Arsenal has officially closed their gap in the title race with only seven games left. Arsenal faced Liverpool for their week 30 matchup, entering the game eight points clear with Manchester City F.C. hot on their heels.  Liverpool is fighting for a seventh place finish, which wouldn’t guarantee a Champions League place in the 23-24 season, but will guarantee a place in the UEFA Europa Conference league. With a game full of action and finishing with four goals evenly dispersed between both teams, the draw closed the gap between first and second, with Arsenal only having a six point clearance over Manchester City, and Liverpool only being two points shy of a Europa Conference League spot. Arsenals’ next game is against West Ham United, and Liverpool face Leeds United. 

The U.S. Womens’ National Team has gone into one of their last training camps before they go off to the FIFA Womens’ World Cup this summer. Facing the Republic of Ireland in their first match, they defeated the European country 2-0. However, just minutes before the half-time whistle, they lost one of their biggest chance creators and goalscorers. Mallory Swanson was a victim of a patella tendon tear in the American side's victory of Ireland. With the recovery window being anywhere from six to 12 months, Swanson may be forced to miss this summers’ World Cup, depending on the severity of the injury. 18 year-old Alyssa Thompson, who was the #1 pick in the NWSL draft, and also made her national team debut in a friendly match versus England in October, will replace Swanson for the remainder of the April training camp. 

The CONCACAF Men’s Gold Cup, or the European Championship of North American soccer, will return to home soil this summer with a new look to the venue. The newly-built Snapdragon Stadium, which is home to the San Diego Wave Futbol Club of the NWSL, will be a host location in this summers’ Gold Cup tournament, which is a month long. The first match kickoff will take place on June 16th, with the final being exactly a month out following the first match date. The Snapdragon Stadium will also be the host of a club friendly this summer between Manchester United and Wrexham FC.

With such a long spell of losses and draws, Chelsea brought long-time player and manager, Frank Lampard, back into the managers’ position for the remainder of the season for the Blue’s. With multiple changes to managerial personnel this season, Lampard is hoping to restore some faith in the club he was loyal to for so long. There are no talks of Lampard taking over completely, but there might be if he can turn this form around for the remainder of the season.

The worlds’ biggest, most popular soccer league is touching down on American soil this summer! In recent summers, the Florida Cup series, which in the past has invited two Premier League teams, as well as teams from Liga MX and MLS to compete in a week-long series, with a clash between the two Premier League teams to finish off the series. This summer, the F.C. Series will be in partnership with the Premier League for the first time, with the Premier League hosting an inaugural summer series! The series will host its own week-long tournament, with nine games, six Premier League teams, and three games per each team, with no teams playing each other more than once. The series will kick off July 22nd, and close out July 30th. The six teams participating this summer will be Chelsea F.C., Aston Villa F.C., Fulham F.C., Brentford F.C., Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., and Newcastle United. The games will be played at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Exploria Stadium in Orlando, FedEx Field in Landover, MD, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, and RedBull Arena in Harrison, NJ. More information will be out in the coming weeks regarding ticketing, sponsor and contest opportunities, and more! For all the soccer fans interested, visit https://www.premierleague.com/SummerSeries/Schedule for more information, where you can also sign up for regular emails regarding Premier League news, and more tournament series information!