Sunday’s briefing: Man City slip up and Dele Alli sees red on football return | OneFootball

Manchester City’s bid for Champions League football next season suffered a setback as they twice let slip the lead in a 2-2 draw at home against Brighton.

Wolves took a big step towards Premier League safety after winning 2-1 at Southampton, who are now 17 points from safety at the foot of the table and appear destined for an immediate return to the Sky Bet Championship.

Chelsea remain on course for the quadruple after lifting their first trophy of the season by beating Manchester City 2-1 in the Women’s League Cup final at Pride Park.

We have nine cup finals – Pep

Pep Guardiola admitted he could feel the anxiety in the Etihad Stadium, but remains confident Manchester City will qualify for the Champions League.

The champions missed the chance to return to the Premier League’s top four on Saturday as they were held to a 2-2 draw by fellow European challengers Brighton after twice surrendering the lead.

Guardiola had no complaints about the result after Erling Haaland’s penalty and an Omar Marmoush strike were cancelled out by Pervis Estupinan’s free-kick and Abdukodir Khusanov’s own goal.

The Spaniard sensed a nervousness in the crowd, saying: “Yes definitely. Everybody feels the pressure. But it is what it is. We have to play better and after they will be back.

“In the good moments they are there but, of course, they feel it when it is not good. I’m always confident – in that I am a master. I do have moments (when) I can doubt but I find the right way, the positiveness in everything.

“I know it will be difficult for many reasons but we have nine games, nine finals.”

Pereira takes heart

Vitor Pereira said he is feeling the challenge of keeping Wolves in the Premier League “with my heart” after they took a significant step towards survival with a 2-1 victory at rock-bottom Southampton.

Jorgen Strand Larsen’s brace moved Wanderers nine points clear of third-bottom Ipswich, with Paul Onuachu pulling a goal back for Southampton, who are now without a win since the start of February and 17 points from safety.

Pereira said: “This club doesn’t deserve relegation, the people of this club don’t deserve it. I’m feeling this with my heart and it’s a project I want to take with both hands.

“Nine points is better than six (the gap to the bottom three). We can keep the nine points and try to be consistent. In this league we can’t sleep, we can’t go into games thinking that we can wait for results, we must fight, we must deserve the victory.”

Bompastor wants more silverware

Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor knows there is plenty of work still to do as her side took the first step in their quest for an historic quadruple by winning the Women’s League Cup.

Mayra Ramirez’s early opener and Yui Hasegawa’s own goal gave the Blues a 2-1 win at Pride Park and earned Bompastor’s first trophy in charge.

Victory saw her side draw first blood in their run of four successive matches against City, with a two-legged Champions League quarter-final and Women’s Super League match to come in the next 12 days.

Bompastor said: “We just want to make sure at the end we grab as many trophies as we can, knowing it will be really difficult.

“But before I was saying we didn’t win anything yet, so now I can start to say we won one trophy, but only one out of four. And yeah, I will be maybe celebrating the most if we can get more than one.”

Dele red sours comeback

Former England star Dele Alli endured a nightmare return on his first competitive appearance in over two years as he was sent off less than 10 minutes into his debut for Serie A side Como.

Dele, once a leading light at Tottenham and a World Cup semi-finalist with Gareth Southgate’s England in 2018, has been trying to put his career back on track after being picked up by Como boss Cesc Fabregas before Christmas.

He was summoned from the bench in the 81st minute of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at AC Milan, stepping out at San Siro to end a wait that dates back to his last appearance on loan at Besiktas in February 2023.

But his comeback turned sour when he made a clumsy challenge on former England team-mate Ruben Loftus-Cheek at the start of added time. He was shown an initial yellow card by referee Matteo Marchetti, but a VAR review saw the caution turned into a red.

What’s on today?

Liverpool will bid for a record-extending 11th League Cup victory at Wembley against Newcastle, who hope to end their 56-year wait for a major trophy.

There is also plenty at stake in three Premier League matches, which feature two London derbies.

Arsenal take on top-four rivals Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium and Tottenham play at Fulham, while Manchester United hope to follow up their midweek Europa League success with victory at second-bottom Leicester.

Three other local derbies will also unfold as Celtic take on Rangers at Parkhead and Dundee United play Dundee at Tannadice Park in the William Hill Scottish Premiership, while Sheffield Wednesday host Sheffield United in the Sky Bet Championship.

In the Women’s Super League, bottom club Crystal Palace face second-bottom Aston Villa and Brighton play at mid-table rivals Tottenham.