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Little Separating Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal in EPL Title Race Rich with Narratives 

Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Liverpool - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - February 4, 2024 Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Liverpool - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - February 4, 2024 Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
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Little Separating Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal in EPL Title Race Rich with Narratives 

Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Liverpool - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - February 4, 2024 Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Liverpool - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - February 4, 2024 Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta celebrates after the match. (Reuters)

One team is looking to make history. Another wants to give its long-time manager the perfect send-off. The other is eager for revenge.

An English Premier League title race rich with narratives is shaping up to have a thrilling finish with the top three — Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal — separated by just two points with 15 matches remaining.

Arsenal's 3-1 win over Liverpool on Sunday, followed by City's victory at Brentford by the same score on Monday, has left what appears to be a three-way fight for English soccer's biggest prize. It has the potential to be the closest finish between three teams for a decade, when there was only four points between eventual champion City, Liverpool and Chelsea after the final round of the 2013-14 season.

Fourth-placed Aston Villa and fifth-placed Tottenham, five and seven points off the pace respectively, could possibly be involved in the title race but few can expect them to stay the course given the pedigree of the teams above them.

Here's a closer look at the top three, what's pushing them for title glory, and what could make them fall short:

LIVERPOOL (1st, 51 points after 23 games)

Sure, Jurgen Klopp has the won the Premier League with Liverpool, ending the storied team's 30-year wait for the title in the process. But that 2020 triumph was tinged with the slightest regret in that it came during the pandemic and there were no fans inside Anfield when then-Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson and his teammates hoisted the trophy on The Kop. Doing it before a full house and in the final days of Klopp's nearly nine-year tenure would be a fitting way for the German to depart.

Liverpool, which has the joint-best defensive record in the league and is second for most goals scored, still has to play City at home in mid-March and has potentially testing away games at Manchester United and Aston Villa.

The biggest thing going against Liverpool could be the fact that the team is still going for silverware on four fronts, having reached the English League Cup final, the FA Cup fifth round and the Europa League last 16. There'll be a few Thursday-Sunday turnarounds if the Reds go far in Europe, which they should.

MANCHESTER CITY (2nd, 49 points after 22 games)

No team in the history of English football, dating back all the way to 1888, has won the top-flight for four straight years. That's what City is attempting to do as manager Pep Guardiola strives to break more new ground for an Abu Dhabi-owned club that won the Champions League for the first time last year and the Premier League in seven of the last 12 seasons.

City has won nine straight games in all competitions, five of them in the league. City has a fully fit squad now that Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne are over their long-term injuries and also a game in hand, leading many to believe a successful title defense is likely, maybe even inevitable.

ARSENAL (3rd, 49 points after 23 games)

Arsenal's push for a first league title since 2004 is being fueled by a desire to make amends for last season, when the team imploded in the closing weeks after taking an eight-point lead with nine games left. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta seems to be pacing this season better, setting up his team to control games more and not go full throttle like in the first half of the last campaign.

He has a deeper squad at his disposal this time round, too. His players will likely have learned lessons from last season, especially mentally in playing under pressure in every match and going toe-to-toe with an always fast-finishing City team. The dominant display against Liverpool on Sunday can only strengthen confidence, with Arsenal seemingly having gotten over a wobble either side of Christmas and winning its last three games while scoring 10 goals.

Injuries to key players would likely affect Arsenal more than City or Liverpool, however, so Arteta will hope the likes of William Saliba, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka can stay healthy for the run-in. Arsenal might have the toughest schedule, with away games at City, Tottenham and United.

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Flotilla on Seine, Rain and Celine Dion Mark Start of Paris Olympics

Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Flotilla on Seine, Rain and Celine Dion Mark Start of Paris Olympics

Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Members of delegations are seen during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Olympic Games open on Friday after a soaking wet ceremony in which athletes were cheered by the crowd along the Seine, dancers took to the roofs of Paris and Lady Gaga sang a French cabaret song.

France's three-time Olympic gold medalists Marie-Jose Perec and Teddy Riner then lit the Olympic cauldron, suspended on a hot-air balloon, before Canada's Celine Dion sang Edith Piaf's "Hymn to Love", in her first public performance in years, drawing huge cheers from the crowd.

