A clash of second versus bottom and a feisty affair as Nottingham Forest beat Arsenal 2-1 to try and find a way out of the relegation zone. The game was Stuart Pearce’s first as player-manager for the Reds as Frank Clark left 24 hours earlier. Ian Wright opened the scoring for the Gunners, in the second half, as the keeper had spilled the ball ready for Martin Keown to pounce and provide for the Arsenal legend.

Within three minutes Forest had equalised, Alfie Haaland scored with a goal his son would have been proud of, a turn, and a shot into the bottom corner. Ian Wright was then sent off a few minutes later for a swipe to the gut of a Forest defender, unnecessary and detrimental as Arsenal played a Buoyant Forest team with ten men for the final 20 minutes. And Forest capitalised, Haaland managed to grab the ball from between two Arsenal defenders and shoot past John Lukic, grabbing Forest a win and costing Arsenal top spot at Christmas.

Forest still went down at the end of the season and Arsenal finished third as Manchester United won the league. A nice introduction for Arsene Wenger to the Premier League. If the same result is produced this weekend, Manchester City will be champions and this time Nottingham Forest will surely be safe.

Everything you need from a top-of-the-table clash went down in this match. City took the lead and threw it away in an angry fit as Chelsea scored three and City had two men sent off. Pep Guardiola’s first title charge slowed down after this game whereas Antonio Conte’s continued to gather pace.

In an era when everyone doubted Pep Guardiola’s credentials in the Premier League, this game was a stark reminder that he still needed to adapt to the frantic English style of play. Jesus Navas’ whipped cross was accidentally diverted into his own goal by Gary Cahill, City was in the lead at half-time and looked like going top of the league ahead of the other games that weekend. Kevin De Bruyne missed an absolute sitter hitting the crossbar from five yards out.

Chelsea woke up after that, a long ball over the top, well controlled by Diego Costa who drove the ball past Claudio Bravo. Willian then put Chelsea ahead on a counter-attack. Finally, Eden Hazard put City out of their misery with a burst of speed and a cool finish, City’s defense had no chance of another Chelsea break. And in an uncharacteristic loss of cool heads, Sergio Aguero scythed David Luiz in half, before Fernandinho started choking Cesc Fabregas. Both Players were duly sent off, Chelsea would never look back as they won the league.

In late September 2003, the two most recent champions of Spain clashed to figure out who will set the pace that season. Real Madrid was the team to beat with their Galacticos, they were the reigning champions of Europe and Spain with the likes of Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Ronaldo (the original), Luis Figo, and Roberto Carlos. Valencia had been the Spanish champions in 2002, winning with a team built around Mista, Vicente, Roberto Ayala, and Pablo Aimar.

This was the first showdown of the season between the two, and Rafael Benitez wanted to prove that his side was not a one-trick pony. Valencia took the lead through Miguel Angel Mista five minutes into the game. The striker who had failed to break through the Real Madrid youth system settled down to become one of Valencia’s most iconic modern-era players.

Real Madrid was uncharacteristically sluggish and the second goal was a failure to clear their box properly, the ball bounced kindly for Ricardo Oliveira to smash in with the defense all over the place. Valencia would win 2-0 and with the likes of Vicente, Mista, Pablo Aimar, and co they marched all the way to their second league title in three seasons and a UEFA cup to boot.

On a chilly winter evening at the very beginning of 2018, the Seville derby delivered an absolute classic. Real Betis had gone into the match having only finished ahead of Sevilla once in the past 12 years, 2012-13 season, and only beat their cross-city rivals four times in that period. Sevilla also won five Europa League titles across that time so safe to say this fixture is one-sided. However, this game was different, within a minute of starting Los Verdiblancos took the lead with a fabulous shot by Fabian Ruiz. Wissam Ben Yedder chipped the keeper 13 minutes later to equalise for Sevilla before a brilliant couple of headers shared between Zouhair Feddal and Simon Kjaer made it 2-2 at half-time.

The second half continued in much the same vein. In a ten-minute period, Betis went 4-2 up before Sevilla pulled one back. Riza Durmisi managed to run free behind the Sevilla defense and two minutes later Betis scored again, Sergio Leon with a beautiful little touch past the keeper. Clement Lenglet pulled one back for the Rojiblancos. As Sevilla chased the equaliser Cristian Tello broke alone, held off his defender, and slotted past the keeper, sending the Betis fans into chaos in the away end.

This is the joint highest-scoring derby in all competitions, Sevilla won 5-3 in 1962 in the Copa del Generalissimo, and the highest ever in the league with eight goals. Betis would finish above Sevilla by the end of the season and have not done so again since, and could do again this season. This weekend could be a green celebration in the Andalusian capital.

This weekend Boston and Miami will share the court for a best-of-seven series once more in the conference finals as they did 11 years ago. A clash for supremacy in the East, the two teams had met in the previous two playoffs, splitting the victories. The Celtics were at the end of an era with a fantastic big three; Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Rajon Rondo giving fans a first world title in two decades in 2008. The Heat were just beginning their dynasty with a dominating big three; Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh finishing second in the East in the regular season for a second year in a row and wanted to confirm it with a world title of their own this time.

Lebron in true Lebron fashion was averaging over 30 points a game in this series to carry the Heat over the line. The tie swung back and forth after Miami took a 2-0 series lead, and Boston came back to go ahead 3-2. However, Miami riding on the back of “King” James would not accept defeat. In the final game seven, despite Rajon Rondo’s best efforts, a triple-double on the night, it would be Miami that would clinch a berth in the NBA finals for the second year in a row. The Heat became champions a few weeks later beating the Oklahoma City Thunder and Lebron would finally get his coveted ring, the first of four.

The Rugby European Champions Cup final is upon us, and we have a repeat of last year’s final. Leinster and La Rochelle entertained us in a tight affair. The Dublin-based team was cruising to victory on the back of an excellent performance by club legend Jonathan Sexton who scored six penalties. La Rochelle had taken an early lead through Raymond Rhule, the South African left winger, who split the Leinster defense in half with sheer speed to score the first try of the game.

With 20 minutes to go the score was 18-10 for the Irishmen with Les Corsaires finding it difficult to break them down. Nonetheless, they finally did as a throw-in was then mauled over for a try by Pierre Bourgarit. In the final minute, Stade Rochelais pushed and rucked until eventually they broke through the last line of defense and Arthur Retiere just about managed to get over for the win. This is La Rochelle’s first-ever title, they are hoping to make it back-to-back against Leinster. On the other hand, the Irish province is looking for its first title since 2018, five long years for Jonny Sexton and co.

Ten years on and Napoli are finally champions of Italy after 33 years of waiting. It could have been 23 years but for Juventus becoming the most dominant team in Italian football history. The team from the south, Diego Maradona’s second home, did not go down without a fight and in the final weeks of the season, they beat Inter 3-1 as they pushed for that elusive third league title. A hat trick by Edinson Cavani beat the former Treble-winners. Just in 2010, the Nerazzurri had won the Champions League, Serie A and the Copa Italia under the management of Jose Mourinho.

However, with the exception of Christian Chivu, Inter had lost all their players who started in the Champions League final. As for Napoli, this was the beginning of a decade’s odyssey to get the Serie A title. Cavani had one of his best games for Gli Azzurri running through and slotting the ball home for his first. He scored his second from the penalty spot, and his third a sliding volley into an empty net as the ball eluded Samir Handanovic. Cavani would leave the club soon after, but Napoli would remain on the hunt until, ten years later, they finally achieved their ultimate glory.

In a derby of little significance to the standings, Benfica won the bragging rights. The game was meant to be a celebration for the green side of Lisbon. Sporting won the league for the first time since 2002 and wanted to celebrate in style against their arch-nemesis Benfica. The Eagles had won seven league titles in that time progressing to 37 overall championships more than half their Green and White rivals.

The Reds took an early lead in the 12^th minute, Haris Seferovic scored a through ball, Pizzi made it two on the half hour mark and Lucas Verissimo made it three before the game had reached 40 minutes. It was turning into an embarrassing afternoon for the Lions but a goal before half time reduced the deficit. Seferovic’ second goal from the penalty spot after the break put the tie to bed.

Sporting did have a few glorious chances to pull the game back, a sweet volley from Nuno Santos and a penalty of their own scored by Pedro Goncalves, his second goal, did make Benfica nervous. The Eagles would hold on to get bragging rights over their rivals, reminding them that no matter what, even if they are champions, Benfica will always be around to overshadow the Green and White’s achievements.

A must win game for Lille who were going toe-to-toe with Paris Saint Germain in the title race. A decade earlier Lille were champions with a team that was built around the fantastic Eden Hazard. Most of France were rooting for them to pull off a shock title victory against the Qatari-owned club from the capital. It would be a remarkable title, especially as PSG have great players such as Kylian Mbappe and Neymar playing for them and had won the previous three league titles and seven out of the last eight.

The game was a stalemate for 90 minutes with Lille trying desperately to break down a dogged Marseille side. In added time, a spill by Marseille keeper Steve Mandanda allowed Lille to finally break the deadlock, a tap in for Canadian Jonathan David. A couple of minutes later Lille confirmed their victory with a breakaway goal. Mandanda’s save went straight to a Lille player who found Jonathan David unmarked with a first time pass and all the Canadian had to do was find the back of the net. Lille beat the Parisians by one point to win the title in the end, a point Marseille will be happy to say they contributed to.

Lyon and Monaco consistently produce exciting matches. The perfect example was in 2017. They faced off in the hope of chasing down PSG, Monaco had succeeded the season prior and came into the game as the champions of France. Their team was almost stripped of all their talents in the summer, however, losing the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Bernardo Silva.

Lyon had started the season well and this game was a first test. Mariano opened the score making sure to get to a low pass across the box. Rony Lopes was set loose and equalised within ten minutes for Monaco. Nabil Fekir would restore Lyon’s lead but a few minutes later Adama Traore leveled for Monaco with an absolute rocket past Anthony Lopes.

The second half was end-to-end, with neither club stopping until they got the winner, and it would be Lyon who would take all three points. In the dying seconds of the game, Nabil Fekir’s long-distance free-kick fizzed past Danijel Subasic into the back of the net. Both clubs would finish in the top three with Monaco finishing second, a season that demonstrated so much promise eventually saw both lose out to the behemoth from the capital, PSG.