ITALY
Naples, thanks to a 1-2 victory at Hellas Verona, pocketed the three points on Sunday afternoon during the 29th day of Serie A. The Partenopei temporarily climb to second place in the Italian football D1, at three lengths from AC Milan. Dries Mertens, the club’s all-time top scorer, remained on the bench. The Neapolitans were able to count on a double from their Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, passed by Sporting de Charleroi, scorer in the 14th then in the 71st. Luciano Spalletti’s troops then conceded a goal signed Davide Faraoni (77th) but the exclusion of Federico Ceccherini in the 83rd allowed them to manage the end of the match.
In the standings, Napoli (60 pts) is therefore second behind AC Milan (63). Inter Milan, who travel to Torino on Sunday, are third with 58 points and two games less.
ENGLAND
Chelsea win in extremis against Newcastle, important success for Watford and Kabasele
Chelsea had to draw on their physical and mental reserves on Sunday to line up a fifth success in a row in the Premier League. Long held in check by Newcastle, the Blues won 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Kai Havertz. Romelu Lukaku, who had to settle for five minutes in the Londoners’ last two league outings, came on in the 63rd minute. This victory bodes well for Thomas Tuchel’s men three days before their return match of the knockout stages of the Champions League in Lille. The first leg ended in a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge.
In the standings, Chelsea is firmly in third place with 59 points, far from the leading duo Manchester City (69 pts) – Liverpool (66) but also isolated from Manchester United, 4th with 50 units.
This match was held in a special climate for the Londoners. Indeed, theTechnical director Petr Cech admitted the Blues weren’t certain they could finish the seasonwith the restrictions imposed by the British government, as part of the sanctions against their Russian owner Roman Abramovich for his supposed links with Russian President Vladimir Putin who ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
The other two Belgians engaged this afternoon in the Premier League won. Leander Dendoncker played the whole game in the center of the game for Wolves, victorious at Everton (0-1) thanks to a goal from his captain Conor Coady. At the same time, Christian Kabasele and Watford brought back a very precious victory from their trip to Southampton (1-2). A brace from Cucho lifted the Hornets to 18th place on 22 points, level with Everton, the first club out of the red zone.
