Madrid, Dec 7 (EFE).- Only Bayern Munich has won as many games as Aston Villa in the last ten games of their respective leagues, with nine wins, which, in the English case, restores the doubt about Arsenal’s leadership, while Liverpool’s crisis confirms the Mohamed Salah-Arne Slot conflict, Lens endures the pressure at the French top and Naples held the lead in Italy, awaiting Milan’s score this Monday.
Unai Emery’s team is launched, mounted in an unstoppable reaction. They are already third, just three points behind Arsenal’s first position, whom they defeated this Saturday at Villa Park by 2-1. The decisive goal, in the 95th minute, was from Emi Buendía. The Argentine soccer player, the most accurate in a mess of rebounds, unleashed the apotheosis of his team, which wants more.
It is the example of insistence. They did not win any of the first six games, relegated to the last row of the standings, but, since then, they have gone victory after victory, with the only exception of the 2-0 defeat against Liverpool, which is precisely one of the only two wins for the ‘red’ team in their last ten games in this tournament.
Because Liverpool follows the opposite path. If only the last ten events were counted, today it would be seventeenth (it is ninth) with only two wins in that section and two draws in a row.
The last 3-3 with Leeds United has a difficult explanation for the Anfield team, which first won 0-2, with a double from Hugo Ekitiké, and then 2-3, thanks to Dominik Szoboszlai, until a corner once again generated chaos and the tie: Ao Tanaka’s goal at the far post, where he volleyed a cross that no one hit or managed to clear, in the minute 95 and 6 seconds.
Arne Slot accepted it with resignation, as if Liverpool’s weakness at set pieces were an irremediable defect.
Mohamed Salah, substitute for the third game in a row, did not even play. And he exploded: “I am very, very disappointed. I have done a lot for this club in recent years and especially last season. Now I am on the bench and I don’t know why. It seems that the club uses me as an excuse. That’s how I feel. It’s clear that someone wants to use me to take all the blame.”
“They made me a lot of promises in the summer and now I’m on the bench for three games in a row. I’ve said many times that I had a good relationship with the coach and now I don’t have any. I don’t know why, but it seems to me that someone doesn’t want me in the club,” concluded the Egyptian international, the champion’s top scorer last season, today reduced to a mid-table team after almost 500 million summer investment.
Beyond Aston Villa and Liverpool, the competition for the title is hectic. For Unai Emery’s team, third with three points, but also for Manchester City, which is now only two points away after three consecutive wins, two of them without a single goal from Erling Haaland. This Saturday he did not score in the 3-0 against Sunderland, opened by Ruben Días, consolidated by Josemi Gvardiol and sentenced with a magical rabona from Ryan Cherki, finished off by Phil Foden, still in the 65th minute of the game. Now he visits the Bernabéu in the Champions League.
While Crystal Palace reappears fourth, with its 1-2 victory against Fulham, with Marc Guehi’s decisive goal, Chelsea loses pace. They are eight points behind Arsenal for their three consecutive games without a win. Everton, sixth, beat Forest 3-0.
Lens is the sensation in France. Their five wins in a row (or their eight wins in the last nine games) are a challenge for Paris Saint Germain, second in the standings with fifteen games played, just one point behind Lens. The leader beat Nantes 1-2. The second later responded with a 5-0 win over Rennes.
A week after the unexpected defeat in Monaco (the Monegasque team has only won that duel in the last five league games), Luis Enrique Martínez’s team recovered with a triumph of pure authority at the Parc des Princes, with two goals from Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and one from Senny Mayulu, Ibrahim Mbaye and Gonçalo Ramos.
The two open a gap over Marseille, which has gone two weeks without a win. On Friday they lost 1-0 against Lille. The goal was from Ethan Mbappé. The Marseille team is now five points behind Lens. Lille is fourth.
And Monaco lost again, 1-0 with Brest, again with more minutes of play, as a substitute, for Paul Pogba.
Bayern maintains the routine in Germany. Their 0-5 victory over Stuttgart was the umpteenth demonstration of superiority for Vincent Kompany’s team, which overwhelmed the sixth team in the standings with goals from Konrad Laimer, Josip Stanisic and Harry Kane’s ‘treble’, which came in the 60th minute, making it 0-2 in the 66th, 0-4 in the 82nd and 0-5 in the 88th.
The unstoppable English scorer has already scored 79 goals in 76 games in the German Bundesliga, 17 in 13 games this year. Also 113 goals in 118 duels in all competitions with Bayern Munich, in which he has accumulated his third year on the way to the title. Nobody seems capable of competing with him. Not even Leipzig and their victories.
The Red Bull team still holds on to eight points, also thanks to goals, with the 6-0 with which they defeated Eintracht Frankfurt, with three goals from Yan Diomande.
At nine is Borussia Dortmund, who settled their match against Hoffenheim 2-0. And Bayer Leverkusen remains at 14, defeated by Augsburg’s counterattack (2-0). Very far away everyone.
Napoli is the leader in Italy, waiting for Milan, who plays this Monday against Torino. Antonio Conte’s team puts pressure on him with their 2-1 victory against Juventus, which vindicated Rasmus Hojlund, author of his team’s two goals. Add six goals in this course among all competitions.
And Naples has 31 points, one more than Inter. The ‘neroazzurro’ block insisted with a 4-0 victory over Como, started by Lautaro Martínez. It is the fifth victory in the last six games for the group led by Cristian Chivu, followed by Milan and Roma, which has suffered two consecutive defeats that have relegated it from first to fourth place, four points behind Naples. This Sunday they lost in Cagliari (1-0).
Below, Fiorentina is sinking. They have not yet won, with only six of the 42 points disputed. There are six draws and eight defeats, the last of them 3-1 against Sassuolo. It was not enough for him to get ahead on the scoreboard or then to play the last half hour with numerical superiority. Follow last. It is one of the only two that have not yet won a single game in the major European leagues this season, along with the English Wolwerhampton.
UNICHULD INFULLIFIFULD
