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Jurgen Klopp conceded that securing a top four finish was now Liverpool’s main aim, after his side were thrashed 4-1 by Manchester City at Anfield.

The result leaves them 10 points adrift of the table-topping Cityzens, who also have a game in hand over all of their closest rivals.

After a slow start, Sunday’s game sprung early in the second half when Ilkay Gundogan – who missed a penalty before the break – smashed home a rebound from close range to put the visitors 1-0 up.
Mohamed Salah then levelled things up from the spot before Alisson gifted City two goals with a pair of shocking mistakes. Phil Foden then added some gloss to the scoreline with a fine solo strike.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the contest, Klopp insisted that he was happy with his side’s display despite the poor result.

“We played really good football. I really liked it. In the first half we played really good football,” he said. “Against City it doesn’t mean you are 2-0 or 3-0 up it only means you’re in the game. I’m not sure what the possession was but it was for sure not what it’s like usually for City.

“Start of the second half, City changed their system slightly to a 4-4-2. It’s a little adaptation in the end but in that start of the second half we didn’t give enough options to play and gave the first goal away.

“They scored that goal, we scored the equaliser, which in that moment it looked like the game could now go in our direction. We looked really good again.”

Klopp was also asked whether achieving Champions League qualification was now his team’s principal target, to which he responded: “That is of course our main target, that is clear. We will try everything.

“There is enough games to play to secure that – but we have to win games and tonight we didn’t.”

Klopp was later quizzed about Alisson’s errors, saying: “You cannot hide them. It’s two [instances] where we didn’t give him a lot of options, especially around the first one. I think the second one, yeah, he just mis-hit the ball.

“I don’t know, it’s not a real explanation for it but maybe he had cold feet or something. It sounds funny but could be. But there’s still the opportunity to kick it in the stands.

“But Ali has saved our life plenty of times, no doubt about that, and tonight he made two mistakes and that’s how it is.”

Well! What an evening of action we had at Old Trafford on Saturday!

Just when Manchester United appeared to be doing something normal, they then produced one of the craziest 45 minutes of football you will ever see.

The Red Devils were in cruise control against Everton on Saturday evening, heading into the break with a comfortable 2-0 lead, dominating proceedings from top to toe. Bruno Fernandes was on fire, the forwards were looking scary – all was good in the world.

Then came the Man Utd madness. It all started with a man synonymous with clanger fever – David De Gea. The Spaniard attempted to push away a cross from Dominic Calvert-Lewin (more to come from him later), but he only managed to spill it into the path of Abdoulaye Doucoure.

Game on, thanks to Dave the anti-save.

There was some sweet relief for De Gea, though! Despite Everton pulling back to level at 2-2, Toffees ‘shot-stopper’ Robin Olsen defied his title and logic to somehow allow Scott McTominay’s weak header to trickle over the line.

Of course, De Gea’s stinkers weren’t exactly forgotten, either…

Ultimately, it was Olsen who had the last laugh (kind of), as teammate Calvert-Lewin rescued a point from the jaws of defeat in the 95th minute, pouncing on some serious De Gea hesitation to poke the ball home.

Look away now, Dave.

It wasn’t just the goalkeepers who felt Twitter’s wrath tonight, however. Captain Harry Maguire did not escape the supporters’ ire for the part he played in Man Utd’s collapse against the Toffees.

The centre-back dropped much, much deeper than his teammates for the final goal, playing the entire Everton team onside. Not a good look.

And the referee blew the final whistle to end this crazy game, with Man Utd and Everton leaving the field with three goals scored, three conceded, but only a point apiece. The Premier League is unrivalled, folks.

Football has been coming thick and fast recently, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.

This weekend, there are plenty of enthralling games for you to sink your teeth into, with fierce, hot-tempered clashes on show all over Europe.

Here’s the schedule you need to follow.

Kick your weekend off with a trip to the English second tier, where promotion-chasers Middlesbrough will host a Brentford side vying for the Championship title.

The visitors haven’t lost in their last 19 league games, but Boro will hope to clip their wings in the same way they did when they drew with leaders Norwich last week.

A win for Boro could put them into the top six, but defeat could see them tumble all the way to tenth. It’s that tight in the promotion race.

If you cast your eyes over to Turkey, you’ll find what could well end up being the most feisty game of the weekend – the Intercontinental derby.

