A tale of three fixtures
NEWCASTLE 4-3 West Ham, Brentford 1-1 Manchester United, Manchester City 0-0 Arsenal.
The first saw West Ham manager David Moyes mess up his substitutions and gift Newcastle a way back in the game from 3-1 down in a highly entertaining match.
The second saw Brentford ignore their previous poor form and absolutely smash United. How this game was only a draw beggars belief.
The latter was expected to be the game of the season and as per usual, when a fixture is hyped up big time, it was a rubbish watch.
Citeh were poor and I still maintain they slipped up letting İlkay Gündoğan leave, but where was Arsenal’s ambition?
I get that they’re happy with the point at a place where they’re normally hammered, but Citeh were there for the taking. A point gained or two points lost?
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“They stopped us with fouls,” so said Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji about Arsenal’s tactics last weekend. He’s right, they did, but when it comes to tactical fouling Citeh are the masters.
THE RUN IN
Last week I featured the Premier League, this week we’ll try and sum up what’s in store for the rest.
CHAMPIONSHIP
We’re in for a classic three-way fight for the title with Ipswich, Leeds and Leicester separated by the smallest of margins.
The play-off picture looks like featuring one of the above plus Southampton, West Brom and Norwich, though Coventry aren’t out of the running.
The bottom of the table shows up to eight teams in the running to join Rotherham in League One next season.
LEAGUE ONE
Portsmouth look like they’re up to be joined by Derby or Bolton. Peterborough and Barnsley look play-off bound along with Oxford or Stevenage. The bottom four looks set with Burton in danger of crashing the party.
LEAGUE TWO
Stockport look good for promotion with Mansfield and Wrexham hoping to join them. Forest Green are looking likely to leave the league, joined by Colchester, Sutton or Grimsby.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
This was decided two weeks ago with Chesterfield impressive and deserving champions with six rounds of fixtures still to be played.
SCOTLAND
Its Rangers vs Celtic for the title, with Hearts locking up third place.
ENTITLED MUCH?
Football club owners and their proxies are regularly derided by their clubs’ fans so are used to a certain amount of vitriol.
Spurs’ Daniel Levy is always getting it in the neck for not spending money while soaking the punters for cash at every opportunity, this while ignoring the fact that he has spent a lot of money for, in some cases, little on pitch reward.
As I say, supporters complaining is par for the course but the Chelsea Supporters Trust are taking moaning to a different level altogether, using written statements alleging that their newish owners have made the club a “laughing stock”, and issuing posters depicting the said owners as clowns is certainly a novel protest considering that those clowns have stumped up a billion quid from their own pockets on players in order to presumably improve the team.
OK, they have certainly overpaid for some of the players, but those players were being wooed by other top clubs so a premium had to be paid.
Will the plan bear fruit in the near future? Possibly, possibly not, but at least the American owners are trying to do right by Chelsea, even if some entitled halfwits can’t see that.
Spending big money guarantees nothing: £53 million brought Romeo Lavia to Chelsea, only for injury to curtail his season with a mere 32 minutes of action under his belt; Newcastle spent around £60 million on Sandro Tonali, only to see him suspended for 10 months because of illegal betting while at his previous club, and just last week he was charged by the FA for 55 betting offences while with Newcastle; and as for Spurs and Daniel Levy? Tanguy Ndombele and £63 million, need I say any more?
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Arijanet Muric Burnley, Pedro Porro Spurs, William Saliba Arsenal, Issa Kabore Luton, Alexis Mac Allister Liverpool, Brennan Johnson Spurs, Ben Brereton Diaz Sheffield United, Ivan Toney Brentford, Mo Salah Liverpool, Anthony Gordon Newcastle, Harvey Barnes Newcastle.
Manager: Eddie Howe Newcastle. He was starting to feel the pressure but the comeback from 3-1 down to West Ham should take the weight off his shoulders.
Player of the week: Harvey Barnes. His double strike for the Toon couldn’t have come at a better time for himself and his club.
THIS WEEK’S GAMES
Premier League today 2:30; Crystal Palace vs Manchester City. 5pm; Aston Villa vs Brentford, Everton vs Burnley, Fulham vs Newcastle, Luton vs Bournemouth, Wolves vs West Ham. 7:30; Brighton vs Arsenal.
Tomorrow 5:30; Manchester United vs Liverpool. 7:30; Sheffield United vs Chelsea. 8pm; Spurs vs Nottingham Forest.
Selected Championship today 2:30; Norwich vs Ipswich. 5pm; Coventry vs Leeds, Leicester vs Birmingham, Stoke vs West Brom. Tuesday 9:45; Millwall vs Leicester, Sheffield Wednesday vs Norwich. 10pm; Leeds vs Sunderland. Wednesday 9:45; Ipswich vs Watford. 10pm; West Brom vs Rotherham. Friday 10pm; Plymouth vs Leicester.
Selected Scotland tomorrow 2pm; Rangers vs Celtic. Wednesday 10pm; Dundee vs Rangers.
IN EUROPE
Champions League quarter-finals first legs Tuesday 10pm; Arsenal vs Bayern, Real Madrid vs Manchester City.
Europa League quarter-finals first legs Thursday 10pm; Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham, Liverpool vs Atalanta.
Europa Conference quarter-final first leg Thursday 10pm; Aston Villa vs Lille.
GAMES TO WATCH
Rangers vs Celtic. Not only is this a massive game for both clubs and by far the most significant for many a year, it’s also the first Old Firm game since the SNP’s Orwellian new hate crime law came into effect – 48,000 arrests anyone?
I doubt that even the Russians could arrest that many in such a short time, so here’s a golden opportunity for the Scottish plod to set a record (Ally McCoist intimated the same a couple of days after I wrote this).
As for the game itself, there’s nowt between the two sides so a draw looks nailed on but I have a sneaking feeling that Rangers will nick it.
That’s the Old Firm derby sorted now how about the Old Farm derby? Ipswich are looking at automatic promotion while Norwich will be looking to enhance their chances of making the play-offs.
The Canaries boast the third-best home record in the division while the Tractor Boys have the second best away record – anyone fancy a draw?
GOLF
The Masters Thursday through Sunday.
F1
Japanese Grand Prix tomorrow 8am. Well apart from the fact that I’m not giving Graham Paxton a wake-up call, expect things F1 to return to normal with Max Verstappen winning.
APRIL FOOL NEWSPAPER PRANK OF THE WEEK
Teenage darts sensation Luke Littler is to “launch a workout gear enterprise fuelled by his startling darts successes” consisting of gym gear, weightlifting and martial arts kits, and waisttrimming exercise belts.
Seriously? A paunchy kid whose training regimen seems to consist of burgers, kebabs and pizzas is to put his name to a workout programme, this had me immediately checking the date and it was April 3 and emphatically not an April fool joke (I think).
What next, me endorsing Head and Shoulders? Messrs Duval and McGill promoting alcohol-free lager?
AND FINALLY
Last week’s question: name the England captain who was a youth team player at Watford. There were one or two good suggestions but no-one really got close to the answer I wanted, which was England cricketer Mike Gatting, who failed to make the grade at Watford.
His brother Steve was of course more successful at footie playing for Arsenal, Brighton and Charlton before going on to coach the Gooners at various youth levels.
To his credit John Grundey plumped for Harry Kane, who spent one or two months at Watford when aged 11, so well done to him.
This week: Name the sportsmen who these nicknames signify: Il Gigante Buono, the Lion of Vienna, Little bird, Big Bird, the Black Spider, the Big Easy, and Sweetness.