Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk step up for Liverpool in Merseyside derby, Aston Villa set up perfect run-in – Premier League hits and misses | Football News

Salah and Van Dijk step up for Reds

Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk have won the lot at Liverpool so you could detect a certain reluctance from them to overstate the significance of their 2-1 win in the first ever Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium. But it was notable who stepped up.

Credit to Cody Gakpo for his fine assist for the opener and to Dominik Szoboszlai for setting up the winner. Curtis Jones impressed out of position at right-back. But Salah and Van Dijk scored the goals, the latter’s winning header coming in the 100th minute.

The pair have been much maligned this season and understandably so with Salah’s level, in particular, dipping alarmingly. But on derby day these Liverpool legends delivered two more big moments. Who will produce for this team when they are gone?

It was not an afternoon to be persuaded that Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz are ready for that mantle. Isak, clearly nowhere near back to full fitness and fluency, was quiet throughout. Wirtz had less of an excuse as he struggled to cope with the demands.

Both men cost in excess of £100m each last summer and there will be patience at the top of the club, a trust that there is much more to come from the pair. But it was Salah and Van Dijk, even past their best, who showed what it takes to be Liverpool heroes.
Adam Bate

Villa set up for perfect finish – but no more blood-pressure raising please

Aston Villa are doing it the hard way, but are quietly setting themselves up for a historic end to the season.

Despite taking just five points from six matches with last weekend’s draw at Nottm Forest, seven days later the Villans are all-but home and hosed in the race for the Champions League and emphatically into the semi-finals of the Europa League.

They’ve not made things easy for themselves this season, failing to win a game or even score a goal until late September and their normally reliable top scorer Ollie Watkins netting only once between the start of February and Sunday’s win over Sunderland.

But after a double from the England forward and the latest of late wins to move 10 points clear inside the top five, things are looking as rosy as they have done all year.

Conceivably, by the time of Villa’s Europa League semi-final first leg with Forest a week on Thursday, they can be mathematically guaranteed of a Champions League spot – or near enough – while Vitor Pereira’s side are unlikely to be out of the woods of Premier League survival.

There’s a reason Unai Emery is such a master of the tournament. Yet again, everything is falling into place at the right time.
Ron Walker

Everton’s defeat means there’s everything to play for in race for Europe

Everton haven’t played in Europe since 2017/18, but had they won the Merseyside derby, they would have stormed up to sixth and into pole position for a place in next season’s Europa League.

The fact they did not win means the battle to finish in sixth and seventh in the final month of the season should be gripping.

Right now, Chelsea sit sixth, with Brentford in seventh. Both teams have collected 48 points, along with Bournemouth, who are eighth, owing to an inferior goal difference.

Then come Brighton and Everton in ninth and 10th – both on 47 points – Sunderland in 11th on 46 points and Fulham in 12th on 45 points.

Expect plenty of movement in the final five matchweeks. This race is far from run.
Dan Long

Gibbs-White leads from the front in Forest fightback

Morgan Gibbs-White was the undisputed star of the show as Nottingham Forest, leading from the front as a true captain.

Forest knew that a win would greatly boost their chances of avoiding relegation, but they were made to work for it after a flat first half.

In those moments, you need your senior players to step up, hold themselves and their team accountable and give everything for the cause – Gibbs-White epitomised that and more. His equaliser opened the floodgates to a superb half an hour of football from Forest.

He had the most shots in the game (5) and the highest individual xG (0.73) – a number he wildly exceeded. His three shots on target were all goals, and he won both of his tackles, the joint-second highest among his team-mates.

All of his finishes were superb for his first career hat-trick, although Burnley have to ask why he was allowed so much space for all three goals.

Forest won’t mind at all though, with Vitor Pereira saying of his captain: “He’s a top player with a character, even when the first half was not his best… He showed what a captain must do in a difficult situation.”

The Forest hierarchy have made some poor decisions this season, but convincing Gibbs-White to stay in the summer was their best business of all.
Charlotte Marsh

Inconsistency costs Burnley yet again

Nottingham Forest had not won at home in the Premier League since December 14 heading into this weekend, and Burnley would have smelt an opportunity.

This would have been enforced further with the ultimate psychological sucker punch in a relegation showdown as they went ahead just before the break.

And for 60-odd minutes, Burnley kept their shape well, did not concede any shots on target and took advantage of a Forest’s European exertions on Thursday.

But as Scott Parker admitted himself, once Morgan Gibbs-White’s equaliser went in, the floodgates opened in the wrong direction.

Burnley seemingly forgot the Forest captain was on the pitch, such was the lack of marking for his goals. Gibbs-White needs little encouragement to shoot, but in a game like this, it was fatal for the Clarets’ survival hopes.

There were still glimpses of their own attacking prowess, but it was not enough.

Burnley have not produced a consistent performance for an entire 90 minutes this season, and haven’t been strong enough to keep from collapsing in those bad moments.

They are closing in on yet another return to the Championship and in doing so, would be only second club in Premier League era to be promoted or relegated in five successive seasons.
Charlotte Marsh