Arch rivals Fenerbahce and Galatasaray will butt heads on Saturday, and while the reduce crowd size won’t create the atmosphere this fixture deserves, the intensity of the players should make up for it.

Fenerbahce sit first in the Super Lig, with their opponents three points behind. Galatasaray have goal difference in their favour, so a win would take them top.

If Juventus want to claw their way back into the Serie A title race, they need to start winning games like these.

Andrea Pirlo’s side currently sit one point behind third-placed Roma with a game in hand, so a win here would put them right back in the frame to win a tenth successive title.

However, a poor result would see Roma climb away, and Juventus could end the weekend ten points behind leaders AC Milan if everything else goes wrong.

Manchester United are in pursuit off cross-town rivals City in the Premier League table, but to do that, they’ll have to go through Everton first.

With just one loss in their last 15 games, United come into this one in impressive form, but Everton aren’t exactly in bad form either.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men have recovered from their tricky end to 2020 and are slowly starting to look like the side who took the Premier League by storm earlier this season. You won’t want to miss this one.

It’s third vs fourth in the Women’s Super League as Arsenal prepare to host Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.

These two sides met back in December, and it was City who came out on top thanks to a 94th-minute winner from Caroline Weir.

With Chelsea and Manchester United both racking up the victories, neither side can afford to lose this one and fall further behind in the race for the title.

If you only watch one match this weekend, you probably want to make sure it’s this one.

Liverpool and Manchester City have been the two best teams in England in the last few years, so this fixture always looked like being a title-decider, although the circumstances are a little different now.

City are threatening to run away with the title already, whereas Liverpool know a defeat here could see them drop out of the top four. The stakes could hardly be higher.

Le Classique has been bursting with drama for a few years now, and Sunday’s meeting between Marseille and PSG promises to be more of the same.

There was a mass brawl when the two sides met back in September, and those tensions were carried over into January’s Trophee des Champions final.

Old enemies Neymar and Alvaro clashed on the pitch during the game and on Twitter after it, so there’s obviously no love lost in this one.

We’ve seen a few derbies on this list already, but will any hold up to the Quique Setien derby between Barcelona and Real Betis?

Both sides have moved on from their spells with Setien, and both are trying to force their way higher in La Liga. For Betis, it’s about Champions League qualification, while Barça are desperately trying to close the gap to leaders Atletico Madrid.

Ronald Koeman’s side have lost just once in their last 15 games and look to be finding their stride, but Betis won’t make things easy for them.

The first game in any manager’s tenure at a club is often quite telling. Who does he like the look of? Who hasn’t impressed? Who could soon be heading for pastures new?

Having established himself as one of the key men in Frank Lampard’s side, Mason Mount was a surprise inclusion on the Chelsea bench for Thomas Tuchel’s maiden game in charge of the club against Wolves last month.

Whether the decision was made with the fact he’d played the full 90 minutes in all of Chelsea’s last 13 league outings in mind we’ll never quite know, though you’d be forgiven for assuming any new boss would opt to field their strongest team in their first game in charge.

After all, the longer the wait for a first win goes on the more the pressure begins to…mount.

The youngster’s brief cameo towards the end of the draw with Wolves was enough to earn him a start at home to Burnley the following game, and he was yet again fielded from the off in their 1-0 win over London rivals Spurs on Thursday evening.

Critics lambasted the Chelsea man’s status as an automatic starter during Lampard’s time at the club – and in truth the former Blues boss did little to dispel the rumours of Mount being the teacher’s pet as he waxed lyrical over him just about every time he was faced with a microphone – but the England international is beginning to prove that Lampard was right. Mount is integral to Chelsea’s progression.

The 22-year-old played as a false nine at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, picking up little pockets of space between the Spurs backline and midfield.

His movement and guile proved too much for Spurs all evening, with Eric Dier and Toby Alderweireld too cautious to step out of defence to pick him up and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg unable to track his runs.

Far from content with sitting between the Spurs centre-back pairing all evening, Mount dropped back into midfield whenever his team were without the ball – something which really didn’t happen very often if truth be known – with Timo Werner pulling in from the left hand-side to occupy Dier and Alderweireld.

