England

Sometimes you have to wonder about the hype surrounding the English Premier League. You’re supposed to treat Manchester United-Liverpool like a druid at the summer solstice, but it turns out to be 90 minutes of apocalyptic despair.

You then put on Newcastle United-Burnley and see Atlanta United’s Miguel Almiron bossing things, $66 million Liverpool target James Tarkowski sky a sitter from yards out and commentators treat the introduction of a 38-year-old Peter Crouch like the second coming of Marco van Basten.

After unbelievable success in the Scottish Premiership, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is heading back to the Premier League to take over Leicester City.

#WelcomeBrendan 

— Leicester City (@LCFC) February 26, 2019

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer undoubtedly has made his mark at Manchester United. Even if the changes that were made to the side were small, the fruits of those changes are obvious. United haven't lost a single Premier League match since the Baby-faced Assassin took charge, the only blip on the radar being the PSG match.

In prospect, it was a great plan: Get up early, start with Manchester United versus Liverpool in a momentous, top four Premier League clash, and then seamlessly move on to the League Cup final between defending champions Manchester City and crisis-hit Chelsea.

There goes five hours of our day, and we didn’t get a goal to show for it.

Manchester United and Liverpool played to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday with the main talking point being the four first half injury substitutions (three for United, one for Liverpool) that drastically altered the shape of the game.

In the grand scheme of things, the draw sees Liverpool return to the top of the Premier League table with a one-point lead over Manchester City. After Arsenal’s victory over Southampton, the Gunners have overtaken the Red Devils in fourth by a single point.

Miguel Almiron has had a really good few months: an MLS Cup title with Atlanta, a well-earned move to Newcastle and now his first start for the Toon. What was even more special is that Almiron’s first start at St. James’ Park and for Newcastle was a man-of-the-match performance in a 2-0 win over Huddersfield Town on Saturday.

Javier Hernandez made his 150th Premier League appearance on Friday. Starting for West Ham against Fulham, the Mexico international notched his 50th Premier League goal. But the Chicharito goal vs Fulham was his first scored with his hand.

Who needs VAR?

One of two Friday night football matches in the Premier League, the West Ham-Fulham match was not without storylines. 

After stalling in the first half, Chelsea managed to turn up the heat and win 3-0 over Malmö FF (5-1 on aggregate) to move on in the UEFA Europa League.

Five yellow cards were handed out before the first goal was scored, four of them being given to Malmö players.

There were a lot of Liverpool vs Bayern Munich highlights from the Champions League Round of 16 first-leg match on Tuesday. Surprisingly, none of them included goals.

Neither team could find a way to break the deadlock as the teams settled for a 0-0 draw at Anfield ahead of a return trip to Allianz Arena in Munich on March 13. 

That the match finished scoreless came down to a combination of brilliant last-ditch defending and scuffed opportunities. The highlight of the match, however, was neither — just some really great, unwitting teamwork.

Both Chelsea and Manchester United had a point to prove this evening. Chelsea's been struggling for goals and results lately, and manager Maurizio Sarri has been under pressure from fans and the board. Chelsea has slid from fourth to sixth position in the Premier League, and the Blues needed a result today to steady the ship before the Carabao Cup final on Feb. 24.

On the other hand, Manchester United had been on a great run of form until finally hitting a PSG roadblock in the Champions league.