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Premier League roundup: Leicester City, of course, is atop the table

By Nicholas MendolaNov 21, 2015, 2:33 PM EST
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Don’t you just tire of the Top Four predictability in the Premier League?

Claudio Ranieri and unlikely Leicester City are leading England’s top flight after 13 matches, Manchester United is second, and Chelsea is down in 15th place.

[ MORE: Barcelona throttles Real Madrid at the Bernabeu ]

As usual. What a season so far!

Newcastle United 0-3 Leicester City — RECAP

Tell me this doesn’t sound like a sentence you would have read read in an Onion-style Premier League preview back in August: Jamie Vardy scored in his 10th-consecutive game, joining Ruud van Nistelrooy in the record books, as Leicester moved atop the table with a romp at St. James Park.

West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Arsenal — RECAP

James Morrison‘s 35th minute goal was joined by a Mikel Arteta own goal in helping West Brom to a come-from-behind home win over the wasteful Gunners, who had 73 percent possession and an 11-4 edge in shots. Olivier Giroud put home a Mesut Ozil set piece offering for Arsenal’s goal.

during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester City and Liverpool at Etihad Stadium on November 21, 2015 in Manchester, England.
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Manchester City 1-4 Liverpool — RECAP

Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho were absolutely electric in keeping Jurgen Klopp unbeaten in his managerial career against Manchester City (2W-1D). After an early own goal from Eliaquim Mangala, the Liverpool’s Brazilian pair helped the Reds to a 3-0 lead before Sergio Aguero got City on the board. Klopp didn’t start a single true striker, with Coutinho and Firmino playing the role for Liverpool. By the time Martin Skrtel cemented the win with his late goal, it was clear Klopp didn’t need one.

Watford 1-2 Manchester United — RECAP

The Red Devils relaxed a bit after going up early through Memphis Depay, and Troy Deeney converted a late penalty for Watford. Tied with just five minutes to play, Bastian Schweinsteiger forced Deeney into a late own goal, and United grabbed all three points. The Red Devils are second in the Premier League, a point behind Leicester.

Chelsea 1-0 Norwich City — RECAP

Diego Costa scored his first goal in over 600 minutes, and Chelsea deserved much more than a one-goal win in snapping its three-game Premier League losing streak. The Blues leapfrog the Canaries, but still sit 15th on the table.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 21: Romelu Lukaku of Everton celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Everton and Aston Villa at Goodison Park on November 21, 2015 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)
(Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)

Everton 4-0 Aston Villa — RECAP

Tim Howard didn’t have a lot to do on Saturday, quite the contrast from his USMNT counterpart Brad Guzan, who watched Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley each score a pair of goals. The Villans remain in the Premier League cellar, five points clear of safety.

Southampton 0-1 Stoke City — RECAP

Just when you want to believe Ronald Koeman‘s side is ready to break through, the Saints fall at St. Mary’s to allow Stoke City within a point. Bojan Krkic‘s 10th minute goal was the difference for the Potters, who have the Premier League’s second-best form.

Swansea City 2-2 Bournemouth — RECAP

The Cherries are as plucky as you like, but Swansea met their desperation to overcome a 2-0 home deficit at the Liberty Stadium. Joshua King and Dan Gosling boosted Bournemouth to its advantage, but Andre Ayew scored quickly to narrow the gap to 2-1 before Jonjo Shelvey equalized from the penalty spot.

Sunday: Tottenham Hotspur vs. West Ham United, 11 a.m. ET on NBCSN

Monday: Crystal Palace vs. Sunderland, 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Norwich City shock struggling Leicester at Carrow Road

By Kyle BonnFeb 28, 2020, 4:54 PM EST
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Leicester City clearly missed the injured Jamie Vardy, pummeling the Canaries time and again with shots but none had the killer instinct of the absent striker. That was critical as the Foxes had no response once Jamal Lewis put Norwich City in front as the Canaries worked a crucial 1-0 victory at Carrow Road.

[ MORE: Premier League schedule ]

The game was goalless until the 71st minute when Lewis received a cross from Max Aarons that skittered through the area to the opposite side where the left-back ripped an absolute rocket that tucked inside the right post.

