Liverpool Poised for Premier League Coronation, Leicester, Ipswich for Relegation

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk extended his contract on Thursday. Paul ELLIS / AFP/File
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk extended his contract on Thursday. Paul ELLIS / AFP/File
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Liverpool Poised for Premier League Coronation, Leicester, Ipswich for Relegation

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk extended his contract on Thursday. Paul ELLIS / AFP/File
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk extended his contract on Thursday. Paul ELLIS / AFP/File

Liverpool could seal the Premier League on Sunday should the runaway leaders condemn Leicester to relegation and Arsenal suffer a Champions League hangover by losing at Ipswich.
Victory for the Gunners at Portman Road could also see Ipswich mathematically relegated should West Ham and Wolves win.

Unlike the battles for the league title and to avoid the drop, the race for a place in next season's Champions League is set to go down to the wire.

Just five points separate Newcastle in third from seventh-placed Aston Villa ahead of their clash at Villa Park.

AFP Sports looks at the major talking points ahead of this weekend's action.

Liverpool's Super Sunday?

Thirteen points clear at the top of the table with six games to go, it is only a question of when not if Liverpool will move level with Manchester United on a record 20 English top-flight titles.

Two more wins will finish the job for Arne Slot's men and they could not ask for more obliging fixtures as a trip to beleaguered Leicester is followed by struggling Tottenham's trip to Anfield.

However, the title race may not even go beyond Easter Sunday should Ipswich inflict Arsenal's first league defeat since February.

The focus of attention for Mikel Arteta's men has been switched to Champions League glory after an emphatic 5-1 aggregate win over holders Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

Three up, three down concern
Southampton's return to the Championship at the first time of asking was confirmed in record time with seven games remaining.

Leicester and Ipswich have not fared much better to spark concerns over the growing chasm between the Premier League and the second tier.

For the second consecutive season all three promoted clubs are set to be relegated.

Leicester, who shocked the world to win the title less than a decade ago, have endured a miserable campaign, especially since Ruud van Nistelrooy was installed as manager.

The Foxes have taken just four points from their last 17 matches to fall 17 points adrift of safety.

Ipswich's approach has earned more admirers but they have also won only four league games all season to sit just three points better off than Leicester.

Villa crave Champions League return
Both Villa and Newcastle are hungry for more after having a taste of the Champions League for the first time in decades over the past two seasons.

Villa's first foray into European football's elite level for the first time since 1983 finally came to an end in a thrilling 5-4 aggregate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

Unai Emery, who also led the Birmingham club to the Europa Conference League semi-finals last season, is determined to take the 1982 European champions even further.

Four consecutive Premier League wins have propelled Emery's men back into contention for a top-five finish, that will be enough for Champions League qualification.

"The more demanding objective we can have is to get again Champions League," said Emery.

"The challenge we have now is for the last six matches we are going to play, try to get Europe and try to get Champions League."

Villa face a daunting run in with their next four games against competitors for the European places in Newcastle, Manchester City, Bournemouth and Fulham.

Newcastle are flying as five consecutive league wins either side of lifting the League Cup has taken the Magpies into third.

Eddie Howe is set to miss a third match due to pneumonia, but Newcastle showed little sign of missing their manager in scoring nine goals in dominant wins over Manchester United and Crystal Palace in the past week.



Real Madrid Defender Éder Militão Set to Be Sidelined for Few Months because of Injury

Real Madrid's Eder Militao is assisted from the pitch after getting an injury during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Real Madrid's Eder Militao is assisted from the pitch after getting an injury during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
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Real Madrid Defender Éder Militão Set to Be Sidelined for Few Months because of Injury

Real Madrid's Eder Militao is assisted from the pitch after getting an injury during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Real Madrid's Eder Militao is assisted from the pitch after getting an injury during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Real Madrid defender Éder Militão is expected to be sidelined for at least three months because of a left leg injury.

The club said Monday that Militão underwent tests and was diagnosed with a rupture of the biceps femoris tendon in his leg. It said his “progress will be monitored.”

Such injuries could require from three to fourth months of recovery, Spanish media said, The AP news reported.

Militão had to leave Madrid's 2-0 loss to Celta Vigo in the Spanish league on Sunday in the first half. He was assisted off the field at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

Militão, a Brazil international, had to deal with serious knee injuries in recent years.

He is the latest setback to affect Xabi Alonso's squad that has been depleted by injuries recently.


Mbappé Faces Haaland in Champions League Appetizer for World Cup. Troubled Liverpool Goes to Inter

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe poses with the trophy after scoring four goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Olympiacos and Real Madrid, in in Piraeus port, near Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe poses with the trophy after scoring four goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Olympiacos and Real Madrid, in in Piraeus port, near Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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Mbappé Faces Haaland in Champions League Appetizer for World Cup. Troubled Liverpool Goes to Inter

Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe poses with the trophy after scoring four goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Olympiacos and Real Madrid, in in Piraeus port, near Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe poses with the trophy after scoring four goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Olympiacos and Real Madrid, in in Piraeus port, near Athens, Greece, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A Champions League clash between Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland will surely happen in the final one day.

On Wednesday, it is a routine league-phase game when Real Madrid hosts Manchester City and the most feared forwards in soccer cross paths for the third time in the competition since Haaland debuted in 2019.

Also this week, Liverpool brings its season of turmoil to San Siro against Inter Milan on Tuesday, when Bayern Munich hosts Sporting Lisbon. Paris Saint-Germain is at Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday, The AP news reported.

In the sixth of the eight rounds, league-leading Arsenal can become the first team to reach the 16-point total that last season ensured advancing direct to the round of 16, The AP news reported.

