Week 23

 


A heap of games were thrown in this midweek and relative positions at the topped remained the same. Let’s start with Arsenal who had Arsene Wenger serving the first game of his touchline ban. The most violent a Frenchmen can get is snootiness but in England bad manners are punishable. Perhaps Wenger is truly Arsenal’s 12th man as his team failed to capitalize on this opportunity. They let in a deflected free kick and then were beaten by a mazing run finished off by Troy Deeney. Arsenal had a hill to climb the size of the French Alps and they eventually managed to get a goal by Iwobi. He and Sanchez looked electric and the post was rattled in the dying minutes in what should have been a major comeback. Unfortunately Arsenal and Spurs are the only ones who looked like catching Chelsea and failed to capitalize.

Spurs played out a dull 0-0 draw that surely eliminates anyone’s title hopes if only by the fact that Chelsea lead by so much. It’s a boring result that had large implications at both ends of the table though. Sunderland needed the point as all of a sudden the relegation teams are earning more than ever. Although still in last only 3 points separate them and 18th place Crystal Palace. Palace won btw and even with those 3 points still find themselves clawing out of relegation. They are much too talented of a team to be relegated.

The fear must really be starting to creep in for the Premier League Champions now. They get promoted, barely survive, win the league the next year, and then get relegated?! Surely it can’t be. That would a fantastic tale should it come to fruition. Not only do they look toothless but they have poor resolve but also timing as witnessed by conceding a late winner this week. Really the opposite of the team last year that no one wanted to play.

Chelsea’s gameplay in theory should have worked perfectly at Liverpool: Liverpool must attack so Chelsea can hit them on the counter. In truth either team could have won, and Chelsea should have won. They got their goal from a moment of genius from David Luiz who caught Mignolet out on a set piece. But Liverpool fought back to earn a scrappy goal off Wijnaldum’s header. Then at the other end a penalty was awarded to Chelsea and Mignolet saved Costa’s poor shot. In the end a draw was fair to both sides but it damages Chelsea not at all as most of the teams below them slipped up. They are firm favorites now and it will take a lot for a single other team to overtake them.

There’s just something about West Ham’s new stadium that they apparently don’t like. In the battle of light blue kits they got thoroughly thumped at home. Really not much else to say as we all know City are capable of this kind of performance but the consistency has not been there. I think they have real quality but Pep needs some time to make his stamp.