Vardy and his 17 goals were missing through a calf problem that may have cost the Foxes points on the road. With Leicester City looking to push Manchester City for second in the Premier League table, this loss saw them slog seven points back of the Citizens. Norwich City, meanwhile, will relish the victory as they draw just three back of the other two relegation-threatened sides.

The closest Leicester City came to a goal was a cancelled strike from Kelechi Iheanacho – Vardy’s replacement – who has a goal cancelled by VAR on a dicey handball call. It was a spotty performance at best for the Foxes who created few solid chances and

Three things we learned

1. How is Norwich City bottom of the table?

Seriously, how? Watching the first half, this Canaries squad is capable of dangerous forward play and solid defending that can only be undone by quality attacking moves. It’s true that as the first half waned on, they conceded heavy possession to the Foxes, but the hosts still threatened Leicester City multiple times and looked up for the match at Carrow Road. They are clearly missing a consistency indicative of an established Premier League side, but they look far from the worst team in the top flight. In fact, even when the game was goalless, Kasper Schmeichel was the busier of the two goalkeepers, with Tim Krul not truly threatened.

The goal was Norwich City’s first goal from open play in nearly 11 hours, an unbelievable total if you only watched this 90 minutes. If the Canaries are going to climb the mountain and stay up, they will need to channel this performance through the rest of the season.

2. Kelechi Iheanachi is no Jamie Vardy

Leicester City ripped off 12 shots in the first half, but only managed three on target. Once halftime had come and gone, Leicester City had just four more shots in the tank, with 16 total but just four on target and none with a mark of over 0.21 xG.

Vardy’s exquisite finishing ability was sorely missed as the Foxes created plenty of chances but couldn’t finish many dangerously. The 23-year-old Nigerian was hardly involved in the game, seeing a goal ruled out but also contributing little else. With Vardy at 33 years of age, the Foxes clearly need a Plan B should he end up missing any more time in the near future or down the road, because they had nothing to aim at with the talisman sidelined.

3. Leicester City is in a rut

Iheanacho was not the only on who struggled against the Premier League’s bottom side. James Maddison had very few touches in the attacking third, creating four chances but two of them came off corners and two were miles from the net. Dennis Praet and Ricardo Pereira were probably the Foxes’ most creative player but even they popped up few and far between, producing just 1.44 xG on a whopping 19 shots. Jonny Evans was constantly screaming at his fellow defenders for their loss of shape. The Foxes challenged for Man City’s second position lasted a few weeks, but they have fallen off the table and now just hope to solidify third before they fall any further in what could be a precarious home stretch.

Man of the Match: Ben Godfrey

The two teams were both bright in an entertaining start with Norwich threatening down the right on the overlap and Leicester City pressing hard. Teemu Pukki had an opportunity from the right edge on 22 minutes but Caglar Soyuncu made an acrobatic last-gasp block. That started a lengthy spell of pressure from the Canaries, but the hosts couldn’t cash in.

Leicester City’s best chance of the first half-hour came on 25 minutes as Dennis Praet found himself in a dangerous area, but he could only clip Ricardo Pereira’s delivery off the outside of the right post. Ayoze Perez also put a shot into a precarious position moments later which cannoned dangerously off the leg of Norwich City defender Grant Hanley, but went wide instead of into the gaping net.

[ MORE: Premier League stats ] 

The Foxes began to assert their dominance past the half-hour mark and Perez found Kelechi Iheanacho right in front of net, but he disappointingly fired over.

Minutes into the second half Iheanacho found the ball in the back of the net but saw it ruled out by VAR thanks to a handball on the buildup. That was Leicester City’s biggest moment as they were toothless up front otherwise. Norwich City capitalized with 19 minutes to go as Lewis pounced on a Max Aarons delivery clean across the box and delivered a cannon blast into the back of the net. Norwich nearly had a second a few minutes from full time but Kasper Schmeichel came up to save a quality effort from substitute Josip Drmic.

Eintracht Frankfurt dumps RB Salzburg from Europa League

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By Kyle BonnFeb 28, 2020, 3:55 PM EST
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Andre Silva struck twice as Eintracht Frankfurt played to a 2-2 draw at Red Bull Salzburg to become the final team with a berth in the Europa League quarterfinals on a 6-3 aggregate scoreline.

The match had been originally scheduled for yesterday alongside the rest of the Europa League Round of 16 slate but storms in the area forced its postponement.

