on Suarez’s goal, which is significant because of the way he hit it.
no, it didn’t happen like you said. what a surprise
This guy is such a drama queen. Plus, he’s blatantly wrong so often I have to wonder if he’s trolling most of the time.
I’m so torn!
On free kicks, there is no whistle to restart play unless the attacking team asks for space or if a card is being administered.
Neither of those things was happening. Phil Dowd was simply too fat to get himself into position and it just took a goal away.
On the replay I saw it looked like the ball was still moving. Not that Dowd saw it.
He was 10 km back eating some fish and chips.
I thought he was eating a Christmas Pie, Jack Horner style.
The ball must be dead though. That’s why players always teach down to touch it before they restart.
Newcastle have basically been on holiday since Cabaye was sold. Will be shocked if Liverpool doesn’t come back.
Not if their backline keeps getting shredded on the counter. Could easily be 2-0 Newcastle except for Mingolet’s save (though that shot, while a screamer, was right at him).
So Liverpool scored fairly, but Dowd wasn’t paying attention so he’s going to punish Liverpool?
if you’re talking about the Suarez ‘goal’, I don’t think so.
Good chance for Liverpool on Agger’s header. Straight at the keeper.
There goes all drama for the day. Wow.
I was going to ask what did Suarez do? I was watching Cameron who was playing well and getting respect from the commentators.
As a matter of fact, Cameron put a cross in that Walters couldn’t nod wide, but did.
I don’t care which position he plays, Cameron is a must for the starting XI in Brazil.
And yet people continually cite the fact that he “can’t cross” and “is horrible going forward” left and right.
Is he the greatest crosser ever? No. Was he a pretty lousy crosser when he started playing FB for Stoke? Yes. Has he shown dramatic improvement, especially after 1.5 seasons as a dedicated fullback? Yes.
Everyone forgets he was always a central player before landing at Stoke. Yet, he’s also an all-around athlete who was destined to improve at underused skills like his crossing with work.
he’s erratic with his crossing though does fire in some good ones too, and I think that’s the prevailing opinion on this board about him and is relatively accurate although a handful will always cite this or that, etc. And I think most know he played centrally before and is an excellent athlete
He’s about as good at it as our other RB options, but he is petty terrible. His last game for us he had about 5 horrid ones consecutively.
Suarez delivered a lovely chip shot on a free kick that beat Krul but initiated play before the ref blew his whistle to restart play.
The commentator stated, “ingenuity like that should not be stifled.”
looked like the ball was still moving before Suarez struck it however. great strike tho
C’MON YOU HAMMERS!!!!!
The tv guide for phoenix shows the man city game on NBC coming on one hour late on delay. Hope this is not true.
Man City game is live on NBC in Indianapolis.
wtf is up with the bpl games on these weird and awkward channels?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBCUniversal
It’s so they can simulcast every game.
Completely unrelated, but Tim Ream was briefly interviewed yesterday during Red Bulls halftime and some clips were shown of him training with the club this week. Seems that would confirm he’s staying sharp for camp this week, but obviously the question wasn’t affirmatively asked/answered.
Did anyone else notice how he was answering questions like a Bradley?
10:00am – West Brom vs. Stoke City – Oxygen
That’s the real War on Women.
Perfect. +1
How many men are watching Oxygen right now who have never laid eyeballs on that channel?
Haha, probably so many. Wonder if they’re getting regular channel commercials?