Throughout the evening, Mount engaged in numerous tussles with the man mountain that is Tanguy Ndombele, refusing to be shoved off the ball by the Spurs man.

Meanwhile, whenever he pushed further forward he was just too quick, too sharp and too cunning for Alderweireld, with the Belgian chasing shadows at times in his bid to curtail the youngster’s progress.

The real victory on the evening goes to Tuchel, with the German boss masterminding the system which Jose Mourinho’s side simply had no answers for.

But for said system to work it required a lynchpin, a player integral to the team who the rest of the side could feed and work off – that man was Mason Mount.

All in all it was an absolutely superb performance from the former Derby man. It was a showing full of guts, energy and quality, and he’s undoubtedly the most important player at the club.

Liverpool suffered one of the shocks of the season as they were beaten 1-0 by Brighton at Anfield on Wednesday evening.

Having gone nearly three years without a home loss in the Premier League, it was their second defeat at Anfield in the space of 13 days having lost 1-0 to Burnley less than a fortnight ago.

The Reds also failed to score at home for the third home league game in a row. It was a disappointing reality check after the scintillating performance against West Ham three days earlier, where we were assured that Liverpool were most definitely back to their best this time.

Their failure to score was once again down to their failure to break down a ‘lesser’ team who get men behind the ball and deploy a low block. Liverpool had just one shot on target, and this did not come until the 70th minute.

Having swept aside Crystal Palace in December, this failure to break down teams has become a real problem; Newcastle, West Brom, Burnley, Southampton, Manchester United and now Brighton have all taken points off them. For a team who have been ravaged by injuries defensively this season, it’s not actually at the back where they’re struggling.

In the prolonged absence of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, the unlikely pairing of Nat Phillips and Jordan Henderson were probably the Reds’ best performers on Wednesday evening.

It’s unfortunate that Henderson has taken so competently to being a central defender, because what he gives defensively is such a big loss to Liverpool in midfield. The Reds’ defensive injury crisis has indirectly had a negative impact on their ability to attack.

Henderson’s presence in midfield is a real miss. During Liverpool’s 7-0 victory over Crystal Palace, he was magnificent, not just in the way he sprayed passes, drove Liverpool forward and got on the scoresheet himself, but in his willingness to drop into the full-back position to give Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold the freedom to tear forward.

Liverpool looked most dangerous against Brighton when Henderson was able to get his side in behind quickly with an instinctive long pass before the Seagulls were able to organise themselves defensively.

The Liverpool skipper picked out Mohamed Salah in the opening exchanges of the first half, the Liverpool forward getting in behind the otherwise imperious Dan Burn for about the only time all evening. He sent Robertson away in the second half with a similarly pinpoint, probing pass.

For all Henderson gives Liverpool defensively as cover at centre half, the Reds really miss him as the driving force in their midfield. Liverpool fans will be hoping their new centre half recruits can free Jordan Henderson.

Ladies and gentleman, it is literally Groundhog Day (check your calendar) and we have just witnessed Southampton lose 9-0 in a Premier League game. it is deja vu all over again…

This time, their tormentors were Manchester United and much like when Leicester subjected them to the same scoreline last season, social media greeted the news in typically understanding, respectful fashion.

Only joking.

It took seconds for the first jibes to appear as the internet’s best and brightest lined up to take the mickey out of Ralph Hassenhuttl’s side.

Before we dive into all of that carnage, how about a few stats as a light starter?

One of the very best reactions came from the: ‘Has the 9-0 Been Mentioned’ Twitter account, set up in protest of pundits constantly referencing that Leicester defeat whenever they cover a Southampton game.

Of course, they quickly changed the name to the brilliant: ‘Have EITHER of the 9-0’s Been Mentioned.’

Well, if you can’t laugh at yourself…

Southampton’s bitter rivals, Portsmouth, then got in on the act.

A few famous faced were involved as well…

Even on one of the most historic nights in Premier League history some people could not help but notice how Mike Dean had managed to steal the show, taking an age to review the incident that led to the penalty for United’s eight goal.

Before we let Southampton fans begin their recoveries, we could not live with ourselves if we did not share some of these fire tweets with captured the mood of a momentous evening perfectly.

Or, more accurately, just made us laugh.

We will see you next time the Saints treat us a nine goal thriller.