[ MORE: JPW’s Premier League picks ]

Goals for Salzburg’s Andreas Ulmer and Jerome Onguene were not enough to offset the 4-1 first-leg loss plus another two conceded at home. Silva’s second goal was the pick of the lot, finding the top corner from outside the top of the box with a brilliant looping effort.

Frankfurt’s advancement will be a boost for them domestically where they have lost two straight in Bundesliga play but recently dumped RB Leipzig from DFB-Pokal play. USMNT veteran Timmy Chandler came off the bench for the final two minutes.

On the flip side, the match came at a bad time for RB Salzburg, who has only won one of its last five league games in Austria, seeing LASK take over the top spot in the table. That poor form worked its way to European play as well, unable to give themselves a chance at the already improbable comeback. They can take positives from the goals scored up front as Ulmer’s was an absolute rocket from just inside the top of the box and Onguene bagged a header off a corner.

Watch Live: Norwich v. Leicester

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By Joe Prince-WrightFeb 28, 2020, 2:23 PM EST
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Norwich City host Leicester City on Friday (Watch live, 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com) with the Canaries and Foxes in very different positions heading into this clash at Carrow Road.

WATCH LIVE ONLINE HERE

Daniel Farke’s Norwich are scrapping for their lives and although they’ve played some wonderful attacking soccer this season with Teemu Pukki, Emiliano Buendia and Todd Cantwell all starring, they sit bottom of the Premier League table with 11 games to go. The Canaries badly need a win against Leicester if they’re going to avoid relegation back to the Championship at the first attempt. They currently sit seven points from safety.

As for Leicester, their poor form in 2020 has continued but they remain in third place in the Premier League and Brendan Rodgers‘ side are nine points ahead of fifth place. Jamie Vardy‘s goals have dried up as he hasn’t scored in his last nine appearances and only once in his last 12, which has meant a big downturn in results.

Norwich v Leicester should be a real treat on a windy Friday evening in Norfolk as both teams have plenty to play for and both managers urge their teams to play fluid, attacking soccer.

In team news Norwich bring in Buendia for Rupp as the Argentine playmaker is key in their battle against relegation.

Leicester are without Jamie Vardy who isn’t in the squad due to injury as Kelechi Iheanacho replaces him.

LINEUPS

Prince-Wright’s Premier League picks

By Joe Prince-WrightFeb 28, 2020, 1:39 PM EST
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Here are the latest Prince-Wright‘s Premier League picks ahead of Matchweek 28 in the Premier League, with eight games on the slate due to the League Cup final between Aston Villa and Man City on Sunday.

[ MORE: Premier League schedule ]

If you, like me, love to dissect all the games and predict what the score will be and which team will win, I encourage you to get involved in the comments section below. Let’s have a bit of fun with these Premier League games.

Okay, so I’ve consulted my crystal ball and here’s how we see things panning out. Listen carefully, because this is very specific.

While you can download the NBC Sports Predictor app (below) and play the Premier League Pick ‘Em game yourself to predict the scores and win the prizes.

DOWNLOAD NBC SPORTS PREDICTOR

With the first section labelled “basically, free money” for the picks I think are dead certs. The section labelled “don’t touch this” means if you’re betting I advise you to stay clear, while the “so you’re telling me there’s a chance” section are the long shots. If it is better odds you are after, those are the picks to go for.

BASICALLY, FREE MONEY

Crystal Palace 3-1 Brighton – (Saturday, 7:30 a.m. ET, NBCSN) – [STREAM] 

Watford 0-2 Liverpool – (Saturday, 12:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN) – [STREAM] 

DON’T TOUCH THIS…

West Ham 1-1 Southampton – (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, NBC Sports Gold) – [STREAM]

Norwich 1-2 Leicester – (Friday, 3 p.m. ET, NBCSN) – [STREAM] 

Everton 2-1 Man United – (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, NBCSN) – [STREAM] 

Newcastle 2-1 Burnley – (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, NBC Sports Gold) – [STREAM] 

“SO YOU’RE TELLING ME THERE’S A CHANCE…”

Bournemouth 1-0 Chelsea – (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, NBCSN) – [STREAM] 

Tottenham 1-3 Wolves – (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, NBC Sports Gold) – [STREAM]