Due to public demand, i’ll be reviewing the four quarter final games played this weekend.
Ceballos saves Arsenal further embarrassment from slipping Sheffield.
On Sunday the gunners traveled to Bramall lane to see if they could make it 2 in 2. David Luiz came back from his suspension and made the starting eleven after extending his contract. Maitland-Niles came back from a lengthy spell out of the side. The game started as expected, awful defending from the London club. Saved twice in the first quarter of the game by VAR and Emi Martinez. The game changed when Chris Basham made a cynical challenge just inside the box to give away a penalty which Nicolas put away for 1-0. Suddenly the game opened massivey, but weirdly Sheffield were still on the front foot for the longest.
Luiz didn’t enjoy his return with McBurnie and McGoldrick proving a menace so much that the out-of-favour Brazilian pulled up in the 53rd minute and has to be subbed off. But Arsenal’s fragile defence would come back to haunt them in the 87th minute when an awful mix up between Kolasinac and Mustafi saw McGoldrick put in an equalizer and at this point everything pointed to extra time. But you have to say, it was nothing less than Sheffield deserved. The magic of the FA cup had other plans. Dani Ceballos, the Madrid loanee, rocketed the ball past Dean Henderson to send his current team to Wembley. For all the stick he gets, he’s still a Madrid product and that was a smart finish against a switched off Sheffield defence.
As for Sheffield that spells out 3 defeats in a row, but they can take massive positivity from this performance.
The Captain saves the day.
Manachester United headed to Carrow road looking to make it to their 3rd Semi final in 6 years. But Ole really underestimated Norwich, kusema ukweli tu, what was that team? The game was so slow and just lacked inspiration. Even Bruno looked so tired. The reds managed to claw themselves in-front in the 50th minute through Ighalo’s fox in the box finish and after the goal United just seemed to back off even more. Rashford came on and just lacked his usual spark. As for Norwich City they kept going and going and had a few good chances before their player of the season shot straight past Romero to keep Norwich’s season alive. Norwich at this point looked the better side but just couldn’t help but bottle it in the closing minutes when Klose prevented an obvious goal scoring chance to get himself sent off.
After their man walked it was just a case of Defence v Attack. United had a front 4 with Rashford a bit deeper but ironically it was the center back that sent his club into the semi-finals. Pogba just showed how crucial he is as he’s the one who started the move. Not the best game but the only stat that mattered was the one on the score board.
Chelsea extend Leicester’s run without a win to 3.
What is it with these Quarter finals? Every game was so close and could honestly have gone either way. (Well apart from the City game) This one needed just one clinical finish from Ross Barkley. If you watched the game from the start you would have backed Leicester. They looked so hungry, getting onto those second balls, forcing mistakes. It honestly looked like theirs for the taking. Frank Lampard stabilised his side when he removed Gilmour and brought on Kovacic. They looked much more confident in midfield and built up their play patiently. Some minutes past the hour mark, Willian put such an inviting ball into the box that was practically crying to be put in the box and Barkley did exactly that to get his second goal of the competition. At this point Chelsea played exactly as they did in the last 10 minutes v City. Compact and Counter. This was enough to secure their spot in the last 4.
Manchester City breeze past the magpies.
As expected City beat Newcastle to proceed in the competition. Like the last Liverpool match, if you aren’t a City fan this wasn’t the greatest game. A collision in the box involving Gabriel Jesus saw a penalty given which De Bryne converted just before the break to put his team ahead. Otamendi did what Otamendi does and Saint-Maximin put in a pin point ball which Gayle absolutely skied. Thank God there were no fans in those stands !
In the 68th minute though, Laporte executed a cross field ball which Foden got at the end of and passed to Sterling who bent it in the far corner on his stronger foot. At this point the points were secured and Kdb came off and Rodrigo came on to sure things up.
So, we’re looking at the first big 6 semi-final since 2017 with Chelsea and United going head to head while City take on Arsenal to be played on 18th and 19th July. So we’re looking at potential London or Manchester Derbies in the final.
This week with big matches like City v Liverpool and Barcelona v Athletico Madrid expect new content.
I appreciate your feedback and support. Thanks for reading see you soon.
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