Title race keeps springing new twists
What a strange season it is i n the Premier League — but it is also quite refreshing. Just as upstarts Leicester City appeared to be suffering a setback after unexpectedly dropping points at home to West Bromwich Albion, the three teams chasing them crashed to unexpected mid-week defeats, leaving the Foxes three points clear of Tottenham Hotspur at the top.
It’s all combining to make this a special season. Nobody knows what’s going to happen from week to week — and that includes the bookies as well. Despite their opponents’ setbacks, Leicester are only too well aware that the title race is still wide open. There is all to play for with just 10 games left.
Adding extra spice to the situation will be today’s showdown between Arsenal and Spurs at White Hart Lane. Whatever the result, Leicester’s main rivals will be taking points from one another.
Every season this North London clash is a tense match but never has there been so much at stake as in today’s encounter. Depending on how Leicester get on at Watford, defeat for Spurs or Arsenal will severely dent, but not finish, their chances of the title. The Gunners will not be helped with keeper Peter Cech being ruled out with an injury.
It was not a happy 44th birthday for Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino. Spurs knew the West Ham game would be difficult against the best Hammers side in years and they were proven correct. Also, fielding the youngest side in the Premier League, there were signs of nervousness amongst some of the Tottenham players as the prospect of topping the table proved too much on the day.
Spurs still have a much healthier goal difference than all their rivals and if they can avoid defeat today will remain in a strong position.
West Ham, another surprise outfit this season, moved up to sixth place and are now just one point off a Champions League spot.
Biggest shock of the mid-week games was Arsenal’s home defeat to a second-string Swansea City, making it two losses in four days for Arsene Wenger’s team. In recent weeks they have only taken nine points from a possible 21. Not surprisingly, the Arsenal team were greeted by a chorus of boos at the end of the match, which could not have done their confidence any good.
They also awoke to newspaper headlines in which the word “meltdown” featured regularly. As usual, Wenger said his team was “unlucky’’, but admitted he was “not happy with recent results”, a sentiment no doubt echoed by all Gunners’ supporters.
Manchester City’s 3-0 defeat at Liverpool, who they had conquered in the League Cup just a few days before, came as less of a shock. City have now lost their last three league games and have only won once since it was announced Pepe Guardiola would be taking over from Manuel Pellegrini.
City were quite awful against the Reds and barely had a shot at goal. They are now 10 points behind the leaders and Pellegrini knows his team are not performing. “We cannot keep playing the way we did today,” he said after the Liverpool defeat.
Despite all the criticism they have faced this season, Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United now have the same points as City, who have one game in hand. Following four straight wins, United could find themselves back in the race for a Champions League spot, a most unlikely prospect four weeks ago.
While Leicester fans were disappointed at seeing their team held to a draw by WBA, manager Claudio Ranieri was surprisingly upbeat, apparently pleased with the improved style in which his team had played. “Our performance was fantastic,” he said. “We are alive and our spirit is ready to fight again. I am happy.”
There are not many managers who would speak like that after what must have been a very frustrating draw.
Down at the foot of the table the relegation situation is still quite muddled with the exception of Aston Villa who appear to be doomed. When big clubs are in danger of relegation one often hears that they are “too good to go down”. However, Villa fans are resigned to the feeling that the club are “too bad not to go down”.
At the moment there appears to be a three-way fight between two Northeastern clubs — Newcastle and Sunderland — and Norwich City as to who goes down with the Villans.
Steve McLaren’s observation after a 1-0 defeat to Stoke that Newcastle “were getting harder to beat” was of little comfort to the Magpies’ fans who had braved freezing conditions to see their team slide into the second from bottom place. It was the sixth successive away defeat for Newcastle.
With Sam Allardyce at the helm, you cannot rule out a Sunderland recovery, but even Sam recognises the Black Cats are running out of time. In an appropriate choice of words he noted “We can’t keep pussyfooting around,” after this week’s draw with Crystal Palace.
Swansea City and Bournemouth could also be drawn into the mire if they suffer a bad run, while Palace could do with a couple of victories to ensure safety. After not having won in 11 games, Palace manager Alan Pardew admitted this week that “Relegation is creeping up on us.”
It is an intriguing line-up of fixtures today with just about every game having a bearing on either the title or the relegation places. Judging from the bizarre results in recent matches, it would be foolish to even attempt to forecast the results in any of them.