The 30-meter (98 ft) high balloon carrying a 7-meter diameter ring of fire took to the air and was hovering dozens of meters above the ground.

It will be in the air from sunset until 2 am local time every day, organizers said.

"We are so proud of this show, I'm so proud that sport and culture were celebrated in such a fantastic manner tonight, it was a first and the result was fantastic despite the rain," Paris 2024 organizing president Tony Estanguet told reporters.

A fleet of barges took the competitors on a 6 km-stretch of the river alongside some of the French capital's most famous landmarks, as performers recreated some of the sports to be showcased in the Games on floating platforms.

It was the first time that an opening ceremony has taken place outside a stadium, adding to the headaches for a vast security operation, just hours after a sabotage attack on the high-speed TGV rail network caused travel chaos across France.

"I invite everybody: dream with us. Like the Olympic athletes, be inspired with the joy that only sport can give us. Let us celebrate this Olympic spirit of living in peace," International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach said as the ceremony came to an end at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

More than 10,500 athletes will compete at the Olympics, 100 years since Paris last staged the Games. Competition started on Wednesday and the first of the 329 gold medals will be awarded on Saturday.

As the show started four hours earlier, a giant plume of blue, white and red smoke, resembling the French flag, was sent high above a bridge over the Seine as part of a show that included many postcard-like depictions of France, including a huge cancan line performed by Moulin Rouge dancers on the banks.

A more modern image of the country was on display when French-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura, the most-listened to French female singer in the world, sang some of her biggest hits, accompanied by the French Republican Guard's army choir.

Nakamura's performance drew some of the ceremony's biggest cheers. Rumors of her inclusion had sparked a row over French identity, with supporters saying she represented the vibrancy of modern-day France while her detractors said her music owes more to foreign influences than French.

POURING RAIN

While the celebration of French culture, fashion and history was warmly cheered by many of the 300,000 spectators lining the river, hundreds were seen leaving early as the rain fell.

"It was good other than the rain, it was nice, it was different, instead of being in a stadium being on the river, so that's always a good thing - interesting, unique," said Avid Pureval, 34, who came to the Games from Ohio.

"Once you're wet, it's fine," he said. Still, he was heading back to his hotel after the French boat passed, long before the ceremony ended.

"It would have been better with sun," said Josephine, from Paris, sitting beside her 9-year-old daughter and who paid 1,600 euros ($1,736) for her seat.

With many world leaders and VIPs present, the ceremony was protected by snipers on rooftops. The Seine's riverbed was swept for bombs, and Paris' airspace was closed.

Some 45,000 police and thousands of soldiers were deployed in a huge security operation in Paris for the ceremony. Armed police patrolled along the river in inflatable boats as the armada made its passage along the Seine.

WELCOMED IN TAHITI

A mix of French and international stars, including soccer great Zinedine Zidane, 14-times French Open champion Rafa Nadal, 23-times Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and three paralympic athletes were among the last torchbearers before the cauldron was lit.

It will blaze until the closing ceremony on Aug. 11.

At the start of the parade, applause erupted for the Greek boat - the first delegation, by tradition - and there were even bigger cheers for the boat that followed, carrying the refugees' team. The French, US and Ukrainian delegations also got loud cheers.

The two most decorated athletes in the Games' history, Michael Phelps and Martin Fourcade, unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medals.

At one point, there was a live crossover to the early morning welcome ceremony at the surfing venue, 16,000 km away in the Pacific island of Tahiti.

ISRAEL DELEGATION

France is at its highest level of security, though officials have repeatedly said there was no specific threat to the opening ceremony or the Games.

But since the last Games - the Winter Olympics held in Beijing in 2022 - wars have erupted in Ukraine and Gaza, providing a tense international backdrop.

Israeli competitors are being escorted by elite tactical units to and from events and are given 24-hour protection throughout the Olympics due to the war in Gaza, officials say.

The Israel delegation got some boos, but also a lot of cheers, as it sailed by spectators, Reuters reporters saw. Chants of "Palestine! Palestine! Palestine!" rose from the crowd as the boat passed.

Macron, who won a second mandate two years ago, had hoped the Olympics would cement his legacy. But his failed bet on a snap legislative election has weakened him and cast a shadow over his moment on the international stage.