Europe Discards Arsenal and Liverpool Shift Focus to EPL Title Race

 Liverpool's manager Jurgen Klopp takes his hat off to Liverpool supporters at the end of the Europa League quarterfinal, second leg, soccer match between Atalanta and Liverpool at the Stadio di Bergamo, in Bergamo, Italy, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP)
Liverpool's manager Jurgen Klopp takes his hat off to Liverpool supporters at the end of the Europa League quarterfinal, second leg, soccer match between Atalanta and Liverpool at the Stadio di Bergamo, in Bergamo, Italy, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP)
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Europe Discards Arsenal and Liverpool Shift Focus to EPL Title Race

 Liverpool's manager Jurgen Klopp takes his hat off to Liverpool supporters at the end of the Europa League quarterfinal, second leg, soccer match between Atalanta and Liverpool at the Stadio di Bergamo, in Bergamo, Italy, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP)
Liverpool's manager Jurgen Klopp takes his hat off to Liverpool supporters at the end of the Europa League quarterfinal, second leg, soccer match between Atalanta and Liverpool at the Stadio di Bergamo, in Bergamo, Italy, Thursday, April 18, 2024. (AP)

What will it take to win the English Premier League with six games remaining? That’s easy — perfection.

Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool — all eliminated from their European competitions this week — are locked in a tight battle for the title.

Defending champion City leads both rivals by two points but with Pep Guardiola’s team playing an FA Cup semifinal against Chelsea on Saturday, Arsenal and Liverpool can gain ground.

“If you want to be champion in the Premier League, you have to be close to perfection,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said on Friday ahead of a visit to Fulham on Sunday.

“Anything other than perfect, you have to deal with the setbacks in the best possible way. That’s what we are now doing. We had a setback week,” he said. “Now we have to start turning it around.”

Arsenal, too.

Mikel Arteta’s team gets first crack at retaking the league lead when it visits Wolverhampton on Saturday.

Arsenal lost at home to Aston Villa 2-0 last Sunday and was eliminated from the Champions League by Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

“We don’t have to talk too much, it’s about showing against Wolves what we are made of to turn this situation around and it can look really positive,” Arteta said on Friday.

The second-place Gunners lead Liverpool on goal difference.

Like Arsenal, Klopp’s team lost ground to City last Sunday by losing at home to Crystal Palace 1-0. That was days after a surprise 3-0 loss to Atalanta at Anfield in the Europa League quarterfinals. The Reds won the second leg 1-0 in Bergamo but were still knocked out.

“The boys know that I don’t tell them things which I don’t believe in, and I’m 100% sure we can really win all the football games we have from now on,” Klopp said.

“If we would win all of our games, yeah, there’s a good chance that we will be champion. If not, then there’s a good chance somebody else is there. Maybe we only have to win five or whatever. Nobody knows. Who would have thought that Arsenal lose against Aston Villa? It just happens.”

City, bounced from the Champions League by Real Madrid on Wednesday, doesn’t play a Premier League game again until Thursday at Brighton.



Another Painful Home Defeat for Marseille as Auxerre Wins 3-1 in French League

Auxerre's Malian forward #17 Lassine Sinayoko (L) fights for the ball with Marseille's Argentinian defender #05 Leonardo Balerdi during the French L1 football match between Olympique de Marseille (OM) and AJ Auxerre at Stade Velodrome in Marseille, southern France on November 8, 2024. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
Auxerre's Malian forward #17 Lassine Sinayoko (L) fights for the ball with Marseille's Argentinian defender #05 Leonardo Balerdi during the French L1 football match between Olympique de Marseille (OM) and AJ Auxerre at Stade Velodrome in Marseille, southern France on November 8, 2024. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
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Another Painful Home Defeat for Marseille as Auxerre Wins 3-1 in French League

Auxerre's Malian forward #17 Lassine Sinayoko (L) fights for the ball with Marseille's Argentinian defender #05 Leonardo Balerdi during the French L1 football match between Olympique de Marseille (OM) and AJ Auxerre at Stade Velodrome in Marseille, southern France on November 8, 2024. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
Auxerre's Malian forward #17 Lassine Sinayoko (L) fights for the ball with Marseille's Argentinian defender #05 Leonardo Balerdi during the French L1 football match between Olympique de Marseille (OM) and AJ Auxerre at Stade Velodrome in Marseille, southern France on November 8, 2024. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)

Marseille slumped to its second successive French league loss at home when Auxerre grabbed a 3-1 win at the Stade Vélodrome on Friday.
Roberto de Zerbi’s team was whistled and jeered by the frustrated home fans, with some Auxerre players even attempting to console the likes of Marseille midfielder Adrien Rabiot. There was no such sympathy from the supporters, who booed and whistled their team.
Marseille was bidding to keep some pressure on Paris Saint-Germain after its 3-0 loss to the club in its last game at home.
But it was given a shock in the 10th minute on Friday when Lassine Sinayoko capitalized on a mistake from defender Lilian Brassier to score. It was the Malian forward’s second goal in as many games for Auxerre.
It got worse before the break, when Gaëtan Perrin and Hamed Junior Traoré scored two goals in three minutes for the visitors, The Associated Press reported.
Marseille tried responding in the second half, but Auxerre went closer to scoring at the other end.
Then Marseille was given a lifeline when Clement Akpa was penalized for handball. Mason Greenwood duly scored the penalty in the 65th.
But that was as good as it got for de Zerbi’s team with Auxerre’s defense on top despite missing some first-choice players through injury.