johnnyrocket - MyTwoCents
Daily sports briefs | A football roundup as the English and Italian seasons concluded.
TAKEAWAYS, STATS AND FUN FACTS FROM EPL CONCLUSION
Punter misses out - An unlucky punter missed out on a 66/1 bet by seconds in the EPL after he made the audacious bet pre-season that Jesse Lingard wouldn't pick up a single goal or assist all season. He was on track until the very last minute of the ENTIRE SEASON when Lingard took advantage of a Kasper Schmeichel howler to score into an empty net. OUCH. His bet? £10 to win £660.
Kevin de Bruyne equals assist record - KDB equalled Thierry Henry's 17-year-old assist record in the EPL with 20 assists. De Bruyne also added a goal to make his tally 13 for the season. How Jordan Henderson beat him to the Player of the Year Award, we will never know ...
Manchester City break 100 goals in a season for the third time - Manchester City's 102 goals this season marked the 3rd time they have broken 100 goals in a season and saw them outscore title winners Liverpool by 17 goals (102 v 87).
Liverpool achieve second-highest points tally in EPL history - Their total of 99 points was second only to Man City's 100 point season in 2017/18.
WINNERS ...
Golden Boot - Jamie Vardy 23 goals
Assist King - Kevin de Bruyne 20 assists
Golden Glove - Ederson 16 clean sheets
Fantasy League winner - Aleksandar Antonov 2575 points
TheLongBall.net Global winner - Paul Raudkepp 354 points
TheLongBall.net Global group winner - TokyoPremierLeague 8.8 average
SPARE A THOUGHT FOR ...
... Eddie Howe whose beloved Bournemouth went down despite winning 3-1 away at Everton. Howe had 11 years as a player and another 11 years as manager of Bournemouth in a remarkable display of loyalty. Whether he stays on or not remains to be seen as he is one of the best in the business.
... Brendan Rodgers who had Leicester almost assured of a Champions League place heading into lockdown. The Foxes were eight points ahead of Manchester United with just eight games to go but imploded to hand Manchester United a spot. A series of injuries to key players as well as a loss of confidence contributed to their downfall. Rodgers was extremely gracious and honourable in defeat though ... can you image how Jose Mourinho would have complained had that happened to him?
... Nigel Pearson who missed out on a £1 million bonus had Watford stayed up, despite being sacked with just 2 games to go in one of the most puzzling managerial axings in EPL history. Pearson had seemingly pulled Watford from guaranteed relegation to the brink of survival only to be fired at the final hurdle. The Watford owners deserve what they got in the end.
JUVE WIN RECORD 9TH STRAIGHT SERIE A TITLE
Juventus' 2-0 victory over Sampdoria sealed their 9th straight Serie A title making them the only team among Europe's top five leagues (England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France) to achieve such a feat. It was manager Maurizio Sarri's first-ever title leading him to humbly exclaim that "this team must be very good if they can win under me".
MYTWOCENTS VERDICT - Sarri's celebrations may be short-lived as the Juve board is unlikely to give him another season ... winning the title is not enough at Juventus ... you need to win it in style. Watch this space.