Arsenal is the only team with five straight wins on 15 points and needs to avoid defeat Tuesday at Club Brugge to reach the potential cutoff between eighth and ninth place in January.

Mbappé vs. Haaland Tuesday at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium likely won’t be the last time they meet this season.

France will play Norway on June 26 at the New England Patriots’ stadium in Foxborough, Mass., in one of the most anticipated games from the World Cup draw made Friday.

There might also be more in the Champions League given that Real Madrid and Manchester City met in the knockout rounds in each of the past four seasons. They combined to win three titles in that time though Mbappé still seeks his first.

Mbappé vs. Haaland first happened in the round of 16 in February 2020. Newly arrived at Borussia Dortmund, Haaland scored two in the first leg against Paris Saint-Germain and revealed his “Zen” goal celebration, sitting down cross-legged as if meditating. Mbappé and PSG won in Paris to advance 3-2 on aggregate score.

Last season, in the knockout playoffs in February, Mbappé scored four times including a hat trick in the second leg as Madrid beat Man City in both games, despite Haaland’s two goals in the first leg.

Mbappé’s four goals at Olympiakos last month lifted him to be top scorer in the Champions League this season. He needs one more to reach 10 in a Champions League season for the first time during his decade in the competition.

Haaland has five so far, and already got into double figures in three Champions League campaigns.

Madrid starts the week in fifth place on 12 points, two ahead of City in ninth in the 36-team standings.

Equally prolific Kane Harry Kane is just as prolific for Bayern Munich this season. He has scored 28 in just 22 games for Bayern plus five in five World Cup qualifiers for England.

Kane has kept pace with Haaland’s goal-a-game ratio in the Champions League and kept Bayern third in the standings, despite losing at Arsenal two weeks ago.

Ahead of Kane and Haaland is six-goal Victor Osimhen, who is fit to return with Galatasaray at Monaco on Tuesday. Both teams are in contention for a top-24 finish and places in the knockout stage starting in February.

Frankfurt fans return Barcelona hosting Eintracht Frankfurt is a repeat of a remarkable show of force by visiting fans four seasons ago — and one the Spanish club has now worked to avoid.

Eintracht’s road to winning the Europa League in 2022 included what looked and sounded like a home game to win 3-2 at Camp Nou in the second leg of the quarterfinals.

About 30,000 German fans were there after most bought tickets from Barcelona fans, who last week were warned by their club not to do that again.

“If the traceability of ticket purchases and their final destination reveals fraudulent behavior, the case will be referred to the disciplinary committee,” Barcelona said last week in a statement.

Barcelona is certainly favored to win this time. The La Liga leader scored five in winning at the weekend while Eintracht was routed 6-0 at Leipzig.

Winter is coming It will be an unusually early Champions League kickoff at 4:30 p.m. Central Europe Time when Kairat Almaty hosts Olympiakos on Tuesday. That is 8:30 p.m. in eastern Kazakhstan where evening temperatures can plummet in December.

UEFA planned well to schedule the game Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Forecast temperature at kickoff is about 0 Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) while it should be -12 C (10 F) at the same time one day later.

Bodo/Glimt’s European season continues at Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday after its domestic season finished in Norway being edged for the title by Viking. The Norwegian league avoids the bitter winter and Glimt has two more Champions League games in January, and maybe more in the knockout phase, during the Norwegian offseason.


Salah Is Destroying His Liverpool Legacy, Says Rooney 

A man photographs his wife next to a mural of Egypt soccer player Mohamed Salah, who joined Liverpool FC as a winger in 2017, painted by artist John Culshaw, in Liverpool, Britain, December 7, 2025. (Reuters)
A man photographs his wife next to a mural of Egypt soccer player Mohamed Salah, who joined Liverpool FC as a winger in 2017, painted by artist John Culshaw, in Liverpool, Britain, December 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Salah Is Destroying His Liverpool Legacy, Says Rooney 

A man photographs his wife next to a mural of Egypt soccer player Mohamed Salah, who joined Liverpool FC as a winger in 2017, painted by artist John Culshaw, in Liverpool, Britain, December 7, 2025. (Reuters)
A man photographs his wife next to a mural of Egypt soccer player Mohamed Salah, who joined Liverpool FC as a winger in 2017, painted by artist John Culshaw, in Liverpool, Britain, December 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is destroying his legacy at the club with his fiery reaction to being left out of the side, former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney said.

Salah has failed to start their last three matches and lashed out at the club and coach Arne Slot following Saturday's 3-3 Premier League draw with Leeds United, saying he had been made a scapegoat for their poor start to the season.

The Egyptian, who signed a two-year contract extension in April, has become an iconic figure in an eight-year spell at Liverpool in which he has won two Premier League titles and scored 250 goals in all competitions.

However, he has scored just five goals and appeared in 19 games in all competitions this season.

"He is absolutely destroying his legacy at Liverpool," Rooney said on his podcast. "It would be sad for him to throw it all away. He's gone about it all wrong.

"Arne Slot has to show his authority and pull him in and say, 'you are not travelling with the team, what you said is not acceptable.'

"Take yourself off to Afcon (Africa Cup of Nations) and let everything calm down. If I was him there would be no way he would be in the team."

Salah had said he felt as if he had been "thrown under the bus" with Liverpool failing to reproduce their title-winning form from last season.

They are ninth in the current campaign, 10 points behind leaders Arsenal after 15 games.

"If anything, he has thrown Liverpool under the bus with his words...," Rooney said. "I am sure over the next couple of years he will regret saying what he has."