Celtic’s French midfielder Olivier Ntcham has completed a deadline day loan move back to his homeland with Marseille.

The short-term deal includes an option to buy at the end of the season for as little as £4.4m, according to earlier reports in France.

Ntcham completed a medical on Monday afternoon, before the deal was officially confirmed in the evening.

Ntcham had yet to feature for the Hoops in 2021, having fallen down the pecking order behind youngster David Turnbull and Ismaila Soro, and reports suggest he had requested a move away from the club in January.

The 24-year-old joined the Glasgow club from Manchester City in 2017, but fitness issues and form have led to an inconsistent four-year stint at Celtic Park in which he has scored 24 goals in 147 appearances, laying on 13 more.

There have been times when he has shown genuine promise – at his peak, he scored a famous winning goal against Lazio at Stadio Olimpico – but he has faded in and out of the team this campaign, and his time at Celtic is likely up.

The rumoured low fee in the option to buy – which is less than Celtic actually paid for Ntcham from City – suggests Neil Lennon is ready to cut his losses on the Frenchman, whose contract is due to expire in summer 2022.

90min revealed back in August that there was extensive interest in him from the Premier League, and while that has faded due to his form in Scotland, it has survived to some extent – on Sunday, Sky Sports reported that Newcastle had made their interest clear.

However, Ntcham has elected to move to the south of France, while Newcastle have instead landed Arsenal’s Joe Willock on loan until the end of the 2020/21 campaign.

Earlier on deadline day Celtic confirmed their one and only January signing with the arrival of right-back Jonjoe Kenny on loan from Everton, with the 23-year-old signed as a replacement for Jeremie Frimpong.

Another former Man City player, the 20-year-old joined Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen earlier in the window, much to the dismay of Lennon. Celtic remain 23 points behind Rangers in the Scottish Premiership in what has been a torrid season on all fronts for the Bhoys.

Tottenham recent poor run of Premier League form continued on Sunday night, as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat away at relegation threatened Brighton.

Since ‘kickstarting their title bid’ with a fine 2-0 victory over Manchester City back in November, Spurs have won just three of their subsequent 11 league games.

Throughout this period, a common theme has been a frightening lack of creativity and nowhere was this more evident than against the Seagulls this weekend. Going into the game, Brighton were perched perilously close to the drop zone. Despite this, they managed to keep Spurs at arm’s length throughout.

After going ahead 17 minutes in, as a result of fine team move involving Alexis Mac Allister, Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard, Graeme Potter’s charges retreated into a well organised 5-4-1 out of possession.

In doing this, they were essentially challenging the opponents to break them down, a task that was well beyond Tottenham’s capabilities on Sunday. Spurs registered just one shot in the entire first half – a scrappy effort pulled wide by Steven Bergwijn – despite dominating possession. It was turgid stuff.

Things were not much better after the break either. Although the second half saw Spurs rack up seven attempts on goal – the exact same as their 17th placed opponents – they never looked like converting.

The reasons for this unacceptable attacking display are numerous. For starters, going behind did not help. When Spurs manage to poke their noses in front, Mourinho’s style makes perfect sense. Few teams are more devastating in transition and, although not perfect, Tottenham have proved themselves capable of soaking up pressure like a premium brand sponge in the past.

Saying that, when they are chasing a lead, Tottenham are often tragic to watch.

This trend continued against Brighton as they lacked coherence, consistency and any discernible plan or patterns of play. If Spurs had prepared in training for the unthinkable possibility of going behind in a game of football, it did not look like it.

Mourinho’s selection did not help their case either. The team was packed full of players lacking quality on the ball. Lined up to 3-4-3, wing-backs Moussa Sissoko and Ben Davies contributed next to nothing in the attacking phase, while Matt Doherty watched on from the sidelines.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, for all of his destructive brilliance, was also ill-suited to the task at hand. What Spurs needed was someone capable of picking the Brighton lock.

Up front, Gareth Bale was given a run out despite his recent patchy form. It was another nothing display from the forward who is increasingly looking like a signing fuelled by doe-eyed nostalgia, rather than fiscal or footballing sense.

That brings us to the third reason for Tottenham’s creative dirge – the absence of Harry Kane.

Just as Leicester’s reliance on another mercurial English striker was exposed earlier on Sunday, the devastating impact that Kane’s absence could have on Spurs over the next few weeks was laid bare against Brighton.

