Haaland returns yet Man City stumbles to leave Champions League hopes in doubt
The long-awaited return of Erling Haaland couldn’t stop Manchester City from tumbling to another poor result in a season to forget for the deposed Premier League champion.
Indeed, after a dire 0-0 draw at already-relegated Southampton on Saturday, even qualification for the lucrative Champions League — something taken for granted by City for so many seasons — is still far from certain with two games left.
Failing to beat the Premier League’s last-placed team, and one of the worst to ever play in England’s top flight, threw City’s ambitions of a top-five finish back into doubt.
Even more so with Aston Villa, one of a raft of clubs battling with City to get into the Champions League, beating Bournemouth 1-0 thanks to Ollie Watkins’ first-half goal.
It could barely be tighter in that race. Third-placed City moved two points clear of Newcastle and Chelsea — who meet at St. James’ Park on Sunday — and also sixth-placed Villa. Nottingham Forest is two points further back but also has a game in hand, at home to already-relegated Leicester on Sunday.
Six points separate Arsenal in second place and Forest in seventh.
It seemed as if City turned the corner after a terrible run of results from November to February that knocked Pep Guardiola’s team out of contention for a fifth straight Premier League title as well as the Champions League.
Indeed, arriving at Southampton on the back of four straight victories and with star striker Haaland back after six weeks out with an ankle injury, City was even looking good to jump above Arsenal and finish second behind already-crowned champion Liverpool.
Yet City was sluggish, Haaland barely got a chance and the recalled Phil Foden continued to look a shadow of the guy who was English soccer’s player of the year last season.
This draw will revive the concerns about Guardiola’s team ahead of games to close its Premier League campaign, at home to Bournemouth — a club chasing a first ever qualification for European competition — and away to Fulham. Before that, there is an FA Cup final against Crystal Palace next weekend.
For Guardiola, whose team failed to beat an opponent on the bottom of the standings for the first time since joining City in 2016, it will be a “fight until the end” to qualify for the Champions League.
“We take that point still,” Guardiola said. “It’s in our hands.”
Southampton avoids unwanted record
Southampton was able to celebrate no longer being at threat of earning the label of the worst ever Premier League team.
The draw moved the Saints onto 12 points — one more than the lowest ever points haul in a single Premier League season, set by Derby County in 2007-08.
Watkins’ milestone
Watkins stretched out his boot and glanced home Morgan Rogers’ cross for Villa’s winner that also marked a milestone for the striker.
The England international moved into the outright lead as Villa’s record scorer in the Premier League with 75 goals, one more than Gabby Agbonlahor.
Villa finished with 10 men after Jacob Ramsey’s 80th-minute sending off for two yellow cards but hung on to stay in contention to qualify for the Champions League for a second straight season.
The chase for Europe
Finishing in eighth place could secure qualification for next season’s Conference League — Europe’s third-tier competition — and that remains the carrot for Brentford and Brighton after wins on Saturday.
Brentford beat already-relegated Ipswich 1-0 thanks to Kevin Schade’s glancing header from a corner in the 18th minute.
Brighton won at Wolverhampton 2-0 after a 10th goal of the season by Danny Welbeck — a penalty in the 28th — and Brajan Gruda, who chipped the goalkeeper in the 85th for his first goal for the south-coast club.
Eighth-placed Brentford and ninth-placed Brighton were tied for points, two more than Bournemouth and four more than Fulham, which lost at home to Everton 3-1.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer