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• Ten-man Roma see off Serie A rivals AC Milan to book Europa League semi spot

  Roma’s 10 men held out to see off Serie A rivals AC Milan 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico and secure a place in the Europa League semi-finals.

  Leading 1-0 from the first leg, early goals from Gianluca Mancini and Paulo Dybala put the Giallorossi firmly in control of the tie.

  Roma defender Zeki Celik was shown a straight red card after 31 minutes for sliding in on Rafael Leao, but AC Milan could not make their advantage count despite a late consolation goal from Matteo Gabbia.

  Ahead of the match, Roma had confirmed head coach Daniele De Rossi would remain in charge for “the foreseeable future”, the former midfielder having overseen an upturn in fortunes since taking over in January after Jose Mourinho was sacked.

  Mancini – whose goal had settled the first leg at the San Siro – opened the scoring in the 12th minute.

  Roma captain Lorenzo Pellegrini collected the ball just outside the box and curled a shot against the far post. Mancini was first to the rebound, knocking it in from 10 yards.

  AC Milan went in search of a way back as Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s angled drive bounced up off the ground and deflected onto the crossbar.

  Roma doubled their lead in the 22nd minute.

  Romelu Lukaku showed great strength to barge past Gabbia and into the left side of the penalty area. Although the Milan defender recovered to stab Lukaku’s cross away, the ball fell to Dybala, who curled it into the far bottom corner.

  Belgian forward Lukaku then sustained an injury and was replaced by Tammy Abraham in the 29th minute.

  Roma found themselves down to 10 men just after the half-hour mark when Celik slid in on Leao as the Portuguese forward sprinted away down the left and was shown a straight red card by Polish referee Szymon Marciniak.

  The visitors were soon claiming a penalty when the ball bounced around a crowded penalty area and looked to have hit Mancini on the hand.

  However, after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor, the referee ruled the ball had struck Olivier Giroud’s hand first.

  Dybala was also forced off through injury just before half-time, with Diego Llorente coming on.

  Roma, who have climbed from ninth to fifth in Serie A under De Rossi, were content to allow Milan plenty of possession but without really stretching the home defensive line.

  The Giallorossi looked to hit Milan on the counter, with Leonardo Spinazzola played clear down the left but his low angled drive was pushed away by Mike Maignan.

  On the hour, Leao then cut inside to pull the ball back for Luka Jovic but his shot from 10 yards was straight at Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar.

  Roma winger Stephan El Shaarawy got away down the right and sent in a cross which Abraham first tried to flick goalwards with a backheel – and then blazed the loose ball over.

  Milan continued to struggle to down Roma before eventually scoring a late consolation when defender Gabbia headed in from Leao’s cross with five minutes left.

  In stoppage time, Milan defender Theo Hernandez was initially sent off for a foul on El Shaarawy – only for the referee to overturn his decision after taking another look on the monitor and show a yellow card instead.

• Massimiliano Allegri taking nothing for granted at resurgent strugglers Cagliari

  Cagliari’s record at home means Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri is not taking the trip to the Sardinian capital lightly.

  Juventus are well positioned to secure Champions League qualification for next season, while Cagliari are just four points above the drop zone ahead of Thursday’s contest at the Unipol Domus.

  The Bianconeri next take on Lazio in the Coppa Italia semi-final on Tuesday, holding a 2-0 lead from the first leg.

  But Allegri is wary of Claudio Ranieri’s Cagliari, who scored twice in the last quarter of an hour to secure a 2-2 draw at runaway league leaders Inter Milan last time out.

  “Of their eight wins this season, six have come at home and 23 of the 31 points they’ve got have been picked up at home,” Allegri told a press conference.

  “They’re a team who score a lot of goals in the last 15 minutes of games and particularly with players who come off the bench, they have scored more goals with substitutes than anybody else.

  “We know it will be a tough game, so our very best version will have to show up. We won’t be rotating ahead of the Italian Cup, the most important game is Cagliari, then we’ll focus on the cup.

  “It would be a mistake to not focus on Cagliari, and a win in Sardinia would allow us to take a big step towards our goals.”

  Juventus still have clashes against top-four rivals AC Milan, Roma and Bologna ahead of them in the next few weeks.

  “It’s important to stay focused on the next month or so,” Allegri added. “We have a lot of difficult games to come. A win at this stage is almost worth double.”

  Cagliari have lost just once in their last eight matches to ease relegation fears and twice hit back from a goal down to claim a surprise point at Inter Milan on Sunday.

  “I told the guys that they are doing well, but we have new pitfalls ahead of us,” Ranieri told a press conference.

  “The team is focused, we have to keep the right balance. We have to keep pushing without fear, the salvation fight is very tight. There are no foregone conclusions, you go out there and fight.”

• Haaland, Palmer, Watkins? Assessing the Premier League's Golden Boot candidates

  There is a thrilling three-horse race for the Premier League title as we approach the run-in, but there is also another tussle on the cards.

  The Golden Boot is up for grabs, with Erling Haaland having not quite hit the same heights as he did last season, when he broke the Premier League record for goals, with 36.

  Manchester City star Haaland is, as it stands, level with his former club-mate Cole Palmer at the top of the competition’s scoring charts, with 20 goals apiece.

  Palmer, who will go up against his old club in the FA Cup semi-finals this weekend, moved way up in the charts after he netted four times in Chelsea’s 6-0 rout of Everton on Monday.

  But with Palmer and Haaland in FA Cup action, there are plenty of other Golden Boot candidates looking to take advantage and nudge themselves to the front of the pack.

  Using Opta data, we assess the numbers behind the players vying for this individual accolade.

  Erling Haaland (20)

  Sure, Haaland might not quite have scaled the same heights as last season, but he has still scored 20 goals in 26 league games, scoring a goal every 109 minutes on average.

  However, the Norwegian has actually underperformed his expected goals (xG) of 23.7 – that 3.7 differential is actually the biggest xG underperformance of any player on this list.

  What about Haaland’s expected goals on target (xGOT)? That metric can be used to measure the quality of a player’s finishing, and Haaland’s xGOT of 20.3 suggests the 23-year-old is about on track based on where he has been placing his shots.

  Haaland has also chipped in with five assists, giving him an overall goal contributions tally of 25. He has created 28 goalscoring chances for team-mates across the campaign.

  Of course, Haaland is a penalty box poacher – 16 of his goals have come from inside the area, while 14 of them have come with his stronger left foot.

   

  Cole Palmer (20)

  Palmer has stolen the show this season for Chelsea, and is arguably the Blues’ driving force behind their push for European football.

  Having signed from City last summer, Palmer has made an instant impact despite only playing 27 times – he averages a goal every 103 minutes, which is better than any of the other candidates featured here.

  He scored a perfect hat-trick in the first half of the demolition of Everton, before adding a fourth from the penalty spot after the break – that was Palmer’s ninth successfully converted spot-kick in the league this term.

  Unlike Haaland, Palmer has overperformed his xG (15), with his non-penalty xG coming in at 7.9, while also proving his creative talents with nine assists from 53 chances created, which ranks behind only Mohamed Salah (60) of players featured here.

  Those 29 goal contributions are matched by only one other Premier League player…

  Ollie Watkins (19)

  One goal behind Palmer and Haaland, and someone who will be looking to get ahead when Aston Villa face Bournemouth on Sunday, is England international Watkins.

  A deft chip in Villa’s brilliant 2-0 win over Arsenal last time out brought up Watkins’ 19th top-flight goal of the campaign – he is now the club’s joint-leading scorer in a single season in the Premier League, matching Christian Benteke (2012-13).

   

  What separates Watkins from Palmer and Haaland is his minutes per goal ratio – Watkins has netted every 147 minutes on average, which is 44 minutes worse off than Palmer and 38 than Haaland.

  However, with 10 assists, the former Brentford forward leads the goal contributions charts along with Palmer. Interestingly, however, Watkins’ assists have come from an expected assists (xA) of just 3.6, suggesting he has been the benefactor of some particularly excellent finishing from his Villa team-mates.

  A goal against Bournemouth on Sunday would see Watkins become just the third English player to score 20+ goals and assist 10+ goals in a 38-game season, along with Frank Lampard in 2009-10 (22 goals, 14 assists) and Harry Kane in 2020-21 (23 goals, 14 assists)

  Watkins has proved to be a deadly finisher under Unai Emery, though the trick for opposing defences could be to prevent him getting space in the area to begin with, given that all 19 of his goals have come from inside the box. Obviously, that is easier said than done.

  Mohamed Salah (17)

  Liverpool will be hoping to bounce back from their damaging defeat to Crystal Palace last week when they take on Fulham on Sunday, and key to the Reds’ clinching success in Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour will surely be the form of Salah.

  Since sustaining an injury at the Africa Cup of Nations, Salah has not quite hit top form, but he has still netted 17 goals across 26 league appearances this term, though five of those have been penalties.

   

  With an xGOT of 18.4, Salah can point to some above average goalkeeping as a reason for a small underperformance.

  Creatively, Salah has been excellent, providing nine assists and crafting 60 opportunities, but the Reds will need him at his very best in the run-in.

  Alexander Isak (17)

  Isak was at the double in Newcastle United’s 4-0 thrashing of Tottenham last time out. He has now scored 12 goals in as many Premier League appearances at St James’ Park this season.

  His opener against Spurs saw him become the fourth player to score in six consecutive Premier League home matches for Newcastle, with only Andrew Cole (eight) and Alan Shearer (15) having longer such runs, with Isak now level with Les Ferdinand’s best such run. The only other Swede to have netted as many Premier League goals in a single campaign as Isak has this term is the great Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored 17 times for Manchester United in 2016-17.

  Only Palmer has a better minutes per goal ratio than Isak (104) of the players on this list, while he has overperformed his xG by 1.1.

  Isak has not provided quite as much creatively as others on this list, providing just one assist, but his 28.3 per cent shot conversion rate tops this list by some distance, with Palmer (24.4) next best.

  Dominic Solanke (17)

  Another player on 17 goals, and the final selection here, is Bournemouth talisman Solanke.

  His 18.1 per cent shot conversion rate may short fall of the other stars on this list, but Solanke is having a fantastic season, having become Bournemouth’s top Premier League goalscorer in a single campaign, surpassing Joshua King’s tally of 16 from the 2016-17 season.

  Only one of Solanke’s strikes has come from the spot, with the 26-year-old outperforming his 15.7 non-penalty xG, though his minutes per goal ratio of 167 is quite a stark drop-off from most of his Golden Boot rivals.

  The Chasing Pack

  Former Golden Boot winner Son Heung-min (15), Jarrod Bowen (15), Bukayo Saka (14) and Phil Foden (14) are all well in the hunt.

  The fact that 10 players are within six goals of each other shows just how tight this Golden Boot race is shaping up to be, though the chasing pack are running out of time if they are to make a late push for the award.