Much has been written about Kane’s development into one of country’s best creators this season, but perhaps the best endorsement of his ridiculous influence came in the form on his side’s stodgy display without him.

The England captain has been directly involved in 68% of Tottenham’s Premier League goals this season, more than any other player in the division, and it is becoming increasingly clear that his personal brilliance may have been papering over cracks in Spurs’ flawed approach earlier on in the season.

Palmeiras won the 2021 Copa Libertadores on Saturday evening, beating Santos 1-0 in the final with a dramatic 99th minute winner in the famous Maracana stadium.

The first half was an extremely cagey affair, with neither side forcing either goalkeeper into any serious action, as the two Brazilian teams looked to give little away in such an important clash.

The biggest talking point of the first period came in the form of Santos coach Cuca, who boldly opted to wear a t-shirt and jeans to the prestigious final, with the former sporting a religious image on the front. Tradition is tradition.

It wasn’t much prettier on the pitch, unfortunately.

The final ball was often lacking between the pair, and Palmeiras striker Luiz Adriano could have broken the deadlock in the opening 45 minutes, but the forward turned the wrong way and misread the direction of the pass, allowing the defence to sweep up.

Raphael Veiga also went close, but he flashed a strike wide from the inside right of the penalty area. And that was that for the first half, with the two teams heading into the dressing rooms level, with everything still to play for.

The second half was not much better as a spectacle, with Palmeiras having the more dangerous chances, but once again rarely threatening to hit the target. Veiga fizzed a free-kick over the bar, as the Verdão grew into the game.

Santos began to stamp their authority on proceedings, as the match became much more stretched. Palmeiras goalkeeper Weverton had to be at his best to keep out a vicious strike, and Felipe Jonatan drilled the resulting rebound wide of the target.

It all kicked off late on however, when the peaceful Cuca was sent off for delaying a Palmeiras attack by diving on the ball – defender Marcos Rocha pushed him to the ground in retaliation.

That moment was quickly overshadowed in the ninth minute of added time, when Palmeiras substitute Breno Lopes won the game, leaping like a salmon to head the ball back across goal and into the far corner from a superb Roni delivery.

There were scenes of wild celebrations at the final whistle, as the game ended after an extra 14 minutes of additional time, and Palmeiras lifted the famous trophy, breaking Santos hearts.

After handing Manchester City the advantage in the Premier League title race with a shock defeat to Sheffield United last time out, Manchester United will try to get things back on track when they face Arsenal on Saturday.

The Gunners are unbeaten in their last six league games, winning five and drawing one, so Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will know that his side must give 100% if they are to get back to winning ways in this one.

Here’s how the boss should line up for the game.

David de Gea (GK) – Might have struggled last time out, but De Gea is obviously the man for the job here.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (RB) – Wan-Bissaka has developed the attacking side of his game this season and could well be a crucial part of United’s forward moves.

Victor Lindelof (CB) – Eric Bailly has travelled after recovering from a knock, but a return to the lineup may be a step too far for the Ivorian, who will likely see his place handed to Lindelof instead.

Harry Maguire (CB) – Fresh off the back of scoring his side’s only goal, Maguire is a certainty to start the game if he remains healthy.

Luke Shaw (LB) – Alex Telles impressed against Sheffield United, grabbing the assist for Maguire’s header, but the excellent Shaw is expected to reclaim his spot in the team.

Fred (DM) – Fred was rested against Sheffield United and so will be raring to go for the Arsenal game.

Scott McTominay (DM) – Like Fred, McTominay was also left on the bench last time out, so expect Solskjaer to bring the Scot back into the starting lineup.

Paul Pogba (RM) – It might not be his best position, but Pogba needs to be on the pitch for this one. It’s too important to leave him out.

Bruno Fernandes (AM) – The first name on the team sheet these days, Solskjaer will expect Fernandes to disprove the myth that he doesn’t turn up against top teams.

Marcus Rashford (LM) – Rashford played a starring role in the FA Cup victory over Liverpool, bagging a goal and an assist, and a similar performance in this one would go down a treat.

Edinson Cavani (ST) – Anthony Martial trained after picking up a shoulder injury, but expect Solskjaer to go with Cavani’s experience on this occasion.