Sala remembered as Liverpool, Man City resume title showdown

London (AFP) – Liverpool and Manchester City will resume their fight for Premier League supremacy in a midweek round of fixtures clouded by the suspected death of Cardiff striker Emiliano Sala.

The Bluebirds are in action for the first time since the plane carrying the Argentine disappeared over the Channel Islands a week ago. They visit Arsenal in what could have been Sala’s debut for the club.

In the title race, City have been forced to play catch-up since cutting Liverpool’s advantage at the top to four points by inflicting the Reds only league defeat of the season on January 3.

This week City can apply pressure by cutting the gap to a solitary point as they travel to struggling Newcastle 24 hours before Liverpool host Leicester.

AFP Sports picks out some of the main talking points ahead of the midweek games.

Sala remembered

“He’s going to be remembered as the best player we never had,” one Cardiff fan said when asked how to put Sala’s disappearance into words.

Signed from Nantes for a club record fee, struggling Cardiff hoped his goals could keep them in the Premier League. Now they must somehow try to achieve survival on the field while dealing with tragedy off it.

A minute’s silence will be held before all Premier League games this week in honour of Sala and the plane’s pilot David Ibbotson after the authorities called off their active search for the aircraft.

Once the action gets under way, though, Arsenal have to be ruthless in the fight for Champions League qualification — victory would take them level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea, who visit Bournemouth on Wednesday.

Cup capitulation heaps pressure on Spurs

“In reality the most important thing is being consistently in the top four and playing in the Champions League,” insisted Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino after crashing out of two cup competitions in four days.

Despite doing a remarkable job to turn Tottenham into top-four regulars, Pochettino is yet to win in a trophy in his five seasons at Spurs.

And by downplaying the importance of silverware, the Argentine has piled the pressure on his injury-ravaged side to hold onto their place in the top four to ensure Champions League qualification for a fourth straight season.

With Harry Kane and Dele Alli sidelined until March, a kind run of fixtures that sees Watford, Newcastle and Leicester visit Wembley before a trip to Burnley over the next month is just what Pochettino needs.

from World Soccer Talk http://bit.ly/2FTCJNO