Italy players in Premier League: Tonali assist, Kayode chaos, Lucca concerns
It was another eventful week for the Italy internationals in the Premier League as Sandro Tonali registered an assist for Newcastle, Gianluigi Donnarumma kept another clean sheet for Manchester City and Michael Kayode was involved at both ends in a hectic 4-3 match between Brentford and Burnley.
Here is a look at how the Italy internationals got on in England this weekend.
Italy internationals in Premier League: Week 28
League leaders Arsenal kept their five-point buffer over Manchester City intact thanks to a 2-1 victory at home against London rivals Chelsea on Sunday afternoon. Riccardo Calafiori was an unused substitute; Piero Hincapie has been preferred at left-back for the last three league matches.
Manchester City ensured they kept the pressure on the North Londoners with a tight 1-0 win away against Leeds United on Saturday: Donnarumma played his part by keeping his 11th clean sheet from 25 Premier League matches. Only Arsenal’s David Raya (13) has more in England’s top flight this campaign.
13-time Italy international Wilfrid Gnonto appeared off the substitutes bench for the final 15 minutes of Leeds’s 1-0 loss against Manchester City.
Sandro Tonali found himself on the losing side of a 3-2 scoreline when Newcastle faced Everton this weekend, but was still involved in the goals with an assist for Jacob Ramsay half an hour in.
Tonali earned ratings as high as 8/10 from some outlets in the UK for his performance during Newcastle’s loss, despite the collective result being described as a ‘disaster’. The Magpies have now slipped down to 13th place in the Premier League title, and now sit behind their bitter rivals, Sunderland, who were promoted from the Championship at the end of last season.
Michael Kayode was involved at both ends as Brentford claimed a last-minuted 4-3 win over Burnley in the most exciting Premier League game of the weekend from a neutral’s perspective.
The 21-year-old, formerly of Fiorentina, caused chaos again with one of his trademark long-throws, which led to Kevin Schade putting Brentford 3-0 up in the first-half. Unfortunately for the Italy youngster, he also recorded an own goal in an attempt to clear Jaidon Anthony’s low cross into the six-yard box 10 minutes later.
Kayode will have been relieved to see Mikkel Damsgaard score the winner for 4-3 in the 93rd minute after seeing his side’s 3-0 advantage collapse. Brentford are up to seventh in the Premier League and find themselves pushing for a spot in Europe next season.
Brentford are just five points off reigning champions Liverpool, currently in fifth. Arne Slot’s side picked up a 5-2 win over struggling West Ham, but Federico Chiesa was an unused substitute for this one. Giovanni Leoni is still recovering from his ACL injury.
Down in the bottom half of the table, things have gone from bad to worse for Tottenham Hotspur, who are currently under the interim stewardship of former Juventus head coach Igor Tudor.
Italy’s back-up goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicairo has been part of the side that has lost the last four Premier League matches, including Sunday’s 2-1 defeat by Fulham, while Destiny Udogie has missed the last three with a hamstring injury.
Things are going from bad to worse for the Italy internationals at Nottingham Forest, who lost 2-1 against Brighton this weekend and are now in 17th place, two points behind Tottenham and two points above West Ham and the relegation zone.
Nicolo Savona is nursing a knee injury that is expected to keep him sidelined until April, while Lorenzo Lucca, who joined the club from Napoli in January, was dropped out of the matchday squad.
Lucca was also hooked at half-time of Forest’s 2-1 Europa League defeat against Fenerbahce a few days before the Brighton loss. Forest are highly unlikely to activate their option to buy Lucca for around €35m at the end of the season according to the latest updates in Italy.